Dominating Powers, Part 1 (Mark 5:1-20) John MacArthur

From John MacArthur: When we train young men how to preach, one of the things we work on is the introduction to the sermon because it's important to get people's attention. And there are a lot of ways to do that and we get a little bit creative from time to time as to how we develop an introduction. There are a lot of ways to do it but the goal of an introduction is to grab the attention of the people and get them interested in what you're about to say. You can do that a lot of ways.

You can do that by surprising them a little bit. You can do that with a high interest story. You can do that by focusing on a very applicable, practical truth that everybody wants to know about. You can do that by focusing on a problem that needs a solution and you're about to give them the solution. There are a lot of ways you can capture interest...

The Power and Pity of Jesus, Part 2 (Mark 5:35-43) John MacArthur

From John MacArthur:
Let's look again at Mark chapter 5 and this is Part 2 in this text that records really two incidents, one inside the other from Mark 5:21 to the end of the chapter, verse 43.

We have already considered the first portion of this passage down through verse 34 and we'll pick up the story in verse 35 with a little bit of a review. And what we're going to see in verses 35 to 43 is Jesus breaking up a funeral by raising the person from the dead. Breaking up a funeral, wouldn't you love to be able to do that? Wouldn't we all love to be able to do that? We understand that funerals are the most desperate of all human occasions and experiences. The Bible accurately says that all the human race is in slavery to the fear of death, Hebrews 2:15. Romans 6 says that the whole human race is in slavery to sin and the consequence of being a slave to sin is being a slave to the fear of death. Death, of course, is the ultimate fear that impregnates all other fears with its threatening and final reality. That is why Job 18:14 calls death the kind of terrors...

The Power and Pity of Jesus, Part 1 (Mark 5:21-34) John MacArthur

From John MacArthur:
It's been my joy to study, in particular, the gospels. This is the fourth gospel that we've done together here. We have spent nearly 25 years in the gospels and I never ever tire, I never grow weary of the magnificence of Christ. Usually I get a week to prepare a sermon, but I've had three weeks to work on this one and I could keep you here until you fell out of the window and died and we had to raise you from the dead, like Eutychus, but I won't do that, so we'll have to break this portion of Scripture into two parts, this week and next. It's inexhaustible the treasure of Scripture. What a joy for me the last few weeks to have literally been saturated with the truth of this text.

Mark 5 starting in verse 21, Mark 5. It is a text that is contained in Matthew. Matthew records it in chapter 9 and Luke records it in chapter 8. There are two miracles in the passage from verse 21 to 43 and they are interestingly arranged. It is another one of those Mark sandwiches. It is a story within a story, a miracle within a miracle. And usually I read the full text and that is a delight and a joy and a privilege and a responsibility to do but in this case, in the narrative, I would rather allow the narrative to unfold itself to us and so we'll move through it together verse by verse and then we'll complete it next Sunday.