How Did Ordinary Disciples Become Powerful Men of God?
Now it came to pass, afterwards, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him (Luke 8:1)
Wisdom determines the success of your life. There are two primary ways to receive wisdom:
- Mistakes; (Experience) - very slow and painful way of learning
- Mentors
The Holy Spirit is your dominant and most important Mentor of all. (See John 14:15-16.) Having said that, God always uses men and women to mentor His people.
The right mentors are the difference between poverty and prosperity; decrease and increase; loss and gain; pain and pleasure; deterioration and restoration.
Mentor Transfers Wisdom Through Relationship
“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed, ” (Proverbs 13:20).
And the twelve were with Him…(Luke 8:1)
Ruth stayed close to her mentor; she followed the godly counsel of Naomi,
Ruth said:
“Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God. (Ruth 1:16).
Today, many people only want someone to lay hands on them. They think by doing this they can make it. That is a lie! One needs to stay close to a mentor and learn from his life. The disciples stayed with Jesus and learned his very lifestyle. Make it a point to be regularly around your mentor so that you can learn from him or her.
Almost every successful Bible character had a mentor.
- Joshua’s mentor was Moses.
- Elisha’s mentor was Elijah
- Timothy’s mentor was Apostle Paul
What are the Characteristics of a Mentor
1. Always remember, your mentor is only a human being. Pick the good things and leave the bad ones.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. (John 1:6)
Notice, John was sent from God but he was only ‘a man’
Just as when you are served with a meal, and you do not like something on the plate, you eat what you like and leave the rest!
2. I can predict your future by looking at your mentor
Choose your mentor wisely. Ask the Lord to give you a good mentor.
3. Mentor Can Cause Influential People to Listen to You.
“And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of Wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him,” (Deuteronomy 34:9).
4. A Mentor Will Require Your Pursuit.
He does not need what you know. You need what he knows. Elijah never pursued Elisha. Elisha desired what was in him. The proof of desire is pursuit.
5. A Mentor Is Not Necessarily Your Best Friend
Your best friend loves you the way you are. Your Mentor loves you too much to leave you the way you are. Your best friend is comfortable with your past. Your Mentor is comfortable with your future. Your best friend ignores your weakness. Your Mentor removes your weakness. Your best friend is your cheerleader. Your Mentor is your coach. Your Best Friend sees what you do right. Your Mentor sees what you do wrong.
6.Invest everything to spend time and moments with an uncommon Mentor God has chosen to sow into your life.
“And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake.” (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13)
What is Partnership in the Gospel?
2and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities—Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, 3and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him[a] from their substance. (Luke 8:2-3)
Women played a very important role in the ministry of Lord Jesus.
They did not only follow Jesus, they financially supported the ministry of Jesus.
They were also actively involved in His ministry. In fact, the word used for their activity in Greek is diakoneo – where we get our modern word “deacon.” They were literally partners in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians saying, “[I thank my God] for your fellowship (your sympathetic cooperation and contributions and partnership) in advancing the good news (the Gospel) from the first day [you heard it] until now.” (Philippians 1:5 Amplified)
God the Father could have chosen to provide for His son in many ways. But the fact that He raised up women to support the ministry of His Son Jesus says a lot. You are God’s end-time instrument to bring in the harvest.
Why are there two demon-possessed men in the Gerasene tombs in Matthew, but only one in Mark and Luke?
Now when Jesus stepped out on land, there met Him a certain man out of the town who had [was possessed by] demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he lived not in a house but in the tombs. (Luke 8:27 Amplified)
Specifically, Matthew 8:28-34, Mark 5:1-20, and Luke 8:26-39 are the three biblical passages that depict Jesus' encounter with demoniacs while in the land of the Gerasenes, also known as Gadarenes. In the Matthews account, there are two demon-possessed men, although the accounts in Mark and Luke only have one.
Is there a contradiction between these narratives, and are the Gospel authors contradicting one other?
One thing is very clear that all the three passages are all about the same event. Matthew informs us that there were two demoniacs there, while Mark and Luke only mention one of the two. The reason for just mentioning one demoniac is unclear, but this does not rule out the possibility of a second demoniac being there.
What does it mean that the name of the demon was Legion?
Jesus then asked him, What is your name? And he answered, Legion; for many demons had entered him. (Luke 8:30 Amplified)
In Luke 8, Lord Jesus visits the region of the Gerasenes and is immediately confronted by a demon-possessed man who lived among the tombs, cut himself with stones, and could not be kept in captivity (Luke 8:26-56). When Jesus asked the demon what its name was, the demon replied, “My name is Legion . . . for we are many” (verse 30).
Legion is a military term. In those times, a legion was the largest unit in the Roman army. A legion averaged around 5,000 fighting men, though it could have more or fewer soldiers. So the term legion refers to any large number of beings; a multitude. When the demon in Luke 8 said that its name was Legion, it meant that the demoniac of the Gerasenes was possessed by a large number of unclean spirits.
Scripture does not specifically tell us how many demons comprised the Legion within the man. However, when Jesus cast them out, they entered a herd of pigs feeding nearby. Legion caused the pigs to rush down a hillside and into the sea, where they were all drowned (Luke 8:33). The number of pigs killed was “about two thousand.” (See Mark 5:13) That detail suggests that Legion was composed of about two thousand demons.
What is the Abyss?
And they begged [Jesus] not to command them to depart into the Abyss. (Luke 8:31)
In Luke 8, Jesus drove out a legion of demons from a man, "and they begged Jesus repeatedly not to command them to descend into the Abyss," according to the text (verse 31). The Abyss is clearly a location that the demons are afraid of and attempt to avoid at all costs.
