In our study of Mark we’ve seen six demonic altercations in the first seven chapters. What’s going on here? Is this what ministry should look like today? Should our seminaries offer exorcism classes? Should pastors devote equal time to preaching, counseling, visitation and demon wrangling? If not, why not? Here are three considerations to keep […]
What’s All This about Demons? Read More »
A few weeks ago I ran short on time and couldn’t address the following passage in my sermon. It’s a mysterious bit of teaching about Elijah that can leave us scratching our heads. And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” And he said to them, “Elijah does come
What’s All This About Elijah? Read More »
When we see greatness, we naturally long to tell people about it. Marketers strive for this kind of word of mouth contagion; yet Jesus consistently silenced his fans (Mark 7:36; 8:26, 30). If he posted the transfiguration (Mark 9:2-8) on Facebook, he would have customized his privacy settings to include just three people! Peter, James
Now We Can Tell Everyone | Mark 9:9-13 Read More »
Glory is the Weight of One’s Greatness In the New Testament, the word glory means honor, renown and splendor that evokes good opinion. But it draws from the Old Testament idea of weight. Figuratively, glory is the weight of one’s honor, renown and splendor. Think of someone great and picture gold coins added to a
Jesus’ Divine Glory | Mark 9:2-8 Read More »
Humanity is afflicted with a real spiritual condition: blindness. We are all spiritually blind unless God intervenes through Jesus Christ, opening our eyes. Jesus’ describes the symptoms in Mark 8:17-21: Difficulty perceiving or understanding spiritual things Hard heartedness Unseeing eyes Unhearing ears Poor memory Discussion Starters Read Mark 8:14-30 together. Thinking specifically about verses 14-21, how
Seeing Jesus Christ | Mark 8:14-30 Read More »
Discussion Starters Compare the miraculous feeding stories and Mark six and Mark eight. What is similar? What is different? What do you observe about Jesus? In Mark eight, compare Jesus interaction with the crowd and his interaction with the Pharisees. What do you notice? Why is Jesus compassionate with the crowd, and resistant toward the
Compassion for the Nations | Mark 8:1-13 Read More »