August 31, 2025 • 29 mins
Mark's Gospel captures the ministry of Jesus with urgency and action, presenting him as a servant king who notices suffering and brings healing to the broken.
• Gospel of Mark likely written between 55-65 AD in Rome to primarily Gentile Christians
• Written by John Mark, companion of Peter, recording Peter's eyewitness testimony
• Shortest of the four gospels at 16 chapters and likely the first written
• Uses the word "immediately" over 40 times, emphasizing action and urgency
• Portrays Jesus as the servant king who suffers to save the world
• Shows Jesus constantly engaging with the hurting and demonstrating authority
• Highlights Jesus' power over demonic spirits as evidence of his Messianic identity
• Presents discipleship as action-oriented rather than merely intellectual
• Emphasizes that all believers have purpose: to know God and make Him known
• Theme verse: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me" (Mark 8:34)
Join us next time as we dive into Mark chapter 2 and continue exploring the Gospel in Motion!
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon.
Today, mark, chapter 1, andtoday's title is the Gospel in
Motion.
The Gospel in Motion.
I absolutely love the Gospel ofMark, but I am not so sure why.
But I didn't read the Gospel ofMark when I was growing up.
(00:21):
That much I read the book ofMatthew and especially the book
of John, and I love those.
But the book of Mark was one ofthose that when I started to
read it, it felt like it wasbrand new and fresh and that was
a wonderful, wonderfulexperience for me.
And so, no matter how manytimes you either have or haven't
read the gospel of Mark, myprayer is by the time we are
finished with this, maybe it'llbe your favorite gospel, and
(00:43):
we'll get into that in just amoment.
One of my favorite things is wealways get into kind of the
background before we do.
But while you're getting yourBibles ready, getting any kind
of notes ready, getting yourcoffee ready, get your popcorn
ready, whatever it is you wantto do, make sure you take just a
moment, if you're new aroundhere, to like, share and
subscribe to the YouTube channeland the podcast.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast.
It really does help.
(01:03):
And make sure you're going tothe Bible Breakdown discussion
on Facebook.
It's an amazing group of peopledoing a wonderful job and you
can get links to all of thatpodcast YouTube channel and the
Facebook group atthebiblebreakdowncom.
Okay, all right.
Well, once again, one of thethings we love to do is just
dive into the book before we doit, because there's this,
(01:25):
there's this word.
The $10 word is calledethnocentrism, and what that
means is is we tend to look ateverything else based on the
culture or timeframe that welive in right now.
Right, and so we think about it.
And right now, if you live inUnited States of America, if I
were to say that the Patriotsare going to play the Rams at
(01:46):
the Super Bowl, you would knowthat means two professional
football players and that'sAmerican football rather than
soccer for people in Europe.
Two American football teams aregoing to play at a big game
called the Super Bowl.
But now, if you were to fastforward 100 years and say that
the Patriots are playing theRams at the Super Bowl, they
(02:08):
would think that some verypatriotic people were fighting a
bunch of animals in a big bowl,you wouldn't get it at all
right Because you don't liveduring the time.
Well, one of the reasons why wedo a lot of this background is
we have to realize that theBible was not primarily written
to us, but it was written for us.
(02:29):
And so when we're reading theBible, we're reading God's Word
he had divinely inspired HisWord and at the same time, we
also realize that, as goodstudents of God's Word, if we're
only reading His Word, we'reonly getting half the story,
because the rest of the story isGod is speaking to a very
particular group of people in avery particular time, and so
(02:50):
understanding the backgroundjust brings so much more life to
what God's word was saying,right?
So let's dive into the Gospelof Mark.
As we said is we're going tocall Mark the gospel in motion,
and the theme verse we're goingto get to at the end is Mark 8,
34.
It says if anyone would comeafter me, let him deny himself,
take up his cross and follow me.
(03:11):
That's going to be one of thebig themes, right?
So let's break this down andlet's see, you know how maybe
the book of Mark can come aliveto us.
First things first is who wroteit.
Who is Mark?
One of the things that we know.
When it comes to how they wereable to discover what books
belonged in the canon the 27books of New Testament, 39 in
the Old Testament was that avery strict way of discerning?
(03:33):
And they said that they didn'ttry to pick which ones.
They realized that the HolySpirit was revealing which ones,
and one of the things was isyou either had to be one of the
original 12 apostles or veryclosely connected to one of them
or their ministries?
Well, that's how we're able torealize that Mark was written by
(03:54):
a guy named John Mark, but hewas a companion of the apostle
Peter.
Now we're going to get a littlebit later in this.
We're going to realize thatMark was probably around Jesus,
but he wasn't one of theoriginal 12.
However, he did travel withPeter and he also traveled with
Mark Excuse me with Paul.
As a matter of fact, in 2Timothy 4, paul actually asks
(04:20):
for Mark and he says hey,timothy, when you come, bring
Mark with you.
And so he was very muchconnected to the ministries of
Peter and Paul, but especiallythe ministry of Peter.
We're going to get to that injust a second, because Mark was
recording the eyewitnesstestimony of Peter.
And so where was it written?
Most likely it was written inRome and it would have then been
passed around to the RomanChristians, and then further and
(04:42):
further and further.
Now to whom and when?
As I was just saying, rome, butalso primarily to Gentile
Christians.
And so you can notice a verynon-Jewish slant to Mark.
And it wasn't because they werein any way anti-Jewish, it was
just they would have understoodLike, for instance, matthew
starts with all the genealogiesof Jesus' claim to the throne of
(05:05):
David.
Gentile Christians would havehad no idea why that was
important and so it wasn't putin there, all right.
Next thing is when was itwritten?
It was written between 55 and65 AD, most likely.
Now we don't have hard and fastdates for this, but from the
moment we realize it wasstarting to be circulated,
that's when we think.
And the reason why that isimportant is that makes the book
of Mark most likely theearliest of the four gospels
(05:28):
actually written down.
Now, all four Matthew, mark,luke and John would have been
telling the gospel.
It's just when it was writtendown and passed around would
have most likely been the veryfirst one, and we'll get into
more of that in just a moment.
I want to really try to help usget our minds around how all
four Gospels go together in justa second.
Here's a little background.
The big idea, the main idea ofMark is to see Jesus as the
(05:51):
servant king who was going tosuffer to save the world.
You're going to see that overand over again, that Jesus is
not being portrayed as just theking, but as a king whose eyes
are open to the people aroundhim and you really see the
humble, the gentle side of Jesusbecause you see him interacting
with the hurting, interactingwith the broken.
(06:12):
Over and over again, markemphasizes Jesus' authority and
power, but also his humility andhis suffering, not just
necessarily the suffering thathe goes through even though he
does, but also that he noticesthe suffering of others.
Why is Mark important Of thefour Gospels?
Why do we include Mark as oneof the most important Now?
First of all, because it'sinspired by the Holy Spirit, but
(06:34):
others would be because it isaccessible and relatable Simple
structure, clear message.
