Intro to Mark

Importance of God’s Word.

One of the reasons we have decided to do a study in a book of the Bible is because of the fact that we believe that the Bible is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN READ IN YOUR LIFE!

YET, it is only a book that is read by 3% of teenagers every day and 11% of teenagers four times or more a week found in a 2016 survey.

My assumptions are that these percentages are even lower now.

(The 2016 Teens State of the Bible report contains the findings from a nationwide study commissioned by American Bible Society and conducted by Barna Research (a division of Barna Group). Online interviews were conducted with 1,013 randomly selected teens ages 13 to 17 within all 50 states. The survey among teens was conducted from May 6 to May 23, 2016.)

Within the adult age group in 2020 it’s slightly better with 14% of adults reading their Bible daily and 14% of adults reading their Bible several times a week...

Now some may read this and be encouraged by it, but I read it and i’m saddened to see this. Because I know HOW GOD’S WORD CAN IMPACT THE LIVES OF PEOPLE.

“The family Bible is more often used to adorn coffee tables or press flowers than it is to feed souls and discipline lives.” - Charles Colson

R C Sproul addresses the question of why we don't study the Word of God - "Here then, is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God's Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy." - Knowing Scripture, 1977

“Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself, but because it contradicts them.” - E. Paul Hovey

There is this popular opinion going around the youth of today that says I need to find my own truth. That truth is in me, my truth can be found in my heart!

Jeremiah 17:9 (CSB)

9 The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?

Matthew 15:19 (CSB)

19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slander.

Proverbs 28:26 (CSB)

26 The one who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe.

Matt Chandler says: “Truth is not inside of you, and it is not fluid. Truth is outside of you and it’s fixed. God help us if truth isn’t fixed, but it’s fluid. How are you going to navigate if the touchdown always moves? How are you supposed to navigate life if truth is whatever you FEEL LIKE IT IS? Do you trust your feelings when your 12, 14 16? I’m 45 and I don’t trust my feelings. My compulsions most frequently are not for the Lord but against Him!”

He goes on to say that “exploring “truth” inside of you is not going to lead you to life.”

GOD’S WORD LEADS YOU TO LIFE.

READING GOD’S WORD is something that must be claimed by Christians in the up and coming generations of following The Way.

You cannot allow yourself to be a Christian who doesn’t read the Word of God.

Who allows the Word to rest on your coffee table, who allows themselves to be lazy and who doesn’t want to read something that opposes their heart.

WATCH VIDEO: About God’s Word.

We MUST LEARN HOW TO READ THE WORD.

Why STUDY all the way through a book of the Bible?

I wanted for us to have a season, and this could turn into several seasons of our student ministry where we slowly make our way through a book of the Bible and we STUDY that book...

It deals with a wide variety of issues.

The Bible has a full measure of many life issues, meaning that it is still relevant for today. Examining the Bible in a book-by-book manner shows an individual how to handle these issues in a way that glorifies God.

2. It keeps the text in its context.

It can be very easy to take a passage out of context when reading scripture in pieces. Reading the bible book by book displays the verses in its surrounding context.

3. It presents the full counsel of God.

Studying the Scriptures one book at a time reminds us of what the Bible really is: the objective, God-breathed standard of truth for all matters of instruction (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

4. It promotes biblical literacy.

Although there is one unified, inspired message of Scripture, God used multiple writers over a period of 1,500 years to communicate this truth. Studying the Bible book-by-book helps us to develop Bible interpretation skills as we learn differences in writing styles, contexts, and genres.

5. It provides time for truth to take root.

While salvation is immediate, the Bible reminds us that discipleship is a process. In Psalm 119:15, the psalmist wrote, “I will meditate on your precepts and think about your ways,” an activity that takes time and patience. God uses His Word to convict and change believers from the inside out, an activity that lasts a lifetime.

6. It stretches everyone.

Studying the Bible book by book forces us to explore passages that we might not study on our own. This might be tough at first, but it can lead to new discoveries, new perspectives, and new insights into God’s truth.

“If reading the Bible can be compared to cruising the width of a clear, sparkling lake in a motorboat, studying the Bible is like slowly crossing that same lake in a glass-bottomed boat. The motorboat crossing provides an overview of the lake and swift, passing view of its depths. The glass-bottomed boat of study, however, takes you beneath the surface of Scripture for an unhurried look of clarity and detail that normally missed by those who simply read the text.”

As author Jerry Bridges put it, "Reading gives us breadth, but study gives us depth." (Ed comment - Sounds like they are describing Inductive Bible Study!) - Don Whitney in Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life

Introduction to the Book of Mark

Now, why the book of Mark?

It seems only right that if we begin a season of study a book of the Bible that we begin with a Gospel account of Jesus.

Lisa Miller explains that “Easter is… a celebration of the final act of the Passion, in which Jesus rose from His tomb in His body three days after His execution… The Gospels insist on the TRUTHFULNESS of the supernatural event… Jesus died and rose again so that all His followers could eventually, do the same. This story has strained the credulity of even the most devoted believer. For, truly, it’s unbelievable.”

Tim Keller says “the whole story of the world - and how we fit into it - is most clearly understood through a careful, direct look at the story of Jesus. My purpose here is to try to show, through His words and actions, how beautifully His life makes sense of ours.”

SHOW MARK VIDEO

Who wrote Mark?:

The earliest reliable traditions tells us it was written by a guy named John Mark.

Who is Mark?

Jesus the King: Understanding the Life and Death of the Son of God (The Gospel of Mark)

The earliest and most important source of an answer comes from Papias, bishop of Hierapolis until 130 A.D., who said that Mark had been a secretary and translator for Peter, one of the first twelve of Jesus’s disciples or followers, and “wrote accurately all that [Peter] remembered.” This testimony is of particular significance, since there is evidence that Papias (who lived from 60–135 A.D.) knew John, another of Jesus’s first and closest disciples, personally. Bauckham’s volume demonstrates that, indeed, Mark mentions Peter proportionately more than any of the other Gospels. If you go through the book of Mark, you’ll see that nothing happens in which Peter is not present. The entire Gospel of Mark, then, is almost certainly the eyewitness testimony of Peter.

THEME:

Mark set out to answer the question, “Is Jesus Messiah? “

In the first half Mark focuses on WHO Jesus is (Chapters 1-8).

In the second half Mark addresses how Jesus becomes the Messianic King (Chapters 11-16)

Right in the middle of the book you see this pivotal story that brings the two halves together where Jesus answers both of these questions (8:27-10).

Mark focuses in on Jesus as the one who ushers in the Kingdom of God through the action a suffering servant, the suffering Son of God.

Date:

Anywhere from the mid 50’s A.D. to no later than 69 A.D..

If, as most scholars believe, the Gospel of Mark was used, at least in some form, by Luke in the writing of his Gospel, the date of Mark could be pushed back to the 50’s, since the earliest date for Luke is around A.D. 60. Thus Mark could have recorded his information only 20-30 years after the actual events of Christ’s life, well within the lifespan of eyewitnesses. Even critical scholars tend to date Mark no later than 69 A.D., since he does not seem to have been aware of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, which occured in A.D. 70.

To whom Mark was writing?:

Though writ­ten in Rome, Mark’s Gospel was aimed at the wider church, especially those who had not been raised as Jews, as is evident from the way Mark at times explains Jewish customs.