Grasp the Bible

Welcome to episode 52 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Mark, covering chapter 5:21-43.  The series is called “Get in, buckle up, and hold on!”  Today, we discuss: 

• The leader’s request (vv. 21-24) 
• Her disease (vv. 24-26) 
• Her determination (vv. 27-28) 
• Her deliverance (vv. 29-34) 
• The response (vv. 35-37) 
• The resurrection (v. 40-43) 

Key takeaways: 

• Jairus was like so many of us in our coming to Christ. It was not his love for Christ that brought him. It was not what he could do for Christ. It was his need. 
• Jesus accepts all people, no matter their status in society. 
• The outcast woman had become a daughter of the king because she had done the will of God by reaching out in faith. 
• Throughout the first half of Mark’s gospel, Jesus’ authority as the announcer and inaugurator of the kingdom of God is on center stage. The miracles serve as “snapshots” of the coming kingdom, the restoration of creation, and the reconciliation of God and humanity. 

Quotable: 

• Real death is the separation of the soul from God, not the body from the soul. 

Application: 

• Jairus came to Jesus, fell before him, and he pleaded with Jesus to save.  For those who want to follow Jesus, these are the appropriate steps.  Come to him, recognize him for his authority and for who he is, and ask him to forgive you of your sins. 
• One does not need to have it all figured out to possess a faith which pleases God. 
• This poor woman represents humanity—all of us. We are ill. We have spent our resources trying remedies which do not work. Christ comes to us from the Cross. We need to touch him by faith. 
• Sometimes Jesus calls us to put aside our fears and to progress to greater faith in him. 
• Faith is recognizing that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves and expressing our full dependence on God’s saving power. 

Connect with us: 

Web site:  https://springbaptist.org 

Facebook:   

https://www.facebook.com/SBCKleinCampus (Klein Campus) 

https://www.facebook.com/SpringBaptist (Spring Campus) 

Need us to pray for you?  Submit your prayer request to https://springbaptist.org/prayer/ 

If you haven’t already done so, please leave us a rating and review in your podcast provider. 

Welcome to episode 51 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Mark, covering chapter 5:1-20.  The series is called “Get in, buckle up, and hold on!”  Today, we discuss: 

• The despair (vv. 1-5) 
• The deliverance (vv. 6-13) 
• The disbelief (vv. 14-17) 
• The desire (vv. 18-20) 

Key takeaways: 

• Chapter 5 contains several miracles performed by Jesus in which he makes contact with people who are ceremonially unclean.  Jesus is not rendered impure by such contact, but rather he turns defilement into purity and wholeness. 
• Mankind was created in the image of God and brings glory to Him the more we manifest His image. Satan hates this. Thus, the demonic function is to distort and destroy the image of God in man. 
• The inbreaking power of the kingdom of God does not bring a comfortable life and the status quo but rather a radical transformation of individuals and societies. 
• The thing that will stop Jesus is what the Gerasenes did: they sent him away. Tell him to leave you alone and he will—at least for a season. But tell him enough, and there will come a time when it may be too late. 
• With all of its wonderful scientific achievements, society still cannot cope with the problems caused by Satan and sin. 

Quotable: 

• Sometimes we invite people to follow Jesus without giving them any idea that accepting his invitation may be costly. 

Application: 

• Jesus demands some changes which will cost to our way of life. 
• Whenever we take a risk for the gospel, we may also find something to fear. Our responsibility is neither to shy away from fear nor to make ourselves numb to it. Our challenge is to act in faith even when we are afraid. That is a challenge we cannot meet alone. 
• Believers today need to find a healthy balance on the issue of spiritual warfare, recognizing its reality but not living in fear of its destructive power. 

Connect with us: 

Web site:  https://springbaptist.org 

Facebook:   

https://www.facebook.com/SBCKleinCampus (Klein Campus) 

https://www.facebook.com/SpringBaptist (Spring Campus) 

Need us to pray for you?  Submit your prayer request to https://springbaptist.org/prayer/ 

If you haven’t already done so, please leave us a rating and review in your podcast provider. 

Welcome to episode 50 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Mark, covering chapter 4:26-41.  The series is called “Get in, buckle up, and hold on!”  Today, we discuss: 

• The parable of the growing seed (vv. 26-29) 
• The parable of the mustard seed (vv. 30-34) 
• Jesus calms the storm (vv. 35-41) 

Key takeaways: 

• The parables about the seed growing by itself and the mustard seed address expectations about the kingdom of God that were held by Jesus’ contemporaries. 
• The success of the Christian message similarly does not depend upon human effort or understanding—though Christians certainly need to scatter the seed—but upon divine power. It will succeed precisely because God is active. 
• Mark’s persecuted readers could rest in the assurance that whatever trials or suffering they were experiencing, the consummation of the kingdom will bring salvation and vindication for God’s people and judgment against his enemies. 
• The difference between the tiny mustard seed and the huge herb that grows from it is an excellent illustration of the difference between the beginning and end of the manifestation of the kingdom of God. 
• Followers of Jesus need boldness in the face of life’s challenges and trust in God’s ability to bring them through. 

