Life is full of choices. But there is one choice that is greater than the rest. The question is have you made the right choice?
The shortest of the Synoptic Gospels where Mark portrays Jesus as the perfect servant. Mark 10:45 for Christ did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life a ransom for many.
Life is full of choices. But there is one choice that is greater than the rest. The question is have you made the right choice?
How do we handle accusations? Listen to how Jesus handled them.
There is a difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow and we see this in Peter and Judas.
Did Jesus claim to be God and must you believe that He is? Yes to both these questions and it is clearly stated in the Gospel of Mark.
In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed that the cup He was about to endure could be taken from Him and His immediately God answered His prayer. Jesus of course accepted God's will perfectly, but how do the others accept the will of God?
So many times we as God's children prayer for things and think if we don't get the answer we are looking for God didn't answer our prayers and many times this is due to the answer being no, but the truth of the matter is many times we see God's perfect when the answer is no and we see this in Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane.
Many Christians believe they would remain faithful to Christ no matter what, but this is easier said than done. The disciples thought this and the Lord informed them of their denial and yet they all thought they would prove Him wrong.
What does the Lord's Supper mean to you? What does the Lord's Supper mean to Jesus?
There is one thing we should know a lot about and that is our heart. Let us examine our hearts and ask God to show us our sin so that we can repent and live to the praise of His glory.
There are many things we are to be prepared for in life, but are you prepared to meet your Creator?
How do you know if you are truly saved? You will know whether or not you are saved based on your relationship with Jesus. Do you love Him or loathe Him?
If Jesus were living your life would they hate Him or Love Him? They hated Him while He lived and He says they will hate His followers also.
What are we we to do up to the Lord return? The Lord commanded us to watch and if we are not watching we are sleeping. The question we have to ask ourselves is, are we watching or sleep?
A lot of people put a lot of trust in things that can't always be trusted in, but there is one thing that you should put your trust in that will never fail and that is God's Word!
What are you hoping for in life? Listen to what Jesus tells us to hope for in these verses as He teaches His disciples.
For those who say there is no God because a loving God would never allow such devastating things to occur have no idea of what is to come during the seven year tribulation, which is a result of God's wrath.
So many times when people come into hard times they seem to give up, but Jesus instructs His disciples to stay the course.
The widow was insignificant to most observers, but Jesus uses the widow as an example of what every believer is to be like.
Hypocrisy is one of the most if not the most dangerous thing that happens within religion and Jesus warns us of its consequences.
How is Jesus? Is He God? Is this important? When we witness should this be proclaimed? The Scriptures are loaded with the fact the Jesus is God in the flesh and it is very important that we stand strong on this doctrine at all times!
If you were to sum up the Bible in a few words what would you say? A Scribe asked Jesus to do just that and His answer silences the Jewish leaders.
If the resurrection isn't true then why live the Christian Life? God is the God of the living not of the dead.
Money is a sensitive subject for most people in the church, but God does have a lot to say about it and in all reality we do have to ask the question, "Whose Money is it anyway"?
When you listen to preaching or teaching are you really paying attention? So many today are more interested in entertainment than they are the Word of God and this should not be so for the believer!
So many times the authority is in question not only by unbelievers, but believers as well.
So many today are controlled by their emotions and the emotion that is probably the most evident is anger. What is it that gets us angry? What are we to be angry about? Listen to what angered our Savior and try to follow His example in being angry for the right reasons.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem do you believe it was a triumphal entry and if so how was it Triumphant? His entry was triumphant, but probably not in the way you would think.
It is common for us to compare ourselves with others, but what do we deem important as we compare and what is important to us in our comparisons. Listen to the comparison between Jesus' disciples and a blind man named Bartimaeus.
Jesus said, "If you want to be great then you must become a slave to all". Are we willing to pay the price for greatness?
So many want power and prestige, but are not willing to do what must be done to get it. Listen to what Jesus says about being the greatest.
With so many today they are living a life without hope, but this shouldn't be true of the believer because we know the meaning of life!
So many make a profession for Jesus for the wrong reason. They come to Jesus thinking that their lives will be so much better, so much easier, but Jesus never promised a easy life, but an eternal one. The question isn't what's in it for me, but what isn't in it for me?!
What is it that you are trusting in for eternal life? Listen to what Jesus teaches the twelve concerning this matter.
What is expected of all who comes to Christ? What does Jesus expect of all who comes to Him? He expects us to put Him before all else!
How do you enter into the kingdom of God? Jesus said with child like faith.
