King James Bible Study – [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. – Mark 8:34]
Date: Thursday, October 17, 2024
Chapters: Mark Chapter 6, Luke Chapter 9
Message: Winning Souls to Christ
Hello My Friend,
Soul winning, is the a term among Independent Fundamental Baptist churches in regards to the congregation following the great commission that Jesus commanded all disciples to go out into the world and preach the Gospel. They take one day, usually a Saturday, knocking door to door preaching the Gospel of Christ in the community. The soul winner understands that they are merely leading a lost soul to Christ and should they accept Christ as their Saviour, it was God who gave the increase.
[Mark 6:8-11 And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse: 9 But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats. 10 And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place. 11 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.]
[But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.] Jesus, gives all of His disciples some advice on how they ought to be leading souls to Christ. They are to be comfortable, but diligent, free from all the cares of the world that would distract them from doing their job. Lost souls are depending on His faithful, and while Jesus does not need them for one to receive Him, they are an asset to Him in reaching, [Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.]
The just, are not sinless, but they are influenced by the Word of God to live in conformity to God’s will. The longer they walk with Christ the more they conform to His image, but that does not mean that they do slip up a time or two or completely lose sight of blessings from God. As we continue in the reading of the Gospels, gives his account of what happened when Jesus returns home and is rejected by then.
[Mark 6:2-6 And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. 4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.]
[he could there do no mighty work…And he marvelled because of their unbelief.] [Marvel; A wonder; that which arrests the attention and causes a person to stand or gaze, or to pause.] Jesus, witnessed first hand the unbelief of the people that He had grew up with and I imagine was quite sad about that. All they saw Him as was this carpenter’s son who would have never amounted to anything. The people of Nazareth rejected Him, and wanted nothing to do with Him, and therefore, there was no other option, but to move forward. While Jesus does not deny anyone, He does not force Himself upon anyone either, and He will move on to those who want Him, [Matthew 10:32-33 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.]
Jesus, will defend and save anyone who sincerely accepts Him as their Saviour solely by their faith in Him, but that choice is up to each individual. We must come to Jesus on our own, otherwise, He will pass us by, then those who gladly accept Him no doubt are excited to share their testimony. Now, Mark also gives his account of what happened to John the Baptist.
[Luke 9:7-9 Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him: and he was perplexed, because that it was said of some, that John was risen from the dead; 8 And of some, that Elias had appeared; and of others, that one of the old prophets was risen again. 9 And Herod said, John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him.]
[John have I beheaded: but who is this,] It is interesting that Luke, who was not one of the twelve, yet was faithful to follow Jesus through His entire ministry, was the only one who asked the question of who Jesus is, but for some reason he was convinced that He had to be John risen from the dead.
[Mark 6:16–20 But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead. 17 For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife: for he had married her. 19 Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not: 18 For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife. 20 For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.]
[Herodias had a quarrel against him,] It was this wicked woman, despised John because he gave Herod a conscious, not to mention she was not too happy about Herod telling her what John had said. Herod, in more than one instance, listened to the words of John, but this time he let the desires of his flesh influence his grave decision. One can be witnessed to repeatedly, but there is only so many times that Jesus will send someone to them before time will run out, if they do not heed the warning they will die in their sin.
[Luke 13:25,28 When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: 28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.]
After the disciples heard news about John the Baptist, they took the time to bury him themselves, then they met up with Jesus and told Him everything that happened.
[Mark 6:30-34 And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. 31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. 32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately. 33 And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him. 34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.]
[Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while:] Jesus, wants His workers to rest. It is important that they get their rest, they are not in a race, as most of the time the Holy Spirit will direct them in a moments notice to witness to someone. We truly are like sheep who have no shepherd when we are without Jesus, His compassion for all mankind cannot be compared to anything we will ever receive from anyone. Jesus, and the disciples were there for hours and as day as ending the disciples wanted Jesus to send them away, but His compassion toward them wanted them to stay until they had something to eat.
