The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:21-25, 33-34 (day three)

“For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.”

There are no secrets that have ever done any good for any family, giving rise – always – to shame and confusion and despair. Secrets in a business setting lead to unethical, and often illegal, behavior. Within a government, secrets, though often presented as necessary for security purposes, will invite abuses of power which bring about large-scale suffering on a global scale. The kind of life that God lives, and therefore the kind of life that all inhabitants of the heavenly realm live, is a life devoid of any hiding. In God’s society, all things are good, and all persons have access to all things. This good news is the opposite of dark secrets.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:21-25, 33-34 (day two) And He was saying to them, “A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? v. 21

One of the central themes in the Advent season is light coming in to a dark world. This is the picture of Jesus who would come to conquer sin and death. That same light that was the savior lives within us. So much of the world will encourage us to dim that light. You may hear people telling you to ‘tone it down’. Light is meant to shine, to reveal, to brighten others with its radiance. Our goal should be to give the light every opportunity to do its job. Not to hinder or hide the wonder of Christ. You don’t need to ask permission to shine, you need to rely on Jesus to light up your heart and your life. People will notice. Some will be uncomfortable, and that says more about them than it does about you. Let your light shine.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:21-25, 33-34 (day one)

Join us as Senior Pastor Chris Johnson, Associate Pastor Aaron Hufty, and Associate Pastor Bryan Richardson walk us through Mark 4:21-25, 33-34 in our Winter Re:Verse Series: “reMARKable – The Journey Continues.”

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:1-20 (day seven)

and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary. v 17

This week we had our first freeze in San Antonio. Did you do anything to your plants? I pulled in our potted plants and covered some of my small tropical plants outside. It reminded me of the Snowmageddon of 2021. Can you remember all the plants that were destroyed by that freeze? The most fascinating to me were the palms. These trees can withstand hurricanes, but they were not made to endure a week of sub freezing temperatures. They all began to lose their palms. Every palm tree in the region was bare, but what happened? Some started to grow back. Within a few months on top of these 20 ft trees were some itty bitty palm leaves. Now, they are full again and you would never know they had endured trauma!

How do you respond to spiritual trauma? We all have it. Some show it differently than others, but it is still there. The answer to this question is found in the result. Are you able to continue to produce fruit when the world has taken everything from you? It may look like you have been defeated, but if the roots are deep, the fruit will still come!

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:1-20 (day six)

For Jesus, it was never about keeping the crowd; it was about reaching the few. This is a sobering truth. Too often, we invest heavily in maintaining the crowd while struggling to lead the few. We measure success by numbers—how many are in the audience, how many likes on Facebook, how many followers on Instagram—a mile wide and an inch deep.

But not Jesus. He wasn’t interested in shallow popularity. He was teaching his disciples how to fish for the few—those ready to follow, to surrender, to bear fruit for the Kingdom.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:1-20 (day five) When we read Jesus’ parables, we are often tempted to immediately try to resolve the tension. What I think helps us “listen/hear” better, is to first ask questions. With whom or with what do I identify most?  What may the parable be saying about me and a needed change in action or perspective?  How does this parable reveal what I think about God?

Jesus is the “Master Teacher” who uses parables to not only capture our imaginations but more deeply connect to and capture our hearts. It is at this second level that Jesus’ parables and the entire scriptures are meant to operate Hebrews 4:12.

Parables aren’t just stories that entertain; they’re agents of change. Jesus’s parables define and direct us in a way that gives us ownership in the journey. – Pierce Taylor Hibbs

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:1-20 (day four)

David Brooks, the famous Christian journalist, once said, “Rather than asking someone what they believe, ask them how they came to believe the way that they do.” This causes the other person to speak about themselves in a narrative. They might tell you about their upbringing, or formative experiences they had. The conversation often goes better when we frame something in a narrative, because narratives are the primary way that we see and experience the world.

We may not have an audible voice narrating our life like in the movies, but we often view ourselves as characters in a story that’s playing out in real time. This isn’t just a quirk of the human imagination, it’s how God designed for us to think and experience the world. We are part of a larger cosmic story of God’s work in the universe, a story that is revealed to us in Scripture and one in which we are certainly not the main character.

Jesus reflects this cosmic narrative by speaking to his followers in narrative. As Bryan said, Jesus is the master storyteller. My hope is that we will place ourselves in the stories we read in Mark and respond to Christ accordingly. This week, we find ourselves as seed among soil. Where are you in relation to the sower? What kind of soil do you find yourself in? What must happen in your life for the seed to take root and bear fruit? How does your place in this story reflect your place in the larger story of God’s work in the world?

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:1-20 (day three)

“Do you not understand this parable?”

This question Jesus asked his disciples reveals that not only did they not grasp the points of his parable, they also didn’t know how to listen to him. The things being taught (for instance: the way you live will influence your receptivity to wisdom) are important. But information transfer alone will never make a person fully aware of what is happening in real time. For that, you need a story, because only in a story can you begin to see how your experiences present you with opportunity or questions or temptation or new ways of living. While it might be true to say, “the concerns of this life will keep you from what’s really important,” that doesn’t intersect your life. Jesus said it better: “What feels like a weed growing out of control in you?”

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:1-20 (day two)  In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;  and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. v. 16-17 

Did you make New Years resolutions? How’s that working for you? Sorry, too soon? There is something about turning that calendar over that makes us re-think priorities, and to try and get a handle on areas of our life that we have either neglected or that have gone off the tracks. This is a good and cathartic practice, so why do they so often fail? Everything is well and good in theory, but we rarely weigh how entrenched we have become in our routines and patterns of life. To alter any area can take a seismic shift in our focus. Not impossible, but often more challenging to execute than anticipated. This is the kind of reaction Jesus warned against in this parable. We can see the benefits of fully trusting and following, but we have not counted the cost. It will take a seismic shift in our hearts that can only come from the intervention of the Holy Spirit. Don’t be discouraged, the Lord is in the soul tectonic shifting business. Trust him to plant those seeds in good soil, and let him work in your routines.