Category: Uncategorized

• E8 Mark 6 – Intensification

  

  In Mark 6,  we continue to see the themes we’ve been seeing develop and intensify:

  I. Intensification of people’s response to Jesus, His message and His miracles.

  A. POSITIVE RESPONSES.

  We’ve already seen several instances where Jesus attracted a large crowd and they grew larger and larger as His reputation spread. To review:

  

  1. Mark 1:32-33 First we see the whole town of Capernaum gathered where Jesus was staying, bringing those who needed healed. At least they stayed outside this first time.

  2. Mark 1:45 “Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in remote places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.”

  

  3. Mark 2:1-2 “Later, when Jesus returned to Capernaum, the people heard that He had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even near the door.”

  

  4. Mark 3:7-8 “Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him.” 

  

  5. Mark 3:20 When Jesus returned to Capernaum again, the house was so crowded He and the disciples couldn’t even eat.

  6. Mark 5:21 When Jesus had crossed over again in a boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and so He stayed by the seashore.

  

  7. Mark 5:24 While Jesus accompanied Jairus to his house, “a large crowd pressed around Him.”

  8. Mark 6:31 We see the same thing in this week’s chapter, but now Jesus responds to it. “Then, because so many people were coming and going that Jesus and the disciples didn’t even have a chance to eat, Jesus said to the them, “Come with Me by yourselves to a remote place and let’s get some rest.”

  9. And then we have the feeding of the 5,000 where we get an idea of the size of the crowd and we also see Jesus’ attitude about these ever-increasing mobs.

  

  Mark 6:32-34  “So they went away by themselves in a boat to find a remote place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”

  Here we see Jesus had compassion for the crowd and He began teaching them. You can think of this as feeding their spiritual hunger. Later Jesus also takes care of their physical need for food.

  So, in summary, we see that Jesus tried to avoid having His reputation spread about when He could, and He tried to avoid large crowds, but when He couldn’t avoid them as His reputation intensified, He ministered to their physical and spiritual needs.

  B. NEGATIVE RESPONSES.

  

  Mark 6:1-6 Jesus went to his hometown, Nazareth, accompanied by his twelve disciples. When the Sabbath came, as was His habit, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were amazed.

  “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given Him? What are these remarkable miracles that we’ve heard about Him performing? Didn’t He used to be our carpenter, the Son of Joseph and Mary? Isn’t this the brother of James, Little Joseph, Jude and Simeon? Aren’t His sisters here as wives with us?” And they took offense at Him.

  Jesus answered them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” As a result of their lack of faith, He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.

  

  1. Rejection. The key word describing why His hometown rejected Jesus was they were offended. This is a common problem when we become Christians and return home a changed person. Everyone there knows who we used to be, what we used to be like. Even though they had heard stories of what Jesus had done and said, and even had gotten a sample of it, they were not able to look beyond their preconceptions and see the Prophet that God had appointed and anointed with the Holy Spirit when He was baptized.

  The Greek word for offended is skandalizo, (Strong’s G4624, 29 occurences) from which we get the English term “scandalized.” We consider it a ‘scandal’ when seemingly good people do an egregiously bad thing–they have an affair, they embezzle money, they get drunk and act inappropriately in public. These are good people doing bad things that scandalize us. In Jesus’ case, He was a seemingly ordinary man doing and saying extraordinary things.

  

  So, what is Jesus’ preferred response when He is rejected? He just leaves. They reject Him, so He rejects them by removing His presence. No calling down a curse from heaven. The curse is that the people are robbed of blessings they might have received. As the passage says, He was not able to perform any miracles there, except heal a few individuals who DID believe in Him.

  The sad thing is faith begets faith and unbelief begets unbelief. Most people start at a neutral position, kind of a ‘wait and see’ attitude. But there are always those who already believe, and then there are always the skeptical disbelievers. What tends to happen is, whichever of the decided ones goes first tends to tip the undecided their way. If the believing people step up first and receive a healing or other miracle, then many are tipped over to at least a little faith.  However, as at Nazareth, the skeptics stepped up first and spouted their skeptical disbelief, then the undecided were tipped to their side.

  There are some lessons for us in there somewhere…

  

  2. Intrigued, but uncommitted. We see this uncommitted response from Herod, the Tetrarch of Galilee, not officially a king since his father’s kingdom was divided between four of his sons, hence the official title, ‘tetrarch,’ meaning ruler of a fourth. But Herod had pretentious to be  much, much more.

  John the Baptist had gotten in Herod’s face about having divorced his wife, and then marrying his brother Philip’s ex-wife, Herodias, when he divorced her.

  This confrontation was a risky move, but consistent with the role of a prophet to confront the king when they sin. The only problem was, despite Herod, who was an Idumean, a descendent of Esau, trying to act like the Jews somewhat, in order to appease them and keep them under control, he was anything but a believer of the Jewish faith.

  Herod really didn’t have a choice when John publicly confronted him with what was a sin in Jewish eyes. He had to arrest and imprison John. But Herod was intrigued by John. He knew John was a “righteous and holy man,” so Herod protected him from his wife Herodias’ fury. Because of John’s public denouement of the couple, she wanted John dead, dead, DEAD!

  Herod would trot John out from time to time to talk with him, but never made a commitment to believe the gospel. Messages I have heard over the years point out that Herod’s sin and his unwillingness to repent kept him from making this step of faith.

  

  The problem with sitting on the fence of faith and not deciding is it makes you vulnerable to being manipulated by those who are committed to something else. In this case  it was Herodias’ commitment to see John dead for his insults. She waited until Herod’s pride also made him vulnerable and she was able to manipulate her husband into finally having John the Baptist executed.

  C. Revenge. Herodias represents the extreme reaction of those who are offended by the gospel and its implications. That is, they try to exact some type of revenge on those who offend them.

  Throw Jesus Off the Cliff!

  

  And don’t think an overt sinner such as Herodias would be the only type of person who would respond to the offense of the gospel with life-threatening revenge. Peter read from the shorter account of the rejection in Nazareth for his presentation to the Roman magistrates. In the longer version researched by Luke (4:28-30)…

  “All in the synagogue who heard these things were filled with rage. And they rose up to throw Jesus out of the city. They led Him to the brow of the hill on which the city was built, intending to throw Him down the cliff. But Jesus passed through the middle of the mob and continued on His way.”

  These were ‘righteousness’ Jews, neighbors and family friends, even relatives by marriage. They had known Jesus as the oldest son of Joseph the carpenter who had taken over the family business when his dad died. Then on His 30th birthday, out of the blue, He had turned the family business over to his next older brother and just left. To where and for what reason? No one seemed to know.

  Sure, they had heard the crazy rumors about what Jesus had done in and around Capernaum, all the way on the other side of the country. Those rumors caused Jesus’ mother and brothers to travel there and try to bring Him back home to Nazareth. The rumors were crazy, so that meant Jesus had gone crazy, right?

  But here was this eloquent, itinerant rabbi speaking to them. How had He suddenly become such a wise teacher? Did He really perform the miracles they had heard about in Capernaum? It wasn’t possible, in their experience, so there had to be another, more mundane explanation, didn’t there?

  II. Intensification of Jesus’ display of  supernatural power.

  I don’t have time to go into detail with the rest, but in Mark 6, we see…

  

  

  

  III. Intensification of the training of His twelve disciples

  

  And Jesus had another agenda, the training of the twelve men that He chose to be with Him all the time.

  

  A. In Mark 6, we see Jesus give them authority to heal the sick and cast out demons, just like He could, and send them two by two to surrounding villages to proclaim the gospel. When they return to Him, they excitedly share stories of their success.

  

  B. And the walking on water was supposed to be a faith-building exercise for the disciples.

  

  C. As too the feeding of the 5,000. That miracle was supposed to help the disciples grow in their trust in the abilities of Jesus and God, who He represented.

  ==================================

  Pastor Chan has been focusing on this last aspect of what’s portrayed in Mark–discipleship.

  His point in chapter 6 is, we need to realize that if we try to be true disciples of Jesus, we will face opposition from some, and we may even lose our lives. His question was, “Are you ready to give your life for Christ as well as give your life to Christ?

  An intriguing and challenging thought! Guess you can tell by my choice of words where I am on that issue?

  Most people don’t seem to pick up on how important training His disciples was to Jesus. I look at the gospels and see three intertwined, but equally important, objectives that Jesus accomplished while He was in Israel.

  

  1. SACRIFICE Most people know that Jesus came to die for our sins so that we can be restored to a right relationship with God and avoid His wrath against sin at the Judgment. Less well known is the aspect that Jesus’ life had to be completely righteous and without sin. That is the only way His sacrifice could be acceptable to God as sufficient payment for all the sins of everybody in the world, past, present and future. Peter mentions this purpose a little later in Mark:

  

  

  2. MINISTRY: Many people are also familiar with Jesus’ statement of His purpose in Mark that we saw in chapter 1. We also frequently see Jesus teaching the multitudes, although He often spoke to them in parables. A couple of quotes Jesus made from Isaiah elaborate on this ministry aspect of His purpose for coming.

  a. The first is in Luke’s expanded account of Jesus’ Rejection at Nazareth.

  

  

  21 And He said to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

  b. The other time Jesus quoted from Isaiah where the ministry of the Messiah, His ministry, is described was in response to a doubting John the Baptist languishing in Herod’s prison. Matthew 11:3-5 (NIV)

  The disciples of John asked Jesus, “Are you the One who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus replied,  “Go back and report to John what you hear and see.”

  

  Putting these verses together with some others, we can say in summary, Jesus’ MINISTRY was to proclaim the gospel to as many in Israel as He possibly could, to teach them God’s word, and to do so with miraculous signs of God’s power as a testimony to His authenticity as the Messiah.

  

  3. MAKING DISCIPLES. Which brings us to Jesus’ third mission, the one most often overlooked, and the one Pastor Chan is focusing on in this study of Mark.

  Jesus said, as recorded in Luke, “A disciple Is not greater than his teacher, but all, when fully trained, will be like their teacher.”

  That is one of God’s goals for our salvation, that we should become ‘little Christs’ and continue to carry the good news and God’s Word around the world and down through history, as was done for us.

