Brian’s Quiet Time Thoughts.

​ A little lad and His lunch “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish — but what are they for so many? ” ‭‭John‬ ‭6‬:‭9‬ ‭HCSB ‬‬ There are a thousand different directions we could go: faith as a child, giving to God, etc. But today I want to focus on what was in his lunch, five barley loaves and two fish. I learned yesterday that a barley loaf was the bread of the poor. Revelation points to barley being cheaper than wheat. “Then I heard something like a voice among the four living creatures say, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius — but do not harm the olive oil and the wine.” ‭‭Revelation‬ ‭6‬:‭6‬ ‭HCSB ‬‬ Three quarts of barley and one quart of wheat for the same price, a day's wages for the laborer or soldier. So now we don’t think in terms of a day's wages but rather in hourly rate or annual pay. An ounce of silver is equal to 7.36 denarii. So with silver at the price of $25.98 per ounce as of June 2021. This would

​ King Herod AKA Herod the Tetrarch In my post on the Herodians, I mentioned Herod the Tetrarch who ruled in the Galilee region of Israel in Jesus’s day. Today, we will focus more on him. Check out my post on the Herodians here. King Herod’s wife Herodians had left her previous husband Philip who was King Herod’s brother. Had Philip died then it would be legal but Philip was still alive so he was at odds with what God had said. “When brothers live on the same property and one of them dies without a son, the wife of the dead man may not marry a stranger outside the family. Her brother-in-law is to take her as his wife, have sexual relations with her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law for her.” ‭‭ Deuteronomy‬ ‭25‬:‭5‬ ‭HCSB ‬‬ “You are not to have sexual intercourse with your brother’s wife; it will shame your brother.” ‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭18‬:‭16‬ ‭HCSB ‬‬ So John speaks up and tells Herod that he is in the wrong. So King Herod did what all self-righteous kings do. He locked John up i

​ The people of Jesus’ home town AKA Nazarenes Nazareth seems like a small town where everyone knows each other's business and family.  “Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t His sisters here with us? ” So they were offended by Him.” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭6‬:‭3‬ ‭HCSB ‬‬ Jesus was not identified by his job, but rather by his dad’s business. No doubt that Jesus had spent time with Joseph doing the “carpentry” work with him. They knew His mom, brothers, and sisters. There may even been a few in-laws in the room.  “So He was not able to do any miracles there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He was amazed at their unbelief.” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭6‬:‭5‬-‭6‬a HCSB ‬‬ But they did not believe in Jesus. They were amazed that such a man from Nazareth could possess such good wisdom and do a few good miracles, but they did not believe in Jesus. He was not able to let his power shine because of their unbelief. Ul

​ The women with the issue of blood Soon after I was married our pastor’s wife gave a message called “The Hem of Him” and this woman was the main subject of her message. She talked about how she had to press through the crowd to get to Jesus. She talked about how she was unclean and should not be in the crowd. Then she related it to us that we have to press through all the doubts, internal and external, to get to Jesus. Most certainly we all have heard a message of this woman.  Did you pick up that she had an issue with bleeding for 12 years? Jairus’ daughter was 12 years old. Of course, neither the women nor Jairus knew this but Jesus did. And was willing to help both the synagogue ruler and this poor woman the same. He did not show favoritism but was moved by their faith.  Could this woman have touched a tassel on Jesus’ robe or did she just touch the hem of it? “The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout their generations they are to make tassels

Jairus we find out was a synagogue leader in Capernaum, Mark does not label him with the Pharisees or Sadducees. Who was Jairus? Luke is the only other Gospel writer to include the name Jairus. “Just then, a man named Jairus came. He was a leader of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus’ feet and pleaded with Him to come to his house,” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭8‬:‭41‬ ‭HCSB ‬‬ Matthew tells the story without using the name Jairus. “As He was telling them these things, suddenly one of the leaders came and knelt down before Him, saying, “My daughter is near death, but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9‬:‭18‬ ‭HCSB ‬‬ There is not much out on the web about Jairus. Jairus comes to Jesus because of a need. I want to include a few others who had come to Jesus because of a need; Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and a Capernaum centurion. “There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.” ‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬ ‭HCSB ‬‬ Nicodemus was a Pharisee who came to Jesus at

​ The man with an unclean spirit AKA Legion. Most of us have heard this story a thousand times. Jesus crosses the sea and arrives on the outskirts of a city called Garasenes, a gentile region of the Decapolis and a wild man approaches Jesus. This man lives among the tombs cutting himself with broken pottery. There are no restrictions on his life; no chains and no clothes. But he has to come to Jesus, whether by the command of God or out of duty to destroy Jesus. But in the presence of Jesus, he has to bow! Then Jesus asked his name. To which he replied, “Legion, for we are many”. This man had 2,000 demons inside of him. Finally, Jesus cast the demons out of the man and they went into a herd of pigs numbering 2,000 and they ran down the steep bank toward the sea.  This man lived in a cycle of sin opening himself over and over to demons. He may have been freed on several occasions but fell into the same cycle so much that his one demon had now turned into a legion of demons. There are c