Q. How does Jesus view a single day?
A. Mark 3:4 = As a day to save a life and do good deeds.

Q. What didJesus nickname James and John, the sons of Zebedee?
A. Mark 3:17 = Sons of Thunder.

Q. What is a basic rule of family?
A. Mark 3:25 = A home divided against itself is doomed.
👉 Are all members of your household on the same team? At the very least, husbands and wives need to back one another up so that when adversity hits, they know they have an ally under their roof. It is easier said than done, as Satan sometimes brings adversity at times of exhaustion and the weaker spouse ends up picking on the stronger one. Betrayal! Don’t be divided!

Q. What happens in a divided house?
A. Mark 3:26 = It cannot stand adversity. If there is no agreement in morality or how to handle intruders or attackers of all sorts, the crack in the foundation lets adversity seep into it and like quicksand, it falls. If, however, there is unity, the members of the family are one and will kick out the problem together, avoiding the damage. All families are tested. Will your house stand?

Q. What did Jesus’ family think of Him when He was about His ministry?
A. Mark 3:21 = They thought He was nuts.

Q. Jesus was healing and saving lives and his own family concluded He was nuts?
A. Mark 3:21 = Yes, and wanted to take Him home in the middle of the Kingdom work!

Q. How did the religious leaders blaspheme the Holy Spirit?
A. Mark 3:29–30 = They said Jesus had an evil spirit, calling His deeds evil as a result.
👉Sometimes well–meaning, concerned, conservative preachers say that miraculous healing is actually from Hell. They ar dead wrong, as Satan cannot heal; he can only destroy. Jesus calls this assumption blasphemy against the Holy Spirit! Are you 2/3 of a believer, Father and Son only? The Holy Spirit wants to know you, help you to mature, and release you of your fears. God is 3/3. The Holy Spirit is a separate Person than Father and Son. Ask Him to reveal Himself and receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Q. How does Jesus see us? A. Mark 3:33–35 = As mothers, brothers and sisters, if we do God’s will.

Q. What happens to the Word of God when it gets out there?
A. Mark 4:3–8; 14–20 = There are four kinds of responses to God’s Word:
1) A person hears it, but Satan steals it right away
2) A person recveives it with joy, but the Word isn’t important to him; he decides it is not worth being persecuted for
3) A person receives it and hears it and accepts it, but he suffers from hurry sickness and wastes his time in worldly pursuits, making no time for ministry
4) A person hears it, accepts it and produces a huge harvest.

👉The first 3 kinds of people produce nothing at all. They are those who take the message lightly, like it was a weather forecast. The second counts the cost and flees. The third makes excuses and doesn’t enter into his Kingdom role. The 4th does the opposite of the last 3:
1) He sees the Word as from the mouth of God (like Abraham)
2) He devotes his life to ministry.

Q. Why should I devote myself to God’s Word?
A. Mark 4:24 = The more I listen to it, the more I will understand it.

Q. Will it stop at that?
A. Mark 4:24 = No! The more I understand it, the more will be revealed.

👉 Every time I read a verse, God reveals something new in that verse. God’s Word is eternal and its understanding continues forever. Even if I look at one verse only my whole life, God will continue to reveal its understanding differently each time and a new light shines on it each time. God’s Word is eternal. This is what being eternal means. Eternal understanding gets deeper with every gaze, to no end. And God doesn’t contradict Himself. All light shone on God’s Word on my behalf enhances itself and brings to me more of the big picture, God’s plan and work on earth.

Q. What is God’s Word?
A. John 1:1 = Jesus is the Word.
👉 Go back tothe former verse and put Jesus in place lf all references to God’s Word. Better yet, let’s write it out here:
Mark 4:24–25 = “And be sure to pay attention to Jesus. The more you do this, the more you will understand [Him] — and even more besides. To those who are open to Me, more understanding [of Me] will be given. But to those who are not listening [to Me], even what they have [understanding of Jesus] will be taken away from them.”

Q. What is the Kingdom of God like?
A. Mark 4:26–29 = God is the farmer who plants seeds in a field. A crop comes out of it without further help. God reaps the harvest.
👉The Law of cause and effect. In context, Jesus has been speaking of the Word, of Himself, which He is now planting on earth. Stay in context with the chapter! The Word [Jesus] is the seed. Replace the seed with Jesus. Now look:
Mark 4:26–29 =
A farmer [Jesus] plants His church in a field and went on with His other activities. As days went by, the church grew and sprouted without Jesus’ help because the earth produces the church on its own. As soon as the church is ready, Jesus comes and harvests it with a sickle.”
👉The church has changed and matured over the years. We are all gathering, united more and more as Jesus’ miracles draw us together to Himself.

