Mark 4:33-34 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
 
DO you want to get to know Jesus really well? Then become a disciple. What does a disciple do? He or she spends a good amount of time with Jesus.
    A disciple’s goal in Israel was to become like his rabbi. That’s why Jesus had many special teaching times with his disciples. He gave them the opportunity to know what Jesus knows. They would also learn how to do what Jesus does. To answer Jesus’ command to, “Follow me.” the disciples engaged with him mentally, emotionally and physically. Disciples literally followed a rabbi as closely as they could. They crowded around him as he walked. They sat or stood close to him as he taught. They were attentive. They asked questions. Jesus clarified his parables’ meanings. He is the Teacher who wanted to be sure his students learned the true meaning of his lessons. The Teacher wanted his students to have perfect scores on their “Disciples’ Test”! Their disciplined following eventually caused Jesus’ way to become their way.
    How do you become a disciple? You first sit and listen. You must literally sit with his Word and come to know God’s history of his work in the world. Learning God’s story is absolutely necessary for you to understand his work in your life. The Word transforms your mind when you learn of those who sacrificed and suffered to make God known to neighbors and to nations. You learn why God formed Israel. You understand why the LORD blessed Israel and why he cursed his chosen nation. God’s story teaches you what God detests and what he loves. Knowing these things with ears to hear will help you become a disciplined follower of the Lord God.
    A disciple also sits with others to ask questions and learn the Bible. It’s essential you engage in effective Bible study. The Bible has too much information to learn on your own. You will help others learn what you know. They will help you learn what they know. Disciplined disciples help make disciples.
    Disciples also listen to God’s Word. Today you can listen in any number of ways. Yu can listen to preaching in church and teachings on television and on the radio. Podcasts and websites are available with some of the world’s best teachers free of charge. God’s Word is everywhere. You just need to make an effort to hear it.
    You might say, “That’s too much.” But it’s not. If you did these things for 30 to 60 minutes a day, you will learn a great deal. And besides, how could you get too much of the eternal God? How could you get too much of the God who paid the extravagant cost or your sin with his life and now freely offers you eternal life?
    To be Jesus’ disciple requires discipline to follow him as he commands. Good discipline always strengthens. Commit to your Lord, so you will be a disciplined follower of the Lord of your life.  
      

Mark 4:30-32 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”
 
HAVE you ever been around a mustard plant? They’re not so big. As a boy on the farm I would walk the grain and hay fields to pull up mustard plants and put them in a bag. It was the only way 60 years ago to remove the weed and save the crop. So what, then, is Jesus talking about here? How can a mustard seed grow into a huge plant with branches for birds to perch?  
    The King of the Kingdom is talking about Kingdom of God growing. The kingdom is not a worldly kingdom. It is a supernatural kingdom, where the natural becomes greater than we can know. When Jesus stepped into the world, he taught with many examples to inform us God’s kingdom is a spiritual domain. For example he tells the Pharisee Nicodemus in John 3:5 “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.”  This is our supernatural birth into Jesus’ resurrection.
    Jesus also revealed the kingdom’s supernatural power when he transformed blindness to sight, lameness to strength, leprosy to wholeness, sin to forgiveness and death to life. Jesus’ mustard seed parable expressed God’s kingdom would begin small and then grow to care for all his people.
    That growing process occurs each day. It began with one man – God in the flesh – to teach the kingdom. He expanded it through his disciples. Then the Spirit gave the apostles God’s power to grow the kingdom. From the small seed of 12 men, the gospel has branched into the world. One day all kingdom citizens will be in the eternal kingdom of rest and pleasure at the Tree of Life: Revelation 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
    This parable is also a good illustration of your faith experience. Faith is very small when the Spirit plants it into your soul. He then guides your faith to grow as he uses true teachers, his Word and your experiences to understand his supernatural work in your life. At first this is not easy to know. But the Spirit grows your heart to know God, to love God, to worship God, to trust his mercy and to know his grace. You will grow to know your new life is truly born again. Ane you will know rest and shade in Jesus’ eternal protection.  

