Ephesians and Mark

Wow, time flies. I am nearly finished with the book of Luke and realized I haven't posted anything about Ephesians and Mark.

One of our teachers said that SBS is like trying to take a drink out of a fire hydrant. SO TRUE! Truth and revelation is being blasted at me and I'm trying to soak in what I can, but there is so much!

EPHESIANS:
I love this book, always have. It's like a mouthful of worship in the first chapter. I love how Paul busts out into worship just because he's so overcome in 3:20. One thing we talked about in class was how impressed Paul is with God. I want to be that impressed with God that I spontaneously break out in worship because I can't keep it contained.

I was thinking back to my time in Ephesus in 2004 as I read this book. If you EVER get the opportunity to walk the ruins of Ephesus, it's well worth it. I remember standing in the amphitheater there, closing my eyes and trying to hear this massive crowd chanting "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" and how I would feel as Paul having preached the Gospel and having this confusion and anger all around me and my heart for the people to know Jesus. The Ephesians' culture was pretty intense, steeped in spirituality, magical practices, abundant sexual immorality, and secret cult practices. But Paul addresses these issues telling the Ephesians they have rich inheritance and a new identity and to get out of these practices!!

What greatly impacted me about the book of Ephesians was towards the end of the passage about putting on the armor of God...Paul encourages the Ephesians to pray, and to pray for boldness for him to preach. Sometimes we think that defeating the darkness is to stand up and shout and go through all these intense spiritual warfare practices. There is a time for that I believe, but what defeats the darkness more than anything: PREACHING THE GOSPEL!! It's that simple. This brings people from darkness into light. This is what rescues people from the lies and bondage over their lives, is knowing they have freedom in Christ. For some time, the gospel has felt like sawdust in my mouth, I'm not sure why, but I feel I've lost focus of who it is I preach for and what the good news really is. So, I'm having a fresh revelation of the gospel and there is a stirring in my spirit to share that with others again, praise God!!

MARK
I'm continually in awe at the fact that even though I've read through the Bible in it's entirety numerous times in the past, listened to sermons, studied the Bible on my own, and even took a class on some books, like Mark, that I feel like I'm reading some things for the first time and really SEEING it. I never stopped to think about the context the book of Mark was written in, but it was written during the time of intense persecution to the believers in Rome. Nero, the emperor at the time, was rumored to have set fire to the city of Rome and when people started pointing the finger at him, he in turn blamed it on the Christians. He did the most horrible things to torture and punish them, like turning them into human candles and slowly burning them alive. So, the life of Jesus that Mark portrays is one of urgency for the believers to understand Jesus' authority over all things: disease, the demonic realm, earthly authorities, natural elements, etc. And Jesus was going to suffer and die. He was going to be rejected. Mark is using the gospel of Jesus to tell the believers in Rome that their suffering is worth it because Jesus suffered and gave it all for them.

What I was really struck with in the book of Mark as we went through it was the interaction with the disciples. Oh my gosh, they didn't get it. Jesus says to them: "I will suffer, die and rise again." and they immediately questioned "What does he mean by that?" (i.e. Mark 9:31-32) We have the gift of hindsight, but still, the disciples kept hitting a wall. And oh, the patience of Jesus. And how much patience has Jesus had with me in my life? I believe I am in this SBS because of the patience of Jesus. I tried to a lot in my own strength and wisdom, like Peter, like James and John. Yet, Jesus is patient in my block-headedness.

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Well, that catches you up a bit on just a taste of the revelation blasting out of that fire hydrant. I am very excited to share with you about Luke. God softened my heart in a big way this week. But, I have a lot of homework in that book still yet to finish, so that will come hopefully this weekend.