As a matter of fact, I tellpeople normally, as new
Christians, I would tell them toread the book of John first
because, as a matter of fact Itell people normally as new
Christians, I would tell them toread the book of John first,
because John most of thediscourses of Jesus.
Jesus talks a lot in the gospelof John, but if you want to
understand the message of Jesusin his life, I would tell you to
(06:54):
go to the book of Mark, becauseit has a very clear message.
It also highlights Jesus'humanity and service toward
others, which speaks to ahurting and skeptical world.
It also offers a call to action, not just knowledge, but
discipleship is an action verb.
Discipleship is action, andthen it also encourages people
(07:17):
to persevere through theirsuffering.
Now, while the Gospel of Markis being written, this is what's
going on.
So 55-65 AD, roman persecutionof Christians is increasing
under Nero.
Now what was happening as Nerowas coming up is they didn't
mind, the Romans did not mindyou worshiping other gods.
They were a polytheisticsociety.
The problem was, is that Jesusdemanded to be first and they
(07:37):
didn't like that.
They were like, wait a minute,we don't mind you worshiping
this Jesus guy, but you've gotto worship the emperor too.
And when Christians would say,no, I'm not going to do that.
That's where a lot of thatstarted happening.
Jewish tension also back inPalestine.
So, not just in Rome but inPalestine, jewish tensions were
rising.
The Jewish people were nevergood at being subjugated, and
that's a good thing, except forthe fact that the Romans were
(08:00):
really powerful.
And so there's more and moretensions that are rising,
eventually leading to a guynamed Titus who is a general of
Rome.
He marches on Jerusalem anddestroys it in 70 AD.
And so, you imagine, peter isin Rome and he's preaching the
gospel, but he's also hearingthat more and more persecution
is not just happening forChristians, but also for his
(08:21):
Jewish relatives back inJerusalem.
Another thing going onelsewhere in the world is many
Christians are trying to figureout how to live out their faith
in this hostile, paganisticworld.
They're realizing that noteverybody's agreeing with them.
So how do they live?
By both not being ashamed ofthe gospel, but also how to live
out their faith in front ofothers.
(08:43):
Another one once again, thedestruction of the Jerusalem
temple in 70 AD was on thehorizon, and it shifted the
center of worship and theology.
So once Jerusalem was destroyed, that's when you begin to see
more of the focus being onEphesus and the focus being on
Rome as well.
All right, a couple ofinteresting facts about Mark.
We're going to jump right in.
(09:03):
Here we go.
It is the shortest of all theGospels.
It is only 16 chapters long.
It is likely the first Gospel.
We already talked about thatand we think that possibly
Matthew and Luke we knowdefinitely Luke, but possibly
Matthew too would have drawnfrom some of the stories in
writing their own.
Now, the reason why we knowthat with Luke is Luke says he
went around, talked to people,took in ideas and put it all
(09:26):
together, and his goal inwriting the book of Luke was to
write an ordered account of this.
Mark never says everything I'mtelling you, I'm telling you in
chronological order.
He's just saying I'm telling itto you.
And so we think, very much so,that Luke probably borrowed from
some of these stories to say,okay, this happened, but it was
in this order, and so very muchso.
Also, I love this, which iswhat's going to make sense in
(09:49):
just a moment.
The word immediately is usedover 40 times in the Gospel of
Mark, so as we're reading,you're going to notice this.
That is going to be all thetime it's going to be.
They were doing this, and thenimmediately, and then
immediately, and thenimmediately, and so I counted
over 40 times it's actually used.
And then two more things thatwe're going to talk about, and
then I want to cover this, andthat is the gospel ends abruptly
(10:10):
in the earliest documentmanuscripts, actually ending in
Mark 16, verse 8.
When we get to Mark 16, we'regoing to talk about one of the
most controversial passages inthe Bible, because the earliest
manuscripts say it's not there.
The very, very last part of theGospel of Mark is not even
(10:31):
really debated anymore as towhat's supposed to be there and
what's not, and that is not goodnews for anyone who is a snake
handler, and so we'll kind ofcliffhanger that We'll get back
to that in a few chapters.
And then also Peter's failuresare emphasized, possibly because
Peter was Mark's source.
Now here's the backstory whenPeter went to Rome, he would
(10:53):
have known the Greek language,because you had to speak the
Greek language as you were partof the Roman government, and so
he would have known the Greeklanguage, but that doesn't mean
he was good at it.
That wasn't his native language.
His native language would havemost likely been Aramaic, and he
would have also been educatedin Hebrew because of being a
Jewish worshiper of Yahweh, buthe would have had to have known
(11:13):
Greek as well.
But in order to get up thereand you've got to think, rome
was also the seat of wisdom andknowledge in the world at the
time, other than maybe Greece,and so you have these orators
that are there he would havevery possibly not have felt all
of that confident up there, andso what he did was is he took a
young man who had a Jewishmother, greek father, or maybe
(11:34):
the other way around, but he,someone who knew Greek very well
, and took him with him to behis interpreter.
That was a young man named Mark,and so what would happen is is
that, according to legend andwhat we understand, peter would
get up before the people and hewould tell the gospel and Mark
would interpret it to the peopleand that's how he would
(11:54):
communicate.
And over the process ofcommunicating, mark started
writing down the gospel thatPeter was telling.
And so in a lot of ways, markactually we could think of Peter
as the ghost writer, thebehind-the-scenes writer of the
gospel of Mark, because thestories that Mark got he got
from interpreting the message ofPeter Isn't that interesting,
(12:16):
and so when we read through thisthat's why you're going to hear
immediately, over and overagain, because it's clear to see
Peter was a man of action, andso he's like and then we went
here and then we raced overthere and then over there, and
then you also see where heemphasizes the ways that he fell
, because he realizes at thispoint that Jesus is awesome.
And I go back and forth betweenthe story.
It's going to talk about thestory where Jesus came to them
(12:36):
on the water.
In the gospel of Mark, however,it omits the fact that Mark that
Peter, rather, fell in thewater, and so I don't know if,
on one side, peter's not wantingto draw attention to himself or
he's not wanting to telleverybody that he fell in the
water.
So I'll let you decide whichone that is.
It's almost like he tells thestory of man.
One time we saw Jesus walkingon the water and it was awesome.
(12:59):
And then someone goes what elsehappened?
Don't worry about that.
Those are just details.
Let's move on.
You know what I mean?
We'll have to see, and so whatwe have is is we have the story
of Peter written down by Mark,and it's an amazing way we have
four gospels, and so with that,I want to say one more thing
we're going to jump in, and thatis this there are some things
that you read and you will havepeople who will say well, I
(13:20):
don't understand how I canreally accept the gospels,
because it seems as though inone gospel it tells half the
story and in another gospel ittells another part of the story,
and they don't line up inlockstep.
