Gtcotr/ss113008
I cannot describe to the importance of knowing the stories and the characters of the Bible. Like some of you, I too was raised with a Bible in the home and had a general knowledge of God. I went to Sunday school and Church some Sundays and learned many wonderful things. However, it was not until I dedicated my life to the Lord that I decided to get more serious about the Bible.
Soon after my rededication I became both committed and faithful to memorize scriptures and follow a daily devotional. Since then I have learned quite a number of scriptures which I still draw on today and I continue to truly benefit from that commitment. I am never without a Word to direct me, shine a light on my path or give me peace. Each scripture is like an arrow in my quiver, a smooth rock in my shepherd’s bag or a fresh cup of water to pour into a thirsty soul. I would not take anything for the Word of God at my command.
At one point however, I noticed that I knew so many scriptures and stories which were powerful in and of themselves, but were yet somehow disconnected from one another. I could heap scripture after scripture onto any problem and drop verse after verse into conversations on virtually any subject and rattle them off with speed and accuracy. It was truly amazing for those who heard me, amazing but not life changing, and I am in the life changing business.
Some of you will understand what I am going to say because you experience this phenomenon as well … I see truth like pictures in my mind. And, if I can find the words to describe that truth, it seems to bring clarity and understanding both to me and to others. Jesus also did this when He used parables to describe a principle of God … like the parable of the man who sowed seeds in different types of soil. These comparisons help us to grasp parallel truths.
Anyway, although I had command of hundreds of individual scripture verses and could build a solid wall for God or against the devil by using each scripture as a block laid securely, nonetheless something was missing. Like I said, my command of the scriptures was always amazing but not always life changing.
After seeking God as to what was missing, one day I saw, as it were, a slice of bread with globs of mayonnaise dropped onto the bread. These globs represented me dropping scriptures on lives and into situations. I guess I was building a sandwich and I guess maybe you are that sandwich. Globs of mayonnaise! What did this mean?
It was not difficult to realize what needed to be done … I needed to smooth out the globs and spread the mayonnaise to more gracefully cover these slices of life. How could I do this? It came to me in an instant. I had spent so much time seeking and searching for scriptures to support the revelation I had received concerning salvation, water baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, healing, prosperity, deliverance, persecution, marriage, child raising, business, and most every other subject imaginable.
I had globs and globs of scriptures I could drop onto anyone’s life situation. However I often had too much in one place and either did not take the time or did not have the grace to spread these out with any greater affect. What did I need? I needed continuity and a broader approach to God’s Word.
More than just knowing what God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit said, I needed to know why They said it, what the surrounding conditions were and what came both before and afterwards. The only way I could get this frame of reference was to actually read the whole story, as it had been written, not as a quest to prove any one doctrinal theory, but as the story of God and man.
So, that’s just what I did. Without checking off my three or four chapters here and there, like the Bible reading plans I had done before: So many chapters from the Old Testament, Psalms and the New Testament. Rather I just sat and read the Bible like a novel.
What I found was the marvelous story of life in the books of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Then there was Joshua, and Judges and Ruth and Samuel, Esther, Job, Jonah, Daniel and so on.
Then the New Testament! The life of Christ in the Gospels, the Church of Acts, the Epistles … Oh my, what stories!
With these things in mind, turn with me to:
Psalms 78 NLT
1 ¶ O my people, listen to my teaching. Open your ears to what I am saying,
2 for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
3 stories we have heard and know, stories our ancestors handed down to us.
4 We will not hide these truths from our children but will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD. We will tell of His power and the mighty miracles He did.
5 For He issued his decree to Jacob; He gave his law to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children,
6 so the next generation might know them—even the children not yet born—that they in turn might teach their children.
7 So each generation can set its hope anew on God, remembering His glorious miracles and obeying His commands.
We are directed by God to teach our children hidden lessons from the well known stories of the Bible. The only way we can accomplish this directive is to actually know these stories. More than just learning or memorizing scriptures which we can use on command, we need to know the story into which that scripture is set. In this way we pass on to the next generation not only the hidden lessons we can teach but we also introduce them to their opportunity to gain personal revelation from God for themselves.
So, without further ado, lets find our hidden lesson for this morning in the story of Jesus as told in the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark.
Based on Mark’s account of the Gospel, when it came time for Jesus to begin His public ministry He traveled from Galilee to the place where John was baptizing in the Jordan. We know this to be near the old city of Jericho. Jesus was baptized by John who witnessed the heavens opening and the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus in the form of a dove. John heard a voice from heaven saying, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Immediately the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness where for forty days He was tempted by satan and was with the wild beasts while angels ministered to Him. Afterwards Jesus returned to the Galilee preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, encouraging all to repent and believe the Good News.
It was in the Galilee by the Sea where Jesus called His first disciples to follow Him declaring to Peter and his brother, Andrew, that He would make them to become fishers of men.
One Sabbath day Jesus went to the synagogue in Capernaum and began to teach. Everyone there was amazed to hear the Word taught with such authority. Suddenly a man possessed with an unclean spirit interrupted the synagogue and demanded that Jesus stop teaching and leave them alone. Jesus forcefully commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man and the man was violently delivered. The news spread quickly throughout the region.
When Jesus left the synagogue that Sabbath day He went to Peter’s house where Peter’s mother-in-law was sick with a fever. Jesus took her hand and lifted her up … immediately she was healed and began to serve the guests. That evening, when the sun had set, after Sabbath had ended, the whole city gathered at the door of Peter’s house and watched Jesus as He healed and delivered many who were sick or possessed with demon spirits.
How was Jesus always able to heal and deliver so many? He had a renewable source of power --- Our Hidden Lesson For Today --- The Power of Prayer! When Jesus finished ministering to all of those that evening no doubt He was tired and well spent. So …
Mark 1:35 The next morning Jesus awoke long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray. (NLT)
You see, Jesus had just come from forty days of prayer in the wilderness of Judea by which He was strengthened to minister to so many and meet their desperate needs. Now, before continuing His mission to the other cities and towns throughout the region of Galilee, He finds it necessary to renew His strength once again.
His strength came from prayer. We find this hidden lesson confirmed in a later story of the Bible from the 9th Chapter of Mark.
Mark 9 NLT
28 Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, "Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?"
29 Jesus replied, "This kind can be cast out only by prayer."
Perhaps these disciples were powerless because they were prayer-less. It could be that they believed they had received some semi-magical power apart from a dependency upon God. Evil spirits are quick to discern spiritual complacency and a lack of moral power which is its natural result. Your problems know you and how you really are just as they knew Jesus in Mark 1:34 or Paul in Acts 19:15.
Later in ministry Jesus stands ready to raise Lazarus from the dead and shows that He is prepared for this miracle when in John 11 He says: "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me, and I know that You always hear Me …”
Jesus simply went from the place of prayer to the place of prayer and in between He worked miracles.
Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength.
Find your new strength and renew your power in Prayer. And, discover more Hidden Lessons for yourself as you read the Stories of the Bible. Commit today and change your life forever!
