Join us as we introduce Tom Siekmeyer, a key contributor to the Ezra Project, who starts by reading the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark. We explore his detailed work on Bible translations and share touching personal stories from Allen J. Huth’s Bible reading journals. Listen to a transformative testimony from Indonesia, underscoring the power of the Gospel with a compelling call to repent and believe, inspired by a remarkable conversion experience.
00:00:09 Introduction to Add Bible and the Gospel of Mark
00:00:25 Background and Theme of the Gospel of Mark
00:03:27 Introducing Tom Siekmeyer and Bible Versions
00:12:33 Testimony from Indonesia and Personal Reflection
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
SPEAKER 02 :
Today we begin the Gospel of Mark. The first question may be, why is Mark a Gospel writer? Who is Mark? Mark was not an eyewitness of Jesus, nor a disciple. He was the cousin of Barnabas, the John Mark that is described in the book of Acts, who deserted Paul and Barnabas on a missions trip, but was later restored to fellowship. There is widespread evidence from the early church fathers that Peter passed on reports of the words and deeds of Jesus to his attendant and writer, John Mark. So John Mark is the Mark of the Gospel of Mark. According to my English Standard Version Bible Introduction to the Book of Mark, proof of this is in the Gospel itself. vivid documentation of incidents involving Peter, accounts of Peter’s weaknesses, and the omission of praise of Peter that’s reported, though, in Matthew and Luke. Basically, Mark wrote for Peter, and that’s what gives him the authority to be one of the four gospel writers. Most likely, Mark wrote his gospel from Rome in the mid to late 50s. The majority of biblical scholars today believe Luke used the gospel of Mark for much of his materials and his overall structure, and Luke wrote his gospel in the early 60s, so Mark had to have written his gospel in the mid to late 50s. The theme of the Gospel of Mark is to present and defend Jesus’ universal call to discipleship. To Mark, discipleship is essentially a relationship with Jesus. This includes trusting in Him, confessing Him, following His teaching, and being shaped by a relationship to Him. it also means facing rejection like jesus did mark addresses an audience in rome unfamiliar with jewish customs so he tries to help them understand those customs there is no continuous storyline in the gospel of mark rather just a collection of events a collage of the life of jesus is fast-paced and action-packed listen for the word immediately throughout this gospel he wants us to understand jesus And we want to. So let’s get into the Gospel of Mark. We’ll take it one chapter a day for 16 days. Our guest reader in the Gospel of Mark is Tom Siekmeyer. Tom has a long history with the Ezra Project and AdBible. He’s one of those guys behind the scenes. He edits and proofs all of the AdBible recorded transcripts. Now, you may not even know that every AdBible recording is transcribed and made available in writing to Club 365 members. one of the many benefits of Club 365 membership. If you would like written transcripts of AdBible episodes, visit EzraProject.net and join Club 365 today. Tom also did the research and the writing on the versions of the Bible sections in our Ezra Project Bible reading journals. That section of our journals covers the background of translations, literal and dynamic equivalent translations, and what the differences are, and the history and the background of all the various English versions of the Bible. If you want to know about all the various English language versions of the Bible, like the New King James, the King James, the NIV, the ESV, that’s what Tom’s research covers. And you can find our Ezra Project journals on our website at ezraproject.net. By getting an Ezra Project Bible reading journal, you will see some of Tom’s fine work. Tom can do all this for us because he has an English degree from Calvin College and two master’s degrees, one from the University of Colorado and the other from Denver Seminary. He is one smart guy. Tom Siekmeyer taught English for 31 years in the Littleton Public School System, a suburb here in Denver. Tom is also very special to Terry and I because he married Claudette, our first babysitter. When Terry and I had our firstborn son my senior year in college, Claudette watched him from time to time. After she graduated from college, she met Tom Siekmeyer and they got married. So the Siekmeyers have been friends of ours for decades. Let’s get started with the Gospel of Mark with Tom Siekmeyer, our guest reader, reading the 45 verses of Mark chapter 1.
SPEAKER 03 :
Mark chapter 1. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness, and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him, and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, and wore a leather belt around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open, and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son. With you I am well pleased. The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals. and the angels were ministering to him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were in their boat, mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. And they went into Capernaum. And immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes. And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be silent and come out of him. And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, What is this, a new teaching with authority? He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door.” and he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, Everyone is looking for you. And he said to them, Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out. And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling, said to him, If you will, you can make me clean. Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, I will be clean. And immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once and said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded for a proof to them. But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.
SPEAKER 02 :
To help us through the Gospel of Mark, I have selected three of my personal Bible reading journals. The first one is from 1986, one of the earliest journals I ever wrote. when i was thirty one years old the second one is ten years later nineteen ninety six when i was forty one years old and the third one is ten more years later in two thousand six when i was fifty one years old it’s fun to select journals from various decades and various ages of my life let’s begin with the journal back in nineteen eighty six after i read mark i wrote one line The word immediately appears ten times. The gospel is now. Ten years later, in 1996, I wrote, Why did Jesus get baptized by John if John’s baptism was one of repentance from sin and Jesus had no sin? I continued to write, Jesus was immediately tempted by Satan, much like new converts are. So you can see sometimes when I write my personal Bible reading journals, I ask some questions. In 2006, another 10 years later, I wrote about this chapter. As Jesus is baptized, the Trinity is revealed. The Spirit, like a dove, descended upon him and a voice came out of the heavens. You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased. The Spirit, the Son, the Father are all introduced in the first chapter of Mark. So those are the notes that I recorded when I read this chapter at various ages and stages in my life. I will finish our time in the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark with the story I personally heard in jakarta indonesia i am a member of the gideon’s international and at a pastor’s appreciation banquet in jakarta indonesia a guy was given his testimony and he was very animated i couldn’t understand a word he was saying because it was all in indonesian but I had them translate his story for me and this is what he said. He was a Jihad Muslim and his goal was to destroy Christianity in his country. He put a bomb on a bus that was taking a bunch of Christian pastors to a conference. The bus broke down, all the pastors got off and went safely to the conference the bus got fixed his own people got on the bus it blew up and killed everybody he was put in jail and in that jail cell there was a new testament placed by the gideons the jihad was a smoker and the pages were the perfect size for him to tear out and wrap tobacco cigarettes He was smoking his way through the New Testament. Puffing on one of those cigarettes one day, he began to choke. He couldn’t breathe. He was gasping for air. His cellmate, who had also read a Gideon Testament in the cell, became a Christian, and he asked him to pray for him. So the cellmate prayed for the jihad, and he began to catch his breath again. He unwrapped what was left of a half-burnt cigarette, And he read these words out of Mark chapter 1. Repent and believe in the gospel. That’s verse 15. And that is the power of God’s word. One verse off of a burnt cigarette. Repent and believe in the gospel. He did so. His cellmate and him got another New Testament, and they began to read the gospel together. And this jihad gave his life to Christ. He is now a Christian pastor in the Muslim nation of Indonesia because of verses like Mark 1, verse 15. Lord, we thank you for the power of your word. We thank you for the gospel of Mark. We thank you for your invitation to repent and believe in this gospel. And we pray, Lord, that as we internalize this gospel, we will follow you and you will make us fishers of men. We pray in your name. Amen. It’s not too late to get your copy of the writings of the Old Testament historical books to follow along with this Ad Bible program the next several weeks. The book contains our studies on Job, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, which we will be in the next several weeks. The book has comments on every chapter, applications for your life, and a place for you to record your own thoughts on each chapter of each book for future reference. Visit EzraProject.net and order the writings of the Old Testament historical books today, so you can get more out of these radio programs and more out of your Bible. I know you’re going to enjoy it.