There's details Like, forinstance, there's one, one part
where it would say somethinglike I'm gonna make this up
because I can't think of one offthe top of my head.
(13:40):
It'll say that Jesus went andhe fed 5,000.
Well, then another gospel itwill say he fed 5,000, plus
women and children.
Well, are those contradictory?
No, they're complementary.
They both agree on the 5,000.
It's just one also includedanother detail, and so that's
(14:00):
where sometimes you have whatthey call the harmonization of
the Gospels.
That's important.
So I want to show you theexample is they weren't written,
they all weren't sitting arounda campfire and saying how are
we gonna write this story aboutJesus?
These were written in verydifferent places, like, for
instance, matthew was possiblywritten in either Ephesus or
maybe even in Israel, becauseoverall Matthew was written to
(14:23):
the Jewish world.
That's who he was writing toMark was likely written in Rome,
and so he's writing about theministry of Jesus.
Now you've got Luke, who wasgiven the task by a guy named
Theopolis to write out the storyof Jesus, but to write it in
chronological order, and so he'safter a different way.
And then you've got John who,depending on who you listen to,
(14:46):
some people say that John wasearly, but the consensus was
John was actually written verylate, like 90, 96 AD.
And so that's why you've gotthese three that are similar.
And you've got John comes alongand he is very complimentary,
but his focus is different.
And so, if you think about it,mark is written to the Jewish
nation to prove that Jesus isthe rightful king.
(15:07):
Mark is written to Gentiles totelling the story of the gospel.
Luke was written to put it allin order.
And then John comes along manyyears later and these three are
already out and in circulation,and John says hey, I walked with
him, I talked with him.
You understand how the eventshappened.
Let me make sure you understandthe man and the message.
(15:30):
And so the main focus of Johnis to tell the message and that
Jesus is God.
That's why you have the seven,I am statements in the gospel of
John.
So when you do that, they allwork together and it is amazing
to see how it works.
And so today we're going tostart focusing on Mark and how
the focus is the ministry ofJesus, the gospel in motion.
So let's read the beginning ofit and let's see what God's word
(15:52):
says to us.
Here we go.
Mark, chapter one, verse one,says this this is the good news
about Jesus, the Messiah, theson of God.
It began just as the prophetIsaiah had written Look, I am
sending my messenger ahead ofyou and he will prepare your way
.
He is a voice shouting in thewilderness Prepare the way of
the Lord's coming, Clear theroad for him.
(16:13):
This messenger was John theBaptist.
He was in the wilderness andpreached that the people should
be baptized to show that theyhad repented of their sins and
turned to God to be forgiven.
All of Judea, including all thepeople of Jerusalem, went out
to see and hear John, and whenthey confessed their sins, he
baptized them in the JordanRiver.
(16:35):
His clothes were woven fromcoarse camel hair and he wore a
leather belt around his waist.
For food, he ate locusts andwild honey.
John announced Someone iscoming, who is greater than I am
so much greater that I am notworthy to stoop down like a
slave and untie the straps ofhis sandals.
I baptize you with water, buthe will baptize you with the
(16:58):
Holy Spirit.
One day Jesus came from Nazarethin Galilee and John baptized
him in the Jordan River.
As Jesus came up out of thewater, he saw the heavens
splitting apart and the HolySpirit descended on him like a
dove, and a voice from heavensaid you are my dearly loved son
.
You bring me great joy.
Then the Spirit compelled Jesusto go into the wilderness and
(17:21):
there he was tempted by Satanfor 40 days.
When he was out, he was outamong the wild animals and
angels took care of him.
Later on, after John wasarrested, jesus went into
Galilee and he preached God'sgood news and he said the time
promised by God has come at last.
He announced the kingdom ofheaven is near.
(17:42):
Repent of your sins and believethe good news Now.
Remember, simon is Peter, so ofcourse he's going to bring him
up quickly, because that's thestory that he knows.
So of course he's going tobring him up quickly because
(18:04):
that's the story that he knows.
And also, if you notice that hetalked about Jesus being in the
wilderness for 40 days.
Well, in Matthew he goes intosaying and while he was there,
he was tempted by the devil.
Mark doesn't do that.
Well, it's not a contradiction,he just doesn't include the
rest of it.
So they're complementing oneanother All right.
As he's talking to Simon, hesays in verse 17,.
(18:24):
Jesus called out to them come,follow me and I will show you
how to fish for people.
And they left their nets atonce and followed him.
A little further up the shore,Jesus saw Zebedee's sons, james
and John, in a boat repairingtheir nets.
He called to them at once andthey followed him, leaving their
father Zebedee in a boatrepairing their nets.
He called to them at once andthey followed him, leaving their
(18:45):
father Zebedee in a boat.
With the hired men, jesus andhis companions went to the town
of Capernaum.
When the Sabbath day came, hewent to the synagogue and began
to teach.
The people were amazed at histeaching, for he taught with
real authority, quite unlike theteachers of religious law.
Suddenly, a man in thesynagogue, who was possessed by
(19:05):
an evil spirit, cried out whyare you interfering with us,
jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us.
I know who you are, holy one ofGod.
But Jesus reprimanded him Bequiet, come out of the man, he
ordered.
So at that the evil spiritscreamed, threw the man into a
convulsion and then came out ofhim.
Amazement gripped the audienceand they began to discuss what
(19:28):
had happened.
What sort of new teaching isthis?
They said excitedly.
It has such authority.
Even evil spirits obey hisorders.
And the news about Jesus spreadquickly throughout the entire
region of Galilee.
After Jesus left the synagogue,with James and John, they went
to Simon and Andrew's home.
Now Simon's mother-in-law wassick in bed with a high fever.
(19:51):
They told Jesus about her rightaway, so he went to her bedside
, took her by the hand andhelped her sit up.
Then the fever left her and sheprepared a meal for them.
And that evening after sunset,many sick and demon-possessed
people were brought to Jesus andthe whole town gathered at the
door to watch.
So Jesus healed many people whowere sick with various diseases
(20:15):
, and he cast out many demons,because the demons knew who he
was and he did not allow them tospeak.
Now pause for a moment andremember.
One of the overall goals thatMark is talking about constantly
is he's talking about thegospel in motion.
Jesus was constantly spreadingthe good news of the kingdom and
it was constantly with thepeople.
(20:35):
So you're going to see thisnarrative over and over again.
Jesus is constantly with thesuffering, with the hurting.
He is there by their side, allright, verse 35.
Before daybreak the next morning, jesus got up and went to an
isolated place to pray.
Later, simon and the otherswent out to find him.
Oops, excuse me, went out tofind him.
When they found him, they saideveryone is looking for you.
(20:58):
But Jesus replied we must go onto other towns as well.
I will preach to them too, forthat is why I came.
So he traveled throughout theregion of Galilee, preaching in
the synagogues and casting outdemons.
Now pause, now the reason whyyou see, you're going to see
this in all the gospels, butespecially why they make a point
, like you would think, of allthe things.
