by Matthew Borgstrom | Jul 26, 2016 | Discipleship, Fear, Unbelief
Fearful Unbelief Mark 4:35-41 — 35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jul 18, 2016 | Biblical Fruit, Discipleship, Evangelism, Following Christ
Understanding the Kingdom So what’s the correlation to the kingdom of God in this parable in Mark 4:26-29? If we consider the context of the book of Mark it’s this: God is in complete control of the results of Jesus’ ministry and the same will be true for the results...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jul 13, 2016 | Evangelism, Expository Preaching, Following Christ, Obedience
Temptations to Hide the Truth Believers are to carry on the ministry of Christ, which is not primarily about hiding the truth, but revealing the light of the world in Christ. But why does Christ have to address this in Mark 4:21-25? In other words, why would hiding...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jul 7, 2016 | Following Christ, Humility, Obedience, Sanctification
Hearing But Not Listening We have discovered in Mark 4:1-20, that understanding the Lord’s teaching is a gift from the Lord as indicated in v.11, so if someone concludes that they are one of the bad soils or have some of those tendencies, is there anything they can do...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jun 29, 2016 | Discipleship, Following Christ, Holiness, Obedience
Determining Christ’s Family How does Christ determine who is in his family? Jesus could have mentioned any stipulation here in Mark 3:35–consistently coming to hear his words taught or finding him likable to the point of not thinking he’s a lunatic...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jun 23, 2016 | Discipleship, Following Christ, Holiness, Obedience
True Discipleship So unlike the crowds, these true disciples in Mark 3:13-19 experienced absolute temporal loss in that they left everything to follow him and this ended up costing them their lives. They became apostles; the foundation of the church, and the Lord used...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jun 20, 2016 | Following Christ, Heart Motives
Identifying Improper Motives for Seeking Christ Seeking Jesus with skewed motives is not only applicable before conversion. True Christians have to constantly check themselves in this category. You know you are seeking Jesus for the wrong reasons when something goes...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jun 9, 2016 | Compassion, Hypocrisy, Mercy, Righteous Anger
The Perfect Anger of Christ What appears next in Mark 3:5 is unrivaled anywhere else in the gospels in terms of a vivid description of how Christ views sin–v.5–He looks around at them with anger, which is the same word for wrath. This response from Christ...
by Matthew Borgstrom | May 29, 2016 | Humility, Poor In Spirit
Poor In Spirit We discussed extensively about how Mark 2:17 relates to conversion, but is this statement by Christ only applicable to those who are unconverted? Not at all. Professing and even genuine Christians can get to a point where they are tempted to think...
by Matthew Borgstrom | May 22, 2016 | Obedience, Perseverance
Persevering in Obedience How quickly do we let obstacles prevent us from believing in and obeying Christ? Sadly, doesn’t the slightest resistance easily get us off track? “He did this” or “She said that” or “I just can’t get over how I was mistreated” or...
