We grow familiar with things very quickly.
Are you familiar with Jesus by this point in Mark? We have read about Jesus who heals, and does mighty things. Mark is determined not to let us grow familiar.
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Mark
Fear in the presence of Jesus occurs in this section of Mark. Mark’s storytelling is meant to help us understand who Jesus is.
In this section of Mark, we will see how Jesus has authority.
Why does authority cause us to fear? We live in an anti-authoritarian world and we do not trust other people to exercise power. We often view authority with suspicion. The Bible, however, recognises that there is a design for authority. And as we read this section, we should see that Jesus has authority, and is to be feared.
Parables may not be unfamiliar to Christians. Jesus often speaks about the kingdom in parables. What is the kingdom like?
But let us also take a step back and consider why Jesus speaks in parables? Why does Jesus regularly obscure what He means to say? Why does Jesus make it difficult to understand?
Mark is about the revelation of Jesus, the son of God, who calls us to be His disciples. Mark also shows us how Jesus declares the coming of the kingdom.
In this section we see two groups of people that do not recognise the power of the kingdom. The kingdom comes with rivals to the kingdom, a power struggle, usurpation.
Discipleship has to do with following. We cannot be a disciple unless there is a master. We can only be a disciple of someone.
Christian discipleship involves us doing something like Jesus because of something we learn about Jesus. There is information gained about Him that is practiced so that there is a change in life.
We continue our study in Mark and Jesus continues to teach his disciples and those around Him.
The four synoptic gospels provide different angles and we are often tempted to collapse and flatten it into one. There is nothing wrong but when we do so, and only read it for the cross, we lose what is individual and particular. There are different particularities and views that we are to see. What did the original writer want his readers to know particularly through his gospel? We want to read Mark as Mark, trying to understand what Mark is seeking to teach us about Jesus. In this section, we see Jesus who calls the sick.
In the previous verses, we saw how Jesus had authority in teaching and also to heal. In these verses, we see how Jesus leaves and returned to Capernaum to continue His ministry.
There are many parts of our life that we do not let Jesus have rule and reign over. Maybe we feel like are powerless and ineffective in our evangelism. Or perhaps we struggle with prayer. Or maybe we struggle to be with His people.
What does Mark 1:29-45 have to say to our struggles? What does it show us about God?
Who is Jesus? By what name will you call Him? What does it mean to now this Jesus Christ?
We begin a new series in the Gospel of Mark, and the focus in this gospel is Jesus — who is Jesus? As we read through the events recorded in this book, we are to see what it tells us about Jesus and what does Jesus require. To follow Him well, we need to know Him well.
What is the greatest commandment? How would you answer this? Many of us begin by reaching for memory, trying to recall what we’ve been taught. Then we begin to reason to make sense of what we remember.
In this series, we’re going to look at a number of creeds in the New Testament. A creed is a basic faith structure that we’ve learnt from memory.
This is the last study in our Doctrine of Scripture series. We started our series with a speaking God, and we went through some of the attributes of Scripture — sufficient, clear, authoritative and necessary. Then we studied about the Canon of the Bible, how we have the set of books in our bibles today. Last week, we spoke about how Scripture cannot be broken. And we come to this week, where we want to trace the storyline of the Bible, because we know that what God says will come to pass!
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!