¹⁴ Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵ Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. ¹⁶ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. ¹⁷ Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:9-13)

Here we see that the disciples of John the Baptist asked the Lord Jesus why they and the Pharisees often fasted, but His disciples did not fast. The Lord Jesus answered and said: “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins.” What does it mean? Fasting is like a new cloth, garment and wineskins represent life. no one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. This means that the Lord Jesus did not come to repair or improve the old life, but to bring people new life.  New wine represents the Holy Spirit, and pouring new wine into new wineskins means filling the new man, not the old man with the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
When a person believes in the Lord, is baptized, is born again and saved, he receives the Holy Spirit, he becomes a new person, a new creation, living a new life, like pouring new wine into a new wineskin.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)
The Lord Jesus came so that the sheep, his disciples may have life, abundant life, life filled with the Holy Spirit, a new life with the Lord’s presence.
May God bless you and your family! 🙏😊

⁹ As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. ¹⁰ While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:9-13)

This passage talks about the Lord Jesus calling Matthew, who was a tax collector. At that time, the tax collectors were Jews who collected taxes for the Roman government. The Jews called them traitors. They often collected more taxes and put them into their own pockets, so the Jews didn’t like them. Matthew prepared a banquet for the Lord Jesus at his house, and also invited other tax collectors and sinners. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked the disciples of the Lord Jesus, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When the Lord Jesus heard this, he said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” The Lord Jesus is a spiritual doctor. Those who are sick and have sins come to Him and confess their sins and repent, and He will heal them, show mercy to them, and forgive them. He loves mercy, not sacrifice. He has mercy on sinners. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, He also wants us to have mercy on sinners. If we have mercy on others, God will have mercy on us.
May God bless you and your family! 🙏😊

1 Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. ² Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” ³ At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” ⁴ Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? ⁵ Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ⁶ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” ⁷ Then the man got up and went home. ⁸ When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man. (Matthew 9:1-8)

Here it says that the Lord Jesus went to his own town, from the parallel passage, we know that He went to Capernaum, which was a town in Galilee. Someone brought to Jesus a paralyzed man on a mat. The following parallel passages tells us how they carried the paralyzed man to Jesus.
³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. ⁴ Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. (Mark 2:3-4)
When the Lord Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven!” Several scribes thought in their hearts: “This man is blaspheming,” they thought that only God could forgive sins. They did not know that Jesus was not only the Son of Man but also the Son of God, and He had the authority to forgive sins. Moreover, Jesus knew everything and knew their thoughts. Jesus asked: “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?” Neither is easy for men, but for Jesus, both are easy, and he has the authority to forgive sins and the authority to heal. When the paralytic was healed, his sins were also forgiven.
May God bless you and your family! 🙏😊

²⁸ When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. ²⁹ “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”³⁰ Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. ³¹ The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” ³² He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. ³³ Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. ³⁴ Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region. (Matthew 8:28-34)

Last time we saw that the Lord Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee, now He came to the other side of the sea, two demon-possessed men met him. In the parallel passage only mentioned one demon-possessed man. The demon here is the evil spirit, they recognized the Lord Jesus and knew that He was the Son of God.
And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. (Luke 8:31)
This parallel passage tells us that the demons were afraid of going to the abyss, so they asked the Lord Jesus to let them enter the herd of pigs.
He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. (Mark 5:13)
After the demons were driven out of the man by the Lord Jesus, they entered the pigs, and the pigs were thrown into the sea and drowned. The number of the pigs was about two thousand. the parallel passage also tells us that the name of the demons is called Legion, because there were many. Here we see that many demons can possess one person at the same time.
and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. (Luke 8:35)
After the demon, the evil spirits were driven out of the man, the man was his right mind, and everyone was very afraid and asked Jesus to leave there.
May God bless you and your family! 🙏😊

²³ Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. ²⁴ Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵ The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” ²⁶ He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. ²⁷ The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” (Matthew 8:23-27)
Here the Lord Jesus told the disciples to cross the sea or the lake in a boat, the sea here was the sea of Galilee. Suddenly there was a storm. The parallel passage Luke 8:23 says that the boat was about to be filled with water, but the Lord Jesus fell asleep. The disciples were very afraid and woke the Lord Jesus up. The Lord Jesus rebuked the wind and the sea, and the wind and sea became calm right away. Here we see the humanity and divinity of the Lord Jesus. As a human being, he needed sleep, but as God, with just one word, the wind and sea got calm down. Not only can the Lord Jesus calm the storm of the sea, He can also calm the storms in our lives.
May God bless you and your family! 🙏😊

18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” (Matthew 8:18-22)
Here we see that a scribe, a teacher of the law, came to the Lord Jesus and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” The Lord Jesus said to him: “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” The Lord Jesus knows everything, he preached everywhere and had no fixed residence, he knew that this scribe could not take this hardship. The Lord Jesus called another disciple to follow him, he said: “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” The Lord Jesus said: “let the dead bury their own dead.” If a person doesn’t have spiritual life, doesn’t have a new life, he is like a dead man in the eyes of the Lord. The Lord Jesus said that let the dead bury their own dead and asked him to preach the gospel of the kingdom of heaven.
61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” 62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:61-62)
This parallel passage says that another disciple wanted to follow the Lord but wanted to say goodbye to his family first. The Lord Jesus said: “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” The Lord asked him to concentrate on plowing the field and not look back. If he looked back, the plow would not be straight. The Lord wanted him to follow Him wholeheartedly and preach the Kingdom of God without being distracted.
May God bless you and your family.

14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. 16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” (Matthew 8:14-17)
Here we see that the Lord Jesus went to Peter’s house, saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever, and he healed her. Many people were possessed by demons, the Lord Jesus cast out the demons with a word and also healed all the sick people.
41 Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah. (Luke 4:41)
In this parallel passage in the Gospel of Luke, it says that after the demons were cast out, they wanted to speak, but the Lord Jesus did not allow them to speak. In the spiritual world, there is God, the Devil Satan, there are also angels and the demons or the evil spirits. If a person interacts with the spiritual world, such as practicing Qigong, some might be possessed by the demons. All demons recognize the Lord Jesus and know that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ, but the Lord Jesus didn’t allow them to speak.
17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” (Mark 16:17-18)
The Lord Jesus not only healed the sick and cast out demons in the Biblical time, but now He still heals the sick and casts out demons through His believers and disciples. I have heard testimonies about these. I have also prayed for some people’s sickness and pain, and the Lord healed them, some were healed immediately, some were healed after a period of time, some were fully healed, and some were partially healed, some were not healed for the moment. Thank the Lord and glory to the Lord.
May God bless you and your family. 🙏😊