Mark Study – Lesson 7 Application Questions

  1. Jesus often withdrew to pray, despite the relentless demands of the crowd (Mark 3:9-10). Reflect on your current prayer life. What distractions keep you from spending focused time with God, and how can you prioritize prayer to strengthen your relationship with Him?

  2. In Mark 3:22-27, Jesus challenges the accusation that His work is of Satan by explaining that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. How can this principle apply to your own relationships or personal integrity? Are there areas in your life where division or inconsistency is preventing unity or growth?

  3. Jesus redefines family as those who do the will of God (Mark 3:31-35). What “idols” or misplaced loyalties (e.g., family, career, reputation) might be competing with your devotion to God? How can you re-align your priorities to put God above all else?

Lesson 7 Outline – Scott

Opening Remarks

  • Introduction and context before the election
    • Importance of faith over political outcomes
    • Prayer for leaders and the country
  • Reminder of the teachings on Jesus’ power and authority

Overview of Mark Chapter 3:7-35

  • Review of recent lessons and introduction to this chapter
  • Visualization of scenes from the narrative
    • Healing on the Sabbath
    • Crowds seeking Jesus
    • Family’s concern about Jesus
    • Accusations by the scribes
    • Jesus’ response about his true family

Key Themes

Pressure

  • Jesus faces immense pressure from various groups
  • Sources of Pressure
    • Followers seeking healing
    • Religious leaders feeling threatened
    • Disciples trying to understand his mission
    • Jesus’ humanity under pressure
  • Jesus’ response: retreating to pray and selecting disciples

Identity

  • Common views of Jesus’ identity
    • Some consider him a teacher or myth
    • Family thinks he is out of his mind
    • Scribes accuse him of being possessed
  • C.S. Lewis’ perspective on Jesus’ identity
  • Jesus’ response to accusations
    • Refuting claims of demonic possession
    • Warning against blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

… it’s not about specific actions like cursing, murder, or adultery, but rather the persistent, willful rejection of the Holy Spirit’s testimony about Jesus’ divinity and role as Savior. It involves repeatedly choosing to deny the truth of the Gospel, calling light darkness and vice versa. The warning is particularly directed at those who know and understand the message of Christ but continue to ignore it. The focus is on a continuous, habitual rejection, not a one-time lapse, underscoring a deep and ongoing refusal to accept Christ.

Call

  • Jesus’ true family: those who do God’s will
  • Definition of God’s will: desire for all to be saved
  • Personal call to each individual

Applications

  • Practical responses to pressure
    • Quiet, pray, involve others
  • Reflection questions
    • Where are you with Christ?
      • Encouragement to accept the gospel
      • Support available from leaders and small groups
    • How to help those who have wandered
      • Use love and prayer rather than logic to reach out
      • Importance of kindness in bringing others back to faith

Closing Prayer

  • Blessing for those listening and engaging in group discussions

Outline Summary of Lesson 6 Lecture on Spiritual Warfare

1. Introduction and Background

  • Speaker: Jim Erickson, filling in for Mike Crawford.
  • Acknowledgement: Diverse Christian views on spiritual warfare.
  • Purpose: To understand and respond effectively to spiritual warfare.

2. Main Goals and Approach

  • Objective: To help believers discern and respond effectively to spiritual warfare.
  • Categories of Belief: Avoiding extremes – “ditches” of dismissiveness and hyper-spiritualism.

3. Three-Part Framework for Addressing Spiritual Warfare

  • Determine: Assess if one leans toward dismissiveness or hyper-spiritualism.
  • Calibrate: Align perspectives with Scripture; identify root causes of temptations.
  • Respond: Take action based on accurate spiritual diagnosis and Biblical guidance.

4. Understanding Spiritual Warfare

  • Definition: Opposition to God’s work by demons and Satan.
  • Key Points:
    • Spiritual warfare persists post-resurrection.
    • Not all temptations stem from demonic influence.
  • Purpose of Demonic Activity: To destroy, deceive, and distract believers from God’s work.

5. Types of Temptation

  • Four main sources:
    • Fallen nature (flesh)
    • Fallen world and its culture
    • Lies or untruths
    • Spiritual warfare (demonic influence)

6. Practical Application for Recognizing Spiritual Warfare

  • Triage Approach: Discern sources of temptations.
  • Biblical Counsel:
    • Physical urges: Practical responses (e.g., distraction or exercise).
    • Mental/ideational temptations: Met with truth and Biblical thought.
    • Direct spiritual warfare: Involves prayer, focus on Jesus, and brotherly support.

