(*Note that SESSIONS 1 and 2 appear after these Sessions 3 & 4)
SESSION #3
Bible Course: Studies in the Gospel of Mark
Session 3: Walking through Mark
Very good Saturday morning: Here's PART 1 of our BIBLE STUDY COURSE on Mark's Gospel. I'll see how far we get. It may be a weekend project.
Thanks to several of you who have either emailed or messaged me your essays. They have been great. I know several others are still trying to catch up. That’s ok. You’ll get to it. Now, for a few thoughts still in Mark 1.
Vs. 3-11: One of the great benefits of our study is that we can take a closer look at a number of biblical doctrines as they come up. One of the keys to understanding any biblical teaching is being able to ‘harmonize’ everything that we read. For example, it is interesting that Mark's gospel begins with baptism here in the opening verses and then the gospel ends with baptism as Jesus gives what we call the “Great Commission” (Mark 16:15-16).
Baptism, with hardly a doubt, is the singular most difficult or controversial subject for many people, especially seen in that churches have many, many different practices. I really don’t believe it should be that way, but it has been that way for centuries.
But hold onto that thought until next week. I want us to look in more depth at vs. 2-8, but I think I would do better to kind of actually go to 'class' and sit down with you and do a little video to discuss. It would take me a number of pages to write it all out. So, we’ll sit down, Lord willing, take our Bibles out, and go through some scriptures in order to get at least an introduction to the topic. The Bible has so much to say on baptism, and the early verses of Mark is a good place to start.
The Gospel Spirit
In his commentary on Mark 1, Matthew Henry goes into explaining about the relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist. John says that the one who is going to follow him will be much greater than he, that he would not be worthy to unloose that great Man’s shoes straps. ‘I came to baptize with water,’ John says, but Jesus, he would say, would go further and baptize with the Holy Spirit.
We definitely will have a great deal to study and learn about the work of the Spirit, but we’ll try to build on it as we go along. For here – to serve until we come back to it – note that there is a great relationship between the baptism Jesus would sanction and the Holy Spirit. Those whom John baptized do not receive the Holy Spirit, but it is very different once we come to Christian baptism, beginning in Acts 2:38.
The difference in John’s and Jesus’ teaching goes beyond baptism. But what John does is establish an attitude – a spirit – that carries over very well to the Christian spirit.
When Jesus begins His ministry, a definite transition comes, too, and it will be seen in the spirit John demonstrates. Mark records Jesus’ words, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: Repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
As MH points out, the “gospel age” does not begin at Jesus’ birth. The gospel begins to be preached with John – Note Luke: “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached” (16:16). Note the MH quote:
“John began to preach the same doctrine that Christ afterward preached. His baptism was the dawning of the gospel day …”
This teaching may sound simple; but there are still many people who hold that Jesus preached Old Testament doctrine. While the Lord lived under the law and would do so His whole life – the old law was not fulfilled and ‘nailed to the cross’ until Jesus’ death – we learn from both Mark and Luke that with John and then, of course, Jesus came the preaching of the kingdom of God – that is, the church of the New Testament. However, even though the preaching begins with John, the law of Christ does not take effect until after Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. He has to die to ratify His new covenant, which He does with His blood.
But there’s something else that MH says that strikes me, this regarding John’s self-denying attitude: “In John’s way of living there was the beginning of a gospel spirit; for it bespoke great self-denial, mortification of the flesh, a holy contempt of the world, and nonconformity to it, which may truly be called the beginning of the gospel of Christ in any soul.”
I really love two of his comments here:
One, it is a beautiful thing to look at this “beginning of a gospel spirit.” What he references there is the emphasis on spiritual matters as opposed to that of material, fleshly things. The OT focuses a great deal on the rituals of the law. But the living in Christ will focus on a new spirit, a gospel spirit. Let’s hold onto that idea – in fact, I’m going to ask you to write about it – because we are going to want to talk a great deal about this gospel spirit as we go forward.
Secondly, MH’s comment about “the beginning of the gospel of Christ in any soul” is phenomenal. The gospel is not just something we listen to in church. The gospel is something we put way down in our souls. As Paul writes later, God writes that gospel on our hearts.
I suppose that is why in every session we have I hope we are able to delve more into the effect the gospel has on people and on us than we have to delve into technical matters. Yes, we will have to deal with plenty of academic and technical issues.
