Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Exciting

Next four months we will be spending time in the Gospel of Mark

Next four months we will be spending time in the Gospel of Mark

"The gospel to me is simply irresistible."-

Blaise Pascal

"The Gospel that represents Jesus Christ, not as a system of truth to be received, into the mind, as I should receive a system of philosophy, or astronomy, but it represents Him as a real, living, mighty Savior, able to save me now."-

Catherine Booth (co-founder of the Salvation Army)

"The Gospel that represents Jesus Christ, not as a system of truth to be received, into the mind, as I should receive a system of philosophy, or astronomy, but it represents Him as a real, living, mighty Savior, able to save me now."-

Catherine Booth (co-founder of the Salvation Army)

Next four months we will be spending time with Jesus

Next four months we will be spending time with Jesus

That Jesus was with the crowd

: That Jesus was with the crowd

That Jesus was with the crowd

The crowd gathered

That the crowd gathered around him.

The crowd followed him

Followed him and pressed in upon him.

The crowd pressed in

Thronged meaning to leave little room for movement, press together, press upon

A series of pressing in upon Jesus

We begin a series of pressing in upon Jesus

Shape our posture

Shape our posture

The Gospel of Mark Series

The Gospel of Mark

Rather than a verse by verse or chapter by chapter approach

The Path of the Series

Rather than a verse by verse or chapter by chapter approach

Prologue of the Gospel

Parables: The Sower

Parables: The Lamp

Parables: Growing Seed

Parables: Mustard Seed

Power: The Storm

Power: The Demon

Power: The Daughter

Power: The Woman w/ the Blood Issue

, ,

Participation: The Calling

Participation: The Sending

Participation: The Feeding

Purpose: The Foretelling

Purpose: The Transfiguration

Purpose: The Cleansing

Purpose: The Anointing

Purpose: The Confrontation/Victory of God

And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?

It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.

He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

- (ESV)

Parables

“With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?”

When describing the Kingdom of God, Jesus chooses comparisons over a definition.

This can be, if we’re honest, frustrating.

“Why didn’t Jesus put the kingdom of God in a single sentence?

“Why didn’t Jesus put the kingdom of God in a single sentence?

A clear catchphrase for the Kingdom.

A, “Yes We Can” statement.

A tag line that would carry throughout the course of His campaign.

Why didn’t he define it?

Why didn’t he define it?

Why didn’t he define it?

He never really gives you a single definition.

Why didn’t he define it?

Jesus doesn’t give you a single definition.

Jesus just has stories, metaphors, likenesses.

‘The kingdom of God is like this.

It’s like that.’

”

Jesus just has stories, metaphors, likenesses.

‘The kingdom of God is like this.

It’s like that.’

”

Flannery O’Connor, the famous American author

He doesn’t do it.

Flannery O’Connor, was once asked about one of her short stories.

“Could you put the meaning of that story in a sentence?

Give it to me in a nutshell.

What is that story about?

Come on.

What does it really mean?

Put it in a sentence.”

Flannery O’Connor,

Was once asked about one of her short stories.

“Could you put the meaning of that story in a sentence?

Give it to me in a nutshell.

What is that story about?

What does it really mean?

She essentially said, “If I could put the story in a sentence, if I could put the meaning in a sentence, I wouldn’t have had to write the whole story.”

She essentially said, “If I could put the story in a sentence, if I could put the meaning in a sentence, I wouldn’t have had to write the whole story.”

She doesn’t mean she couldn’t give you in a sentence something about the meaning of the story.

She doesn’t mean she couldn’t give you in a sentence something about the meaning of the story.

What she’s saying is you can’t tuck the biggest things in life, the most important things in life, into a definition.

She could give you a sentence, but there’s no way the fullness of the meaning that comes through the narrative, the full impact on the imagination and the heart and the mind and the emotions of a story or a narrative or a simile … The full impact can’t be put into a definition.

What she’s saying is you can’t tuck the biggest things in life, the most important things in life, into a definition.

She could give you a sentence, but there’s no way the fullness of the meaning that comes through the narrative, the full impact on the imagination and the heart and the mind and the emotions of a story or a narrative or a simile …

The full impact can’t be put into a definition.

That means Jesus is saying, “The kingdom of God is so important I could only get it across with all these images and these metaphors and these parables.

That means Jesus is saying,

“The kingdom of God is so important I could only get it across with all these images and these metaphors and these parables.