(21:19):
Because it says he's teachingpeople, he's talking to the sick
and the hurting, all this stuff.
It says he's casting out demons.
You know the reason why theysay that is one of the things
that they knew about the comingMessiah, and you can see this in
the Gospels and stuff like that, or, excuse me, the Old
Testament is.
One of the things about theMessiah is they knew that when
(21:39):
the Messiah comes, he is goingto have spiritual power, he is
going to be able to have powerover demonic spirits, and so
what Mark is emphasizing is weknew he was more than a teacher
because he had power over evilspirits.
And for those who know, theyimmediately go what that means
he checks the box of not justbeing a powerful teacher but
(22:02):
being the Messiah.
So that's why you see thembring it up so much.
All right, verse 40.
A man with leprosy came andknelt in front of Jesus begging
to be healed.
If you are willing, you canheal me and make me clean.
Move with compassion.
Jesus reached out and touchedhim and said I am willing Be
healed.
Instantly the leprosydisappeared and the man was
(22:25):
healed.
Then Jesus sent him on his waywith a stern warning Don't tell
anyone about this.
Instead, go to the priest andlet him examine you.
Take along the offeringrequired in the law of Moses for
those who have been healed ofleprosy.
This will be a public testimonythat you have been cleansed.
We're going to come back tothis Don't tell anyone about
(22:45):
this in just a moment.
But the man went and spread theword, proclaiming to everyone
what had happened, and as aresult, the large crowds soon
surrounded Jesus so he could notgo publicly into the town
anywhere and so he had to stayin secluded places.
But people from everywhere keptcoming to him.
So what I want to talk abouthere is we kind of wrap up
(23:06):
chapter one and there's so muchhere, right, is what's with this
idea of Jesus healing people,but then saying don't tell
anybody.
Yet for all of us, he says gointo all the world and make
disciples right.
Like, is there a dichotomythere or something going on?
Well, he answers it at the veryend of the chapter.
Notice how he said that.
He told the guy hey, listen, Idon't want you to go spreading
(23:28):
this, but I want you to go getyour family back, because what
he would have to do is, when youhad leprosy, you had to leave
your family, had to leaveeverything.
But if you could prove by goingand offering the offerings and
all this kind of stuff, if youcould prove it, you got
everything back.
So he's saying go geteverything back, but don't
spread it.
And here's the reason whybecause the Bible literally says
that the man went and spreadthe word and then, when he did,
(23:49):
soon large crowds surroundedJesus so he couldn't go publicly
into the town anywhere.
So it wasn't a.
Some people have used this tosay that Jesus was telling us to
not spread the gospel, which issilly.
It was a pragmatic thing, andwhat it was doing is it was
showing the wisdom of Jesus,because Jesus was saying hey,
I'm trying to spread the gospel,but I can't spread the gospel
(24:13):
if people can't get to me.
And he's wanting to make, hehas a timeline he's working with
here.
So he's saying hey, listen, I'mgoing to spread this, you will
get your family back.
But now the mission is, youknow, complete in that he has
risen from the dead.
So we're supposed to go tellthe story at this point.
And that leads me to our bigtakeaway, and that is this I
(24:36):
love the idea of us calling Markchapter one the gospel in
motion, because the gospel is ais a verb.
But here's the difference thegospel is not a.
Choose your own adventure.
I heard someone say the otherday they, someone sent me a clip
and it was.
And it was like uh, what doesthe gospel story mean to you?
And what they meant was not howhow has it impacted your life,
but it is what do you want thegospel to you?
And what they meant was not howhas it impacted your life, but
(24:57):
it is what do you want thegospel to be?
And what they were trying tosay is whatever you want the
gospel to be, that's what it is.
Well, can I tell you that's nottrue.
The gospel is the message thatwe, as a human creation, fell
into sin, and the only way forus to get back right with God is
someone had to pay the pricefor that sin, and the only way
for us to get back right withGod is someone had to pay the
price for that sin.
The unfortunate thing was isthe cost of sin is death.
(25:20):
We couldn't pay that price, soJesus came, paid the penalty for
sin so that we could receivesalvation.
That's it.
The gospel is not a choose yourown adventure.
It was.
We were lost.
Jesus came on a rescue missionand offers us salvation, and
that is amazing because it's notjust offered to us, but it's
(25:43):
offered to everybody.
You see, right now.
And so the gospel is in motionand, as we are filled with the
love of God, we don't have tokeep it to ourself.
We can share it with everyonearound us and we can follow God
with all of our lives.
Can I tell you, as a pastor, itbreaks my heart when I hear and
(26:04):
I study all these things aboutthis current generation coming
up, and one of the things that Ihear so much about this
generation is that they struggleto know their purpose, they
don't know who they are and theydon't know their purpose.
As a pastor, that breaks myheart, because there are many
different things that God'sgoing to do in your life, but
you can never say you don't havea purpose, because we all have
(26:26):
at least two purposes in ourlife, and that is to know God
and to make him known that youyou're.
You are put on this planet toknow God and then to tell what
you know to other people.
Now you may have a thousandother things that God wants you
to do, but you're never withouta purpose.
So maybe that's the takeawayfor us today, and that is this
the gospel is in motion and youhave been given the honor of
(26:51):
being an ambassador from thekingdom of heaven to the kingdom
of this world and you get toshare the good news about God.
So don't let anybody ever tellyou that you're not important.
Don't ever tell you that youdon't have a purpose.
Now I don't know what else Godmay want you to do, but
primarily, he's alreadyrecruited you, you're already on
(27:11):
his team and, and as we followhim, he's given us the dignity
of saying I trust you, I trustyou that I'm going to put you in
environments and you are goingto be the very best example of
my grace into that environmentthat you're not going to be
perfect, but you're always goingto fall forward.
You're going to show peoplewhat it looks like to be loved
by me.
What an amazing honor God hasgiven us.
(27:34):
And so I want to just encourageyou to live your faith out loud
.
Live the gospel in motion.
Today.
You have been called for such atime as this.
You've been called for such aplace as this.
Why do you think you work whereyou work?
Why do you think you have thefamily you have?
Why do you think you have thefriends that you have?
The reason why?
Is because you are God's firstplan to reach all of them, and
(27:57):
that doesn't necessarily meanthat you're going to go tomorrow
and start like standing on asoapbox somewhere and preaching
the gospel man.
That'd be amazing, but most ofthe time that means one small
step at a time, one faithfulconversation at a time, one open
door at a time.
You live the gospel out loudand watch what God will do.
Let's pray together right now.
God, thank you so much for today.
(28:17):
Thank you, god, that you arewith us and that you are for us,
and that in all ways we canworship you.
God, as we go through thegospel of Mark, I pray you will
help us to grab on to theexcitement that is here.
The.
The instant leads, theimmediate leads to realize, god,
that we serve an action-basedGod, that you have called us to
(28:37):
know you and to make you known.
