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Please God Not People
Mark 10:48 'And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me.'
MARK 10:43-48
The devil will always have someone available to tell us why we shouldn't expect to get results when petitioning God. Most people would rather stay with the crowd and not do anything to draw attention to themselves even if that means not getting their needs met. They will try to make you conform as well. If this man would have listened to the crowd, he would not have received his healing. 'Ye have not, because ye ask not' (Jas. 4:2).
This blind man is a good example of an active kind of faith. He was not passive in his approach toward healing. He boldly cried...
Jesus Paid The Price
Mark 10:45 'For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.'
Jesus told His disciples many times of His death but this is the first time He indicated the reason for His death. Now it is clear that His death would be a 'ransom', defined in the Greek as a means of loosing by paying a price.
The words 'ransom' and 'redeem' were used interchangeably in scripture.
Not only would Jesus pay the price for sin but also His death would be substitutionary. In 1 Timothy 2:6, the word 'ransom' is taken from the Greek word 'antilutron' which means 'a redemption-price.' The Greek word 'anti' means 'in place of.' In other words, the ransom avails for all who will accept it (Jn....
Share In His Sufferings
Matthew 20:22 'But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.'
MATTHEW 20:17-25
The Greek word for baptize is 'baptizo.' This word was used by Plato (fourth century B.C.) to describe a man being 'overwhelmed' by philosophical arguments; or it means sponges being 'dipped' in fluid; and by Strabo (first century B.C.) to describe people who could not swim as being 'submerged' under water. Josephus in the first century A.D. used the word to describe the city of Jerusalem as being 'overwhelmed' or 'plunged' into destruction by the Romans; and Plutarch (also first...
Not What You Do
Matthew 20:8 'So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.'
MATTHEW 20:1-16
This parable begins with Jesus' statement that the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man who is a householder (owner of an estate). He went out early in the morning to hire workers to work in his vineyard for the day. An agreed upon price was set at a penny, the normal wage paid daily for a laborer. Later, around 9 a.m., the landowner encouraged others, standing idle in the marketplace, to work in the vineyard, not for a set wage but for 'whatsoever is right.' The landowner employed more laborers at noon, at 3 p.m. and even some at 5...
Receive The Gift Of Salvation
Mark 10:21 'Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.'
MARK 10:21-27
Notice that the scripture makes special mention of Jesus loving this rich young ruler. This is stated after this young man said he had kept all of God's commands, which was not the truth. Jesus was showing him that he had broken the very first commandment that states, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me' (Ex. 20:3), and also the tenth commandment that says, 'Thou shalt not covet...' (Ex. 20:17). Jesus' tough answer of 'sell whatsoever thou hast, and give...
Trust In Jesus As Your Savior
Matthew 19:16 'And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?'
MATTHEW 19:12-20
On the surface, it appears that this rich young ruler was 'right on' in the way he approached Jesus and sought salvation. He ran, kneeled down to Jesus, and openly professed Him as a Good Master. What could be wrong with that?
First, he acknowledged Jesus as good but not as God. This is a pivotal point.
Every major religion of the world acknowledges that Jesus lived and will even admit that He definitely was a good man, but they won't recognize Him as God. If Jesus was only a good man, He couldn't save anybody. Jesus didn't just come to show us the...