[Luke 9:12-14,16-17 And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place. 13 But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people. 14 For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company. 16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude. 17 And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.]
[Send the multitude away…But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat.] Let me tell you, this is more than just about God taking care of our flesh, He knows what we have need of. This is about our giving our entire lives over to God, looking up to Him, blessing them, and allowing Him to give each and every piece to whomever needs us. And guess what happens when we do that? We receive so much more. We have much better things awaiting us with no more pain and sorrow, we just have to endure it for now, [Revelation 7:16-17 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.]
People followed Jesus everywhere, He healed some, comforted some, but forgave all who came to Him sincerely. Jesus, knows who truly believes in and receives Him, but that does not mean that He does not ask what we are believing Him to be. As Jesus was alone praying, the disciples were near by, He asks them what people were saying about Him.
[Luke 9:18-22 And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? 19 They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. 20 He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. 21 And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; 22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.]
[But whom say ye that I am?] Jesus, asks all people the same question. While He is well aware of who we think He is, He is not asking that question for Himself, He is getting us to examine ourselves to see exactly what our faith in Him is. If we think that He is some mere prophet that was raised from the dead, then our faith would be vain. If we think that He was some preacher man, martyred for His faith, then our faith is in vain. We must believe in the Gospel of Christ, otherwise, our faith is vain, [1 Corinthians 15:15-17 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.]
If we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, we must also believe that He is God incarnate, meaning that God came here in the flesh through the immaculate conception of virgin. He lived a sinless life, then died on the cross, was buried in a tomb, and arose three days later, to give eternal life to all who believe in Him. The reason why He commanded them not to tell anyone that they knew Him to be Christ is because the Jews had to put Him on the cross in order for the prophecy to be fulfilled. Since Jesus suffered the cross, we too have our own crosses that we must suffer with every day. Jesus, explains it this way.
[Luke 9:23-27 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? 26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.]
[let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.] Being a Christian, especially when it comes to discipleship, is not always easy, in fact, it can be quite challenging as we are commanded to not only deny ourselves the pleasures of this world, but take upon us the sufferings that come from our faith. The Christian’s cross is not a physical cross like Christ’s, but it is a real and burdensome cross that follows us until we see Jesus. However, we do have hope of never suffering ever again, [Revelation 21:3-4 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.]
Remember, it is God who prepares our heart to receive Christ when the time is right. While some may not believe right now, if they at least have faith in God, and believe that Jesus is the Son of God, then they have the opportunity to come to know Him as their Saviour. After they ate, Jesus, sent the people away, and the disciples too, while He went up to a mountain to pray. Mark, also gives the testimony of Jesus walking on the water, but watch how he tells it.
[Mark 6:45,47–50,52 And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. 47 And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. 48 And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. 49 But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: 50 For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. 52 For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.]
[and would have passed by them.] You know, Jesus is always right there walking toward us, the reason we suffer more than we need to is because we let Him pass by. No matter how strong our faith, trials, afflictions, emotions, pride, impatience, all of these things can keep us from seeing that Jesus is walking, not toward us, but with us. We have nothing to fear as long as we keep looking to Jesus, [Hebrews 12:1-2 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.]
Jesus Christ Revealed/Magnified: [Mark 6:50 For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. Luke 9:20 He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. Luke 9:35 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.]
Today’s Prayer: God, Life is so precious to You that You sent Your only begotten Son to die for us so that we do not have to end up in hell. Thank You for giving us Your Word to show us the truth about Your Son, and for giving us the right to choose whether or not we believe in Him. Now, we who accept Your Son as our Saviour are subject to much rejection because of our faith, and yet we do not have to fear because our hope is in You. Lord, Lead us and guide us, give us Your Holy Spirit power to walk by faith, and not be afraid to preach the Gospel to those You lay upon our heart. As we take our staff with us, give us Your mercy, grace, and protection, as You send us to reach the lost. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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