RHM Bible Studies

Hi, Family. I hope it is a Sonshining day where you are! I envision myself on a sunny lakeshore this morning and I can hear the lapping of the water as it meets land. There's a large crowd gathered at the water's edge to listen to Jesus. He is speaking while sitting in a boat because the crowd is so large. Wow! Talk about a creative pulpit! That Jesus was sure a good thinker! No wonder so many people have crowded at the shore to hear Him. They, like myself, want to get as close to the water (Him) as possible. I normally wear a hat outdoors to protect my face from the sun, but today my hat is off to Jesus as I want the full affect of the Son (Jesus) shining on my face. From the boat, Jesus is teaching by parables or comparisons. Jesus often spoke this way comparing spiritual Truth with things of nature or common-life experiences. Jesus begins His teaching with "Listen!" So I'm listening. He says there was a farmer sowing seeds and some fell along the path and were eaten up by birds. Some seeds fell on rocky ground where the soil was thin; they sprang up quickly, but because of little soil, they were withered by the sun because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked the plants so they did not bear grain. Still others fell on good soil. They came up and produced a crop, multiplying 30, 60 or even 100 times. Jesus then said "He who has ears, let him hear." There were many in the crowd that were hostile and opposed to Jesus and because of them, He spoke in parables to secretly reveal His Truth to those whose hearts were with Him, in particular His twelve disciples to whom He wanted to reveal the secret of His Father's Kingdom. Later when they were alone with Jesus, the disciples said something like "so what did that mean exactly, boss?" I can imagine myself doing the same thing. "Jesus, would you run that by me one more time? Ok, this time I'm really listening. Yikes! In fact, I'm saying a prayer right now that I really get it! I hope you don't think I'm dense." Jesus then explained that some seeds are like people who hear the Word of Truth and immediately Satan comes and takes it away from them. Other people receive the Word of Truth, get all excited about it, but then when trouble or persecution comes along, they wither up because they have no root (no faith in Jesus). Then there's those who hear the Word of Truth, but the worries of life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for things of the world choke it out of their heart and they are unfruitful in life. The last type of people are those who hear the Word of Truth, accept it and produce a crop - they use the Word of Truth to make a difference in the world for the Kingdom of God. "Ok, Jesus. I'm a "wanna be" meaning I wanna be like the last type of people who hear what you say to me moment by moment, accept it as Truth and put it into practice. So, a sowing I will go, a sowing I will go, hi-ho for the Lord I know, a sowing I will go!" ~Sheila~ Mk 4:1-20

Labels: Faith, Kingdom, Practice, Produce, Seeds, Sowing, Truth, Unfruitful

Mornin' kinfolks! In my mind today, I am sitting cross-legged on the floor near Jesus and listening to Him speak His Word to me. This is the scene of my Bible study - Jesus has a crowd sitting around Him when His mother Mary and his brothers arrived outside the house He is in. They were very concerned about the well being of Jesus and sought to care for Him, but with all the people gathered there, they stood outside and had someone go in to tell Jesus to come out to them. I can imagine "Hey, dude - like your mom and brothers are outside looking for you!" Jesus had an interesting reply. He said "Who are my mother and my brothers?" "Here are my brother and sister and mother." "Whoever does God's will is my brother, sister and mother." These words of Jesus could have been looked at as flippant, arrogant and self-serving statements. The Truth in the matter is that Jesus, in looking around at all the people, decided to use the occasion as a teachable moment to help the people around Him to understand that each of them were like family to Him. Each one of them who chose to follow Him in doing the Father's will were children of His Father and part of one big eternal family. The story does not tell us if Jesus shared this thought with those around Him and then went out to talk with His earthly mother and brothers, but we do know He cared. Scripture tell us that one of the things near to His heart as He hung on the cross was the care of His mother and He saw her heavy heart as she was losing her son to death. He saw John, His disciple whom He loved next to her and He said "Dear woman, here is your son" and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." The text says from that time on, the disciple took her into his home. This word "Dear" is an indicator that this woman was very special to the heart of Jesus and He looked after her well being. He honored her. The second thought that stands out to me in this passage is that the people around Jesus were teachable. They wanted to learn from Jesus and they took the time to sit at His feet to do so. They were willing to listen and consider something new, not be stuck in a rut! They were on their way to hearing and believing in the new covenant of Christ and becoming new creations - set free from sin and death by the blood Jesus would be shedding on the cross for each of them and us, too, His family members! Jesus knew if He could win their hearts, no longer would they be slaves to the old Law that said they would have to work out their acceptance by God by living out a set of rules. God's will was that they would have freedom in Christ and be accepted into His great eternal family. Whoohoo! I don't know about you, but that freedom feels good to this chick and Jesus has my heart! Oh, and one more bonus - I'm thankful to be a part of such a great family of God! Love to you all! ~Sheila~ Mk 3:31-35; Jn 19:25-27; Lk 22:20; Ro 10; 2 Pe 3:9

