Hearing God speak to you personally through the Bible

—Mark 1:1–20

Andrew Fountain – Sept 10, 2017

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Mark in a Month

To show you a method for daily Bible readings that you can try out for yourself
To encourage you to listen to God through the Bible
To help you get started with Mark
(Actually it’s slightly more than a month)

Regular Bible reading is a struggle for more Christians than would like to admit it

What goes wrong with Bible reading?

Two examples

Ambitious plans
Pre-packaged food

Purpose: communion with God

What often happens is something like this.
- We get enthused about the need to read the Bible each day and begin with great gusto.
- The first morning finds us up early with our Bibles, commentaries and notebooks, and we make a truly determined start.
- The next morning may go well too, but it is not long before we find the pace too hot.
- We begin to get bogged down by study notes/commentaries, or by the sheer quantity of Scripture we have set ourselves to read.
- We never seem to get anything personal or helpful at all from the time we spend with the Bible.
- Soon, we get behind in our reading schedule, and then discouraged, and before long our readings have stopped altogether.
Reason: The purpose is not primarily to come to a better understanding of the truth
- That is a very important thing, but not what we are doing here
- It’s good to have other times in our lives when we dig in to some serious study
- But the emphasis here is more about listening to God
- Don’t misunderstand me, both of these should always happen—it’s the emphasis
Another common situation is where we turn to the help of prepared daily Bible reading notes.
- We tell ourselves that it will be easier when we have something to help us each day.
- But what happens? We become so dependent upon our notes that we never really get to think for ourselves.
- Soon we find our Bible reading has degenerated into a lifeless ritual.
Reason: it’s not about reading how God was speaking to someone else, but to us!
Source of the problems
- Most of the problems in our Bible reading come from a misunderstanding of some basic principles.

Principles

Need for the Holy Spirit “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” 1 Co 2:12
The Spirit helps us understand
Need to meditate on the Word (Psalm 1:2) – be mindfulness not mindlessness

The first principle we must recognize is that we need the Holy Spirit in order to understand God’s Word (1 Cor 2:14).
- It is important to pray before reading
- And what is more, to remain dependent upon God to help us as we read.
- We must realize how easily we can miss the true meaning of a passage, or read our own thoughts into it.
- There must be a submissive dependence on God to open his truth to us, by his Spirit.
A second principle is that the Holy Spirit speaks to us in the Scriptures via our understanding
- The Scriptures are not like a superstitious magic charm—we do not wear verses on an amulet to get a blessing from them
- The Spirit helps us to understand: “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” 1Cor 2:12
A third and most neglected principle is that we must take time to think or meditate upon or “soak” in what we are reading.
- So easy to read mindlessly, especially if you know the story
- “Meditation” conjures up the image of an eastern mystic sitting cross legged, but the meaning of the expression in the Bible is to turn thoughts over in our mind, pondering them, and asking ourselves what they mean and what the implications are.
- This is usually when the Spirit works to help us understand what he is saying to us and how it applies to our hearts.
- King David said he meditated day and night on the Scriptures (Psalm 1:2)

A Suggested Solution

Seven Steps

Matthew 5:13–16

Mark 1:1-20

Mark 1:1–20

Jesus comes preaching a new Kingdom

Isaiah prophesied someone to prepare the way
John preached repentance but pointed to someone greater and the coming of the Spirit
Jesus was baptized, received the Spirit & the Father’s love
The Spirit led Jesus into conflict
Jesus preached the Kingdom
He called fishermen to follow him

Mark 1:1–20 cont’d

Context: For centuries the world had been waiting for this moment
Message: Jesus is different. Does not compare with John B. If he called you, would you drop everything & follow him?
Me: I say “Yes, Lord!” —I drop everything and willingly give myself to you!