The Kingdom of God and Prayer

(notes from Pastor Phil Steiger of Living Hope Church in CO)

Read Mark 1:35-39

• Mark 1:21-34 is a kind of “day in the life” of Jesus, full of visible and incredible miracles

• What did Jesus do after? (1:35)

• Jesus was in the habit of disappearing to pray: Luke 5:12-16; 9:18-20; 22:39-46

• What might it communicate to Peter that he had to hunt him down, and then found him praying?

• The Kingdom of God as both “inward” and “outward”

• The Kingdom of God is “outward”: it really has consequences in this world

• But the visible can become an idol: Exodus 20:4-6; 32:1-6; Habakkuk 2:18-19; Psalm 115:2-8; Col 3:5

• So what is the role of the “inward”?: 2 Cor 4:16-5:5; Romans 8:5-8

• “…I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”

• The proclamation was primary – Peter’s first guess at why Jesus came is wrong: 1 Cor 4:1-2; 1 Peter 2:9

“…discipleship consists not in attempting to control God’s work but in following God’s Son.” (James Edwards)