 |
Home | Mission Statement | Video Gallery | Audio Gallery | Photo Gallery | Daily Manna | Testimonies | | Links | Contact us |
 |
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Prov 3:6 |
 |
| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :Overview of the New Testament: The Gospels Bible Verse: Mark 1:1, 4:1-11 (ESV) "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. * * * Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables . . . .”" Message:
Mark was the first Gospel written (@ 65 A.D.) and might be nicknamed “the Gospel of Peter” or “the Gospel to the Gentiles.” Numerous internal clues show that it was intended to be read by Gentiles, such as explanations of Jewish rituals and a comparative lack of Old Testament quotes. Mark probably wrote at least part of it while in Rome; but, notably, it was not written in Latin. This shows an intended audience among Greek-speaking Gentiles largely outside Italy.
The lion symbol of St. Mark
The winged lion, symbol of St. Mark
Mark is by far the shortest of the four Gospels, a straight-to-the-point document that concentrates on two periods: Jesus’ ministry in Ch’s 1-8, and His passion in Ch’s 9-16. To get a feel for how direct Mark is, compared to the other gospels, one need only compare the opening lines. Matthew begins with a long, dull genealogy; Luke’s Christmas story takes up two full chapters; and John begins with poetry and theology. But Mark hits the ground running: He says “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” and then launches straight into Jesus’ baptism by John, the temptation in the wilderness, calling the first disciples — all of this in the first half of the first chapter! At 1:21, he turns to his primary business, an eight-chapter account of Jesus’ miracles interspersed with his teachings.
The turning point to the passion story occurs in Chapter 8-9, where Peter realizes and articulates the divinity of Christ and is then witness to the Transfiguration. At that point, Jesus begins to inform the disciples of his destiny, to die on the cross and be raised again, and the action shifts as He begins his journey to Jerusalem. The second half ends with three women going to Jesus’ tomb and being told by “a young man in a white robe” that He has risen from the dead and that they will see him again.
Accounts of Christ’s post-resurrection appearances and the Great Commission appear in most Bibles after Mark 16:8, but it seems these were appended to the manuscript later on; both their authenticity and their canonicity are doubtful. Since we are talking about the Word of God, best practice may be to ignore Mark 16:9-20. (These verses are the sole authority of such dubious worship practices as snake-handling and drinking poison.)
Nathaniel Currier|Christ Walking on the Sea
The structure and time period of Mark are bare-boned, concentrating heavily on Jesus’ miracles, but the writing style is just the opposite, characterized by vivid detail of the incidents that Mark does treat; for he had a wealth of detailed information from Peter. This reflects the purpose of Mark’s Gospel. The Gentiles had no use for Jewish prophecy. The idea of Christ being born to a virgin in Bethlehem, for example, or Jesus’ genealogy, which was so important to the Jews, was meaningless and possibly even counterproductive in spreading the Word to the Gentile populace.
They needed, rather, to be convinced directly that Jesus was the Son of God and had come to save their eternal souls, by hearing about his miraculous works; and also, to hear the basic doctrinal teachings directly, with explanation of the background teachings of Judaism where necessary. And that’s exactly what Mark provides.
Meditation : “Our bodies are prisons for our souls. Our skin and blood, the iron bars of confinement. But fear not. All flesh decays. Death turns all to ash. And thus, death frees every soul.” ~ from The Fountain, by Darren Aronofsky Prayer : Now to him who by his power within us is able to do far more than we ever dare to ask or imagine — to him be glory in the Church through Jesus Christ for ever and ever,,,Amen. |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
