And Then What Happened? | What's the Point? | Mark 3 | Week 3

If you don't know me, my name is Aaron Bjorklund.  I am the Creative Arts Pastor and that means I'm usually up here leading singing.  Today I have the privilege of bringing the Scriptures and I'm really excited about that.  Over the past three weeks, we've started a series through the gospel of Mark entitled "And Then What Happened?"  I love this title for the gospel of Mark, because it sort of encapsulates how the gospel of Mark feels when you read it.  The gospel of Mark is sort of the highest pace, highest energy kind of gospel we have of the account of Jesus's life.  Mark is so excited to share with us what it looks like for the kingdom of God to unfold in time and space, and he's just riled up.  So he curates all these stories of what it looks like for the kingdom to unfold, and then he says, "And this happened and immediately this thing happened and then this thing over here happened and this happened."  And the natural question for us is alright, Mark, we get it.  And then what happened?  

Pastor Larry shared with us in week one that we're going to be looking at gospel to find out what it looks like for the kingdom of God to unfold in time and space.  We're going to look at it through the lens of 'Who Jesus is / What Jesus does / What Jesus invites us into.'  That's what Mark is trying to teach us.  What Jesus does is really important to Mark.  He's all about showing us, not that Jesus just talks the talk but that Jesus walks the walk.  Ultimately, in this gospel, what does Jesus invite us into.  We'll pick up the story in Mark 3 today.  But before we begin, I'd like to pray.  Father God, I thank you so much for the gift of your Word.  I thank you that you are so concerned with leaving your church with directions on how we are to engage the situations of life.  That you gave us not only the revelations of your Scriptures, but, Jesus, that you came.  You came in flesh and blood to show us what it looks like to inaugurate a kingdom, to restore creation, to restore humanity.  Lord, would you open our eyes as we look at your Scriptures this morning, and would you teach us exactly what you want us to learn so that we can become a little bit more like you, Jesus, because that's what this world needs.  It doesn't need more words, it doesn't need so many of the other things that concern us, it needs us to look a little bit more like you.  That's my desire, Lord.  Would you make that happen?  Would you take your Word and press it into our hearts, we pray?   In your beautiful name.  Amen.