Author: Ben Bourland

When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon (Peter), Put out into the deep [water], and lower your nets for a haul.
   And Simon (Peter) answered, Master, we toiled all night [exhaustingly] and caught nothing [in our nets]. Buton the ground of Your word, I will lower the nets [again].
   And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish; and as their nets were [at the point of] breaking,
   They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and take hold with them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
   But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Luke 5:4-8 [AMP]

So thankful to have a bit of time before my first meeting this morning and rather than choose to do busy-work (email, document writing, and other things I need to do outside of meetings) I am going to spend this time with the Lord and ask that He help me be productive as possible through the rest of the day. Starting off my day with Him ‘always’ results in a day where my mind stays nestled in His care, grace, and presence.

I pulled up the calling of the disciples in Matthew, Mark, and John and this (Luke) is the only place where the ‘haul of fish’ is recorded as a part of that initial calling. In the other recordings, Jesus asks them to follow Him, and they drop their nets and leave their boats, but the miracle is left out.

The main takeaway from today is the identification I take with Peter (as I often do) with his questioning of Jesus in regard to going out and fishing again after an entire catch-less night of work. Remember, Peter just got done seeing Jesus miraculously heal his mother-in-law from the fever and all of the rest of the people that came that night where Jesus healed every single person who came…yet, here Peter questions Jesus’ request. Let’s be clear, fishing for these guys, was tough work. The boats were about 26′ long and 8 feet wide. They had to row the boats out to where they would fish before prepping and dropping their nets. No small feat with the close recollection of the fruitless night and exhaustion that had probably set in.

But then look at Peter’s response after the big haul of fish – “I am not worthy to have You in my presence Lord Jesus, please leave as I am a man full of sin!” He was not only broken about his doubt in Jesus, but he was also in awe of the realization that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and he (Peter) should not have questioned Him. Finally, they left everything (including they huge load of fish in the boats) and followed Jesus. There was no earthly possession or enterprise that got in the way of their service to the Messiah…they had an change in perspective that made earthly things meaningless.

Application:

I have seen the hand of God move uncoincidentally in my life and those around me. Yet, I like Peter, question God’s ability to have impact or move in another circumstance or situation. When He does show His presence and power, I am ashamed of my lack of unbelief and come like Peter did in repentance and guilt. In my sanctification, I only find that I am more and more guilty of giving into the flesh in terms of self-sufficiency or pride. Things that I have been doing out of habit are revealed as ‘Respectable Sins’ that I must address. The big question I have to ask myself is – “Am I willing to walk away from my nets, boats, and livelihood to follow Jesus?” Honestly, I have to ask myself this question and answer it every day. I do think that one day is coming where I may lose my job for what I believe and my worldview that is centered on the Word of Truth alone. I live each day in the freedom that where God has me right now is my mission field. I must keep close to Jesus in my heart every day to be sure that I am exactly where He wants in regard to His will and purposes for my life.

​ NOW IT occurred that while the people pressed upon Jesus to hear the message of God, He was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret (Sea of Galilee).
   And He saw two boats drawn up by the lake, but the fishermen had gone down from them and were washing their nets.
   And getting into one of the boats, [the one] that belonged to Simon (Peter), He requested him to draw away a little from the shore. Then He sat down and continued to teach the crowd [of people] from the boat. Luke 5:1-3 [AMP]

Getting my QT in while Brooklyn is sleeping, Prim is watching an American Girl movie, Sophie is surfing on her phone (likely Roblox), and Bella and Marianne at the flower shop getting flowers for all to help plant this evening.

When reading my passage today, a couple of things hit me that I had not really realized before about the set of events leading up to Jesus calling His first disciples.

1. I had always thought that the first time Jesus met Peter, Andrew, James, and John was here at the ‘Great Catch’ moment when Jesus chose Peter’s boat to get into to have a better angle and platform to speak to the mass of people who came to hear Him teach. However, I now remember here in my reading that Jesus had come to Peter’s house where He had healed his mother-in-law of her fever; and it was after this that He healed all the people that came all the way into and likely through the night. So, when He chose Peter’s boat to teach from, it was not necessarily coincidence (I know that nothing with God is coincidence by the way 🙂 ).
2. From the way this reads here in Luke, Jesus was in the boat when Peter made his haul. I had always thought that Jesus was on the shore when He asked them to do this.

