TPT The Book of Mark E-Book

Brian Simmons

• Herausgeber: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: The Passionate Life Bible Study Series
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 138

Beschreibung

The book of Mark is an explosive account of Jesus' miraculous life. Mark highlights the many miracles of Jesus, illustrating the beautiful union of divine power and overwhelming mercy as he healed, taught, and saved the lost. This gospel reveals the Suffering Servant and transforms us into his fervent followers.   This 12-lesson study guide on the book of Mark provides a unique and welcoming opportunity to immerse yourself in God's precious Word as expressed in The Passion Translation®. Begin your journey with a thorough introduction that details the authorship of Mark, date of composition, first recipients, setting, purpose, central message, and key themes. Each lesson then walks you through a portion from the book and includes features such as notable verses, historical and cultural background information, definitions of words and language, cross references to other books of the Bible, maps, and character portraits of figures from the Bible and church history.   Enrich your biblical understanding of the book of Mark, experience God's love for you, and share his heart with others.

Leseprobe

BroadStreet Publishing® Group, LLC

Savage, Minnesota, USA

BroadStreetPublishing.com

TPT The Book of Mark: 12-Lesson Study Guide

Copyright © 2023 BroadStreet Publishing Group

9781424566242 (softcover)

9781424566259 (e-book)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Unless indicated otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Passion Translation®, copyright © 2017, 2018, 2020 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ThePassionTranslation.com. Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org.

Stock or custom editions of BroadStreet Publishing titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, ministry, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email [email protected].

General editor: Brian Simmons

Managing editor: William D. Watkins

Writers: Andrew P. Kauth and William D. Watkins

Design and typesetting by Garborg Design Works | garborgdesign.com

Printed in China

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Contents

From God’s Heart to Yours

Why I Love the Book of Mark

Lesson 1  Beginning the Gospel of Mark

Lesson 2  Jesus’ Identity and Ministry

Lesson 3  Taking Jesus at His Word

Lesson 4  The Parables of Jesus

Lesson 5  The Power and Love of Jesus

Lesson 6  Jesus Confronts Unbelief

Lesson 7  Religious Tradition vs. Jesus the Messiah

Lesson 8  Kingdom Service

Lesson 9  Jesus in Jerusalem

Lesson 10Last Days Teaching

Lesson 11The Way to the Cross

Lesson 12Resurrection and Commission

Appendix Mark’s Ending

Endnotes

From God’s Heart to Yours

“God is love,” says the apostle John, and “Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him” (1 John 4:7). The life of a Christ-follower is, at its core, a life of love—God’s love of us, our love of him, and our love of others and ourselves because of God’s love for us.

And this divine love is reliable, trustworthy, unconditional, other-centered, majestic, forgiving, redemptive, patient, kind, and more precious than anything else we can ever receive or give. It characterizes each person of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and so is as limitless as they are. They love one another with this eternal love, and they reach beyond themselves to us, created in their image with this love.

How do we know such incredible truths? Through the primary source of all else we know about the one God—his Word, the Bible. Of course, God reveals who he is through other sources as well, such as the natural world, miracles, our inner life, our relationships (especially with him), those who minister on his behalf, and those who proclaim him to us and others. But the fullest and most comprehensive revelation we have of God and from him is what he has given us in the thirty-nine books of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) and the twenty-seven books of the Christian Scriptures (the New Testament). Together, these sixty-six books present a compelling and telling portrait of God and his dealings with us.

It is these Scriptures that The Passionate Life Bible Study Series is all about. Through these study guides, we—the editors and writers of this series—seek to provide you with a unique and welcoming opportunity to delve more deeply into God’s precious Word, encountering there his loving heart for you and all the others he loves. God wants you to know him more deeply, to love him more devoutly, and to share his heart with others more frequently and freely. To accomplish this, we have based this study guide series on The Passion Translation of the Bible, which strives to “reintroduce the passion and fire of the Bible to the English reader. It doesn’t merely convey the literal meaning of words. It expresses God’s passion for people and his world by translating the original, life-changing message of God’s Word for modern readers.” It has been created to “kindle in you a burning desire to know the heart of God, while impacting the church for years to come.”1

In each study guide, you will find an introduction to the Bible book it covers. There you will gain information about that Bible book’s authorship, date of composition, first recipients, setting, purpose, central message, and key themes. Each lesson following the introduction will take a portion of that Bible book and walk you through it so you will learn its content better while experiencing and applying God’s heart for your own life and encountering ways you can share his heart with others. Along the way, you will come across a number of features we have created that provide opportunities for more life application and growth in biblical understanding.