But I’m concerned even more with talking about the gospel spirit that we have working in us.
NOTEBOOK WRITING: Write about this “gospel spirit.” Perhaps you will want to consider the following:
What do you think Mr. Henry means by the ‘gospel spirit’?
How do think that spirit should be seen outwardly in our lives?
And discuss, perhaps, the focus in your life to chisel your own lives by developing this spirit.
Thanks!
SESSION 4
January 10, 2022
Very good Monday morning! -- Here is SESSION 4 for our BIBLE COURSE in MARK. It is 8:47 a.m. as I start, and I want to spend 30ish minutes right here with you all. For your assignment at the end after you've read through and thought through today's thoughts, I'll assign you to WRITE A 10-MINUTE FREEWRITE or NOTES in your NOTEBOOK. You may want to pause as you go along and start writing as soon as something comes to you. Remember, your reflections can go way off into areas, even unrelated if that is what helps today. You may have heard a sermon yesterday, or been reading something, that you want to explore more. ...
PRAYER: One really good thing about our studying together is that I have to 'tag' all of your names -- which means I can say a little prayer for each of you even before I start. For any others reading, I think I'd join just for that. :). ...
Scrolling through chapter one again, we see Jesus' gathering of His apostles, His closest friends for the next several years and close friends, really, for eternity. There's James and John, v. 19 -- ah, John has such a powerful role in the life of Jesus and in the church. He is the one who leans on Jesus' breast, the one who describes himself as 'the disciple whom Jesus loved' in his gospel, the one who writes that great gospel that bears his name then goes on to write the book of Revelation. You already know that John's gospel is far different from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The previous three have been called the 'synoptic' gospels because of their similarities. ...
Jesus now begins teaching, and all who hear Him are 'astonished at his doctrine,' v. 22. Their astonishment grows when he casts an evil spirit from a man in the subsequent verses; and, again, they wonder: What is this? What new doctrine is this? How can He command with power, and these evil spirits obey Him. ...
His fame spreads, then, as He continues traveling and preaching, healing ... He then adds Peter and Andrew -- two brothers -- to James and John, now giving Him four followers. John, in the first chapter of his gospel, details those 'callings' for us in beautiful fashion. John begins with himself (unnamed) and Andrew. Andrew then runs and finds Peter and brings him to Jesus (What an addition!) -- John 1:41.
Then there's Philip, v. 43, who finds Nathanael. Nathanael (also known as Bartholomew) is he who says, 'Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?,' to which Philip says, 'Come and see.' I love Philip response; and Nathanael does see, too, in a big way. And his faith abounds towards the Lord. ... It is not until the second chapter in Mark that we get to meet another key disciple, Levi, also called Matthew. I want us to pause a moment and consider the impact following Jesus has on Matthew's life. I haven't written a sermon on this yet, but I want to do this, one called, 'The man who burned his boats.' Matthew is a tax collector -- which would make him clearly disdained by the Jews from whom he has to collect taxes for the Romans -- but when he leaves his job to follow Jesus, there is no coming back. Peter and John, the fishermen disciples, can always go back to fishing. In fact, Peter plans to at one point, as we see in John 21. But Matthew has burned his boats. There is no going back for him.
Some have said as I've read along the way that Matthew left everything but one thing: His pen. Ah, what a prolific writer is Matthew! His precision and attention to detail can be seen in Matthew's gospel. It is the most 'theological' of the gospels, as he sets out to show the Jewish people that Jesus, indeed, fits the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. Commentator William Barclay points out that Matthew is the first to give the world a book about this Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. What a contribution to the world! ...
Then Mark gives us a picture of Jesus that the world of that day thought to be completely incongruent. As soon as Matthew becomes a follower of the Lord, he invites Jesus into his home, 2:15, and there is a gathering of 'publicans and sinners.' Such associations are against the orthodoxy of the day, but Jesus' answer tells us a great deal about Christianity, 'They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that ae sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,' 2:17. In other words, Jesus goes where the greatest need is. And hidden deep within that thought is a great truth: the first requirement to be a disciple of the Lord may be just this one thing--a realization of your great need for Him. Those who have it all figured out are not the ones who come to Jesus readily. It is not until a man understands that he doesn't have it figured out that he will arise and go to the Master ...
