Equipping Hour (9a.m.)

We are continuing our study called Thirsty? which is about having a passionate pursuit of God. For a couple more weeks, we’ll be exploring this idea of how God does and does not speak to us today. Click here for the most recent 1-page overviews of these studies.

Service (10:30 a.m.)

• Announcements:
  • John Masson’s Birthday! We sang happy birthday to John.
  • Mike, Tami and Bre McClintock officially joined CBC. Welcome McClintock family!
• Songs (click on links to listen/watch):
  • One Way
  • Let My Worship Be My Life
  • Better Is One Day
  • Revelation Song
  • It Is Well With My Soul
• Message by Shaun LePage: Why Did Jesus Come? (An overview of the Gospel of Mark)! (Listen on the CBC Podcast):

I. Introduction

A. If you found yourself facing persecution, what would you want? What would you need? If you were going to suffer for your faith, you’d want to know that you were following the real Jesus and His teachings.

B. Mark wrote the Gospel of Mark during a time of intense persecution under Nero. The future his readers faced required faith. In Mark, we find powerful answers to the question, Why did Jesus come?

II. An Overview of The Gospel of Mark:

A. Why Did Jesus Come? To preach a message. In the first chapter of Mark, Jesus had a crowd! But, He went off by Himself to pray. When the disciples found Him and asked what He was doing, “He said to them, ‘Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.’” (Mark 1:38) Jesus was driven by purpose! And His purpose was to preach a message. What was this message?

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   1. “The Kingdom is at hand!” The first part of Jesus’ message was about the Messiah’s earthly kingdom. Jesus offered the kingdom to Israel in the first century, but because they rejected Him, this earthly kingdom was postponed. Later, in chapter 13, Jesus promised that even though the kingdom was postponed, He would inaugurate His kingdom in the future—at His Second Coming.
   2. “Jesus Christ, the Son of God!” Going back to Mark 1:1, we find the primary message of the Gospel of Mark: Jesus Himself. The fact of who Jesus was (is) was proclaimed by the
      Father (1:11; 9:7), proclaimed by the Son (2:1-12, 28; 8:38; 14:61; 15:2), proven by His miracles (Mark listed 18 specific miracles including casting out demons, healing all kinds of diseases, feeding thousands with one kid’s lunch, and calming storms!), and professed by eyewitnesses (4:41; 15:39, etc.).
   3. “Do not be afraid any longer…only believe!” Fear is a major aspect of Jesus’ message in Mark. In 4:40, Jesus made it clear that fear is a lack of faith. In 5:36, the positive challenge Jesus gave this synagogue official is what Jesus has to say about fear! Why not fear? Because of who Jesus is! If our faith is in Him, we have nothing to fear.

B.  Why Did Jesus Come? To pay a ransom. Mark 10:45 is the key verse for this half of the book. Again, notice the purpose: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

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   1. In verse, Jesus predicted His death and resurrection by saying He came to “give His life” (see also 8:31; 9:31; 10:33-34; 12:8; 14:8,27-28).
   2. He also explained His death and resurrection by calling it a “ransom”. This explains why He did it. Galatians 4:4-9 helps us understand this imagery: “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?”
   3. Mark 10:45 also reveals that Jesus chose His death and resurrection! He said He came to “give” this ransom. He walked right up to Jerusalem to die. He went there after predicting numerous times that He would suffer and die. For the “many” including you and me (Read 15:16-39; 16:1-8).

III. Closing—The Gospel of Mark teaches us the greatest weapon in the battle against fear: Faith.

A. The way Mark wrote, the details he chose to include, were perfect for those who were afraid—facing persecution, suffering and death. He was telling them—and us—to look to this Jesus—the Son of God, the Suffering Servant—for the courage to endure whatever God asks us to go through in serving Him. In other words, Fight fear with faith.

B.  Fighting fear with faith means putting your faith in the message of the Son of God—He is the kingdom and has the future in His hands. It means trusting in who He really is. Mark tells us He is worthy of that trust; authority to keep His promises, power to still all our storms, compassion to accept the worst of sinners and care deeply for those who follow Him and become part of His family. It means following the example of Jesus and preaching good news even in the face of rejection. Final word (if 16:9ff is not original) is “afraid”. What effect did their fear have? “said nothing to anyone.” Fight fear with faith. 

C.  Fighting fear with faith means looking to the example of Jesus—the Suffering Servant—who endured the Cross for us; it means finding strength in knowing that He bought us out of our slavery to sin and because of His resurrection, we have been set free from the penalty of sin and will someday be eternally free of the presence of sin.

D. Dr. E. Stanley Jones (Source unknown): “I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. I live better by faith and confidence than by fear, doubt and anxiety. In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath—these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely—these are my native air. A John Hopkins University doctor says, ‘We do not know why it is that worriers die sooner than the non-worriers, but that is a fact.’ But I, who am simple of mind, think I know; We are inwardly constructed in nerve and tissue, brain cell and soul, for faith and not for fear. God made us that way. To live by worry is to live against reality.”