Life At The Ridge

Marks gospel account is many snapshots of Jesus. We see Jesus going and doing. It really emphasizes Jesus as the suffering servant. Today we are going to see 3 snapshots of Jesus’ ministry in three events. All three of these involve Jesus and the Pharisees and there are three questions that are asked of Jesus. The Pharisees question Jesus’ motives, His leadership, and His authority. In these three events and questions we see one answer to the Pharisee’s questions. The answer is basically that Jesus is Lord.

Here in chapter 2 God is going to get a little more specific and point out the problem of what these people were doing which was covetousness and corruption. In vs 1-5 we will see Micah points the finger at those who were in the government. These were the guys that were in positions of power. In vs 6-11 Micah points the finger at the prophets. These were the religious leaders.

In the opening chapter of Micah 1, we get a courtroom scene where God is calling the whole earth into His courtroom. God tells us that He is coming and when He comes it's not going to be a pretty picture. What can we do and how should we respond to His coming?

Micah is a prophet whose name means "who is like the Lord" In this book we are told some reasons why God is going to allow His nation to be destroyed by the Assyrians in 723 B.C and by the Babylonians in 586 B.C

In this portion of Scripture Jesus heals the man that was carried by four men and let down through a roof. A miracle takes place in the man picking up his bed and walking, but Jesus teaches us that the healing was not the greater miracle.

In this final chapter God tells us exactly why Nineveh is deserving of His judgement. God will destroy all of His enemies, but we must not forget who the real enemy is.

Why does God destroy His enemies? Why was Nineveh going to be destroyed? How would Nineveh be destroyed? Nahum chapter 2 outlines for us God's destruction of His enemies.

Does God's wrath make you feel uncomfortable? Is God really that mean? In the book of Nahum we are going to see a full display of God's judgement against the city of Nineveh.

As we begin to work our way through the book of Nahum, it's important to understand the historical setting and background.

In this section of Mark we see Jesus touching the lives of several people and having power to heal.

Jon Sparks gave this message out of the life of David as to why David lost his way and some helpful lessons on how to stay on the path that pleases God.

These last few verses of the book of Jonah are comprised of some questions God has for Jonah. We find that Jonah still has some much needed heart surgery to be accomplished. God asks Jonah these questions to deal with his heart issues and change his perspective.

So here’s Jonah, he has just seen an entire nation, an entire city repent at a very simple but straight message about repentance. We might think OK show’s over, this was a great triumph! Jonah probably is happy by this point. Jonah’s probably thinking I can go home now, mission is over. But that's not what we're going to find in chapter 4. Chapter 4 actually tells us otherwise. It tells us that Jonah was angry. So there is a huge problem in Jonah’s heart and God is going to instruct Jonah through His grace that is going to hopefully help Jonah grow in his understanding who God is.

Jesus has tremendous authority and power. He has the power to rescue sinners from Satans dominion and take them from darkness to light.

The repentance and the grace of God is so fantastic to see in how the Ninevites responded to God's message. Not only did the Ninevites repent, but God did as well!

Through the preaching of Jonah the people of Ninevah repent. The people believed God and repented. Why is repentance necessary for God's grace? God shows great grace to this great city because they repented.

After Jonah was swallowed by the great fish, we hear him praying from inside the fishes belly. What did Jonah learn, what did he say?

Allan McGuire one of our Elders brought this message out of Mark for our Elder Series.

Vs 17 is a striking verse, as it reveals to us about God's sovereignty. The LORD prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, but we see a greater God who is at work in Jonah's life and is making all things to work together for good.

The LORD sent a great wind on the sea to pursue after His prodigal prophet. The LORD will send storms in our life to bring us back to Him.