Mark 4:26-29 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
 
GOD often used a crop’s harvest as an image of his redemptive plan. When he brought Israel from Egypt he commanded, “Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field. (Exodus 23:16) The feast would celebrate God’s provision of food and remind Israel of God gathering them from bondage.
    The Bible also concludes with God’s harvest: Revelation 14:15 “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” God’s providence set the time for the Exodus harvest. And he has set the time for the final harvest.
    Jesus’ parable describes God’s harvest as a partnership with mankind. One sows the seed. He is God’s chosen messenger to tell the gospel. The gospel will grow in saving power and authority because the Lord has directed it to do so. The seed sower can control how much seed he sows. But he cannot control the growth. He can help nurture the plant with water and nutrition. But the plant’s growth is in God’s design.  
    This has been God’s pattern throughout history. The LORD God has chosen such people as the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles and the church to sow the seeds of his Word. The Spirit has planted the gospel’s redemptive seed into many hearts. He has empowered the chosen to sow and the faith seeds to grow. God has directed the sowing. God has empowered the growing.
     What happens when the plant has a full kernel? Many kernels become food for people and animals. Some kernels become new seed for new plants and ultimately a new harvest.
    This is the Christian life, isn’t it? When the Spirit awakens you to the gospel message, you become a new seed in God’s kingdom. He plants you into the good soil of his Word. The Spirit grows you in faith to become a kingdom kernel. You sow seed to plant new truth into new soil. You tell your friends. You tell your children. The Kingdom of God grows through you.
    Then what? God has chosen the harvest time. One day God will harvest your life from earth into eternal life. But unlike the annual grain crops, you don’t know when that will be.
    What do you say? Is Jesus’ truth planted, growing and maturing in you? Are you ready for the harvest? Are you partnering with God to help others be ready? 
​

Mark 4:24-25 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you – and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”
 
ANY item you own that you don’t use is useless. For example, someone gives you a new bicycle, but you never ride it. You leave it in the house because you want to protect it from the rain. You don’t want anyone to steal it. And you certainly don’t want any flat tires or broken pedals. It would be too much effort to care for and use the bicycle. You forget the bicycle can help you quickly travel to the market to get some small items for lunch. The bicycle may also help you get to your work more quickly or even allow you to have work. The work will allow you to buy more things you can use. Perhaps you could get a second bicycle for another member of your household. The bicycle can be a form of strengthening your body, too. In short, the bicycle can help you have a more satisfying life. But the useful gift with so much potential to help your life becomes useless because you don’t use it.
   Faith is God’s glorious gift to you. Carefully read Peter’s words here: Acts 3:16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see. The Holy Spirit had given faith to Peter and the apostles to believe and do all the Master had taught them. Peter and John prayed healing for a crippled beggar in the temple. The Spirit gave the man new strength. The apostles and the man did not earn what they received. The Lord God gave to them. Peter and John used the gift. The healed man now had the option: would he use his new legs or not?
   What do you think? Surely he put those legs to good use. Why wouldn’t he? God had done a remarkable work in his life. By faith he was a new creation. Perhaps the Spirit used him to preach God’s Word and to heal others as he had been healed.
   We know the apostles did as Jesus taught. Acts and the epistles are evidence of their useful faith that expanded the church and laid the foundations of our knowledge in Jesus today.
   Thus, we ask, has the faith Jesus gave to you become useful for your life? That’s what Jesus wants for you. It’s simple to understand. The more we use our faith, the more effective we will be for his kingdom. “Consider carefully what you hear.” Use your faith well to show Jesus is King. Then watch your faith and his kingdom grow. 

Mark 4:21-23 He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? 22 For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
 
