“We are Family” – Mark 3-6

“The Struggle to Believe/John the Baptist beheaded” – Mark 6:14-29

We all struggle with doubts.
A lack of virtue is at the root of unbelief.

“The Nature of Leadership: Aaron and the Golden Calf” – Exodus 32:1-14

Jim Collins, in his book, Good to Great, revealed that good leaders were humble and put those who were under them first.

Exodus 25 – 31 tells us in detail how God wants to be worshiped.

But the Israelites decide to represent God as a golden calf.

Moses had a similar experience to Jesus when Jesus was led out into the desert for forty days & nights, without food or water and tempted by the devil.
Moses also went without food or water for forty days & nights and was in the desert. Moses, while on a mountain top like Jesus, was tested to see if he would prefer to allow himself to be exalted in place of the Israelites, to become the founder of his own nation. In the case of Jesus, He was tempted to exalt Himself by taking all the kingdoms of the earth for Himself without the humility of the cross. Moses offered his own life to atone for his people, but God rejected his offer because he was not a suitable sacrifice; it required a totally righteous person to make that sacrifice; it remained for Jesus to do that.

“You have to know what is meant by the Name, Jesus” – Mark 6:1-13

Mark 3:20
The last time Jesus was in His home town, His family thought He was crazy.

To refer to Jesus as Mary’s son was an insult in that culture.

Mark 6:7 – Jesus sends out the twelve.
He requires them to take nothing but a single tunic and sandals and authority to cast out demons.

“Jairus’ Daughter & a Woman with an Issue of Blood” – Mark 5:21-43

The number, 12, figures in both stories.

A woman with an issue of blood had suffered with the problem for 12 years.
Leviticus 12 & 15 – The law of Moses concerning this woman’s condition.
Jesus, rather than shunning the woman for making Him ceremonially unclean under the law, responds kindly in informing her that her faith has brought her healing.

Jesus continues to Jairus’ house where his 12-year-old daughter lies dead.
Jesus speaks of the child as only being asleep, a term used widely in the scriptures to describe a pre-resurrection state. Where there is faith in Jesus, death is merely dosing.

If you are unclean, Jesus has time for you; if you are dead, He has words for you.

“Reality of the Kingdom of Darkness – The Gerasenes Demoniac” – Mark 5:1-20

Colossians 1:13

William McDonald defined the world as a system that man has created in order to make himself happy without God.

Ephesians 6:12-17

“The Kingdom of Heaven starts small” – Mark 4:26-41

Jesus calms a storm.

Parable of the growing seed.

Parable of the mustard seed.

Jesus’ healings and miracles were selective, for the purpose of demonstrating who He is and what the coming kingdom will be. In His first coming not everyone was healed and not every storm was stilled.

Psalm 104:3-4; 135:7; 107:23-31
Jesus is the God in these psalms.

Someday all storms will be calmed.

“No one is justified by keeping the Law” – Romans 3:19-28

The purpose of the law is to show us our sin.

But now the righteousness of God without the law is revealed.

“Sit, Listen, and Obey” – Mark 3:31-4:20

Jesus puts everyone who does the will of God on the same level as His mother, brothers, and sisters.

The Parable of the Sower.

“The Church’s One Foundation – II” – Ephesians 5:22-33

The church’s organization is seen in this comparison of marriage to the relationship Christ has with the church.