  

  SUMMARY:

  To put the whole set of intertwined purposes into perspective, the GOSPEL is meaningless and powerless without the SACRIFICE of Jesus, which is useless without APOSTLES, those who are sent to take the GOSPEL message to the WORLD, and you cannot become an APOSTLE until you’re completely trained as a DISCIPLE.

  The sequence for us, then, is, we hear the GOSPEL, we believe, we become DISCIPLES and learn from the TEACHING of God’s Word. Then we are SENT to take the GOSPEL to other people and other places, where we DISCIPLE other new believers, etc.

  Yes, this will involve SACRIFICE on our part to go, and it might lead to the ultimate SACRIFICE of our lives, but that is God’s plan for the salvation of the world. We should feel privileged to be a part of that plan.

  

  APPLICATION

  So, make sure you are involved in the process of discipleship–either as a learner or as a teacher–and share the gospel and God’s Word with the lost around you. That is God’s plan for the world, that is God’s plan for you.

  

  October 27, 2025

  bible, christianity, faith, god, jesus

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• E7 Mark 4:35 to 5:43 OverLord

  

  Week 5 of our study covered 4 events in Jesus’ life and ministry where He demonstrated that He was Lord over something. Some of these things, like showing His authority over sickness and demons, Jesus had already demonstrated, but this week we see He takes even those to a new level.

  4:35-42 Jesus is Lord over the storm.
  5:1-20 Jesus is Lord over a Legion of demons.

  5:24-35 Jesus is Lord over chronic illness.

  5:23-24 and 35-43 Jesus is Lord over death.

  We see that each of these encounters contain four elements that we can use to improve our own walk with Jesus:

  Q1. How did they approach Jesus for help?

  Q2. How did Jesus demonstrate His Lordship when He helped them?

  Q3. How did Jesus stretch their faith in Him by how He responded?

  Q4. How did they and/or those who witnessed what Jesus did, respond?

  I. JESUS, LORD OVER THE STORM

  

  

  

  

  40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

  

  (See note at the end for an explanation of the underlined text and fingerprint sticker in some of the images )

  

  Q1. How did the disciples approach Jesus for help? The disciples came to Jesus for help in desperation. Maybe they waited until the boat started to be swamped, because four of them were fishermen and thought they could handle the storm, as they had handled so many before. Maybe they waited because they didn’t want to disturb Jesus, who was obviously deep in an exhausted sleep in the back of the boat. I can almost see them frequently glancing back at Him, expecting that the violent tossing by the storm would wake Him up and He would take charge. A key to their feelings at the time was how they started their question, “…don’t you care…?”

  

  For whatever reason or however we ask, we can learn that Jesus will help us, even if we wait until we reach the end of our resources and come to Him in desperation as our final option. Our tendency is to become impatient when we don’t see God act on our behalf. Maybe He’s waiting for us to ask Him? We tend to become impatient, maybe even desperate, when God doesn’t work on our timetable and then we start to look around for other options. Faith is in the asking, but faith is also in the waiting.

  

  If we will do these things in our needs, the rewards are a new understanding of who God is and what He can do…and a fall-to-your-knees awe that creates in you a deep worship of this God of the Universe who DOES care for us.

  

  Q2. How did Jesus demonstrate His Lordship when He helped them? Jesus demonstrated a new ability to His disciples when He showed that He was Lord over the storm. They believed that Jesus was the Promised Messiah with a special anointing from Jehovah God, and they had left everything to follow Him and be His disciples based on that belief, but they did not yet understand the full extent of Jesus’ power.

  

  From this we learn that God and Jesus have powers beyond whatever we might understand or expect. Rather than try to figure out if God can help us or not, we should realize we’ll never understand what He can do, but we should just approach Him in humility and believe that He is able to help us, that He is willing help us, but it will be in a way and time of His choosing.

  

  Q3. How did Jesus stretch their faith in Him by how He responded?

  BEFORE: Jesus criticized the disciples for their lack of faith. There were lots of clues that they missed that should have led them to trust Him, no matter what was happening. First He had said they were going to the other side of the Sea. They needed to understand that what Jesus said they were to do, and that He would make sure it happened.

  

  The second clue was that He was blissfully asleep, even during the height of the storm. However, they did not understand how much they should and could trust Jesus, even in the middle of the most desperate situation.

  This is the first lesson we can learn from this. Just because He’s not calming the $#!+storm when we think He should, doesn’t mean He cannot. We just need to continue to trust in Him and keep doing what we’re supposed to be doing.

  

  AFTER: When Jesus dealt with the storm by commanding it to calm down, this was a totally unexpected response from Him. The disciples knew they needed help, but apparently they did not know that Jesus could calm the storm, they just knew they needed help, and that Jesus had already exhibited supernatural powers. They found out that Jesus was able to do beyond what they could ask or even imagine!

  

  That is another lesson for us. We have to trust God in how He chooses to respond. We cannot try to fit God’s capabilities into a tiny box defined by our past experience or limited imagination. God’s ways are as far beyond us as the objects in the night sky are from Earth. Ask Him, trust Him, and prepare to be amazed…and you’ll have your concept of God stretched.

  

  Q4. How did the disciples respond to this awesome and unexpected display of Jesus’ power and authority? Jesus rebuked them for being cowardly before they woke Him, Strong’s G1169, deilos, overcome by dread and unable to act, always used in a negative sense. But after they saw the storm calmed and were ‘afraid,’ Strong’s G5399, phobeo, used not only for an overwhelming fear that stops you in your tracks, but also used in a positive sense of a healthy, reverential awe of God’s power and authority. 

  

  This is the appropriate response to God, a reverential awe that overwhelms us and elicits worship of the God who is so much greater than we are. That’s what happened to the disciples, and that’s what will happen to us when God answers our prayers in a totally unexpected way. But we won’t have this experience of God if we don’t ask Him, with what little faith we have, and then humbly wait for Him to act.

  ====================================There were so many wonderful lessons from our study of Mark this week. I don’t have time to write about them all this weekend. For example:

  

  The woman who had been sick for 20 years who had faith that she would be healed if she could just sneak up behind Jesus and touch the edge of His robe, AND SHE WAS!

  

  The Legion of demons which did not have any more power to resist the authority of Jesus than one demon did.

  

  And the demon possessed man who was in his right mind and clothed properly again. He wanted SO badly to go back with Jesus across the Sea, but instead, he was sent back to his people as a witness for what Jesus had done for him.

  

  Then there was the synagogue ruler who tracked down and asked Jesus to come and heal his sick daughter, but before they could get back to his home, she died!

  ____________________________________________There are so so many wonderful stories and wonderful lessons in the gospels. I hope I whet your appetite for more to the point you will begin to study them for yourself. 

  

  After all, it’s not just general knowledge we seek to gain from Bible study. Through Bible study AND prayer, we can receive personal messages from God of affirmation, of guidance, of reassurance, and much, much more. Jesus and God wait for you in the pages of your Bible. Take the time to meet with Them there!

  

  ====================================

  

  NOTES: The underlined parts of the narrative are unique content to Mark. I believe what modern scholarship says,  that Mark is the third gospel in time, not the first, and it is based on a series of oral presentations by Peter to the magistrates in Rome who had been assigned to investigate the charges against Paul.

  When Peter came to Rome to visit Paul, word got back to the magistrates and they wanted to hear about this ‘Jesus fellow’ from an eyewitness. Matthew was the only official gospel at that time, written as a collaborative effort by the Apostles just before they left Jerusalem due to the increased persecution against them.

  During Paul’s three years of imprisonment in and near Jerusalem, Luke had personally investigated the stories of what Jesus had done and taught, using Matthew’s gospel as his source material, and then had written his own gospel. Paul asked Peter to legitimize Luke’s gospel, and Peter chose to do so by using both his copy of Matthew and Luke’s gospel as his source material for what appears to have been five presentations, based on internal structure. That is, each section is about 100 verses long and has a clear ending, followed by a clear beginning for the next session, with the verses between mostly starting with ‘And.’

  You can often tell which of the two gospels Peter is using for each story, but there are omissions and additional, unique content. As an exercise, I’ve been comparing all three accounts to identify Peter’s additions. I call these ‘fingerprints of Peter,’ and view them as his personal contributions to the gospel narrative.

  Peter’s omissions are interesting also. He seems to be portraying Jesus and the disciples in such a way that the Romans won’t see them as a threat. His careful  portrayal of Jesus comes across as provincial and something easily dismissed as a ‘local matter among the heathens way down there on the fringes of Roman civilization.’

  Peter also portrays the disciples as clueless provincials, certainly no threat to the Roman Empire either. I especially note that Peter omitted anything that would make himself appear as a threat, without minimizing his key role among the disciples, thus maintaining his position as a reliable eyewitness for the magistrates.

  This is largely just an interesting exercise for me. But in whatever way Jesus and the disciples are portrayed, the Gospel of Mark still communicates the truth about what Jesus did and said, and we as Christians can still learn about who Jesus is and what He taught by reading and studying the Gospel of Mark.  AMEN!
  ====================================

  October 20, 2025

  bible, christianity, faith, god, jesus

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• E6, Mark 3:7 to 4:34 – Transitions

  

  Week 4 of the Gospel of Mark study showed some interesting changes in Jesus’ interactions and in His teachings. Here’s a summary.

  I. Four Groups. We saw there were four distinct groups of people who interacted with Jesus and vice versa.

  A. The Masses.

  

  

  

  This is the change we saw in Jesus’ interactions with the masses–He had started out proclaiming the gospel and teaching from the Word. Now He is no longer speaking plainly to them, but teaching in parables.
  ————————–
  B. His Disciples.

  

  Up until now, we had seen Jesus surrounded by many disciples. Now He chooses a special group of twelve to always be with Him and that He can send out to multiply His work. At that point they will be called Apostles, “sent ones.”

  

  

  With the change to teaching the masses in parables, Jesus now begins teaching deeper truths about the Kingdom of God to the twelve and any other disciples who are with Him at the time.

  C. His Opponents. The opponents of Jesus had been increasing in their opposition to His actions and His teachings. Identified variably as ‘teachers of the Law,’ ‘Scribes,’ (those who made the copies of what we call the Old Testament and who taught the people what it said), and Pharisees (a sect of Jewish lawyers who emphasized purity by avoiding any kind of impure person or thing.) They had began by questioning Jesus’ teachings and lack of conformity to current mores. Then they began criticizing Him. Now we see their opposition take a sinister turn.