It is 9:28 a.m., and I want to end with an observation on that last thought. In 2012 my coaching days basically came to an end, even though I did go back and help my good friend Coach Foster out for a couple more years. Dana Williamson Foster -- When I stood that February afternoon at the foot of the bleachers and took a deep breath as I looked up at all of our varsity and JV players, I noted something that kind of surprised me. Of all the players sitting in those bleachers, the ones who seemed the most affected visibly -- I mean, tears and all :) -- were some of those boys whom I had 'gotten to know' the best, those boys with whom we had spent a tad more time -- no, much more time -- singing Kumbaya on the baseline, bonding with some extra line drills and words of 'encouragement.' Oh, I don't mind naming a couple who come to mind. Dexter Payne, Andrew Wallace, Melvin Johnson III -- I can name them here because these are some of the boys who would step up for you for the rest of your life.
Steven.bowen@redoakisd.org / frontporchgospel.com / 972-824-5197
SESSION 1
Course: The Gospel of Mark, with Matthew Henry as a secondary source:
Duration: January 3 – February 4 (6 weeks)
Session 1: Introduction and devotion
Key scripture: Mark 1:35, “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, (Jesus) went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”
Assigned Work:
1: Read Mark 1 and spend some time there today.
2: Begin writing in your Study Journal – we’ll call your NOTEBOOK. (Kind of a funny story comes with that, for later.)
3: Answer discussion question (you’ll see at the end).
Regarding your NOTEBOOK: The ‘rules’ for your notes are that there are really no rules – If you want to just journal and go into life, that’s good. That’s the purpose of the study course, to allow each of us to combine our lives with the study from inspired scripture. You may be able to take thoughts from what we share here in SESSION 1 and use them as a springboard for your notetaking and journaling.
I am thinking of one of you, as I write, in fact, who has SIGNED UP for this course. I won’t name the person, but I know that the past year has been a very trying one. (That applies to more than one of you, in fact.). But for this particular person, as you read in Mark’s gospel and begin to jot notes down, your mind will slow down – or, perhaps said better, focus in on things spiritual. You’ll kind of forget the clutter around you (no, not your house 😊) and REFLECT back on your thoughts, feelings, accomplishments – all the things that the past year has brought. Those REFLECTIONS may be what you put in your NOTEBOOK, and you may not get to doing any academic homework. That’s fine: Each session is here to help you in whatever helps you the most, on that day.
3: Bonus: Read from Matthew Henry’s Mark 1 notes – and, of course, put thoughts into your Notebook.
Devotion: Begin, spend, and conclude each day with God.
This first SESSION is going to be primarily a devotion. We won’t get into the book of Mark here until SESSION 2. Instead, I want to give you an introduction to Matthew Henry.
We all understand that men are fallible; so, we weigh everything we read with the word of God. Through the years, Matthew Henry has been my number-one outside reading source. He is unlike some of the other major classic commentators – such as Albert Barnes and Adam Clark – in that his notes look more like sermon notes than an academic commentary. He does not do a great deal with Greek or Hebrew and word studies but focuses more on the practical lessons from each section (He goes by sections, not verse by verse.)
Besides the fact that I like Matthew Henry’s approach, I chose him for this first BIBLE COURSE to introduce an old writer to my ‘original student’ Seth Johnson. Seth and I are studying in person weekly; and I wanted to introduce him to some classic writers, beginning here with Matthew Henry. Future courses we plan to read from men such as J.W. McGarvey, an old-time church of Christ preacher.
There is a great of information out there on podcasts and the internet, but I think it is hard to beat the scholarship of these old writers.
Note, too, that when you read Matthew Henry, the syntax of his writing, carries a more poetic rhythm than most writers today Sometimes you will have to re-read what he writes. It is often very thought-provoking.
Matthew Henry lived from 1662 – 1714. He was a Presbyterian preacher for most of his life; and what stands out most in his writings and in his life is his piety and devotion. Seth sent me a writing from a Dr. James Hamilton, who is a contemporary of Mr. Henry – and I think Dr. Hamilton’s words will serve as a good beginning to our studies and as a great devotion. Note these great observations:
“The great business of Mr. Henry’s life was the cultivation of piety in himself and others. His religion was not the less profound (because) it was mild and lowly; nor is it the less fitted for imitation that it adorned and cheered a life of tranquil tenor. His own practice was a constant effort to ‘begin, and spend, and conclude each day with God.’ Besides the full and deliberated worship of God in his family, he abounded in secret prayer. It was his recourse in every undertaking. His sermons were begun, his books were published, his journeys were commenced, and the important steps of his history were taken with prayer.”
