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Exorcism: devotion

Dr. Andrew C S Koh

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Prayer

Heavenly Father, we praise You and thank You because You are worthy to be praised. You are Holy and righteous, perfect and pure. We listen to You in humility and obedience, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Setting

Jesus taught in a synagogue on the Sabbath in Capernaum. Synagogue in Greek means a place of gathering. After the destruction of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem, the exilic Jews built synagogues in Babylon as gathering places to meet and practice Judaism.  After the exile, the Jews continued to build synagogues throughout Israel. The elements of a synagogue service include prayer, worship, and teaching from the Old Testament.

Mark 1:21-28

21 Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. 22 And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘’Be quiet, and come out of him!” 26 And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. 27 Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, ‘’What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority, He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” 28 And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.’’ 

Mark 1:21-28

Commentary

Jesus taught, preached, and exorcised a demoniac man in the synagogue on a Sabbath day.

Sabbath is between sundown on Friday and sundown on Saturday.  The Jews were not allowed to do any work during the Sabbath. The Jewish leaders accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath because He healed the sick and exorcised demons on the Sabbath.

A demonized man manifested when Jesus taught with authority. 

The demon knew Jesus of Nazareth by name and called Him the Holy One of God. It trembled with fear at the sight of Jesus because He was God.

Jesus commanded the demon to come out of the man and when it didso, the man had a convulsion.

The people were amazed and immediately His fame spread throughout Galilee. Note the word ‘’immediately’’.

Application

The demon knew Jesus’ identity and called Him Jesus of Nazareth and the Holy One of God.

The demon was terrified at the sight of Jesus because He was God. 

Jesus taught with authority because He was, and is God. He did not have to study the Bible because He is the author of the Bible, 2 Timothy 3:16.

2 Timothy 3:16, Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us a glimpse of Jesus preaching, teaching, and exorcising a demonized man in a synagogue in Galilee 2000 years ago. Thank You for the testimony of Mark, a disciple of Peter, a cousin of Barnabas, and a missionary worker, who gave us this fast-paced book. Thank You for the blessings You give us, In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Dr Andrew C S Koh

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Parable of the sower: devotion

Dr Andrew C S Koh

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Prayer

Heavenly Father, bless us as we listen to Your word and be transformed. May the soil of our heart will be fruitful so that Your word will be able to take roots deeply and produce fruits. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Setting

Jesus taught by the Sea of Galilee. In the last chapter, Jesus’ mother and half-brothers thought He was mad. The Jews accused Him of being demon-possessed. Now He spoke to the multitude from a boat, as a floating pulpit, teaching them in parables. A parable or parabola in Greek is an earthly story, usually an agricultural story, to explain a spiritual truth. It is a worldly story with a heavenly meaning. One-third of Jesus’ teachings were in parables.

Mark 4:3-9

3 Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds of the air came and devoured it. 5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. 7 And some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased, and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred. 9 And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Commentary

A sower went out to sow seeds. Some seeds fell on the wayside, trodden by feet and eaten by birds. Some seeds fell on stony ground, and grew immediately but dried up just as quickly. Some seeds fell among thorns, grew but choked by thorns, and yielded no crop. Some seeds fell on good ground, grew healthily, and became fruitful.

The seed is the word of God, the gospel message. The sower could be Jesus, the disciples, or Christians,m. This is the sower of the seed of the gospel message. The soil is the human heart. The human heart is deceitful and unfruitful, Jeremiah 17:9.

Jeremiah 17:9, ‘’The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?’’ There are four types of human hearts.

Application

When you preached the gospel, it will land on four kinds of people, represented by the soil types:

1). Wayside, the indifferent heart, where seeds cannot penetrate and are eaten by birds or satan. They are not open to spiritual truth, stubborn, and will not listen.

2). Stony ground, the emotional heart, where there is no depth or roots. They had an initial shallow response but when hardship or suffering comes along, they fell out of faith and stop growing.

3). Thorny ground, the divided heart, a lukewarm Christian. They believed but could not dissociate with the world. The cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for material things made them too busy for God.

