God's Word for Me Today
Monday, September 17, 2001
Focus: Our Mission With The World
A note about online study
Introduction to God's Word for Me Today
My Prayer Today
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, thank you for another day to love you and to share your Good News with others! As I open Your Word today, open my life to you, that all that I am and all that I have may be committed to sharing Your love, grace and forgiveness with each person I meet. May you receive glory and honor through the way I live, and let my light shine for you today. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God's Word for Me Today: Mark 16:9-20
9It was early on Sunday morning when Jesus rose from the dead, and the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10She went and found the disciples, who were grieving and weeping. 11But when she told them that Jesus was alive and she had seen him, they didn’t believe her.
12Afterward he appeared to two who were walking from Jerusalem into the country, but they didn’t recognize him at first because he had changed his appearance. 13When they realized who he was, they rushed back to tell the others, but no one believed them.
14Still later he appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating together. He rebuked them for their unbelief—their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
15And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere. 16Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. 17These signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak new languages. 18They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick and heal them.”
19When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 20And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked with them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.
Questions for Reflection
When was the last time you “ran into” someone you hadn’t see for so long that you didn’t recognize them, but they recognized you? What was it like to re-establish the acquaintance or friendship?
Have you ever experienced anything so amazing that you had trouble believing it? If you shared it with others, what was their response?
Questions for Exploration
What was the response of the disciples to Mary’s claim that Jesus had risen from the dead? (16:9-11)
What was the response of the disciples to the report from two of their own that Jesus had risen from the dead? (16:12-13)
What was Jesus’ response to His disciples for failing to believe that He had risen? (16:14)
What specific tasks does Jesus call the disciples to carry out in his name? (16:15-16) KEY VERSES
Questions for Understanding
How would you have felt if you were one of the disciples to whom Mary Magdalene came and told you that Jesus had risen from the dead? How would you have responded?
Consider Jesus’ command or commission to the disciples in Mark 16:15-16. What is necessary for a person to be saved? What part does baptism play in salvation, if any according to this text?
Jesus promised that certain signs would accompany those who believed in Him. What are they? What place do those signs have in our lives as Christians today?
Questions for Application
What one thing will you take from this text and apply in your life today? Be specific.
Doubt is always a part of the Christian experience. Even those closest to Jesus had doubts about His resurrection until they saw for themselves. Since we can’t see Jesus, what can we do to help our faith grow when we have doubts? List two things that we can do—then the next time you have some doubts put them into action!
Belief, Baptism and Salvation!
Mark recorded these words as Jesus Great Commission to His followers, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere. 16Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.” Jesus’ disciples are commissioned to preach the Good News to EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE. Once the News has been shared, it’s up to the hearers to believe and be baptized. Jesus promises that every person who believes and is baptized will be saved. Thus, the connection between belief in Jesus Christ as one’s Lord and Savior, baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and Salvation is this: Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior receives salvation. Baptism is a response of obedience to receiving salvation. We believe in Jesus to RECEIVE salvation. We receive baptism as a sign that we HAVE already received salvation. That’s why we administer baptism, ordinarily by immersion, to believers at New Life Christian Ministries.
We recognize that millions of Christians around the world practice infant baptism as a sign of God’s covenant being given to children, much as the practice of circumcision was a sign of male children belonging to the covenant community of Israel in the Old Testament. While we leave the decision regarding being baptized as a sign that we have received Jesus’ salvation to each individual, we do not practice infant baptism at New Life. We recognize its importance for those who have received it. Any who desire to be baptized by immersion as a sign of their having received Jesus’ salvation, will be offered the sacrament.
Belief, baptism and salvation have always been intimately connected in Christian history. Jesus made it clear that baptism has significance only for those who believe the Good News that Jesus gave and lived with His disciples, and which they have faithfully preached down through the centuries. Thus baptism is rightly administered in and by local bodies of believers in the Good News that Jesus Christ is the only Son of God, and the Savior and Lord of all who put their trust in him!
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