Luke 20:7 (KJV) They Could Not Answer

Luke 20:7 (KJV)

And they answered, that they could not tell whence it was.

Interestingly they answered that they could not answer. 

Notice the crowd:

• The chief priests 
• The scribes
• The elders 

These were the people in Israel one would have thought had the answers. The Bible makes it very clear why they could not provide one. They were worried about the consequences of their answer. They reasoned among themselves what would be the repercussions of whatever answer they gave and so chose to give no answer. 

I think this problem plagues more preachers than we imagine. We may have an answer from the Bible, but we are keenly aware that whatever answer we give will come with consequences. 

There is an answer the inquirer is not mature enough to embrace
Paul addresses this issue in Romans and the subject of meat. Though I might know a thing is biblically true, I need to be aware that not all believers have this same level of understanding. 

There is an answer the inquirer does not want to hear
Proverbs, I believe, teaches us to let the inquirer dip out the counsel rather than our just pouring it all over them. If they are not reachable, hold your tongue.

There is an answer that is our opinion and not strictly biblical
And in those cases, we ought to admit it and be flexible if not teachable ourselves.

The best way to address each of these issues is by avoiding one on one counseling and teaching and insist instead on the inquirer getting their answers from the public preaching. If they are not listening there, they will not receive what we might give privately.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and, more than 5300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
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Luke 20:7 (KJV) They Could Not Answer

Luke 19:14 (KJV) Consider the Citizens

Luke 19:14 (KJV)

But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.

Consider the citizens of the parable, their hatred of, and their message after the king
Had no bearing on what the fact was
He did still rule regardless of their hatred and regardless of their message. The will of man is powerless in so many ways. The will is incapable of changing most natural circumstances in life. The will is, however, capable of changing how we respond to, and therefore how we are affected by those circumstances.

Would have been known by the servants

Whose job it was to occupy until the nobleman came home. Each of those servants was responsible to occupy in the midst of this hatred and opposition. Of the ten servants I note two were equally commended though they did not produce equal fruit, one was rebuked basically because he did nothing. I think his crime was not that he produced no fruit but because he had the wrong spirit toward the nobleman. He had let the attitude of the hateful citizens influence him. This world’s hatred of the Lord must never be allowed to enter into our hearts. Nothing is said of the seven others. The majority of the Lord’s servants are average people faithfully serving behind the scenes.

Resulted in their judgment
Their rejection of the nobleman changed nothing but their own fate. I do not suggest that, should our government be evil, we blindly comply. Especially in the United States we have other options. We do not have to rebel. We can stand legally. We can influence with our voices, and we can vote. 

The object and lesson of the parable has a weightier consequence. The nobleman is representative of the Lord Jesus Christ and the judgment at the end is worse than death – it is eternal judgment in hell and then the Lake of Fire. Rejection of Christ in no way changes who or what Jesus is. It does sentence the rejecter to eternal torment.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and, more than 5300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
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Luke 19:14 (KJV) Consider the Citizens

2 Kings 7:16 (KJV) Just One Night

2 Kings 7:16 (KJV)

And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.

Just the day before the situation in the city was unbearable, intolerable.

• Starvation was the norm
• Goodness of people was at an all time low
• Leadership was asked to make choices they were incapable of

No one could have guessed such a turn around would happen. No one believed that in just one night, circumstances would reverse so dramatically. 

This world has always experienced seasons of famine and of plenty. That one cannot see how the situation can change is no indication of whether it will change and when. Today appears to be a period of such wickedness, violence, unreasonableness, and godlessness that it appears to us to be irreversible. This is not the case. I don’t see how, but I am sure God can, if He wills it. 

The Bible tells us that the world will wax worse and worse until that day Jesus comes. Whether we are next door to His return I cannot tell. I know the promise is that He will come quickly. 

What if it would be today? 

Would you be ready?

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and, more than 5300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
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2 Kings 7:16 (KJV) Just One Night

2 Kings 6:1 (KJV) The Sons of the Prophets

2 Kings 6:1 (KJV)

And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.

My interest is in the sons of the prophets and their relationship with Elisha

Among the first times we see them they came out to watch Elijah and Elisha
They witnessed the parting of the Jordan for the two of them and then, when Elijah was taken up, for Elisha alone.

We see them mocking Elisha’s bald head[1]
And a bear comes to devour some of them.

We see them here dwelling with Elisha
Whether it is a college as we think of it is debatable. A man cannot be taught to be a spokesman for the Lord. That is the Lord’s calling. But a man can learn by example to have godly character.[2] That is the value of the college situation. 

Elisha used the sons of the prophets in certain ministry circumstances so that they learned from practical ministry as well as from their own mistakes and seeing how the man of God corrected them.

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[1] I do wish to acknowledge that these were children and not necessarily the sons of the prophets.

[2] Then, even as now, there are bad influences as well as good ones in the dwelling environment. God can and does use both.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and, more than 5300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
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2 Kings 6:1 (KJV) The Sons of the Prophets

2 Kings 5:17-19 (KJV) An Understanding

2 Kings 5:17-19 (KJV)

And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD.
In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon thy servant in this thing.
And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.

