Welcome to Timeless Truth with Pastor Jim Thomas. In season 2, Pastor Jim is leading us in a study of Mark. Today’s passage is Mark 7:14-23.
“All the water in the oceans cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside. Nor can all the trouble in the world harm us unless it gets within us.”
– Eugene Peterson
The Heart of the Matter v. 14-23
- Christ summons us.
- Christ summons us to listen and that with a desire to understand.
- Christ summoned them/us to see that the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.
- We need a new heart, new affections, new priorities, etc.; not just new rules or a new religion. In the NT language of Jesus: We need to be born again, to receive a new life in His name. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
“The death of Christ in utter weakness would turn out to be the demonstration of the saving power of God that will ultimately destroy all powers of evil and violence. What a paradox! But it lies at the heart of the Gospel.”
– Christopher J. H. Wright, To the Cross: Proclaiming the Gospel from the Upper Room to Calvary
“It is the Bible that gives us the mandate, the message, the model, and the power we need for world evangelization. So let’s seek to repossess it by diligent study and meditation. Let’s heed its summons, grasp its message, follow its directions, and trust its power. Let’s lift up our voices and make it known.” –
John Stott, Christ the Cornerstone
“The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.”
– A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
