seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 12:1 Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be[a] on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 3 What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.
4 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
8 “I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. 9 But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
11 “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life[b]? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
41 Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?”
42 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
47 “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
49 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
54 He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. 55 And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?
57 “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”
a. Luke 12:1 Or speak to his disciples, saying: “First of all, be
b. Luke 12:25 Or single cubit to your height
Peter has always had a big head. He is not as vocal about it as those Zebedee boys but he has a big head, none the less. What did it matter if Jesus was talking to just the disciples in the inner circle [Apostles] or all the disciples around... all of those who were stepping on one another to get close enough to hear what was said. Maybe Peter wanted a mike check... no wait... there were no mikes back then.... thousands of people were there..... how did they all hear what He had to say? I guess, giving Peter a little credit, maybe Peter was trying to stay close so he, as an Apostle, wouldn't miss a word of instruction.... but that doesn't seem to be the meaning.....
This is from blueletterbible.org.
The very hairs of your head are all numbered: They say that a red-head has about 90,000 hairs; a dark-haired person has about 120,000 hairs, and a blonde has about 145,000. But God knows exactly how many hairs you have-and if He knows that about you, He knows all the important things also!
You are of more value than many sparrows: Those who are persecuted are tempted to give in to the feeling that they are worthless and no one cares for them. But someone does care about you, a loving God in heaven.
A word against the Son of Man probably refers to a moment of weakness (especially in public testimony), which can be forgiven. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a settled rejection of God's truth, which will not be forgiven.
For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say: Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will help when you are "put on trial"; He will give you the right words to say.
Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life: Greed and worry are closely connected. Greed can never get enough, worry is afraid it will never have enough-neither have their eyes on Jesus.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also: The correlation between where your heart is and where your treasure is isn't a suggestion; it is a simple fact. If you regard your material possessions as your treasure, then your heart is set here on this earth.
And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few: This shows that we are not only responsible for keeping from evil, but we must also do what we know God's will is.
So, make every effort to settle out of court! How do we settle out of court with God? By accepting God's offer to settle our account at Calvary, before the day of judgment.
Jesus was the Son of God. He was sent to deliver the anti-dote for death. He was not there to heal all the sick, feed all the hungry, house all the homeless, or give the poor a hand up...... Not YET..... Jesus was there when God designed and created humans. God wanted to be able to walk and talk with them. He created humans to be smart enough to carry on a conversation. He created humans to have opinions and cognitive thinking so that they could debate both sides of the argument. Those little upgrades, however, caused humans to have to decide who they [as humans] would like to hang out with. Adam and Eve fell in with a serpent who caused them to die. Jesus had to go reverse that action.
Jesus wasn't here to harvest His Believers yet. He understood their pain because He was wearing a human body. He had to make it through the beatings, the cross, and the tomb... that's what He was here for. He put the Apostles in charge of the disciples.... and the Apostles were doing such a bang up job, the disciples were trampling each other to get a better seat. Stupid Apostles couldn't even handle crowd control.....
But Jesus said "Don't worry".....
Today as I post this.... once again the news is on in the other room. People are dying of a global virus. People are fighting in the streets. Children are trapped in houses with abusive people. There isn't a thing I can do about any of this...... I have prayed.
The Apostles thought they were "chosen" because they were better than the disciples. IMHO.... Jesus considered humans as humans..... At the end of the day.... when everything is sorted into the proper bin......a bear is a bear.... a horse is a horse.... and elephant is an elephant..... a dog is a dog..... and humans are humans.... no human is better than another human.
Humans..... some think they are better than others.... but in the end of the day.... humans are just humans.... none are better or worse.... some are smart enough to choose to do the right thing......