Naaman had confessed earlier that he knew that there was no God but in Israel.[1] Though there is some disagreement about this passage I see it this way.
The request for the dirt would have been akin to looking toward the Temple in Jerusalem when in prayer. 
Wherever a Jew found himself, he might pray with his face toward the direction of Jerusalem, thus signifying his heart’s desire to be in that holy place. Naaman desired the dirt as a symbol of his faith in the God of Israel.

The request for pardon ought to be viewed for past transgressions

Rather than understanding this as asking for forgiveness for the sins he intended to continue to do, we can, and I believe should view them as a confession of his transgressions prior to his faith. Whether he would be required to enter the house of Rimmon to worship in the future is unknown. It may have never been an actual requirement. It may have been his practice in the past and he may have here turned from that practice.

Elisha offered peace in the name of the Lord
It must be remembered that Elisha was a prophet, not a priest. This could hardly be viewed as supportive of the Catholic practice of confession to the priest. The prophet’s work often involved speaking on behalf of the Lord. (Having received of the Lord that which to speak.) 

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[1] 2 Kings 5:15 (KJV)
And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and, more than 5300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
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2 Kings 5:17-19 (KJV) An Understanding

Luke 18:1 (KJV) In Praying Don’t Faint

Luke 18:1 (KJV)

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

• Don’t faint in praying 
• In praying don’t faint

It seems to me that the context is clear. 

Jesus spoke this parable to teach His disciples not to faint or to quit praying 

We are too often quitters on God. Believing that we can get our desires and wants through hard work and cleverness, we tend to pay God a bit of lip service and then set about getting what we want our way. Sometimes we don’t want to bring the matter before God because we suspect He might indicate He doesn’t wish us to have the thing we want. 

But there is another way to apply the teaching of Jesus. 

It is in praying that we find the strength not to faint 

Prayer is the most powerful spiritual weapon at our disposal. No wonder that the devil uses even well-meaning Christian people to press us into service and away from sitting at the feet of our Saviour. 

Get on your face before God in prayer. Stay there, don’t faint. The longer you are there the more strength you will find not to faint in prayer.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and, more than 5300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
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Luke 18:1 (KJV) In Praying Don’t Faint

Luke 17:3-4 (KJV) The Onus Is On The Offended

Luke 17:3-4 (KJV)

Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.

God’s plan for dealing with offenses and trespasses really is simple. But notice that Jesus places the onus on the offended, not the offender. As a Christian my focus should be on how I handle being offended and not how the offender is to be handled.

When someone trespasses against us
Rebuke him. 
There will be trespasses. We simply are not perfect. We will be trespassed against. We will trespass against. 

If he repents
Forgive him. 
Most of the time. At least a lot of the time, they will repent. They will turn from their trespass. They will stop doing it. When they stop, forgive them. It’s over. It’s done. 

If he repeats the trespass, and you repeat the rebuke and he repeats the repentance 
Forgive him again and again

And he will trespass against you more than once. He, like you, is human. That he repeats the trespass does not mean it was false repentance. It means he failed to continue in it. If and when he repents, forgive over and over and over. It is the only way any of us can actually survive in a multi-people community. 

If he does not repent, then the Bible teaches in other places how to deal with that

• Remove him from the Fellowswhip of the body
• Refrain as a member of the body from his company 
• Pray that, at some point he will repent

Trust God’s plan. It will work if we will follow it. 

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and, more than 5300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Luke 17:3-4 (KJV) The Onus Is On The Offended

Luke 16:15 (KJV) Justifying Self

Luke 16:15 (KJV)

And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

Of the Pharisees Jesus said these three things:

• They justify themselves before men
• They are highly esteemed among men
• God knows their hearts and it is an abomination in the sight of God

He spoke directly to these Pharisees but is there not a warning for us?

We must be careful not to justify ourselves

I believe we do this too often when we create a culture that in the sight of others appears to be righteous but hides to truth that resides in our hearts. 

We must be careful not to seek the esteem of men
The heart is so desperately wicked that this is a bigger issue than we generally wish to admit. We like our heroes, and it is even better if we are one in someone’s eyes.

We must take care that we have not deceived ourselves into accepting the esteem of men 
Because this will certainly come at the price of being an abomination in the sight of God. 

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and, more than 5300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Luke 16:15 (KJV) Justifying Self

Luke 15:25-32 (KJV) Mercy, Properly Employed

Luke 15:25-32 (KJV)

Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.
And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

One of the most challenging things people deal with is forgiveness. Therefore, one of the most difficult things to communicate to them is mercy. 

The father had done his eldest son absolutely no wrong. He still had all that had ever been promised him. He still maintained the role of the first born. His father had love for him, respect, and appreciation. 

But the eldest was upset with the younger son. Because of his bitterness, he could not see the blessing of his return. He could not understand why his father would celebrate. 

Mercy, properly employed, is a picture of our Heavenly Father’s love for men and women. We ought to practice it even when people do not understand it. Indeed, the fact that they come to ask us to explain it may be the best reason to practice it. 

Could it be there is someone living in the pig pen of unforgiveness who will finally come home because of our mercy toward others?

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and, more than 5300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Luke 15:25-32 (KJV) Mercy, Properly Employed