One of the primary themes in Mark’s Gospel and one of his main challenges to the church revolves around our view of insiders and outsiders. Jesus constantly challenged those preconceptions about people that were typically excluded and marginalized. Rather than building fences to keep them out, he embraced those very people. But he didn’t stop there. Throughout his gospel Mark highlights that Jesus also challenged the insider status of those that were the most confident about their standing before God. His seeming intention was to critique the church of the generation after Christ and cause them to examine their own views about insiders and outsiders. 

Nowhere is that clearer in Mark’s Gospel than in today’s study of Mark 2:13-17. The Eikon Living Team discusses why Jesus was always hanging around the wrong people, what that meant in his day, and why that should challenge us to think about our own spiritual communities and how we treat others. They discuss the implications of Mark Baker’s book, Centered Set Church when it comes to being a bounded, centered, or fuzzy group.

Do we fully understand the implications of the Gospel accounts surrounding Jesus’ confrontations with the demonic? The Eikon Living Team suggests that there is much more behind those encounters than we might first suppose. They also discuss why Jesus was perceived as having so much authority in his teaching, what we can learn about Jesus’ ministry from the evil use of power by Vladimir Putin, who and what are the divine council, and whether we should expect to perform exorcisms today. But first, Jason explains the context of Psalm 46:10 and why we often find comfort in that passage when the intended response was likely something very different.

Today’s study of Mark 1:12-20 includes discussions on why Mark seems so truncated in his accounts, what Jesus meant when he pronounced the coming of the kingdom, the importance of which direction the kingdom was moving, what is discipleship according to Mark, and whether we have completely misunderstood the meaning behind the phrase “fishers of men”? The team also responds to lessons that can be gleaned from the story of a church that nullified thousands of baptisms because of one incorrect word.

When examining a passage Like Mark 1:1-11, it is important to be aware of what we think we already know. If we don’t analyze our own assumptions, we will bring them into the text with us which causes us to decontextualize the biblical passage without being aware this is what we’re doing. The Eikon Living team begins our contextual study of Mark in the first chapter and talks about the meaning of terms like “gospel,” “repentance,” and “baptism,” as well as discussing the primary theme of Mark. Also this week, they discuss the reliability of viral social media content about spiritual matters such as a recent viral post regarding the divine name of YHWH and human breath.

Our study of the book of Mark begins with an often-neglected passage in Mark 12. Jason and Michael explain why we are starting Mark with a strange passage about Sadducees, widows, resurrection, and Scripture. Is it possible to know the Scriptures forward and backwards and still miss the heart of God and who Jesus is? The warning from Mark is not only did the Sadducees do this, but so can we. Michael and Jason also discuss how Jesus tells us in this passage how to approach Scripture and how that will help us as we study through Mark or any other section of the Bible.

It's a new year. Time for a new name and a new direction! Join Gianna, Michael, and Jason as they set the stage for a new method of digging into scripture. 

We will be taking an unexpected but hopefully brief hiatus. This short update explains why and when we will be back with season 4.

Marshall Mead, Executive Director of the World Discipleship Summit planned for July 31-August 7, 2022 in Orlando, Florida, joins Michael to share the journey of the conference that was originally planned for July, 2020. Marshall talks about the challenges of planning, postponing, and rescheduling such a large event and shares about important spiritual lessons learned during that process. He gives a rundown of the new plan and schedule for the conference as well as how it is going to be different both logistically and in content from the original 2020 plan.

For more information or to register: www.worlddiscipleshipsummit.com 

Michael and Jason share their five favorite books that they read this year and Gianna invites her husband, professional basketball player, Reggie Hearn on to share his five favorite books of the year. The lists are wide-ranging and will prove to be rich resources for the readers in the audience. Before signing off for the year in this final episode of season 4, the crew announces and explains the new name of the podcast and the direction that we will take in season 4. 

Season 4 will begin on January 17th, 2022.

Michael, Jason, and Gianna review the major points of the great lie from this season, talk about why it matters for the church to understand the deception of the great lie and the danger of ignoring its effects, and chat about a few things that weren't discussed this season. Michael discusses his upcoming book on the great lie and shares a few important items that will be covered in the book that weren't explored this season on the podcast.