Mark 01: The Gospel in Motion

Mark's Gospel captures the ministry of Jesus with urgency and action, presenting him as a servant king who notices suffering and brings healing to the broken.

• Gospel of Mark likely written between 55-65 AD in Rome to primarily Gentile Christians
• Written by John Mark, companion of Peter, recording Peter's eyewitness testimony
• Shortest of the four gospels at 16 chapters and likely the first written
• Uses the word "immediately" over 40 times, emphasizing action and urgency
• Portrays Jesus as the servant king who suffers to save the world
• Shows Jesus constantly engaging with the hurting and demonstrating authority
• Highlights Jesus' power over demonic spirits as evidence of his Messianic identity
• Presents discipleship as action-oriented rather than merely intellectual
• Emphasizes that all believers have purpose: to know God and make Him known
• Theme verse: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me" (Mark 8:34)

Join us next time as we dive into Mark chapter 2 and continue exploring the Gospel in Motion!

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Chapters

• 0:48 Welcome to The Bible Breakdown Podcast
• 3:46 Background and Context of Mark's Gospel
• 10:20 Mark as Peter's Eyewitness Account
• 16:26 Four Gospels: Complementary Perspectives
• 16:42 Mark Chapter 1: The Gospel Begins
• 22:11 Jesus in Action: Healing and Teaching
• 26:32 The Gospel in Motion: Our Purpose

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, mark, chapter 1, and today's title is the Gospel in Motion. The Gospel in Motion.

Speaker 1: 0:38

I absolutely love the Gospel of Mark, but I am not so sure why. But I didn't read the Gospel of Mark when I was growing up. That much I read the book of Matthew and especially the book of John, and I love those. But the book of Mark was one of those that when I started to read it, it felt like it was brand new and fresh and that was a wonderful, wonderful experience for me. And so, no matter how many times you either have or haven't read the gospel of Mark, my prayer is by the time we are finished with this, maybe it'll be your favorite gospel, and we'll get into that in just a moment. One of my favorite things is we always get into kind of the background before we do. But while you're getting your Bibles ready, getting any kind of notes ready, getting your coffee ready, get your popcorn ready, whatever it is you want to do, make sure you take just a moment, if you're new around here, to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast. It really does help. And make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown discussion on Facebook. It's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job and you can get links to all of that podcast YouTube channel and the Facebook group at thebiblebreakdowncom. Okay, all right.

Speaker 1: 1:42

Well, once again, one of the things we love to do is just dive into the book before we do it, because there's this, there's this word. The $10 word is called ethnocentrism, and what that means is is we tend to look at everything else based on the culture or timeframe that we live in right now. Right, and so we think about it. And right now, if you live in United States of America, if I were to say that the Patriots are going to play the Rams at the Super Bowl, you would know that means two professional football players and that's American football rather than soccer for people in Europe. Two American football teams are going to play at a big game called the Super Bowl. But now, if you were to fast forward 100 years and say that the Patriots are playing the Rams at the Super Bowl, they would think that some very patriotic people were fighting a bunch of animals in a big bowl, you wouldn't get it at all right Because you don't live during the time.

Speaker 1: 2:44

Well, one of the reasons why we do a lot of this background is we have to realize that the Bible was not primarily written to us, but it was written for us. And so when we're reading the Bible, we're reading God's Word he had divinely inspired His Word and at the same time, we also realize that, as good students of God's Word, if we're only reading His Word, we're only getting half the story, because the rest of the story is God is speaking to a very particular group of people in a very particular time, and so understanding the background just brings so much more life to what God's word was saying, right? So let's dive into the Gospel of Mark. As we said is we're going to call Mark the gospel in motion, and the theme verse we're going to get to at the end is Mark 8, 34. It says if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. That's going to be one of the big themes, right? So let's break this down and let's see, you know how maybe the book of Mark can come alive to us.