  

  3:28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” 30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
  —————-‐–‐
  Whoa! Jesus was still willing to address their accusations, but it looks like His opponents had crossed a line as He now pronounced one of the most controversial things that He was recorded as saying, they were guilty of the “Unpardonable Sin.”
  ———————–
  D. His Family: Mark has not made mention of Jesus’ family until now, but apparently word of what He was doing and saying had gotten back to them in Nazareth, so they came to see Him where He was teaching and ministering along the Sea of Galilee.

  

  

  

  Wow! Doubly harsh! First His family rejects who He is, and then He rejects His family.
  ———————-
  II. SUMMARY
  So here are the transitions we see in this week’s section of Mark:

  A. The masses–Jesus dissociates from the masses by teaching them using stories, leaving the hearers puzzled about what He is saying. It’s like He’s accomplished His first goal to attract those from the masses who want a deeper relationship with Him as disciples, and now He’s moving on.

  B. His disciples. Apparently having accumulated a critical mass of followers, Jesus selects 12 for special teachings and assignment. He now focuses more of His teachings to private sessions with them and other, local disciples who aren’t following Him from place to place.

  C. His opponents. The Jewish religious leadership increase their attacks on Jesus and Jesus accelerates right back at them. This is going to set up the final confrontation when they have Jesus arrested and crucified, actually what God has planned.

  D. His family. Jesus makes a final break from His family and shows how He is ‘all in’ as far as His commitment to His disciples. By the way, this is the first time we see that there are woman disciples as well as men, even if all the chosen Twelve were men.

  III. PARABLES
  I’m just going to skip over the parables we looked at this week because what caught my attention was at the end of Jesus’ parable about the lamp and lampstand.

  A. To set the scene:

  

  

  4:24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more, 25 whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
  —————————
  B. This is the SECOND harsh pronouncement in our reading this week. For some reason I had not taken note of this statemrent at the end of the parable before. But, I WAS familiar with it at the end of another parable. (Images (c) Mark Young Bible Cartoons)

  

  

  

  And then, as the moral of the Parable, we have that same statement by Jesus:

  

  C. Now, it was never clear to me exactly what the ‘talents’ (KJV) were, translated by modern versions as gold in Matthew and and coins in Luke. The happenstance of the match with the modern English word, ‘talent,’ referring to natural gifts and abilities we are born with, had always led to the passage being taught as meaning we should use our natural gifts and abilities to serve God and to advance His Kingdom.

  

  I think the repetition of this moral in Mark 4 makes the answer to the question clearer,  though. The parable about handling money is definitely about accountability, and so too is Mark 4. However, now we see it is not about something of worldly value or natural ability, but rather of spiritual, eternal value–the gospel, which gives us eternal life when we believe, and God’s eternal Word, which is able to redeem our souls unto righteousness.

  

  I believe Jesus is warning His hearers, and us down through history, that we have to be intentional in listening to what God is saying, we have to be intentional in thinking about what it means, and we have to respond in obedience to the message and truths that God reveals to us, AND that God is going to hold us accountable for how we use His spiritual treasure.

  The first ‘coin’ is the gospel, and the next two parables are about planting the ‘seed’ of the gospel to establish and grow God’s Kingdom here on Earth. The method of ‘investing’ it is to proclaim it to those around us. The implication is, if we are successful in sharing the gospel, God will entrust more ‘treasures’ from His Word to us and we will have another opportunity to invest it in others by teaching and guiding them into obedience. But what if we don’t?

  

  IV. APPLICATION

  In the Law, there were blessings for following it and curses for not. We live in a different spiritual age, the Age of Grace, so there are increasing blessings for obedience, and removal of those blessings for not. No punishment, no curses, just loss of God’s hand of blessing in our lives. For example:

  

  

  There are many, many more blessings that I think we as Christians take for granted until we lose them. I know, because I have.

  

  I was a success at everything I did until I graduated from college and moved to the big city. One of my own transitions. I had spent the last 10 years involved with the Navigators as a part-time volunteer–first in the military, then in college. The Navigators are a para-church organization specializing in disciple-making.

  During that 10 years, I had shared the gospel with many people, although no one ever made a decision for Christ. After completing their study curriculum, I began teaching their class on how to study the Bible, as I was very good at that. I met individually with many young men during those years, but I never made any disciples. What I now understand about those 10 years is God didn’t hold me accountable for my success, He held me accountable for my obedience.

  

  After college, starting my career became my focus–teaching, coaching and continuing my education. Although I wanted to bring what I had learned about discipleship to the church, I had limited success and soon settled into a standard Sunday-morning-church kind of Christian.

  

  Sharing the gospel was never a big part of my life, anyway. Without being a part of an organization that did those things, very slowly all of my newly learned Christian disciplines began to fall away. Then everything else I did began to fail. Small failures at first, but bigger and bigger failures until the career arc, and the life I had envisioned having, began to fall apart until it completely disappeared.

  

  Now, I’m in another transition, the final one to the end of my life. I’m under treatment for several potentially terminal health conditions, any one of which could take me out at any time.

  

  As I’m walking this final journey, two things have become prominent in my thinking. First is the verse, “The judgments of the Lord are just; they are always fair.” (Psalm 19:9b, Good News Translation)  I’m willing to accept God’s judgments in removing the blessings of success and health, resulting in failure and sickness, as being justified because I have not been faithful with the treasures of the gospel and Biblical truths that God entrusted to me.

  

  The other thing that has been filling my thoughts has been an almost overwhelming desire to leave a legacy for the Lord. Since i received my terminal diagnosis, I’d been praying for something I could do that would make a difference for God’s kingdom on Earth in the little time I have left, but my options were limited due to my disability and now being debilitated. Through a roundabout series of events, I came to write this blog. I hope that my thoughts, insights and experiences are helpful to you, my few subscribers, in your own walk with Jesus.

  

  There is a possibility, though, that gives me hope for something better. In a recent sermon at Summit Church about Psalm 32 by Pastor Brian Loritts, he showed how David finally came to a place of repentance and confession to God after his sin with Bathsheba…and God forgave and restored him!

  

  Another example he shared was Peter. Peter had denied he even knew Jesus while He was on trial…THREE TIMES! But Jesus forgave a repentant Peter and used him to deliver the Pentecost message where 3,000 responded in faith and were added to the church.

  

  Pastor Loritts pointed out that God is in the restoration business. Jesus is a safe place to take our sins, failures and shortcomings to, because He loves us, He’ll accept us in our repentance, and forgive and restore us to right standing with Him–not condemn or punish us.

  That is my hope and prayer before I leave  this Earth; that as I lean into Jesus in my brokenness, He will restore His hand of blessing, and as David said in Psalm 51, which Pastor Loritts said was linked to Psalm 32:

  

  I ask that you pray this for me as well.

  Thank you,
  Bill

  October 14, 2025

  bible, christianity, faith, god, jesus

  ---

• E4, Mark chapter 2 – Revelations, part a

  

  

  PREPARATION:
  As you read, think about these questions:

  • Jesus reveals some more about Himself, what are those things?

  • Some people took advantage of the miraculous powers that Jesus offered. Who were they and how did they respond to Him?

  • Some people were offended by what Jesus and His disciples did. Who were they and how did they respond to Him?

  ===================================

  Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  ===================================

  CONCLUSIONS
  1. How did the paralytic and his friends respond to Jesus?

  Jesus had been at Capernaum before and had healed a lot of people, then left for a while as He traveled from village to village, proclaiming the gospel and teaching about God’s Word.

  

  I’m guessing the paralyzed man had heard of Jesus’ previous visit and arranged with some friends to take him there if Jesus ever returned to town, and as it so happened, He did. But when they got to the house where Jesus was in residence, it was too jam-packed to get in.

  

  I can imagine them standing around for a while outside discussing what to do, when one of them suggested, ‘Well, if we can’t get in through the door, let’s use the roof!’I suspect the homeowner was not too pleased, but I’m also sure the men were willing to pay to have the roof repaired.

  

  So the attitudes exhibited by the paralytic and his four friends toward Jesus were first of all faith, they believed Jesus could and would heal the paralytic, if only they could get the man in front of Jesus. They were desperate, willing to do something very much out of the ordinary to accomplish their goal, and they were committed to getting the help their friend needed, no matter what the cost. This is very much like the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:6

  NOTE how the rest of the people in the home who had come to see and hear Jesus reacted, “…they were all amazed and glorifying God…” That is, ALMOST everybody…

  

  2. What did Jesus reveal about Himself?
  In chapter 1, we saw that Jesus had demonstrated the authority to teach God’s Word in a new, to way, to cast out demons, and to heal the sick. Mark used the testimony of the demon to further show who Jesus was, “I know who You are–the Holy One of God!” Later in chapter one, when Jesus again encountered demons, He did not permit the demons to speak “because they knew He was the Annointed One from God.”

  

  I believe this is an example of what God does, that is, He reveals things to us via successive revelations, instead of revealing everything at once and overwhelming us. That is why it is important not to ‘overrun’ your insight.

  

  What I mean is like driving at night; your headlights allow you to only see so far, depending upon whether low beams or farther with high beams. You need to be traveling at a slow enough speed to have time to react when your headlights reveal something ahead, like a curve or object in the road, which needs you to take appropriate action.

  

  In the case of walking with God, it’s like He’s giving us directions on how to walk through a maze from His perspective above, but only one turn at a time.

  

  So, because God reveals things to us successively, we need to act in obedience, but only as far as we can ‘see.’ Don’t forge ‘full speed ahead,’ leave some maneuvering room in your life. The path we need to walk to get from where we are to where God wants us to be is usually not a straight line. But God only directs us to make changes within our ability, and sometimes that is in ‘baby steps.’

  

  I think that is why the Psalmist said ‘God’s Word is like a lamp for our feet.’ If you’ve ever walked at night when camping, or in the country where there are no streetlights, and you had to use a lantern or flashlight to light your way, you might understand how these light sources can show you only the path just ahead, just a few steps are revealed at any one moment. That is how I have found it to be following Jesus in my life.

