December 20, 2022
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Reading along with us in our Advent readings from “The Life of Jesus”? Here’s today’s reading:
Day 20 in the Book: “The Life of Jesus“
The Year of Popularity
Read Sections 3.41 through 3.44 (pages 55-59)
This book is an account of Jesus’ life and teachings told through in chronological order from the four Gospels to create one continuous story.
*If you do not have a copy of the book please contact the church at (401)667-0775 and we can get you a copy.
Advent day 20
Jesus said: “the people who hear the teaching of God and obey it—they are the ones who have God’s blessing.”
Jesus completely destroys their ludicrous concept. All the miracles of healing and helping people comes from Satan. By whom do your people drive out demons? I drive them out by the Spirit of God. Therefore, the kingdom of God has come upon you!! Jesus so many times had them become silent with no answer! Speaking against the Holy Spirit. Who speaks against the Holy Spirit but people that don’t have a clue about the Holy Spirit. Unbelievers! Those are the ones that won’t be forgiven. Ever heard a believer speak against the Holy Spirit? No! We know the comparison Jesus is using to Jonah. But no one knew what he was talking about. If you have confessed your sins and are clean. Important to fill that void with the Holy Spirit Jesus’ mother and brothers looking for him. Jesus is pointing out that physical and spiritual families are just as important. I have 2 families. What a blessing that is!! Farmer sowing his seed. What an awesome parable. Seen people come to Christ for all different reasons. The true believer has to feed the soil and the seed and help it grow. Reading God’s word. Praying. Fellowship!
This parable of the farmer is the best illustration of how people can take the knowledge of God and either let it grow in their life or just waste it. Are we open to God, are we nurturing and growing that seed, and are we giving it a place to flourish and thrive.
It is easy to hear God’s word and even be able to quote a few verses but we must live the word. We must let it take root in our lives and help guide and direct our path and our decisions, choices, and actions.
Day 20
3.41 – 3.44
Jesus shows His wisdom in many cases here, saying things that make perfect sense. How can His power come from satan if the things He is doing is destroying satan’s work? And how can they say that about Him and not about themselves? The better explanation is the power of God is amongst them…but they are not really open to that so they have to attribute it to something else. And to blaspheme someone is to discredit them or consider them less than they are or in this case call them a liar. If the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ and and is the One who convicts us of who Jesus is and our need for the gospel, to blaspheme Him is to discredit that message and thus not get saved, and that is the reason it is unforgivable because it keeps us from the cross that is the vehicle of God’s forgiveness. And miracles should come by virtue of God’s will, not because someone demands them as proof. Jesus has said and done so much already to show that He is who He claimed to be, that those who have received God’s message from lesser representatives in the past stand in judgment of those who are not receiving Jesus and His message.
And evil tends to fill a vacuum so we must fill ourselves with the things of God to keep the influence of evil out of our lives. And I think we understand what Jesus says about the connectedness that happens between believers/followers of Jesus. They are more like family than just mere biological family. There is far more that connects those who obey God. We think the same, do the same and are driven and supported by the same things. There is great familial connection there! And what wisdom there is in the parable of the sower. What a great picture of the different ways to respond to the message of Christ and the different things that compromise that message in our hearts. Who of us don’t know people that fall into each category? And yet how important for us to recognize that we want to be the good soil. We want God’s word to grow in us so that we bear fruit for Him. We allow Him to make an impact in the way we are so we then have an impact on those around us. That’s the fruit God wants to bear through us. Will we be the soil that allows Him to do it?
Many people in my extended family fall under the category of the seed that did not fall on good ground. There was a time in their lives when they believed in God and Jesus as their savior but something happened to cause them to give up on it. Perhaps it was a subtle straying away from God or shifting of their thinking to another form of false spiritual guidance. I pray that they would be led back to Jesus who is “the way, the truth and the life “. I also must be diligent to keep myself from straying by reading the Bible, worshiping the Lord, praying to God and fellowshiping with other believers on a regular basis.
There are so many things to consider in the parable of the farmer, as a farmer.
Is the soil unchangeable or can the soil respond differently or be modified to receive the seed?
I do a lot to my soil to make it better ground for receiving seed. I think we can work on our soil to receive God’s word by even merely being faithful to read it! Repenting of sin. “Feeding” our minds more Godly food. Weed it. Remove rocks.
I think this might be where “free will” comes in. There are some people who’s hearts are good soil and they are ready. There are others who’s hearts are hard.
“For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.”