Speaker 1: 3:41

First things first is who wrote it. Who is Mark? One of the things that we know. When it comes to how they were able to discover what books belonged in the canon the 27 books of New Testament, 39 in the Old Testament was that a very strict way of discerning? And they said that they didn't try to pick which ones. They realized that the Holy Spirit was revealing which ones, and one of the things was is you either had to be one of the original 12 apostles or very closely connected to one of them or their ministries? Well, that's how we're able to realize that Mark was written by a guy named John Mark, but he was a companion of the apostle Peter. Now we're going to get a little bit later in this. We're going to realize that Mark was probably around Jesus, but he wasn't one of the original 12. However, he did travel with Peter and he also traveled with Mark Excuse me with Paul. As a matter of fact, in 2 Timothy 4, paul actually asks for Mark and he says hey, timothy, when you come, bring Mark with you. And so he was very much connected to the ministries of Peter and Paul, but especially the ministry of Peter. We're going to get to that in just a second, because Mark was recording the eyewitness testimony of Peter.

Speaker 1: 4:59

And so where was it written? Most likely it was written in Rome and it would have then been passed around to the Roman Christians, and then further and further and further. Now to whom and when? As I was just saying, rome, but also primarily to Gentile Christians. And so you can notice a very non-Jewish slant to Mark. And it wasn't because they were in any way anti-Jewish, it was just they would have understood Like, for instance, matthew starts with all the genealogies of Jesus' claim to the throne of David. Gentile Christians would have had no idea why that was important and so it wasn't put in there, all right. Next thing is when was it written? It was written between 55 and 65 AD, most likely. Now we don't have hard and fast dates for this, but from the moment we realize it was starting to be circulated, that's when we think. And the reason why that is important is that makes the book of Mark most likely the earliest of the four gospels actually written down. Now, all four Matthew, mark, luke and John would have been telling the gospel. It's just when it was written down and passed around would have most likely been the very first one, and we'll get into more of that in just a moment.

Speaker 1: 6:04

I want to really try to help us get our minds around how all four Gospels go together in just a second. Here's a little background. The big idea, the main idea of Mark is to see Jesus as the servant king who was going to suffer to save the world. You're going to see that over and over again, that Jesus is not being portrayed as just the king, but as a king whose eyes are open to the people around him and you really see the humble, the gentle side of Jesus because you see him interacting with the hurting, interacting with the broken. Over and over again, mark emphasizes Jesus' authority and power, but also his humility and his suffering, not just necessarily the suffering that he goes through even though he does, but also that he notices the suffering of others.

Speaker 1: 6:50

Why is Mark important Of the four Gospels? Why do we include Mark as one of the most important Now? First of all, because it's inspired by the Holy Spirit, but others would be because it is accessible and relatable Simple structure, clear message. As a matter of fact, I tell people normally, as new Christians, I would tell them to read the book of John first because, as a matter of fact I tell people normally as new Christians, I would tell them to read the book of John first, because John most of the discourses of Jesus. Jesus talks a lot in the gospel of John, but if you want to understand the message of Jesus in his life, I would tell you to go to the book of Mark, because it has a very clear message. It also highlights Jesus' humanity and service toward others, which speaks to a hurting and skeptical world. It also offers a call to action, not just knowledge, but discipleship is an action verb. Discipleship is action, and then it also encourages people to persevere through their suffering. Now, while the Gospel of Mark is being written, this is what's going on.

Speaker 1: 7:43

So 55-65 AD, roman persecution of Christians is increasing under Nero. Now what was happening as Nero was coming up is they didn't mind, the Romans did not mind you worshiping other gods. They were a polytheistic society. The problem was, is that Jesus demanded to be first and they didn't like that. They were like, wait a minute, we don't mind you worshiping this Jesus guy, but you've got to worship the emperor too. And when Christians would say, no, I'm not going to do that. That's where a lot of that started happening.

