Mark 3:20-21

We are expected to value and take care of others, especially our family. 

There can be opposition and misunderstanding among those closest to us but if we continue doing good and not give up… we will be a light to this world. Jesus did not leave us orphans and with the guidance of our teacher, the Holy Spirit, the victory is already ours.

Precept upon precept we are transformed into His image…if the world did not understand Jesus the chances are there will be those who do not understand us.

Jesus’ family might have wanted to preserve their reputation. The political ramifications of Jesus’ actions and teaching also could have caused His family to attempt to restrain Him, for fear of reprisal from Roman authorities or local Jewish leaders. Alternatively, they might have not have believed that Jesus was the Messiah and so attempted to silence Him to avoid being ostracized from the religious system (believing that it, too, would reject Him). Since Jesus has been at the center of a crowd almost continuously since His first teaching in Capernaum, it is unclear why His family reacts now. Faithlife.

Opposition to Jesus came not only from His enemies. Jesus’ own people, no doubt close friends and perhaps even relatives, heard of His teaching and assumed that He was out of His mind.

Mark mentions Jesus’ four brothers by name as well as His sisters. One brother, James, did not trust Christ prior to His crucifixion, but seems to have come to faith after Jesus’ resurrection. He later became the leader of the church in Jerusalem and wrote the Epistle of James. Judas later authored the Book of Jude (Jude 1). NKJ

Mark 3:20–21 (NKJV)

²⁰ Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. ²¹ But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.”

Mark 6:3 (NKJV)

³ Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him.

Hosea 14:1.2.3.

Call on God and you will be saved! 

Any parent knows there are times that you are very unhappy with your children and the decisions they have made. You can be very upset…BUT… they will always be your child and you will always love them with an unconditional love. The FATHER planted that agape love in you because that is His love for His children. 

Thank you God that you made a way where there was none with your gift of  salvation.What we could never earn You gave freely to those who would repent and choose to accept it. I love you!!! 

Hosea concludes with a call for Israel to repent and a promise of Yahweh’s forgiveness and future restoration. Faithlife Study Bible.

The final section of Hosea’s prophecy begins with a call to repentance that includes a model prayer. The people of Israel were to pray for God’s gracious forgiveness and renew their allegiance to Him by renouncing foreign alliances, their own military strength, and artificial gods. NKJ Study Bible.

Hosea 14:1–3 (NKJV)

14 O Israel, return to the Lord your God,

For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;

² Take words with you,

And return to the Lord.

Say to Him,

“Take away all iniquity;

Receive us graciously,

For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.

³ Assyria shall not save us,

We will not ride on horses,

Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’

For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”

Psalm 51:17 (NKJV)

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and a contrite heart—

These, O God, You will not despise.

Luke 12:1

I am a hypocrite as are most of us. 

We preach love and grace and live in anger and frustration. We fight against our culture to have faith in an era of total unbelief. The only solution is JESUS and Him crucified. He has won the battle we just need to trust that the good thing He started in us He will bring to maturity. 

Gods’ love conquers all!

Leaven serves as an apt metaphor to describe the widespread effects of the Pharisees’ hypocritical teachings and actions. Faithlife Study Bible.

Leaven here represents the presence of corruption.

The corruption in view here is hypocrisy. Practicing hypocrisy is senseless because eventually all deeds—both good and evil—will be exposed. NKJ Study Bible.

hypocrisy |həˈpäkrəsē|

noun (plural hypocrisies)

the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.

Luke 12:1 (NKJV)

12 In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Matthew 10:28–30 (NKJV)

²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. ³⁰ But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Faith

Our faith should shine so brightly that all people, believers and non-believers in JESUS CHRIST are drawn to Him. We show our faith by the works that we do…good or bad. We are His Body, His hands and His feet, to go out and show others His great love for His creation and the way to their salvation in that love.

The mustard seed is the smallest of all the seeds planted by farmers in Galillee. It grows into a 10’ high shrub. This is faith. God will take the smallest amount of faith and allow it to permeate our entire life for His good and the good of His Church.

In the Old Testament, a tree large enough to support nesting birds was considered prosperous and healthy. The kingdom, though having only a small number of people at the beginning of the age, will ultimately be large and prosperous.

Cares, riches, and pleasures of life are three great obstacles to spiritual fruitfulness. The concerns of life can squelch spiritual growth. The NKJ Study Bible.

