Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Snapshots of the Servant of God, Part 2

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Snapshots of the Servant of God, Part 2 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: There's one verse that unlocks the entire Gospel of Mark.
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Speaker 1: When we learn it, the whole book opens before us.
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Speaker 1: Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll begins his series
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Speaker 1: on the life of Jesus. Right from the start, Chuck
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Speaker 1: provides valuable context and helps us grasp this Gospel as
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Speaker 1: one unified message, from the first verse to the last.
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Speaker 1: before the details pull us in different directions. At the
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Speaker 1: center of it all stands a single verse that glues
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Speaker 1: everything together. We'll pick up right where we left off
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Speaker 1: on yesterday's program.
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Speaker 2: For half of Mark, he is coming to serve God.
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Speaker 3: Not to be served and for the last half of
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Speaker 3: mark he is giving his life a ransom for many
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Speaker 3: chapter 10 verse 45 says that so memorize the key
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Speaker 3: verse of mark 10 45 the son of man did
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Speaker 3: not come to be served but to serve that's chapters
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Speaker 3: 1 through 8 about in the middle and chapter 8
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Speaker 3: about in the middle verse 30 31 all the way
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Speaker 3: to chapter 16 and to give his life a ransom
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Speaker 3: for many so the emphasis at the beginning is serving
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Speaker 3: the emphasis at the end is his death and his
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Speaker 3: resurrection the price he paid for our sins the first
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Speaker 3: part of mark.
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Speaker 2: He's with multitudes of people the.
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Speaker 3: Last part of mark he's focusing in on the 12th
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Speaker 3: Because they were sick and broken, he healed people. Because
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Speaker 3: they were hopeless, he encouraged people. Because they were sinful,
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Speaker 3: he forgave people. The religious officials cannot stand him. Religion
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Speaker 3: has no place for the genuine, authentic Christian message. It's
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Speaker 3: traditionalism filled with legalism. Religion is the dead faith filled
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Speaker 3: with ritual and liturgy and bogged down in the stuff
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Speaker 3: of religion. Christianity gives you wind beneath your wings.
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Speaker 2: So you can fly freely because of God's grace.
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Speaker 3: Mark unfolds all of that for us and he doesn't
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Speaker 3: cut a corner when it comes to the Savior's suffering
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Speaker 3: and death. Look at the right part of the angle chart.
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Speaker 3: He pressed the claimed Messiah toward the end of the book.
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Speaker 3: He spent more time alone with his disciples toward the
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Speaker 3: end of the book. He encountered more open conflict with
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Speaker 3: the authorities. He was hated and deserted and crucified, ultimately
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Speaker 3: bodily and miraculously raised from the dead. When you speak
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Speaker 3: of the resurrection, use the words bodily and miraculously. It'll
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Speaker 3: help keep you accurate. It was in fact in a
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Speaker 3: body and it was in fact.
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Speaker 2: A miracle. That's the book as a whole.
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Speaker 3: One more.
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Speaker 2: See the circles?
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Speaker 3: How different it begins than it ends. At the beginning,
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Speaker 3: we have one man who baptizes Jesus. The baptizer announces
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Speaker 3: the coming Christ. Now I don't put Baptist because everybody
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Speaker 3: thinks he's a Southern Baptist. So this is a baptizer.
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Speaker 3: John is a baptizer.
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Speaker 2: Okay.
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Speaker 3: The baptizer announces the coming Christ. That's at the beginning
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Speaker 3: of the book. But look at the end. The believers
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Speaker 3: are proclaiming the risen Christ.
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Speaker 2: That's what's happened in the book.
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Speaker 3: This one who came, this one John baptized, this one
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Speaker 3: whose life and ministry was ignited with power by the
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Speaker 3: Holy Spirit. This is my beloved son in whom I
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Speaker 3: am well pleased, said the father at his baptism. This
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Speaker 3: one who hit the floor running and ministered all over
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Speaker 3: the country. This is the one who ultimately was crucified and.
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Speaker 2: Buried, left to die.