We all have a purpose and thatpurpose is to live the gospel in
motion.
Today we celebrate you in allthings.
In Jesus' name, we pray, amen,amen.
What God's Word says in Mark 8,verse 34, is our theme verse.
It says If anyone would comeafter me, jesus says, let him
deny himself and take up hiscross and follow me.
(28:58):
That's my prayer, is that we'llfall so in love with Jesus that
we think of following him asthe best thing in the world.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow for Mark2.
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon.
Today, mark, chapter 1, andtoday's title is the Gospel in
Motion.
The Gospel in Motion.
I absolutely love the Gospel ofMark, but I am not so sure why.
But I didn't read the Gospel ofMark when I was growing up.
(00:21):
That much I read the book ofMatthew and especially the book
of John, and I love those.
But the book of Mark was one ofthose that when I started to
read it, it felt like it wasbrand new and fresh and that was
a wonderful, wonderfulexperience for me.
And so, no matter how manytimes you either have or haven't
read the gospel of Mark, myprayer is by the time we are
finished with this, maybe it'llbe your favorite gospel, and
(00:43):
we'll get into that in just amoment.
One of my favorite things is wealways get into kind of the
background before we do.
But while you're getting yourBibles ready, getting any kind
of notes ready, getting yourcoffee ready, get your popcorn
ready, whatever it is you wantto do, make sure you take just a
moment, if you're new aroundhere, to like, share and
subscribe to the YouTube channeland the podcast.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast.
It really does help.
(01:03):
And make sure you're going tothe Bible Breakdown discussion
on Facebook.
It's an amazing group of peopledoing a wonderful job and you
can get links to all of thatpodcast YouTube channel and the
Facebook group atthebiblebreakdowncom.
Okay, all right.
Well, once again, one of thethings we love to do is just
dive into the book before we doit, because there's this,
(01:25):
there's this word.
The $10 word is calledethnocentrism, and what that
means is is we tend to look ateverything else based on the
culture or timeframe that welive in right now.
Right, and so we think about it.
And right now, if you live inUnited States of America, if I
were to say that the Patriotsare going to play the Rams at
(01:46):
the Super Bowl, you would knowthat means two professional
football players and that'sAmerican football rather than
soccer for people in Europe.
Two American football teams aregoing to play at a big game
called the Super Bowl.
But now, if you were to fastforward 100 years and say that
the Patriots are playing theRams at the Super Bowl, they
(02:08):
would think that some verypatriotic people were fighting a
bunch of animals in a big bowl,you wouldn't get it at all
right Because you don't liveduring the time.
Well, one of the reasons why wedo a lot of this background is
we have to realize that theBible was not primarily written
to us, but it was written for us.
(02:29):
And so when we're reading theBible, we're reading God's Word
he had divinely inspired HisWord and at the same time, we
also realize that, as goodstudents of God's Word, if we're
only reading His Word, we'reonly getting half the story,
because the rest of the story isGod is speaking to a very
particular group of people in avery particular time, and so
(02:50):
understanding the backgroundjust brings so much more life to
what God's word was saying,right?
So let's dive into the Gospelof Mark.
As we said is we're going tocall Mark the gospel in motion,
and the theme verse we're goingto get to at the end is Mark 8,
34.
It says if anyone would comeafter me, let him deny himself,
take up his cross and follow me.
(03:11):
That's going to be one of thebig themes, right?
So let's break this down andlet's see, you know how maybe
the book of Mark can come aliveto us.
First things first is who wroteit.
Who is Mark?
One of the things that we know.
When it comes to how they wereable to discover what books
belonged in the canon the 27books of New Testament, 39 in
the Old Testament was that avery strict way of discerning?
(03:33):
And they said that they didn'ttry to pick which ones.
They realized that the HolySpirit was revealing which ones,
and one of the things was isyou either had to be one of the
original 12 apostles or veryclosely connected to one of them
or their ministries?
Well, that's how we're able torealize that Mark was written by
(03:54):
a guy named John Mark, but hewas a companion of the apostle
Peter.
Now we're going to get a littlebit later in this.
We're going to realize thatMark was probably around Jesus,
but he wasn't one of theoriginal 12.
However, he did travel withPeter and he also traveled with
Mark Excuse me with Paul.
As a matter of fact, in 2Timothy 4, paul actually asks
(04:20):
for Mark and he says hey,timothy, when you come, bring
Mark with you.
And so he was very muchconnected to the ministries of
Peter and Paul, but especiallythe ministry of Peter.
We're going to get to that injust a second, because Mark was
recording the eyewitnesstestimony of Peter.
And so where was it written?
Most likely it was written inRome and it would have then been
passed around to the RomanChristians, and then further and
(04:42):
further and further.
Now to whom and when?
As I was just saying, rome, butalso primarily to Gentile
Christians.
And so you can notice a verynon-Jewish slant to Mark.
And it wasn't because they werein any way anti-Jewish, it was
just they would have understoodLike, for instance, matthew
starts with all the genealogiesof Jesus' claim to the throne of
(05:05):
David.
Gentile Christians would havehad no idea why that was
important and so it wasn't putin there, all right.
Next thing is when was itwritten?
It was written between 55 and65 AD, most likely.
Now we don't have hard and fastdates for this, but from the
moment we realize it wasstarting to be circulated,
that's when we think.
And the reason why that isimportant is that makes the book
of Mark most likely theearliest of the four gospels
(05:28):
actually written down.
Now, all four Matthew, mark,luke and John would have been
telling the gospel.
It's just when it was writtendown and passed around would
have most likely been the veryfirst one, and we'll get into
more of that in just a moment.
I want to really try to help usget our minds around how all
four Gospels go together in justa second.
Here's a little background.
The big idea, the main idea ofMark is to see Jesus as the
(05:51):
servant king who was going tosuffer to save the world.
You're going to see that overand over again, that Jesus is
not being portrayed as just theking, but as a king whose eyes
are open to the people aroundhim and you really see the
humble, the gentle side of Jesusbecause you see him interacting
with the hurting, interactingwith the broken.
(06:12):
Over and over again, markemphasizes Jesus' authority and
power, but also his humility andhis suffering, not just
necessarily the suffering thathe goes through even though he
does, but also that he noticesthe suffering of others.
Why is Mark important Of thefour Gospels?
Why do we include Mark as oneof the most important Now?
First of all, because it'sinspired by the Holy Spirit, but
(06:34):
others would be because it isaccessible and relatable Simple
structure, clear message.
As a matter of fact, I tellpeople normally, as new
Christians, I would tell them toread the book of John first
because, as a matter of fact Itell people normally as new
Christians, I would tell them toread the book of John first,
because John most of thediscourses of Jesus.
Jesus talks a lot in the gospelof John, but if you want to
understand the message of Jesusin his life, I would tell you to
(06:54):
go to the book of Mark, becauseit has a very clear message.