Then Dr. Hamilton, clearly an eloquent writer himself, explains the source of the grace in Mr. Henry’s life:
“What incomes of grace, yea, and outward good things, as far as they are indeed good for us, have we by an access to God in Christ! Such have a companion ready in all their solitudes, a counselor in all their doubts, a comforter in all their sorrows, a supply in all their wants, a support under all their burdens, a shelter in all their dangers, strength for all their performances, and salvation insured by a sweet undeceiving earnest. What is heaven but an everlasting access to God?” (static1.squarespace.com)
Appropriately our Mark VERSE FOR TODAY – Mark 1:35 – fits snugly in with the devotional thought of beginning, spending, and concluding each day with God.
“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT:
Discuss how Matthew Henry quote regarding beginning, spending, and concluding each day fits with your own life? Share your ideas on the importance of developing this pattern in your life – and HOW you think you can accomplish that!
NOTE: You may send me your response (picture of your Notebook page?) to any of these mediums: FB page, FB Messenger, text (972-824-5197), or email steven.bowen@redoakisd.org. Make it as long or as short as needed.
I will remind you again. 😊
End of SESSION 1 – Thanks so much for joining.
P.S. I said earlier this is also a “prayer group.” I’ll be sure to say a prayer for you all now. God bless! ~ Coach
SESSION 2
– January 4, 2022
Assigned Work: For the week of January 3-9, we’ll cover Mark 1-2 – only two chapters.
Question: How does this all work?
I need to put everyone’s mind at ease on the intensity of this six-week study. Each of you will conform it to your own time schedules –
But here is the layout: I expect to write about 18 sessions – imagining walking into a classroom 18 times – and share with you my notes and writings as we go through the book of Mark.
With each SESSION, I will offer some questions and some writing assignments. HOWEVER, do not feel overwhelmed with that. Do what you are able to do. For some, they may write a page in their NOTEBOOK for each session. For others, it may be two lines, or a short paragraph.
The NOTEBOOK will consist of any of the following:
1: Your notes as you read in the book of Mark, my notes and commentary, or reading from MH. (Note: Not all of you will even go to MH, I expect. My notes will contain some highlights from him; so, you may choose to just use what I provide.
2: Your REFLECTIONS as you read any of the material. Remember, it may take you off into another direction. That is all right. The key is that we all use this resource for our own spiritual growth and use it as a time for devotion.
I will ‘ask,’ – not demand – you to share some of your thoughts along the way. For the most part, your work is SELF-GUIDED; but I look forward to hearing as many thoughts from you as we can. The more INTERACTIVE it is, the more effective. That’s with face-to-face Bible studies as well as one like this.
Session 2:
Walking through Mark 1
(with an intro to Mark, the writer)
Assigned Work:
1: Read today’s ‘lecture’ and pick out key thoughts as a springboard for today’s NOTEBOOK writing.
2: WRITE on one of the discussion topics listed at the end.
Key Scripture: Mark 1:1, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
I’m holding in my hand the gospel of Mark, really an exciting book. One of the notable characteristics of Mark’s gospel is its fastmoving nature. It reminds me of a action movie. The first one that came to mind was the movie “Speed” we saw years ago with Bruce Willis and Dennis Hopper. Hopper is a madman who puts a bomb on a bus that will denotate if the bus goes below fifty-five miles an hour. Willis has to get on the bus and save the day. There is no time to take a breath in that movie.
The gospel of Mark seems to move along similarly. (By the way, Dennis Hopper was also in “my” movie, Hoosiers, as Shooter.) The key words you’ll see continually are ‘straightway,’ or ‘immediately.’ Mark takes us on this journey rapidly, from one important scene to the next.
Note that Mark does not start the gospel as Matthew and Luke do – the genealogies and the birth of Christ. Similar to John, he goes establish his thesis that Christ is the Son of God in the very beginning – As John writes in his opening verse, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, the Word, of course, being another title for the Lord.
Mark opens up with, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
We will begin our analysis on chapter one with Mark 1:1 momentarily. First, a little about Mark, the writer.
Mark, the Writer
Before we get into the text of Mark’s gospel, it will help us to get a picture of the writer Mark. His story is an intriguing one. Note here a few of the characteristics of this young writer:
1: Also called ‘John Mark’ – He is nephew of Barnabas – that is, Barnabas’ sister’s son – Colossians 4:10.