Quotable: 

Without difficulties, trials, stresses, and even failures, we would never grow to be what we should become. Storms are part of the process of spiritual growth.   

Application: 

• It is our responsibility to share the gospel, but it is up to God as to what happens after that. 
• Faith for Mark is more like an adventure whose terms unfold as we pursue it. It cannot be understood from a distance, and we are never in control of what happens. Our part is to listen and act, and then listen and act again and again. 
• We would be spiritual pygmies, insufferably self-centered, proud, and empty people, without adversity. 

Connect with us: 

Web site:  https://springbaptist.org 

Facebook:   

https://www.facebook.com/SBCKleinCampus (Klein Campus) 

https://www.facebook.com/SpringBaptist (Spring Campus) 

Need us to pray for you?  Submit your prayer request to https://springbaptist.org/prayer/ 

If you haven’t already done so, please leave us a rating and review in your podcast provider. 

As we prepare to release our 50th episode of Grasp the Bible next week, Pastor Marty and Pastor Darrell realized that some know who they are, and some don't...or at least, not that well.

In this (our 49th episode), we are taking a break from the Book of Mark so the pastors can share a few insights with you about their testimonies, their ministries, and their families. We hope you enjoy today's episode.  

Next week, we will resume our teaching in Mark, starting in chapter five.  

Welcome to episode 48 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Mark, covering chapter 4:1-25.  The series is called “Get in, buckle up, and hold on!”  Today, we discuss: 

• The parable of the soils – Information on the parable (vv. 1-9) 
• Isaiah and the parable (vv. 10-12) 
• Interpretation of the parable (vv. 13-20) 
• Lamp on a stand (vv. 21-25) 

Key takeaways: 

• Mark presents Jesus’ teaching in parables, which illustrates the various responses of rejection and reception to the gospel proclamation. 
• Jesus’ parables confronted his hearers with a challenge to submit themselves to the reign of God. 
• The parable of the soils represents God’s lavish offer of salvation and the mixed reception of that offer. 
• This parable is all about hearing.  Jesus commands the reader to listen to what is being said.  He wants them to pay careful attention to the parable and to respond appropriately. 
• This passage is a turning point in Mark’s gospel. Going forward, people will be divided into two groups – insiders (those who hear and act on what they’ve heard) and outsiders (those who refuse to hear and reject the teachings). 
• For the first time, Jesus explicitly acknowledges that his disciples do not understand what he is telling them. 

Quotable: 

We do not have all our questions answered before Jesus asks us to make a commitment. 

Application: 

• Jesus’ parables constitute spiritual tests that separate those who understand and believe from those who do not. 
• The parables, like the rest of Scripture, call not just for understanding, but for action as well.  Once we know what it means, what do we do with it? 
• We expect to have everything on demand and on our terms.  Faith, however, is not a consumer good. 
•  Those who hear and respond to the message of the kingdom of God will receive even greater revelation, while those who reject what they have heard will be blinded even further. 

Connect with us: 

Web site:  https://springbaptist.org 

Facebook:   

https://www.facebook.com/SBCKleinCampus (Klein Campus) 

https://www.facebook.com/SpringBaptist (Spring Campus) 

Need us to pray for you?  Submit your prayer request to https://springbaptist.org/prayer/ 

If you haven’t already done so, please leave us a rating and review in your podcast provider. 

Welcome to episode 47 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Mark, covering chapter 3:20-35.  The series is called “Get in, buckle up, and hold on!”  Today, we discuss: 

• Opinions of Jesus – He's crazy (vv. 20-21) 
• Opinions of Jesus – He's demon possessed (vv. 22-27) 
• The unforgivable sin (vv. 28-30) 
• We are family (vv. 31-35) 

Key takeaways: 

• Anyone considering becoming a follower of Jesus should think about the cost in terms of family relationships.  Even Jesus’ family thought he was crazy and sought to take him back home by force to save him from his zealous and outlandish lifestyle. 
• The two groups of people who should have supported Jesus the most – the religious leaders and his family – both opposed his ministry and tried to stop him. 
• Jesus used parables both to hide the truth and to reveal it.  The sincere listener, with a desire to know God’s truth, would ponder the parable, confess his ignorance, submit to the Lord, and then begin to understand the spiritual lesson Jesus wanted to teach. 
• Through exorcisms, Jesus is demonstrating that he is the strongman, overcoming Satan (the ruler of this world) and taking back those held captive by him.  Satan’s kingdom is now under attack. 
• The unforgivable sin is: 
• The ongoing, continual rejection of the witness of the Holy Spirit to the Divinity and Saviorhood of Christ.  
• The unforgivable sin is the stubborn refusal to acknowledge that God is working/ has worked in the man Jesus.  
• The perversion in the heart which chooses to call light darkness and darkness light.  
• Continuing rejection of the witness of the Holy Spirit 
• Despite all their failures, Jesus acknowledged the disciples as those who did God’s will and therefore his true family. 
• Jesus established a new society in which family is defined not by ethnic or national identity but by common allegiance to the kingdom of God and His purpose in the world. 
• Jesus’ true family consists of those who respond positively to him rather than those who are physically related to him. 