7. Responding to Spiritual Warfare

  • Steps Outlined in Workbook (pages 59-61):
    • Fix focus on Jesus’ sovereignty over all spiritual realms.
    • Submit to God’s authority; resist the devil.
    • Seek fellowship support for prayer and accountability.

8. Closing Encouragement

  • Emphasis: Brotherhood and mutual support.
  • Goal: Application-oriented approach to foster group discussion and personal reflection.

Seaside Prayers

Excerpt from The Red Sea Rules: 10 God-Given Strategies for Difficult Times by Robert J. Morgan

Some situations have offered me just two options—I could either panic or pray. My tendency is to panic, like the Israelites by the Red Sea or the disciples on the Sea of Galilee. I’ve had my share of hyperventilating, heart-racing panic attacks. But the Lord has spent years trying to show me that prayer is the means by which I can, if I choose, stay even-tempered, self-possessed, cool-headed, and strong-spirited, even in a crisis.

When we can’t press forward, move sideward, or step backward, it’s time to look upward and to ask God to make a way. In a time of uncertainty, the patriarch Jacob said, “Let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone” (Gen. 35:3).

Referring to his days as a fugitive, David wrote, “In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried out to my God. He heard my voice from His temple” (2 Sam. 22:7). The writer of Psalm 107 declared,

They cry out to the LORD in their trouble, And He brings them out of their distresses.
He calms the storm,
So that its waves are still. (vv. 28–29)

That’s just what happened as the Israelites cried out to God at the Red Sea, except there the waves became trembling walls of water, held back by invisible dams.

I’m not talking now about our regular, daily quiet-time prayer habits, important as they are; I’m talking about crisis-time prayers. Prayers of importunity and intensity. Prayers during life-threatening or soul-shattering events. “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matt. 17:21). “Pray hard and long,” Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:18 (The Message). The Israelites were in crisis in Exodus 14, and their seaside cry was

  • urgent,
  • united,
  • unfeigned,
  • but unbelieving.

The urgency of their prayer was obvious, evidenced by the verb cried. I had a friend in college who gave me a little booklet her father, Cameron Thompson, had written, titled Master Secrets of Prayer. My copy is now underlined and tattered, but I still treasure it and have these words underlined:

There comes a time, in spite of our soft, modern ways, when we must be desperate in prayer, when we must wrestle, when we must be outspoken, shameless and importunate. Many of the prayers recorded in Scripture are “cries,” and the Hebrew and Greek words are very strong. Despite opinions to the contrary, the Bible recognizes such a thing as storming heaven—“praying through.” The fervent prayer of a righteous man is mighty in its working.

I remember such times in my own life—when my father suffered a heart attack, when a job possibility blew up in my face, when a friend was overdosing on cocaine, when my child got involved in the wrong crowd. There was little I could do except plead with God. Sometimes these prayers are prolonged. Twice in my life I’ve spent the entire night in prayer.

Other times, however, my prayers are quite short. I’ve recently learned a new prayer technique from the writings of missionary Amy Carmichael. She learned it from the famous Bible teacher Dr. F. B. Meyer, who once told her that as a young man he had been irritable and hot-tempered. An older gentleman advised him to look up at the moment of temptation and say, “Thy sweetness, Lord.”

Amy Carmichael developed many variations of that prayer. When meeting someone she didn’t like, she would silently pray, “Thy love, Lord.” In a crisis, she’d whisper, “Thy help, Lord,” or “Thy wisdom, Lord.”

Sometimes when I’m worried, I just lift my heart to heaven and say, “Lord . . . ,” followed by the name of one for whom I’m concerned.

Looking back over the years, I’ve never faced a crisis in which, in response to earnest prayer, whether prolonged or instant, God didn’t make a way. James 5:16 tells us: “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results” (NLT). That’s the great secret of those who put their hands in the hand of the One who can part the seas. United

Morgan, Robert J. . The Red Sea Rules: 10 God-Given Strategies for Difficult Times (pp. 40-44). HarperCollins Christian Publishing.

