Monday, August 04, 2014

As we go through Mark 12 I’m trying to share the importance of memorizing God’s Word. In verses 18-27 you find the well-known discussion about seven brothers all of whom ended up marrying the same woman. The question was then asked, “At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” There obviously was an ulterior motive in the question, since the Sadducees didn’t believe in a resurrection. Jesus replied in verse 24, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” He then expanded His answer, referring to Exodus 19:18, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” and added, “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!” Their mistake was twofold: they didn’t know the Bible and they didn’t believe in God’s power. Both are essential if you want to find answers to life’s perplexing problems. Most people don’t know what is in the Bible. The prophet Amos talks about a famine of the words of the Lord. On this program I try to encourage you to read and study God’s Word and show you how to get an understanding of it. But even if you get the message, if you don’t believe that God can make the message come alive in life transforming power you will not benefit. As the writer of the book of Hebrews points out in Chapter 4:2, “the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.” Let me encourage you to memorize Mark 12:24, then apply yourself to study God’s Word and trust in His power to work in and through you.