Sunday, August 4th // Recap Post

Sunday Morning Recap
By: Alex Dowell (intern)

This week rbcstudents continued in the series entitled, “The Secret Gospel.” The key take-away in this lesson was to recognize that a Christ-like mission is comprehensive—Jesus knew people needed more than just physical healing. The primary focus on this concept came out of Mark 7:31-37.

Taking care of others is quite popular in 2013. More than ever, people are giving to the poor. They are buying TOMS to help give people shoes. They are going on mission trips to help build houses and dig wells. Adoption has become so popular that countries with high orphan rates are making it harder to adopt. This generation of young people cares and they want to show how much they care by giving, and helping, and doing things for others in need. But there can be a danger if the help ends by meeting only physical needs. Caring for people must lead to caring for their spiritual needs as well.

Jesus healed a lot of people, including a deaf and mute man in the passage discussed this past Sunday. But He didn’t leave it at that. What good would it have been for Jesus to give the man his hearing, but not giving him something worth hearing?

Your students can recognize that Jesus does meet people’s physical needs. Miraculous healings are not limited to biblical times. Jesus wants all of us to have a higher quality of life—in fact, life abundantly. But Jesus recognized the crucial fact of meeting people’s spiritual needs. Everyone who Jesus healed or brought back from the dead eventually died physically. But by coming to die on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, He was inviting us to never experience spiritual death ever again.

How do these truths about Jesus impact the way your students love and live amongst others who are in need? Take time this week to encourage your students to see how they can meet the needs of others around them, both physically and spiritually.