HEBREWS 6:9-20 When Dealing with Doubts… Remember

Doubts are question marks that often punctuate what should be clear statements of theological fact or unquestioned imperatives of moral truth. For those who are immature in their faith or who have grown sluggish in responding to spiritual things, doubts can drive them into despair. But they don’t need to! For those who are willing to remember the character and promises of God, doubts can serve as mere ellipses . . . pauses in the walk of faith that serve to turn our attention heavenward toward God, who alone is able to give us hope in the midst of despair, assurance in the midst of uncertainty, and confidence in the midst of questioning.

What do we do when the storm clouds roll in and cast shadows of doubt over the landscape of our lives? When on stormy seas, the tendency is to focus on the wind and the waves rather than on the Lord. That was Peter’s problem when the Lord had called him to walk with Him on the turbulent water. When Peter took his eyes off Jesus —the Forerunner and Anchor in the midst of the churning sea —he began to sink in fear (Matt. 14:27-31).

Amid the storms of our own lives, God gives us an anchor for the soul (Heb. 6:19). When doubt says, “Only a fool would believe these things,” remember: “It is impossible for God to lie” (6:18). When doubt tells you, “God has abandoned me,” remember “the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath” (6:17). Even though the circumstances around you may continue to pummel you with painful blows, you can have a quiet confidence that God has a purpose, that He’s in control, and that your soul is anchored firmly in the heavenly realm.

Excerpt From
Insights on Hebrews (Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary Book 12)
Charles R. Swindoll

Jesus – Superior in Our Own Lives

Charles Swindoll on Hebrews 3:6b


The superiority of Jesus will do us no good if we don’t place Him as superior in our own lives. This was the problem facing these Jewish Christians. They were tempted to abandon their Messiah and go back to Moses. This would have been a disaster, a step backward to an inferior ministry. Never forgetting his purpose in writing, the author of Hebrews emphasizes, in the second part of Hebrews 3:6, his readers’ response to the superiority of Jesus.

He reminds them, first, that we-believers in Jesus Christ—are the household over which Christ rules as Son (Hebrews 3:6). However, the author seems to place a conditional element on this promise: “If we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.” At first blush, this verse seems to say that if we fail to hold on to our faith and hope in Christ, then we could somehow be kicked out of God’s house-hold, disowned, or disinherited. Does this mean our salvation is contingent on our subsequent faithfulness? Absolutely not.

The conditional construction, indicated by “if,” has different meanings. Sometimes it does indicate a conditional relationship, as in the phrase, “If you eat your broccoli, then you can have dessert.” The implication is: If you don’t eat up, no dessert for you! But it doesn’t lead to that person becoming a real musician in the same way that, in the other example, eating broccoli enables one to have dessert. This is how the author is using the term here. He’s saying that the continuance of faith and hope is proof of the reality of a person’s authentic membership in the family of God.

Now, we shouldn’t obsess over a little segment of a person’s life in which they go astray, have a lapse, or fall down and struggle to get up. All of us have dips and rises on the bumpy ride of spiritual growth. However, we can look at the life as a whole, see how a person’s life ends, and observe the evidences of true Christianity. That’s proof that there’s a reality there that backs up the claim. And if a person who claims to be a Christian appears to utterly fall away and fails to endure in faith and hope until the end of their life, then perhaps that person had never been a member of the family of God in the beginning.

Those who are truly in the household of faith live under the Father’s roof and the Son’s watchful eye. However, they are not immune to stumbling, tripping, and even falling flat on their faces. We never cease to be frail, fallen, and vulnerable people, saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. But those who are true believers—and therefore members of the household of faith—have Christ as their high priest. He ministers like no one else can. He is able to catch us when we stumble, steady us when we trip, and pick us up when we fall. He strengthens us in our frailty, forgives us when we fail, and comforts us in our weaknesses. If we endure in this faith and hope —with Christ at our side—to the end, then it will be manifest to all that we truly are members of His household.
This message was something the Hebrew believers desperately needed to hear. Some had fallen; others were teetering; others may have been reaching out for something to steady their tottering faith.

The author points them to Christ-superior to all others, even superior to Moses. All they needed to do was reassert their faith and hope, their confidence in Him-not good works, not spiritual disciplines, not striving to make themselves more worthy in God’s eyes, but confidence in Christ. Behind this hopeful message, however, was the hint of a warning. If they didn’t endure in their faith, but rather abandoned their Messiah and ran back to Moses, their claims to be members of God’s household would be suspect. Only by getting right with Christ would their identity as God’s children be assured.