Experience God’s Heart

This feature focuses questions on personal application. It will help you live out God’s Word and to bring the Bible into your world in fresh, exciting, and relevant ways.

Share God’s Heart

This feature will help you grow in your ability to share with other people what you learn and apply in a given lesson. It provides guidance on using the lesson to grow closer to others and to enrich your fellowship with others. It also points the way to enabling you to better listen to the stories of others so you can bridge the biblical story with their stories.

The Backstory

This feature provides ancient historical and cultural background that illuminates Bible passages and teachings. It deals with then-pertinent religious groups, communities, leaders, disputes, business trades, travel routes, customs, nations, political factions, ancient measurements and currency…in short, anything historical or cultural that will help you better understand what Scripture says and means.

Word Wealth

This feature provides definitions for and other illuminating information about key terms, names, and concepts, and how different ancient languages have influenced the biblical text. It also provides insight into the different literary forms in the Bible, such as prophecy, poetry, narrative history, parables, and letters, and how knowing the form of a text can help you better interpret and apply it. Finally, this feature highlights the most significant passages in a Bible book. You may be encouraged to memorize these verses or keep them before you in some way so you can actively hide God’s Word in your heart.

Digging Deeper

This feature explains the theological significance of a text or the controversial issues that arise and mentions resources you can use to help you arrive at your own conclusions. Another way to dig deeper into the Word is by looking into the life of a biblical character or another person from church history, showing how that man or woman incarnated a biblical truth or passage. For instance, Jonathan Edwards was well known for his missions work among native American Indians and for his intellectual prowess in articulating the Christian faith, Florence Nightingale for the reforms she brought about in healthcare, Irenaeus for his fight against heresy, Billy Graham for his work in evangelism, Moses for the strength God gave him to lead the Hebrews and receive and communicate the law, and Deborah for her work as a judge in Israel. This feature introduces to you figures from the past who model what it looks like to experience God’s heart and share his heart with others.

The Extra Mile

While The Passion Translation’s notes are extensive, sometimes students of Scripture like to explore more on their own. In this feature, we provide you with opportunities to glean more information from a Bible dictionary, a Bible encyclopedia, a reliable Bible online tool, another ancient text, and the like. Here you will learn how you can go the extra mile on a Bible lesson. And not just in study either. Reflection, prayer, discussion, and applying a passage in new ways provide even more opportunities to go the extra mile. Here you will find questions to answer and applications to make that will require more time and energy from you—if and when you have them to give.

As you can see above, each of these features has a corresponding icon so you can quickly and easily identify them.

You will find other helps and guidance through the lessons of these study guides, including thoughtful questions, application suggestions, and spaces for you to record your own reflections, answers, and action steps. Of course, you can also write in your own journal, notebook, computer document, or other resource, but we have provided you with space for your convenience.

Also, each lesson will direct you toward the introductory material and numerous notes provided in The Passion Translation. There each Bible book contains a number of aids supplied to help you better grasp God’s words and his incredible love, power, knowledge, plans, and so much more. We want you to get the most out of your Bible study, especially using it to draw you closer to the One who loves you most.

Finally, at the end of each lesson you’ll find a section called “Talking It Out.” This contains questions and exercises for application that you can share, answer, and apply with your spouse, a friend, a coworker, a Bible study group, or any other individuals or groups who would like to walk with you through this material. As Christians, we gather together to serve, study, worship, sing, evangelize, and a host of other activities. We grow together, not just on our own. This section will give you ample opportunities to engage others with some of the content of each lesson so you can work it out in community.

We offer all of this to support you in becoming an even more faithful and loving disciple of Jesus Christ. A disciple in the ancient world was a student of her teacher, a follower of his master. Students study, and followers follow. Jesus’ disciples are to sit at his feet and listen and learn and then do what he tells them and shows them to do. We have created The Passionate Life Bible Study Series to help you do what a disciple of Jesus is called to do.