Tomorrow I will be focusing on the rest of the story of the direction of Peter to go out into deeper water to fish (even though they had a very unfruitful night of fishing already).

I am so thankful for all the Moms in my life! My mom Becky of course but also my wife Marianne, my mother in-law Dianne, the grandmothers, and aunts. So very thankful for all that mother is to not only her children but also to everyone around her. Honestly, I feel a deep respect for women when it comes to today…because even those who have not necessarily had the blessing of bearing children, every woman of God I have known ‘Mothers’ those around her in service, love, wisdom, guidance, and thoughtfulness. So grateful for all of you women in my life!!

Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her.  So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.
  

When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.  And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!”
  And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ. Luke 4:38-41 [NKJV]

Today might be a little shorter of a post but the takeaways have caused me some deeper thinking.

1. Jesus’ inexhaustive compassion on hurting people. First, we have Simon Peter’s mother-in-law who is sick with High Fever. Interestingly the words used here for being sick with fever are also interpreted as “hemmed in” or “held captive” by the fever. Then when Jesus heals her, He uses the same verbiage He used when casting the demon out of the man at the synagogue that I talked about yesterday (He “rebuked” it). Am I ready to leap to something like concluding that all diseases and fevers are the work of a demon? -> NO. However, I cannot just turn a blind eye to the similarities in Luke’s choice of words between casting out the demon and freeing Simon’s mother-in-law from the fever.
2. Because Jesus was coming from the Synagogue, this is likely the Sabbath and so the people who were bringing their sick didn’t start until sundown, the official end of the Sabbath day. What caught me was the complete healing of every person that was brought to Him. It doesn’t say He turned anyone away. I think we are likely led to believe that He did this healing all through the night…He did not tire of His healing work or throwing out demons. I am so glad that Jesus does not tire of expending compassion to those in need and hurting.

Application:

So, the rough position I am currently at in regard to disease, sickness, and demon possession is that some illnesses are the effect of demonic activity…however! I don’t believe this is ever the case for a born-again believer in Jesus Christ. In His death on the cross and resurrection on the 3rd day, Jesus conquered sin and death and satan has no capacity to possess a believer; the believer’s life has been purchased and we have freedom from possession because our entire heart, mind, soul, and strength has been given over to Jesus.

Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice,  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!”
    But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. Luke 4:33-35 [NKJV]

When I read this passage today…Jesus’ response to the ‘unclean spirit’ just caught me funny. Although there is nothing funny about the evil lurking in the spiritual realm and the ruler of this world who enjoys and organizes the destruction of souls, the power of my Savior the Lord Jesus Christ is demonstrated in this recollected story by Luke. Jesus’ response is almost with a tone of annoyance.

My takeaways from the passage (Luke 4:31-37).

• This set of events (in Capernaum) happened a little after Jesus had left Nazareth and His altercation with His hometown. Capernaum is also the hometown on Simon Peter and Andrew. Jesus was spending most of His time teaching in the synagogue.
• The man with the unclean spirit was in the synagogue when Jesus was teaching. This tells me that satan and his underlings have the ability to mingle in houses of worship. It wasn’t until the demon had an outburst that Jesus addressed the demon.
• Jesus’ response of “be quiet” is likely due to the fact that He was still trying to manage His exposure and His ministry at this point. Jesus was silencing the demon because it was drawing too much attention to Himself as the Messiah.
• Not only was the demon no match for Jesus but the demon knew exactly Who He was and why He was on earth – “Are you coming to destroy us?” As the eschatological High Priest, Jesus is also expected to wage a holy war against the kingdom of darkness.
• The fact that the demon referred to itself in the plural makes me wonder if even though satan and his demons can’t be everywhere at once, they might all still be able to communicate with each other regardless of their location.
• Jesus deals with the demon quickly and deftly. The demon responds without hesitation and obeys without harming the man it was possessing.
• Jesus’ words have power (Raema). The people who listen to him notice the authority with which He teaches and the demons respond immediately when He commands.