Speaker 1: 8:12

Jewish tension also back in Palestine. So, not just in Rome but in Palestine, jewish tensions were rising. The Jewish people were never good at being subjugated, and that's a good thing, except for the fact that the Romans were really powerful. And so there's more and more tensions that are rising, eventually leading to a guy named Titus who is a general of Rome. He marches on Jerusalem and destroys it in 70 AD. And so, you imagine, peter is in Rome and he's preaching the gospel, but he's also hearing that more and more persecution is not just happening for Christians, but also for his Jewish relatives back in Jerusalem. Another thing going on elsewhere in the world is many Christians are trying to figure out how to live out their faith in this hostile, paganistic world. They're realizing that not everybody's agreeing with them. So how do they live? By both not being ashamed of the gospel, but also how to live out their faith in front of others. Another one once again, the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 AD was on the horizon, and it shifted the center of worship and theology. So once Jerusalem was destroyed, that's when you begin to see more of the focus being on Ephesus and the focus being on Rome as well.

Speaker 1: 9:24

All right, a couple of interesting facts about Mark. We're going to jump right in. Here we go. It is the shortest of all the Gospels. It is only 16 chapters long. It is likely the first Gospel. We already talked about that and we think that possibly Matthew and Luke we know definitely Luke, but possibly Matthew too would have drawn from some of the stories in writing their own. Now, the reason why we know that with Luke is Luke says he went around, talked to people, took in ideas and put it all together, and his goal in writing the book of Luke was to write an ordered account of this. Mark never says everything I'm telling you, I'm telling you in chronological order. He's just saying I'm telling it to you. And so we think, very much so, that Luke probably borrowed from some of these stories to say, okay, this happened, but it was in this order, and so very much so. Also, I love this, which is what's going to make sense in just a moment.

Speaker 1: 10:13

The word immediately is used over 40 times in the Gospel of Mark, so as we're reading, you're going to notice this. That is going to be all the time it's going to be. They were doing this, and then immediately, and then immediately, and then immediately, and so I counted over 40 times it's actually used. And then two more things that we're going to talk about, and then I want to cover this, and that is the gospel ends abruptly in the earliest document manuscripts, actually ending in Mark 16, verse 8. When we get to Mark 16, we're going to talk about one of the most controversial passages in the Bible, because the earliest manuscripts say it's not there. The very, very last part of the Gospel of Mark is not even really debated anymore as to what's supposed to be there and what's not, and that is not good news for anyone who is a snake handler, and so we'll kind of cliffhanger that We'll get back to that in a few chapters. And then also Peter's failures are emphasized, possibly because Peter was Mark's source.

Speaker 1: 11:12

Now here's the backstory when Peter went to Rome, he would have known the Greek language, because you had to speak the Greek language as you were part of the Roman government, and so he would have known the Greek language, but that doesn't mean he was good at it. That wasn't his native language. His native language would have most likely been Aramaic, and he would have also been educated in Hebrew because of being a Jewish worshiper of Yahweh, but he would have had to have known Greek as well. But in order to get up there and you've got to think, rome was also the seat of wisdom and knowledge in the world at the time, other than maybe Greece, and so you have these orators that are there he would have very possibly not have felt all of that confident up there, and so what he did was is he took a young man who had a Jewish mother, greek father, or maybe the other way around, but he, someone who knew Greek very well, and took him with him to be his interpreter.

Speaker 1: 12:04

That was a young man named Mark, and so what would happen is is that, according to legend and what we understand, peter would get up before the people and he would tell the gospel and Mark would interpret it to the people and that's how he would communicate. And over the process of communicating, mark started writing down the gospel that Peter was telling. And so in a lot of ways, mark actually we could think of Peter as the ghost writer, the behind-the-scenes writer of the gospel of Mark, because the stories that Mark got he got from interpreting the message of Peter Isn't that interesting, and so when we read through this that's why you're going to hear immediately, over and over again, because it's clear to see Peter was a man of action, and so he's like and then we went here and then we raced over there and then over there, and then you also see where he emphasizes the ways that he fell, because he realizes at this point that Jesus is awesome. And I go back and forth between the story. It's going to talk about the story where Jesus came to them on the water.