So go.

Read God’s words.

Hear what he has to say in them and through them.

Meditate on them.

Hide them in your heart.

Display their truths in your life.

Share their truths with others.

Let them ignite Jesus’ passion and light in all you say and do.

Use them to help you fulfill what Jesus called his disciples to do: “Now wherever you go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And teach them to faithfully follow all that I have commanded you. And never forget that I am with you every day, even to the completion of this age” (Matthew 28:19–20).

And through all of this, let Jesus’ love nourish your heart and allow that love to overflow into your relationships with others (John 15:9–13). For it was for love that Jesus came, served, died, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. This love he gives us. And this love he wants us to pass along to others.

Why I Love the Book of Mark

Each of the four Gospels is unique, and each has characteristics that set it apart from the others. Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels. It is precise, succinct, and powerful.

Paul mentions a man named Mark, who was the cousin of the apostle Barnabas (Colossians 4:10). Although scholars agree that Mark was not one of the original disciples of Jesus, Mark did, however, base his Gospel on one who was—the apostle Peter. We find that Mark was a spiritual son to Peter (1 Peter 5:13) and the cousin of the encouraging man, Barnabas. To read Mark is almost like reading Peter’s account of the life of Jesus. I love reading through Mark because I know it is written under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The narrative we find in Mark is rapid pace, more like an action movie than a story. Reading this book will keep you on the edge of your seat. And it unfolds so many miracles! In fact, it contains three times as many miracle stories as parables. I love reading through the Gospel of Mark because it reveals the miraculous.

There is also something glorious about Jesus as we see him in the pages of this book. He is revealed as the obedient Servant, our Burden-Bearer, the one who always obeys the Father and always cares about people. Mark is the Gospel of Jesus, the Servant of the Lord. Jesus is revealed as the One with a mission of love and power to change the world. Forty times Mark uses the Greek word eutheos, which means “immediately.” There is an urgency with Jesus as he works toward completing his task of providing salvation and power to all who believe in him. As God’s Servant, Jesus is very busy in this Gospel as he heals, teaches, and works wonders. You will fall in love with Jesus Christ as you read this inspired account of his life. I love reading through the Gospel of Mark because I see the lowly Jesus, our Beloved, fulfilling the Father’s plan.

Mercy, too, fills the pages of Mark. No wonder, for the author of this Gospel is John Mark—a man who failed yet was restored. Mark’s mess became a miracle of mercy. Mercy triumphs in every page of his Gospel, for he writes as one set free from his past and as one who has discovered the divine surprise of mercy. You see, Mark left Paul and Barnabas for unstated reasons. When Paul and Barnabas reached Perga in Pamphylia (an ancient city in modern-day Turkey), John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. The Bible doesn’t tell us why he left, but when Paul and Barnabas were discussing their second missionary journey, they were divided about bringing John Mark along and ultimately parted ways because of him. Whatever the conflict was, Paul and Mark later repaired the relationship. Writing to Timothy, Paul says, “Find Mark and bring him with you, for he is a tremendous help for me in my ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11).

Like Mark, we all need mercy, and his Gospel reminds me over and over how vast and glorious is the mercy of God! May you also find mercy triumphant as you read the translation of this book.

Brian Simmons

General Editor

LESSON 1

Beginning the Gospel of Mark

“You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!”

MARK 8:29

Welcome to Mark’s Gospel! Truly, Mark’s account of the life of Jesus is a treasure as he records not only miracles (twenty-one to be specific) but also story after story of the merciful acts of Jesus. Mark’s writing will inspire you to follow Jesus more intensely, and it will challenge you to love Jesus more deeply.

Authorship

As you delve into the sixteen chapters of Mark, it’s important to understand who the author was. The vast majority of scholars, from the early church to the modern age, believe the writer of Mark’s Gospel is the same Mark known in the book of Acts as John Mark, the nephew of Barnabas, a disciple of Paul and Barnabas, and, later, a disciple of Peter.2 Mark first joined Paul and Barnabas as they left Jerusalem on their first missionary journey in AD 49 (Acts 12:25; 13:1–5). Then, according to Acts 13:13, after the events in Paphos, Mark left Paul and Barnabas in Perga, in southern Turkey, and returned to Jerusalem.