Read Mark 1:9-17 and Hebrews 3:12-18
1. Meditate
on Jesus’ own obedience to fulfill Scripture by submitting to water baptism and
his immediate response to follow Holy Spirit to go into the wilderness and
fast.
2. Watch
his disciples' immediate responses to follow Jesus in Mark 9:16-17.
3. Contrast
the above with the slowness of heart of God’s own people to believe and follow
Him through and to get out of the wilderness (Hebrews 3).
4. Imagine
yourself experiencing Jesus’ call to follow him, or Moses’ call to follow the
Lord.
·
Perhaps
you are in a wilderness experience or have come out of one full of the Holy
Spirit.
·
Perhaps
you want to repent of hardness and want to believe anew the Good News with joy.
·
Perhaps
you are praying to be able to speak the good news of the gospel to others by
following Jesus.
Wherever
you are, Jesus is calling you and giving you grace to follow Him.
Mark
1:9-20
The
Baptism of Jesus
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and
was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately
he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on
him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved
Son;[d] with
you I am well pleased.”
The Temptation
of Jesus
12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the
wilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted
by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were
ministering to him.
Jesus
Begins His Ministry
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee,
proclaiming the gospel of God,15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom
of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Jesus Calls the
First Disciples
16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew
the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said
to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”[e] 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a
little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were
in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father
Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
Hebrews 3: 12-18 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil,
unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort
one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be
hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come
to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the
end. 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not
harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it
not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom
was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose
bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his
rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see
that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
