Today’s passage: Mark 6:30-44

Helpful thoughts:

• After a time of hard work in ministry, Jesus told His disciples to rest.
  • Even in a time where rest was needed, the shepherd’s heart saw the need and served the people.  We need a compassionate savior and shepherd.  Jesus shows His compassion.
• Jesus miraculously multiplied five loaves and two small fish to feed a crowd of over 5,000 people.
  • The disciples’ question about 200 denarii of bread was rhetorical.  They likely wouldn’t have had that much money on them.  They were pointing out how expensive it would be (Beyond their means) to feed such a large crowd.
  • This task was beyond the disciples’ means, but not beyond God’s.

Questions to consider:

1. What can we learn from Jesus’ encouragement to pursue rest?  When was it time to rest?  Did the desire to rest prevent them from serving others?  Is it always going to look perfect and orderly?  What extremes can people go to in order to find “rest?”
2. In what ways was this miracle similar to the daily manna that Israel received from the Lord in the wilderness during the exodus?  What could people have been learning about Jesus through this miracle?
3. How had Jesus been “feeding” the people prior to giving them food?  In what ways do we need to be fed?  Why can it be difficult to have a proper balance discerning the needs of people to whom we minister as a church?  What kind of feeding to people need most?  What kind of feeding to people sometimes want most? How can feeding be helpful?  How could it be harmful?

Today’s passage: Mark 6:14-29

Helpful thoughts:

• Herod appears to have had a great fear of man.  He was also afraid that Jesus was John the Baptist, back from the dead.  Today’s passage tells us why he had John the Baptist put to death.
• After being intoxicated by pleasure, Herod made a foolish vow.  He (and more so, John the Baptist) paid for it dearly.
• John the Baptists actual “wrong-doing” was simply telling Herod that it was wrong to have married his sister-in-law the way he did.

Questions to consider:

1. What are all the instances of fear we see Herod experiencing in this passage (Or clamoring for the approval of people)?  How did he respond to his fear/desire?  How did his fear/desire control him?
2. What are some instances where fear (Or particularly the fear of man) have made you say or do things (Or kept you from doing things) you would or wouldn’t normally want to do?
3. Contrast Herod’s leadership with Jesus’ from Mark 5:40.  What thinking and heart motivation needs to change in us in order to have victory of the fear of man? (Mark 12:30-31, 1 John 4:19, John 15:13, Ecclesiastes 12:13)

 

Today’s passage: Mark 6:1-13

Helpful thoughts:

• Mary had at least seven children.  Jesus, these four brothers listed, and at least two sisters (Or else they would have used the singular, “sister.”).
  • When the people called Jesus the son of Mary, they were implying that Jesus was born illegitimately.  They would typically have called Him the son of Joseph, but they knew something was up.  In truth, Jesus was not Joseph’s son!
• Jesus is fully God and fully man.  The people of His own “hometown” did not suspect any deity in Him.  They perceived Him to be a normal man.
• In the wake of Jesus’ rejection by His own family and friends in Nazareth, He sends His disciples out to other towns with the same message.
  • The offense of the people in Nazareth did not render the Gospel inaccurate.  The power and the word of God goes on.

Questions to consider:

1. What does “A prophet goes without honor in his own hometown” mean?  How would that be seen today?  What’s the difference between our reputations and Jesus’ reputation in Nazareth?  What didn’t he have in his past that we all do (Romans 3:23)?
2. Once the message was shared, if there was great rejection, what happened next?  Did Jesus impose or force the miracles on people?  How does this pattern compare to the ministry of the Apostle Paul (Acts 18:6)?  How could this impact how we minister to people today (Without giving up prayer for those who have thus far rejected Christ)?
3. How can these truths help us to remain encouraged and continue to spread the Gospel when people choose not to hear?

Today’s passage: Mark 5:21-43

Helpful thoughts:

• Two miracles are depicted in today’s passage.  The healing of the woman with a “discharge of blood” and the raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead.
  • The young girl was, in fact, dead (Luke 8:55).  This changes how we understand what Jesus says in verse 39.
• Both the woman and the young girl who was dead were “unclean” and should have rendered Jesus unclean.  But instead, Jesus rendered them clean!
  • The woman would have pushed her way through a crowd to touch Jesus.  The fact that she had made everyone she touched unclean is probably why she came to Jesus in fear and trembling when He asked who had touched Him.
• Both this sickly woman and the ruler of the synagogue were right to fall at Jesus’ feet.  Jesus is worthy.  Every knee will bow (Philippians 2:9-11).

Questions to consider:

1. If Jairus was a ruler of a synagogue (The equivalent to a local church before Christ), what risk was he taking in falling at Jesus’ feet to ask for help for his daughter?  How might the leaders and people around him have responded, given his position of leadership?
2. In what way do both of these accounts communicate an abandoning of concern for what others will say?  To whom must we go for “healing” from our sin?  Can the thoughts or rebukes of other people keep us from falling at Jesus’ feet?  What truths about Jesus can help us to overcome those fears?
3. What can we learn from the fact that the God of the universe came to a little girl and spoke to her in her heart-language (Aramaic)?  What can we gain from taking time to consider the “condescension” of God to mercifully and graciously rescue and care for us?

