Waymaker #2 - Never Late

In this sermon, we’ll meet two people who were desperate and at the end of their ropes. We’ll meet two people who began to think that Jesus was late, that he was slow in keeping his promises. But, come and hear. Jesus is not late. He never is. He is not slow in keeping his promises, as some understand slowness. He is always right on time with the right help.

Can you see yourself in these two desperate characters? Maybe not today, but at another time, perhaps. Praying for help that never seems to come? Seeking solutions that never seem to find answers? Wondering to yourself, “Where is Jesus now?” Yet, in your desperation, you can be sure: Jesus is never late. He is always right on time with the right help just for you. We're looking at Mark 5:21-43.

Waymaker #1 - Three Lessons from the Storm

Whenever Jesus does something, whenever something happens, it is always an opportunity to learn. Whether it happens in the classroom, from the pulpit, or out on the lake, he is always seeking to take us deeper into the truth about God and into his Word. We're looking at Mark 4:35-41 and learning three lessons from the storm.

Storyteller #5 - The Mustard Seed

When Jesus came preaching and teaching, healing and performing all sorts of miracles, he made it known: “The kingdom of God is at hand!” And it was. Through his miracles, wonders, and works, he was giving people a glimpse of the rolled-back curse, a taste of the eternal kingdom that is surely to come. He was coming after the kingdom of darkness and exerting his rule over it. Through his preaching and teaching, he opened the eyes of people’s hearts to know the hope of their calling, their glorious share in the inheritance with Jesus and all the saints, and the great power of God who raised Jesus from the dead. God was indeed on the scene, and he was on the move.

Jesus wants us to understand more fully and more deeply what the kingdom of God is, how it works, and what it accomplishes. That’s he moved his Spirit to inspire Mark to record these parables that Jesus told. Yes, these parables in Mark 4 are meant to help us understand the kingdom of God, how it works, what it does, and even how we ought to respond to its coming. It’s an important chapter. It’s one of the few places in the gospel of Mark where he records the teachings of Christ.

We’re wrapping up this part of the book of Mark this week, and with Jesus as our teacher, we will ask the question: “What shall we say that the kingdom of God is like? What parable shall we use to describe it?” We’ll be considering Mark 4:30-34.

Storyteller #4 - The Growing Seed

Mark isn’t often much concerned with the teachings of Jesus. He is most concerned with the deeds of Christ and his working out the kingdom of God. He isn’t much concerned with his teachings, but when he is focused on the teachings of Jesus, he does it with focus and purpose. He has gathered together these parables of Jesus here in Mark chapter 4 with the express purpose of teaching us about the way that the kingdom of God moves and works.

The first parable teaches us generally about the kingdom and its movement and shows us that the life is in the seed. The second group of short little parables asks us the question: What will you do with the seed, i.e., the Word? Today, Jesus helps us to understand further the way in which the seed works. He teaches us how the kingdom grows. Next week, he will show us what the kingdom of God looks like.

Jesus is a different sort of King with a different sort of kingdom. This series of parables is meant to help us understand the way that his kingdom works and moves more fully.

Storyteller #3 - The Parable of the Lamp

This is important stuff. Jesus is pulling his disciples aside to teach them and to give them insight into what they will do with him and with his Word. He wants the same to you. Jesus is the Sower who casts his seed recklessly into your ears so that you might here and believe.

This is important stuff. What are you going to do with it? That’s what Jesus wants you to think about next. Will you put it under a bowl and harden yourself to it so that it doesn’t enlighten you or anyone else? Will you be stingy with it? What will you do with Jesus and his Word?

We consider the next little parables in Mark 4, Jesus encourages us: “Consider carefully how you hear” (Mark 4:24). We’re looking at Mark 4:21-25.

Storyteller #2 - The Sower and the Seed

This is one of the best-known parables of Jesus and is one of the few to which Jesus gives us the key and interpretation of the various characters within the parable. This is such a gift to us because it not only helps us understand this parable but also gives a key to unlock the other. The one who has ears, let them hear! Mark 4:1-9, 13-20.

Storyteller #1 - Why parables?

Jesus is our Savior. He is also our Teacher. He often told short stories, aka parables, that taught us spiritual truths through an earthly story. We’re starting a five-week series this weekend (July 2). During this series, we will sit at the feet of Jesus and learn important truths from him about his Word and about the Kingdom of God. We’ll be looking at the parables in Mark 4.