Q. What is the Kingdom of God like?
A. Mark 4:31–32 = Growing from the tiniest seed to one of the largest plants with many long branches to be a shelter for many.

Q. What did Jesus do for a living?
A. Mark 6:3 = Jesus was a carpenter by trade.

Q. Do we know who Jesus’ siblings were?
A. Mark 6:3 = Yes. Jesus had four brothers:
James
Joseph
Judas
Simon.
Jesus also had sisters.

Q. Why couldn’t Jesus do a lot of miracles in his home town?
A. Mark 6:3 = No one believed in Him there as Messiah. They saw Jesus as a carpenter and were deeply offended and refused to believe Him.

Q. Where is a prophet honored?
A. Mark 6:4 = Everywhere except home and around relatives.

Q. What hinders miracle performing?
A. Mark 6:5 = Unbelief.
👉Miracles require participation. Belief is powerful participation!

Q. How did Jesus commission His disciples? A. Mark 6:7 =
1) He sent themout two by two
2) With authority to cast out evil spirits
3) they wouldn’t carry luggage; only a walking stick (to remind them to keep going forward?)
4) They wouldn’t carry provisions
5) They would wear the clothes on their backs
6) To be a guest only in home home per village
7) to leave any village that rejects their message to turn from their sins
8) to cast out demons and heal the sick, anointing them with olive oil.

Q. What happened to John the Baptist?
A. Mark 6:17–29 = Herod’s illegal–betrothed wife, Herodias, had him imprisoned for rebuking Herod for their marriage. Herodias later tricked Herod into beheading John.

Q. How do some people handle God’s Word when it is spoken to them?
A. Mark 6:20 =
1) They can accept that the preacher is good and holy
2) even protecting the preacher
3) They may be disturbed at the truth of God’s Word
4) and continue to listen with enthusiasm, yet still not change.

Q. What results when a person doesn’t accept God’s Word?
A. Mark 6:26–28 =
1) God’s Word remains second–best to his own word
2) He withdraws his support of the truth under fire
3) He betrays God’s Word
4) He becomes God’s Word’s enemy unto death.

Q. What happened to John the Baptist’s body?
A. Mark 6:29 = The disciples buried it in a tomb.

Q. When the apostles returned from their ministry tours, did they report to someone?
A. Mark 6:30 = Yes. They reported all the events and also what they taught.

Q. Is this tiring work?
A. Mark 6:31 = Yes. Jesus took the disciples away from the crowds for a rest after a tour. He rested too!
👉Make time for rest from everything you do.

Q. Did people allow the disciples to rest?
A. Mark 6:31–34 = No.

Q. Did Jesus rebuke the people for bothering them in their resting time?
A. Mark 6:34 = No. The people were so lost that exhausted as Jesus was, He had compassion on them.

Q. How lost were the people in Jesus’ day?
A. Mark 6:34 = Like a sheep without a shepherd.
👉 They knew they were missing something in thier lives.

Q. What is the remedy for being lost?
A. Mark 6:34 = The Word of God.
👉Don’t ever forget that even Jesus’ remedy for lost and confused people is God’s Word. He knows the solution for being lost is the same for everybody! Sick, blind, lame, mentality ill, it is all the same. All answers to complex problems is the Word of God, which transforms people.

Q. How can this be true?
A. Isaiah says that the Word of God is a river, flowing from the throne of God. God’s love, His healing, His life, His power, flows through His Word via the Bible. When we read this special book,
1) the very Word of God, this river with all its attributes, flows through us, keeping us, sustaining us, quenching our thirst, and continues flowing through us onto others. Ministry is born of this river flowing through us to others. Where sin is present, river flows over it, washing the sin away. This is the river of the love of God, which literally covers a multitude of sins! When we understand this awesome truth, those we minister to will not see us as the ministers to them, but they’ll feel like they have been ministered to by God Himself, and will be blessed by it.
On the downside, a minister who does not have a daily dose of God’s Word in him, well, his river is a dry and cracked riverbed. He picks up a Bible and bashes the sheep with it! The sheep are stunned and run away. This minister is a stumbling block and our world is filled with hurting people, scourged and whipped by dried out ministers. The good news is that all these ministers need to do to be effective again is get back in the Word. God will bring conviction if they are willing to do what is right. Today is brand new. Begin again!
If you have been mistreated by some dried out minister, know that there are far more obedient men and women out there ministering God’s way. Seek and you will find. Never let weak humans influence the direction of your path to God. God tests everyone’s loyalty. This is just one more test for you!

