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The Lord still sometimes calls us just to sit as we sense something very weighty is happening and the darkness presses in. And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." Mark 14:32 Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; Lamentations 3:28 ...

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The accounts of Jesus' teaching and miracles are meant to elicit a particular response from us. That is, these texts are not meant for us just to read over and give a depthless or glib response. Discuss some of the responses to Jesus' ministry (to Jesus Himself in particular) in Mark that we have seen thus far. For example, we have seen scorn, misunderstanding, etc. What...

The Compassion of Jesus is Sooo Good Mark 6:30-36 God is an independent being and we are utterly dependent upon His compassion. Please discuss the independence of God and our dependence. (What were some examples used and what examples come to your mind?) Discuss the tragedy of stealing God's good gifts (using all that He supplies) without recognizing the independent gi...

We have noticed that the primary theme of Mark is that Jesus is a servant. That is, He came to serve others by His sacrificial life culminating in His death and resurrection. Yet, while He is a servant, He is also the king. He is the servant king. He came preaching about a kingdom and like every kingdom has a king, this servant is king of His kingdom. Please discuss the b...

We have noticed that many in our society are indifferent to the things of Christ. That is, one could say that they are unmoved, stiffnecked, or hard of heart. Scripture has an all encompassing word that succinctly describes all of these characteristics, unbelief. At the bottom of all indifferent hearts is unbelief. Note what Jesus said in John 6:36 and read and discuss Heb...

Sadly, a day that has historically been set aside to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus has become, for far too many, simply a day to muster up the effort to get to church and endure a service. Many have abandoned this effort altogether seeing little benefit from getting to church maybe once or twice a year. It is absolutely impossible to get excited about the resurrecti...

We started of by speaking about how the two miracles in our text are a foretaste of the Kingdom come. What does this mean? (Hint: What will the Kingdom yet to come look like? Revelation 21:4) How does understanding this text in this way preserve us from the burden of thinking that every person who prays for a miracle will receive it? How does it excite faith to know the...

Christianity at its core has always been and always will be essentially supernatural. Christianity is not a naturalistic religion kept alive by naturally empowered, stalwart saints. Rather, stalwart saints exist because of the supernatural work of the living God. In our day we have been barraged with a naturalism that explains everything in naturalistic terms and definiti...

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