Today's sermon was from my favorite Gospel -- According to Mark. It was a deep dive into the story of blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52).
The theme was "great faith" and there were four points:
1. Great faith sees yourself the way Jesus sees you.
2. Great faith stays on mission.
3. Great faith surrenders your comforts.
4. Great faith trusts even when it is difficult.
I took pages of notes. 😋
Incidentally, I noticed that there was only one verb in this passage that was in the perfect tense.
If you read Greek, I think you'll understand why.
It's those little details that I just love about the Bible, don't you? Sherlock Holmes was fond of saying to people who were amazed at his investigative powers, "You see, but you don't observe." The ability to observe what is in Scripture is something that has to be developed. You can't get it through a fly-by-night approach to the Bible. No, there's nothing wrong with the "Through the Bible in a Year" method of Bible reading. (I emphasize this because in the past week I ran across two different Youtube videos in which I was told to immediately STOP reading my Bible this way. Sheesh. You're not my mother.) One of the reasons I tell my students to master Greek is so that they can boost their powers of observation when they read Scripture. And I give them plenty of opportunities to test their skills out on various portions of the word of God. It's funny how often little things make a difference.
There's a vast difference, my friend, between merely seeing and carefully observing. Pay special attention to words and grammatical structure. Also take a careful look at the context. Always use a pen or pencil to record your observations in and around the text. Expect to find something new in whatever passage you're studying!