Mark-1:32-42-esv

For Reading and Meditation:     Lamentations 3:19-27

Now we come to the turning point of the seventy-third psalm - the point where the psalmist takes the first step toward the resolution of his problem. We must not forget that the purpose of this psalm is to show us how the writer solved his problem, so that when we get into the same kind of difficulty we can apply...

For Reading and Meditation:     Hebrews 4:12-16

Yesterday we ended with the case of the woman who said that she didn't know how to mourn, when in reality her problem was she didn't want to mourn. Whenever we are unwilling to face a negative emotion, it implies that we are not in control of it, but that it is in control of us. Christians are often taught to pretend...

Primeval darkness heard the Almighty fiat, "light be," and straightway light was, and the word of the Lord Jesus is equal in majesty to that ancient word of power. Redemption like Creation has its word of might. Jesus speaks and it is done. Leprosy yielded to no human remedies, but it fled at once at the Lord's "I will." The disease exhibited no hopeful signs or tokens of recovery, nature contributed nothing to its own healing, but the unaided word...

Some Christians tend to think of demon-possession as a phenomenon that existed when our Lord was on earth but is no longer present today. That is a misconception that should be corrected. Almost every day's newspaper contains accounts of mindless crimes that give every indication of being demon-inspired. There are certain symptoms of demon-possession that help us to identify it and to distinguish it from mental illness.

First of all, a demon eventually leads his victim into violence...

Then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed from the...

His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men. § But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.This is your hour, and the power of darkness. § You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.The Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. § [ Jesus] … cast out many demons;...