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Speaker 3: What will amaze you in the gospel by Mark is
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Speaker 3: that sometime the same people who followed him and said
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Speaker 3: to him how much he meant to them were the
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Speaker 3: same ones who later yelled, crucify him, crucify him. If
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Speaker 3: you've lived long enough on this old planet, you know
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Speaker 3: how people can turn. The same ones who once were
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Speaker 3: for you were later against you. I thought of that
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Speaker 3: when I read the true story of Governor Hoy when
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Speaker 3: he was governor of North Carolina or North Carolina. He
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Speaker 3: decided to travel to the western part of the state
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Speaker 3: and visit some of the country folk in the Blue
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Speaker 3: Ridge Mountains. When he was there, he met up with
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Speaker 3: an old raw bone preacher. The governor said to him,
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Speaker 3: how many members in your church, Parson? Preacher said 50.
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Speaker 3: Knowing that the size of membership isn't necessarily a true
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Speaker 3: barometer of the church's spiritual condition, the governor asked the preacher, 50, huh?
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Speaker 2: Boy, that's great. How many are active? 50, replied the preacher. Wow,
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Speaker 2: said the governor. You must be an unusually good pastor. No,
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Speaker 2: not necessarily.
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Speaker 3: 25 are active for me and 25 are active against me.
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Speaker 2: That's the way it was with Jesus in the gospel
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Speaker 2: by Mark.
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Speaker 3: A lot of the same ones active for him, saying,
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Speaker 3: feed us, heal us, help us, lead us. Or at
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Speaker 3: the end saying, get out of our lives. Mark tells
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Speaker 3: it straight. Remember, he's writing to the industrial-minded Roman who
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Speaker 3: is interested in theories. He's not looking for poetry and symbols.
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Speaker 3: He's looking for facts. That's why he moves immediately from
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Speaker 3: one event to another to yet another.
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Speaker 2: To another.
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Speaker 3: But he wasn't in a hurry to get things done
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Speaker 3: where life was no longer any fun. Jesus meaningfully paced
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Speaker 3: himself in things that mattered. Now, let's look again at
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Speaker 3: the outline. Go back to the other side. The panoramic
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Speaker 3: view of the book, we're ready for that.
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Speaker 2: Four parts.
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Speaker 3: The first and the last are the shortest The two
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Speaker 3: center ones are the longer of the four. So the
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Speaker 3: servant in verses 1 through 13 is introduced and tempted.
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Speaker 3: That's what chapter 1 verses 1 to 13 will cover.
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Speaker 3: And we'll be there next time we're together. We're going
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Speaker 3: to look at the servant who is introduced by John.
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Speaker 3: But what is interesting, he is tempted in the wilderness
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Speaker 3: by Satan.
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Speaker 2: How do I know that? Because the Bible says so.
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Speaker 3: You will learn when you study your Bible that it
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Speaker 3: will give you sufficient information to inform you, to prepare
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Speaker 3: you for life. Guard against reading into it. Train yourself
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Speaker 3: to pull out of it what is there. Names are
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Speaker 3: mentioned on purpose, and when they're left out, it's for
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Speaker 3: a purpose. We don't always know why. For example, the
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Speaker 3: name Mark never appears in the book, even though he
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Speaker 3: wrote it. Tradition tells us he wrote it. Church fathers
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Speaker 3: encourage us to believe that he's the one who wrote it.
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Speaker 3: He certainly reveals a number of things about Peter in
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Speaker 3: this gospel that the others don't reveal, so it's probably
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Speaker 3: through his association with Peter.
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Speaker 2: But look here.
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Speaker 3: It says, verse 6, John was clothed with camel's hair,
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Speaker 3: and he wore a leather belt around his waist. His
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Speaker 3: diet was locusts and wild honey. Got to watch out
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Speaker 3: for a guy like that, by the way. He was
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Speaker 3: preaching and saying after me, one is coming who is
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Speaker 3: mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop
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Speaker 3: down and untie the thong of his sandals.
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Speaker 2: I love that about John the Baptizer.
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Speaker 3: Reason I love him is because as John writes, he
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Speaker 3: is the one who said, he must increase, I must decrease.
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Speaker 2: Forget about me.
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Speaker 3: He's the man who lost his congregation, and he applauded
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Speaker 3: the one who got the congregation.
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Speaker 2: You will love John the Baptizer, though you don't want
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Speaker 2: to get close to him. You'll start itching.
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Speaker 3: Chapter 1, verse 13, we read, Jesus was in the
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Speaker 3: wilderness 40 days, tempted by Satan. He was with wild
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Speaker 3: beasts and the angels ministering to him. We'll look at
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Speaker 3: all of that next time, but look closely. There is
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Speaker 3: a literal Satan. Our culture will tell you that's nonsense.
