Sermons on Mark (Page 2)
The Spiritual Disciplines of silence and solitude—while unique from one another—go hand-in-hand. You can have solitude without silence, but it is almost impossible to have silence without solitude. So rather than spending two weeks discussing these disciplines separately, I will do my best to address them as two sides of the same coin. By definition, solitude is the state or “situation of being alone without other people.” Solitude provides believers with an opportunity to reflect on spiritual matters by removing the distraction of people and things. A few weeks ago, Pastor John preached on the discipline of community and how we need one another to grow in spiritual maturity. Experiencing community is essential to our spiritual growth, but so is being alone with God!
Hell is the absence of God and every good thing that His presence brings to this world. If hell is the absence of God, then it is also the absence of everything good—joy, pleasure, laughter, music, art, food, water, etc. Can you imagine? God patiently offers us the free gift of eternal life with Him, but when man exercises his free will and chooses not to follow God’s plan, then his choice has determined his fate. John 3:17-18 says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
Four events occurred in a dramatic succession on that Easter weekend: The Upper Room, The Garden, The Crucifixion, The Resurrection of Jesus. Let’s look at each of those events and their implications.
