King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Thursday, October 14, 2021
Chapters: Luke 8
Message: The Need of Patience
Hello My Friend,
There is this program that I watch on a news channel weekday nights, he literally talks about Jesus, even says the Lord’s prayer, and encourages the audience to say it as well. Of course, it is a news program, so he talks about politics and Covid, like everyone else, only gives his take on it, along with a positive message that we can get through this mess with God. The reason I bring this up is because he had mentioned the scare across the country of food and substance being scarce around the country this holiday season due to ships and trucks not being able to deliver goods. As I was reading the chapter this passage came to mind, [Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.]
Did you know that our need is not always about food, water, or whatever it is that we have need of to sustain our body? As I thought about this situation, it occurred to me that perhaps God is doing this because America has become too dependent on foreign countries to bring us whatever we want whenever we want it. Life is not about instant gratification, it has seasons, just like the earth, we must learn to wait sometimes, and also, we must trust God, [Luke 12:32-34 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.]
Jesus is not literally telling us to sell everything we own and live in tents the rest of our lives here on earth, He is telling us that we need to stop worrying about our own flesh and start thinking about others. When we love God, receive Christ as our Saviour, and live a decent life through His grace, then we have nothing to worry about, God will always supply. As we continue in the reading of the Gospels, Luke gives his take on Jesus as He starts speaking in parables. We also learn that among His disciples Jesus also had some women with Him as well who ministered to Him and the disciples.
[Luke 8:1-4 And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, 2 And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, 3 And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance. 4 And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:]
[which ministered unto him of their substance.] [Minister; One to whom a king or prince entrusts the direction of affairs of state; Substance; Goods; estate; means of living.] Jesus entrusted these women to offer whatever they had to care for Him and the disciples. I am sure they brought them food, water, and clothes, cooked for them, whatever they had available to them that would supply their need, they were willing to offer simply out of gratitude for what Jesus had done for them. Now, I was just going to just touch on the parable of the sower, but Luke has a very interesting take on the meaning behind the parable.
[Luke 8:9-15 And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? 10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. 14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. 15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.]
[and hearing they might not understand.] Notice how this is worded, Jesus did not want the fools who had no faith in Him to understand what He was saying. If we truly want God in our lives and His blessings to come with it, then we will understand that we need Jesus because He is the only way to God and our salvation. Way too many wannabe Christians want God to bless and keep them and their souls, but very few are willing to give up the things of the world. God is not one bit trying to keep us from the things that we need, in fact, He gives us much more than we need when we are faithful to Him. For those who do lack the things they need, well, it is their own fault because God will not be mocked, [Galatians 6:7-9 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.]
[and bring forth fruit with patience.] And there are those trees again, Luke makes a valid point that while God will always supply our need, we are going to need a lot of patience to receive some of those things. This actually is something in the lines of this verse, [Hebrews 10:36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.]
Think about it, a tree does not provide fruit all year long, it goes through seasons. First, it has leaves on it, then it buds, then flowers grow on it. Once the flowers fall off, that is when the fruit begins to grow on it, it must remain on the tree until it ripens. When it is ripe, that is when we must take it off and use it or it will rot on that tree. We cannot force a tree to produce fruit in an instant, therefore, we cannot expect God to do everything for us in an instant all the time. We need time to grow in the Lord, and that is exactly why we are to keep living our lives to please Him while we wait for them. Jesus goes on to tell us this through another parable.
[Luke 8:16-18 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. 17 For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. 18 Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.]
[that they which enter in may see the light.] Do you understand that while we are waiting for those promises as we are living our lives through Christ, we are bringing others to Him? We must go through seasons of our own in order to be fruitful in our own lives, which in turn will spread onto others, who will produce their own fruit, [Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.]
And this is exactly why we live by faith and not by our substance. God will always supply our need, we just need to have some patience. And here is the thing, He knows and gives us what we need exactly when we need it. Let me tell you just how tight money is the first couple of months when you move into another home, the extra fees you have to pay to get everything changed over with the new address. On top of that, you find out that there are some things that need repair or some other issues that you must deal with. So, here I am literally living each day, once again, by my daily bread. I also received some over time this week, so, I must be patient and work another week in order to receive the extra money. God wants to see our faith, that is why He will take us to the limit sometimes. God is not a respecter of persons, He does this to every, saved, born again, Christian. Jesus actually put the disciples to the test as they enter into a ship to go over to Gadarenes.
