Bible Study on Wednesday at 6:30 PM

Hi everyone,

I will be joining our Bible Study online with my special guest: Mom!

Throughout our journey with Mark, these Gospel stories bring us images of the cross and resurrection of Jesus hidden in the weakness of Jesus, supposedly known and yet rejected in his death. This is the very power of Christ, dwelling now among us in word and sacrament.  Out of our own weakness, having nothing except the Gospel, we may turn to our neighbors in witness and service.

TO JOIN ONLINE

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88689075784?pwd=K3lRMnVmL2Z6MGFoQ3AzRjJsRFplZz09

Meeting ID: 886 8907 5784
Passcode: church

Pastor Tim

"God has led you to the desert, and spoken to your Heart."

Mount of Olives Lutheran Church

3546 E. Thomas Rd

Phoenix, AZ 85018

602-956-1620 office

Bible Study for July 7, 2024

Opening Prayer:

Creator of all, we thank you for the opportunity to gather in study. Open our minds and hearts. By the power of the Holy Spirit, unite us in faith, hope, and love. Help us to be faithful to the gospel and to walk humbly with you. Grant us your peace as we grow in wisdom and understanding. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Mark 6:1-13 When has familiarity or a perceived lack of credentials prevented you from hearing a word of God from another person?

This passage reports the continuing opposition Jesus faced from the very inception of his ministry. He had been opposed by “some of the scribes” when he pronounced the paralytic’s sins forgiven (2:1-12) and by certain Pharisees for healing on the Sabbath (3:1-6). After slander spread to the effect that Jesus was in league with evil, his own family sought to restrain him to protect the honor of both himself and the family in the eyes of their neighbors. It is difficult to know why the people responded as they did. Some say that his earlier work as a craftsperson made it difficult for people who knew him to accept him now as a teacher of God’s way. Why did the early church preserve these stories of sending and rejection? They prepared early Christians to encounter and cope with rejection of themselves and their message that they were sure to endure later in life.

2 Corinthians 12:2-10 What do people see in you that reflects Christ?

The Corinthian Christians were still very much geared toward evaluating one another and their teachers by worldly criteria, such as physical appearance, eloquence, esoteric knowledge, and flashy charismatic experience. They also tended to compete with one another for prominence within their community; and they expected their teachers to vie with one another based on such observable criteria. Paul did not let the word of God that he was called to reveal set him apart from other people. He found his worth, instead, in being a transparent vessel through which God’s purpose could be seen and others could encounter and learn to trust in the boundless grace of God. Paul would not have anyone form an opinion of him based on reports of visions or mystical experiences. With Paul, what you see is what you get. He wanted to be valued only for the spirit of Christ in Him: If we do not see the fruits of the Spirit and the character of Christ in a person, no other religious claim is of any worth whatsoever. 

Ezekiel 2:1-5

This short passage sets the stage for Ezekiel’s prophetic ministry, a ministry marked by both divine power and human frailty in the face of a rebellious audience.  God calls Ezekiel “son of man” (v1), reminding both prophet and audience that God’s message comes through a mere mortal.