The Fall Affects Marriage

Read Gen. 3:16-21

The woman naturally wants to boss a man, while the man naturally wants to use force over a woman. It is SUPERnatural for a woman to respect a man and for a man to treat a woman with kindness and understanding.

For women, the fall multiplied their conception and for men, their work was made hard.

In order to make their clothing, we see the first animal sacrifice, which was performed to cover their sin. And of course the subsequent generations would see much more blood shed for the remission of sin.

Read Deut. 24:5

Dad says this is a neat principle for a husband to learn to bring happiness to his wife..........no war or public duty for the first year of marriage!

Marriage......our new topical study

Read Gen. 1:26-28 and 2:18-25

In chapter 1, on the sixth day, we see God creating the first man and woman. He tells them to have children, fill the earth, and subdue it.

At the end of the third through sixth days, God "saw that it was good". But in chapter 2, when the creation of man is revisited, God says "It is NOT good that man should be alone." So God makes a woman for Adam. She is made to complete him as a man. Adam chooses to name her with a form of his name. The man and woman are made to go together. Dad's insight for the day......."Bachelors and spinsters are a result of the fall! No one was created to be alone. Ever."

Adam is very happy! A new family is formed when a marriage takes place. It is all part of the cycle of life. (paul's comment)

Mark 16:1-8

v.7....Why is Peter singled out? Because Peter had previously denied ever knowing Jesus. Jesus wouldn't necessarily have assumed that he was still a disciple.

Mark 16:9-20

v.19....Jesus is "sitting" at the right hand of God the Father. In Acts when Stephen was martyred, Jesus was "standing".

v.18...There is no record of these things being fulfilled.


Phew!!! We're done with the book of Mark!!!

Dad asked for suggestions for our next study. We are going to take Paul's suggestion and study the topic...........are you ready for this?............"marriage" !! Stay tuned...............

Mark 15:16-32

This is where Isaiah 53 is fulfilled, which was written at least 700 years before this time in history. Paul mentioned the hymn, "He was wounded for our transgressions" and we sang it together.

We see Jesus being tempted to use His power to end this whole ordeal, but does He use it? No, He instead chooses to suffer so that our salvation will be accomplished.

Mark 15:33-47

At the scene of the cross, we see two mothers of apostles (Mary the mother of James the less and Salome, the mother of James and John).

There are three unusual occurences at this crucifixion: Jesus cries out with a loud voice (usually men were too weak), Jesus dies quickly (the men often lingered for days), and also there is an earthquake.

Read Mk 14:53-65

Here we see the Thursday night illegal trial accusing Jesus of blasphemy. Why didn't the witnesses agree? Perhaps they were brought in one by one and didn't hear what the others had said. Of course the truth always agrees. Jesus boldly states that He is the Messiah..............."I AM".


Read Mk 14:66-72

This is the low spot of Peter's life. He was scared and had lost his courage as he denied that he had been with Jesus. But he does repent and ask forgiveness. In Jn 21:15-17, Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves Him and dad pointed out that perhaps it was a connection to this incident. 1 Jn 1:9 is our hope for this life...."If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just ot forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Read Mk 15:1-15

Now we have the official trial on Friday morning. Pilate realizes that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because of envy. They were jealous of Jesus' popularity with the people.

Jesus answers nothing at this trial as He is determined to be falsely accused and die for us. Imagine not defending yourself against false charges.

The chief priests easily manipulate the crowd so that they ask for Barrabas to be released instead of Jesus.

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Ps 22:9-11
"But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother's breasts.
I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother's womb You have been My God.
Be not far from Me, for trouble is near;
For there is none to help."

Fitting verses for the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, marking the killing of 50 million children in our nation.

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We are almost done with the book of Mark, and our next study is going to be a topical one. Any suggestions?

Read Mk 14:32-42

We find Jesus praying for the Father to "take this cup away from me". Going to the cross was going to be really hard on Jesus because He knew He was going to be rejected by the Father as He took on all of our sins.

And then the diciples fell asleep! Lesson......... we need to have compassion on other people's mistakes. We are just as weak as the disciples, men who had spent 3 years learning from Jesus! Why do we expect so much of eachother?

Read Mk 14:43-52

John says that a "cohort" of armed Roman soldiers with swords came to get Jesus and that would have been 600 men. They must have thought that Jesus was very powerful!

One of the 12 that Jesus carefully picked is the one who betrayed HIm. How awful to think that he did this.

The naked man seems to be John Mark, the author of the gospel. It is reasonable that the soldiers had been at Mark's house looking for Jesus prior to this account. This is possibly the house of the upper room. Perhaps they woke Mark from his sleep and he hurried out with a cloth wrapped around him.

Read Mk 14:26-31

"And when they had sung a hymn...." This would have been one of the Psalms between 113 and 118 so we read Ps. 115. It was inspiring to think of Jesus and the disciples singing these actual words. The psalm speaks of the believers blessing the name of the Lord and the Lord blessing the believers. Verse 11 commands those who fear the Lord to TRUST Him. Both do not naturally go together, do they?

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Between a small picture of a certain someone and clowning with her younger sister, Anne managed to.........shall we say..............keep Dad on his toes last night? (just seeing if anyone is reading this)