Mizizi Family Devotions (Episode 1)

The Mazzuzi Family Devotions podcast welcomes listeners to join them in the tradition of family devotions. They discuss the fulfillment of prophecies in the Bible, particularly focusing on Jesus as the light in darkness. Jesus begins his ministry and calls his first disciples, emphasizing that he is the Messiah and the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He heals the sick and casts out demons. A multitude of people follow him. The family concludes with a prayer, expressing gratitude and asking for blessings for their listeners. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Welcome to Mazzuzi Family Devotions. I'm Faith and joining us today is Jaden. Hi. Corbin. Hi. Kaylin. Hi. And Quentin. Hi. The tradition of family devotions has been passed down from generation to generation. It's a special legacy that we want to bring you and your family into. We hope you enjoy the podcast. Okay, let's get started. Jesus begins his ministry. Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, and the regions of Zebulon and Naphtali. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan. Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sat in darkness, have seen a great light. And upon those sat in the regions and shadows of death. Light has dawned. You know, one of the really cool things I noticed here is, can you guys guess how many prophecies are in the Bible? There's a lot. There is a lot of them. There's very, very much. I'd say 2,000. 2,000? Same with you guys. I'd say at least a couple thousand. Okay, so there's 1,817 prophecies to be exact in the Bible. And there's 113. And so that's what we're talking about here. We're talking about that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali. And it goes on to talk about how Jesus would end up fleeing Galilee and move out of there. And move into the land of Naphtali. Every single religion in the world has prophecies. But the Bible is the only religion in the entire world, it's the only book in the entire world, that has prophecies that actually come true. I thought that was a little neat tidbit to insert there. The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned. I think that's really cool because it talks about wherever Jesus went, if there was darkness there, and there was a lot of darkness there across the whole world at the time, then Jesus would bring light to the region. And I think that that's so cool, just seeing Jesus as light. Because I know that's what He is in my life. He's the light in my darkness on those days that get really, really rough. And we've had a lot of hard days over the course of our lives. And He's always been that light. He's always that thing that gets us through. He is, and He commands us to be that same light for others, to let Him shine through us for other people. So that's kind of a hint at that here, when it talks about Him being the light in the darkness. We're on verse 17. From that time, Jesus began to preach and say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So He was kind of letting people know, look, all this has begun, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It was a much deeper message than just those words. That was the first hint that He was starting to divide Himself from other people, other type of versions of the word Messiah in people's heads. Jewish people in general thought that He was literally going to become their physical Messiah. So when Jesus came, He kind of made it clear, this is about the kingdom of heaven. I don't think people caught on to that yet, but it was the first hint that He had put out there about it being the kingdom of heaven. Jesus called His first disciples, and Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew, His brother, casting an end to the sea, for they were fishermen. He didn't go for the top dogs. He wasn't out there looking for kings or princes or officials. He was literally walking by the sea, looking for His disciples. He wasn't just looking. He had this plan since the beginning of time. And then the Josephs. Yeah, I totally love the Josephs. It's a great movie. Then He said to them, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed Him. I think it's pretty cool, the conversation that they would have had in between them dropping their nets and Him first walking up to them. These guys, fishing is their life, so whatever He had said besides, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men, He kind of started out with that. He spoke their language, tried to reach them by helping them understand that they're going to be fishers of men. Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, fun word, Zebedee, and John, His brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him. A lot of times, people's fathers, especially if they're not walking in the way of Jesus, can have really high expectations for their kids. So, right in front of their father, who obviously, his two sons are helping him make money for the family, this guy comes along, saying that I'm the Messiah, and I want you to follow me and help be fishers of men. Can you imagine what their dad, Zebedee, was thinking at the time? I mean, Zebedee was like, I'm about to lose my two sons, and no one's going to be here to help me fish, so I'm going to have to hire somebody else, or take on some... He must have been scared. He could have been scared, or he could have understood, like, this is the Messiah, it doesn't really say, but really bringing the Bible to life and realizing what he might have been feeling in that moment. He could have been happy when my Messiah came. Could have been. Jesus' ministry in Galilee, and Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. His fame went through all Syria, and they brought to him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. I think that's really cool, you know, that it talks about not just physical ailments, but also demon possession. It's a deep subject, the concept of demon possession. A lot of times, we like to keep the concept of demons in movies, in video games. Really, they're real, and I think a lot of people, whenever they get into the video games, like, we love video games, you know. We're a big gamer family, always have been. It's something we share, special, between us all. We see a lot of demonic images, and people kind of like to have that just bright feeling, kind of like in Halloween, people. We, ourselves, used to be also into Halloween until we really found out what it was really about, and here Jesus is, he's casting them out. Not only was Jesus casting them out in his day, but we got a lot of really awesome people casting them out today. Yeah, so I think that's pretty cool that Jesus is there doing a two-fold ministry, casting them out and healing people. And then, in verse 25, the last thing we have here is, A great multitude followed him from Galilee, Deucolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. I think I completely botched that word, but it's okay. Here near the end, he had a lot of people following him. It happened pretty fast. I mean, we're talking thousands of people following him around, going from here to there, and that must have been a lot for the disciples to go through. It was a big lifestyle change in quite a short period of time. That's why he came down to earth, to save people and change everything, and then eventually die on the cross. So, yeah, I want to thank you guys for doing this. I know that we have something really special going on with our family devotions, and we always have, and I think more and more we'll be able to share that with other people. I wanted to say thank you to you guys for being here and being open and being willing, staying connected to the Holy Spirit in these moments. Hopefully, we'll get to share more of this with people. So, thank you guys. You're welcome. Yeah? Thank you. It was really fun. Yeah, it was fun. It's definitely going to be a new thing, a new season for us. One thing that we wanted to do is leave a little bit of time afterwards for people to pray. And if you've never prayed before, it's nothing too formal. Most people don't even understand that when you become a Christian, Christian means Christ follower, follower of Jesus Christ. It's more about a relationship with Him. So whenever we stop and pray, it's about us connecting to Jesus. And, you know, even God says that there's a secret place that we can go into where it's just you and Him and that beautiful conversation. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you today asking you to clear our hearts and minds of anything that might be hindering us from hearing you, Lord. I'm going to ask you that this podcast touched a lot of people's hearts today, that you give us the ability to continue to make more audio and to learn the process, Lord, just to open up and really let people into our lives and let people into that very vulnerable, special space that we have as a family so that people can experience that as well and maybe even start doing that in their own family. Thank you for all that you've done for our family leading up to this point, and thank you for everything that you will do. Please bless every person that's listening to this. Just enrich their lives. If they don't know Jesus, bring them and draw them closer and closer to you, Lord. Thank you for everything you've done for us, Lord. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.