Excerpt From Insights on Hebrews (Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary Book 12) Charles R. Swindoll

Why Fear?

JUNE 28

If God is in control of every aspect of your world and his grace covers all your sin, why would you ever give way to fear?

There are many things I wish were true about me:

I wish I could say that I’m never afraid, but I can’t.

I wish I could say that worry never interrupts my sleep, but I can’t.

I wish I could say that I never wonder what God is doing, but I can’t.

I wish I could say that I never give way to envy, but I can’t.

I wish I could say that I am always aware that God is near, but I can’t.

I wish I could say that I never wonder, “If only_______,” but I can’t.

I wish I could say that I never dread what’s around the corner, but I can’t.

I wish I could say that I always have peace in my heart, but I can’t.

I wish I could say that all that I do is done out of faith and not fear, but I can’t.

You see, I have come to be very aware that although I know the Bible and its doctrine well, the battle between fear and faith still goes on in my heart. Here’s what this means at street level. It is important to understand why fear still lives in the life of a believer in the hallways, kitchens, bedrooms, family rooms, workrooms, and vans of everyday life. You could argue that he or she has every reason to be free of fear, that fear should be an artifact of a former civilization. So why the continued struggle with fear?

Fear lives and rules in the heart of a believer who has forgotten God’s sovereignty and grace. If left to myself, I should be afraid. There are many trials, temptations, dangers, and enemies in this fallen world that are bigger and more powerful than me. I have to deal with many things that are outside my control. But the message of the gospel is that I haven’t been left to myself, that Immanuel is with me in sovereign authority and powerful grace. He rules with perfect wisdom over all the circumstances and locations that would make me afraid. In grace, he blesses me with what I need to face what he has decided to put on my plate. I am never–in anything, anywhere, at any time–by myself. I never arrive on scene first. I never step into a situation that exists outside his control. I never move beyond the reach of his authority. He is never surprised by where I end up or by what I am facing. He never leaves me to the limited resources of my own wisdom, strength, and righteousness. He never grows weary with protecting and providing for me. He will never abandon me out of frustration. I do not need to be afraid. When you forget God’s sovereignty and his grace, you give room in your heart for fear to do its nasty, debilitating work. Pray right now for grace to remember. Your sovereign Savior loves to hear and answer.

For further study and encouragement: Isaiah 44:1–8

Excerpt From

New Morning Mercies

Tripp, Paul David

The Danger of Wealth Without Humility

A great reminder for Charles Swindoll:

In 1923, an elite group of businessmen met at the luxurious Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. The roster included some of the most influential, famous, and wealthy moguls of the early twentieth century. These men were among them:

  • Charles M. Schwab—president of Bethlehem Steel Corporation
  • Richard Whitney—president of the New York Stock Exchange
  • Albert Fall—Secretary of the Interior under President Harding
  • Jesse Livermore—Wall Street tycoon
  • Ivar Kreuger—head of a global monopoly of match manufacturers

These heavy hitters controlled more wealth than the total assets of the United States Treasury at the time. Surely these men would become models of the entrepreneurial spirit and stellar examples of financial success. But fast-forward about twenty-five years or so and look back on the courses of their lives:

  • Schwab—died $300,000 in debt in 1939
  • Whitney—served time at Sing Sing prison for embezzlement
  • Fall—served time for misconduct in office, leaving behind a ruined reputation
  • Livermore—committed suicide in 1940, describing himself as “a failure”
  • Kreuger—shot himself in 1932 after his global monopoly collapsed

Buried beneath the rubble of humiliation, defeat, crime, sickness, and financial collapse, these men—along with a number of their colleagues—died in a depressing, pitiable condition. Their wealth, power, and prestige did nothing to soothe the personal anxiety and guilt they suffered in life. The reality is that great intelligence and hard work can make a person wealthy. But it takes God-given wisdom and supernatural humility to be able to manage wealth and influence.

