Bible Wisdom Today: Systematic Bible teaching for those willing to think deeply

In this second episode of Bible Wisdom Today, we explore the prologue of the Gospel of Mark, covering chapter 1, verses 1 through 15. We begin with an overview of the primary truths Mark seeks to present: Jesus as the Messiah, Son of God, bringer of God's kingdom, and his battle with Satan. We then discuss Mark’s thesis statement, which he places in his very first sentence: “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Chris...

Jesus begins His public ministry with a splash of authority, calling his first disciples, teaching, expelling demons, and healing the sick. The crowd was amazed. He also showed his authority in more private ways by avoiding the temptation to play to the crowd and ignoring law and custom to give a leper His healing touch. Jesus willing choices to stay true to His mission challenge our own tendency to seek our own best interests.&nbs...

 The main drama in the Biblical narrative of this episode is the escalating conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities. In Jesus’ day, the leaders of Judaism were hugely invested in tradition and status quo. They were concerned with who to eat with and how to keep from profaning the Jewish Sabbath. Meanwhile, Jesus was on a mission to meet people’s deepest needs, and cared little for contrived religious o...

In this episode, Jesus interacts with various groups of people—the crowd, the disciples, his family and religious leaders—making a distinction between “insiders” who follow him and “outsiders” who oppose him. Mark highlights the irony when those we expect to be insiders are left outside and those we expect to be outsiders are circled around him inside. This encourages us to reflect on our own rel...

This episode of Bible Wisdom Today extends our understanding of Jesus ministry to those inside and outside his circle of followers, as he finds a way to speak meaningfully to both groups at the same time by using parables. These short stories from ordinary life tantalize the listener to think deeply to truly discover their meaning, giving Jesus the opportunity to communicate profound truth to those who are willing to ponder his mes...

In this episode, we follow Mark, the gospel writer, as he turns from recording Jesus’ teaching to telling stories of his deeds. The two miracle stories discussed today continue Jesus’ slow unveiling of his identity. First, Jesus and the disciples encounter a fierce storm on the Sea of Galilee, so violent that his seasoned fisherman-followers despair of their lives. Jesus calms the storm with his simple word. In response...

Today we examine the concept of faith, as demonstrated in the miracle stories of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. By examining the healing of a bleeding woman and the raising of a young girl to life, we discover the practical aspect of faith. Specifically, Mark teaches that faith is action, not just beliefs or emotions. Mark also contrasts the action of faith with the inaction of skepticism which Jesus encounters in his hometown of Naz...

How to be a disciple of Jesus is an important theme throughout the book of Mark, but it comes to the foreground in this section. When we follow along with the Twelve as they go out on mission without Jesus and as they engage in ministry with Jesus, we discover the practicalities of following him. We see that it means engaging in ministry even if we feel we are not ready yet, it means speaking boldly for him even in the face of oppo...

In our Bible passage for today, Mark uses the same key word to connect two stories that seem to be about different subjects. That word is “heart.” In the story of Jesus walking on water, we read that the disciples were amazed because their hearts were hardened. They were spiritually insensitive. After all the miracles Jesus had done, including the feeding of the 5000 which he had just completed, they should have underst...

In our study of Mark, today, Jesus makes a trip of at least 120 miles into foreign territories surrounding Galilee. There he finds a woman with a persistent faith, heals a deaf and mute man, and feeds a crowd of 4000 people. Through these stories of Jesus’ ministry among non-Jewish people, Mark shows that Jesus’ good news transcends cultural and geographical boundaries. Jesus offers abundant blessings to all, no matter ...

This episode brings us to the pivotal point in Mark where the disciples finally begin to understand who Jesus is. Mark ties this section together with many references to sight or the lack of it. First the Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign from heaven, then Jesus accuses his disciples of being spiritually blind. Next Jesus heals a blind man, but this was an unusual healing. At first the man’s vision returned in a blurry state and...

In today’s episode, Jesus begins the difficult work of revealing himself clearly to his followers. They now understand that he is the Messiah, but their definition of the Messiah is seriously insufficient. Jesus reveals his that his true mission is to suffer, die, and then to rise again. Not only will he suffer, but his followers will as well. This is far beyond their understanding, and his disciples are in imminent danger of...

In this episode, Jesus and his disciples continue their journey towards Jerusalem and Jesus continues systematically revealing his mission to his followers. Jesus predicts his death and resurrection a second time and his disciples continue to misunderstand. He also teaches about servant leadership and his radical expectation for disciples. This episode also includes a detailed explanation of Jesus’ reference to Gehenna, which...

On occasion I am asked to preach at my local church and today I am sharing one of those sermons with you. This is a break from our current series, but I am releasing it now so that I can maintain my pattern of releasing new episodes every other week, while also enjoying some time away with my wife.

This message is based on Matthew 5:1-12, commonly known as the beatitudes. We all want to live our best life, and in these famous words ...

The mission of Jesus was not what the disciples expected. 

Jesus commended the weak for how easily they entered the kingdom and warned how difficult it was for the rich, those his followers assumed were blessed by God, to enter. The disciples expected Jesus to conquer the nation’s enemies achieving great glory, but Jesus predicted how he would suffer, ultimately giving his life to redeem all. Though Jesus expected his dis...

This episode brings us to the final major section of Mark’s gospel, where events begin to accelerate toward Jesus death and resurrection. All events in this episode are set in the temple or are directly related to it. Mark shows us that Jesus did not come to reform temple worship but to replace it with his own sacrificial death. In this episode we see Jesus’ triumphal arrival at the temple and his prophetic judgement ag...

Jesus’ contest with the Jewish leaders continues when they confront him in the temple with a series of questions. They intend to trap him, but Jesus skillfully addresses each question, discussing the appropriateness of paying taxes to Rome, the resurrection of the dead, and the greatest commandment. These questions still were not adequate to uncover who Jesus was, so he asks them one additional question regarding his divine i...

In this episode we dig deeply into Mark chapter 13, the longest block of Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel of Mark. We will take special note of the historical and prophetic contexts which shape our understanding of Jesus’ last teaching. Here, he predicts the coming destruction of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70 and uses that event as a prototype to reveal details about his second coming at the end of the age. This is a compl...

In Episode 19, Jesus moves determinedly, agonizingly toward his final passion, feeling the full weight of his coming destiny. We see the contrast between the devotion of an unnamed woman anointing Jesus with costly perfume and the treachery of Judas grasping for a few pieces of silver even at the cost of betrayal. We hear Jesus offer himself as a sacrifice, even while he could foresee that all his disciples would soon desert him. A...