Mark doesn’t include a lot of teaching moments during the life and ministry of Jesus, so this is a big deal. It will be good for us to pay attention. Each week you might even ask each week: Why did Mark include this one?

Our goal for this first sermon is to understand why: Why did Jesus tell parables? More directly, why did Jesus tell these parables here? Mark is tightly tying the context together for us. This weekend, we’ll skip ahead in Mark 4 to hear Jesus’ answer to the question: Why do you speak and live in parables?

Matchless #4 - A Power worth Telling

In this sermon, we’ll remember how God has had mercy on us, and then we’ll go to tell the story. We’ll consider Mark 5:18-20.

Matchless #3 - A Scary Power

That’s what they saw when the whole town ran out to see what had happened out there on the cliffs. Then, the story was told. Perhaps, they told the story with staggered sentences and short-word gasps. Demons. Pigs. Cliff. Sea of Galilee. Look!

How would you respond? What emotions or thoughts would rush through your mind as you gazed out at the pigs floating in the Sea and the man sitting there, dressed and in his right mind?

This man was a peace and just glad to be with Jesus. He would follow Jesus to the moon. But the rest of the people had other thoughts. They were afraid and wanted Jesus to go.

What about you? Jesus is God in the flesh. They saw his divinity peeking from beneath his skin, and it scared them.

Today, we’ll consider the various reactions to God-in-the-flesh and to Jesus-with-skin-on (the church). We draw near to him like beggars. A sermon Mark 5:14-20.

Matchless #2 - The Stronger Man

It’s easy for us to forget where we live. But I’m not talking about your address. I hope that you remember the location of the place where you lay your head at night. I’m talking about this world and what faces us in this world. It’s easy to forget that we live in a world where the Devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. He is up to mischief and harm and murder and lies. We are his desired victim.

It’s good for us to remember this, to remember where we live.

More than that, we should know and be aware of his schemes and deceits. And that is exactly what we’ll do this weekend as we keep on wrestling with Mark 5:1-20. The sermon will be a military brief about the Enemy - his character and his tactics. It will be about our strength (or lack thereof). It will be about our Captain, our Savior Jesus, the right Man who is on our side.

Matchless #1 - Demons? Really?

So much is going on all around us. Most of it is easy to explain as physical problems. But what if there were more going on than we can see? What if there was a spiritual component to everything? The apostle Paul assures us that there is a spiritual component to everything. He reminds us that “our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against… powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6.12). Sometimes those spiritual forces inhabit and possess a person. We see it clearly in the Scriptures, but does it still happen today? Over the next month, we’ll spend our time in Mark 5:1-20, considering demon possession and spiritual warfare. More than that, we will fix our eyes on Jesus, the stronger man who has tied up the strong man (cf. Mark 3:27). A sermon on Mark 5:1-13.

Things Jesus Said #5 - About the Kingdom

This weekend, as we listen to Jesus teach us about the kingdom of God, we’ll have the opportunity to consider the gift that the Spirit gives as he gives us such faith that trusts Jesus alone. We’ll be looking at Mark 10:17-31.

Things Jesus Said #4 - About Following Him

You can’t be a Christian and not carry a cross. It is a part and parcel of following Jesus. It’s part of going after him. It is an essential part of being a Christian. The cross is not just something that we believe. It is something that we carry. It is something we pick up as we follow Jesus day after day. That’s why we aren’t just Christians, we are Crosstians – because that’s what we do. We carry a cross. Yes, Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, that when Christ bids a person come and follow, he bids him come and die. It’s a cross-bearing thing to which he calls us. He calls us to come and die. But in dying to ourselves, we rise in him.

As we listen to Jesus teach us about following him, we’ll make some special application of carrying our cross to our mission and ministry here. We’ll be looking at Mark 8:27-38.

Things Jesus Said #3 - About Sabbath

What would it be like to run, to really run? To just run without a care in the world. To fly like a bird set free from its cage. To leap and frolic like a calf set free from its pen. To roar like a muscle car in the salt flats. Yes, what would be like to run, to really run, in this life that God has given us? The disciples knew that life, and now we do too. It is life under Him in his kingdom, serving him in righteousness, purity, and innocence. An Ascension sermon on Mark 2:18-28.