Speaker 1: 13:01

In the gospel of Mark, however, it omits the fact that Mark that Peter, rather, fell in the water, and so I don't know if, on one side, peter's not wanting to draw attention to himself or he's not wanting to tell everybody that he fell in the water. So I'll let you decide which one that is. It's almost like he tells the story of man. One time we saw Jesus walking on the water and it was awesome. And then someone goes what else happened? Don't worry about that. Those are just details. Let's move on. You know what I mean?

Speaker 1: 13:29

We'll have to see, and so what we have is is we have the story of Peter written down by Mark, and it's an amazing way we have four gospels, and so with that, I want to say one more thing we're going to jump in, and that is this there are some things that you read and you will have people who will say well, I don't understand how I can really accept the gospels, because it seems as though in one gospel it tells half the story and in another gospel it tells another part of the story, and they don't line up in lockstep. There's details Like, for instance, there's one, one part where it would say something like I'm gonna make this up because I can't think of one off the top of my head. It'll say that Jesus went and he fed 5,000. Well, then another gospel it will say he fed 5,000, plus women and children. Well, are those contradictory? No, they're complementary. They both agree on the 5,000. It's just one also included another detail, and so that's where sometimes you have what they call the harmonization of the Gospels. That's important. So I want to show you the example is they weren't written, they all weren't sitting around a campfire and saying how are we gonna write this story about Jesus?

Speaker 1: 14:37

These were written in very different places, like, for instance, matthew was possibly written in either Ephesus or maybe even in Israel, because overall Matthew was written to the Jewish world. That's who he was writing to Mark was likely written in Rome, and so he's writing about the ministry of Jesus. Now you've got Luke, who was given the task by a guy named Theopolis to write out the story of Jesus, but to write it in chronological order, and so he's after a different way. And then you've got John who, depending on who you listen to, some people say that John was early, but the consensus was John was actually written very late, like 90, 96 AD. And so that's why you've got these three that are similar. And you've got John comes along and he is very complimentary, but his focus is different. And so, if you think about it, mark is written to the Jewish nation to prove that Jesus is the rightful king.

Speaker 1: 15:31

Mark is written to Gentiles to telling the story of the gospel. Luke was written to put it all in order. And then John comes along many years later and these three are already out and in circulation, and John says hey, I walked with him, I talked with him. You understand how the events happened. Let me make sure you understand the man and the message. And so the main focus of John is to tell the message and that Jesus is God. That's why you have the seven, I am statements in the gospel of John. So when you do that, they all work together and it is amazing to see how it works. And so today we're going to start focusing on Mark and how the focus is the ministry of Jesus, the gospel in motion. So let's read the beginning of it and let's see what God's word says to us. Here we go.

Speaker 1: 16:17

Mark, chapter one, verse one, says this this is the good news about Jesus, the Messiah, the son of God. It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you and he will prepare your way. He is a voice shouting in the wilderness Prepare the way of the Lord's coming, Clear the road for him. This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that the people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John, and when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. His clothes were woven from coarse camel hair and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food, he ate locusts and wild honey. John announced Someone is coming, who is greater than I am so much greater that I am not worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 1: 17:23

One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove, and a voice from heaven said you are my dearly loved son. You bring me great joy. Then the Spirit compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness and there he was tempted by Satan for 40 days. When he was out, he was out among the wild animals and angels took care of him.

Speaker 1: 17:54

Later on, after John was arrested, jesus went into Galilee and he preached God's good news and he said the time promised by God has come at last. He announced the kingdom of heaven is near. Repent of your sins and believe the good news Now. Remember, simon is Peter, so of course he's going to bring him up quickly, because that's the story that he knows. So of course he's going to bring him up quickly because that's the story that he knows. And also, if you notice that he talked about Jesus being in the wilderness for 40 days. Well, in Matthew he goes into saying and while he was there, he was tempted by the devil. Mark doesn't do that. Well, it's not a contradiction, he just doesn't include the rest of it. So they're complementing one another All right. As he's talking to Simon, he says in verse 17,. Jesus called out to them come, follow me and I will show you how to fish for people. And they left their nets at once and followed him. A little further up the shore, Jesus saw Zebedee's sons, james and John, in a boat repairing their nets. He called to them at once and they followed him, leaving their father Zebedee in a boat repairing their nets. He called to them at once and they followed him, leaving their father Zebedee in a boat.

