Mark 13:1-13 Watch Yourselves, Not For Signs
Mark 13 serves as the culmination of everything Jesus said and did in the Temple during chapters 11-12. After exposing the corruption within the Temple’s system and leadership in the previous two chapters, Jesus concluded His public ministry by warning the people about the hypocritical scribes who devour widows’ houses. As chapter 13 begins, Jesus leaves Jerusalem and predicts the Temple’s complete destruction—an event that would happen within forty years during the Roman-Jewish War (66 to 70 AD). This passage, known as the Olivet Discourse and paralleled in Matthew and Luke, forecasts Jerusalem’s fall and offers a glimpse of Christ’s second coming in glory. However, where Jesus is speaking specifically about the Temple’s destruction and the end of history has been a subject of interpretive debate among scholars. We will address a small part of this, but it is important to remember that biblical prophecy—while fascinating and evidence of the Bible’s divine inspiration—is not primarily intended to create timelines or uncover secret insights. Like all Scripture, prophecy is given to instruct, reprove, correct, and train us in righteousness for today. The disciples ask for a sign, and Jesus does not give them one until verse 14. The main point Jesus first emphasizes is not satisfying their curiosity with a detailed map of the future but teaching them (and us) how to live faithfully no matter what—being watchful against deception, not panicking amid the world’s turmoil, relying on the Spirit during persecution, and enduring to the end, whether the end comes today or a thousand years from now.
I. Judgment & The Disciples’ Question (1-2)
II. Don’t Be Deceived By False Christs (5-6)
III. Don’t Be Alarmed By False Signs (7-8)
IV. Be Ready To Endure Persecution (9-13)
Mark 12:28-37 Not Far From the Kingdom
After a month away from our study in Mark, we’re returning to the middle of chapter 12, where Jesus faces a series of challenges from religious leaders in Jerusalem during his final week. After Jesus entered Jerusalem to shouts of Hosanna and cleansed the temple, a delegation from the Sanhedrin questioned his authority. Pharisees and Herodians attempt to trap him with a question about taxes to Caesar, and Sadducees pose a hypothetical about marriage, hoping to prove there is no resurrection. This Sunday, we’ll examine the final question from a scribe—a legal expert on God’s law—regarding the greatest commandment (Mark 12:28-37). This leads to a discussion that highlights how someone can be remarkably close to God’s kingdom without actually entering it. The main point is that true entry into the kingdom requires more than intellectual agreement with God’s truths or admiration for Jesus; it demands recognizing, trusting, and submitting to Jesus as Lord, the divine Son of God, who alone has kept God’s commandments in our place and, in the new birth, enables us to love God and others.
I. The Foundational Truth of God’s Law (v. 28-31)
II. The Full Agreement Of A Lost Sinner (v. 32-34)
III. The Faith That Enters The Kingdom (v. 35-37)
Ephesians 3:14-21 A Prayer For Spiritual Strength
As we come to the end of 2025, we can look back and see God’s wonderful goodness to us at FBC. We are a blessed fellowship, and God has moved in so many ways among us. As we look forward to 2026, I thought about what our prayer should be. What would we ask God to do among us and within us, as disciples and as a body? When I think on this question, I am often brought back to Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians. In Ephesians 1-3, Paul lays out the doctrinal foundation of gospel truths. He teaches the Ephesians who they are "in Him" and who they are as a body of both Jews and Gentiles, united as the people of God. Then, in chapters 4-6, He teaches them how to live these truths out within the body and out in the world. Sandwiched right between these two sections, at the end of chapter 3, Paul prays that God would empower and strengthen them by the Spirit that they would be able to live out all that he teaches in chapters 4-6. This Sunday, we will study this prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21, and make it our prayer as disciples of Jesus and the body at FBC. Paul prays they would be strengthened in their inner being, to know Christ’s unknowable love, and be filled with the fullness of God. Sounds wonderful, but that is much easier said than done. Many of us have set our hearts to live for Christ and been repeatedly disappointed, knowing we cannot be what we desire. Yet, Paul shows us that God is able to fulfill this impossible prayer. It is not striving harder that brings our strengthening about...it is becoming more dependent.