It is simply defined as "a deep hole"—one that appears to have no bottom. The term is often used in modern terminology to describe the sea.
The King James Version usually translates the Greek term abyssou as “bottomless pit” (example Revelation 9:2).
In Revelation a number of times we see the Abyss as a place of confinement for evil spirits:
“The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. . . . They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).” (Revelation 9:1–3, 11)
“Now when [the two witnesses] have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them.” (Revelation 11:7)
A powerful evil spirit now confined under the earth in a chamber called the abyss will be released in the future. This spirit will possess the Antichrist, giving him great power over the world. (Revelation 17:8)
The bottomless pit may also be associated with a place called Tartarus. This Greek word is translated as “hell” and is used only once in Scripture.
In 2 Peter 2:4. It refers to the place where “angels who sinned” are reserved in chains of darkness for judgment. The NIV says these angels in Tartarus are held in “gloomy dungeons.” These same angels are also mentioned in Jude 6 as the angels who “abandoned their own home”
Why did the demons ask Jesus’s permission to be sent into the pigs?
32 Now a great herd of swine was there feeding on the hillside; and [the demons] begged Him to give them leave to enter these. And He allowed them [to do so].
33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered into the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep cliff into the lake and were drowned. (Luke 8:32-33 Amplified)
The fact that there was a herd of pigs nearby shows that we are in Gentile territory, since the Jews regarded pigs as unclean, and did not raise them for food or anything (Deuteronomy 14:8). In other words, this is one of those rare moments when Jesus is reaching out into the Gentile world as a pointer to the fact that his ministry is going to result in a global mission to all the peoples of the world (Matthew 28:19–20).
Demons yearn for a place to possess (or inhabit), and the fact that the demons begged to be placed in the pigs demonstrates how much they despised roaming about the earth without any habitation.
Because their proposal was in line with His intentions, Lord Jesus had no reason not to accept their proposition.
1.It resulted in freeing the man from the demons.
2.Pigs were unclean animals under Jewish law, so they were a perfect symbol and a harmless destination for unclean spirits.
3.Accepting their proposal didn’t change the demons' eternal fate on Judgment Day.
The encounter between Jesus and satan in the desert, on the other hand, was entirely different. satan made precise demands of Christ, which, if Jesus did not comply with them, were intended by satan to lead Jesus into disobeying God.
Therefore, Jesus rebuked Satan with scripture and did not agree to satan’s demands. This is the key difference between the two encounters.
And there came a man named Jairus, who had [for a long time] been a director of the synagogue; and falling at the feet of Jesus, he begged Him to come to his house (Luke 8:41)
Jairus was not concerned about his position and standing in society. This speaks of worship
The twenty-four elders (the members of the heavenly Sanhedrin) fall prostrate before Him Who is sitting on the throne, and they worship Him Who lives forever and ever; and they throw down their crowns before the throne… (Revelation 4:10 Amplified)
What does it mean to wrestle in prayer?
As [Jesus] went, the people pressed together around Him [almost suffocating Him]....a woman who had suffered from a flow of blood for twelve years…came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His garment (Luke 8:42-44 Amplified)
Wrestling with God is symbolic of prayer and means being persistent in prayer, crying out to him for ourselves and on behalf of others. Apostle Paul writes, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood….” (Ephesians 6:12)
Throughout the Bible, we witness people wrestling with God Almighty. Moses wrestled with God, interceding on their behalf and attempting to alter God's mind about their situation. As a result, God backed down from his judgement. (Deuteronomy 9:18–19).
Jacob, wrestled with an unknown man until the wee hours of the morning. Jacob clung to him, refusing to let the man go until he blessed him. After he was blessed for his perseverance, Jacob declared, “I have seen God face to face” (Genesis 32:22–32).
Leviticus 15 gave the Jews strict rules on how to contend with a woman who was bleeding outside her normal menstrual cycle.
She would be considered unclean; everything she touched would be considered unclean and those who touched her or her garments would be considered unclean also. This was happening for 12 long years.
The woman with the issue of blood had to wrestle her way through the thick crowd which nearly suffocated Jesus. It was not an easy task to reach and touch the hem of Jesus’ garment.
The end result is wrestling leads to resting, which in turn leads to worship.
Is it possible to be around Jesus and not touch Him?
But Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me; for I perceived that [healing] power has gone forth from Me.”
There were hundreds around Jesus literally touching Him and pushing Him and yet Jesus did not speak about them touching Him. Even the disciples were surprised when Jesus spoke of someone touching Him in a crowd.
When all were denying it, Peter and those who were with him said, Master, the multitudes surround You and press You on every side! (Luke 8:45)
This tells us something important that one can hang around Jesus and yet not touch Him. One can pray and yet the power may not flow. Then there is the prayer of faith that rises from the depths of the spirit through which you can touch Him. This is when His power begins to change you and the situations around.
What did Jesus refer to the ‘dead girl’ as ‘she is sleeping’?
When Jesus arrived at the home of Jairus, he is greeted with anything but faith. And they laughed Him to scorn, knowing full well that she was dead. (Luke 8:53)
At one moment they were crying and at the drop of a hat they were all laughing. They were not mourners, they were actors.
And all were weeping for and bewailing her; but He said, Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping. (Luke 8:52)
Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death— they are like the new grass of the morning (Psalm 90:5)
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)
After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,” (John 11:11-14)
Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. (Acts 13:36)
Death is often described as sleep in scripture. It is said that the early Christians called their burial grounds koimeterion or “sleeping places”. As people awake after sleeping, so also there is a day coming when our bodies will be resurrected.
As Lord Jesus said, the hour is coming "in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth" (John 5:28-29). This is a very comforting and encouraging truth that is revealed in the Scriptures.
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