  

  In this situation with the paralyzed man brought for healing, Jesus said instead, “Your sins are forgiven.” This didn’t set well with the opposition. Jesus said to them that He wanted to clearly demonstrate that He had the authority to forgive sins, so He then commanded the man to “get up, pick up his mat, and go home!”

  Obviously the man was no longer paralyzed, but Jesus didn’t say, “Be healed,” or anything like that. I think the implication was the man was already healed when Jesus said his sins were forgiven.

  

  I just happened to hear a message from Andrew Hopper from Mercy Hill Church this week from James 5:13-16, which is about prayers for healing by the elders, where it also mentions if the sick person has sinned, their sins will be forgiven.

  

  So, the Bible clearly teaches here, and in other places, that there is a relationship between our physical infirmities and sinful spiritual condition. Also that there is a relationship between what we would call insanity or other mental illnesses, and demon possession, or as in Mark chapter 1, ‘unclean spirits.’

  

  How can we tell if someone has an organic sickness from an injury or infection, as opposed to suffering from a judgment as the result of their sins? How can we tell if someone is possessed by an unclean spirit that needs to be expelled? I don’t know that we CAN tell. But this I believe, JESUS can tell and we CAN pray to Him and trust Him to heal, to forgive or to deliver us from an unclean spirit as needed. We just need to ask Him, listen for His commands to us and trust that He knows what we need.

  

  3. Some people were offended by what Jesus said and/or did. Who were they and how did they respond?

  In chapter 1, those who listened to Jesus teach in the synagogue commented that He taught with authority, not like the Scribes did.

  

  To understand what they meant, we can look in Matthew where a similar comment is recorded at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. All during the Sermon, Jesus kept saying, “You have heard that it was said…, but I say to you...” That was Jesus teaching with a personal authority.

  

  Apparently this comment from the synagogue had gotten back to the Scribes, because some of them came to the house where Jesus was ‘holding court’ this time. When Jesus told the paralytic, “…your sins are forgiven,” the Scribes didn’t say anything, but they were thinking it very loudly! One of the Divine powers Jesus demonstrated was His ability to know what people were thinking.

  

  Note that Jesus didn’t criticize them for what they were thinking. Jesus demonstrated all of the qualities we are told by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:13,14 Christians are to exhibit. In this instance, Jesus patiently tried to help them to understand.

  

  At this point, the Scribes were not yet portrayed as actively hostile, just questioning. It’s not unusual that there are things about Jesus, about the gospel, about the Bible, etc., that we don’t understand. It is very reassuring to me that Jesus doesn’t reject or condemn us when we have questions, especially since compared to Him and Father God, we are like children in our understanding of spiritual matters. Instead, He is willing to patiently explain and even to demonstrate His truths to us, if we’ll just give Him the opportunity.

  There are many more revelations about Jesus in Mark 2, but the weekend is ending and a new week of Bible study begins in the morning. What new and exciting things about Jesus the Christ might I discover this week?

  

  NOTE: Story pictures (c) Free Bible Images and used by permission

  October 5, 2025

  bible, faith, forgiveness, healing, jesus

  ---

• E3, Mark 1:14-20 – Disciples

  

  I. REVIEW:

  In Week 1, we saw WHO Jesus was:

  • He was the prophesied Messiah, the special Annointed One from God, heralded and identified by John the Baptist.
  • He was/is the actual Son of God, acclaimed by God the Father’s own voice from the heavens.
  • He was the singular receptacle of the Holy Spirit, seen descending in the form of a dove and remaining on Him, John 3:21.
  • Jesus demonstrated His worthiness to be God’s personal representative on earth by passing the three tests/temptations of lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride, that our penultimate ancestors, Adam and Eve  failed.

  We were left with the question, ‘Was Jesus worthy enough for us to follow Him?’ This week’s lesson looked more in depth at that.

  II. PREPARATION:

  After Jesus established His bona fides as the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One from God, He began to call some men to follow Him as disciples. Mark says:

  

  A. What did you leave behind when you answered the call to become a Christian?

  In my traditional church background, we were called to give up sinning in order to identify as Christian. ‘Sinning’ was defined as doing those things the Ten Commandments say not to do. (And I apologize for the King James Bible language, it was how I learned this.)

  

  2. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain. (In other words, no cussing using the name God or Jesus Christ.)

  6. Thou shalt not kill.

  7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

  8. Thou shalt not steal.

  9. Thou shalt not bear false witness. (Lie)

  10. Thou shalt not covet. (Want what is not yours.)

  The positive Commandments were the new things that I was supposed to do instead:

  4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

  5. Honor thy father and thy mother.

  

  Now, there were those singular individuals who felt a deeper call to become missionaries. They literally gave up everything they knew and had in their life in America and went to live in some distant, heathen, third-world country that didn’t know who Jesus was, in order to proclaim the gospel to them.

  I always felt like these men and women were the ‘A team’ of Christians.  The rest of us just kept muddling around with our daily lives here and made sure we gave enough beyond our tithes to support them.

  There really weren’t any sacrifices for us ‘run-of-the-mill’ Christians. No leaving the life we knew behind, no daily following of Jesus wherever He led, no sacrificial discipleship. Thinking back, although I am grateful for having heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ through my traditional denomination, I now feel like I was robbed of the life I might have had as a Christian if I had also known how to follow Jesus as a disciple.

  III. THE STORY:

  A. Jesus Announces the Good News

  

  B. Jesus Calls His First Disciples

  

  

  IV. CROSS REFERENCES, SUMMARY:

  It seemed strange to me that Jesus would be walking along the shore, meet some fishermen at work in the water, invite them to follow Him and they would just drop everything and start literally walking with Jesus wherever He was going.

  It would make more sense to me if the call to follow had happened after Jesus taught in the synagogue, after He had cast out the unclean spirit, after He had started healing everyone in town who needed it as they came to where He was.  After…

  It would just make more sense for it to happen the other way if the disciples were coming to Jesus and asking to be His disciples. That was the usual way of things.

  The Gospel of Mark is like the ‘Cliff Notes’ of the gospels. It is a simple, dispassionate presentation of the facts. The other two synoptic (same view) gospels, Matthew and Luke, also include the calling of these first four disciples, Galillean fishermen, before Jesus started teaching and performing miracles of healing and demon exorcism.

  But if we look at John the Apostle’s gospel, we’ll see the call and following were not quite the ‘out of the blue’ events they seem to be in the synoptic gospels.

  In John’s gospel (the youngest of those four disciples) we find out that Andrew (Peter’s older brother) and John himself (younger brother of James) were disciples of John the Baptist. They were there for the thunderous voice of God shouting His acceptance and approval of Jesus as His Son. They were there for the hole being ripped in the sky and the bright, shining form of the Holy Spirit flashing down from heaven and settling over Jesus like a holy mantle.

  John recorded that at some later day, as Jesus was walking by, apparently after the Wilderness Experience, John the Baptist pointed Him out by saying,

  

  A. HOW DID THEY BECOME DISCIPLES?

  In Jesus’ time, becoming the disciple of a rabbi was essentially secondary education. When a Jewish boy finished his basic education in the Law and the Prophets, they then had a final, oral exam to make sure they adequately understood the basics. Today this graduation is celebrated in the Bar Mitzvah.

  There was also a secondary purpose. The country rabbis were always on the lookout for the exceptionally bright student who they would accept as disciples, therefore continuing their education one-on-one. The majority of the students would then be apprenticed in their family business. Think of it as college versus trade school.

  There were also a very few exceptionally bright students who would be sent to Jerusalem to try and become a disciple of the prominent teachers there. In sports terms, think of the first group as being drafted by a farm team and the more elite group trying to walk on with a pro team. Paul the Apostle was one of that latter group. He came all the way from Tarsus and was accepted by Gamaliel as a disciple, one of the most prominent rabbis of that time.

  So, disciples could be picked, or they could ask to be accepted. Most likely Andrew and John had gone to John the Baptist first in repentance and to be baptized, but then volunteered to stay on as disciples.

  

  B. WHAT DID DISCIPLES DO?

  The disciples exchanged service to the rabbi for being taught by him. We can see this with Jesus’ disciples in the gospels. Jesus had a public ministry and His disciples helped with various aspects of that, plus they got to listen to and watch Jesus as He taught and ministered. The disciples also took care of basic needs such as getting food and arranging a place to stay. In essence, anything that needed to be done for the master, the disciples did.

  

  In exchange, the disciples received private instructions and could ask questions about anything they didn’t understand. One downside might be that since the disciples were with their rabbi almost 24/7, especially Jesus’ disciples, since He was an itinerant teacher (traveled from village to village), along with the teaching could come rebuke when they didn’t quite get it. But this also was accepted as part of the disciple relationship.  And that’s what Christian discipleship is, a relationship with the Great Teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ.

  

  VI. CONCLUSIONS and APPLICATION

  A. Where is discipleship today?

  

  1. There was no discipleship in my traditional denomination. I encountered discipling  when I was in the Army and met a group called the Navigators. There I was discipled for the first time and spent 10 years with them, continuing after I left the Army. It was my hope to be able to bring discipleship back to my denomination. Unfortunately, my disabling injury interfered with that goal. However, in recent years I have begun to see discipleship becoming more and more a part of church life. It still isn’t the discipleship I learned in the Navs, but at least the traditional Protestant church is moving in the right direction. Baby steps!

  2. Otherwise, I’ve only seen perverted cult examples of ‘discipleship’ in my lifetime. Here are some prominent examples:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  B. How do you tell the difference?

  It doesn’t take a lot of thought to see the similarities in Jesus and His disciples, and these cults.

  

  

  

  

  So then, how do we tell who to follow, the process of discipleship is the same? The Bible calls these false leaders ‘anti-Christs,’ that is, false teachers and prophets that people turn to ‘instead’ of Christ. Jim Jones promoted himself as a prophet of God. David Koresh proclaimed himself the only true teacher from God.  Reverend Sun Yung Moon stated he was the second coming of Jesus Christ.

  

  C. What is the effect of false cults?

  I’ve noticed several:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  So, what is Jesus creating? Is it a cult or is it a new culture? Stay tuned to Mark and let’s see if we can answer that question.

