On Sundays we are going through the New Testament at Heights Church. We are taking in big quantities of Scripture each week to reset the story of God in our hearts and minds. 

This week we’re diving into the Gospel of Mark. Here are some initial notes/thoughts:

Mark lays out the basic structure of Jesus’s ministry and the plan of discipleship in the first two chapters.

1. The call to repentance
   “Get ready to upend your life. All of it.”
2. Power encounters
   When Jesus shows up, the enemy is exposed. Religious laziness is also exposed.
3. Healing
   The advancement of the Kingdom on earth has repercussions in the physical realm.
4. Proclamation
   You have to SAY what the Kingdom is as well as SHOW what the Kingdom is all about.

In Chapter 4, Mark gives the purpose of parables. The key is to remember: “you gotta want it.”

In Chapter 5, there is the story of Jesus driving out the demons from the man in the region of the Gerasenes. What fascinates me about this story is not the deliverance, but the response. People were so used to a tormented man that when he was healed they were facing another power they couldn’t understand. We often tolerate torment in our own lives because we don’t understand the power of the Kingdom of God. We fear the unknown. And WE end up being the ones “possessed.”

Throughout the gospel I am driven to keep asking, “Why was Jesus so hard on the religious leaders?” And also, “Why were the religious leaders so dense?”

What is it about us as “people of God” that causes us to harden our own categories so much we miss the moving of the Spirit when the Kingdom actually shows up?

Keep diving in! Let’s soak in the Word of God this fall!