The Workings of Jesus
Jerry Watts
Mark 5:1-20
Hebrews 4:12 begins, ''The word of God is living and active.'' This means that we can read a passage this morning gleaning some great truth and then read it this afternoon only to see an entirely different truth. This happens because of how the Holy Spirit empowers the word of God for our life and living. Now staying truth to the Word of God itself, we know that 'no scripture is open to private interpretation', however, each passage possesses many applications.
In 2013 and 2014, we walked through the fast paced gospel according to Mark. There are many reasons why I love this gospel account and find myself drawn back here. The title of the message from this passage was ''Pigs or People, Swine or Souls'' and sought to challenge us in our concern for lost people. The older I get, the long I live, and the more I study and preach, the more I am convinced that we, in America, have lost the vision for the fields ripe for harvest. We have lost the vision of people actually spending eternity in a place called hell. We have lost the vision that if we don't reach them, they won't make it. We have replace that 'old-timey' theology with the ever-comfortable ''God is going to reach whoever He is going to reach and it not really my responsibility to do anything at all'', and then we sneak in the sad caveat given us by this highly secular and universalistic culture which seems to believe it. It says, ''Everybody's gonna make it anyway because our loving God won't let anyone go into a place called hell for eternity.''
Add to this general feeling that when people come into the church, they really don't have to be changed 'much.' The can basically continue like they are, unite with the church, live like they want (because it's none of our business), and all will be okay. The problem is that with all of this opinion and attitude, none of it lines up with the words, ministry, or work of our Lord Jesus.
Mark 5 offers us a fami ...
Jerry Watts
Mark 5:1-20
Hebrews 4:12 begins, ''The word of God is living and active.'' This means that we can read a passage this morning gleaning some great truth and then read it this afternoon only to see an entirely different truth. This happens because of how the Holy Spirit empowers the word of God for our life and living. Now staying truth to the Word of God itself, we know that 'no scripture is open to private interpretation', however, each passage possesses many applications.
In 2013 and 2014, we walked through the fast paced gospel according to Mark. There are many reasons why I love this gospel account and find myself drawn back here. The title of the message from this passage was ''Pigs or People, Swine or Souls'' and sought to challenge us in our concern for lost people. The older I get, the long I live, and the more I study and preach, the more I am convinced that we, in America, have lost the vision for the fields ripe for harvest. We have lost the vision of people actually spending eternity in a place called hell. We have lost the vision that if we don't reach them, they won't make it. We have replace that 'old-timey' theology with the ever-comfortable ''God is going to reach whoever He is going to reach and it not really my responsibility to do anything at all'', and then we sneak in the sad caveat given us by this highly secular and universalistic culture which seems to believe it. It says, ''Everybody's gonna make it anyway because our loving God won't let anyone go into a place called hell for eternity.''
Add to this general feeling that when people come into the church, they really don't have to be changed 'much.' The can basically continue like they are, unite with the church, live like they want (because it's none of our business), and all will be okay. The problem is that with all of this opinion and attitude, none of it lines up with the words, ministry, or work of our Lord Jesus.
Mark 5 offers us a fami ...
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