Matthew 12 Today Eat & Drink

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Matthew 12:1-50 -
Controversy about the Sabbath
1At about that time Jesus was walking through some grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began breaking off heads of wheat and eating the grain. 2Some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, "Your disciples shouldn't be doing that! It's against the law to work by harvesting grain on the Sabbath."
3But Jesus said to them, "Haven't you ever read in the Scriptures what King David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He went into the house of God, and they ate the special bread reserved for the priests alone. That was breaking the law, too. 5And haven't you ever read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath? 6I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple! 7But you would not have condemned those who aren't guilty if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: 'I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices.' F67 8For I, the Son of Man, am master even of the Sabbath."
9Then he went over to the synagogue, 10where he noticed a man with a deformed hand. The Pharisees asked Jesus, "Is it legal to work by healing on the Sabbath day?" (They were, of course, hoping he would say yes, so they could bring charges against him.)
11And he answered, "If you had one sheep, and it fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn't you get to work and pull it out? Of course you would. 12And how much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Yes, it is right to do good on the Sabbath." 13Then he said to the man, "Reach out your hand." The man reached out his hand, and it became normal, just like the other one. 14Then the Pharisees called a meeting and discussed plans for killing Jesus.
Jesus, God's Chosen Servant
15But Jesus knew what they were planning. He left that area, and many people followed him. He healed all the sick among them, 16but he warned them not to say who he was. 17This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning him:
18 "Look at my Servant, whom I have chosen. He is my Beloved, and I am very pleased with him. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
19 He will not fight or shout; he will not raise his voice in public. 20 He will not crush those who are weak, or quench the smallest hope, until he brings full justice with his final victory. 21 And his name will be the hope of all the world." F68
Jesus and the Prince of Demons
22Then a demon-possessed man, who was both blind and unable to talk, was brought to Jesus. He healed the man so that he could both speak and see. 23The crowd was amazed. "Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?" they wondered out loud.
24But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, "No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, F69 the prince of demons."
25Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, "Any kingdom at war with itself is doomed. A city or home divided against itself is doomed. 26And if Satan is casting out Satan, he is fighting against himself. His own kingdom will not survive. 27And if I am empowered by the prince of demons, F70 what about your own followers? They cast out demons, too, so they will judge you for what you have said. 28But if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 29Let me illustrate this. You can't enter a strong man's house and rob him without first tying him up. Only then can his house be robbed! F71 30Anyone who isn't helping me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me.
31"Every sin or blasphemy can be forgiven—except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which can never be forgiven. 32Anyone who blasphemes against me, the Son of Man, can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come.
33"A tree is identified by its fruit. Make a tree good, and its fruit will be good. Make a tree bad, and its fruit will be bad. 34You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. 35A good person produces good words from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil words from an evil heart. 36And I tell you this, that you must give an account on judgment day of every idle word you speak. 37The words you say now reflect your fate then; either you will be justified by them or you will be condemned."
The Sign of Jonah
38One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, "Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove that you are from God."
39But Jesus replied, "Only an evil, faithless generation would ask for a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so I, the Son of Man, will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. 41The people of Nineveh will rise up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And now someone greater than Jonah is here—and you refuse to repent. 42The queen of Sheba F72 will also rise up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, because she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And now someone greater than Solomon is here—and you refuse to listen to him.
43"When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. 44Then it says, 'I will return to the person I came from.' So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and clean. 45Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation."
The True Family of Jesus
46As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers were outside, wanting to talk with him. 47Someone told Jesus, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to speak to you."
48Jesus asked, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" 49Then he pointed to his disciples and said, "These are my mother and brothers. 50Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!"
FOOTNOTES:F67: Hos 6:6. F68: Isa 42:1-4. F69: Greek Beelzeboul. F70: Greek by Beelzeboul. F71: Or One cannot rob Satan's kingdom without first tying him up. Only then can his demons be cast out. F72: Greek The queen of the south.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

~ Lena’s Journalin’
How hungry are we to harvest souls for the Kingdom of God? How hungry are we to rescue people from the grip of darkness over their lives? How hungry are we to seek to save the lost?
Hungry or already full, thank you?
The special bread reserved for the priests is the word of God. Jesus made us all kings and priests unto God. If we are hungry we will eat His words and live, if not, and we do not eat we die (spiritually speaking, which is the worst of all deaths, for it is eternal and when we die physically we will not live forever with Him). If we are priests unto God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we will eat of that bread. If we do not eat of that bread, are we priests? Priests of whom, or what? Ourselves? Yes, but not unto God. We are all called to be priests unto God.
The Lord wants us to live and die for and with Him. He does not want us to live with a sense of religion or religious values, go to church every once in awhile and live for a lifetime until we go to hell. If we do not read His words when we are not at church and study them with the intent of becoming them, we stay immature and do not grow up spiritually at all. The world gets a hold of us again, feeds us the desire and justification of sin, and entangles us in its webs of deception and lies even against God, His people, the church and ourselves. If we do not have the word combating those lies, we have no truth, and we are living under a shadow of death.
How we bind or tie up evil’s hands that try to work against our lives is by agreeing with and acting with God and His words. When we help God we take power away from the forces of evil and begin to bind them up, rendering their power useless against us.
Say I need to forgive. I agree with God’s word and I just let it go. The enemy now has no power over me to torment my mind, to take me to places with hatred that he would take me in unforgiveness. He is powerless against me in that area, because I forgave. If I do not forgive I empower him to tell me lies, to make me mad, to get me in my flesh, to mediate on wrong things, etc. In that case, he is not bound, he is free to use me like a marionette puppet. He’s my master, I’m his slave. Who’s really bound now?
Ok so, you spent a lot of time meditating on that unforgiveness, you gave a lot of your thoughts to it, you gave time to it, you fed it, it took energy out of you. Now you’ve decided to forgive and so you find yourself emptier than before, there is space to fill up in you. You must fill it up with God’s word. You must meditate on God’s words to you. If you do not the enemy will return again, shortly. This time he will come with stronger forces because he knows you did him in once and he doesn’t like to be done in like that. He’s in to win, are you? If you are, you’ll use the wisdom of God and fill up the space with THE STRONG MAN- Jesus! If Jesus /God is in the house, there is NO room for any other “man”, strong weak or otherwise. One of the commands of the great commission is to fill space. So- Fill space, and not with just anyone or anything. Fill it with spiritual life, spirit life activity. Fill it with God’s word and confirm it and make it yours by becoming the words you read and mediate on. They say you are what you eat.

Daily Repetitive Verses:

Isaiah 58:12 – in multiple translations….
The Amplified Bible
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
The Holy Bible, New International Version®
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
The New King James Version
Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
GOD'S WORD
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the foundations of past generations. You will be called the Rebuilder of Broken Walls and the Restorer of Streets Where People Live.
New Life Bible
And your cities which were destroyed long ago will be built again. You will set up the stones of the bases of the old buildings. You will be called the one who builds again the broken walls, and who makes the streets on which people live like new.