Mark
Let the Gospel tell the Story:
We are challenged to a deeper study of Scripture. In this case, the Gospel of Mark. We don’t mean anything like an academic study. Sometimes, an academic study is one that may appear to some as going deeper but is really just wider instead, spreading out from the text in the Bible and adding all sorts of extra information, thoughts, opinions, etc. Information that is not the Gospel, often just an opinion, not useful to our walk with Jesus and sometimes just plain wrong.
For instance, Mark 1:21 (CSB) says “They went into Capernaum, and right away he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach.” An approach that immediately goes into a discussion of Capernaum, where it is geographically, why some author think it would be a good base of operations for Jesus, what archaeological evidence there is for it, maybe where they think the synagogue was, what kind of industries might have been there, etc. And then commenting that it was on a major road and so that was why just a bit later in Mark 2:14 we hear about a tax office there. Those sorts of things are all interesting and some of them may help some people feel that the gospel accounts are more real because they understand some peripheral information about them. But in the end they tell us little to nothing about the good news of the Gospel. They do not help us be more obedient, more faithful, more trusting disciples of Jesus.
As we begin our next step in discipleship training, we will stay away from this type of study and the information in it. The challenge is to read the scripture and allow the scripture to do the work. We will trust God’s Word to have its way with us and learn what the Gospel of Mark has to say to us in our day, in our context and in our personal lives.
We will read one chapter a week for the sermon series. Get ready! Let the Gospel tell the story.
A deeper look into the text that is already right there in the gospel.
We are always in a hurry these days. Do not race through, sight read or skim as you read the Gospel of Mark. Do not hurry over it because it all sounds familiar. Try not to repeat the various talking points that you may have heard before in books, studies or sermons. Look closer and see more clearly, more deeply what the text of the gospel is telling us about God and about ourselves. Where it is calling us to obedience? Where it is calling for change in our understanding of God or of ourselves? Believe the Word of God is powerful. It can stand on its own and transform us as we allow the Holy Spirit to aid us. For many Christians at this stage of training all the add-ons of commentaries and study guides are distractions, and using them to drive a study is really expressing an underlying concern that the Word of God is not adequate in and of itself and just too hard to understand well. Often what happens is we then end up studying the Gospel according to “pick your favorite commentary author” or end up answering the questions in your favorite study guide instead of looking directly at what is Bible text is telling us. This is about reading the gospel—reading God’s Word.
This kind of Bible study is not harder or inaccessible for beginners, but exactly the opposite. Guided by a good leader, participants should be learning the content of the Bible more deeply than they have before while at the same time learning how to read and study the Bible for themselves and learning to value and trust the Word of God.
Begin each of your sessions, privately or with others, by inviting the Holy Spirit to be your ultimate ‘good leader.’ Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what He would like you to see, know, digest or simply become aware of. Allow the Word to speak to you. Make changes that you feel are necessary and expect to feel convicted. Perhaps you will discover a different Jesus or a Jesus you never knew.
Go read.
The Bible Project Click Here
The Gospel of Mark Click Here
The Gospel of Mark (on Amazon) Click Here
Gospel of Mark Part One Youth Channel Click Here
Gospel of Mark Part Two Youth Channel Click Here
Gospel of Mark Part Three Youth Channel Click Here
Children’s Story for Easter Click Here
Superbook Miracles of Jesus for Children Click Here
Superbook John the Baptist Click Here
Gospel of Mark with Francis Chan VIDEO INTRO Click Here