When Jesus had finished [some] parables He left the place, and came into His own country. Here He taught the people in their own synagogue, till in their amazement they said, "Where does this man get this wisdom and these powers? He's only the carpenter's son. Isn't Mary His mother, and aren't James, Joseph, Simon and Judas His brothers? And aren't all His sisters living here with us? Where did He get all this?" And they were deeply offended with Him. But Jesus said to them, "No prophet goes unhonored except in his own country and in his own home!"

   And He performed very few miracles there because of their lack of faith. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.

   [The Lord says:] "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" . . . How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: "Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." You should therefore be most careful, my brothers, that there should not be in any of you that wickedness of heart which refuses to trust, and deserts the cause of the living God.

   Encourage each other every day, while it is still called "today," and beware that none of you becomes deaf and blind to God through the delusive glamor of sin. For we continue to share in all that Christ has for us so long as we steadily maintain until the end the trust with which we began. These words are still being said for our ears to hear: "Today if you shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation." For who was it who heard the Word of God and yet provoked His indignation? Was it not all who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? . . . And to whom did God swear that they should never enter into His rest? Was it not these very men who refused to trust Him? Yes, it is all too plain that it was refusal to trust God that prevented these men from entering His rest.

Taken from Mt. 13, Mk. 6, Hos. 4, Rom. 10, Heb. 3, The Phillips Translation
and The New King James. For free Lifescope book, write to Box 1575,
Carlsbad, NM 88221. Please send $1.00 for postage and handling.