MOVE Series# 1, On Your Mark, Get Set…Go

MOVE Series# 1, On your Mark get set….GO
With Bobby Sullivan

Quote of the week ““You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.” Author unknown 

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” Martin Luther King Jr. 

Introduction: The whole book of Mark is about movement. Jesus walked 500 miles in Mark’s accounts. Many believe Mark was a disciple of Peter, because Peter describes Mark as “My son” in (1 Peter 5:13) Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Mark wrote a factual, inspired and condensed gospel with the tutoring of Peter around AD 50-55.  40x Mark uses the Greek word “Eutheos” which means straightway and immediately. Mark has an urgency about him that is contagious as he works toward fulfilling his calling of salvation and power for all who believe in Jesus.

Fact: Mark records 3x more miracles than parables (21 to be exact). This is by far the book of miracles.

Hopefully after diving into the book of Mark, we will all become a more fervent follower and discover mercy triumphs over judgement.

The purpose was 2 fold 1) to confirm Jesus’ messianic identity; seen in Mark 8:29 where Peter confesses, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God and 2.) to call believers to follow Jesus’ example, not the disciples because they, like us, repeatedly fail and remain relatively faithless at times. In Mark 8:34 Jesus says, “ If you truly want to follow me, you should at once completely disown your own life.  And you must be willing to share my cross and experience it as your own, as you continually surrender to my ways.”

What’s amazing is that even though Mark had some kind of failure that led to him and Paul parting ways for a time, Barnabas ‘the encourager’ still took Mark with him for ministry in (Acts 15:36-39) God’s mercy restored Mark and he witnessed firsthand that mercy triumphs over judgement.  

Mark 1:1 “This is the beginning of the wonderful news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. It starts with Isaiah the prophet, who wrote: Watch closely: I’m sending my preacher ahead of you; He’ll make the road smooth for you. Thunder in the desert! Prepare for God’s arrival! Make the road smooth and straight!”

Message

Aramaic  “wonderful news” translated  “The revelation of Jesus”

Many translations will say, ‘prepare the way’, However Aramaic is what they spoke and ‘the way’ is translated, heart.    “Prepare you hearts for the coming of  the Lord Yahweh, and a clear straight path inside your hearts for him.” In other words, John the Baptizer is saying, “make room in your hearts for the ways of the Lord.”

John was not afraid to disrupt the religious establishment!

Vs 6 John wore a rough garment made of camel hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locust and honey of the wilderness.”

Good thing there wasn’t Christian Mingle back then because John would never get a date wearing Camel hair and eating locust dipped in honey.

Notes: A camel was considered unclean in the Jewish tradition. He was wearing what others felt was unclean. He was rough, straight forward and attempted to inaugurate a new way of living.

He ate locusts! …Locust (grasshoppers) are a symbol of intimidation that have kept believers in bondage by not taking their inheritance by faith. Israel saw themselves as grasshoppers in their own eyes that neutralized them in a land of giants.

John shows up and eats the symbol of intimidation! ( devouring the devourer)

He drank honey which is a biblical metaphor of the revelation of God’s word that is sweeter than honey (Psalm 19: 7-10) John’s arrival announced the end of dead formal religion and the dawning of a new day in Christ Jesus.

Church history says he baptized millions of people. “Talk about living in the river!” LOL    John’s message was one that  “Convicted”, “Convinced”, and “Converted” the people on the Judean hillside.

The Message Convicted: made them recognize their spiritual condition

• The Message Convinced the People: on that Judean Hillside they needed to confess their sins! Why? With the heart man believes but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:10

His message was an immediate call to action that moved people to make a decision.

The Message Converted the people and the entire world

^{Mark 1: 7-8 “}As he preached he said, “The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will change your life. I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism—a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit—will change you from the inside out.”

Following Jesus Changes Everything!

1. He Came Out of The Water
2. He Overcame The Wild
3. He Transformed The World
4. He Came Out of the Water;

Note: It is time to come out!

^{Mark 1: 9-11} At this time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. The moment he came out of the water, he saw the sky split open and God’s Spirit, looking like a dove, come down on him. Along with the Spirit, a voice: “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, we must be illuminated by a revelation of awareness that we as well are marked by Gods love, chosen by the Father, the apple of his eye and the pride of heaven. There is nothing more important to God! You are created in his image and individually are not alike yet unique.

Notice the ownership in the word “my”. It is one thing to be accepted by God and quite another thing to be approved by Him. It’s one thing to get baptised into water but you must be baptised into a new identity!

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

Identity is the source of your service and behavior. It is not out of duty but delight. You don’t behave to be accepted! You are accepted therefore you behave.

Neil Anderson “… The most important thing in life is what you know about God. The second most important belief is who we are as children of God, because we cannot consistently behave in a way that is inconsistent with how we perceive ourselves.”

You cannot behave beyond how you perceive yourself. If you’re always confessing your sin, you will never confess your salvation because you will not believe you are!!! If you constantly perceive you’re horrible, you will  never perceive how you can be!

Dr. Caroline Leaf (Switch On Your Brain) “The good news is we are wired for love, which means all our mental circuitry is wired only for the positive, and we have a natural optimism bias wired into us … fear is a learned response.”

You were wired for love not fear.

Stanford News Jan 31,2013   “Giving test subjects Superman-like flight in a virtual reality simulator makes them more likely to exhibit altruistic behavior in real life, Stanford researchers find.”  BY BJORN CAREY

Altruistic Behavior: meaning they immediately got involved, optimistic, involves acting out of concern for the well-being of other people. In some cases, these acts of altruism lead people to jeopardize their own health and well-being to help others. In many cases, these behaviors are performed unselfishly and without any expectations of reward

In the study 1 group (A)  flew by helicopter to help the needy, the other group (B) put on virtual goggles where they had supernatural powers to fly.

When they got back, part of the exit interview experiment was to knock over a jar of pens. More than a 1/3 of the people in group (A) did not even respond or offer help to pick them up. Every person in group in Group (B) who believed they had supernatural powers responded within 3 seconds.

You have the supernatural life of Christ in you!!

2. He Overcame The Wild:

Mark 1:12-13 “Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.  And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.”

Every temptation is based on a legitimate need or real purpose for your life. Sin is meeting a legitimate need in an illegitimate way.

Everybody has a bait they will bite at. Until they realize it is bait!

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” 

1 Corinthians 10:13 “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.”

1 John 3:8b  “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

3. He Transformed the World: Mark 1:27-28,33 “Everyone there was incredulous, buzzing with curiosity.  ‘What’s going on here? A new teaching that does what it says?’ … the whole city lined up at his door!” 

1 John 5:4-5   “Every God-begotten person conquers the world’s ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. The person who wins out over the world’s ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.”

John 20:21 “So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’”

Mark 1:32,34  “… they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. …  Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons…”

Following Jesus Changes Everything!

1. He Came Out Of The Water
2. He Overcame The Wild
3. He Transformed The World

ALL SYSTEMS GO!