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)

Today’s passage: Mark 3:7-21

Helpful thoughts:

• Jesus was becoming a spectacle.  He had come to preach the Kingdom.  They wanted physical healing and the casting out of demons.
  • The demons were not permitted to proclaim who Jesus is.  Their intent was evil, their reputation was not trusted or respected, and they would not be given that privilege.
• From the crowd of people who had become followers of Jesus, twelve were called out.  They were selected to (1) Be with him and (2) to be sent out.
  • There would be a time of discipleship where Jesus would pour into these men.
  • There would be a time of commission and sending where the men would go out and do what they were taught.
• Jesus’ earthly family did not believe in Him at this time.  They thought He was insane.

Questions to consider:

1. Some Christians can imagine better than others…but what if the people in your community, officials and prominent authorities, and even your own family were against you and thought you were going crazy for what you believed?  Jesus experienced this.  He knows what it’s like.  How can our relationship with Him and knowing what He suffered help us when the world would call us crazy for believing as we do?
2. Why do you think Mark let’s the reader know right away that Judas would betray Jesus?  What does this knowledge, right up front, teach us about the purposes of God?
3. Who are some people who have discipled you?  Who are you discipling?  Knowing that this is part of what Jesus has sent us out to do (Matthew 28:18-20), who might you be able to reach out to for this kind of relationship?

Today’s passage: Mark 2:23-3:6

Helpful thoughts:

• Today’s passages consist of times the Jewish religious leaders were trying to catch Jesus and His followers doing wrong on the Sabbath.
• The disciples were breaking the rules which the scribes and Pharisees had taught the people, but they were not disobeying the Scripture (See Deuteronomy 23:25).  There is a distinction between meeting your need for hunger and doing a day’s work.
  • David and his men ate the Bread of Presence in a time of need (1 Samuel 21:1-6).  This would typically not have been done, but in a time of need it was permissible.
• Jesus wasn’t scared of the Pharisees and what they would say about Him if He didn’t do what they said.  This was perhaps what bothered them more than anything (Along with the fear that others would follow His lead).

Questions to consider:

1. Since people like you and me aren’t able to heal anyone the way Jesus did, where would that have been written in the law?  If the Pharisees considered it unlawful, where would they have had to come to that conclusion?  Whose law were they actually keeping and enforcing?
2. The Pharisees and the Herodians were typically not the best of friends!  Why would they start meeting and trying to work together now?  How does their sudden alliance prove what their heart motives really were?
3. Why wasn’t Jesus scared of what the Pharisees would think about Him?  Why was it right for Him to do this miracle publicly against their will?  You and I aren’t deity, but when should we have this courage to do what is right even when the world dislikes it?

Today’s passage: Mark 2:18-22

Helpful thoughts:

• Jesus is the “bridegroom.”
  • In the Old Testament, the Lord is the bridegroom (Hosea 2:19-20).  Jesus is again proclaiming His deity.
  • Later in the New Testament, we see the church called His “bride.” (Ephesians 5:25-33)
• Jesus did not come to patch up a whole on the Old Covenant.  He brought with Him the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
• There was no need to fast as a way to draw near to God when God was right there with them.
  • When fasting becomes a ritual and way to impress people (Matthew 6:16-18), the original purpose gets lost.

Questions to consider:

1. If Israel is the Lord’s bride, and if the Church is the Lord’s bride, then what does that add to the conversation concerning the correlation between Israel and the church?  In what facet is there distinction between the two?  In what way are we together?  (Galatians 3:29, 1 Peter 2:9)
2. How does this passage and Matthew 6:16-18 help us to understand better what fasting is and isn’t?  What would be a wrong motivation to fast and pray?  What would be some good reasons?
3. Why did we need more than just a “patching up?”  What was man to learn about ourselves through the Law?  What did Christ come to do for us?  (Galatians 3:23-26)

Today’s passage: Mark 2:13-17

Helpful thoughts:

• Levi is Matthew (Mark 3:18) and the writer of the Gospel of Matthew.
• Levi’s/Matthew’s having a tax booth by the Sea of Galilee implies he was collecting taxes for Rome from the fishermen.  The men Jesus called to follow Him as His disciples were men who were supposed to hate each other from the world’s perspective.  Yet they were united in Christ.
• The scribes and Pharisees didn’t think they needed spiritual rescue.  Therefore, they were unwilling to hear any help, rebukes, correction, etc.

Questions to consider:

1. Who are the people the world says we should be against?  Why and how should we be for those very people?
2. What was Matthew no longer doing after he got up and followed Jesus?  What had he left behind?  Why do you think the scribes and the Pharisees were more upset with Jesus than they were excited for the change in Matthew?  What is the mission of the church (Matthew 28:18-20) and therefore what things should we be fired up about?  What do we need to care less about?
3. What understanding/attitude must we have about ourselves if we are going to be able to hear when others lovingly strive to help us see our “blind spots” in life?  Why do we tend to get defensive when we sense people are about to say something about us?  How does the Gospel remind us that we need people to speak into our lives?

Today’s passage: Mark 2:1-12

Helpful thoughts:

• Only God has the authority to forgive sin like this.  When Jesus forgave the paralytic’s sin, He was letting the people know who He was.
  • The scribes were not necessarily wrong to be shocked by this declaration of forgiveness.  Jesus had been teaching the word, and now He had just done something that would have been blasphemous…if He wasn’t God!
• Jesus refers to Himself in verse 10 as the “Son of Man.”  This is a name for the Messiah taken from Daniel 7:13-14.  Again, Jesus was letting this crowd know who He was.
• The preaching of the Word of God, the forgiveness of sins, and the revelation of the Messiah were the most important activities in this passage.  The healing was simply a sign to point to the truth of Christ’s identity and ministry.

Questions to consider:

1. What might the scribes have been thinking after these events?  How did Jesus know what they had been thinking?
2. In what way would it have been easier to say, “your sins are forgiven” than to say, “take up your bed and walk?”  Which one was immediately verifiable?  Why did Jesus heal the paralytic?
3. How did the actions of the paralytic and his friends display the faith that Jesus saw?  What is the result of saving faith in the life of a believer?