Minister's Blog

Journeying through Mark

It has been a blessing to begin our journey through Mark’s gospel in our Sunday sermon series. While Mark is the shortest of the synoptic gospels, it is rich in its accounts of the glory of God revealed in the miracles and the teachings of Jesus Christ. Repeatedly the Lord Jesus does things only God can do. He makes the unclean clean, the lame walk, the leprous whole, and the demons flee; and that is just in the first two chapters we have made it through. He has also already revealed He can forgive sin and is the Lord of the sabbath. I have read of liberal theologians who asserted there was not sufficient evidence for the divinity of Christ in Mark’s Gospel. I wonder if they were reading the same text. I pray our faith in Christ, His identity, mission, and salvation will we strengthened as we continue our journey through Mark this month.
June 2: Mark 3:7-18, God’s Plan for World Evangelism
June 9: Mark 3:20-30, The Unpardonable Sin
June 16: Mark 4:1-20, The Parable of the Sower
June 23: Mark 4:10-12, 21-15, Inextinguishable Light
June 30: Mark 4:35-41, The Master of the Storm

The Heart of our Catechism
The next weeks in our EBC Family Bible Study will focus on our calling and identity in Christ. We will be examining the work of the Holy Spirit in our salvation and the benefits Christian share in this life. This week in our family Bible study we read John 3:7-8: Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. The work of the Spirit is mysterious, yet His work is obvious in the life of the one who is regenerate. The Christian has a new nature, with new desires, and new virtues that were not present before. They have been brought low through the conviction of sin and brought joy through the love of God shown in the atonement of Christ and the forgiveness found in Him. In the next six weeks we will be reminded of the benefits we presently enjoy as Christians: justification, adoption, sanctification, and many more. I hope you will walk through the study with us this month, even if you have not been doing so this year. You will be blessed and strengthened by meditating on these truths!

PRAY, PRAY, PRAY…Special Prayer Needs:
• The Southern Baptist Convention meets June 11-12…Please pray for God’s will to be done.
• VBS, June 24-28…Pray for laborers to fill all the roles, pray for Gospel seeds to be planted.
• Mission Canada, July 12-20…Lydia Watts will be heading up on June 25. Please keep her and the rest of the group in your prayers. Pray for clear Gospel proclamation.