Jeff Shelnutt Sermons

After confirming to His disciples that He is the promised Messiah of Israel, Jesus calls the crowds to Himself. Speaking to the twelve and and to anyone who desires to come after Him, Jesus declares a three-part condition for discipleship. He then follows this condition with three illustrations. No one follows Jesus to become worthy. Rather, one follows because He is worthy.

This passage is the turning point of Mark's Gospel. Peter declares Jesus to be the Messiah, and immediately turns around and rebukes Him. As Jesus begins His journey toward Jerusalem, He also begins to make clear the implications of discipleship. Man's interests are not only not God's interests, they are actually opposed to God, which sources them in the Adversary.

With the first time in Jesus' ministry that He restores sight to a blind man, Jesus chooses to heal him in a two-stage process. He does this in order to help Peter and the other disciples understand what He is doing in their lives. But there is also a lesson here for every Christian. With the first touch, the cross works for us. With the second touch, the cross works in us.

Jesus is confronted by Galilean Pharisees once again before crossing the lake with His disciples. As He warns the twelve about the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod, the disciples struggle to understand and believe His words. The remedy for the hard-heartedness that arises from an unbelieving heart is remembering. Remember what God has done. The very sign from heaven the Pharisees demanded Jesus had already given.

This is the second mass feeding miracle of Jesus recorded by Mark. It is remarkably similar to the first. But there are a couple differences. And it is these differences that show us why the "feeding of the four thousand" is significant and instructive. There are three questions answered in this passage: 1) What do you have? 2) What does God want? and 3) What do they need?

Before returning to the western side of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus takes a very out-of-the way loop from Tyre north to Sidon and then back down to Israel. Though we can know God's character and will, we don't often know God's ways. Entering into the Gentile-dense Decapolis, Jesus is brought a deaf and mute man. After taking him away from the crowd to heal him, Jesus also teaches us a lesson about hearing God's voice and responding as a witness to what He has done in our lives.

For the first and only time Jesus ventures outside of the borders of ancient Israel. While seeking solitude with His disciples, He is approached by a woman whose daughter has an unclean spirit. In fact, everything about this woman and her situation is "unclean." However, she understands the mission of Jesus in a way that even His own disciples don't grasp. And her faith is rewarded.

Jesus moves from addressing the Pharisees, to the crowds, to His disciples. Whereas our tendency is to always focus on the outside, Jesus makes clear that it is the heart we must recognize as the source of uncleanness. Because what to eat and who to eat with will become such a major point of conflict in the early church, Mark addresses the issue through the teaching of Jesus. If we neglect to allow God to change our hearts, our efforts to please God are futile.

The Pharisees and scribes once again confront Jesus; this time concerning His disciples' failure to follow the "tradition of the elders." Any time we follow man's word to the exclusion of God's, it brings death, not life. We see a digression in this passage. First, there is a going beyond God's Word. Then, there is an elevation of man's word. And finally, God's Word is discarded.

Mark summarizes Jesus' healing ministry in Galilee. Through the disciples stepping off the boat with Jesus at Gennesaret, we see that God takes you where you need to be. Along with this, we also observe that God will put you in a position to trust Him, and will identify you with the Healer.