From Pastor Perry

Mark 4:21–25 (ESV)

A Lamp Under a Basket

²¹ And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? ²² For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. ²³ If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴ And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. ²⁵ For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

Jesus continues the theme of producing for the Kingdom by comparing His people to lamps set on a stand and by promising that faithfulness will be rewarded. It is a great pity, therefore, that so many Christians thwart God’s desire to bless faithfulness by failing to put their faith into practice wholeheartedly. The Lord forgives those who repent, and He calls us to focus on His mission. Though we are generous, He is more generous still and blesses more and more.

I pray: Lord, thank You for graciously rewarding our small kindnesses with outpourings of even more precious blessings. Amen.

Edward A. Engelbrecht, The Lutheran Study Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 1663.

Sorry for falling behind, had 2 deaths in one day and it rocked my world.

Mark 4:10–20 (ESV)

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, ¹² so that 

“ ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, 

and may indeed hear but not understand, 

lest they should turn and be forgiven.’ ” 

¹³ And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶ And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷ And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. ¹⁸ And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰ But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

Jesus interprets the parable of the sower for His disciples. The failures of the various soils to produce for the Lord are still common: people even now refuse to hear, fall away when hardship comes, and allow worldly concerns to overwhelm their faith. Yet, by God’s grace, many receive the Word in good faith and produce richly. Not even the gates of hell can prevail against His Church.

I pray: Lord, help us to see and perceive, to hear and understand. Remove every impediment to our faith. Let Your Word bring forth lasting fruit in our lives. Amen.

Edward A. Engelbrecht, The Lutheran Study Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 1663.

Mark 4:1–9 (ESV)

The Parable of the Sower

4 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ² And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³ “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” ⁹ And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The parable of the sower helps explain why not everyone who hears the Gospel believes it and bears the fruit of faith. Such failures are seemingly more common today than ever, even among traditionally Christian peoples. At the same time, the Word of the Lord accomplishes His good purpose. It works miracles in lives where the Spirit has His way. 

I pray: Lord, continue to plant Your Word richly in us. Remove the stones and weeds that impede Your Word, and thereby bring forth a harvest of mature fruit in all who believe. Amen.

Edward A. Engelbrecht, The Lutheran Study Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 1662.

Mark 3:31–35 (ESV)

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers

³¹ And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. ³² And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” ³³ And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” ³⁴ And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵ For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

Loyalty to God takes precedence over loyalty to blood relations. This is still hard to hear today, as the temptation to put relationships with family and friends above God can be overwhelming. But the Lord wants us to have both relationships, and have them as healthy as they can be. He stands first in our lives because He placed Himself last, to humbly bear our sins and make us children of God.

I pray: Lord, thank You for the privilege of being included in Your eternal family. Keep us in this faith and life forever. Amen.

Edward A. Engelbrecht, The Lutheran Study Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 1661.

Mark 3:22–30 (ESV)

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

²² And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” ²³ And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. ²⁷ But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. 

²⁸ “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, ²⁹ but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰ for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Those who refuse to recognize Jesus as God’s Son and acknowledge His works as manifestations of the Holy Spirit remain under the dominion of Satan. But Jesus has overcome Satan. Those baptized into Christ have received not only Him but also His promised Holy Spirit.

I pray:  Lord, preserve us from the power of Satan. Remove any lingering doubts we might harbor, that we might be confident in the fact that You have bound him and rescued us from his dominion. Amen.

Edward A. Engelbrecht, The Lutheran Study Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 1661.