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Speaker 3: The culture is nonsense. The scriptures are true and let
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Speaker 3: everyone else be a liar. There is a literal Satan
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Speaker 3: and he tempted the son of God for a reason.
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Speaker 3: We'll look at those reasons when we're back in that section.
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Speaker 3: While he is with wild beasts, Satan has a desire
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Speaker 3: to get him dislodged and move him off target.
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Speaker 2: So he is introduced and he is tempted. Now the
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Speaker 2: second section.
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Speaker 3: Chapter 1, verse 14, all the way to chapter 8,
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Speaker 3: verse 30.
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Speaker 2: Here we go.
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Speaker 3: He is ministering and training. He's ministering to the multitude. Remember,
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Speaker 3: there's a growing number of people that are following him.
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Speaker 3: He's ministering, and we'll see that from this first chapter on,
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Speaker 3: and he's also training. Let me show you an example.
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Speaker 3: Look at chapter 3, verse 14. another great verse you'd
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Speaker 3: be wise to memorize. Mark 3, 14. He is the
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Speaker 3: Lord Jesus. That's why it's capitalized with a capital H.
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Speaker 3: Jesus appointed 12. That would be, of course, the 12 disciples.
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Speaker 3: They are, by the way, named in the Gospels. And
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Speaker 3: it's a bit of an interesting process of getting the
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Speaker 3: list complete. You might think there's one place where they're
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Speaker 3: all the and there's no complication.
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Speaker 2: But there is complication. However, we read here simply. Remember,
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Speaker 2: Mark's not given to complication.
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Speaker 3: He appointed 12 so that they would be with him
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Speaker 3: and that he could send them out to preach. Don't
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Speaker 3: go any further. That is the ministry of Jesus to
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Speaker 3: the disciples. And that is his ministry to you and
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Speaker 3: to me in that order.
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Speaker 2: First, what? That we would be with him. That's first.
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Speaker 3: And then, as having been with him, learned from him,
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Speaker 3: trained by him, deepened through him, guided by him, directed
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Speaker 3: with gifts given because of him. He then sends us
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Speaker 3: out to minister here. He calls it preaching. That's what
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Speaker 3: the disciples did. Many of you have been doing ministry,
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Speaker 3: but you've not really been with him sufficiently. So you're
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Speaker 3: operating with a lot of zeal, but not a lot
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Speaker 3: of knowledge. If you're going to minister effectively, you need
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Speaker 3: knowledge and you need a prayer and you need devotion
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Speaker 3: and you need time. And in the process of time,
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Speaker 3: you'll be better prepared to minister to others. Doesn't mean
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Speaker 3: you don't minister in the process, but you don't minister
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Speaker 3: as effectively until you spent sufficient time with him. I
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Speaker 3: would dare say some of you could not name the
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Speaker 3: last time you have spent 20 minutes in the presence
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Speaker 3: of the Savior with nothing else going on. No music,
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Speaker 3: no activity, no television, no people. Just isolated time with
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Speaker 3: the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 2: Vertical. His speaking to you and your.
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Speaker 3: Speaking to him. His using his word in your heart
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Speaker 3: and your responding to him with your questions and prayers
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Speaker 3: and devotion.
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Speaker 2: Be with him.
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Speaker 3: And then, having been with him, you are well equipped
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Speaker 3: to be sent forth to preach, to teach, to minister,
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Speaker 3: to love, to encourage. to show comfort and compassion and care.
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Speaker 3: That's a grand verse on ministry and training. Now the
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Speaker 3: third section on your outline again, the servant is resisted
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Speaker 3: and rejected. He is resisted and rejected. Here, pressure intensifies.
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Speaker 3: It intensifies for the disciples because they are sort of disillusioned,
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Speaker 3: thinking he was going to set up his kingdom. And
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Speaker 3: now he's starting to talk about dying and suffering and
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Speaker 3: being arrested and being scourged and crucified.
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Speaker 2: What kind of a future is that?
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Speaker 3: I left my nets to follow you. I gave up
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Speaker 3: my tax collecting business.
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Speaker 2: To follow you.
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Speaker 3: We had a lucrative thing going on, Jesus. And now
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Speaker 3: you're telling us you're going to die. What's that about?
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Speaker 3: They missed it by a mile. And Jesus tries.