Things Jesus Said #2 - About Family

Not only is Jesus our Savior, but he is also an insightful and perfect Teacher from God. He has important things to teach us about our life with him, for him, and our life with one another. Over the next month, we’ll look at five bite-sized sayings of Jesus that shape our lives. Today, as we unpack another of these short little sayings of Jesus, we’re going to unpack Jesus’ teaching about family. On Mother’s Day, we want to focus on Jesus’ interaction with his family and what Jesus teaches about the true nature of family. This week we’ll hear his word About Family (Mark 3:20-35).

Things Jesus Said #1 - About Welcoming Children

People say a lot of things about children. One of the mantra’s I remember hearing about children is this: “Children should be seen and not heard.” My parents and grandparents were probably trying to get me to be quiet so that the adults could talk. I haven’t heard that saying in quite a while, but the idea still lurks around. Children can be seen as a nuisance, in the way of getting and doing what I really want to do, insignificant and even a hindrance. “These shouldn’t be here.”

But Jesus teaches a different way. As we begin a new series on the short little sayings of Jesus, Jesus teaches us to value children and to welcome them. And when we do that, when we care for children, when we welcome them in Jesus’ name, Jesus says something astounding to us: “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me!” Yes, when you welcome a child into your arms in the name of Jesus, you are welcoming Jesus into your lap.

Wow! That’s gives a whole new image to family devotions, to classroom devotions, to the work that parents do, to the work that Christian teachers do. We’re kicking off a new series on these short little sayings of Jesus. We’ll be looking at Mark 9:30-37.

Life after Easter #4 - Evidence of Election

Almost anytime it comes up in the Bible, there are lots of questions. I’m talking about the doctrine of election, the teaching about predestination. There are lots of questions about it, but the most important question is: How can I know if God picked me? Today, we’ll answer that question and look for evidence of our election. We’ll be looking at Romans 8:28-39.

Life after Easter #3 - Rethinking Life

We live in the days after Easter. That’s true for us historically. Jesus died and rose again on the third day over 2000 years ago. Hundreds of people saw him alive. All of them have fallen asleep. We live on the basis of their eyewitness testimony. We live in the days after Easter.

We also live in the days after Easter in another way. By our baptism, we, too, have been raised with Christ and have been seated with him in the heavenly places. We live after our own spiritual resurrection. We live after Easter and before eternity. And that presents us with tension, an after Easter and before a final Easter resurrection. It’s the already and not yet tension. We are already raised with Christ and we will later be raised again to eternal life. We are already perfect in Christ and not yet fully glorified. We are already redeemed, and yet we wait for the redemption of our bodies. We live between Easters.

Romans 8 means to help us maintain this tension. And this weekend, as we get into the second half of this great chapter, Paul is going to help us live in this tension by teaching us to rethink life. He’s going to help engage our minds and to think about what Easter means for our lives. He’s going to help us rethink life. We’re in Romans 8:18-30.

Life after Easter #2 - Easter Security

This is what Easter is all about: it is a detailing of the otherwise unbelievable love of God in the sacrifice of his own Son for the likes of us sinners. It is an unveiling of the incredible victory gained by Jesus over all our sins, even over death itself. God gave us his Son. His Son conquered the grave. His Spirit resurrected faith in our hearts. And we respond with overwhelming confidence! Come death, come angels or demons! Let the past haunt me and the present scare me, and the future terrifies me! It is all nothing; the love of God in Christ leaves me at peace and secure. In Romans 8, Paul shows us what life after Easter is like. More than that, he gives that post-Easter life to us.

This Sunday, we’ll be tackling Romans 8:12-17. And if there is one thing that Paul wants to give us there, it is Easter certainty. A life without doubts. A life without worries. A certain life. Life without the “if” in the middle (try spelling life without “if” sometime.).

Life after Easter #1 - Easter Consequences

We live after Easter. That is a fact. Jesus died and rose again, and we live after that fact. We also live after Easter in another way. We have had our own spiritual resurrection from death to life. We live after Easter in more ways than one. But we also live before the final resurrection. We live before Jesus returns to raise all the dead. We are in between resurrections. So, how do we live between resurrections? What is this after Easter life? Paul answers it for us. We begin a look at Romans chapter 8 today. We'll be looking at Romans 8:1-11.