Mark 2
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
1A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
6Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7"Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
8Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? 9Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? 10But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, 11"I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
The Calling of Levi
13Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
17On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Jesus Questioned About Fasting
18Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, "How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?"
19Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
21"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins."
Lord of the Sabbath
23One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"
25He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."
27Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion:
Philippians 4:10-19
Thanks for Their Gifts
10I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
14Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. 17Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. 18I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
March 10, 2008
Fast Feet
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READ: Philippians 4:10-19
The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills. —Habakkuk 3:19
While in Chile for a Bible conference, I was resting at the hotel when a rugby match came on the television. Though I don’t fully understand rugby, I enjoy it and admire the courage it takes to play such a dangerous sport.
During the match, one of the French players was injured and had to be taken to the sidelines. As the trainers attended to him, the camera showed a closeup of his shoes. With a black marker the player had written the words: “Habakkuk 3:19” and “Jesus is the way.” Those expressions of faith and hope were a strong testimony of that young athlete’s priorities and values.
The verse cited on that rugby player’s shoes is not just one of heavenly hope and persevering faith. It is one of practical value—especially to an athlete dependent on speed for success. It says, “The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.”
In all of life, we need the strength and supply of our God. He alone can give us “feet” that are swift and strong. He alone can equip us for all of the uncertainties of life, for He alone is our strength. With Paul, we can be assured: “My God shall supply all your need” (Phil. 4:19). — Bill Crowder
In You, O Lord, I take delight,
My every need You will supply;
I long to do what’s true and right,
So, Lord, on You I will rely. —D. De Haan
We always have enough when God is our supply.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
March 10, 2008
Being an Example of His Message
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READ:
Preach the word! —2 Timothy 4:2
We are not saved only to be instruments for God, but to be His sons and daughters. He does not turn us into spiritual agents but into spiritual messengers, and the message must be a part of us. The Son of God was His own message— "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" ( John 6:63 ). As His disciples, our lives must be a holy example of the reality of our message. Even the natural heart of the unsaved will serve if called upon to do so, but it takes a heart broken by conviction of sin, baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to God’s purpose to make a person’s life a holy example of God’s message.
There is a difference between giving a testimony and preaching. A preacher is someone who has received the call of God and is determined to use all his energy to proclaim God’s truth. God takes us beyond our own aspirations and ideas for our lives, and molds and shapes us for His purpose, just as He worked in the disciples’ lives after Pentecost. The purpose of Pentecost was not to teach the disciples something, but to make them the incarnation of what they preached so that they would literally become God’s message in the flesh. ". . . you shall be witnesses to Me . . ." ( Acts 1:8 ).
Allow God to have complete liberty in your life when you speak. Before God’s message can liberate other people, His liberation must first be real in you. Gather your material carefully, and then allow God to "set your words on fire" for His glory
"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft
When You're Tired of Walking Alone
Monday, March 10, 2008
While I was speaking at a conference, our hosts gave my wife and me a picturesque cabin to stay in, right on the side of this beautiful mountain. I was unusually motivated to get my exercise there, because it involved hiking up this scenic mountain all the way to the top. As I headed back down and neared our cabin, I had this notion that it would be nice to make the last stretch a romantic walk with my honey. There's a song I used to whistle to her outside her dorm window when we were in college and we were engaged - a song we later had sung at our wedding. It starts with the words, "Because you come to me." Lapsing into romantic mode, I started whistling our song. Little did I know my wife wasn't there! No one came. I walked alone.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You're Tired of Walking Alone."
Let's face it. Life is actually like that sometimes. There are times when you really want - you really need - someone to walk with you, and there's no one there. Either they won't or they can't. Sometimes people who care about us would like to walk with us through what we're going through, but they just can't; they don't understand, they don't know how to help, they're too busy with their own issues, or they're just not there for any one of a hundred reasons. Maybe as you're listening today, you're just tired of walking alone.
What I'm about to say may sound too good to be true, but I wouldn't offer you false hope. You don't ever have to walk alone again. The reason that is not just a hollow hope is because it doesn't depend on the love of some human who may be there or may not be. It depends on the love of the God who made you - who is always there.
Listen to the ironclad promise of Jesus Christ in Hebrews 13:5. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." He says never. He's offering you a "never leave you" love. Some of Jesus' last words on earth to those who belong to Him are these: "Surely I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20). After listing every conceivable force on earth, or in heaven, or in hell that might take His love away, Romans 8:39 says: "Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
No loopholes. No conceivable situation in which you will find Jesus and His love not there. But experiencing His love isn't automatic. In fact, the Bible explains that the central reason for our loneliness and our aloneness is that we're living outside of God's love. We're like the earth deciding to leave the orbit it was created for, revolving around the sun, to just go off on its own. All life would cease, of course. We've decided to run our own life instead of living for the One who gave us our life, and we're out of the orbit we were created for. The Bible describes us as being "without hope and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12). Our loneliness is ultimately cosmic loneliness. We're lonely for God.
But He loves you so much He wasn't willing to lose you, so He sent Jesus. That's His one and only Son, and He sent Him to die for the sin that separates you from Him. So He could forgive you, so you could live in His love, so you could be in heaven with Him forever. And now that love is working inside your heart, drawing you His direction. This can't be a one-way love. You have to open up to what He died to give you, by telling Him that you're placing the rest of your life in His hands; hands that bear eternal evidence of His love for you. You can tell when you see the print of the nails there.
If you're ready to make that move, to finally experience this love you've spent your whole life looking for, would you tell Him that. And I hope you'll go to our website where I've tried to provide some simple information that will help you be sure that you've begun your relationship with Him; you can know you belong to Him. Would you go today to yoursforlife.net. It's helped a lot of other people. I think it will be an encouragement to you. Or if you'd like my booklet Yours For Life that has a lot of the same information, just call for it at 877-741-1200.
With Jesus in your life, will you ever feel lonely again? Sure you will. They'll be lonely times, but you'll never be alone again. You have His word on it.