SEVERAL years ago Susan Boyle, one of Britain’s top recording artists from 2010-2020 appeared as an unknown singer on the television program “Britian’s Got Talent”. She was a very ordinary  woman in her late 40’s from a simple background in Scotland. For nearly 30 years Susan had attempted to have record companies recognize her talent. But everyone said, “Not good enough.” Her dream to sing as Elaine Paige, one of Britain’s top show tune singers, seemed out of touch.
   But she persevered and found a new opportunity on that highly rated program. Before she sang that night, all in the audience seemed to laugh at the middle-aged woman with an impossible dream. But when Susan began to sing, the first notes revealed to the world God had given her an extraordinary voice. All were stunned with her powerful, emotional rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream”.
   That night, Susan Boyle’s light was no longer hidden. Many had tried to hide her talent. Now millions of ears have heard. To date, this performance on YouTube has over 24 million views. Susan’s albums have broken sales records. Susan’s one-hidden talent has amassed a financial fortune. In all those years of rejection, Susan learned she was not responsible for the audience’s rejection. She was responsible to keep using her gift.  
   For centuries, the Father had hidden his full gospel message from the world. About 2,000 years ago, the Father sent the Son onto the world’s stage. Few considered him. He began in a manger in Bethlehem. The Son of God grew and labored in obscurity for 30 years. Then one day Jesus burst forth with his salvation song: Matthew 4:16 “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” 17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
   The ordinary-looking man from Nazareth began to speak, and his voice changed the world. The authorities wanted to keep him hidden. They even killed him. But out of the tomb came the Resurrection and the Life. Then the Spirit touched the apostles. God’s gospel became the Spirit’s sweet song from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Countless ordinary people have become extraordinary witnesses of Jesus’ freedom song.
   You’ve heard it sung. Are you an extraordinary person who carries Jesus’ light? What do you do with the Lord’s gift? Do you keep it hidden because your friends and relatives think the Light has no value? Are you frustrated because you’ve attempted for many years to be Jesus’ redeeming voice. But too many people have said, “Not good enough.” Do you want to be quiet? Or are you passionate to persevere through all obstacles?
   The world craves meaning. Stand up and sing the song the Spirit has given you. God has prepared many ears to receive his message. He wants you to keep singing.
   Remember, you are not responsible for the response from the “audience”. You are responsible for your response to your Lord.
 

Mark 4:1-9 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.” 9 Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
 
NOTE Jesus’ teaching begins with, “Listen!” And it concludes with, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Listening to God’s Word with ears to hear will establish in you deep roots of an effective faith. Let’s listen as Jesus continued to teach how this would happen in Mark 4:10-20: First, the Twelve asked him about the parables. When you don’t understand God’s Word, you ask people who know the Bible. You know who they are when you hear and see that their lives effectively witness Jesus’ words. Seek understanding in good soil. Grow deep roots.
   Jesus continued with some very abrupt words: V 11 “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that, ‘“they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”  Jesus quoted a prophecy from Isaiah foretelling of unbelief in the world. Understand Jesus’ teachings are God’s favor to enrich your life. Be a believer. Jesus wanted his disciples’ ears to hear, perceive and understand, so they would be forgiven, free in Christ’s redemption.
   V 13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word.” Listen, disciples. Count the seed as precious and life-giving from the Lord of Life.  
   V 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Your roots will grow deeper when you reject Satan. Cancel old habits and temptations that steal God’s power from his Word. V 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Your roots grow deep when you see trouble and trials as a faith strengthening exercises. Many new “converts” to Christ exclaim their salvation with joy. But a few months later they have no interest. V 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Hear Jesus’ warnings and be deeper in him.
   Then Jesus promises the reward of deep roots. V 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop – thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”
   Jesus wants you to know faith’s rewards. We’ll read more of this as we continue. Grow deeper into him. Live out his word to produce effective kingdom fruit. Know now the rewards of your eternal life. 

Mark 3:22-27 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” 23 So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.”
 
THE teachers of the law had traveled a long way to condemn Jesus. Could they not see he was doing God’s glorious work to confront and defeat the demons? Those teachers had not learned such grievous Scriptures from the law as Moses’ condemnation of some in Israel: Deuteronomy 32:17 They sacrificed to demons, which are not God – gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear. 18 You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth. Israel had rejected God’s gracious blessings for them. Satan had infected Israel’s heart, mind and soul. They sought pleasure outside of God’s camp. And God removed his presence from them. The Evil One continually divided and destroyed the nation God had called into his Promise.  
   Israel’s leaders tied up God’s Spirit and robbed God’s house of his blessings. Israel was literally divided into two nations. Israel, the nation God wanted to be his house on earth became a divided house scattered in the winds of idolatry. The teachers of the law were as blind to the devil as their ancestors. Pray to God you see the lies and desire the truth.
   Jesus’ reply quickly discredited the teachers’ charges. It made no sense to claim Satan’s power was driving out the demons he had sent to possess God’s people.
   Satan’s claims are always nonsense. Look to the world and see that every temptation leads to destruction. God has given us his word to deliver us from the Evil One. Know the Bible. Use it to drive Satan from your life. Jesus has shown us God’s true Word will keep his house together.

