The Owner & The Vinedressers

I am beginning a new sermon series on the gospel of Mark. Why? Because I have been impressed by how this shortest of the four gospels moves. It just takes off and all the stories connect well with the central theme of Mark, found in chapter 10 and verse 45,

“For even the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:45

In my new series, “Stories from Mark,” each of the stories that I will tell connect well with that all important main theme. You may well ask, “Why are you beginning with chapter 12? Good question. The short answer is that the Holy Spirit impressed me to start there, after weeks of study and devotional time spent in Mark. And, I have already started writing and pretty much finished the second sermon in the series, and you’ll have to wait for that until after I preach it live. But I started writing it early this morning while sitting up in my bed. It is based in Mark chapter one, so from there I will press forward over the next several weeks. In fact, I used my iPhone 13 to write it, fairly quickly just by sliding my finger across the keyboard. Amazing how technology has advanced to enable ease of writing and publishing, even to blogs like this one. I thank God for that.

For this first sermon I am preaching from the parable of the wicked vinedressers as found in Mark 12:1-12. Here is the situation. A certain man owns a vineyard which he dug and planted himself. That’s some serious hard work. Then He decided to lease it to some vinedressers before he left for a long stay in a far away place. However, at harvest time he did send his servant to receive payment for the lease.

Now what should the owner reasonably expect to receive from those vinedressers? Some form of payment. Right? Do you know the story as written in Mark’s gospel? Do you know what happened to that servant, and to the other servants the owner had sent? What would you have done if you were the owner? What are the spiritual implications for today concerning this parable? And just what should the LORD God reasonably expect to receive from His churched people today?

Here is the link to listen and watch on my YouTube page. https://youtu.be/ScyUKQn2F90

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