[Luke 8:22-25 Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. 23 But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. 24 And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.]
[Where is your faith?] Think about the question that Jesus asks His disciples. We may not realize it, but at this point, they were not saved yet themselves. So, when they saw Jesus do these amazing and incredible things they were just as astounded as the rest of the people. However, just because we have great faith in the Saviour saving our soul that does not me that we always have great faith all the time. It gets tried too, especially, when we are faced with those limits. While we are all given the freewill to choose, we must understand that God will always be in control, everyone and everything He creates is subject to Him, even Satan himself. We learn of this when the man possessed by the legion of devils came up to Him and He commanded them to come out of him.
[Luke 8:26-30 And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. 27 And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. 29 (For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) 30 And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him.]
Now, you would think that the people who witnessed the amazing transformation of this man would run to Jesus, but they did not. They actually ran from Him, and want Him to leave their town, but the man that Jesus saved, he sure believed, in fact, he wanted to come with Jesus.
[Luke 8:34-39 When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. 36 They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. 37 Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again. 38 Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.]
[Return to thine own house,] Why did Jesus want him to return to his home instead of follow Him? It is the same reason why He keeps us where we are, to tell everyone about Him. We, who are faithful, and live our lives though Christ are the greatest witness that the world will ever see. Out testimony is what leads others to Christ. Did you know that Jesus feels our faith? The stronger our faith the more He feels it. We learn of this as Jesus and the disciples arrived from out of the ship. Of course, people were all around Him, but as Hie was following a man named, Jairus who desperately sought His help to heal his daughter before she died, Jesus felt something.
[Luke 8:43-48 And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, 44 Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. 45 And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? 46 And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. 48 And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.]
[Somebody hath touched me:] Of course, Jesus knew who she was, He just wanted her to come forward and admit her faith. I love this story because it reminds me of me, and the constant struggles I had with my own health. How much faith this woman must have had that just the mere touch of a piece of the clothing He was wearing was all she needed to be healed? We should all have that much faith all the time, but I will tell you this, we may not have a lot of faith all the time, but we do not need it, we just need the faith of a mustard seed, [Luke 17:6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.]
Everyone who, by faith believes that Jesus can heal them, not only from their illnesses, or diseases but their sins as well will be healed. It may not be in the way we expect, but whatever decision God makes in how He makes us whole it’s His decision. Why then do so many people die that believe? They are not dead, only sleeping. Now, as Jesus starts to head over to Jairus’s house again, they stopped Him, stating that she had died, but Jesus said something that got them all literally laughing at Him.
[Luke 8:50-56 But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole. 51 And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. 52 And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. 53 And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. 54 And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. 55 And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat. 56 And her parents were astonished: but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.]
[but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.] Why did Jesus tell them not to tell everyone what He had done? It was not time for it to be known that He could raise someone from the dead. Had they known that the Pharisees might have stopped pursuing after Him. Every, born again believer has a living soul filled with the Spirit of God in it, and while the physical body will die, unless Jesus returns before then, the soul is alive and well with Him in heaven. We need not fear death or anyone else who died that accepted Jesus as their Saviour, their bodies are merely sleeping as they await for Jesus ti return, and yes, that means more patience, [1 Thessalonians 4:13-16 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:]
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, Thank You for the great sacrifice You made so that I can be made whole. I do not have to do anything to save my soul because You did it for me, You saved me simply by my faith in You. You promise that we will see You one day and live with You forever in Your kingdom, but until then You expect us to have a little patience as we live our lives in Your Light. Lord, Lead me and guide me, fill me with the power of the Holy Spirit that is within me to enable me to not only walk with You, and talk with You, but be a reflection of You. I do want to be fruitful, and know that with constant communication, faith, and patience You will produce the fruit in me that others will eat and produce in them. Let me never lose sight of my faith, even it is only the size of a mustard seed at times, I know that You can cast that unfruitful tree into the sea and produce one that is fruitful. I love You, and pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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