BEWARE! “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.” —Mark 8:15 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. —Matthew 16:11-12 Now here is an interesting warning! We are to “Be careful” and “Watch out” for the teaching of both religious and political groups. Everything needs to be measured by the Word of God… everything…

FREE FROM THE SNAKE BITE The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived. —Numbers 21:8-9 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. —John 3:14-15 It is a matter of a person truly believing. Those in the wilderness were told that when bitten…

COMPASSION When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. —Mark 6:34 Compassion… do we have it on the crowds of people around us who are like sheep without a shepherd? Jesus “felt compassion” for the people. He was “moved with compassion” for the people. The compassion of Jesus acted in teaching the people. He fed them spiritually and then fed them physically. His compassion moved Him to act in both of these realms. What about us? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gupeRWCBybU How are we being compassionate? In what ways are we feeding those who…

FAITHLESSNESS AND GODLESSNESS BRINGS DEATH Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. —Numbers 14:33 This faithless, godless generation of Israel would impact their children for 40 years. Their children would wonder in the wilderness for those 40 years and all their parents would die in that wilderness. Yes, faithless, godless generations affect not only their own children, but even generations after them. Children in the womb are suffering greatly because of the faithlessness and godlessness of our leaders and those who have put them into office. Leaders can claim they believe in God and…

DO HIS WILL! Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.” —Numbers 13:30-32 These 12 men were sent to explore the land. It was not up to them to make a decision to go into the…

SET FREE! They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and…

OW FOR THE HARVEST He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” —Mark 4: 26-29 Seed scattered that lands on “good soil” will produce a crop. It is a process of time for it to mature for harvest, but whether in our…

SOW! The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the…

THE UNFORGIVEABLE SIN And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s…

NOT THINKING RIGHT When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” —Mark 3:21 At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.” —Acts 26:24 Vice President Mike Pence was recently mocked for his faith in Jesus by someone on the show “The View.” This is no great surprise. Jesus’ own family thought He was “out of His mind” and so it was stated of Paul as well. The View’s Joy Behar then said: “It’s one thing to talk to Jesus. It’s another…