"Do not just hear the Word of God and think hearing is enough. DO what it says!" James 1:22

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Mark Lesson 14

MARK 11:27-12:44

Take ten seconds to look over the sentence below
and count the number of "F's" you see.
DO NOT take more than ten seconds.
DO NOT read the sentence.
DO NOT go through it more than once.
Keep your answer to yourself.



The sign above was presented to the students today before our Wrap Up to Lesson 14.

Our CBS lesson this week is PACKED with life lessons.  Because of our time restraint, there is simply no way for us to address each of the life lessons God would have us learn from Lesson 14.  Let's "skim" over each life lesson and then we will decide which one to address...

In the first part of our lesson (Mark 11:27-33), Jesus had His authority challenged by the chief priests, scribes, and elders of the church.  This is nothing new in our study of Mark.  Remember, even the disciples are having a difficult time realizing Jesus IS God as well as man.
So we'll skip over that life lesson.

Next we hear Jesus give the parable of the tenants (Mark 12:1-12).  How many of you have heard this parable before?  Lots of us... so we'll skip this one also.

Our lesson next addresses Jesus speaking about taxes and the government (Mark 12:13-17.)  We all know the question about paying taxes was just another attempt by the Pharisees and Herodians to trap Jesus and turn Him over to the Roman government.  And let's face it... this isn't the first time the leaders have tried to trap Jesus.  Since we know all about that,
we'll move on to the next part of our study.

In Mark 12:18-27, the Sadducees decide to ask Jesus about the resurrection.  Seriously?  There's really no reason for us to linger on this part of our lesson because everyone knows the Sadducees didn't even BELIEVE in the resurrection!  So why in the world were they asking Jesus about it?!
Moving on...

Ooh, now this is a great life lesson part of our study... the two most important commandments (Mark 12:28-34.)  Who can tell me what Jesus said were the two most important commandments?  (Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength... and love your neighbor as yourself -Mark 12:30-31)  There you have it!  Everyone has heard this time and time again so there's really no need for us to go into detail on this life lesson since
we don't have time to touch on each and every part of Lesson 14.
Let's go to the next part.

The next part of our lesson has a "warning" from Jesus in it.  Perhaps we should stay here and focus on this warning.  Warnings do help keep us safe and we are to listen wisely when Jesus gives us a warning.  But the last part of our lesson really touches my heart and I can't help but think God wants me to focus my Wrap Up on the life lesson He has in the last part of Lesson 14.

How many of you know the story of the lady who gave her only two small coins into the church offering (Mark 12:41-44?)  Practically all of us know this story!
I guess we don't really need to discuss it then since
nearly all of us have heard it and
most likely understand it has to do with how much we give to the church.


How many of you counted one “F” in the sign I showed you earlier?  How many counted two “F’s?”  Three?  Four?  How about five “F’s?”  And how many counted six “F’s?”  Did anyone count seven “F’s?”  Let’s go through the sign together.  There are SIX “F’s” in this sentence.  Most of you counted ONLY THREE.  What’s funny about this sign is that it is the same for nearly everyone who sees it… most everyone only sees three “F’s.”
It’s curious how our brain misses things when we only “skim over” them.

Remember this… my Swiss Army Knife?  If I only use the knife part of my Swiss Army Knife and never open all of the other cool tools, I will never know how extremely useful ALL of the tools really are.  It’s the same for our Bibles.  If we only open our Bibles when we are working on our CBS lesson and never spend time simply reading it outside of doing our CBS lesson, we will never know how extremely useful it can be in our lives.  And if we only “skim over” it
(like we did with our Wrap Up or like you did when  you skimmed over the “F” sentence,)
we miss the MANY life lessons God has for us to learn.
Many times God uses the stories we have heard the most
to teach us the most valuable lessons of all.

I encourage you to read over Lesson 14 again this week BEFORE you begin Lesson 15.  Ask God to make it brand new for you.  It may sound like “more work” to do but if you look at it as simply spending time in God’s Word, it won’t seem like work at all.  Will you do this?  Will you spend time in God’s Word this week aside from doing your CBS lesson?

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