The Essential Jesus as

Revealed in the Gospel of Mark

March is National

Optimism Month!

Sharpening Our Focus on Christ!

Five passages each week to help us “fix our eyes upon Jesus!”

The Essential Jesus as

Revealed in the Gospel of Mark

Three Mini-Parables and One Mega Storm!

Mark 4:21-41

What is a “parable?”

para (alongside of) and baleo (to throw)

“To throw alongside of”

Mark 4:11-12And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God. But for those outside everything is in parables, so that “they “may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.”

The purpose of parables

#1 – The Parable of the Lamp

Three Mini-Parables

Mark 4:21-23And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Parable of the Lamp

Mark 4:13And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?”

Mark 4:15The sower sows the word.

The Parable of the Lamp

Psalm 119:105Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

The Parable of the Lamp

Mark 4:21-23And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Parable of the Lamp

The Parable of the Lamp

Lanterns are meant to be lit and to give

light! And so it is with God’s Word!

Mark 4:23-24And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Parable of the Lamp

#1 – The Parable of the Lamp

#2 – The Parable of the Growing Seed

Three Mini-Parables

Mark 4:26-29And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Growing Seed

Yr of Obscurity(Early Judean)

Yr of Popularity(Early and

Middle Galilean)

Yr of Opposition (Later Galilean, Judean, Perean)

1 Corinthians 3:6-7I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

The Parable of the Growing Seed

#1 – The Parable of the Lamp

#2 – The Parable of the Growing Seed

#3 – The Parable of the Mustard Seed

Three Mini-Parables

Mark 4:30-34And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

ESV Study Bible

MacArthur Study Bible

#1 – The Parable of the Lamp

#2 – The Parable of the Growing Seed

#3 – The Parable of the Mustard Seed

Three Mini-Parables

Three Mini-Parables

Mark 4:33-34With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

The Bible is a very powerful book, a fact we all too often forget!

Today’s Takeaway

Bible is a LAMP – light dispels darkness!

Bible is a SEED – a seed, though small has the potential within of a bountiful

harvest!

Revelation 7:9-10After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Today’s Takeaway

If we truly believe this truth about the Bible – that it is indeed a

powerful book that is able to give light and life . . . Then here are three crucial questions for you to answer:

Today’s Takeaway

Given the reality of the Bible’s power to bring light and life …

Today’s Takeaway

1. Are you seeking to KNOW it?

2. Are you striving to LIVE it?

3. Are you purposing to GIVE it AWAY?