Speaker 1: 19:09

With the hired men, jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, he went to the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority, quite unlike the teachers of religious law. Suddenly, a man in the synagogue, who was possessed by an evil spirit, cried out why are you interfering with us, jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us. I know who you are, holy one of God. But Jesus reprimanded him Be quiet, come out of the man, he ordered. So at that the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion and then came out of him. Amazement gripped the audience and they began to discuss what had happened. What sort of new teaching is this? They said excitedly. It has such authority. Even evil spirits obey his orders.

Speaker 1: 20:02

And the news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee. After Jesus left the synagogue, with James and John, they went to Simon and Andrew's home. Now Simon's mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away, so he went to her bedside, took her by the hand and helped her sit up. Then the fever left her and she prepared a meal for them. And that evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus and the whole town gathered at the door to watch. So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons, because the demons knew who he was and he did not allow them to speak.

Speaker 1: 20:45

Now pause for a moment and remember. One of the overall goals that Mark is talking about constantly is he's talking about the gospel in motion. Jesus was constantly spreading the good news of the kingdom and it was constantly with the people. So you're going to see this narrative over and over again. Jesus is constantly with the suffering, with the hurting. He is there by their side, all right, verse 35.

Speaker 1: 21:08

Before daybreak the next morning, jesus got up and went to an isolated place to pray. Later, simon and the others went out to find him. Oops, excuse me, went out to find him. When they found him, they said everyone is looking for you. But Jesus replied we must go on to other towns as well. I will preach to them too, for that is why I came. So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons.

Speaker 1: 21:35

Now pause, now the reason why you see, you're going to see this in all the gospels, but especially why they make a point, like you would think, of all the things. Because it says he's teaching people, he's talking to the sick and the hurting, all this stuff. It says he's casting out demons. You know the reason why they say that is one of the things that they knew about the coming Messiah, and you can see this in the Gospels and stuff like that, or, excuse me, the Old Testament is. One of the things about the Messiah is they knew that when the Messiah comes, he is going to have spiritual power, he is going to be able to have power over demonic spirits, and so what Mark is emphasizing is we knew he was more than a teacher because he had power over evil spirits. And for those who know, they immediately go what that means he checks the box of not just being a powerful teacher but being the Messiah. So that's why you see them bring it up so much. All right, verse 40.

Speaker 1: 22:30

A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus begging to be healed. If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean. Move with compassion. Jesus reached out and touched him and said I am willing Be healed. Instantly the leprosy disappeared and the man was healed. Then Jesus sent him on his way with a stern warning Don't tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed. We're going to come back to this Don't tell anyone about this in just a moment. But the man went and spread the word, proclaiming to everyone what had happened, and as a result, the large crowds soon surrounded Jesus so he could not go publicly into the town anywhere and so he had to stay in secluded places. But people from everywhere kept coming to him.

Speaker 1: 23:28

So what I want to talk about here is we kind of wrap up chapter one and there's so much here, right, is what's with this idea of Jesus healing people, but then saying don't tell anybody. Yet for all of us, he says go into all the world and make disciples right. Like, is there a dichotomy there or something going on? Well, he answers it at the very end of the chapter. Notice how he said that. He told the guy hey, listen, I don't want you to go spreading this, but I want you to go get your family back, because what he would have to do is, when you had leprosy, you had to leave your family, had to leave everything. But if you could prove by going and offering the offerings and all this kind of stuff, if you could prove it, you got everything back. So he's saying go get everything back, but don't spread it. And here's the reason why because the Bible literally says that the man went and spread the word and then, when he did, soon large crowds surrounded Jesus so he couldn't go publicly into the town anywhere. So it wasn't a.