Today’s passage: Mark 5:1-20

Helpful thoughts:

• Satan and his demons seek to kill and destroy (John 10:10).  This demon-possessed man was being destroyed with his own hands.
• We don’t know how many demons were possessing this man.  But we do know there were enough to make a herd of 2,000 pigs do a completely unnatural thing by running down a steep bank to their death!  A legion of Roman soldiers had 6,000 men.
• The country of the Gerasenes (Gadara) and the Decapolis was a heavily Gentile region.  There were Jews and Gentiles living there, but the Greek influence was very strong.
  • This explains the presence of the pigs (Which were deemed “unclean” in the Law – Deuteronomy 14:8).
  • This explains why Jesus would tell the man to go and tell everyone what He had done.  The response to Jesus’ miracles in the Decapolis region would be very different than in Galilee or Judea because they were not looking for a political Messiah to liberate them from Rome.

Questions to consider:

1. There are all kinds of questions a passage like this can bring about, but it tells us what God intends for it to.  What does this passage teach us about Jesus?
2. Why do you think the people in the town begged Jesus to leave?  What all had they just seen and heard?  What had they just lost?  What didn’t they realize they had just gained?
3. Can you think of something you’ve lost that ended up being God’s grace?  What kinds of things do we tend to hold firmly to even when they turn our eyes away from Jesus?

Today’s passage: Mark 4:35-41

Helpful thoughts:

• A Galilean boat would have been big enough to hold about 15 people.  Approximately 26.6 feet long and 7.5 feet wide.  If the wind was heavy and the waves crashing into the boat, it would have been quite amazing to see someone sleeping through that.
• When God the Son tells the wind and the sea to settle down, they listen.
• Once a great calm came over creation, a great fear continued in the hearts of these people.
  • They were filled with fear in the storm.
  • They were filled with fear in the calm.
    • Faith and trust in God are needed to calm the storm of our fears.

Questions to consider:

1. Why wasn’t Jesus scared?  What had he come to do (Mark 10:45)?  Why wasn’t that storm going to be the end of Him (Or the disciples)?
2. What did the disciples’ question at the end of verse 38 assume?  Who told them they were perishing?  Did Jesus care?  What all could they have learned (And us too!) from this experience?
3. What is the answer to the disciples’ question in verse 41?  Who is Jesus?  What then must we do in response?

Today’s passage: Mark 4:21-34

Helpful thoughts:

• Four different parables today:
  • 21-22 – The message of Jesus Christ is to be proclaimed like shining a light in a room.  When that light shines, we should expect it to expose what we could not see without the light.
  • 24-25 – The person who receives and believes the gospel message (Puts their faith in Christ) will “have” and receive “more” fruit.  The one who will not receive Christ will lose whatever fruit they think they have.
  • 26-29 – We don’t have to understand all of how God brings about the new birth and growth of His people.  We don’t have to unlock the process ourselves to manufacture disciples on our own.  We can just be obedient and keep proclaiming the truth.
  • 30-32 – The people of Jesus’ day thought nothing good could come out of Nazareth, but something/someone massive did come.  God has simply called on us to obey Him, you don’t have to be a PhD to be fruitful in your ministry.

Questions to consider:

1. Who is it that shines, that causes to grow, that flourishes, etc.?  Who is responsible for the growth of the Kingdom?  What is our part?  How does this take the pressure off of us while also encouraging us to get more involved?
2. In what ways might our evaluation of a “successful” ministry keep us from thinking we could do anything useful?  What do these parables say to that idea?
3. What part of the church should rightly be compared to the size of the plant?  Is it the building?  The budget?  The attendance?  What is God producing?  How might the other things we can look at be a distraction if we aren’t careful?

Today’s passage: Mark 4:1-20

Helpful thoughts:

• Jesus teaches this parable of the sower (And the good soil) and then explains it for His followers.
• In verse 12, Jesus references text and/or concepts from Isaiah 6:9-10, Deuteronomy 29:4, Jeremiah 5:21 and Ezekiel 12:2.
• Though there is an apparent increasing interest in the word being communicated, it appears only the heart of “good soil” truly believes and bears fruit (Ephesians 2:10).

Questions to consider:

1. What does Jesus say is the purpose of the parables?  Was Jesus clamoring or begging to get as many followers as He possibly could?  What are we to make of this?  How do we reconcile this idea with the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20)?
2. With whom was the word shared?  Does this parable teach us to only share with those whose hearts are determined to be “Good soil?”  When will we even come to know that the good soil was/is present?
3. How does a person come to possess a heart of good soil?  Can we cultivate that on our own before someone shares the gospel with us, before we believe?  Or, what might God be doing in the life of a person to bring them to repentance?  (Ezekiel 36:26, 2 Corinthians 5:17)

Today’s passage: Mark 3:22-35

Helpful thoughts:

• After Jesus’ earthly family called Him crazy, the religious leaders called Him demon-possessed.
• Blasphemy is defined as “Irreverent and insulting or slanderous expressions against God.” (MacArthur’s and Mayhue’s “Biblical Doctrine”)
  • To say that what Jesus was doing and saying were the work of Satan was incredibly slanderous.
  • One of the works of the Holy Spirit is to point people to Jesus!  To deny the identity of Christ and to reject Him as Lord and Savior is to blaspheme the testimony of the Holy Spirit.
• When we remember the context, Jesus’ family were calling Him to take Him home because they thought He was out of His mind (Verse 21).
  • It is right to see the church as family and not to allow unbelieving family to keep us away.
  • However, Jesus is not advocating here for an abandoning of the earthly family or family responsibilities for the church.

Questions to consider:

1. What is the right and healthy way to see church as family?  What are some passages that help us to understand that our responsibilities to our homes/earthly families are not negated by these verses?
2. If the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is to reject His word concerning Christ, then what is truly the unpardonable sin?  What is true of those who reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (1 John 5:12, John 3:18)?
3. If a person does not reject or blaspheme the ministry of the Holy Spirit, what will they believe and what will then be true of them? (John 3:5-16)