  

  September 28, 2025

  bible, christianity, discipleship, faith, god, jesus

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• E2, Mark 1:12-13 Temptations

  

  12 At once the Spirit sent (Jesus) out into the wilderness, 13 and He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted/tested by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended Him.

  

  Cross references: There were others who spent 40 days with God without additional sustenance, Moses and Elijah.

  

  

  There are two significant aspects to the temptation of Jesus. First is that He can be sympathetic toward us when we’re going through difficulties, because He’s been there:

  

  Second is that Jesus came through His time of testing victorious, which qualified Him to be the sacrifice for the redemption of humankind. In comparison, our penultimate ancestors were NOT victorious when they were tested by Satan and that is why we are in the mess the world is in.

  But thanks be to God,” to quote Paul (1 Corinthians 15:57), God has not left us in this mess, He had a plan–a plan for redemption, a plan for salvation, a plan reaching its climax here in Mark with God’s Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Let’s look more in depth at temptation/testing starting in Genesis.

  Genesis 3:1-15, New International Version

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  • Lust of the flesh: Bodily desires, appetites, and sexual immorality. 

  • Lust of the eyes: Craving or longing for pretty things, possessions, which can be seen as a desire for more. Also called ‘covetousness’ in the Bible.

  • Pride of life: Boastful confidence in oneself, one’s resources, or earthly things. Jesus referred to it as ‘Mammon,’ a Middle Eastern concept of His time that referred to anything of value one depends on in place of God.

  

  Pulling together the accounts of the temptation / testing of Jesus from the other synoptic gospels, let’s see how Jesus also faced each of these three threats and how He dealt with them.

  

  Lust of the flesh: Jesus had been fasting in the wilderness for 40 days and He was hungry. Satan came and tested/tempted Him saying, “If you are really the Son of God, turn these stones into loaves of bread!”

  Jesus replied, “It is written, mankind shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

  

  Lust of the eyes: For the next test/temptation, Satan took Jesus to a high place and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world. Then he said, “All these kingdoms can be yours if you will just bow down and worship me!”

  Jesus replied, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD thy God and serve only Him.’”

  

  Pride of life: Finally Satan took Jesus to the highest point of the temple for His last test/temptation. While they were looking down at the thousands of people in the courtyard, Satan said, “It is written, ‘God’s angels shall bear up His Annointed lest He strike His foot against a stone.’  IF you are God’s Annointed, throw yourself down from here!”
  
  Jesus replied, “Get out of here Satan! It is written, ‘You shall not test/tempt the Lord thy God!‘”

  

  Jesus successfully passed the three tests/temptations that Adam and Eve failed. Lessons we can learned:

  1. Jesus accurately quoted what God had said in the past as it pertained to each test. Eve misquoted what God had said by adding, ‘…or touch it.’ Which gave the Serpent an opportunity to deceive her when she touched a fruit and nothing happened.

  2. THE FLESH Jesus prioritized obeying
  God over His natural physical needs. He taught in Matthew 6:33 that we should do this too.

  

  3. THE EYES Jesus refused to be impressed or distracted by seeing all the kingdoms of the world. He focused on the key point of worshipping/serving God versus anyone or anything else. (In other words, He avoided idolatry)

  4. PRIDE The whole aspect of Jesus’ coming was in humility. He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself even further, to be obedient to God’s plan and die on a cross.

  

  To participate in such an ostentatious miracle as Satan suggested, even if he did appear to have a Scripture to back him up, would have been the exact opposite of humility.

  SUMMARY

  I can summarize where Jesus was in this situation by one concept–a personal, submitted relationship with God:

  Who? Jesus chose God over His fleshly needs. He put God’s needs first–God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness.

  Who? Jesus chose God over His psychological needs and desires for fame, for significance, for personal glory. He chose to serve and follow God’s ways and God’s plan rather than take what was offered as an easier shortcut.

  Who? Jesus chose God over his own self-exaltation. Whenever we start to tell others about ourselves, to let others know how great we think we are, we are failing this test. (Ouch!)

  John knew what he was saying when he called it the “Boastful” pride of life. That’s because when you start boasting about yourself, your people, your possessions, your accomplishments, etc., you’re bring prideful.

  

  APPLICATIONS, Mark 1:1-13:

  1.a. Who is Jesus to me? He is the Savior that makes it possible for me to go to heaven when I die, where I will live forever with God and Jesus. My response to that salvation is best expressed in this classic hymn, My Jesus I Love Thee.

  

  1.b. What kind of Savior has Jesus been to me? He has been persistent in seeking relationship with me. Even when I’ve slipped away or strayed from Him, He has always gently called me back into fellowship with Him and with His Body, the Church.

  My feelings about the grace of Jesus in my life, to have never given up on me, is best expressed by the classic hymn, Softly and Tenderly (Jesus is Calling).

  

  1.c. What do I want Jesus to be in my life? I want Him to be the everything to me I’ve heard from so many others. I want Him to be what this classic hymn expresses, to be All the World to Me.

  

  2. Has Mark convinced you of the uniqueness of Jesus, how He is qualified to be the Savior of the World? What more should he include?

  Intellectually I know these things, but emotionally I got nothing. Jesus coming in humility makes it difficult for me to be amazed and astounded about who He is and what He did. Jesus constantly strove to keep things low key. The dialogue in Mark seems so dispassionate, so emotionless, it’s almost like it is being delivered deadpan.

  There’s nothing to stir the heart, wow the mind, to awaken that sense of wonder that these are not just historically momentous events, these are eternally momentous events. It seems like the eternal significance is just beyond my ability to perceive and comprehend. Hoping for more later!

  

  3. How does your faith background affect the way you see Jesus? Are you aware of any potential blind spots, beliefs or practices that might be missing in your Christian faith and practice, having grown up in a certain tradition?

  

  I know that my traditional conservative  Protestant upbringing had lots of gaps– things that were a little off center from the truths of the Bible, even some things that were outright wrong–but I can’t see the what and where of how to change, how to move away from that background, even when I think I can see what new direction I need to move in.

  

  It is as if those childhood beliefs are so deeply ingrained in my psyche that it is who I am. I’ve made some changes in my faith and practice over my lifetime as I’ve learned more and different things, but they have just been baby steps.

  

  The only path ahead I see is to keep grinding it out day-by-day, to keep seeking God, to stay in God’s Word and prayer, to be in fellowship with God’s people, to keep believing that God will work His will in me and through me. But it’s tough!

  

  The three things I heard the most from others in church while growing up in my traditional faith were, ‘maybe,’ ‘it might be,’ and ‘nobody can know for sure.’

  These words are not enough for me anymore, and they haven’t been for a long, Iong time. My hope is that as we look at the story of Jesus in Mark, that my uncertainty will be replaced by certainty, that my doubts will be replaced by convictions, that what I’ve always heard as speculations will be replaced by belief in the truth. Amen!

  

  
  

  September 21, 2025

  bible, christianity, faith, genesis, god, jesus

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• E1: Mark chapter 1:1–11, Introductions

  

  PREPARATION: What are two things you would like to take away from your study of the Gospel of Mark? 1. I’d like to grow in having a devotional attitude as I study the Bible and 2. I’d like to have an attitude of worship toward God that would balance my long-time scholarly/academic/intellectual approach.

  

  Write down a one-sentence prayer for what you would like for the Holy Spirit to change in you as we journey through Mark the next few weeks?My prayer for God to change me during this study is embodied in the classic hymn, Spirit of the Living God, Fall Afresh on Me:

  

  https://youtu.be/2DtJgaGRav4?feature=shared The Isle of Man Methodist Church

  THE STORY Mark 1:1-13, New International Version, annotated. John the Baptist Prepares the Way 1 The beginning of the good news (gospel, evangelon) about Jesus the Messiah, [the Christ=Annointed One] (the Son of God, not in earliest manuscripts).2 As it is written In the Prophets:

  

  And in Isaiah,

  

  4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to see and hear him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 

  

  6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. Cross reference:

  

  7 And this was his message: “After me comes One more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy (and neither are we) to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with/in water, but he will baptize you with/in the Holy Spirit.” Cross references:

  

  

  The Baptism of Jesus 9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 

  

  10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, He saw heaven open up and the Spirit descended on Him like a dove.

  

  11 And a voice came from heaven saying, “You are my Beloved Son, with you I am well pleased. (Voice = God the Father. Must have been an important event, because the entire Trinity was present!)

  

  SUMMARY: After reading these opening verses to Mark’s gospel, what were the expectations for Jesus? What kinds of things did the people anticipate from Him?

  

  1. The ‘good news’ about Jesus. We started with the point that this isn’t just personal good news like ‘Honey, I got a raise / promotion at work.’ Or, ‘Congratulations you’re going to gave a baby!’ Or, ‘The lab test was negative for cancer.’ These are all examples of PERSONAL good news. It is good, it might even be GREAT news, but it is meaningful only to you and your family.

  

  The good news in Mark is transcendent, it is worldwide. It doesn’t affect just a few people, it is for everyone, everywhere, for all times, for all peoples and for all life situations. I think the readers already knew the basics about WHO Jesus was. They wanted to know more about Him, where He came from, what He did, what He said, where He went–they wanted MORE, and here was the beginning of that ‘more.’

  

  Woo-hoo baby! Strap in, because Uncle Mark is going to take you on the ride of your life! There is a great contemporary song that captures a lot of what a Christian life truly lived can be like, Steven Curtis Chapman, The Great Adventure.

  

  2. The Christ, the Annointed One of/from God is someone who was sent from God with a unique anointing of God’s power, sent for a very special purpose, with a special message. Sent to us, with a message from God for us. If you ever wanted God to speak to you. If you ever wanted God to do something about the mess in the world, this is it. Pay attention. Expect some answers. Expect some solutions.

  

  3. God first sent a special, prophesied messenger to the people of the Bible, to the Jews, God’s chosen people, to prepare the way for the arrival of His Annointed One. This Annointed One was so important that God sent a herald to announce He was coming. ‘Get ready, everyone! The One who God has promised will soon be here. He will fix everything that’s wrong. He will make all things right, all things whole. Get ready, you don’t want to miss this!’

