Pastor Tim

Bible Study for February 4, 2024

Opening Prayer:

Creator of all, we thank you for the opportunity to gather in study. Open our minds and hearts. By the power of the Holy Spirit, unite us in faith, hope, and love. Help us to be faithful to the gospel and to walk humbly with you. Grant us your peace as we grow in wisdom and understanding. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Mark 1:29-39 If the breaking up of Satan’s power is an indication that the Kingdom of God has drawn near, how do we explain the evil that still exists in the world? Can you see signs of the Kingdom drawing near?

The Gospel of Mark is a story of intense struggle between Jesus and the power of evil. When Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law of fever, the demonstration of his power continued. By nightfall of the Sabbath, when people were free to travel, the whole city was at the door. This passage summarized representative scenes from Jesus’ early ministry. By using words such as all, whole, many, everyone, Mark stresses the immediate and broad impact Jesus had in Galilee. Jesus insisted that he was more than a miracle worker; he had “come out” to proclaim the good news of God’s reign. “Come out” has multiple meanings: Jesus had come out from his hometown of Nazareth (geography); he had disclosed who he was (identity); and he had come from God into the world (origin). His full identity was to remain hidden, however: He commanded the demons to be silent.

1 Corinthians 9:16-23 Does my love for Jesus animate me the way it did for Paul? 

Paul makes clear that he just has to preach…it is not really a choice for him.  Once he met Jesus in that blinding flash on the Damascus Road, the Gospel got down so deep into Paul’s heart, soul and body that he trying to make Paul NOT preach was impossible.  Paul just had to preach because he loved Jesus that much.  And he knew that every person should know and love Jesus, he was determined to do all he could to widen the circle of praise for Jesus for his love and grace.  Paul just let the Holy Spirit turn him into a master communicator who was skilled at finding just the right spiritual, personal and rhetorical perspectives to get the message of Jesus and his love out to all people.  The main thing was to get the Gospel across first, get people to fall in love with the Gospel the way Paul had, and then the Holy Spirit take over.

Closing Prayer

Everlasting God,
you give strength to the powerless and power to the faint;
you raise up the sick
and cast out demons.
Make us agents of healing and wholeness,
that your good news may be made known
to the ends of your creation. Amen.