Wednesday February 12, 2014

Read Mark 1:1-27

How would you respond to this situation? Picture yourself in a cell group or a Bible study group and after a somewhat tense discussion about a particular Bible passage one of the members who has opposed everyone else screams out, without trying to be funny or ridiculous, ’I am God!’ How would you respond? What would you say? What would you do?

Jesus made that very claim as He walked this earth. In Mark chapter 1 we see that not only did He claim to be God but He also proved that He was God.  

In fact, Mark’s gospel opens with the very words ‘The beginning of the Gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ This could well be the title of the entire book. What follows is proof that Jesus, the Messiah/Christ is the Son of God.

Throughout this chapter we see that Jesus has authority over people He calls them to follow Himself and they leave everything, even their means of survival, to follow Him. Jesus demonstrates authority over the evil spirits. He simply speaks a word and people are freed from possession. There is no dance, no song, no hocus-pocus. We also see His authority over disease. Again He simply speaks and people are instantaneously healed. Later on we see that Jesus has authority to forgive people for their sins - something which only God could do.

The people realized that Jesus had a different and greater kind of authority than the contemporary teachers. In verse 27 they exclaimed, ‘What is this? A new teaching and with authority! He even gives orders to the evil spirits and they obey Him.’ The apostles also realized that He had authority and that His teaching was different to the teaching of the religious leaders of the day. In 1 Timothy 5:18 we read

¹⁸For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”

Why is this verse so important? The first quote comes from the Old Testament and the second quote comes from Jesus’ own lips. The Apostles put Jesus’ words on par with Scripture, namely the Word of God in the Old Testament. They believed that what Jesus spoke was directly from God, just like the Old Testament!

What we believe about Jesus and His words will affect and determine what we think about the rest of the Bible and how we live our lives. All these things are intricately and intimately intertwined.

Prayer: Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

ª Pray that throughout this year your church would see many conversions to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Pray that God would bless your church with much conversion growth.

ª Pray that God would raise up His people for the various jobs, positions, roles that will be needed throughout the year. Pray for a sensitivity in all the believers to the voice of the Spirit in calling them to serve and to use their spiritual gifts.

Walk Moment – Worship must come first. We need to focus on God and His greatness and majesty etc. When we lose ourselves in God we can then live a life worthy of His calling. Our walk flows out of our worship. Too many Christians are simply walking the walk without worshipping the Lord. Too many Christians are too busy to worship God and are thus burdened by the road that God calls them to walk on.