  

  As a result of John the Baptist’s proclamations up and down the Jordan River, there was a sense of excited anticipation in Israel. The Messiah was coming from God, get ready!

  

  4. ‘…and John was calling everyone to repent of their sins, proclaim4ing a baptism for the forgiveness of sins…’ So how do you prepare for the Messiah? The Jews knew that God was holy and the very first step to approaching Him was to be forgiven your sins through animal sacrifice. The Annointed One from God would be like God, so it only made sense that He was holy too. If you wanted to receive Him, if you wanted Him to receive you, you had to be clean.

  

  Now, John didn’t mean you needed a bath on the outside. The Jewish ceremonial washing was just a sign of one’s spiritual cleansing. You needed to be clean on the inside. The straight path that John mentioned was not work on the roads. It was to prepare a straight path for the Messiah to reach your heart. Clean out the sinful thoughts, words and actions from your life, then you’ll be ready to receive Him…and He you.

  

  You have to be holy to approach God the Father. You had to be holy to receive His Son. And then there is God’s Holy Spirit (it’s in the name.) So what we’re talking about here is HOLY HOLY, HOLY. That is God’s expectation of us, because that is who God is.

  

  5. John the Baptist was a big deal in Israel. He was the first true prophet from God in 400 years. (There had been many self-proclaimed false prophets.) John was so popular with the masses that when he began calling the religious rulers sinners too, the rulers were afraid to arrest him because of popular acclaim.

  

  Then John said something absolutely astounding. He said that the One who was coming was even greater, so great that John was not worthy enough to even untie His sandals.

  

  Now, in those days, when someone entered a home, the lowest servant was stationed at the door with a pitcher of water, a basin and a towel. His job was to untie and remove the dirty, nasty sandals after the person had been walking the dirt roads of the time, stepping in mud sometimes, and definitely stepping in what the animals left behind. The servant then washed off anything that might have splashed up on the bare feet inside the sandals so they wouldn’t track anything inside, because they sat around on the floor and who would want to sit in some of that? Then the servant also washed and dried the sandals for when they left.

  

  This was a sometimes nasty job assigned to the lowliest of the low, and John said, he was not even good enough to do that for God’s Annointed when He comes! What must the people have thought when John made that statement? I’m guessing there was a tremendous amount of interest and curiosity. If John, the great prophet of God, as they saw him, was saying, the Coming One is so much greater that John is lower than the lowliest servant, what kind of a Person might the Annointed One be?

  

  6. A thundering voice from heaven, a hole ripped in the sky, a bright, powerful figure flashing out of that hole, shrinking to the size of a dove before it fell on this Nazarene who was just baptized… what in the world was happening? Is this the One? Who is he?

  The people were primed to receive the Messiah and the stories about what happened at this baptism must have flashed up and down the country as fast as telephone or radio could have carried them. But these questions remained unanswered because whoever it was, He was whisked away, He fell off the radar, He disappeared for parts unknown.

  Without confirmation, the people must have wondered, did something unusual, something special really happen? Was this the Messiah or should we look for someone else? I’m sure this was part of God’s plan, but the why is not clear to me.

  SUMMARY: So, the question was, after reading verses 1 to 11, what might be expected from Jesus, what might one anticipate from Him after this introduction by Mark?

  

  I think the expectations were for something great, for Someone great. Greater than anything they had ever known, heard of or seen. Something/Someone so great they had to be totally ready. So great that there were more questions and speculations than there was real knowledge. So great that it might totally blow you away. Maybe too great to comprehend, too great to withstand. Maybe it was some kind of GOD greatness?

  September 20, 2025

  bible, christianity, faith, god, jesus

  ---

• E0, Introduction to the Gospel of Mark

  Hello subscribers! If you’ve been wondering why I haven’t posted a new blog recently, there’s a story behind that..

  

  I’d been working on Genesis chapter 26, the third installment in the topic of Generational Sin, when I made the MOST AMAZING DISCOVERY! As I followed up on that discovery and continued to work through my planned study, I just kept writing and writing for over a week and a half. When I finally had said everything I wanted to say about the topic, I realized I had waaaay too much for one blog. However, I realized that the extra material outside of Genesis 26 would make a perfect concluding fourth blog of the miniseries.

  

  As I was trying to figure out how to disentangle the two parts, our Fall Men’s Bible studies started up. I considered and prayed about which topic to sign up for and felt drawn to the one on the Gospel of Mark. We began last week and I found out why God had led me to that one.

  

  To understand the reason, I refer back to my first blog in the D series. I had heard a comment from Matt Slick on Christian radio that he finds it works best if he approaches study of the Bible with a devotional attitude rather than a scholarly attitude.

  

  I was immediately convicted by God as my approach to studying the Bible has been predominantly scholastic. Since that moment of conviction, I’ve been praying and staying alert for God’s answer about how I can grow as a worshipper when it comes to approaching His Word, the Holy Bible. It turns out this Bible study on the Gospel of Mark, using study and video materials by Francis Chan, is God’s answer for that need in my life that He Himself had shown me.

  

  At the end of a trailer showing him at key places in Israel where Jesus had visited, which also serves as an introduction to the study, Pastor Chan prayed this: “These are Holy, Holy, Holy places. It is sad if you have lost the fascination of God emptying Himself and taking the form of a man. God, I pray as we trace together and journey through the life of your Son (in Mark), that we treat it as sacred, as holy, holy, holy, like no other Name on the earth. Change our hearts, God. Help us to see that everything else is so ridiculous compared to this one great truth of you becoming man, dying on a cross for all of our sins; rising from the dead. God, teach us how to marvel again. Teach us to be fascinated with the Good News of Jesus Christ.”

  I was touched deeply by this prayer and knew that this was what I was looking for, that this is what I needed as the next step of growth in my life as a Christian, as a disciple of Jesus Christ. I emailed the pastor in charge and my former small group leader, who is also in the study, and wrote: PLEASE pray this for me!!! So, I decided to put off finishing the D series so that I can focus my Bible study time on Mark, because I now realize I need to do more than understand what the Bible says. I need to feel what it means deep down in my heart.

  

  Feelings don’t come easy for me. I was diagnosed with ADHD in school and that puts me on the autism spectrum. We on the spectrum, even though high functioning as I am, have great difficulty with emotions and social interaction.

  

  So, please be patient with me as I try to open up my feelings to the significance of what we are studying each week. It may be a little raw, I may be off base, I may even be crude, but I’m going to share what I put in my journaling in the following blogs this semester. Please pray for me to grow in the areas of feelings, devotion and worship. I’ll be glad to pray for you too if you’ll leave your request in a Comment.

  

  A word of encouragement would also be welcome as I walk this journey. Think of me like a child first learning to walk. I’ve always seen parents and grandparents be super encouraging and supportive of their children taking their first steps. That positiveness, I’m sure, is what keeps the kids trying when they fail and fall the first few times.

  

  I’m going to fall. I’m going to fail, but with the support and encouragement of my brothers and sisters in the faith, and A LOT of help from Daddy God, I am confident I will be able to do what God has shown me that I need to do.

  THANK YOU!

  September 19, 2025

  bible, christianity, faith, god, jesus

  ---

• D10 – Generational sin 2 – Genesis 20

  

  This blog is dedicated to my dear Christian brother Marcus, who has finally found his “Sarah,” and her name means “Blessedly Beautiful.” On their journey together with God, may they find joy, even in difficulties; may they always support each other, even when not exactly in the right; and may they give each other the courage to follow where God leads them, especially when the way seems frightening. Amen.

  Genesis chapter 20 – The Story

  After witnessing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham journeyed toward the fertile territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur. One day he decided to visit the city state of Gerar, ruled by King Abimelech, taking his wife, Sarah, with him.

  

  When they entered the city, Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” When Abimelech, king of Gerar, heard about this new beautiful woman in his city, he sent some soldiers and took Sarah for his own harem.

  

  But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are as good as dead because of the woman who you have taken as one of your wives, because she is another man’s wife.” 

  Now Abimelech had not yet gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you kill a righteous person? Did he himself not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And did she herself not say, ‘He is my brother.’  In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” 

  Then God answered him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against Me. Therefore, I did not let you touch her. 

  Now then, return the man’s wife to him, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours, even to your kingdom.”

  

  So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his people and his manservants together, and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid. 

  Then Abimelech called Abraham to join them and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom such a great curse? You have done things to me that should not to be done to another man.” And further, Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see in us that caused you to do this thing?” 

  

  Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my beautiful wife.’ Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 

  And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the favor you must do for me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

  

  Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male and female servants to tend them, and gave them to Abraham as recompense, and returned Sarah his wife to him. And Abimelech said, “Behold, my entire land is before you; live in it wherever you please.” (Just not here.)

  

  To Sarah he said, “See this?  I have given you and your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and a sign before everyone here that you are vindicated.” 

  

  Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wives and servants so that they bore children again. For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the women in the household of Abimelech, because he had taken Sarah, Abraham’s wife, to be his own.

  SUMMARY:

  

  As mentioned in the last blog, Abraham and Sarah (renamed since Genesis chapter 12) faced 10 tests of their faith in God. This chapter details test number 8 – The abduction of Sarah by a Philistine king named Abimelech. (From Inspired Scripture, (open source) see more at inspiredscripture.com)

  Although Abraham’s faith had grown, he failed this test. Even worse, this was a repeat of his prior failure when Pharaoh Senusret III abducted Sarah. Abraham showed that he had not learned from his prior mistake. (Sometimes it takes more than once to get it for all of us, right?)

  In my introduction to this Genesis series, I mentioned that I had noticed a few things in our Bible study. Let’s look at those general observations as they apply to Genesis chapter 20.

  

  1. We shouldn’t be surprised that sinful people act sinfully. Abraham and Sarah were not any kind of special sanctified saints who lived completely holy and blameless lives. They were sinners, like the rest of us, that God had chosen as the Patriarch and Matriarch of His promised nation that would eventually produce His Annointed One, who would bring God’s blessing to all the nations.So, why did Abraham decide to go to the big city? Was he tired of sitting around and watching his sheep, goats, donkeys, camels and cattle eat grass? Was he tired of settling the squabbles between his servants who were tired of sitting around watching Abraham’s sheep, goats donkeys, camels, etc…?

