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…

BONDAGE— FREEDOM! Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. —Mark 1:23-26 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…

FISH! “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” —Mark 1:17 There is no way around this. What Jesus said to those early disciples He also has said to us— “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Some will say I don’t have that gift, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). It is not a matter of giftedness; it is a matter of obedience. I recently…

OBEDIENCE & BLESSING Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. —Leviticus 20:22 If there is one key word in the life of the believer it is obedience. This was true under the Old Covenant and it is true under the New Covenant. It was true for the Jewish believer and it is true for the Gentile believer. Without obedience to the Lord God Almighty we are living for ourselves and our desires, not His. In the verse above the warning for disobedience was they would be “vomited” out of the land. Because…

TELL SOMEONE OF THE RESURRECTED SAVIOR! The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” —Matthew 27:62-64 The religious leaders remembered that Jesus said He would rise from the dead after three days. They did not…

THE JUDGMENT TO COME And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth… Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels….’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. —Matthew 25:30, 41, 46 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. —Matthew 10:28 You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being…

BE A SERVANT! It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. —Matthew 24:46 We know that works or deeds do not save anyone. There is absolutely nothing that a dead man can do to give himself life. It is God that makes a person alive in Christ Jesus. But, we “are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:1-10). We are to be “a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:14). Fellow follower of Jesus, we are called to be servants. Jesus…