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Speaker 2: To prepare them, but you'll read over and over in Mark.
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Speaker 3: They did not understand. Peter even says to him that
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Speaker 3: he was off target. In fact, Mark says he rebuked Jesus.
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Speaker 2: Can you imagine?
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Speaker 3: And Jesus says to Peter, you get behind me, Satan.
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Speaker 3: I've had one encounter with you, and this is not
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Speaker 3: another one I'm going to take on. Life is kind
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Speaker 3: of like that. We're moving through it. Things seem fairly
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Speaker 3: clear and plain. We think we know where the Lord's going.
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Speaker 3: Out of the blue, he turns a corner and doesn't tell.
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Speaker 2: Us about it.
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Speaker 3: Where did that come from? And we got a new
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Speaker 3: direction going, and we say, wait, wait, wait, wait, Lord.
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Speaker 3: I didn't sign up for the long haul. I just
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Speaker 3: like the part where it's, you know, health and wealth.
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Speaker 3: I just like to get what I asked for. And
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Speaker 3: it's at that point he says, it's never about health
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Speaker 3: and wealth. It is about my plan for your life,
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Speaker 3: which includes suffering and pain and hardship and disappointment and
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Speaker 3: even some deaths you didn't expect. The gospel by Mark
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Speaker 3: puts it all together so beautifully. In fact, you know
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Speaker 3: what happens when I read the gospel by Mark? I
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Speaker 3: realize I lived my life before an audience of one.
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Speaker 3: Os Guinness, in a magnificent book titled The Call, you
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Speaker 3: need to read The Call. Os Guinness writes this, Living
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Speaker 3: before the audience of one transforms all our endeavors. Christ-centered
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Speaker 3: heroism does not need to be noticed or publicized. The
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Speaker 3: greatest deeds are done before the audience of one, and
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Speaker 3: that is enough. Churchill once remarked in a speech in
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Speaker 3: the House of Commons, writes Guinness, nothing is more dangerous
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Speaker 3: than to live in the temperamental atmosphere of a gallop pole,
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Speaker 3: always feeling one's pulse and taking one's temperature. Churchill was
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Speaker 3: as impervious to atmosphere as Harry Truman, who during his
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Speaker 3: presidency dropped the first atomic bomb. Truman once said, I
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Speaker 3: wonder how far Moses would have gone if he had.
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Speaker 2: Taken a pole in Egypt.
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Speaker 3: Guinness concludes, the Puritans lived as if they had swallowed gyroscopes.
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Speaker 3: We modern Christians live as if we swallowed Gallup polls.
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Speaker 2: Do you wish to.
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Speaker 3: Be inner-directed rather than other-directed and truly make one audience
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Speaker 3: decisive the audience of one? Listen to Jesus of Nazareth
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Speaker 3: answer his call.
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Speaker 2: It'll change your whole life. Answer his call.
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Speaker 3: When you find yourself wanting to please him, it is
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Speaker 3: remarkable how that will transform your insecurities and also will
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Speaker 3: lessen your popularity, I might add. But of course, if
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Speaker 3: you'd rather be popular than right, that's your call. There's
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Speaker 3: a fourth part in this great book that I want
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Speaker 3: you to get a hold of before we're through with
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Speaker 3: our study, and that's the servant triumphant. and exalted, the
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Speaker 3: servant triumphant.
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Speaker 2: And exalted. Here is the part where the disciples all
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Speaker 2: forsook him and fled. Why?
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Speaker 3: Well, because their Savior died. Disillusioned, brokenhearted, confused, fearful, they
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Speaker 3: left the scene of the cross, except for John, who
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Speaker 3: stayed with his mother, And then behind closed doors, Jesus
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Speaker 3: comes and presents himself to them, shows them his hands
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Speaker 3: and his side with the scars, and they see him triumphant. Later,
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Speaker 3: he is ascending into heaven, Mark writes of it, and
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Speaker 3: that's when he's exalted, triumphant and exalted. How do we
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Speaker 3: apply something like this? I've chosen three afterthoughts for application.
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Speaker 3: I always like to do this when we get to
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Speaker 3: the end of a message because I think it's invaluable
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Speaker 3: that we take something home with us.
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Speaker 2: Here they are.
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Speaker 3: First, if Jesus is our model, then servanthood is our method.
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Speaker 3: If Jesus is our model, and he is, we never
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Speaker 3: get closer to his lifestyle than.
