The Pastoral Sermons for this Year have come from the Gospel According to Mark
Where are we?
The messages for the next few months will be dealing with the Sacrifice of the Servant and then finally the Success of the Servant beginning in Chapter 11 and concluding in Chapter 16.
Why is Mark so important?
Mark’s gospel portrays Jesus as constantly on the move. The forward motion in Mark’s writing keeps the knowledgeable reader’s mind continually looking ahead to the cross and the resurrection. Thirty-nine times Mark used the word immediately, giving a sense that Jesus’s time on earth was short and that there was much to accomplish in His few years of ministry.
What's the main idea?
While Matthew’s gospel portrays Jesus as the King, Mark reveals Him as God’s Servant. Jesus’s work was always for a larger purpose, a point clearly summarized in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Mark filled his gospel with the miracles of Jesus, illustrating again and again both the power and the compassion of the Son of God. In these passages, Mark revealed more than Jesus as the good teacher who offered people spiritual renewal; the book also portrays Jesus as the true God and the true man, reaching into the lives of people and effecting physical and circumstantial change.
But Jesus’s life as the agent of change wasn’t without an ultimate purpose. Amid His hands-on ministry, Jesus constantly pointed to the definitive way in which He would serve humanity: His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. It is only through faith in these works of Jesus Christ that human beings find eternal redemption for their whole selves. Moreover, Jesus becomes our model for how to live our lives—serving others as He did.
How do I apply this?
Three times in three consecutive chapters—8, 9, and 10—Mark pictured Jesus informing His disciples of His great sacrifice and ultimate victory. His disciples either rejected the teaching altogether (Mark 8:31–32) or they showed themselves concerned with other matters (9:31–34; 10:32–37). As Jesus prepared to perform the greatest service in the history of the human race, His disciples could only think about themselves—their position or safety.
Do you find it a struggle to get yourself oriented toward sacrificial service, as Jesus’s disciples did? The temptations we all wrestle with when faced with an opportunity to serve another person are to pull back within ourselves, to seek our comfort, or to protect our own interests.
The challenge that Jesus presents to us in the book of Mark involves breaking out of those patterns of self-absorption and giving ourselves in service and love to others.
Let us continue to pray for all other members who are sick and shut in or bereaved.
HLMBC EVENTS
Sunday, October 6, 2019 (2:00 pm)
Pastor & Wife 4th Appreciation Banquet
Place: the Carson Community Center - 801 E. Carson St. Carson, CA 90745 (MAP)
Friday, October 11, 2019 (7:00 pm)
Pastor & Wife 4th Appreciation Services
Churches represented are New Vision Christian Fellowship – Pastor Joe Haywood (messenger), Greater New Morning Star MBC- Pastor Demetrius Griffin and Greater Hopewell Full Gospel Church-Pastor Kenneth Pitchford
Sunday, October 13, 2019 (3:00pm)
Pastor & Wife 4th Appreciation Service
Churches represented are First Evergreen MBC – Pastor Earl Estell Sr. (messenger) & Citizens of Zion MBC – Pastor Bobby L. Newman Jr.
Sunday, October 27, 2019 (10:00am Service)
Holy Light MBC Annual Men's Day
Speaker: Bishop William LaRue Dillard- Under Shepherd Emeritus of the Second Baptist Church of Monrovia. Bishop Dillard retired this year after 45 years of service at the church. All men are asked for an offering of $100.00 for Men’s Day
Sunday, November 10, 2019 (After 10:00am Service)
Church Fellowship at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Riverside for the Appreciation Services of Pastor Willie Chambers
A bus will leave from the church following 10am service.
Tuesday - Thursday, November 12-14, 2019 (7:00pm Nightly)
Providence District Session (Pastor C.R. Jones)
Place: St. Reed MBC – 656 E. 79th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90001 (MAP)
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