Labels: Acceptance, Family, Freedom, New, Teachable, Work

Terrific today to you all! I am continuing in my study from yesterday where we found Jesus and His disciples in the midst of a crowd and the religious leaders accusing Him of being demon-possessed and His power to drive out demons being from satan himself. Jesus replied by asking them "How can satan drive out satan?" He said to them that a kingdom and a house divided cannot stand. If satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand and his end is come. He said no one can enter a strong man's house and take his possessions unless he first ties up a strong man. Then he can rob his house. Jesus told them that all the sins and blasphemes of men can be forgiven, but to blaspheme the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin. So in reading this, I ask myself what distinguishes the work of satan verses the work of the Holy Spirit and it comes down to purpose and motive. Jesus' did not have a goal or purpose of partnering with the devil. We saw this when Jesus was in the desert and had the temptations of satan for 40 days and 40 nights. Jesus opposed satan, resisted him and satan fled from Him. This is not something that characterizes a partnership with the devil! Jesus had shown His power over satan time and time again as temptations were put before Him. In order for Jesus to drive out the demons within a person, He had to overpower satan and give him the boot out of the person. If Jesus had the purpose of partnering with the devil and the devil liked dwelling in the body of someone, why would Jesus work to kick the devil out? Am I the only one that is saying "duh" here? It seems to me that the religious leaders were confused by the newness of Jesus on the scene, not understanding Him and as leaders, they had a heart of responsibility and concern to protect the people. As they were human, there may have been some jealousy involved too, as they were used to being the public awe and Jesus was receiving the public's attention. The religious leaders were human and in fact sinners like us all. Jesus said all their sins and blasphemes could be forgiven, but he warned them that they were on thin ice of eternal sin that could not be forgiven if they in hostility rejected the Holy Spirit and His saving power for man. Through Jesus' death on the cross, satan's power over sin and death was destroyed. Like Jesus, we need to enlighten those around us of His divine power to rescue them from sin and death (the power of satan). As for us Christians, we are each a holy temple where the Holy Spirit dwells and He calls us to not be a house divided by rejecting Him by living contrary to His will for us. He desires that we align our will with His and resist (overpower) the sinful nature of satan within us. He desires that our purpose and goals be aligned with His and together with Him, we can stand doing great things! So ending, I ask "Who's your Daddy?" ~Sheila~ Mk 3:20-30; Mt 4:1-11; Heb 2; Ro 12:1-2; 1 Pe 2:11; 1 Jn 3:8

Labels: choices, Forgiveness, Goals, Motives, Purpose, stand

Good Monday mornin' to you! After completing a study of the pieces of armor needed for spiritual battle with the enemy of Christians, the devil, I am in the book of Mark where we find Jesus and His disciples in the midst of a crowd so busy ministering to the people around them, they didn't even have time to eat. When Jesus' family saw this, they were concerned and sought to take charge to take care of Him as they thought He was out of His mind. They didn't understand Him. The religious leaders who saw Him thought He was demon possessed and that His power was from the devil. Jesus had a reply, but one of the things that speaks to my heart is that even though Jesus was so misunderstood by those around Him, He pulled off of the strength of His oneness with His Father who did understand Him. That gave Him strength to move forward. At that point, not even the disciples fully knew and understood Jesus. They only knew what they had been told and what was happening before them in that present time frame. They had limited information and their interpretation was based on that. But Jesus knew the grand plan beyond that. People often misunderstand people today due to lack of information and because they do not fully know each other. Our modern world of interacting with machines without the human often lends to problems of misunderstandings and misinterpretations as well. Many machines lack the eyes of a human face and often falsely convey moods and intent which can lead to error in interpretation and often becomes a vice satan uses to create questions, doubt, confusion and untruths in the minds of people and can end up causing hurts. As Christians, we need to be on guard to this and perhaps ask questions when in doubt or give the person on the other end grace over doubt. When misunderstood, we can all find strength knowing Dad understands and hence move forward with His plan. Much love to you all! ~Sheila~ Mk 3:20-22; Jer 29:11; 1 Ti 4:14-16; Heb 4:14-16, 10:36-39