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Speaker 2: Servanthood. I love it that Mark presents him as a servant.
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Speaker 2: A servant.
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Speaker 3: You are never more Christ-like than when you serve another person.
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Speaker 3: For some of you who find yourself with your marriage
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Speaker 3: partner in life becoming increasingly more disabled, your great role
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Speaker 3: as a model of Christ is to serve your marriage partner.
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Speaker 2: Serve her.
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Speaker 3: Serve him well. Serving your parents as they age. Serving
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Speaker 3: the needs as you see them.
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Speaker 2: Serving.
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Speaker 3: Remember, the Son of Man did not come to be served,
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Speaker 3: but to serve. That's our method. All right, here's the second.
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Speaker 3: If servanthood is our method, then people are our ministry.
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Speaker 2: Makes sense. I don't serve this pulpit. I don't serve
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Speaker 2: this building. I serve people. I don't serve a policy.
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Speaker 2: I serve people. That's why here at Stonebriar, we emphasize
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Speaker 2: constantly the people who are around us, among us, some
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Speaker 2: in need.
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Speaker 3: That's why we have a fund we take up regularly
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Speaker 3: that we're able to use to help people who can't
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Speaker 3: make it on their own for a while. We have
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Speaker 3: a benevolence fund because ministry is people. That's why music
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Speaker 3: is important because people help us with music. And that's
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Speaker 3: why we are in it together. We're people serving the Savior.
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Speaker 3: Servanthood leads to touching the lives of people. You forget
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Speaker 3: that when you're in a hurry to get things done,
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Speaker 3: you rush and rush until life's no fun. Before you
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Speaker 3: know it, you isolate yourself and you become a workaholic,
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Speaker 3: not in touch with people.
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Speaker 2: Here's the third.
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Speaker 3: If people are our ministry, involvement is the means.
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Speaker 2: Involvement is the key.
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Speaker 3: And we have Mark to thank for that because his
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Speaker 3: is the book that gets us engaged. You know what's
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Speaker 3: remarkable to me? One quick glance and then we're through,
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Speaker 3: I promise. Chapter 10, turn again, verse 32.
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Speaker 2: They were on the road going to Jerusalem.
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Speaker 3: Jesus was walking ahead of them and they were amazed
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Speaker 3: and those who followed him were fearful. Again, he took
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Speaker 3: the 12 aside and began to tell them what was
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Speaker 3: going to happen to him. Saying, behold, we're going up
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Speaker 3: to Jerusalem and the son of man will be delivered
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Speaker 3: to the chief priest and the scribe. They'll condemn him
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Speaker 3: to death and they'll hand him over to the Gentiles.
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Speaker 3: They'll mock him and spit on him and scourge him
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Speaker 3: and kill him. Three days later, he will rise again.
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Speaker 3: Verse 35. Look what came on the heels of that.
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Speaker 3: James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up
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Speaker 3: to Jesus saying, teacher, we want you to do for
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Speaker 3: us whatever we ask of you. Ever prayed something like that?
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Speaker 3: Rather regularly, don't we? And he said to them, what
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Speaker 3: do you want me to do for you? They said,
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Speaker 3: grant that we may sit one on your right and
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Speaker 3: one on your left in your glory. He'd been talking
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Speaker 3: about his death. They want to know, can we sit
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Speaker 3: on your right? We don't want the center seat.
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Speaker 2: That's yours.
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Speaker 3: But could I have this one? And could my brother
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Speaker 3: have that one? I mean, that'd be okay, wouldn't it?
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Speaker 3: And verse 38, Jesus said, you don't know what you're asking.
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Speaker 3: Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?
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Speaker 3: And be baptized with the baptism. Which I'm baptized.
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Speaker 2: They said we're able.
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Speaker 3: Doesn't that sound like us. In an unguarded moment.
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Speaker 2: Yeah we're ready. No you're not.
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Speaker 3: You have so much to learn. Before you suffer. Like
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Speaker 3: I'm going to suffer. And you will suffer like this.
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Speaker 3: So much to learn.
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Speaker 2: In chapter 10. Verse 45. Sort of.
