Snapshots Series: "Meeting Needs"

Questions for Community Groups

1. Has anyone ever met a need that you had? Was it physical, emotional or spiritual?
2. What are some ways you can meet the physical needs of the people around you?
3. What are some ways you can meet the emotional needs of the people around you?
4. What are some ways you can meet the spiritual needs of the people around you?
5. What is the greatest need you have in life right now?
6. Have you ever had a time in your life when you feel that God just led you to meet a specific need of another person?
7. Have you ever had a time in which you met a need of another person and Jesus got all the glory


Snapshot2 Mark 1:21-45 “Meeting Needs”

Tonight we see Snapshots of Jesus meeting needs…

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?" ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

When we look around we see people with many different needs. The concept that the Good Samaritan that MLKing pointed out was a concept that originated with Jesus. When on the earth Jesus thought not of Himself but thought about the needs of the people.

In tonight’s passage we see Jesus meet 3 types of needs that all humans have…Physical, emotional and spiritual.

-Physical needs V29-34 & v40-45 In these two passages we see Jesus heal the sick.

V 41-42 Jesus touched the untouchable and cured the incurable. Only in two instances in the OT do we see a leper healed by God.

(this is something to think about when it comes to helping people…because many times the people who need help are not the people we want to be around)

Jesus performed these miracles to authenticate His message. It awakened people to the fact that something special was happening.

But Jesus also realizes that the majority of people only really care about their physical needs.

This is a problem with us and our society… Our lives are sometime dictated by the physical needs. We become consumed with how we feel, how hungry we are, how comfortable we are.

Because of this Jesus told the man not to tell other people v45 illustrates why, because Jesus would not be able to enter into towns.

What the Lord does for us today can be threefold. 1. The Lord meets our daily physical needs. 2. The Lord also heals the sick. 3. We take this one for granted…Jesus keeps everything together.

-Emotional needs V21-22 Sound authoritative teaching meets the emotional needs. Our emotions need to be touched in order for us to accept teaching.

When are you most willing to learn? (normally when you are emotionally connected) “I am broken so I need teaching”
When are you least willing to learn? (normally when you are emotionally connected) “I am upset so I am not willing to accept teaching”

They were “astonished” When teaching is going on it usually touches your emotion. That is why Biblical teaching is so important, no gimmicks or bells and whistles but the preached Word will touch the emotions.

Concepts that originate or point to Biblical truth also touch the emotions.

A group of motion-picture engineers classified the following as the ten most dramatic sounds in the movies: The sound that causes the most emotional response and upheaval than any other, has the power to bring forth almost every human emotion: sadness, envy, regret, sorrow, tears, as well as supreme joy. It is the wedding march. Why? Because it is a picture of Christ and us.
It is like when we see stories of a person laying down their life for their friends always touch the heart GOSPEL
-Spiritual needs v23-27 & v38-39 Jesus casts out demons and preached the life giving message.

V23-24 This exorcism set the pattern for the sustained conflict that Jesus had with demons.

We see here that Jesus has the power of Satan and demons and we also see that His message is spiritual life giving.

Billy Graham said “People have to great spiritual needs, one is for forgiveness and the other is for goodness” The Gospel forgives and the gospel makes us righteous

CS Lewis in Mere Christianity
"The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self—all your wishes and precautions—to Christ."

"[The natural life] knows that if the spiritual life gets hold of it, all its self-centredness and self-will are going to be killed and it is ready to fight tooth and nail to avoid that."
Our physical needs war against our spiritual needs but our spiritual needs are the primary needs we have.

Our call is to meets these three needs…



We can meet needs when we…
-Prayer v35
If you truly want to meet the needs of the people around you, we have to follow the example of the Lord Jesus and pray.
Where does the power to meet these needs come from? The Lord

Prayer not only gives us the power to meet the needs it also gives us the direction to figure out what needs to be met.

-are concerned about the fame of Jesus.
v28 fame, because of what Jesus did His fame spread. When you meet needs of others you will be noticed (your fame will spread). The challenge is to make Jesus’ name famous, not take the glory, not take the credit, not get filled with pride or self importance.

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~Nelson Henderson

We don’t meet needs for personal benefit.

Jesus was here meeting needs for the benefit of others and the kingdom, we should focus on meeting the needs of others for the benefit of Jesus & His kingdom.