Mountain-top experiences are great, but they are not the norm. Jesus and his disciples return from their transfiguration experience to discover their fellow disciples unsuccessfully trying to deliver a demonized boy whose father brought for healing. Why were they unsuccessful? For the same reason we often are. They tried to do God’s work in their own power. From this passage we learn a lot about how to access God’s presence and power.
Here Mark records the transfiguration of Jesus. This event is a powerful revelation of Jesus’ divine identity and his centrality to God’s salvation plans.
In this passage Jesus continues to help his disciples see things clearly. Like the disciples, we are bombarded by false teaching which hinders us from embracing Christ as our Savior or following him as Lord. In this section Jesus confronts false teaching, criticizes the hard hearts and spiritual blindness of his disciples, and illustrates it all through a blind man!
Just like we need a review lesson before a big test, Jesus repeats a lesson that he knows his disciples need to learn if they are to minister effectively in his name after he is gone. We, too, need a review so that we can more effectively love and minister to others.
In this passage, Jesus heals two people. First, He casts out a demon from the daughter of a Gentile woman. The Gentile woman continued to beg for mercy, even after Jesus referred to her as a Gentile dog! What is going on here? With Jesus, it is always more than meets the eye! Next, Jesus heals a deaf-mute man. These two healings shed light on how we should approach Jesus and why we should approach him this way.
WALKING POINTS / WALKING POINTS View the sermon summary or dig deeper into the message during the sermon, in your personal Bible study, or with your family or Community Group in application-driven discussion. TAKE ONE STEP Each week, write down one doable concrete step of obedience, small or large, that you will put into practice…
Jesus had just fed the 5,000, but the Twelve “had not gained any insight, for their hearts were hardened”. Yet on the very next day—when many of Jesus’ followers abandon him—Peter makes a great confession of faith. What accounts for this astonishing growth in awareness and trust? Pastor Dan dives into Mark 6 to help us find out.
Jesus conveys much more than we typically understand in this next passage from the Gospel of Mark. It is about a revolutionary doing a revolutionary act. It is about our understanding that God had called his people to do the impossible. It is about wholeness and brokenness. And it’s about laying down your life for the benefit of others.
In this next passage from the Gospel of Mark, we discover the horrible details of John the Baptist’s death: the debauchery, the revenge, the crowd pleasing and even the regret. We also learn major lessons from each of the major actors in this story.
TaLKING POINTS / WALKING POINTS View the sermon summary or dig deeper into the message during the sermon, in your personal Bible study, or with your family or Community Group in application-driven discussion. TAKE ONE STEP Each week, write down one doable concrete step of obedience, small or large, that you will put into practice…