Mark 3:20-21 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for the authorities were saying, “He is out of his mind.” 
 
Mark 3:32-35  A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” 33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. 34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whover does God’s work is my brother and sister and mother.”
 
YOU likely put a high priority on family life. You desire to nurture and care for those in your home and those closely related to you. God wants you to do so.
   Jesus’ family may have traveled from Nazareth to Capernaum to get him. Or perhaps they were following his ministry. They saw and heard that Jesus was in trouble. We’ll see in the next verses that people accused him of being of the devil and being out of his mind. In addition, Jesus and the disciples hadn’t eaten. Jesus’ family wanted to take him home.
   That was good of them from a human point of view. But Jesus was on a mission. He was not concerned for his safety or his hunger. After all, he had confronted his worst enemy, the devil, for 40 days in the Jordan wilderness. He is God’s Son and human limitations will not stop him from doing God’s will.
   Jesus then turned his family’s desire to help him into an opportunity to define and exalt himself. With the question, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he focused on his work to save the lost. Jesus confirms the Son of Man’s authority to draw all people unto himself. “Whover does God’s work is my brother and sister and mother.”
   This is a very radical teaching to the crowd! Imagine the people knew only oppressive rule from the Romans and restrictive rule of the Pharisees. They knew those rulers looked down on them and wanted no association with them. They ruled with threats and bitterness. Their commands were to exalt and prosper themselves.
   But Jesus of Nazareth, could heal. He could stir hearts with the truth. The crowds came because they had heard of his compassion. This remarkable man had now said that he was one of the family!
   Jesus’ words were his reality. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
    Do you know Jesus as your brother? Do you allow him to serve you with his restoring, renewing gospel? Are you willing to join with him into an active, loving relationship to serve others in his name? How affirming and good it is to know the Lord of Life is your Brother in heaven, leading you into his love. 

Mark 3:13-15 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve – designating them apostles –  that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons.
 
IT was Draft Day in the Kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus is the General Manager, the owner and the head coach. He “drafted” 12 young men who were about the age of a college athlete. Jesus wanted these men of various skills and abilities to form a world-changing team. They came to him with full anticipation of something new and wonderful for their lives.  
   Mark tells us they were Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. (Mark 3:16-19) They are ordinary men with no particular reputation. He drafted them from fishing boats, the streets, a tax collector’s booth and radical zeal. He calls them from obscurity into an eternal purpose.
   Then the training began. As a drafted athlete receives professional training to become an effective player, these new apostles must submit to the new authority in their lives. They needed to learn Jesus’ strategies to identify, confront and defeat the Evil One. Their preaching must be true. Their commands to the demons must be spoken in the Spirit’s authority. They must exercise and strengthen their faith, confident of their skills. The training would be intense. For three years they would walk with the Master, listening, watching and doing the Father’s work in the Spirit’s power.
   The gospels reveal that Jesus’ teachings and prophecies sometimes confused them. Still Jesus kept teaching them, guiding them to the day he would commission them to their purpose: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20a) Eleven of those 12 men became the foundation of the church that ministers the gospel to you today.
   You could say that on the day Jesus called those he wanted, he was also calling you. As you claim Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you can thank your Lord he trained and commanded his apostles to go to the nations. From that first trained team, the gospel has come to you. Now it’s your turn to continue the work.
 
One Question: Why did Jesus choose Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him? It seems to waste a space on Jesus’ team to choose one who would betray him. But, in God’s plan to save you and countless others, there needed to be one close to Jesus who would reject and betray him. We may see it as unfair that Jesus would purposefully call one to betray him. The ultimate unfairness, though, is that God so loved you, a sinner, that Jesus, the only one without sin, would die for you.
   With deep gratitude, thank God for your salvation. Be well-trained in his truth. Be secure in the knowledge God wants you. Even when you don’t understand, remain in Jesus, and he will continue to teach you.