Matthew 13:31–32 (NKJV)

³¹ Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, ³² which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

Mark 4:26–29 (NKJV)

²⁶ And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, ²⁷ and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. ²⁸ For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Luke 8:11–15 (NKJV)

¹¹ “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. ¹² Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. ¹³ But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. ¹⁴ Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. ¹⁵ But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

Matthew 25:41-46

We are our neighbors keeper!

Matthew 25:41–46 (NKJV)

⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

⁴⁴ “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Romans 2:7 (NKJV)

⁷ eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;

Job 22:7 (NKJV)

⁷ You have not given the weary water to drink,

And you have withheld bread from the hungry.

John 14:1-4

The loss of my only son 13 years later is still a raw wound covered only by the blood of  JESUS. I would never have gotten through his passing if I did not have the peace of knowing that to be absent from this world is to be present in GODS’. To know that HE gave the life of his only begotten SON to die in my place is a gift i could never deserve and could never repay. it is only in His mercy and grace that we have hope.

We live because He died.

Jesus is referring to the heavenly abode, where God the Father sits enthroned. Jesus had already declared God’s symbolic earthly dwelling, the temple, to be insignificant in comparison to God’s work through His new temple, Jesus. This and Jesus’ condemnation of the conduct of the earthly keepers of His “Father’s house” establish Jesus as a better, heavenly alternative. Faithlife Study Bible.

Through His death and resurrection, Jesus is the way to the Father. He is also the truth and the life. As truth, He is the revelation of God. As life, He is the communication of God to us. The NKJ Study Bible.

John 14:1–4 (NKJV)

14 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

Matthew 25:34 (NKJV)

³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

Isaiah 63:15 (NKJV)

¹⁵ Look down from heaven,

And see from Your habitation, holy and glorious.

Where are Your zeal and Your strength,

The yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me?

Are they restrained?

Abide in Me...

Without Christ…we can do nothing!

The fruit of the Holy Spirit only matures and ripens with Christ within. It is for our use and for the good of His Body, the Church. What is the greatest of the gifts? Love.

People cannot access God without Him, and consequently they cannot bear fruit. All life-giving things require access to the source of life, Jesus. The dead branches are people who are useless to God’s work—people like Judas, who chose to reject Jesus when faced with the truth. 

Jesus wants the opposite of destruction for His disciples: He wants them to make God’s greatness known. The way His disciples prove to be His is by loving others as He loved them and by believing and proclaiming God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus’ death and resurrection.The Spirit will be their guide in this process. Faithlife Study Bible.

For the branch to produce more fruit, it must abide, which means to dwell, to stay, to settle in, to sink deeper. The way to abide in Christ is to obey. The believer who lovingly obeys the Word of God produces much fruit. Apart from Christ, a believer cannot accomplish anything of permanent spiritual value. The NKJ Study Bible

John 15:4–10 (NKJV)

⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

⁹ “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

Matthew 5:16 (NKJV)

¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Galatians 5:22 (NKJV)

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Acts 13:36-39

JESUS has conquered sin and death. We live in Him and we are under the protection and guidance of the HOLY SPIRIT. He who started a good thing in you will bring it to completion… He will guide you safely home.

He has risen!!!

Justification is a legal term meaning “declared innocent” It is a legal declaration that a person is acquitted and absolved. It is by justification that a person is righteous and acceptable to God. The death of Christ was the payment of our sin debt, so that we might be forgiven.  The NKJ Study Bible.

Paul is arguing that justification is based on the work of Christ. Human effort—even when directed at keeping the Law of Moses (as primarily seen in the laws of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy)—could never attain God’s standard.Faithful Study BibleJeremiah 31:34 (NKJV)

Acts 13:36–39 (NKJV)

³⁶ “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption; ³⁷ but He whom God raised up saw no corruption. ³⁸ Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; ³⁹ and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Jeremiah 31:34 (NKJV)

³⁴ No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

John 3:16 (NKJV)

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Luke 12:1-3

Be aware of the hypocrisy of leaders. Everything that they say in private eventually is leaked to the public. 

Jesus seems to be referring to the Pharisees’ hidden sins, which will be exposed at the final judgment.

we need to be as wise as a serpent but as gentle as a lamb basing our wisdom on the Word of God. If we ask for wisdom in our current situations He is faithful to provide it. as representatives of Christ we need to be transparent in all we do…the good, the bad and the downright ugly in our lives to the glory of how god can take the uglies and turn them for our good and the good of his body, the church.

It’s as easy as 1.2.3.