It also highlights Jesus'humanity and service toward
others, which speaks to ahurting and skeptical world.
It also offers a call to action, not just knowledge, but
discipleship is an action verb.
Discipleship is action, andthen it also encourages people
(07:17):
to persevere through theirsuffering.
Now, while the Gospel of Markis being written, this is what's
going on.
So 55-65 AD, roman persecutionof Christians is increasing
under Nero.
Now what was happening as Nerowas coming up is they didn't
mind, the Romans did not mindyou worshiping other gods.
They were a polytheisticsociety.
The problem was, is that Jesusdemanded to be first and they
(07:37):
didn't like that.
They were like, wait a minute,we don't mind you worshiping
this Jesus guy, but you've gotto worship the emperor too.
And when Christians would say,no, I'm not going to do that.
That's where a lot of thatstarted happening.
Jewish tension also back inPalestine.
So, not just in Rome but inPalestine, jewish tensions were
rising.
The Jewish people were nevergood at being subjugated, and
that's a good thing, except forthe fact that the Romans were
(08:00):
really powerful.
And so there's more and moretensions that are rising,
eventually leading to a guynamed Titus who is a general of
Rome.
He marches on Jerusalem anddestroys it in 70 AD.
And so, you imagine, peter isin Rome and he's preaching the
gospel, but he's also hearingthat more and more persecution
is not just happening forChristians, but also for his
(08:21):
Jewish relatives back inJerusalem.
Another thing going onelsewhere in the world is many
Christians are trying to figureout how to live out their faith
in this hostile, paganisticworld.
They're realizing that noteverybody's agreeing with them.
So how do they live?
By both not being ashamed ofthe gospel, but also how to live
out their faith in front ofothers.
(08:43):
Another one once again, thedestruction of the Jerusalem
temple in 70 AD was on thehorizon, and it shifted the
center of worship and theology.
So once Jerusalem was destroyed, that's when you begin to see
more of the focus being onEphesus and the focus being on
Rome as well.
All right, a couple ofinteresting facts about Mark.
We're going to jump right in.
(09:03):
Here we go.
It is the shortest of all theGospels.
It is only 16 chapters long.
It is likely the first Gospel.
We already talked about thatand we think that possibly
Matthew and Luke we knowdefinitely Luke, but possibly
Matthew too would have drawnfrom some of the stories in
writing their own.
Now, the reason why we knowthat with Luke is Luke says he
went around, talked to people,took in ideas and put it all
(09:26):
together, and his goal inwriting the book of Luke was to
write an ordered account of this.
Mark never says everything I'mtelling you, I'm telling you in
chronological order.
He's just saying I'm telling itto you.
And so we think, very much so,that Luke probably borrowed from
some of these stories to say,okay, this happened, but it was
in this order, and so very muchso.
Also, I love this, which iswhat's going to make sense in
(09:49):
just a moment.
The word immediately is usedover 40 times in the Gospel of
Mark, so as we're reading,you're going to notice this.
That is going to be all thetime it's going to be.
They were doing this, and thenimmediately, and then
immediately, and thenimmediately, and so I counted
over 40 times it's actually used.
And then two more things thatwe're going to talk about, and
then I want to cover this, andthat is the gospel ends abruptly
(10:10):
in the earliest documentmanuscripts, actually ending in
Mark 16, verse 8.
When we get to Mark 16, we'regoing to talk about one of the
most controversial passages inthe Bible, because the earliest
manuscripts say it's not there.
The very, very last part of theGospel of Mark is not even
(10:31):
really debated anymore as towhat's supposed to be there and
what's not, and that is not goodnews for anyone who is a snake
handler, and so we'll kind ofcliffhanger that We'll get back
to that in a few chapters.
And then also Peter's failuresare emphasized, possibly because
Peter was Mark's source.
Now here's the backstory whenPeter went to Rome, he would
(10:53):
have known the Greek language,because you had to speak the
Greek language as you were partof the Roman government, and so
he would have known the Greeklanguage, but that doesn't mean
he was good at it.
That wasn't his native language.
His native language would havemost likely been Aramaic, and he
would have also been educatedin Hebrew because of being a
Jewish worshiper of Yahweh, buthe would have had to have known
(11:13):
Greek as well.
But in order to get up thereand you've got to think, rome
was also the seat of wisdom andknowledge in the world at the
time, other than maybe Greece,and so you have these orators
that are there he would havevery possibly not have felt all
of that confident up there, andso what he did was is he took a
young man who had a Jewishmother, greek father, or maybe
(11:34):
the other way around, but he,someone who knew Greek very well
, and took him with him to behis interpreter.
That was a young man named Mark,and so what would happen is is
that, according to legend andwhat we understand, peter would
get up before the people and hewould tell the gospel and Mark
would interpret it to the peopleand that's how he would
(11:54):
communicate.
And over the process ofcommunicating, mark started
writing down the gospel thatPeter was telling.
And so in a lot of ways, markactually we could think of Peter
as the ghost writer, thebehind-the-scenes writer of the
gospel of Mark, because thestories that Mark got he got
from interpreting the message ofPeter Isn't that interesting,
(12:16):
and so when we read through thisthat's why you're going to hear
immediately, over and overagain, because it's clear to see
Peter was a man of action, andso he's like and then we went
here and then we raced overthere and then over there, and
then you also see where heemphasizes the ways that he fell
, because he realizes at thispoint that Jesus is awesome.
And I go back and forth betweenthe story.
It's going to talk about thestory where Jesus came to them
(12:36):
on the water.
In the gospel of Mark, however,it omits the fact that Mark that
Peter, rather, fell in thewater, and so I don't know if,
on one side, peter's not wantingto draw attention to himself or
he's not wanting to telleverybody that he fell in the
water.
So I'll let you decide whichone that is.
It's almost like he tells thestory of man.
One time we saw Jesus walkingon the water and it was awesome.
(12:59):
And then someone goes what elsehappened?
Don't worry about that.
Those are just details.
Let's move on.
You know what I mean?
We'll have to see, and so whatwe have is is we have the story
of Peter written down by Mark,and it's an amazing way we have
four gospels, and so with that,I want to say one more thing
we're going to jump in, and thatis this there are some things
that you read and you will havepeople who will say well, I
(13:20):
don't understand how I canreally accept the gospels,
because it seems as though inone gospel it tells half the
story and in another gospel ittells another part of the story,
and they don't line up inlockstep.
There's details Like, forinstance, there's one, one part
where it would say somethinglike I'm gonna make this up
because I can't think of one offthe top of my head.
(13:40):
It'll say that Jesus went andhe fed 5,000.
Well, then another gospel itwill say he fed 5,000, plus
women and children.
Well, are those contradictory?
No, they're complementary.
They both agree on the 5,000.
It's just one also includedanother detail, and so that's
(14:00):
where sometimes you have whatthey call the harmonization of
the Gospels.
That's important.