4). Good ground, the fruitful heart, who heard, believed, grew, and bear fruits, Psalm 1:3

Evangelism is very rewarding because the return of investment is so incredible. A 30-fold increase is 3000%, a 60-fold increase is 6000%, and a 100-fold increase is 10,000%. There is no earthly investment with such returns!

Psalm 1:3, He shall be like a tree, planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us the key to understanding the parable of the sower. Thank You for showing us that evangelism produces such an incredible return of investment. There is no investment in the world that is able to match a return of this magnitude. Help us to s

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Dr Andrew C S Koh

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Gospel of Mark: devotion

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us hungry hearts and thirsty souls to seek after You. Thank You for the privilege to study Your word. Thank You Holy Spirit for teaching, convicting, correcting, transforming, and training us in righteousness, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Setting

The 4 gospels presented 4 perspectives into the life of Jesus Christ. Matthew presented Jesus as King of the Jews for a Jewish audience, emphasizing what Jesus said. Mark presented Jesus as a Suffering Servant for a Roman audience, emphasizing what Jesus did. Luke presented Jesus as the Perfect Man for a Greek audience, emphasizing what Jesus felt. John presented Jesus as the Son of God for all people, emphasizing who Jesus was. 

The Gospel of Mark is a fast-moving narrative.  Mark used three words, ‘and’, ‘now’, and ‘immediately’ as he moved from one scene to the next. Mark could be referring to himself in Mark 14: 51. Mark was not an eye-witness. Mark relied heavily on the teachings of Peter, his spiritual god-father and mentor, 1 Peter 5:13. Mark was a cousin of Barnabas, Acts 12:12 and Colossians 4:10. He traveled with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey, but abandoned them at Perga, Acts 13:13. Eventually Paul reconciled with Mark, 2 Timothy 4:11. 

Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophets, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you: Malachi 3:1, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight!’” Isaiah 40:3. John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. All the country of Judea and all those of Jerusalem went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins. John was clothed with camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. He preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and loosen. I baptized you in water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.”

Commentary

The Greek word for good news is ‘’evangelion’’ which means Gospel. The Gospel of Mark begins with the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Gospel of Mark did not begin with a genealogy of Christ. Mark presented Christ as the Suffering Servant. In the first-century world, a servant’s genealogy was not important.at all. Malachi prophesied John the Baptist’s arrival as a forerunner of Jesus 400 years before Christ. Isaiah prophesied John the Baptist’s arrival as a forerunner of Jesus, 740 years before Christ.

John was a hairy man who wore a camel hair jacket and a leather belt. He looked like Elijah. John the Baptist was a Nazarite, from birth Luke 1:15. He ate locusts and wild honey. Locusts are carob pods from the carob tree, also called the locust bean or St. John’s bread. He ate wild honey from the dates palm. John the Baptist said, he was not worthy even to be Jesus’ slave. He baptize with a water baptism of repentance but Jesus will baptize with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Malachi 3:1. “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.

Isaiah 40:3, ‘’A voice of one calling in the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’’ 

Luke 1:15, For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.

Application

Jesus Christ’s appearance in Jordan broke the 400 years of prophetic silence between the book of Malachi and the gospel of Mark. God finally spoke in the voice of the God-Man, Jesus Christ, Hebrews 1:1-2. 

Malachi and Isaiah prophesied the coming of John the Baptist as the forerunner of Jesus Christ hundreds of years before the event. The statistical chance for this fulfillment is 1 in 10 to the power of 17. Jesus Christ fulfilled 381 Old Testament prophecies. This proves beyond any doubt that the Bible is the Word of God, 2 Timothy 3:16.

2000 years ago, Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life, and died a cruel death on a Roman cross for our sins. John the Baptist was the messenger and way-maker; Jesus Christ was the Message, and the Way.

Hebrews 1:1-2, God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.

2 Timothy 3:16, Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for the Good News of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Thank You for breaking the 400 years of prophetic silence. Thank You that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. Thank You for salvation, redemption, reconciliation, justification, sanctification, and eternal life, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Dr Andrew C S Koh