Quotable: 

Obedience does not originate relationship with God (faith does that), but obedience is a sign of it.  Obedience is the key to experiencing “family” with God. 

Application: 

• True spiritual relationships do not come through ancestry or ethnic identity, but through a willingness to follow God’s purpose in the world. 
• God will forgive all sins, except blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. 
• Jesus did not come to bring a kind of spirituality that was celebrated only on Sunday mornings inside the walls of a building where it could never affect anything else. 

Connect with us: 

Web site:  https://springbaptist.org 

Facebook:   

https://www.facebook.com/SBCKleinCampus (Klein Campus) 

https://www.facebook.com/SpringBaptist (Spring Campus) 

Need us to pray for you?  Submit your prayer request to https://springbaptist.org/prayer/ 

If you haven’t already done so, please leave us a rating and review in your podcast provider. 

Welcome to episode 46 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Mark, covering chapter 3:1-19.  The series is called “Get in, buckle up, and hold on!”  Today, we discuss: 

• The priority of humanity (vv. 1-6) 
• The demands of popularity (vv. 7-12) 
• Jesus appoints the twelve (vv. 13-19) 

Key takeaways: 

• The Pharisees accuse Jesus of violating the Sabbath by doing good (healing someone), all the while they are looking for something to plot his death. 
• Like the throngs of people in this passage, many come to Jesus to get something from him, not to submit themselves to the reign of God. 
• Two implicit questions run throughout this section, and indeed through the whole first half of Mark’s gospel: “Who is this Jesus?” and “Whose side are you on?” 
• Jesus understands the pushes and pulls of our hectic lives. 
• In selecting the twelve, Jesus gives us a valuable pattern: 
• Sometimes, we need to take the time to get away from the busyness of life and get quiet. 
• When we do get away, we need to spend that time with God in prayer. 
• Ministry is impossible alone.  We need others to help us along the way. 
• The number twelve is surely significant, recalling the twelve tribes of Israel and indicating that Jesus viewed himself, in some sense at least, as restoring, reforming, or reconstituting the remnant of Israel. 

Quotable: 

Recognition of Jesus’ identity and authority is not enough. One must also submit to his authority. 

Application: 

• There is a new way of understanding God’s will—in the person of Jesus, in the things he says and does. 
• Contempt for those different from us can drive us to think and do things a rationally thinking person would not do. 
• In the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, God is not pleased with ritualistic observance of the letter of the law but wants joyful obedience to its spirit. 
• An authentic relationship with God requires both faith and obedience. 

Connect with us: 

Web site:  https://springbaptist.org 

Facebook:   

https://www.facebook.com/SBCKleinCampus (Klein Campus) 

https://www.facebook.com/SpringBaptist (Spring Campus) 

Need us to pray for you?  Submit your prayer request to https://springbaptist.org/prayer/ 

If you haven’t already done so, please leave us a rating and review in your podcast provider. 

Welcome to episode 45 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Mark, covering chapter 2:13-28.  The series is called “Get in, buckle up, and hold on!”  Today, we discuss: 

• Associating With Tax Collectors and Sinners (vv. 13-17) 
• Parables about the new and the old (vv. 18-22) 
• Question of the Sabbath (vv. 23-28) 

Key takeaways: 

• Forgiveness of sins and healing come not to the self-righteous religious leaders, but to sinners and outcasts who respond with faith and repentance to Jesus’ kingdom announcement. 
• By healing physical ailments and forgiving sins, Jesus demonstrates that he came to make people whole. 
• By sharing a meal with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus was identifying himself with the outcasts. 
• Doctors’ offices are not generally crammed with healthy people clamoring to see the doctor. It is only when they realize their sickness that they turn to the doctor. So it is with the sin-sick soul and the Lord Jesus. 
• Ironically, it is often the despised members of society who recognize their sinful status and fall on God’s grace for salvation. The self-righteous see no reason to repent and so reject God’s salvation. 
• Jesus is not here to put a patch on Judaism, but to inaugurate the new creation. 

Quotable: 

None of us are Pharisees philosophically, but we may be practically.  We order our lives in such a way that we have very little to do with non-Christians. 

