Join us in this captivating episode as we delve into the profound moments captured in Mark chapter 5. Our guest reader, Tom Siekmeyer, shares the incredible stories of how Jesus touched the lives of many—casting out demons, healing the sick, and even raising the dead. Through vivid storytelling and rich reflections on faith, we explore the transformative power of belief and its impact on those who encountered Jesus.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today we are in Mark chapter 5. We’ll listen to our guest reader Tom Siekmeyer read the 43 verses of this chapter. Tom edits and proofs all the Ad Bible Recording transcripts. He also was the editor of one of our Bible reading journals. He was a school teacher for 31 years. So let’s listen to Tom Siekmeyer read Mark 5.
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Mark chapter 5. They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerizim. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. No one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains. But he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day, among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me. For he was saying to him, Come out of the man, you unclean spirit. And Jesus asked him, What is your name? He replied, My name is Legion, for we are many. And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, Send us to the pigs, let us enter them. So he gave them permission, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came out to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him, but said to him, Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you. And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And everyone marveled. And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. Then came out one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live. And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, If I touch even his garments, I will be made well. And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, Who touched my garments? And his disciples said to him, You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, Who touched me? And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease. While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further? But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, Do not fear, only believe. And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John, the brother of James. They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but sleeping. And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. Taking her by the hand, he said to her, Talitha Kumi, which means little girl, I say to you, arise. And immediately the girl got up and began walking for she was 12 years of age and they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this and told them to give her something to eat.
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In 1986, when I read Mark 5, I wrote, And then I referred to verse 43. Why did Jesus always instruct people not to bear witness to his miracles? In 1996, I read Mark 5 on two different days, splitting the chapter in two. On the first day, I wrote, A demon-possessed man worshipped Jesus. Jesus healed the man, and in that instance told him to go and tell everyone what good things the Lord has done for you, because he was leaving the region anyway. The next day I finished Mark 5, but I wrote just this. Mark 5, 21 to the end. airplane at 6 a.m. so I must have taken a very early flight it says to Dallas and so I was on a flight but I was still reading the Word of God even though I had a very early morning flight I share these kind of things from my journal to just remind us that we can get our daily Bible reading in any day if it’s a priority for us I have had the privilege to travel quite a bit in my life but travel does not keep me from the Word of God. As illustrated here in this journal, there are times when I read the scriptures on an airplane or in an airport in a quiet place while I’m waiting for my next flight. Don’t let travel or vacations or holidays keep you from the Word of God. Always find time, a little bit of time each day, to spend time with your Heavenly Father and His Word. In 2006, I was reading the Old Testament and the New Testament each day, getting through the Bible in one year. And so I split Mark 5 into two parts again. And on the first part, I wrote, Jesus delivers a man from a legion of demons. They knew who he was and had no power in his presence. He gave them permission. They had no authority before Jesus. Praise God. The next day, as I was reading part of the Old Testament and part of the New Testament, concerning Mark, I wrote, in Mark they began laughing at him as Jesus said the girl was asleep, not dead. And then I wrote, Old Testament and New Testament, we complain about God. In the story of the demon-possessed man, it’s amazing, isn’t it, that when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. It reminds me of that verse that says, Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Even demons will fall down before him. The verse goes on to say, And crying out with a loud voice, he said, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? The demon knew Jesus’ name and he knew who he was. He knew he was the Son of the Most High God. The next story is about the woman with the issue of blood who reached up and touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was healed. Did touching the garment of Jesus make her well? No, that’s not what Jesus says. Jesus says in verse 34, Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease. I know many people of great faith who have not been healed. I also know of people with little faith or people who have been prayed for and have received the healing touch of Jesus. Can I explain the difference? No, not really. But if I have the choice between having faith in healing and not having faith, I’m going to choose to have faith that God will heal me. He has several times in my life so far. But there will come a day when I will not be healed and I will go home to be with the healer. The last story in this chapter is about Jesus raising a little girl from the dead. I want to look at verse 37. It says, except Peter and James and John, the brother of James. But then the intimacy of the story is shared. The only three people that could have known what happened in that room was Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. But Mark is writing this gospel. So remember at the introduction of this book, we said that Mark knew Peter well, and that Mark was the writer for Peter. That shows right here in this story, because Peter was in the room. He knew what happened. Most likely, he shared it with Mark, who could write this story down. Jesus, we come to you today and thank you that you can deliver people from demons. You can heal the sick. You can even raise the dead. It happened in Mark chapter 5. We hear of stories where it’s happened in our day to day. Thank you for your miracle working power. By reading these stories, might you increase our faith in you. May we believe in the miracle working power of Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. Across our listening audience, more and more of you are supporting AdBible by visiting our website at EzraProject.net and purchasing resources like Club 365 subscriptions, Bible reading journals, and one or more of our day-by-day through the Bible devotional books. We thank you so much and encourage more of you to do the same. You will find helpful and inspirational tools to enhance your personal time in God’s Word. Today I want to review the three tools we see most listeners getting. First, Club 365. This is a monthly subscription opening our vault of all AddBible audio recordings and all printed pages of the entire Day by Day Through the Bible devotional series. By joining Club 365 for only $7 a month, you have access to both audio and written information on all 66 books of the Bible. Club 365 is a goldmine, and it is completely flexible to your personal Bible reading plan. So if you’re reading Matthew or Isaiah or Psalms or Revelation, you have access to audio or written comments, applications, and prayers on any of them at your fingertips. Get Club 365 at EzraProject.net today, like so many others have. Secondly, another hot seller are our Bible reading journals. We offer two. One is a chronological Bible reading journal that contains a daily Bible reading plan chronologically. You don’t have to buy a chronological Bible, just get our chronological Bible reading journal. It has over 200 pages, so you can journal your way through the entire Bible. This book is our number one bestseller over the last two decades. other journal is called the trio bible reading journal because it has three annual bible reading plans in it a new testament schedule an old testament schedule but if you do them both on the same day a complete bible reading plan you’ll finish the bible in 365 days we have a limited supply of the trio bible reading journal the cool thing about our journals is they start when you start. Day one of the schedule is the day you start, not January 1. Again, completely flexible to your Bible reading habits. Order your journal for just $9 at EzraProject.net and we ship it free. And the third product people are ordering is one of our day by day through the Bible devotional books. There are only 11, but they cover all 66 books of the Bible filled with comments about passages, applications from the passages and prayers related to the passages. Listeners are understanding Bible passages in a whole new way, thanks to digging deeper with a day-by-day supplement to their daily devotions. You can find all 11 books on our website at EzraProject.net. They are available in print and digitally. Get one today and start understanding your Bible in a whole new way. So that’s all for today. Join me tomorrow for another chapter of AdBible. I know you’re going to enjoy it.