In 3:13–5:6, James develops the theme that real faith produces genuine humility. We’ve already heard James remind us that our goodness comes from God-given wisdom, not our own (3:13-18). He called us to turn to God, not ourselves, for peaceful relationships (4:1-10). And he warned us against playing God instead of submitting to God’s sovereignty (4:11-17). Now, James rails against the pride that so easily deludes the wealthy of this world (5:1-6). In each case, James encourages God-enabled humility.

Insights On James, 1 & 2 Peter: 13 (Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary, Charles Swindoll

Do You Value What God Values?

From Paul David Tripp on life’s trials:

When hardship comes your way, will you tell yourself it’s a tool of God’s grace and a sign of his love, or will you give in to doubting his goodness?

If you are not on God’s redemptive agenda page, you will end up doubting his goodness. One of the most important questions you could ask is: “What is God doing in the here and now?” The follow-up question is also important: “How should I respond to it?” It is nearly impossible to think about life properly and to live appropriately if you are fundamentally confused about what God is doing. If someone were to ask you the first of those two questions, how would you respond? Are you tracking with God’s agenda? Are you after what God’s after? Are you living in a way that is consistent with what God is doing? Do you struggle with questions of God’s love, faithfulness, wisdom, and goodness? Do you ever envy the life of another? Do you sometimes feel alone? Do you fall into thinking that no one understands what you’re going through? Are you ever plagued by doubts as to whether Christianity is true after all? If you aren’t struggling with these things, are you near someone who is?

Here’s the bottom line. Right here, right now, God isn’t so much working to deliver to you your personal definition of happiness. He’s not committed to give you a predictable schedule, happy relationships, or comfortable surroundings. He hasn’t promised you a successful career, a nice place to live, and a community of people who appreciate you. What he has promised you is himself, and what he brings to you is the zeal of his transforming grace. No, he’s not first working on your happiness; he’s committed to your holiness. That doesn’t mean he is offering you less than you’ve hoped for, but much, much more. In grace, he is intent on delivering you from your greatest, deepest, and most long-term problem: sin. He offers you gifts of grace that transcend the moment, that literally are of eternal value. He has not unleashed his power in your life only to deliver to you things that quickly pass away and that have no capacity at all to satisfy your heart.

This means that often when you are tempted to think that God is loving you less because your life is hard, he is actually loving you more. The hardships that you are facing are the tool of his exposing, forgiving, liberating, and transforming grace. These hard moments aren’t in your life because God is distant and uncaring, but rather because he loves you so fully. These moments become moments of faith and not doubt when by grace you begin to value what God says is truly valuable. Do you value what God values?

Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014).

Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.

Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.

So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.

James 1:12–18 (The Message)

The Possibility of Faith

Paul Tripp guides our thinking regarding faith…

God hasn’t just forgiven you—praise him that he has—but he has also called you to a brand-new way of living. He has called you to live by faith. Now, here’s the rub. Faith is not normal for us. Faith is frankly a counterintuitive way for us to live. Doubt is quite natural for us. Wondering what God is doing is natural. It’s normal to think your life is harder than that of others. Envying the life of someone else is natural. Wishing life were easier and that you had more control is natural. It’s typical for you and me to try to figure out the future. Worry is natural. Fear is natural. Wanting to give up is natural. It’s natural to wonder if all of your good habits make a difference in the end. It’s normal to be occasionally haunted by the question of whether what you have staked your life on is really true. But faith isn’t natural.

This means that faith isn’t something you can work up inside yourself. Faith comes to you as God’s gift of grace: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). Not only is your salvation a gift of God, but the faith to embrace it is his gift as well. But here is what you need to understand: God not only gives you the grace to believe for your salvation, but he also works to enable you to live by faith. If you are living by faith, you know that you have been visited by powerful transforming grace, because that way of living just isn’t normal for you and me. If your way of living is no longer based on what your eyes can see and your mind can understand, but on God’s presence, promises, principles, and provisions, it is because God has crafted faith in you.

Could it be that all of those things that come your way that confuse you and that you never would’ve chosen for yourself are God’s tools to build your faith? By progressive transforming grace, he is enabling you to live the brand-new life he calls all of his children to live—the Godward life for which you were created. You don’t have to hide in guilt when weak faith gets you off the path, because your hope in life isn’t your faithfulness, but his. You can run in weakness and once again seek his strength. And you can know that in zealous grace he will not leave his craftwork until faith fully rules your heart unchallenged. He always gives freely what we need in order to do what he has called us to do.

Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014), 53.