Mark 1:1-8
John the Baptist Prepared The Way For Jesus
Mark 1:9-20
Jesus Begins to Pick His Staff
Mark 1:21-34
Jesus Deals With an Unclean Spirit
Mark 1:29-34
Jesus Heals Peter’s Mother-in-Law
Mark 1:35-39
Jesus Rises Early to Spend Time With His Father
Mark 1:40-45
Jesus Touched The Leper And Healed Him
Mark 2:1-12
Jesus Heals The Paralyzed Man
Mark 2:13-17
Jesus Chooses Matthew as a Disciple
Mark 2:18-22
Pharisees Think There is Merit in Fasting
Mark 2:23-28
Jesus Plucks Grain on The Sabbath
Mark 3:1-6
Jesus Healing of The Man With The Witherd Hand
Mark 3:7-12
Crowds Come to See Jesus Performing Miracles
Mark 3:13-19
Jesus Delegates Responsibilities to His Disciples
Mark 3:20-30
Jesus Faces Opposition From Both Friend And Foe
Mark 3:31-35
Jesus’ Family Come to Take Him Home
Mark 4:1-9
Jesus Teaches on Sowing Seed in 4 Types of Soil
Mark 4:10-20
Jesus Explained The Parable of The Sower
Mark 4:21-29
Jesus Teaches in Parables
Mark 4:30-41
The Parable of The Mustard Seed
Mark 5:1-10
The Demon Possessed Man at Gerasa
Mark 5:11-20
Two Thousand Hogs Drown
Mark 5:21-34
Hemorrhaging Woman Healed
Mark 5:35-43
Jesus Heals Jairus Daughter
Mark 6:1-6
Jesus Returns to His Home Town of Nazareth
Mark 6:7-13
Jesus Sends His Disciples as Missionaries
Mark 6:14-29
Mark Tells About The Death of John The Baptist
Mark 6:30-44
Feeding of The 5000
Mark 6:45-52
Storm on The Sea of Galilee
Mark 6:53-56
Crowd Wanting to be Healed
Mark 7:1-13
Conflict With The Religious Leaders Over Laws
Mark 7:14-23
Jesus Attacks a System of Rules And Regulations
Jesus Teaches in Parables
Mark 4:21–29
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Jack Wyrtzen used lots of stories in his preaching. One day someone was talking with one of the Word of Life staff members and said, “ I heard Jack preach one of his “skyscraper messages” the other night.” The staff member asked what he meant by a “s … More
In our passage today we look at three parables of Jesus, and each parable contains a paradox about God’s Kingdom. A paradox is simply a statement or idea that appears to be contradictory.
Now the hearing in this context is listening to Jesus and his kingdom message, especially as it relates to the parables (vv. 24-25). It is the measure that we use in our hearing that determines the measure we receive in understanding. If we have some understanding of Jesus’ message, we’ll be given more. But if we have no understanding, then we’ll get nothing. When good seed is sown in good soil growth and production takes time and patience (vv. 26-29). If we see a plant every day we probably will not notice growth taking place. It is only when we don’t see it for several days that we notice the difference. The same is true in the Christian life. After the seed has been sown it should be given time to grow. We should not expect spiritual maturity right away. The growth is usually very gradual, but if we are patient, one day there will be a harvest.
Application
A parable can be explained as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. I find it interesting that Jesus always used stories to tell spiritual truth. This is a reminder to me that in all of my teaching and preaching I need to be using stories (parables) to share the truth of God’s Word with others. This is one reason why I want to begin each day of these devotional thoughts with an illustration.
Mark 4:21-29 (English Standard Version)
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