Dailies ~ Advent – in His Word
December 9, 2019
Luke 9 has a lot of depth! We read
about the 12 disciples being sent out to do good works, to heal and cast out
demons in Jesus’ name. Then the lessons go
on to show the ability of people to believe and cast out demons in Jesus’ name
even if they were not the 12. They are told to travel light, and pretty much to
not worry but shake the dust off their boots.
The author shares some miracles that
Jesus did plus the three disciples were blessed to see Him transfigured before
them an to hear God’s voice share who He really was. God told them to hear him,
to listen to Him. As I read this and thought of yesterday, I realized that God
has this point to my listening ears hearing what they do. We need to listen to
what God is saying through the pastors, the Bible study or lie group leaders. When Jesus sent the disciples out to the people,
He expected them to share the messages that He had been sharing with them.
Repent of your sins, and also to heal them and teach them to not sin anymore.
He wanted us to share the same story. We will read more about this on another
day.
For today read over the words Jesus spoke
when he was talking with the groups as a whole and to the disciples
specifically. Think about the way He cared for the people and the instructions
He gave. Before He sent them, He made sure they knew who He was, He was certain
they knew what to say, and what to do, and when they came back, He had them share
what they did. Jesus held his guys accountable or their actions but He also
shared with insight to the Kingdom of God via the Holy Spirit that was beyond
what a man could have known.
Heavenly Father, help us to listen, to
hear beyond our humanness and hear what Your Spirit says to ours today. In
Jesus’ name amen.
One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them
power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. 2 Then he
sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 “Take
nothing for your journey,” he instructed them. “Don’t take a walking
stick, a traveler’s bag, food, money, or even a change of clothes. 4 Wherever
you go, stay in the same house until you leave town. 5 And if a
town refuses to welcome you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show
that you have abandoned those people to their fate.”
6 So they began their circuit
of the villages, preaching the Good News and healing the sick.
7 When Herod Antipas, the
ruler of Galilee,[c] heard about everything Jesus was
doing, he was puzzled. Some were saying that John the Baptist had been raised
from the dead. 8 Others
thought Jesus was Elijah or one of the other prophets risen from the dead.
9 “I beheaded John,” Herod
said, “so who is this man about whom I hear such stories?” And he kept trying
to see him.
10 When the apostles returned,
they told Jesus everything they had done. Then he slipped quietly away with
them toward the town of Bethsaida. 11 But the
crowds found out where he was going, and they followed him. He welcomed them and
taught them about the Kingdom of God, and he healed those who were sick.
12 Late in the afternoon the
twelve disciples came to him and said, “Send the crowds away to the nearby
villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is
nothing to eat here in this remote place.”
13 But Jesus said, “You
feed them.”
“But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they
answered. “Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole
crowd?” 14 For there were about 5,000
men there.
Jesus replied, “Tell them to sit down in groups of about
fifty each.” 15 So the
people all sat down. 16 Jesus
took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them.
Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the
disciples so they could distribute it to the people. 17 They all
ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve
baskets of leftovers!
18 One day Jesus left the
crowds to pray alone. Only his disciples were with him, and he asked
them, “Who do people say I am?”
19 “Well,” they replied, “some
say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other
ancient prophets risen from the dead.”
20 Then he asked them, “But
who do you say I am?”
Peter replied, “You are the Messiah[d] sent from God!”
21 Jesus warned his disciples
not to tell anyone who he was. 22 “The Son
of Man[e] must suffer many terrible
things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading
priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third
day he will be raised from the dead.”
23 Then he said to the
crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own
way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 24 If you
try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for
my sake, you will save it. 25 And what
do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? 26 If anyone
is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person
when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy
angels. 27 I tell you the truth, some
standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God.”
28 About eight days later
Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray. 29 And as he
was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became
dazzling white. 30 Suddenly,
two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared and began talking with Jesus. 31 They were
glorious to see. And they were speaking about his exodus from this world, which
was about to be fulfilled in Jerusalem.
32 Peter and the others had
fallen asleep. When they woke up, they saw Jesus’ glory and the two men
standing with him. 33 As Moses
and Elijah were starting to leave, Peter, not even knowing what he was saying,
blurted out, “Master, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three
shelters as memorials[f]—one for you, one for Moses, and one
for Elijah.” 34 But even
as he was saying this, a cloud overshadowed them, and terror gripped them as
the cloud covered them.
35 Then a voice from the cloud
said, “This is my Son, my Chosen One.[g] Listen to him.” 36 When the
voice finished, Jesus was there alone. They didn’t tell anyone at that time
what they had seen.
37 The next day, after they
had come down the mountain, a large crowd met Jesus. 38 A man in
the crowd called out to him, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, my only
child. 39 An evil spirit keeps
seizing him, making him scream. It throws him into convulsions so that he foams
at the mouth. It batters him and hardly ever leaves him alone. 40 I begged
your disciples to cast out the spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”
41 Jesus said, “You
faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you and put up with you?” Then
he said to the man, “Bring your son here.”
42 As the boy came forward,
the demon knocked him to the ground and threw him into a violent convulsion.
But Jesus rebuked the evil[h] spirit and healed the boy. Then
he gave him back to his father. 43 Awe
gripped the people as they saw this majestic display of God’s power.
While everyone was marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus
said to his disciples, 44 “Listen
to me and remember what I say. The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the
hands of his enemies.” 45 But they
didn’t know what he meant. Its significance was hidden from them, so they
couldn’t understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.
46 Then his disciples began
arguing about which of them was the greatest. 47 But Jesus
knew their thoughts, so he brought a little child to his side. 48 Then he
said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf[i] welcomes me, and anyone who
welcomes me also welcomes my Father who sent me. Whoever is the least among you
is the greatest.”
49 John said to Jesus,
“Master, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to
stop because he isn’t in our group.”
50 But Jesus said, “Don’t
stop him! Anyone who is not against you is for you.”
51 As the time drew near for
him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 He sent
messengers ahead to a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival. 53 But the
people of the village did not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to
Jerusalem. 54 When James and John saw
this, they said to Jesus, “Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them
up[j]?” 55 But Jesus
turned and rebuked them. 56 So they
went on to another village.
57 As they were walking along,
someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58 But Jesus replied, “Foxes
have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place
even to lay his head.”
59 He said to another
person, “Come, follow me.”
The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and
bury my father.”
60 But Jesus told him, “Let
the spiritually dead bury their own dead![l] Your duty is to go and preach
about the Kingdom of God.”
61 Another said, “Yes, Lord, I
will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.”
62 But Jesus told him, “Anyone
who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of
God.”
Teresa M. Wilson