With all that is going on in the world with divorce, homosexuality, sex-changes and the blurring of the sexes it is evident that the devil is going all he can to ruin God's institution of Marriage. Listen to to what Jesus says about God's plan for marriage as He answers the Pharisees question concerning divorce.
How are we living as Christians? Jesus uses metaphors a lot of times to describe what it is that we are to look like. Let your LIGHT so shine among men. He also used salt and the question that we must ask ourselves is are we Christians who are salted or saltless in a saltless world?
What do you know about sin? Do you see sin the same way Jesus sees sin? Do you see sin in the same manner in which Jesus taught in Mark 9:42-48?
So many times churches split over those things that aren't important, things that are personal when the Scriptures are clear that we are to endeavor to keep the unity. In this section Jesus teaches that we are to be united and not divided when we are serving in His name in accordance to His will.
The gospel as we know it today is another gospel. Jesus came preaching the kingdom, the Davidic kingdom, but then preached another gospel, the gospel of His death and resurrection. The disciples were seeking to rule with Jesus in the church as they would in His kingdom, but again there was a change and those who were to be first need to put themselves last.
The gospel preached according to Jesus concerning His death and resurrection was another gospel; it was not the original.
So often as Christians we tend to doubt and like the father with the demon possessed boy we need to ask for help with our unbelief when we face our trials and tribulations.
Jesus took three of His disciples on a mountain in order to get their attention. What does it take to get your attention?
What is required to be a follower of Jesus? As a poker player would say with a royal flush "ALL IN"! Jesus teaches that we must go all in if we are going to be His disciples.
Many people today believe they can accept Jesus's Message without accepting Him as Master, but this isn't what we see in these verses. You either have the mind of God or the mind of the devil. You are either for God's plan and against it. There is no middle ground. You are either for Him or against Him.
Seeing the forest through the trees is how many Christians look at their salvation, but God wants us to see the big picture. Is the death, burial and resurrection only a ticket to heaven or does the the Lord's sacrifice mean much more? Jesus teaches that there is much more in these verses.
There is nothing more important in life than to have the best understanding of the Word of God as we possibly can. Thomas Roosevelt said this in regards to the Bible, “A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education." We can never put too much emphasis on the importance on rightly dividing the Word of God. Within these verses we see what Jesus says about how knowing the Word of God helps us to beware of poisonous teachers.
Do you find that we can tend to favor some people more than others? Maybe because they are rich or maybe because they are poor. Maybe we favor some over others because their skin is different than others. God has compassion on everyone and it doesn't matter whether or not their rich or poor or what color their skin is and we are to have that same compassion.
What does it mean to be a Christian? In today culture there are a lot of definitions for being a Christian, but what do you think being a Christian means? Do you have a checklist that describes what a Christian is to look like? The word Christian was given to the earlier believers by unbelievers at Antioch, but why? The answer is because the believers, followers of Christ, lived their lives like Jesus. If we are going to follow Jesus' example than we must do what Jesus did and Jesus always looked up!
One thing I think is common among most people if not all is we tend to make judgments of others by the way they look, what kind of job they have, their education and by the color of their skin. Many times when we do this we tend to think ourselves better than them. If I have a higher education, I am better. If I make more money, I am better. If I have better hygiene, I smell better and my hair isn’t a mess, I am better. Knowing this is true how do you think this affects our purpose in life? Have you ever considered witnessing to someone but decided not to because you found them to be offensive in some way? Listen to how Jesus dealt with a person who was definitely an outcast in these seven verses.
So many people are trying to appeal to God through works trying to produce their own righteousness while neglecting the fact that it is the heart that is defiled. We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. It isn't our environment that causes us to sin; our desire to sin is because our heart is full of sin.
Where do you place tradition? Does tradition hold as much weight to you and your church as Scripture? Listen to Jesus' teaching concerning tradition and Scripture.
Many Christians know the major stories of the Bible including Jesus walking on the water, but do you know why Jesus walked on the water and what He was trying to teach His disciples? He wasn't trying to teach them that whenever you get in trouble just look to Jesus and He will deliver you. The lesson goes much deeper than that.
Many times in life we tend to lose focus and this is true in our service for the Savior. How can we become more effective as servants for the Savior? Listen to Marks record of how to be a focused servant.
Many today think when confronted with heaven or hell you just accept Jesus and escape hell, but is there more to it than just escaping hell. We know what we are saved from, but what are we saved to and have we considered the cost; have we calculated the cost to following Christ? Following Christ comes with a price!