  

  Also, Abraham had just been through a very stressful and traumatic event trying to save the city where his nephew Lot lived from God’s judgment and destruction, but instead, having to settle for just saving Lot’s family. Maybe Abraham needed something to replace the horror in his mind of watching God rain down destruction on the two sinful cities. I suspect this was a side of God, the judgmental and vengeful side, that Abraham had not seen in action before.

  Maybe the memory of the trip to Pharaoh’s city–the hustle and bustle, the excitement of new sights, sounds and smells, the myriad riches, the unexpected wonders around the next corner–had stayed with Abraham and he craved some of that excitement amid the boredom of life out on the sameness of the open plains? If so, there was some serious selective memory going on!

  For whatever reason, like his prior trip to Egypt that was unsanctioned by God, Abraham made an unsanctioned trip to the nearby city in southern Canaan, Gerar, capital of the local king. In both places, the theft of wives was common. In both places, Abraham had Sarah lie to protect himself. Abraham had apparently failed to learn his lesson in Egypt. Are we any different?

  

  2. The second thing I realized is, Genesis isn’t just about the characters, it is really ‘His-story.’ The real story in Genesis is about God shepherding those He chose from one generation to the next as He furthered His plan for salvation of the world along. Therefore  to really understand what is going on, look for when God ‘shows up.’

  

  The first thing that stuck out to me in Genesis chapters 12 and 20 was how and when God acted. Here in Chapter 20, I kept wondering, where was God? For example:

  

  A. Abraham decided to take Sarah and go to what he knew was a “godless city’ where his life would be in danger because of his beautiful wife, and she would be in danger of abduction. No excuse of a famine this time. GOD DID/SAID NOTHING.

  

  B. Abraham and Sarah lied about their relationship when they reached the city. GOD DID/SAID NOTHING.

  

  C. The king took Sarah from Abraham to be his own wife. GOD DID/SAID NOTHING.

  God (finally) showed up im the night in a dream to the king. I’m sure it gets your attention when God speaks to you in a dream, but when God leads off with, “YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!”, it really gets your attention. So, let’s look at the dialogue between God and the king again.

  

  GOD: Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is the man’s wife.KING: (Now Abimelech had not yet gone near her, so he replied ) “Lord, will you kill an innocent person?  Did the man not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And did she not herself say, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.GOD: Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. Now then, restore the man’s wife to him, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.POSTSCRIPT: After the king returned Sarah, his wife, to Abraham, then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wives and female servants so that they bore children again. For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.WOW! Are you as blown away by the things God said and did as I am? When the king took Sarah to be his latest wife, it didn’t look like God was doing anything about it, but we now can see God did two things behind the scenes:First, God supernaturally restrained the king from becoming intimate with Sarah.Second, God also supernaturally prevented the King’s wives and female servants from conceiving any more children.

  

  First let me say that the punishment very well fit the crime. God’s sense of justice is appropriate, maybe even a little ironic. The king had grabbed up another beautiful woman for his pleasure, but also for the purpose of having quality children. You can get a hint as to how important having children was to them at that time in history by their reaction to their women losing the ability to conceive. So, first, the king was prevented by God from having that pleasure. King 0, God 1.

  Next, God prevented every woman there from being able to conceive. King 0, God 2.

  

  So, not only was the King’s immediate purpose thwarted, but his long-term purpose was thwarted, and because everyone under his authority was included in the judgment, he was penalized maybe a thousand times. Moral of the story? You you don’t mess with those who God has chosen for Himself, because then, you’ll find out you’re messing with God, and He wins, every time. King -1,000, God wins!

  It is also suggestive here that the events stretched over a longer period than the brief narrative seems to indicate if they had realized that none of the women were conceiving, then after Abraham prayed for their healing, that the women had begun conceiving again.

  But the whole thing about supernaturally restraining the king from intimate relations with Sarah says a lot more than that.

  

  In our modern ‘enlightened’ society, people say that premarital and even extramarital sexual relationships don’t matter–they’re okay, they don’t mean a thing. However, it is very clear that the sanctity of Sarah’s womb was important to God.

  ‘Why was it important to Him that Sarah not have sexual relations with anyone but her husband,’ you might ask?
  I think partly because that is the way God made things to be between a man and a woman who join in ‘holy matrimony.’ Not only does God sanctify the couple as man and wife, but everything unique to a marriage; i.e., having sexual relations and producing children, becomes holy to Him too.

  But I think there was also the element that God had chosen the couple for His Divine purpose. That apparently meant protecting them not only from dangers outside of them, but it also meant protecting them from the dangers of their own sinful self within them!

  

  3. My third takeaway from Genesis last Spring was that we should not spend a lot of time condemning the characters if God doesn’t condemn them. Note in the exchange between God and Abimelich that God never mentions a word of condemnation for Abraham or Sarah. In fact, God actually honored Abraham by calling him His prophet and then by placing the means of healing God’s curse in his hands. I’m sure this elevated Abraham very highly in the King’s estimation.

  

  We learn in the Bible that the three highest positions in a God-centered society–equal, but very different in their functions–are Prophet, Priest and King. By naming Abraham as a prophet, God elevated him to be equal to the king in God’s eyes, and in the eyes of those who revere and honor God, which it seems Abimelech did more than Abraham had thought.

  

  It’s also interesting that there is no record of Abraham having done anything exactly like this before. We saw Abraham negotiate with God’s angel to save Sodom and Gomorrah from punishment, for his nephew Lot’s sake. (Although that didn’t turn out well.) That conversation between Abraham and the angel was not dissimilar from the pushback the king showed when God was speaking to him in that dream.

  But for that same God to say that Abraham, once he got his wife back, could pray for the king and his household to be delivered from the curse and then for it to happen! Well, I suspect that not only the king was impressed.

  So, it seems interesting that God used the situation that was caused by Abraham’s sin to show him a new supernatural ability that came with God’s calling. I guess it’s really true that God does not waste our suffering. As a result, at the end of Genesis 20, we also get a glimpse of something other than ‘sinners being sinful’–we saw a man whose voice God would listen to. We saw a man of compassion who prayed for the needs and hurts of others. At the end of Genesis 20, we got a glimpse of what a godly man should look like.

  

  The question still remains, though, why no condemnation for Abraham and Sarah? From my previous blog, the answer was that God had chosen them for His plan. There are some implications for that choosing explained by Paul in Romans 8:30 (New Living Translation):

  “And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having given them right standing, He gave them His glory.”

  Paul is saying this about us as Christians, but I think we can see the same things here in God’s relationship with Abraham and Sarah:

  

  First, God chose Abraham and Sarah, and then He called them to leave Haran and go to an unrevealed land.

  

  Second, Abraham believed the promise of God and God counted it as righteousness. Even these two times that Abraham and Sarah were deceitful, there was no condemnation from God, because He had awarded them right-standing with Him.

  

  And third, God gave Abraham part of His glory when He allowed him to pray for the healing of Abimelich and the cursed women, and then did heal them after Abraham prayed for them.

  APPLICATION:

  

  So, who are you going to follow in your life? Are you going to live life based on your fears? Are you going to live a life of lies and deceit? Are you going to live for personal gain, no matter what the cost to others? Or are you going to follow Jesus?

  

  If you follow the call of God in Jesus Christ, you have to deny your fears, you have to give up lies and deceit, you have to give up seeking to benefit yourself. You have to follow Jesus willingly, joyfully, obediently and selflessly. Not an easy thing to do, one might say impossible, but all things are possible with God. And the greatest thing is, even when you fail, THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION FROM GOD!

  

  Instead there is forgiveness, there is a chance to learn and grow, there is still a chance to be used by God in His plan. Can you think of anything more awesome than that to give your life to?

  THIS WEEK’S SONG:

  Godliness for us is defined as ‘Christlikeness.’ Jesus calls us to follow Him, to become like Him. Just like Abraham was called by God and followed that call to Canaan, so too must we follow wherever Jesus leads us.

  Here is a simple song of dedication to do just that from my favorite worship song writer. Listen to his message in an attitude of commitment to following our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

  

  September 1, 2025

  Abraham, bible, christianity, faith, genesis, god

  ---

• D9 Genesis 26 and 12 – Generational Sin 1

  

  When we studied Genesis chapter 26 last Spring, we focused on the similarity between a failed ploy Isaac used to protect himself from the Canaanite King, Abimelich, and a similar ploy his father, Abraham, used to protect himself from the Pharaoh of Egypt and also from King Abimelich; that is, trying to protect their lives by concealing their marriages and saying their wives were their sisters.

  So, why did Isaac emulate this ploy of his father, which in fact failed TWICE? Isaac wasn’t even born yet when Abraham did those things. Maybe the stories were passed among the servants and that is what gave Isaac the idea. If so, shouldn’t the failure have also been told as part of the story? That should have given Isaac pause before repeating the failed strategy.

  

  What we talked about in our study was a concept called ‘Generational Sin.’ That is, somehow children tend to repeat the sins of their parents. Why is that? Is it a case of “Children learn what they live?” There are also similar concepts called Generational Curses and Generational Trauma. The differences as I understand them are:

  1. Generational sins are the repetition of sinful actions by the adult children that they observed their parents doing while growing up. That might be a simple case of modeling and emulation without realizing there may be other options for behavior. People who are caught in generationally repetitive sins can only be delivered by Jesus Christ.

  

  2. Generational curses are similar to the above except it takes into account the curse of original sin, as well as the consequences of individual sin. We as cursed, sinful creatures just keep repeating the same sins generation after generation, and experiencing the same negative consequences of those sins, those are the ‘curses.’ People who are caught in the curse of Adam’s sin as it has mutated through the generations and in different family lines can also only be delivered by Jesus Christ.

  

  3. While doing my research on the concept of Generational Sins last Spring, I ran across a slightly different concept called ‘Generational Trauma.’ The first two concepts were developed by Christian theologians trying to understand and explain Exodus 34:7.

  

  Generational Trauma, on the other hand, is a concept developed by psychologists to explain how trauma to one generation, necessitating extremes of behavior in order to cope, are then passed on to the next generation, even if social or personal circumstances have changed and the extreme behavior is no longer necessary.