I. Paul’s Prayer To The Father (14-15)
II. Strengthened By The Spirit As Christ’s Dwelling (16-17a)
III. Strengthened To Know Christ’s Love (17b-19)
IV. Pray Because God Is Able (20-21)
Advent: Joy - That Your Joy May Be Full - John 15:1-11
During this Advent season, we’ve paused our study of the Gospel of Mark to reflect on the profound truths of Christ’s coming. Two weeks ago, we explored the hope of resurrection from Mark 12, and last week, we looked at the peace we find in Christ. These are not basic, mundane truths; we benefit when we remember who our God is and rekindle our passion for Christ’s gospel. In Christ, we have perfect reconciliation with God and complete righteousness before the Father. As Christmas approaches, let’s focus on these magnificent realities, resting and rejoicing in our hearts. Joy is our theme this third Sunday of Advent. The angels announced good news of great joy for all people at Jesus’ birth, and we will explore how to cultivate joy as the Spirit’s fruit, mainly from John 15:1-11. We will explain the Christian’s joy, distinguishing it from mere happiness, and see how joy is commanded by God, endures through sorrow, flows from God Himself, and grows as we abide in Christ—trusting in Him. Abiding in Christ nurtures the fruit of joy, because our joy comes from Jesus’ own joy, transforming even our hardships into reasons for rejoicing.
I. Joy & Happiness Overlap But Are Not the Same - (Jeremiah 33:11, Proverbs 23:24-25, Proverbs 27:9)
II. Joy & Rejoicing Are Commanded By God - (Rom. 12:15; Phil 3:1; 4:4; 1 Thess. 5:16)
III. Joy Can Still Be Present In Sorrow - (Habakkuk 3:17-18, 2 Corinthians 6:9-10)
IV. True Joy Is In God & From God - (John 15:11, Isaiah 42:1)
V. Joy Is A Fruit That Grows As We Cultivate it - (John 15:1-11)
Advent: The Gift Of Peace
As we enter the Christmas season, we will pause our verse-by-verse study in Mark to focus on the profound wonder of Christ’s birth. In keeping with the Advent season, this Sunday, we’ll explore the peace that Jesus brings, drawing from different passages across Scripture to highlight its various aspects. While we usually follow a consecutive exposition through books of the Bible, this topical approach allows us to step back and appreciate a theme woven throughout God’s Word. (While being careful to take each passage in its context).
The concept of peace is mentioned hundreds of times in Scripture and is what all creation has longed for since sin entered the world. Yet, despite everything we pursue, true peace only comes through Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Christmas isn’t just about a baby in a manger—it’s about the incarnation of the One who brings peace, as foretold in prophecies like Isaiah 9:6. As we prepare our hearts to celebrate the birth of our Savior, let’s reflect on how Jesus, the Prince of Peace, secures our eternal hope through His life, death, and resurrection, and let peace reign in our hearts (Col. 3:15).
I. Jesus Brings Peace With God (Rom. 5:1-2)
II. Jesus Gives Peace Within Us (John 14:27; 16:32-33)
III. Jesus Brings Peace With One Another (Eph. 2:14-16)
IV. Jesus Will Bring Peace To All Creation (Luke 2:13-14; Isa. 11:6-9)
Mark 12:18-27 The Hope Of Resurrection
On Sunday, we will continue our study in Mark, focusing on chapter 12:18-27. We’ve already seen Jesus in the Temple courts, rebuking the chief priests and scribes by comparing them to wicked tenants in God’s vineyard. We’ve observed Him skillfully outmaneuver the Pharisees and Herodians’ trap regarding paying taxes to Caesar. Now, the scene shifts to another challenge from the religious elite—the Sadducees—who try to discredit Jesus and the idea of resurrection with a crafted riddle about marriage in the afterlife. Although there are several related questions we will attempt to work through, the Sadducees ultimately seek to demonstrate how foolish the idea of a resurrection is. (They did not believe in an afterlife and accepted only Genesis through Deuteronomy as God’s Word.)
As Jesus skillfully outmaneuvers these Sadducees, just as He did with other leaders trying to trap Him with His words, He teaches us about the glorious hope of our resurrection with Him. This hope isn’t mere wishful thinking; it is based on Jesus’ clever response to the Sadducees, which exposes their mistake in denying God’s power and His Word. God’s power to transform His people assures us that He defeats death, sin, and loss, giving us confident hope for eternity. Jesus then directs the Sadducees to Exodus (a part of Scripture they accepted) and shows (based on the tense of a verb!) that resurrection is real. He points to Exodus 3:6, where God says, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" in the present tense, even though they had died long ago. This demonstrates ongoing life and a covenant with God, because He is the God of the living, not the dead. Resurrection is built into God’s Word, even in verb tenses, and reaches its pinnacle in Jesus’ own resurrection as the ultimate proof, giving us comfort in grief and confidence that death does not end our story.
