We spent an entire series (6 weeks!) in the first chapter of Mark. Yes, you read me right. 6 weeks in Mark 1. The big idea was to read the chapter to see the King and His followers. This is a summary of what we've covered.

Disciples follow by their own volition, and who they choose to follow is key - no one wants to follow a dud. This is why we have looked at the Kingship of Jesus Christ, the Kingdom that He proclaimed, the call and the cost of following this King, the authority of this King, and the purpose of this King’s ministry over the past 5 weeks. In today’s passage, we take a look at another aspect - the compassion of the King - to consider how it relates to everyone in the world, and how it relates to his disciples. 

We have been following the life and ministry of Jesus in Mark 1, and in today's passage, we read of Jesus coming out in Mark 1:38. This verse tells us one of the earliest purpose statements of Jesus. We know now that the purpose of Jesus is really about His death. One Bible scholar commented that the last week of His life takes up a lot of the gospels. But here in Mark, we learn something about Jesus’ purpose. Why did He come out? Where did He come out from?

How would you answer the following statement: "Jesus came to ____ (location) to _________ (action). There are many answers in the ultimate sense. But this text gives us a specific answer, as we will see.

We don't like the word "authority". In life, we see how many people abuse their authority — parents, teachers, government, and even the church. Many may be able to tell a specific story of the abuse of authority. But the Bible speaks of the importance of authority and also the struggle with authorities. The book of Judges show us clearly the problem when there is no authority, when everyone did what was right in their own eyes because there was no king. The NT books, especially the epistles, were written to churches that had some part of their lives that were not under the authority of God. In Mark 1:21-34, we will seek to examine Jesus' authority and we hope to come to conclusions not only about the nature of His authority (in each of the headers) but also that authority is a good thing. But we all do not like authority by nature.

Do you wonder what God’s desire for your life is? Do you wonder what it means to be a follower of Jesus, or how you might be a follower of Jesus?

Last week, we introduced this new series by defining discipleship as “intentionally laying aside my will and direction for my life, turning another way, and living according to the will and purposes of another”. It is putting aside how I want to live, and living in another direction. As Mark progresses, it speaks of a Kingdom, which is a “society created by a group of people who intentionally lives as disciples”. The Kingdom of God is all about its King. Its King’s obedience, victory over sin and temptation, and message of repentance and faith. How are we to respond to this new King?

We are creatures. This is the reality of being human, and our actions are based on the forces acting upon us. We are all products of some form of discipleship, for there are a thousand forces discipling us and telling us what the overriding direction of your life should be. But God has exactly one will for our lives. Of all the possible scenarios of how we can live our lives and be discipled, God has one possible set of terms and circumstances, and it is in this Book that that we learn the will of God and the direction we are to take. Read on to see what Mark has to say about discipleship and God’s plan for disciples!