Leaven: The Greek word used here refers to fermented dough that was mixed in with new dough and used as a rising agent. The small amount used in baking would permeate the entire batch of new dough. Leaven serves as an apt metaphor to describe the widespread effects of the Pharisees’ hypocritical teachings and actions. Faithlife Study Bible

Practicing hypocrisy is senseless because eventually all deeds—both good and evil—will be exposed.

Luke 12: 1,2,3 (NKJV)

12 In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. ² For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. ³ Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

Matthew 10:26 (NKJV)

²⁶ Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

Zephaniah 1:2-6

1. Seek the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul. 2.Listen closely to the small still voice of the Holy Spirit. 3. Trust the Triune Godhead…not man to accomplish what you cannot. 4. Staying in Christ you will find peace.

God wins and evil bites the dust!

 Jerusalem

Means “city of peace”; located 14 miles west of the Dead Sea and 33 miles east of the Mediterranean Sea. The city is situated on a rocky plateau 2,550 feet above sea level. Its central position in Israel made it the ideal location for the capital. The Israelites had conquered the city of Jerusalem in the time of the judges (ca. 1210–1051 bc), but they did not occupy it during that time (Judg 1:8). Jerusalem was made the political capital of the nation after King David (1011–971 bc) conquered it and built a palace there (2 Sam 5:6–12). In 960 bc, when Solomon built the temple, Jerusalem became the religious capital of the nation as well. From this point forward, the city of Jerusalem occupied a place of prominence in the political and religious life of Israel. Faithlife Study Bible

Jesus seized on Zephaniah’s picture of the day of the Lord. On one occasion He referred to Zephaniah 1:3, when He spoke of His second coming and gathering “out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness” (Matt. 13:41). On another occasion, Jesus no doubt envisioned Zephaniah’s description of “a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm” (Zeph. 1:15, 16).

The message of God’s impending judgment on the nation of Judah and its capital city Jerusalem must have been startling to those who believed that God would never destroy the site of His holy temple. Baal worship and its evils had led to the destruction of Israel and its capital Samaria in 722 b.c. Likewise, Baal worship and its associations would lead to the destruction of Judah and its capital Jerusalem in 586 b.c. Milcom is a reference to an Ammonite deity whose worship included acts of infant sacrifice. The people had experienced God and then turned away from Him. The NKJ Study Bible.

Zephaniah 1:2–6 (NKJV)

² “I will utterly consume everything

From the face of the land,”

Says the Lord;

³ “I will consume man and beast;

I will consume the birds of the heavens,

The fish of the sea,

And the stumbling blocks along with the wicked.

I will cut off man from the face of the land,”

Says the Lord.

⁴ “I will stretch out My hand against Judah,

And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place,

The names of the idolatrous priests with the pagan priests—

⁵ Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops;

Those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord,

But who also swear by Milcom;

⁶ Those who have turned back from following the Lord,

And have not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him.”

Matthew 13:41 (NKJV)

⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,

The Ascension of Jesus the Christ

The Ascension gives authority to JESUS who conquered sin and death and now resides at the right hand of the FATHER. 

That same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will raise us to be with them for eternity.

The final sign that Jesus was the Son of God is that He was received up into heaven to be seated at the right hand (the position of authority and power) of God. The NKJV Study Bible 

The disciples’ doubt, fear, and sadness is replaced with joy after seeing the risen Jesus. Faithlife Study Bible 

Mark 16:19–20 (NKJV)

¹⁹ So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰ And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

Luke 24:50–53 (NKJV)

⁵⁰ And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. ⁵¹ Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. ⁵² And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ⁵³ and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.

Acts 1:3 (NKJV)

³ to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Psalm 110:1 (NKJV)

¹ The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand,

Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”

Luke 10:25-28

Love God with all that is within you and give all people the justice and respect they deserve as His creation and you will have life…abundant, eternal life!

The lawyer’s answer parallels Jesus’ teaching in Matthew and Mark about the greatest commandments.These commands reflect the heart of Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom of God: love of God and love of neighbor. Faithlife Study Bible

Jesus develops the theme of love for one’s neighbor.

Jesus was not saying that righteousness is the result of works. Rather He was saying that love for and obedience to God will be a natural result of placing one’s faith in the Lord. Those who believe in Jesus and follow Him will receive eternal rewards. The NKJV Study Bible 

Luke 10:25–28 (NKJV)

²⁵ And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

²⁷ So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

²⁸ And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

Deuteronomy 6:5 (NKJV)

⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

Mark 12:33 (NKJV)

³³ And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Galatians 5:14 (NKJV)

¹⁴ For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Leviticus 19:18 (NKJV)

¹⁸ You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.