Q. What do people need when they are lost?
A. Mark 6:34 = The Word of God; Jesus to teach His Word to them.

Q. When are are ministering to people and I can see that they need basic things like food, what should I do?
A. Mark 6:41 = Ask God to bless what I have so that I will be able to share it with them.
👉God provides — in His way. We should always ask Him to provide on behalf of those in need. Better yet, a poor brother who witnesses a believer praying for him and then gets his prayers answered will learn to ask God to be His provider too, and you will have set him on his feet. We are all, adopted or not, sons of a rich Father. Won’t you let your brothers and sisters of the human family know of our shared inheritance? Sometimes fortunate, prolific Christians think that prosperity is a heavenly promotion to a higher level above their poorer brethren. No so. Remember the prodigal’s story? The other son worked faithfully without reward his whole life. God has no favorites, does not vary in His infinite love for us, and rewards according to His choice — apart from our behavior. The law of cause and effect is relative to what God wants to do with us. Only He knows the whys of any situation. Allow God to take care of His own — He is able to make the most of His sheep!

Q. If I need God to help me in some area, what should I do?
A. Mark 6:37–44 = 1) Go right to God, knowing that He has given you the task
2) Tell Him specifically what you need and the problems you are facing 3) Write down your own resources to deal with the problem
4) Present the problem to God
5) God will put a strategy together for you
6) God will bless what you have and make it Himself sufficient to solve the problem
7) You’ll notice that your own resources were not even affected.

👉 In whatever crisis you face, God will provide the perfect answer. What may seem an imperfect solution to our limited perspective is always the perfect answer, so trust God. He can’t give anything less than one hundred percent. Receive His answers with open arms. You were included in the situation in order to learn to give it to God. The best things produced out of an impossible situation are fruits of the Spirit in us.

Q. Why don’t some Christians believe in miracles?
A. Matthew 6:52 = Their hearts are hard, even when witnessing a miracle take place.
👉 They usually decide the miracle wasn’t necessary because there was never a problem in the first place. What other excuses have you heard for unbelief?
1) The doctos misdiagnosed (though x–rays document the prblem)
2) The body suddenly decided to heal itself
3) Don’t pray for a miracle. God wants him to die!
All transformation of believers happens because we believe that all of God’s Word is true. In whatever area we hold back in unbelief, we ramain infants; immature. May God bless you with a melted heart and make you able to receive all He has for you!

Q. Is it possible to be very religious with a hard heart? A. Mark 6:7 = Yes. To honor God in word but not in action is just plain bad religion.
Note: People know instinctly that God is Creator and worthy of worship. God made us that way! It’s how they go about acknowledging Him that’s the problem. There is only one way to honor God; with a whole heart. The only way to have a whole heart is for God to make it that way upon our request, and to ask Him to make it new every day thereafter, and until we are done with this earth!

Q. What is the problem with adding to the Scriptures?
A. Mark 6:7 = It’s like mixing water with oil. They don’t mix. If we try to honor both water and oil, we’ll end up replacing God’s Word.

Q. Why?
A. Our sin nature favors man’s ways over God’s.

Q. So I need to commit to God’s Word and none else? A. Yes.

Q. What happens when I add to God’s Word?
A. Mark 6:8 = I begin to subtlely ignore specific words of God.

Q. And I don’t mature?
A. No. I substitute my own thoughts for God’s Word.
Q. What is the logic behind this action?
A. Mark 6:9 = Since I cannot obey God’s Word at the same time as my own, I choose my own words.