Speaker 1: 24:20

Some people have used this to say that Jesus was telling us to not spread the gospel, which is silly. It was a pragmatic thing, and what it was doing is it was showing the wisdom of Jesus, because Jesus was saying hey, I'm trying to spread the gospel, but I can't spread the gospel if people can't get to me. And he's wanting to make, he has a timeline he's working with here. So he's saying hey, listen, I'm going to spread this, you will get your family back. But now the mission is, you know, complete in that he has risen from the dead. So we're supposed to go tell the story at this point. And that leads me to our big takeaway, and that is this I love the idea of us calling Mark chapter one the gospel in motion, because the gospel is a is a verb.

Speaker 1: 25:05

But here's the difference the gospel is not a. Choose your own adventure. I heard someone say the other day they, someone sent me a clip and it was. And it was like uh, what does the gospel story mean to you? And what they meant was not how how has it impacted your life, but it is what do you want the gospel to you? And what they meant was not how has it impacted your life, but it is what do you want the gospel to be? And what they were trying to say is whatever you want the gospel to be, that's what it is. Well, can I tell you that's not true.

Speaker 1: 25:29

The gospel is the message that we, as a human creation, fell into sin, and the only way for us to get back right with God is someone had to pay the price for that sin, and the only way for us to get back right with God is someone had to pay the price for that sin. The unfortunate thing was is the cost of sin is death. We couldn't pay that price, so Jesus came, paid the penalty for sin so that we could receive salvation. That's it. The gospel is not a choose your own adventure. It was. We were lost. Jesus came on a rescue mission and offers us salvation, and that is amazing because it's not just offered to us, but it's offered to everybody. You see, right now. And so the gospel is in motion and, as we are filled with the love of God, we don't have to keep it to ourself. We can share it with everyone around us and we can follow God with all of our lives.

Speaker 1: 26:24

Can I tell you, as a pastor, it breaks my heart when I hear and I study all these things about this current generation coming up, and one of the things that I hear so much about this generation is that they struggle to know their purpose, they don't know who they are and they don't know their purpose. As a pastor, that breaks my heart, because there are many different things that God's going to do in your life, but you can never say you don't have a purpose, because we all have at least two purposes in our life, and that is to know God and to make him known that you you're. You are put on this planet to know God and then to tell what you know to other people. Now you may have a thousand other things that God wants you to do, but you're never without a purpose. So maybe that's the takeaway for us today, and that is this the gospel is in motion and you have been given the honor of being an ambassador from the kingdom of heaven to the kingdom of this world and you get to share the good news about God. So don't let anybody ever tell you that you're not important. Don't ever tell you that you don't have a purpose. Now I don't know what else God may want you to do, but primarily, he's already recruited you, you're already on his team and, and as we follow him, he's given us the dignity of saying I trust you, I trust you that I'm going to put you in environments and you are going to be the very best example of my grace into that environment that you're not going to be perfect, but you're always going to fall forward. You're going to show people what it looks like to be loved by me. What an amazing honor God has given us. And so I want to just encourage you to live your faith out loud. Live the gospel in motion.

Speaker 1: 28:04

Today. You have been called for such a time as this. You've been called for such a place as this. Why do you think you work where you work? Why do you think you have the family you have? Why do you think you have the friends that you have? The reason why? Is because you are God's first plan to reach all of them, and that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to go tomorrow and start like standing on a soapbox somewhere and preaching the gospel man. That'd be amazing, but most of the time that means one small step at a time, one faithful conversation at a time, one open door at a time. You live the gospel out loud and watch what God will do. Let's pray together right now.

Speaker 1: 28:40

God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you are with us and that you are for us, and that in all ways we can worship you. God, as we go through the gospel of Mark, I pray you will help us to grab on to the excitement that is here. The. The instant leads, the immediate leads to realize, god, that we serve an action-based God, that you have called us to know you and to make you known. We all have a purpose and that purpose is to live the gospel in motion. Today we celebrate you in all things. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen, amen. What God's Word says in Mark 8, verse 34, is our theme verse. It says If anyone would come after me, jesus says, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. That's my prayer, is that we'll fall so in love with Jesus that we think of following him as the best thing in the world. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Mark 2.