So I want to show you theexample is they weren't written,
they all weren't sitting arounda campfire and saying how are
we gonna write this story aboutJesus?
These were written in verydifferent places, like, for
instance, matthew was possiblywritten in either Ephesus or
maybe even in Israel, becauseoverall Matthew was written to
(14:23):
the Jewish world.
That's who he was writing toMark was likely written in Rome,
and so he's writing about theministry of Jesus.
Now you've got Luke, who wasgiven the task by a guy named
Theopolis to write out the storyof Jesus, but to write it in
chronological order, and so he'safter a different way.
And then you've got John who,depending on who you listen to,
(14:46):
some people say that John wasearly, but the consensus was
John was actually written verylate, like 90, 96 AD.
And so that's why you've gotthese three that are similar.
And you've got John comes alongand he is very complimentary,
but his focus is different.
And so, if you think about it,mark is written to the Jewish
nation to prove that Jesus isthe rightful king.
(15:07):
Mark is written to Gentiles totelling the story of the gospel.
Luke was written to put it allin order.
And then John comes along manyyears later and these three are
already out and in circulation,and John says hey, I walked with
him, I talked with him.
You understand how the eventshappened.
Let me make sure you understandthe man and the message.
(15:30):
And so the main focus of Johnis to tell the message and that
Jesus is God.
That's why you have the seven,I am statements in the gospel of
John.
So when you do that, they allwork together and it is amazing
to see how it works.
And so today we're going tostart focusing on Mark and how
the focus is the ministry ofJesus, the gospel in motion.
So let's read the beginning ofit and let's see what God's word
(15:52):
says to us.
Here we go.
Mark, chapter one, verse one,says this this is the good news
about Jesus, the Messiah, theson of God.
It began just as the prophetIsaiah had written Look, I am
sending my messenger ahead ofyou and he will prepare your way
.
He is a voice shouting in thewilderness Prepare the way of
the Lord's coming, Clear theroad for him.
(16:13):
This messenger was John theBaptist.
He was in the wilderness andpreached that the people should
be baptized to show that theyhad repented of their sins and
turned to God to be forgiven.
All of Judea, including all thepeople of Jerusalem, went out
to see and hear John, and whenthey confessed their sins, he
baptized them in the JordanRiver.
(16:35):
His clothes were woven fromcoarse camel hair and he wore a
leather belt around his waist.
For food, he ate locusts andwild honey.
John announced Someone iscoming, who is greater than I am
so much greater that I am notworthy to stoop down like a
slave and untie the straps ofhis sandals.
I baptize you with water, buthe will baptize you with the
(16:58):
Holy Spirit.
One day Jesus came from Nazarethin Galilee and John baptized
him in the Jordan River.
As Jesus came up out of thewater, he saw the heavens
splitting apart and the HolySpirit descended on him like a
dove, and a voice from heavensaid you are my dearly loved son
.
You bring me great joy.
Then the Spirit compelled Jesusto go into the wilderness and
(17:21):
there he was tempted by Satanfor 40 days.
When he was out, he was outamong the wild animals and
angels took care of him.
Later on, after John wasarrested, jesus went into
Galilee and he preached God'sgood news and he said the time
promised by God has come at last.
He announced the kingdom ofheaven is near.
(17:42):
Repent of your sins and believethe good news Now.
Remember, simon is Peter, so ofcourse he's going to bring him
up quickly, because that's thestory that he knows.
So of course he's going tobring him up quickly because
(18:04):
that's the story that he knows.
And also, if you notice that hetalked about Jesus being in the
wilderness for 40 days.
Well, in Matthew he goes intosaying and while he was there,
he was tempted by the devil.
Mark doesn't do that.
Well, it's not a contradiction,he just doesn't include the
rest of it.
So they're complementing oneanother All right.
As he's talking to Simon, hesays in verse 17,.
(18:24):
Jesus called out to them come,follow me and I will show you
how to fish for people.
And they left their nets atonce and followed him.
A little further up the shore,Jesus saw Zebedee's sons, james
and John, in a boat repairingtheir nets.
He called to them at once andthey followed him, leaving their
father Zebedee in a boatrepairing their nets.
He called to them at once andthey followed him, leaving their
(18:45):
father Zebedee in a boat.
With the hired men, jesus andhis companions went to the town
of Capernaum.
When the Sabbath day came, hewent to the synagogue and began
to teach.
The people were amazed at histeaching, for he taught with
real authority, quite unlike theteachers of religious law.
Suddenly, a man in thesynagogue, who was possessed by
(19:05):
an evil spirit, cried out whyare you interfering with us,
jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us.
I know who you are, holy one ofGod.
But Jesus reprimanded him Bequiet, come out of the man, he
ordered.
So at that the evil spiritscreamed, threw the man into a
convulsion and then came out ofhim.
Amazement gripped the audienceand they began to discuss what
(19:28):
had happened.
What sort of new teaching isthis?
They said excitedly.
It has such authority.
Even evil spirits obey hisorders.
And the news about Jesus spreadquickly throughout the entire
region of Galilee.
After Jesus left the synagogue,with James and John, they went
to Simon and Andrew's home.
Now Simon's mother-in-law wassick in bed with a high fever.
(19:51):
They told Jesus about her rightaway, so he went to her bedside
, took her by the hand andhelped her sit up.
Then the fever left her and sheprepared a meal for them.
And that evening after sunset,many sick and demon-possessed
people were brought to Jesus andthe whole town gathered at the
door to watch.
So Jesus healed many people whowere sick with various diseases
(20:15):
, and he cast out many demons,because the demons knew who he
was and he did not allow them tospeak.
Now pause for a moment andremember.
One of the overall goals thatMark is talking about constantly
is he's talking about thegospel in motion.
Jesus was constantly spreadingthe good news of the kingdom and
it was constantly with thepeople.
(20:35):
So you're going to see thisnarrative over and over again.
Jesus is constantly with thesuffering, with the hurting.
He is there by their side, allright, verse 35.
Before daybreak the next morning, jesus got up and went to an
isolated place to pray.
Later, simon and the otherswent out to find him.
Oops, excuse me, went out tofind him.
When they found him, they saideveryone is looking for you.
(20:58):
But Jesus replied we must go onto other towns as well.
I will preach to them too, forthat is why I came.
So he traveled throughout theregion of Galilee, preaching in
the synagogues and casting outdemons.
Now pause, now the reason whyyou see, you're going to see
this in all the gospels, butespecially why they make a point
, like you would think, of allthe things.
(21:19):
Because it says he's teachingpeople, he's talking to the sick
and the hurting, all this stuff.
It says he's casting out demons.
You know the reason why theysay that is one of the things
that they knew about the comingMessiah, and you can see this in
the Gospels and stuff like that, or, excuse me, the Old
Testament is.
One of the things about theMessiah is they knew that when
(21:39):
the Messiah comes, he is goingto have spiritual power, he is
going to be able to have powerover demonic spirits, and so
what Mark is emphasizing is weknew he was more than a teacher
because he had power over evilspirits.