Q. Example?
A.
Right Action and Wrong Action

1. Support parents in their old age.
2. Hold parents in high regard
3. Keep God’s Word
4. Reject tradition
5. Obey God
6. Tithe your money and be poor for your folks
7. Disregard needy parents
8. Break God’s Word
9. Protect Tradition
10. Disobey God

Q. Does food defile me?
A. Mark 6:15 = No. It can’t touch my heart.

Q. Do my wrong actions defile me?
A. Mark 6:15 = Yes. Wrong actions touch my heart.

Q. What are wrong actions? A. Mark 6:23 = Those things we do and say that make us unacceptable to God.

Q. Like what?
A. Mark 6:21–23 = Jesus listed all forms of the Ten Commandments of Moses in these verses in Mark.
Sin in Question Commandment Broken

1. Evil thoughts
2. Sexual immorality
3. Theft
4. Murder
5. Adultery
6. Greed
7. Wickedness
8. Deceit
9. Eagerness for lustful pleasures
10. Envy
11. Slander
12. Pride
13. Foolishness

Q. So Jesus’ teaching is a reminder to obey the Ten Commandments?
A. Mark 6:21–23 = Yes. Sometimes He mentions the sin and sometimes he mentions the commandment broken. See below:
Ten Commandments
(Ex. 20:3–17)

1. Worship only God
2. No idols
3. God’s name kept holy
4. Keep the Sabbath
5. Honor parents
6. Don’t murder
7. No adultery
8. No stealing
9. No false witness
10. No coveting repeated in
    Mark 6:21–23
11. mentioned twice
12. mentioned three times
13. mentioned once
14. mentioned once
15. mentioned once
16. mentioned twice
17. mentioned four times
18. mentioned three times
19. mentioned three times
20. mentioned three times
    👉 When breaking one commandment, it entails breaking all of them, really. For instance, committing adultery also breaks others in this way:
    Adultery
    Evil and Good
21. Worship of self
22. Worship of God
23. Idolatry of opposite or same sex
24. Rejection of all idols
25. Disregard of God’s name 3. Keeps God’s name pure
26. Don’t feel up to churchgoing
27. Enthusiastic about churchgoing
28. Disobeys parents’ teaching to stay pure
29. Honore parents teaching to stay pure
30. Death of conscience
31. Conscience is alive and well
32. Indulges in sexual sin
33. Keeps away from sexual sin
34. Steals another’s purity
35. Keeps another’s purity
36. Makes excuses against oneself for it
37. Has integrity; nothing to hide.
38. Covets the pleasure of it 10. Is content with purity

Q. How does this way of seeing it work for the rest of the Ten Commandments?
A. See below:
1st and 2nd Commandments: No Idol Worship
Evil and Good

1. Chooses another false god
2. Worships God only
3. Creates what fals god will look like
4. Has only God’s Word about Himself
5. Brings shame to the only God
6. Keeps God’s name holy
7. Brings filth to the Sabbath 4. Keeps Sabbath holy
8. Distances parents
9. Honors parents
10. Makes the true God die to the world A.
11. Keeps God’s name alive in the world
12. Idol worship is adultery against God
13. Keeps himself for God
14. Idol worship steals your life away from God
15. God has my individual worship time
16. Is a false witness for a false god
17. Is a true witness for God
18. Covets a god who can be seen
19. Is content with God as invisible

3rd Commandment: Keep God’s Name Holy
Evil and Good

1. Swearing at God is the opposite of worship
2. Worships God only
3. Makes idols, which brings God shame
4. Has only God’s Word about God
5. Swears using God’s name 3. Would never swear using God’s name
6. Defiles the Sabbath
7. Keeps Sabbath holy in not swearing
8. Dishonors parents
9. Honors parents
10. Dishonors God before unbelievers
11. Keeps God’s name pure
12. Gives God the dishonor of an adulterer
13. No compromise; pure for God
14. Steals honor of God’s name
15. Maintains honor to God’s name
16. Makes people thinks God is something He is not
17. Is a true witness of God
18. Covets sin
19. Is content with God.

4th Commandment: Keeping the Sabbath Holy
Evil Good

1. Dishonors God not showing up
2. Worships God only
3. Substitutes an idol for church
4. Relies on God’s Word for God’s character
5. Swearing is easy when you don’t attend church
6. Honors God’s name
7. Breaks Sabbath
8. Keeps Sabbath
9. Dishonors parents
10. Honors parents
11. Murders the conscience
12. Keeps a good conscience
13. Replaces God in his life with a hobby
14. Keeps God alive to newcomers who come to church
15. Steals God’s Sundays
16. Gives God His required time
17. Slanders people who attend church
18. Is a good witness
19. Wants God’s Sabbath for himself
20. Is content with this Commandment

