To shout the supremacy of Christ in all things…
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Posted by Pastor Pat on July 14, 2009
Read Mark 8:10-21
In this short study, I would like us to consider the biblical warning to “watch out” and “beware.” The word “watch out” is used three times in Mark’s Gospel (1:44; 8:15, 24). It is only here where it is used with the force of an imperative. Mark uses the word for “beware” fourteen times. It is used with force in Mark 4:24; 12:38; 13:5, 9, 23, and 33.
Posted by Pastor Pat on July 10, 2009
Read Mark 8:1-9
I believe it is important to keep our Lord’s movements in mind when reading the various stories. Jesus is in the Decapolis and is speaking to a predominately Gentile audience. It is important to remember the continued conflict with the religious leaders and political authorities. He has come to His own people first and then begins reaching out to the Gentile world. In the world in which Jesus lived, everyone who is non-Jewish is Gentile. Mark shows how Gentiles are included in the story of God. Mark opens this idea with Jesus addressing the Pharisees on the topic of “clean versus unclean.” He then heals a Canaanite woman’s daughter of a demon. He continues His handling of the unclean Gentiles by healing a deaf and mute man. To show equality among the Jews and Gentiles, He repeats His feeding miracles among a predominately Gentile audience. His actions do not negate Jewish primacy. Jesus did not forget that it was to the Jew and through the Jew that God’s revelation and divine incarnation would take place. Such action on His part reflects an impartial worldview. In fact, His actions always reflect a Christian worldview. Often I think as Christians we need to be reminded that a Christian worldview is a Christ worldview. His worldview is to be reflected by and represented in our worldview. It is not the other way around. Sometimes I, we, confuse our nationalism, our patriotism, our tribal instinct, our religious experience for a biblical worldview. What is His worldview? What is a Christian worldview? WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Pastor Pat on July 6, 2009
Read Mark 7:31-37
This narrative continues to celebrate the innate goodness of God. Regardless as to what our thoughts and opinions might be concerning Jesus, they must conclude with the idea that He is good. It is because He is good that what He does is good. It cannot be otherwise. In our present passage, Jesus heals an individual who is both deaf and speechless. His inability to hear contributed to his inability to speak. Regardless as to the condition, it was just cause for our Lord to act and, in acting, to display His power over all disease. In so doing, His status as Messiah continues to be established. In commenting on the grammatical structure of this statement, A.T. Robertson notes how, “The present perfect active shows the settled convictions of these people about Jesus.” Jesus was never charged with doing evil. Everything He did was “good.”
Posted by Pastor Pat on July 2, 2009
“Even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.”
Read Mark 7:24-30
Posted by Pastor Pat on June 28, 2009
Read Mark 7:1-23
Remember to whom Mark writes. He is writing to a Roman audience, a Gentile audience. He is showing how they are included in the redemptive purpose of God to secure for Himself a people who will love Him and worship Him forever. It is these people who will enjoy the presence of God forever. Although this truth caused the religious establishment to put Him to death, it caused the larger world to rejoice.
Posted by Pastor Pat on June 24, 2009
But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” (Mark 6:37)
Posted by Pastor Pat on June 20, 2009
17 “For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife’”(Mark 6:17, 18).
Posted by Pastor Pat on June 16, 2009
“And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs,
and gave them authority over the unclean spirits”(Mark 6:7).
Posted by Pastor Pat on June 12, 2009
Read Mark 6:1-6
In all of our stories from Mark 4:35 and following, there is consistent thread of faith. Faith appears throughout as a precondition to the miraculous. Nonetheless, is faith a precondition to the miraculous or is it a consequence of the miraculous?
Posted by Pastor Pat on June 8, 2009
Read Mark 5:25-34
This passage, and those surrounding it, has challenged me to continue thinking of the inter-play between faith, repentance, fellowship, and forgiveness. Personally, I desire to make each of these elements containable and connected. I want them “to fit” into a way of thinking that is understandable, tamable, and perhaps controllable. I want to be in control of what each of these elements look like. Yet it is impossible to fit the proverbial square peg into the round hole without doing damage to both the peg and the hole. Unfortunately, what I want and what is biblical are not always the same. You might wonder how the passages in Mark 4:35-6:6 evoke such thinking? Faith is “huge” in all of the stories noted in Mark’s gospel. Repentance is never stated, only assumed. As a consequence of faith, God works mighty miracles. In the absence of faith, established boundaries are honored and God chooses not to work. Much is assumed throughout. As I have meditated on these things I have tried to honor the biblical text without forcing many of my theological presuppositions into the text (i.e., “exegesis good, eisegesis bad”). Initially, if my ramblings appear disjointed and unconnected, please dismiss it and forgive me. However, there is a chance that it might jar you into greater clarity in these areas and thus I press ahead with my delineations.
Posted by Pastor Pat on June 4, 2009
22 “One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up, and on seeing Him,
Posted by Pastor Pat on May 30, 2009
As believers, you and I are in constant spiritual warfare. Often, however, we fail to recognize our battles as such. In addition, we are often ignorant of Satan’s mode of operation. And finally, we regularly fail to fight from a position of victory. Although this is a lengthy study, I would like to simply note several verses and then conclude by noting how we live from victory and not for victory.
Posted by Pastor Pat on May 26, 2009
Mark 4:35-41 has a distinct place in Mark’s narrative. It is intentionally placed just after an extended discourse that explained kingdom ideas. Jesus has clearly shown from the parables the distinction between children of light and those who continue to abide in darkness. He has equally shown how the rule or control of God continues to steadily unfold and moves toward ultimate fulfillment with certainty and confidence.
Posted by Pastor Pat on May 22, 2009
With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it; and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.
Posted by Pastor Pat on May 18, 2009
Read Mark 4:26-29
. . . 27 and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows-
Reigning Grace
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"When all is said and done and your life on earth is finished and the dust settles over your lifeless carcass, the only thing that will matter is the unadulterated, undiluted and undistracted worship of Jesus Christ."
Waukesha Bible Church is a family of families seeking to live in the Storyline of the Bible. She is determined by design to have a God-centered, Christ-exalting worship; a Word-centered teaching focused on personal discipleship through intentional and systematic instruction; a Global-impacting mission that resolves to be a church planting church; and a Grace-based fellowship where disciples are invited to live under a reigning grace characterized by a Gospel-driven sanctification that celebrates a divine monergism to the Christian life.