And for those who know, theyimmediately go what that means
he checks the box of not justbeing a powerful teacher but
(22:02):
being the Messiah.
So that's why you see thembring it up so much.
All right, verse 40.
A man with leprosy came andknelt in front of Jesus begging
to be healed.
If you are willing, you canheal me and make me clean.
Move with compassion.
Jesus reached out and touchedhim and said I am willing Be
healed.
Instantly the leprosydisappeared and the man was
(22:25):
healed.
Then Jesus sent him on his waywith a stern warning Don't tell
anyone about this.
Instead, go to the priest andlet him examine you.
Take along the offeringrequired in the law of Moses for
those who have been healed ofleprosy.
This will be a public testimonythat you have been cleansed.
We're going to come back tothis Don't tell anyone about
(22:45):
this in just a moment.
But the man went and spread theword, proclaiming to everyone
what had happened, and as aresult, the large crowds soon
surrounded Jesus so he could notgo publicly into the town
anywhere and so he had to stayin secluded places.
But people from everywhere keptcoming to him.
So what I want to talk abouthere is we kind of wrap up
(23:06):
chapter one and there's so muchhere, right, is what's with this
idea of Jesus healing people,but then saying don't tell
anybody.
Yet for all of us, he says gointo all the world and make
disciples right.
Like, is there a dichotomythere or something going on?
Well, he answers it at the veryend of the chapter.
Notice how he said that.
He told the guy hey, listen, Idon't want you to go spreading
(23:28):
this, but I want you to go getyour family back, because what
he would have to do is, when youhad leprosy, you had to leave
your family, had to leaveeverything.
But if you could prove by goingand offering the offerings and
all this kind of stuff, if youcould prove it, you got
everything back.
So he's saying go geteverything back, but don't
spread it.
And here's the reason whybecause the Bible literally says
that the man went and spreadthe word and then, when he did,
(23:49):
soon large crowds surroundedJesus so he couldn't go publicly
into the town anywhere.
So it wasn't a.
Some people have used this tosay that Jesus was telling us to
not spread the gospel, which issilly.
It was a pragmatic thing, andwhat it was doing is it was
showing the wisdom of Jesus,because Jesus was saying hey,
I'm trying to spread the gospel,but I can't spread the gospel
(24:13):
if people can't get to me.
And he's wanting to make, hehas a timeline he's working with
here.
So he's saying hey, listen, I'mgoing to spread this, you will
get your family back.
But now the mission is, youknow, complete in that he has
risen from the dead.
So we're supposed to go tellthe story at this point.
And that leads me to our bigtakeaway, and that is this I
(24:36):
love the idea of us calling Markchapter one the gospel in
motion, because the gospel is ais a verb.
But here's the difference thegospel is not a.
Choose your own adventure.
I heard someone say the otherday they, someone sent me a clip
and it was.
And it was like uh, what doesthe gospel story mean to you?
And what they meant was not howhow has it impacted your life,
but it is what do you want thegospel to you?
And what they meant was not howhas it impacted your life, but
(24:57):
it is what do you want thegospel to be?
And what they were trying tosay is whatever you want the
gospel to be, that's what it is.
Well, can I tell you that's nottrue.
The gospel is the message thatwe, as a human creation, fell
into sin, and the only way forus to get back right with God is
someone had to pay the pricefor that sin, and the only way
for us to get back right withGod is someone had to pay the
price for that sin.
The unfortunate thing was isthe cost of sin is death.
(25:20):
We couldn't pay that price, soJesus came, paid the penalty for
sin so that we could receivesalvation.
That's it.
The gospel is not a choose yourown adventure.
It was.
We were lost.
Jesus came on a rescue missionand offers us salvation, and
that is amazing because it's notjust offered to us, but it's
(25:43):
offered to everybody.
You see, right now.
And so the gospel is in motionand, as we are filled with the
love of God, we don't have tokeep it to ourself.
We can share it with everyonearound us and we can follow God
with all of our lives.
Can I tell you, as a pastor, itbreaks my heart when I hear and
(26:04):
I study all these things aboutthis current generation coming
up, and one of the things that Ihear so much about this
generation is that they struggleto know their purpose, they
don't know who they are and theydon't know their purpose.
As a pastor, that breaks myheart, because there are many
different things that God'sgoing to do in your life, but
you can never say you don't havea purpose, because we all have
(26:26):
at least two purposes in ourlife, and that is to know God
and to make him known that youyou're.
You are put on this planet toknow God and then to tell what
you know to other people.
Now you may have a thousandother things that God wants you
to do, but you're never withouta purpose.
So maybe that's the takeawayfor us today, and that is this
the gospel is in motion and youhave been given the honor of
(26:51):
being an ambassador from thekingdom of heaven to the kingdom
of this world and you get toshare the good news about God.
So don't let anybody ever tellyou that you're not important.
Don't ever tell you that youdon't have a purpose.
Now I don't know what else Godmay want you to do, but
primarily, he's alreadyrecruited you, you're already on
(27:11):
his team and, and as we followhim, he's given us the dignity
of saying I trust you, I trustyou that I'm going to put you in
environments and you are goingto be the very best example of
my grace into that environmentthat you're not going to be
perfect, but you're always goingto fall forward.
You're going to show peoplewhat it looks like to be loved
by me.
What an amazing honor God hasgiven us.
(27:34):
And so I want to just encourageyou to live your faith out loud
.
Live the gospel in motion.
Today.
You have been called for such atime as this.
You've been called for such aplace as this.
Why do you think you work whereyou work?
Why do you think you have thefamily you have?
Why do you think you have thefriends that you have?
The reason why?
Is because you are God's firstplan to reach all of them, and
(27:57):
that doesn't necessarily meanthat you're going to go tomorrow
and start like standing on asoapbox somewhere and preaching
the gospel man.
That'd be amazing, but most ofthe time that means one small
step at a time, one faithfulconversation at a time, one open
door at a time.
You live the gospel out loudand watch what God will do.
Let's pray together right now.
God, thank you so much for today.
(28:17):
Thank you, god, that you arewith us and that you are for us,
and that in all ways we canworship you.
God, as we go through thegospel of Mark, I pray you will
help us to grab on to theexcitement that is here.
The.
The instant leads, theimmediate leads to realize, god,
that we serve an action-basedGod, that you have called us to
(28:37):
know you and to make you known.
We all have a purpose and thatpurpose is to live the gospel in
motion.
Today we celebrate you in allthings.
In Jesus' name, we pray, amen,amen.
What God's Word says in Mark 8,verse 34, is our theme verse.
It says If anyone would comeafter me, jesus says, let him
deny himself and take up hiscross and follow me.
(28:58):
That's my prayer, is that we'llfall so in love with Jesus that
we think of following him asthe best thing in the world.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow for Mark2.
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