October 13, 2019 – Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Proclaiming Good News

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Proclaiming Good News



Malachi 3:1-5 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

² But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. ³ He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, ⁴ and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

⁵ “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.

What will the nessenger do (verse 1)?

Who will “come to his temple” (verse 1)?

In your opinion, “who can endure the day of his coming” (verse 2)?

What will the Lord have men bring offerings in (verse 3)?

Whose offerings will be “acceptable to the Lord” (verse 4)?

What do the sorcerers, adulterers, perjurers, defrauders, oppressors and people who deprive foreigners of justice have in common in their relationship to the Lord (verse 5)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

Mark 1:1-8 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, ² as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
    who will prepare your way”—
³ “a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.’”

⁴ And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵ The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. ⁶ John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷ And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸ I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Who is the good new about (verse 1)?

Who will prepare the way (verse 2)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “make straight paths for him” (verse 3)?

What did John the Baptist preach (verse 4)?

Where were those who confessed their sins baptized (verse 5)?

What did John the Baptist wear (verse 6)?

What was his message (verse 7)?

What will the one who comes after baptize with (verse 8)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, when telling about the Lord coming, what is the difference between Malachi asking “who can endure the day of his coming” in Malachi 3:1-5 and Mark saying “the beginning of the good news about Jesus” in Mark 1:1-8?

Acts 19:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples ² and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

³ So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”

“John’s baptism,” they replied.

⁴ Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” ⁵ On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. ⁷ There were about twelve men in all.

⁸ Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. ⁹ But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. ¹⁰ This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

Where did Paul find some disciples (verse 1)?

How did they respond to his question “did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed” (verse 2)?

What baptism had they received (verse 3)?

In your opinion, how did John’s baptism prepare the people to “believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus” (verse 4)?

What did the Ephesian disciples do when they heard about Jesus (verse 5)?

When did they speak in tongues and prophesy (verse 6)?

How many Ephesian disciples were there (verse 7)?

How long did Paul speak boldly in the synagogue (verse 8)?

Why did Paul leave the synagogue (verse 9)?

How long did Paul have discussions in the hall of Tyrannus (verses 9 and 10)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how is the prophecy of Malachi 3:1-5 about sending a messenger to prepare the way fulfilled by the actions of the twelve Ephesian disciples in Acts 19:1-10?

In your opinion, how is the prophecy of John the Baptist in Mark 1:1-8 about the One that would follow him proven true by the Ephesian disciples in Acts 19:1-10?

Ephesians 1:1-14 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹ he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

¹¹ In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹² in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. ¹³ And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

How does Paul describe himself (verse 1)?

Who is the source of the “grace and peace” that Paul salutes the Ephesian faithful with (verse 2)?

How had the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” blessed Paul and the Ephesian faithful (and the faithful of today as well) (verse 3)?

What were the faithful chosen to be (verse 4)?

How are the faithful adopted (verse 5)?

What has God our Father “freely given us in the One he loves” (verse 6)?

Through what do the faithful have redemption (verse 7)?

What mystery is going to be accomplished in Christ when the times reach their fulfillment (verses 9 and 10)?

How does the plan of the One who chose the faithful work out (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “be for the praise of his glory” (verse 12)?

When are the faithful “included in Christ” (verse 13)?

What does the deposit of the Holy Spirit guarantee (verses 13 and 14)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the sorcerers, adulterers, perjurers, defrauders, oppressors and people who deprive foreigners of justice who the Lord Almighty will testify against in Malachi 3:1-5 and the “faithful in Christ Jesus” and those who were marked with a seal “the promised Holy Spirit” in Ephesians 1:1-14?

In your opinion, how does Ephesians 1:1-14 help us understand the power of the One that John the Baptist said in Mark 1:1-8 was coming after him?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s introduction to his letter in Ephesians 1:1-14 illustrate what resulted from the first twelve disciples receiving the baptizim of the Lord Jesus in Acts 19:1-10?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Malachi, Mark, Acts and Ephesians help us understand about how to move from worrying about the Lord’s coming to have grace and peace “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”?

How can we join Mark in proclaiming “good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)