MARK 3:7-19

MORE OF JESUS

MARK 3:7-19

THE CROWD

* Driven out evil spirits Mk 1:21-28* Healed many Mk 1:34* Driven out demons Mk 1:34* Cured lepers Mk 1:41* Healed paralysis Mk 2:12* Amazed people with His teaching Mk1:22 that had authority Lk 4:32

Characteristics of a crowd

• Anonymity• Suggestibility• Contagion• Emotionality• Loosely structured• Unpredictable• Impersonality

It is better to walk alone, than with a crowd going in the wrong direction

Which Jesus do you see?

Mark 3: 13-15

THE CHARGE

Do you pray to seek God’s guidance or,Do you pray to give God guidance?

‘My food is do the will of Him who sent me to finish His work’

John 4:34

‘the practice of the presence of God’brother Lawrence

“…I was talking to a friend of mine about spiritual life. This friend described it as a life of grace, which begins with the fear and respect of a servant, growing through the hope of eternal life, finally to find fullness in pure love…My first prayers were about death, judgment, hell, heaven and my sins. This went on for several years. When I wasn’t praying, I kept myself carefully in God’s presence, even while I was working. I knew He was always near me, in the deepest part of my heart…I suddenly found myself wholly changed. My soul…came to rest in a profound inner peace.

...Since that time, I have been serving God simply, in humility and faith. Out of love, I try not to say, do, or think anything that might offend Him. My only request is that He do whatever He pleases with me…I’m not anxious about my purpose in life because I only want to do God’s will. I wouldn’t even lift a straw from the ground against His order or for any other motive than love for Him. Pure love of Him is all that keeps me going…”

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the Kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field. Mt 9:35-38

‘Being God’s friend’Charles Spurgeon

‘And what is the lifework of every Christian? Is it not soulwinning? To glorify God by bringing others to faith in Christ is the great purpose for which we remain here on earth; otherwise, we would have been caught up to swell the harmony of the heavenly songs. It is expedient for many wandering sheep here below that we should remain here until we have brought them home to the great Shepherd and Bishop of their souls (1Pet 2:25)”

‘Our way of winning men for Christ-or, to use His own metaphor, our method of catching men (Luke 5:10)-is by letting down the net of the Gospel. We have learned no other way of “holy fishing.” Men with great zeal and little knowledge are inventing ingenious methods for catching men. However, for my part, I believe in nothing but letting down the Gospel net by proclaiming the story of God’s love toward men in Christ Jesus.

No new Gospel has been committed to us by Jesus, and He has authorized no new way of making it known. Our Lord has called all of us to the work of proclaiming free pardon through His blood to all who believe Him.

Each believer is authorized by Christ to seek the conversion of his friends and associates. May not every person seek to save his brother from the burning? Must not Jesus smile on anyone’s endeavor to deliver his neighbor from going down to eternal death? Has He not said. “Let him that heareth say, come” (Rev. 22:17)?’

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.

Psa. 18: 2-3

Out of a hundred men, one will read the Bible, the other Ninety Nine will read the Christian.

Dwight L Moody

‘Covenants and Blessings’Andrew Murray

‘Let us make Christ’s words our own. [I] can do nothing of [myself] (Jn 5:19). Take them as the keynote of a single day. Look up and see the infinite God waiting to do everything as soon as we are ready to give up all to Him and receive all from Him. Bow down in humble worship and wait for the Holy Spirit to work some measure of the mind of Christ in you…There is the God of love waiting to do everything in him who is willing to be nothing…And when, as the Lamb of God, He begets this disposition in us, we will be prepared for Him to shine us in this heavenly glory’

Will you choose to be nothing for the sake of Christ and His glory?