The Theological Trap: Denying Resurrection (vv. 18-22)
Jesus’ Response: Ignorant of God’s Power (vv. 24-25)
Jesus’ Response: Ignorant of God’s Word (vv. 26-27)
Mark 12:13-17 Whose Image Is This?
Sunday, we will return to Mark and the final week of Jesus’ earthly life. Mark 12:13-17 continues the confrontations between Jesus and religious leaders. He entered Jerusalem amid cries of Hosanna and cleansed the temple of money changers. He also rebuked the scribes and elders with the parable of the wicked tenants. At this point, the leaders of Judaism want Him out of the way, but three times, Mark tells us they feared the crowds. In the next sections, groups of high-ranking religious leaders will try to trap Jesus with questions so the crowd will turn against Him, or perhaps He will say something that could offend Rome. Mark 12:13-17 presents a political question about taxes with no good answer. Yet, Jesus recognizes and reveals the hypocrisy of those asking questions and offers one of His most famous sayings, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (v. 17). In this simple statement, Jesus shows us how authority should be properly ordered. He does not mean that some things belong to Caesar and others belong to God, and that each should be kept separate. Jesus exposes their trap and hypocrisy by illustrating the hierarchy of authority. Caesar does have legitimate, God-ordained authority (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pt. 2:13-17), but Caesar’s authority is also limited. There is only one Lord of all, not two, and just as Caesar’s image appears on the coin that belongs to him, you are made in God’s image, and therefore, all you are belongs to Him. Christians are to submit to earthly authorities God has ordained, but no authority except God commands our highest allegiance and total obedience. Sunday, we will explore this passage in detail and ask, "Since we bear God’s image, what are we to render to Him?"
I. Jesus Faces A Political Trap (v. 13-14)
II. Jesus Exposes The Questioner’s Hypocrisy (v. 15-16a)
III. Jesus Explains Proper Authority (v. 16-17)
Mark 12:1-12 Being a Fruit Producing Vineyard
On Sunday, we will examine Mark 12:1-12. As chapter 11 concluded, Jewish leaders confronted Jesus, demanding to know by what authority He disrupted the temple operations by overturning the money changers’ tables. Jesus exposed their self-centered authority and refused to answer their question. Mark 12:1-12 continues that conversation. Jesus responds to the religious leaders with a parable. Often called the Parable of the Wicked Tenants, Jesus uses a story to reveal the wickedness of these leaders’ sin and God’s plan of salvation. A vineyard owner carefully plants, protects, and tends to his vineyard (echoing Isaiah 5:1-2, where Israel is the Lord’s beloved vineyard), then leases it to tenant farmers. At harvest, he rightly sends servants to collect his share of the fruit, but the tenants beat one, shame another, and kill a third—rejecting every messenger. These "servants" represent the Old Testament prophets whom Israel repeatedly persecuted (Jeremiah 7:25-26; 2 Chronicles 36:15-16). Yet the owner shows great patience and longsuffering as he continues to send servants to call for the fruit owed to him. He even sends his beloved son, thinking, “Surely they will respect him.” Instead, the tenants murder the heir, plotting to seize the inheritance for themselves. In this parable, the vineyard symbolizes God’s people, God is the vineyard’s owner, the prophets are the servants sent by the owner, Jesus is the Son who is killed, and Israel’s leaders are the tenants who want ownership of the vineyard. Jesus’ parable ends with God bringing justice by destroying the tenants—not the vineyard itself—and entrusting it to “others” (v. 9). These "others" are the Apostles, through whose preaching many will come to faith in Jesus and receive the Spirit, who produces the fruit God commands. This interpretation is confirmed as Jesus concludes the conversation with the religious leaders by quoting Psalm 118:22-23 (the same Psalm the crowd quoted as He entered the city). Jesus says that the stone the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. Jesus is the cornerstone of the Temple in which we are built (See Eph. 2:19-22). God owns the vineyard of His people and our lives; He deserves the fruit of worship, repentance, and obedience, and His long-suffering kindness is meant to lead us to repentance. We are called to entrust our lives to Jesus so we might bear fruit in His name.
I. God is Owed The Vineyard’s Fruit (v. 1-2)
II. God Is Gracefully Patient In Calling For Fruit (3-6)
III. God Will Judge & Restore His Vineyard (v. 7-9)
IV. God Will Build His Temple Upon His Son (10-11)