From Our Pastors

Here is a brief outline and some highlights for our week one Bible reading. May the Lord work in us through the reading of His word to shape and mold us more into the image of His Son!

Genesis 1-15

• Creation of the world in six days by God
• Creation of man and woman in the image of God
• The fall of Adam and Eve, banishment from the garden, death the result of sin
• The first murder with Cain and Abel
• Noah narrative
  • Builds an ark
  • 40 days and 40 nights of rain
  • Flood subsides and God promises never to flood whole earth again
  • Sin of Noah and his son
• Tower of Babel
  • Folly of man and the separation of languages by God
• God calls Abram to be the father of His people
• God’s covenant with Noah in chapter 15 that through Him the Savior of the world would come

 Psalm 19, 104, 148

• Psalm 19 speaks to the works and the Word of God; how the heavens declare the glory of God and His work; how God’s word is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and more to be desired than gold or silver
• Psalm 104 speaks to God’s amazing care for all that he has created
• Psalm 148 speaks to our right response to God the creator as His creation; that is to praise HIM!

 Mark 1-5

• Introduction of John the Baptist and his proclamation that the Savior is coming soon
• The Baptism of Jesus
• Jesus begins his ministry, preaching in Galilee, healing those in the crowds that start to follow him, and calling his first disciples
• Jesus begins to show his authority as the Son of God; he heals a man on the Sabbath, answers questions about the Sabbath (says it is his – again showing his authority as God in the flesh), and heals on the Sabbath again
• Jesus finalizes his 12 disciples and starts to teach them and preach to the crowds
• Jesus teaches and preaches in parables, so that those to whom he has opened their eyes and ears to see and hear his message can do that
• Parable of the Sower: 4 types of soil that the seed is sewn in, but in only one of those does the seed of the Word take root and save a soul to follow Jesus
• Parable of the Mustard Seed: Kingdom of God is like this in our lives; small beginning but powerful growth, and like Christ, who came as a servant the first time, will come again as an awesome and reigning King
• Jesus heals a man with many demons and heals many others, showing his power of sickness and demons. Jesus will eventually show his power over all things, even death itself!

GENESIS

Reading Genesis, we should get a sense of both God’s love and His holiness. God, in his great love, creates a world with the crowning jewel of man and woman in that creation to rule over it, care for it, and to be fruitful and multiply. This is a perfect world, and Adam and Eve enjoy a perfect relationship with God, with one another, and with the world around them.

Sin enters the world in chapter 3, and from that we immediately see again God’s love and His holiness. God disciplines in the exact way he promised, with death being the punishment for sin. Through their sin, disease, toil, sadness, pain, and death enter the world. God also shows his love though, in that he promises there will be one to come to crush the head of Satan, the serpent that led Adam and Eve astray (Genesis 3:15).

 We see quickly the effects of sin, as Cain murders his brother Abel due to jealousy.

 We then see God’s dealings with Noah. God is sad he has made the world because of how far it has fallen, and wants to destroy everything, but God remembers His promise to send a Savior and so he spares Noah and his family. They build an ark to be able to withstand the flood. The whole earth is flooded, killing everyone and everything but Noah and his family. God takes sin seriously!

 The flood subsides and God starts with Noah and his family, asking them to be fruitful and multiply. Noah, though, is not the promised savior, as we see in chapter nine with his own sin and the sin of his son.

 In chapter 11, we get the Tower of Babel episode. Men, in their folly, think they can build a tower up to heaven to be with God. God quickly puts men in their place, “coming down” to see the tower. He then causes confusion to them and makes them speak several different languages, where we get the origin for the different languages around the world. Without the ability to communicate, they cannot build a tower together. Again, another effect of sin and the fall.

 In chapter 12 we get the beginnings of God and Abram (later Abraham). God calls Abram to be the father and leader of His people, and He promises Abram that through him, through his line, the promised Savior will come. He also promises Abram a great land for His people to dwell. He promises Abram a son in chapter 15 (Abram and his wife have never been able to have children), again making a covenant with Abram that though him and his line will come the Messiah.

MARK

Mark’s gospel is the shortest of all the gospels and moves at the fastest pace. The word immediately shows up often in Mark’s gospel. Mark was writing to Romans with his gospel, telling them that Jesus is the Suffering Servant who actively ministers on our behalf and gives His life as a ransom for many. There are far less references to Old Testament prophecy than in Matthew, because Matthew was writing to Jews that would have known the prophecies being referenced.

 Mark doesn’t include Jesus’ birth story, again prophetically important, but rather starts with the baptism of Jesus and the beginnings of his earthly ministry. He wants his audience (and us) to see the glory of Christ as the Son of God who came not to be served, but to serve.

 Mark shows Jesus’ power over all things:

• We see that in chapter one with him healing the sick, that he has power over disease.
• In chapter two, we see he has power even to heal things like paralysis, and he has the power to forgive sins (something only God has).
• In chapter 3, we see Jesus has power over the Sabbath, even stating the Sabbath is His and he is lord over it (clearly stating to be God here, because the Sabbath was given for man to rest and look to God).
• In chapter 4, we see Jesus has power over creation itself when he calms the sea.
• In chapter 5 we see Jesus has power over demons, and power even over death when he raises a child from the dead.