5th Commandment: Honor Parents
Evil and Good

1. Replaces God with self
2. Honors God by honoring parents
3. Finds a lame substitute for parents
4. Would never look to replace his parents
5. Swears at parents and God
6. Talks respectfully with God and parents
7. Church attendance seems only an option
8. Knows church attendance is important
9. Dishonors parents
10. Honors parents
11. Parents feel like they are being killed by your disobedence to them
12. Protects life of parents
13. Honors a substitute; adultery with substitutes
14. Wholeness with parents
15. Steals parents’ honor
16. Maintains parents’ honor
17. Speaks lies about parents to exonerate himself
18. Speaks truth about parents; speaks well of them
19. Covets other people’s parents.
20. Is content with his own parents

6th Commandment: Do Not Murder
Evil and Good

1. Dishonors God
2. Honors God
3. Murder happens because of idolatry
4. Knows God’s Word is right about idolatry
5. Brings shame to God’s name
6. Brings honor to God’s name
7. Breaks the Sabbath
8. Keeps the Sabbath
9. Brings dishonor to parents
10. Honors parents
11. Ruins your life and brings death
12. Preserves life
13. Substitutes God for murder
14. Keeps pure
15. Steals life
16. Protects life
17. Accuses, which leads to murder
18. Protects reputations
19. Covets the lust to kill
20. Gives his life to save another

7th Commandment: Do not Commit Adultery
Evil and Good

1. Sexual sin replaces God
2. Loves God too much to dishonor Him for sinful sexual pleasure
3. Adultery is idol worship
4. Knows acting on it replaces God
5. Is a terrible stumbing block to God’s name
6. Purity keeps God’s name holy
7. Makes people not want to attend church
8. Makes you want to confess and worship God
9. Dishonors parents
10. Honors parents
11. Kills purity
12. Preserves purity
13. Commits adultery
14. When tempted, doesn’t act on it
15. Steals purity
16. Keeps purity
17. Pretends love: a false witness
18. Has nothing to hide
19. Covets what is not his 10. Is content with what he has

8th Commandment: Do not steal
Evil and Good

1. Steals the place of God’s honor
2. Knows God provides everything he needs
3. Someone else’s possession becomes an idol
4. Doesn’t obsess about what he doesn’t have
5. Brings shame to God’s name
6. Knows God will provide and the actually of it in his life becomes part of his testimony
7. Makes you not want to attend church
8. Encourages others to trust God to provide
9. Dishonors parents
10. Honors parents by not stealing
11. Can lead to murder
12. Knows stealing kills testimony
13. Adultery is stealing from another
14. Tells opposite sex to stay pure
15. Steals
16. Is content
17. Lies about it
18. Is transparent
19. Coveting leads to stealing
20. Is content

9th Commandment: Do not bear false witness
Evil and Good

1. Thinks God is far away and won’t act
2. Is real about who God is
3. Lies grow into idolatry
4. Avoids lying
5. Shames God’s name
6. Keeps testimony for God pure
7. Makes you unpopular at church and you begin to think that no one wants you around so you stop attending
8. Transparent before God and man – no guilt
9. Lies about parents
10. Honors parents
11. Can lead to murder
12. Has no catalyst stewing inside him to want to lie about anything
13. Lies about adultery
14. Stays pure
15. Steals the truth and hides it
16. Is content
17. Lies about people
18. Tells the truth in love
19. Covets ill–gotten gain 10. Would never take a bribe
    10th Commandment:

Do not covet
Evil and Good

1. Replaces God with people or things
2. Knows God provides perfectly for today
3. Obsesses to a fault
4. Is content with God’s grace
5. Brings dishonor to God’s name
6. Preserves God’s name
7. Makes you see church–goers as Haves and Havenots
8. Is happy for others’ prosperity
9. Dishonors parents
10. Is content with parents God has given him
11. Leads to murder
12. Preserves life, teaching others to be content by example
13. Leads to idolatry with opposite sex
14. Is content with relationships
15. Leads to stealing
16. Has no need to steal; knows how to manage money
17. Leads to lying
18. Helps people out of the habit of lying
19. Covets
20. Is content

Q. Okay, I get it now. But is there a shortcut to good behavior?
A. Yes. If you love God and man, you wouldn’t think to break a single command.

✍️🌿Mrs. Kalaiselvi Balakrishnan in Jesus Christ 🌿✍️