Pastor's Corner: WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?

  Believing is not Seeing! (or, “ Of Signs and Sighs ” ) Mark 8:10-13 Introduction : In His post-resurrection appearance to Thomas, Jesus said, “… Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe .” A little further on in this chapter we’ll see Jesus heal a blind man, miraculously granting physical sight. In this short few verses, Mark 8:10-13, the Pharisees are once again revealed as being spiritually blind. Their request, and the intentions of their hearts, reveal that they cannot see what is right in front of them: the promised Messiah was here! It seems to me that one of the truths that we see in the Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus is that faith, believing, is taking God at His word , not being convinced by the signs that He did. Think about the miracles that Jesus did in the Gospels. Healing paralytics, restoring withered limbs, cleansing lepers, casting out demons, giving sight to the blind and opening the ears of the deaf, even raising the dead! The evidence is com...

  The Bread of Life! Mark 8:1-10 Introduction : Spring training is in progress, so forgive me if I start with a baseball reference! Yogi Berra died a few years ago and even Philly fans will have to admit that he had a great career as a catcher for the NY Yankees! He was an 18-time all-star, and played in 14 World Series with the Yankees, of which they won 10 (more than any other player in history). He is also well known for some of the sayings he came up with over the years (OK, most of which are memorable because they don’t make sense!), like… 1) “ No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded! ”; 2) “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore. ”; 3) “Baseball is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical!” ; 4) “ The future ain’t what it used to be! ”; 5) “ When you come to a fork in the road, take it .”; 6) “It gets late early out here! ” and finally, 7) “It’s like déjà vu all over again! ”          At this point in Mark’s G...

  He Does All Things Well! Mark 7:31-37 Introduction : 700 years before the birth of Jesus the prophet Isaiah said “… He will come and save you.   5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy …” (Isa 35:4-6).   The hope that God would send a Rescuer at the right time to save His people and set them free was at the core of the faith of Israel in the first century. The nature and the means of that rescue was, however, poorly understood . What would that deliverance look like? Mark reports what Jesus said at the outset of his ministry, 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,   15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel..." (Mk 1:14,15).       The time had come, and God was sending the Messiah, the Promised...

  CHANNELS of GRACE Mark 7:24-30 Introduction : We talked quite a bit over the past couple of years about our first mission field: the people God has sovereignly and strategically put in our lives; our friends, relatives, neighbors, and co-workers, our oikos, that is, our extended household.   Our most fundamental responsibility is to love them and pray for them. and to point them to Jesus. We see an example of this as we continue our study of Mark.        This beautiful scene shows a mother, a gentile woman, seeking Jesus, and pleading desperately and persistently for Him to help her daughter. The mother’s love for her child is evident, as is her faith that Jesus could deliver her daughter. The story continues to answer the question: Who is this Jesus ? Who but God could answer the petition of this woman in the way that Jesus does! Why did He come ? Implicit in the story is the answer to that question as well, and it wasn’t only to heal and...