2: He was a ‘deserter’ – He deserted Paul and Barnabas (his uncle) on Paul’s first missionary journey – Acts 13:13 – His departure causes a rift between Paul and Barnabas later when they prepare to go on their second missionary journey – Acts 15:37-18. In fact, Paul and Barnabas end up separating; and Paul takes with him Titus and goes through Syria and Cilicia; and Barnabas takes his nephew Mark and sails to the island of Cyprus.
3: Barnabas also travels a great deal with Peter – 1 Peter 5:13 – and Peter is the one who most influences Mark. As we’ll note as we go along, the great likelihood is that Mark writes his gospel largely from hearing Peter tell his first-person account stories of his walks with Jesus.
4: Mark can well be called the ‘Comeback Kid,’ as I heard my friend Carl Johnson preach many years ago. I’ll save that story until later.
Note something about Mark being Barnabas’ nephew. There is a great deal of controversy on the translation in Colossians 4:10 is unclear. I have right here a long discussion on whether Mark is Barnabas’ nephew or cousin, due to the translation issues.
I mention that to say that it is easy to get bogged down in those types of issues. For our purposes, we want to stay focused as much as possible the tremendous lessons in Mark’s gospel. The lesson here, perhaps, is the importance of studying for the right purpose.
I go with ‘nephew,’ as that is what I read there. Yes, there are words that are mistranslated; and, in some cases, it may be needful to examine those things. There is a place for such studies, I’m sure.
There is more background information I want us to go over with you regarding ideas of how Mark came to write this book and some of the key influences in Mark’s life, and other themes. We’ll save the “themes” for later. For now, I’m anxious to get into Mark’s text.
Mark 1:1
Mark’s purpose is to tell the story of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Note the following:
1: It is ‘of Jesus Christ’ – It is, in one sense, His gospel in that it is the gospel belonging to Him, the gospel of which he is the author.
On the other hand, it is His gospel because it is the gospel about Him. It is, as we know, the greatest story ever told, told now by four men who either walked with Jesus or became disciples early in the days of the church.
Regarding the ‘gospel’: We often talk of a preacher as a ‘gospel preacher.’ I think that name or title is very scriptural and proper. Men who preach the gospel, I think, need to be about preaching the ‘gospel’ – particularly, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. (See 1 Cor. 15:1-4).
Sometimes preachers can be about preaching a lot of other things. In some cases, they preach politics and other human affairs. I’m sure there are illustrations to be drawn from secular affairs, but the focus of preaching should be the gospel. In other cases, men will preach obscure topics, or deep topics that have offer little spiritual edification and that have little to do with the gospel. If a man is to preach, he would do well to be known as a ‘gospel’ preacher.
Yes, there are topics that we have to address regarding the church and its work and function and what the Lord expects of us. All of those things are part of the gospel, too – but too much technical thinking takes away from the focus of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That does not mean that his preaching is soft and shallow – no, far from that. You get to preaching gospel, and you will find you will be revealing that the Lord makes many demands of those who want to live the gospel. And that is what we are to be doing – living that gospel, making it a part of our everyday lives, walking in it, walking “in the Spirit,” walking with Christ. It is, as noted in Session 1, a beginning, spending, and concluding each day with God.
Chapter 1 Journey
Open up to Mark 1, and let’s just kind of walk through it. It is harder doing this in ‘writing’ than if we were in person – or even doing a video. But in writing you can go back to it easier and pick up points:
First – verse 1 – we have Mark’s thesis, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Note that he identifies Jesus as “the Son of God.” Mark understands fully well that Jesus is the Messiah, that He is Deity, that He is God, the second Being in the Godhead with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Note: Let us not be so scholarly in thinking that we believe we can fully understand the concept of God in three persons. It is beyond our comprehension (Isaiah 55:8-9); but we accept it by faith. We accept it because its truth is the central truth in the Word of God – and we cannot have the benefits of faith or salvation if we reject that truth – “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” – 1 John 5:13
A point on faith: Faith requires trust in God – but faith does not mean we do not have adequate evidence of the truth of the gospel.
We’ll say a great deal more about faith as we get into this gospel, I am sure.
Next, vs. 2-8: Mark introduces the forerunner of Jesus, John the Baptist, “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” – v. 3.
