If you are reading along while listening to the recordings, you will notice that I often exchange the word ‘believe’ (or ‘fully believe’) for ‘faith’. This is because the English word ‘faith’ is used with all kinds of fuzzy meanings these days and can easily be misunderstood. 1) In Greek, ‘faith’ and ‘believe’ are the noun and verb forms of the same root word. 2) When one uses an abstract noun like ‘faith’ in English, the object of the faith is lost— in this case the Person who is being believed. Note that ‘faith’ does not have a vague meaning like ‘endurance’ or ‘ability to live without fear’— which might be assumed in today's passage. Such fuzzy meanings almost always end up placing ‘faith’ in ourselves, which is a big mistake. The ‘faith’ that Jesus is talking about at the end of this chapter is placing our trust 100% in Him!

GENESIS 11-12:
Yesterday in Genesis 9-10, we heard the story of Noah's drunkenness and his curse on Canaan because of it (which wasn't very fair since it was his father Ham who actually caused the offense to Noah, and because Ham also had other sons). Then we heard about Noah's descendants.

JOB 6:
In chapter 5 Eliphaz continued to imply that Job has sinned:

Job 5:6 NLT Evil does not grow in the soil,
nor does trouble grow out of the ground.
7 No indeed! We bring trouble on ourselves,
as surely as sparks fly up from a fire.

Eliphaz’ main point in that chapter was that Job would be forgiven and blessed if he repented:

17 Happy is the person whom God corrects!
Do not resent it when he rebukes you.
18 God bandages the wounds he makes;
his hand hurts you, and his hand heals.

There is truth in what Eliphaz says, and a similar statement to verse 17 is found in James 1.

MARK 4b:
Chapter 4 is the parable chapter of Mark. The Parable about the Different Kinds of Soil is in all three synoptic Gospels— which are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. That parable holds deep meaning that one never really grows out of. Each time you hear it, new facets come to light, and every believer should meditate on what kind of soil they are most like at the present time.

NLT Translation notes:
Gen. 11:4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches [into/0] the sky.
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Mrk. 4:26 Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God [can be illustrated as being like when//is like] a farmer [0/who] scatters seed on the ground.

[It bothers me grammatically to say that a 'kingdom' is like a 'farmer'. The king might be like a farmer, both being people. Jesus' illustration shows that the whole package is what is like the Kingdom of God, including farmer, seed, time for growing, and harvest.]

30 Jesus said, “How can I describe the Kingdom of God? What story should I use to illustrate it? 31 [God's Kingdom can be compared to//It is like] a mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the smallest of all seeds,

40 Then he [said to/asked] them, “[What a bunch of cowards you are! It is clear that you don't believe fully in me!”//Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”]

[I have treated these rhetorical questions as statements. In English it seems a bit silly to ask “Why are you afraid?” Jesus' question is a rebuke (and we can debate how strong a rebuke was intended). The second RQ is also a rebuke.]

[Note that I will often change 'faith' to 'fully believe'. This might be a good illustration of why the English word 'faith' is often misunderstood. 1) People often have forgotten that the root meaning of 'faith' is 'believe'— having the same Greek root word. 2) When one uses an abstract noun like 'faith' we loose the object— in this case the Person who is being believed. Note that 'faith' does not have the a vague root meaning like 'endurance' or 'ability to live without fear', which might be assumed by some readers. Such words almost always end up placing 'faith' in ourselves. This is very wrong. What faith means here is placing trust 100% in Jesus.]

41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “[Wow, what kind of man is this Jesus?!//Who is this man?]”3 they [said to//asked] each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”

[The disciples had not forgotten Jesus' name! This translation is as suggested by Deibler.]

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.