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Speaker 3: The turning point we mentioned earlier, even the Son of
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Speaker 3: Man didn't come to be served, but to serve. That's
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Speaker 3: the first section. And to give his life a ransom
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Speaker 3: for many, that's the last section. That caused Robert Raines
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Speaker 3: to write this in his book, Creative Brooding. I'm like
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Speaker 3: James and John, Lord. I size up other people in
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Speaker 3: terms of what they can do for me. how they
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Speaker 3: can further my program, feed my ego, satisfy my needs,
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Speaker 3: give me strategic advantage. I exploit people, ostensibly for your sake,
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Speaker 3: but really for my own sake. Lord, I turn to
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Speaker 3: you to get the inside track and obtain special favor,
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Speaker 3: your direction for my schemes, your power for my projects.
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Speaker 3: You're sanctioned for my ambition. You're blank check for whatever
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Speaker 3: I want. I'm like James and John.
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Speaker 2: Lord, change me. Lord, make me a man who asks
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Speaker 2: of you and of others, what can I do for you?
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Speaker 3: Wouldn't it be great when we finish the book of
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Speaker 3: Mark that we're all asking that?
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Speaker 2: Genuinely, what can I do For you. When we do.
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Speaker 2: We are most like Christ.
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Speaker 3: And by then we'll not only have gone through the
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Speaker 3: book of Mark. The book of Mark would have gone
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Speaker 3: through us. Thank you Father for the things we learned
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Speaker 3: from you. In just a brief span of time. We've
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Speaker 3: journeyed over a 16 chapter book. And we find ourselves
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Speaker 3: on tiptoe. Anxious to know better this servant. you gave
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Speaker 3: to this world centuries ago. May his life change ours.
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Speaker 3: May his motivation purify ours. May his ministry affect ours
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Speaker 3: so that we become unassuming servants before an audience of one.
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Speaker 2: I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Everybody sit. Amen.
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Speaker 1: There it is, one verse holding an entire gospel together.
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Speaker 1: The Son of Man came not to be served, but
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Speaker 1: to serve, and to give his life as a ransom
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Speaker 1: for many. Take a moment to let that settle in.
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Speaker 1: Everything Jesus did, he did for you. And the invitation
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Speaker 1: today is to simply receive it, to stop striving, stop earning,
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Speaker 1: and rest in what He's already accomplished on your behalf.
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Speaker 1: You're listening to Insight for Living. Chuck Swindoll, our Bible teacher,
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Speaker 1: has just begun a brand new study through the Gospel
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Speaker 1: according to Mark. Chuck split this study into three sections,
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Speaker 1: and all three Bible study workbooks for Mark are ready today.
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Speaker 1: The Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbooks are spiral-bound, And
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Speaker 1: you can find all the details for Volumes 1, 2,
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Speaker 1: and 3 at insight.org slash offer. And then we're excited
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Speaker 1: to offer a once-in-a-lifetime book written by Chuck. I'm referring
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Speaker 1: to his personal memoir called Awakened by Grace. All the
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Speaker 1: chapters have been written, the pictures selected, and Chuck's memoir
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Speaker 1: is ready to be shipped to your home in mid-October.
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Speaker 1: Born in rural Texas in 1934, Charles often heard he
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Speaker 1: was a mistake. Did you know that Chuck began stuttering
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Speaker 1: in the seventh grade? But even while stumbling through his
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Speaker 1: young adulthood, God was working out his purposes. In Awakened
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Speaker 1: by Grace, Chuck shares for the very first time how
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Speaker 1: God helped him grow from a small, insecure boy into
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Speaker 1: a man who delights in speaking grace and truth to millions.
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Speaker 1: You can pre-order your copy right now by calling us
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Speaker 1: at 800-772-8888. When you do, we'll immediately send you a
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Speaker 1: free digital preview of the book. You'll love reading about
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Speaker 1: the wisdom Chuck gleaned from over 60 years in ministry,
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Speaker 1: the words he'd like to speak to his younger self,
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Speaker 1: and the encouragement for anyone going through tough times. Call
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Speaker 1: us at 800-772-8888 or pre-order your copy at insight.org slash memoir.
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Speaker 1: Are you ready for some really good news? I'm Bill Meyer.
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Speaker 1: Chuck Swindoll describes 12 simple words that will lift your spirit.
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Speaker 1: Friday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Snapshots of
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Speaker 1: the Servant God, was copyrighted in 2010 and 2026, and
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Speaker 1: the sound recording was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R.
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Speaker 2: Swindoll, Inc.
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Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
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Speaker 1: commercial use is strictly prohibited.