  Before we delve deeper into these concepts, though, I’ll spend the next three blogs telling those three stories in Genesis and see where that takes us.

  THE STORY: Genesis 12

  I. God Calls Abram

  

  Now the Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country and your kinfolk and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and he who dishonors you, I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

  

  So Abram left, as the Lord had told him, and Lot, Abram’s nephew, also went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 

  

  And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the servants that they had acquired in Haran, and they traveled to the land of Canaan.

  

  When they came to the land, Abram passed through to Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites inhabited the land. 

  

  Then the Lord appeared to Abram again and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him and called that place ‘Bethel,’ meaning the House of God. From there Abram moved his flocks and herds to the hill country to the east of Bethel, where there was better grazing, and pitched his tents there, with Bethel on the west and the nation of Ai on the east.

  

  There Abram built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord in daily worship and sacrifices. Eventually, Abram moved everyone on, still going southward toward the fertile valley of the Negeb.

  

  II. Abram and Sarai in Egypt

  Now there was a famine in the land of Canaan, but not in Egypt. Because of the seasonal flooding of the Nile, Egypt was rarely affected by famines. So Abram and Sarai and all who were theirs, went down to Egypt to live there for a while, because the famine had become very severe in Canaan. 

  

  When Abram and Sarai went down to Pharaoh’s city, Abram pulled Sarai aside and said to his wife, “I know that you are a very beautiful woman, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘Who is this beautiful woman, is this his wife?’ If I say ‘yes,’ then they will kill me and they will take you by force, for that is how they do things in the godless nations. If we say you are my ‘sister,’ then it may go well with me because of you, and then my life may be spared for your sake.”

  

  When Abram entered the city, the Egyptians indeed saw that Sarai was very beautiful, and the princes of Pharaoh went and praised her to Pharaoh Senusret III.* Then Pharoah Senusert sent for the couple and Sarai was taken into the Pharaoh’s harem. For her sake, Pharoah Senusret dealt well with Abram; giving him sheep, oxen, donkeys, servants, and camels as a bride price.

  * Historical research identifies Khakaure Senusret III (also written as Senwosret III or the Greek form, Sesostris III) as the Pharaoh of Egypt at the time of Abram and Sarai’s sojourn there in 1876 BC. He ruled from 1878 BC to 1839 BC during a time of great power and prosperity in Egypt. He would have been ruling for only about two years at the time of Genesis 12, so he would probably have been a young and vigorous man as witnessed by his military victories in extending Egypt’s southern border. (Source, Wikipedia)

  

  Senusret III was famous for his realistic portraiture, compared to the idealized portraits of Pharaohs before him. His busts and statues are so realistic that you can see signs of his aging on those made later in his reign. Enough of these survive to this day that a realistic reconstruction is possible.

  

  But the Lord afflicted the Pharaoh and his household with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. When divination revealed the cause of the plagues as his newest wife, the wife and not the sister of the man, Pharaoh Senusret sent for Abram and said to him, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife back, take her and go!” 

  

  Then Pharaoh Senusret gave his princes orders concerning Abram, that they send him away with his wife, Sarai, and all that he had with him. And so they escorted him to the border and saw them on their way back to Canaan.

  COMMENTARY and APPLICATIONS:

  It is said that Abram and Sarai, later renamed Abraham and Sarah, faced 10 tests in their life. The first three are in this passage.

  1. The first test was God’s call to leave both their home and their families, and go to a new land that God would show Abram later. They passed this test. They gathered up their household and belongings and headed south, accompanied only by a nephew, Lot, and his family.

  

  God affirmed Abram’s obedience by appearing to him again when he reached Canaan and made a promise that all the land Abram had seen would be given to His descendents. Abram responded appropriately and sacrificed to God and worshipped Him. Even though the Old Testament is very Patriarchical in its presentation, you can be sure that Sarai was involved in worshipping God together with her husband.

  

  This is often the same first test we face in our lives as Christians. Whether it’s after high school, college or some later time in life, God often calls us to leave everyone and everything that we’re familiar with and depend on, and go to a new place. I believe God does this in order to help us turn from depending on the familiar in our lives and turn to depending on Him. After all, that is what having a relationship with God is all about.

  I think that if we are also obedient to go when and where called, that God will affirm our decision to go in faith. That is, after all, the meaning of one of the key verses about faith:

  

  Faith and faithful obedience please God, and He will reward us.

  2. The next test was the famine in Canaan. Abram elected to go to Egypt, which was almost famine proof. However, he neglected to do one very important thing, that is, ask God what he and Sarai should do because of the famine. There are several reasons why Abram could be excused for not thinking to ask God first. His relationship with God so far had been to worship Him and live according to his understanding of what God wanted His worshippers to do, as passed down by word of mouth from one generation to the next since Noah. God actually speaking to him was a new thing, and had only happened twice, so far.

  Also, God had only appeared to Abram at a time of His choosing. It might have never occurred to Abram that he could ask God for guidance and expect that he would receive supernatural guidance in response.

  

  It might well be that the anxiety of dealing with the famine–as he watched his flocks and herds and servants and their children slowly starve, as he struggled with the decision about what to do, maybe even questioning his decision to follow God into what now seemed to be a god-forsaken land–that all of this stress and anxiety gave him ‘brain lock,’ where he couldn’t decide what to do, where he couldn’t see a way out from a slow, but certain death, and he was just completely filled with anxiety and fear of losing everyone and everything.

  I know I’m reading a lot into what was going on here, but I’m drawing from my life and from seeing similar situations in the lives of others. This situation just cries out as one where Abram should have sought God, day and night, on his knees, on his face, sacrificing from his dwindling flocks–whatever it took–until he reached a place of desperate faith and God broke through his miasma of fear and anxiety to reassure him of being protected and also telling him what to do next.

  God made the promise to do this for the nation of Israel in Isaiah 41:10. Someone cleverly showed how the foundationsl idea of this promise is F.A.I.T.H:

  

  We as Christians have a similar promise:

  

  3. If Abram had sought God’s will, and going to Egypt was still the plan, the difference would have been that Abram and Sarai would have gone there trusting in God to take care of them. The third test, ‘Pharoah taking Sarai as his wife,’ might have been handled differently. Going with faith/trust in God, there would have been less fear. Granted, it was still a scary situation–two simple shepherds going to the seat of a highly sophisticated civilization–but it would have been easier to cope with that fear knowing your actions were being supported by your God.

  

  So, instead of going to Egypt in faith and confidence in God, Abram went there in fear for his life because of the beauty of his wife. There is a phrase in Abram’s justification of his strategy of deceit where he said, “Say you are my sister… that my life may be spared for your sake.” Maybe Abram was still wrapped up in the fear he had just experienced facing possible death from the famine?

  God had promised to give Canaan to Abram’s descendents. So far Abram and Sarai did not have even one child. If Abram was really understanding and trusting in God’s promise, then he should have realized that God would preserve his life. One wonders if Abram had thought that implication through? But not having done that, one failed test led to another test of faith.

  

  Not to imply that God was just throwing one test of faith at Abram and Sarai after another. The tests will still come in life, no Divine source needed. That’s the fallen world we live in.

  The difference is, in my opinion, that if we successfully negotiate one trial, that should put us in a better place in our faith to successfully negotiate the next one.

  The opposite is true too, I think. When we’ve been unsuccessful in dealing with one trial, then it will be all that much harder to trust God in the next one. 1 Corinthians 10:13 is a key verse about dealing with trials. Following afterward is my paraphrase of it.**

  

  **In the advanced Bible study class I took many years ago, we were taught to paraphrase a verse or passage at the end of our study of it as a way of showing our understanding of it. Here’s mine for this verse:

  Every trial and difficulty that comes your way is the same thing that everyone else goes through. But YOU CAN TRUST GOD! God will NEVER allow you to be tested beyond what you can handle. Along with the difficulty, God will make a path through it. If you’ll just trust and follow Him, you can be confident that you will be able to hang in there and make it through to the end.

  In Abram and Sarai’s case, God didn’t forget His promise. One phrase of God’s promise was, “…he who dishonors you, I will curse.” And that is what we saw Him do in Egypt. Pharoah dishonored Abram by taking his wife to be his own, even though Abram and Sarai had lied about their relationship, but that didn’t matter to God. God’s actions are not based on our imperfect obedience to His commands. What God has promised, He will fulfill. As He said in Isaiah 55:11

  

  So, Abram failed his third test of faith–he chose the course of fear and deceit, rather than trust in God and in His promise. What about us? Do we remember to ask God for His wisdom and guidance when difficulties arise? Do we trust God will fulfill His promises? As the Bible says:

  

  When we ask, do we then wait for an answer? Waiting for God is mentioned 34 times in the Old Testament. The most famous verse is Isaiah 40:31:

  

  Let’s make sure we grab hold of these promises from God when we find ourselves in anxiety-causing situations in our own lives, follow the pattern–pray, trust, wait, follow. There is a time to wait on God, and there is a time to act in obedience, with faith and confidence in God’s provision of strength, guidance and protection. I’m praying that we can all learn to tell the difference!

  

  THIS WEEK’S SONG:

  When I think about Abram and Sarai wandering through an unfamiliar land, looking forward to some future promised by God, I’m reminded of this 19th century folk gospel song. Even though the lyrics actually refer to the Israelites crossing the Jordan River to claim the rest of the land promised by God, I think the plaintive sound well captures how alone Abram and Sarai might have felt sometimes in their life-long wanderings, and how lonely I have sometimes felt in this world too. At least they had each other!

  Wayfaring Stranger, performed by the Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra.

  Lyrics

  I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger,
  Traveling through this world alone.
  Yet there’s no sickness, no toil, no danger,
  In that bright land to which I go.
  I’m going there to see my father,
  I’m going there no more to roam.

  I’m only going over Jordan,
  I’m only going over home.

  I know dark clouds will gather ’round me,
  I know my way is rough and steep;
  Yet beauteous fields rise up before me,
  Where God’s redeemed, their vigils keep.
  I’m going there to see my mother,
  She said she’d meet me when I come.

  I’m only going over Jordan
  I’m only going over home.

  August 25, 2025

  Abraham, bible, faith, genesis, god, sarah

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