Application:

I am listening to a book right now called “Truth or Territory” by Jim Osman and he has done a ton of research through the Word of God on Spiritual Warfare and this book debunks a ton of misconceptions and myths around exorcism and understanding how we combat the evil in the spiritual realm. Most important point for me today -> Greater is He Who is in me than he who is in the world. Clinging to the Spirit within me is the best way to identify (with discernment) and combat the evil in this word; as I seek to glorify God in all that I do.

When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious.  Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff,  but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way. Luke 4:28-30 [NLT]

I’ve read this passage several times over the last 2 days…which is why nothing was written yesterday. The place I have been spending the time is after the reading of the scripture in Isaiah in the synagogue, Jesus handed to scroll back and then brought up two passages as examples of a ‘prophet not being accepted in his own hometown’. Here are the two examples:

“Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. And many in Israel had leprosy in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.”

Luke 4:25-27 [NLT]

What Jesus was saying was that not only was He the Messiah but that the Children of Israel would not be the ones who would be saved but foreigners (or Gentiles). All too aware of their oppression at the hands of the Roman empire (godless pagans), the townspeople are indignant at Jesus’ insinuation that the final days end would include rather than exact justice on the Gentiles.

I can’t even begin to comprehend how uncomfortable this must have been for Jesus. These were all his family, childhood friends, rabbi’s, and elders. They knew Him as the good boy of Joseph whom they were all proud of and heard of the amazing works He had done in Capernaum before coming home for a visit. Now here He was essentially blaspheming Yahweh and the only recourse for them (in their minds) was to cast Him out of town and even prepared to force Him off a cliff. Instead, He turned from the edge of the cliff and quietly walked through the crowd and on His way.

Application:

2 things -> 1) The God I serve is not intimidated by even the closest of my friends and family when I speak His TRUTH and obey Him. He has walked that road. 2) I must stay true to who God is growing me to be. My memory verse right now is:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or discouraged. For THE LORD YOUR GOD IS WITH YOU WHEREEVER YOU GO”

Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

Then the devil took Him up to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the habitable world in a moment of time [in the twinkling of an eye]. And he said to Him, To You I will give all this power and authority and their glory (all their magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, and grace), for it has been turned over to me, and I give it to whomever I will. Therefore, if You will do homage to and worship me [just once], it shall all be Yours. Luke 4:5-7 [AMP]

Today was one of those days where I read a passage, I have read a ton of times but I still gleaned so much from it that I could swear I had not consumed before. I bathed my quiet time in prayer beforehand and then followed it up with prayer for all the things/people my prayer app (PrayerMate) brought to my attention. I end up praying for everything on my prayer list every two days and a lot things, every day (its just the way the app works and it helps me make the most of the time I get to pray each day).

I am not going to be able to cover everything the Lord shared with me in my quiet time today but I will pull out the main points (essentially the main things I took away from each temptation mentioned). Although I only posted verses 5-7 above, the full passage I studied was verses 3 through 13.

First, the 3 temptations covered here are only a small part of the temptation of Jesus by satan as it says in verse 2 that satan tempted Jesus all 40 days in the wilderness. These three were the ones Luke convers because they came when Jesus was at his weakest being super hungry and tired.

Temptation 1: Knowing Jesus was so hungry, satan told Jesus “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered with scripture (Deuteronomy 8:3) “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.'” — There is a lot here but the thing that stood out to me the most was that when satan challenged Jesus with “If you are the Son of God”, Jesus did not address satan’s challenge in His answer. Why? Because Jesus knew exactly Who He was – just ~40 days earlier a voice out of Heaven called Him ‘Son’ after He was baptized. With us, satan is always questioning our position as adopted sons and daughters, our justification is complete, we should know Whose we are.

Temptation 2: Next the devil tried to show all the land he would give Jesus; all Jesus needed to do was worship satan one time. Essentially what satan was offering Jesus was a kingdom on earth large than what the Romans had; enticing Jesus with control of a territory at which He could bring His message of hope…but it would mean compromise and accomplishing His goals by the world’s methods. Christ had already chosen the lowly path, He had already identified Himself with the sinners He was there to save. Choosing this devil’s offer would mean turning His back on His calling. Once again Jesus responds with a passage from Deuteronomy 6:13 pointing out that the worship of God is exclusive. None other than he is to be worshipped.