Application: 

• One of the best ways to reach lost people is through newly saved people.  They are the ones with all the lost friends.   
• Jesus’ disciples are devoted not just to his teaching, but even more to him as a person. 
• The Christian’s life is not to be one of isolation, nor assimilation, but mission. 
• Doctors do no good for the sick if they hide in clinics behind locked doors.  In the same way, Christians can’t minister to non-Christians if they are always in the walls of the church building. 
• The way to God is not through religious practices but through joyful association with Jesus. 

Connect with us: 

Web site:  https://springbaptist.org 

Facebook:   

https://www.facebook.com/SBCKleinCampus (Klein Campus) 

https://www.facebook.com/SpringBaptist (Spring Campus) 

Need us to pray for you?  Submit your prayer request to https://springbaptist.org/prayer/ 

If you haven’t already done so, please leave us a rating and review in your podcast provider. 

Welcome to episode 44 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Mark, covering chapter 2:1-12.  The series is called “Get in, buckle up, and hold on!”  Today, we discuss: 

• A need to be met (vv. 1-4) 
• A cure to be given (v. 5) 
• A conflict to ensue (vv. 6-12) 

Key takeaways: 

• Leading people to Christ will probably cost you something...time, reputation, finances, etc. 
• We visit a doctor when we are sick because we want the illness to be cured.  How easy it is for people to come to Christ so he can treat their symptoms, but not allow him to cure the cause. 
• For Christ, forgiveness is more than just forgetting a wrong.  It means putting away the punishment AND imparting righteousness to the person to the extent that it is as if the sinner never sinned. 
• There is nothing more distinctive of a person than his or her sins. 
• Jesus did the miraculous so that there was no possible way the religious leaders couldn’t help but connect the dots.  But instead of believing the miracle, they intentionally chose not to.  It was not a matter of comprehension...it was a matter of the will. 

Quotable: 

Forgiveness is the greatest miracle that Jesus ever performs. It meets the greatest need; it costs the greatest price; it brings the greatest blessing; and it produces the most lasting results. 

Application: 

• Being on mission is not about pay, pray, and get out of the way.  It’s about going and doing. 
• Our faith in Christ should be persistent, creative (we find creative ways to lead people to him), and sacrificial. 
• Faith is first and foremost not knowledge about Jesus but active trust that Jesus is sufficient for your deepest needs. 

Connect with us: 

Web site:  https://springbaptist.org 

Facebook:   

https://www.facebook.com/SBCKleinCampus (Klein Campus) 

https://www.facebook.com/SpringBaptist (Spring Campus) 

Need us to pray for you?  Submit your prayer request to https://springbaptist.org/prayer/ 

If you haven’t already done so, please leave us a rating and review in your podcast provider. 

Welcome to episode 43 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Mark, covering chapter 1:29-45.  The series is called “Get in, buckle up, and hold on!”  Today, we discuss: 

• Healing Simon’s mother-in-law (vv. 29-31) 
• Healing the crowds at sunset (vv. 32-34) 
• Jesus’ Agenda (vv. 35-39) 
• Jesus and the leper (vv. 40-45) 

Key takeaways: 

• Jesus came to enter into our pain, not just to observe it. 
• For Mark, the proper response of one who has been touched by Jesus is to serve. 
• By healing on the Sabbath, Mark is showing that Jesus is challenging the people to think about the true purpose of the Sabbath. 
• Only on the cross can Jesus rightly be known for who he is. 
• For Mark, Jesus is here on earth to do far more than heal the sick and free the demonized; he is here to reclaim this fallen creation and its broken people. 
• The disciples wanted Jesus to take advantage of his growing popularity and perform more miracles. However, Jesus’ primary mission was not to be a miracle-worker but a redeemer. 
• The healings and exorcisms serve merely to confirm the presence and power of the kingdom of God. 
• He boldly placed love and compassion over ritual and regulation. 

Quotable: 

It is sometimes easier to believe in God’s power than in His mercy. 

Application: 

• The proper response to being healed by Jesus (which includes forgiving our sins) is to desire to serve him. 
• It is natural to want a magic Jesus. But we must always remember that God is not someone to be used. He is to be loved, worshiped, and served regardless of what comes in this world. 
• True repentance is not simply a change of thought or affection, but an unqualified turning to ask if we can be made clean. Ultimately, there is no other basis on which we can approach God. 

Connect with us: 

Web site:  https://springbaptist.org 

Facebook:   

https://www.facebook.com/SBCKleinCampus (Klein Campus) 

https://www.facebook.com/SpringBaptist (Spring Campus) 

Need us to pray for you?  Submit your prayer request to https://springbaptist.org/prayer/ 

If you haven’t already done so, please leave us a rating and review in your podcast provider.