You have heard of the saying, "You can't reinvent the wheel" yet that is what many are trying to do when it comes to evangelism. Many are trying to come up with new ways to present the gospel and many times presenting half truths in the process. What we must do is proclaim the gospel as Christ commanded.
Too many in the church today we have become too familiar with Jesus. Meet a group of people who were very familiar with Jesus and how they missed the most important thing and how we to can become too familiar with Jesus and miss the most important things.
Many times in life we are brought to our knees by extremes, but there are some wonderful truth about the One we are going to at these times and Mark shows us this in these verses.
So often people claim to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior with little to no change in the way they live, but this is contrary to what the Scripture tells us should be the norm for true believers. The man with many demons was made clean by Jesus and with him there was a significant difference in the way he lived after his encounter with the Savior.
We talk so much about faith, but what is faith? We say that we have faith in God to bring us to heaven, but do we have faith in God to bring us through everyday life? See how the disciples learned how to trust Jesus through the storm and how we too can trust Jesus with the storms that come into our lives.
How many Christians really understand what God is doing with the church and His kingdom? How many can explain how God is going to accomplish His goal of building His kingdom from beginning to end? Jesus teaches us what God is doing and how He is going to do it in these parables.
So many times when Christian say that we should let our light shine they are saying that we should let our goodness show, but Jesus was far great in character than we will ever be and when He talked about letting the light shine He was doing it with His lips.
How do we know if we or anyone else is saved? Jesus teaches us what to expect of anyone who claims to believe unto salvation in the parable of the sower and the seed.
So many today think that they are a child of God because they exist as a person, but this isn't true. One must be born into the family of God in order to be a child of God. The question is, "How do we know if we are truly part of God's family"? Jesus answers this question in just five verses.
What is the unpardonable sin and can it be committed? Listen to Jesus' teaching in regards to the unpardonable sin.
People will always see Jesus in one of three ways. He is either menace, magician or Lord; which of the three ways do you see HIm?
The way people see Jesus varies from person to person. In these verses and the verses to follow they either saw Jesus as a menace, magician or Master. The question that is most important is, "Who or What is Jesus to You"?
The Pharisees had hard hearts, Jesus had compassion and God sees our heart. The question that we have to ask ourselves is, how is our heart?
So often we tend to make tradition and personal conviction equal with the Scriptures, but it is only the Scriptures that we are to hold to as absolute truth. The Pharisees tried to hold Jesus to their traditions and convictions, but Jesus would have not part of it and neither should we.
What are you doing with sinners? Do you have a lot of friends who aren't saved? How much time do you spend with them and why? See why Jesus ate with tax collector and sinners according to Mark.
There are three things every believer must understand about faith and we see these three things with the encounter of the paralytic, his four friends and Jesus.
What is it that brought you the most Joy? Was it the day you proposed or were proposed to? Was it the day you were married? Was it the day or days that you children were born? Meet a man who had an encounter with Jesus and that day became a day that he was overwhelmed with joy.
So often people live their lives without purpose. Kids go to college not knowing their major, people go into the military because they don't know what else to do? Jesus came to earth with a purpose. Jesus ministered with purpose and so must we.
It isn't only the preacher that needs to proclaim God's Word with Confidence, we all need to take a stand and proclaim God's Word with confidence. Let us learn from Jesus as He never hesitated to proclaim God's word Confidently.
In America we have either forgotten or just don't know what it means to be Jesus' disciples. Jesus didn't try and attract people to follow Him with false promises. A matter of fact He taught in a way that made it difficult for people to follow Him. There is a cost to follow Jesus and the question that we have to ask ourselves is, "Are we willing to commit to that cost"?
So often we tend to soften things when talking with others. Instead of saying that a person lied we soften it by saying it was just a little white lie. We have something called political correctness. We are afraid of saying something in fear of offending someone or hurting their feelings, but this can't be the case when telling others the gospel. We need to be honest in letting them know the truth and not worry weather or not it offends them; TELL THE TRUTH!
In the way that Jesus was victorious over temptation is the same way we need to achieve victory.
Jesus, at His baptism, was revealed by three different witnesses. Can you imagine living at the time and witnessing the baptism of Jesus? Having seen the heavens open, the Holy Spirit descending and the voice speaking, would you have left all and followed the Christ?
What are the characteristics of a servant of the gospel look like? Mark start his gospel of with a description of a servant of the gospel in John the Baptist. A servant of the gospel knows his purpose, his priorities and his place.