Temptation 3: This time satan leads Jesus to the highest point on the temple in Jerusalem and tells Jesus to throw Himself off and let spectacle show of the angels coming down to rescue Jesus before He hit the ground. Satan is again challenging Jesus’ identity as the Son of God and now satan misuses scripture to try and convince Jesus that this is supported in God’s Word. Jesus does the slap down of telling the devil not to test God – Deuteronomy 6:16.

Application:

So here is the biggest point for me in this 3rd temptation – Jesus would have to choose to jump…satan could not push Him off. The same is true for us -> satan can put things/opportunities in our way to tempt us but at the end of the day, we are the ones who choose to fall prey to it or not. In each of these circumstances Jesus’ response in combat is TRUTH. He just responds with the TRUTH of God’s Word….even when satan tries to misuse God’s Word to fool us. We must be intimate in our knowledge of the TRUTH to fight temptation and the TRUTH comes from wielding the Sword of the Spirit which is God’s Word. it is the only offensive implement in the ‘Full armor of God’ and we must engage with it deftly.

​ THEN JESUS, full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led in [by] the [Holy] Spirit
   For (during) forty days in the wilderness (desert), where He was tempted (tried, tested exceedingly) by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they were completed, He was hungry. Luke 4:1-2 [AMP]

I am back in the saddle again after taking several days off while at the PNW Biblical Counseling Conference this weekend. We were there from 5pm to 9:30pm on Friday and then 8am to 6:30pm pm on Saturday. Such an awesome time learning how to counsel those who are suffering from a Biblical approach. So thankful that our church puts this on. There were over 500 people who attended. I have soooo many notes!! This is the fourth one that Marianne and I have been to and this one did not disappoint.

Remember that when Jesus was Baptized, the Holy Spirit came down on him like a dove. Jesus was full of, controlled by, and led into the wilderness by the Spirit.

Jesus’ forty-day testing in the wilderness also has similarities with the forty-day fast by both Moses (Deut. 9:9), as he received the law, and Elijah, on his way to Horeb (1 Kgs 19:8). Both of these men show up at the transfiguration (Luke 9:30). Jesus’ ministry takes on qualities of both: like Moses, Jesus will lead an exodus; like Elijah, he will call a remnant to repentance. It seems so multilayered, yet these intertwining similarities cast no negative perspective either on the history of the event or on Jesus’ humanity. In fact, Luke’s remark that Jesus suffered hunger at the end of his forty-day fast appears to be an intentional effort to refute those who would diminish Jesus’ humanness on the basis of this story.

As Jesus gets more and more into his ministry here in Luke, I will have more Application takeaways. It is just so great to follow and dive a little deeper into the specifics of this beginning of Jesus’ Passion.

When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.  And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” Luke 3:21-22 [NKJV]

Today I am back to Luke and the passage is the instantiation of Jesus’ ministry through Baptism and the Holy Spirit coming down on Him from Heaven. Capped by the voice of God the Father. This is such a pivotal moment in all of the bible as recorded in all four gospels.

Some interesting points:

• The baptizing that John the Baptist was performing on all of the Jews who came was a Baptism of Repentance. It is cool that even though Jesus was without sin, He decided to take His place with sinners. At the beginning of His ministry, He publicly identified himself with the sinners He came to save.
• Only in Luke does it say that the Dove came down on Him while He was praying which would have been after His baptism.
• The symbolism of the dove is puzzling, as the dove was not an accepted symbol of the Holy Spirit. Rather the dove stood for Israel. However, there is no doubt that here it is a sign of the coming of the Holy Spirit. What happened at Jesus’ baptism led Christians to see the dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit; they did not take the symbolism from Jewish or Hellenistic sources. The fact that Luke was there in person, the mention of ‘a physical dove’ descending has credence.

No real ‘Application’ to takeaway today. I am just dwelling on the divine start to Jesus’ ministry.