The Wilderness
Front-Porch Gospel Excerpt
Welcome, friends, to our third front-porch visit of 2022. In our walking through the book of Mark, it is early on that we take special note of the ‘wilderness’ theme. This theme has special interest to me in particular because of our experience in Yellowstone in July 2021. I think all of you front-porch readers know of the story by now. (See frontporchgospel.com).
In Yellowstone, so many things impacted me, enough, of course, to write a book. One of the many, many things that wilderness impressed upon me was the power of a place where there is the absence of contact with the outside world. As I told a brother at church the Sunday morning before our trip started, “Out there, it’s just going to be you and the Lord.” I had no idea how true that would be once my friend Todd and I got lost for the better part of seventy-two hours with no trails, no campsite, just a wide-open river and a deep, deep wilderness. I think I learned more lessons there than about anywhere I have ever gone.
In Mark’s gospel, we first see this powerful wilderness scene in the very beginning of Mark’s gospel, as Mark describes John the Baptist uniquely, quoting from the prophet of old who called him the “voice of one crying in the wilderness” -v.3.
“John did baptize in the wilderness," he goes on to write, "and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” – v. 4.
It is significant that the Baptizer chooses the remote regions of Judea to preach, over Jerusalem or other larger of Judea. He and his gospel are more suited down in the Jordan Valley, down by that old muddy river. It is a proper place due to the nature of this coming Messiah, the Son of God who would become this young writer’s true life-stream in the days ahead. (I say ‘young’ because of Mark’s youth when we first meet him.)
After Jesus’ baptism, Jesus then goes deeper into the wilderness – probably in the remote hills of the Jordan Valley on the east side of the Jordan – and there the Lord separates Himself from the world so He can commune with God. He is about to embark on a three-year ministry that will culminate in His horrible death, and He must prepare Himself for that hard, cold road.
“And in the morning,” writes our young preacher, “rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed’ – Mark 1:35.
And don't the greatest of the Bible heroes all have their “wilderness experiences”! Remember, Elijah goes to the Brook Cherith as soon as he announces to Ahab not to be looking for rain for the next three-and-a-half years. Moses leads the Israelites through the wilderness – as well as fasting himself forty days there – and Daniel finds himself far from home in the land of Babylon, his wilderness a foreign country. The list goes on, including here both our Lord and John the Baptist.
I can assure you, too, that you have plenty more wilderness experiences waiting up ahead for you. But when you find yourself on the banks of a wide river and in the midst of that deep, dark wilderness, remember this: It’s one of the best places for prayer you’ll ever find.
I know. I’ve been there.
January 17, 2022
Note the nature of the kingdom:
With the wilderness being such an important part of the “beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ,” we should not be surprised to note the nature of kingdom of Christ. God does not pave the way for the coming Messiah by sending a man from the kingly court to preach His coming, nor does He prepare it by a series of ostentatious festivities at the celebrations of the Jews in Jerusalem. No, He sends a man who eats locusts and honey and is dressed in the rough leather of camel hair, a recluse by nature, and a hellfire and brimstone preacher who is not afraid to lay it out there plainly and dynamically. God sends John the Baptist.
We’ll have to take an intermission here, lest we go too long. We’ll pick up here in Mark 1 for SESSION 3.
Writing Topics for Session 2
Writing Topic: Explore the ‘Wilderness’ theme, using the thoughts below as a springboard.
The ‘wilderness’ theme, as we have seen, is a powerful one in the Word of God. It is one that can send us deep into spiritual thought and can be examined and discussed from a number of perspectives:
1: It shows the nature of the kingdom of Christ, a kingdom void of what we see often in the intellectual circles, such as in Jerusalem in the days of Christ.
2: The wilderness is symbolic of our need to get away from much of life’s ‘busy-ness’ so we can draw closer to God. It is our ‘sanctuary,’ our quiet place to help remove the clutter from our lives and minds and commune with the Lord.
3: It also can be symbolic of those experiences in life that have been the most trying of all. Our ‘Yellowstone’ experience in the wilderness was an actual experience that took us to the brink of disaster. But we all have wilderness experiences – those times in life we feel the most lost and the most in trouble.
Note: As always, feel free to branch off in a different direction as well. ne or more of these ideas for Session 2’s writing.
Thanks!
Coach 😊
January 5, 2022
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