IBCD Sermon Weekly

In Isaiah 6 the prophet witnesses an encounter with God in what we could call a heavenly worship service. The reality of that encounter is the same as the one today when we meet the true living God: God is holy, sovereign, and present, even when our circumstances are difficult. In times of crisis, we are encouraged to look first to who God is rather than becoming consumed by our circumstances. See...

I imagine Jesus ignored a lot of what he heard said about himself. We know he did because he asks the disciples what the people are saying about him. But in the passage we are reading today Jesus answers a very serious an accusation which, at first, might have been made rather flippantly, and we address the idea of “blasphemy” of the Holy Spirit. Mark 3:28 28 I tell you the truth, all the sins and...

Today there is a break in the confrontations Jesus has with the Pharisees. Jesus is growing in popularity, and this has a downside to it. Jesus takes this time to withdraw and chose his twelve apostles to share in the ministry with him. Mark 3:13-15 13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve-- designating them apostles--that t...

Chapters two and three in the Gospel of Mark list a series of conflicts Jesus has with the Pharisees. At first the Pharisees started as onlookers with questions for Jesus. Then it became more heated as they felt Jesus was challenging the Law of Moses. Finally, today, we read a passage where the Pharisees are much more concerned about defeating Jesus, getting rid of him, than of anything else. Mark...

The Sabbath is a longstanding Jewish practice. Jesus corrects the Pharisees in their judgment about it but He does not abolish the principle that lays behind the Sabbath. Practicing the Sabbath can strengthen our faith in many ways. Mark 2 27–28 And he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath."

Some people like new things. New shoes, a new car, etc. Some like the things they are familiar with, like well-worn shoes and a reliable, albeit old, car. Jesus came bringing a lot of “newness” in how faith was expressed toward God and in the name of God. Some received this with joy, others felt something was being lost and resented it. Jesus changes our lives. Do we embrace the new of Christ or d...

Who did Jesus come for? Some people do not think they need Jesus. Their opinion is, life is fine without God. Others feel a need but do not believe they can come to God. Many just don’t think about it much at all. The Pharisees were lost but didn’t know it. They were in the middle of the world’s party, and their souls were in terrible danger. So, it is with a deep sense of irony that Jesus says: M...

As we celebrate the upcoming baptisms of people today, we are going to look at the place of Baptism in one’s obedience to their following of Christ. Now, I want those of you who are a valued part of the family of IBCD who have not taken this step, often because of your church background in the state churches, both of which teach and practice infant baptism, that I love you and am not attacking you...

In today’s passage we have a story about a group of friends who decide to take a chance for the sake of their sick friend. They are going to be quite rude in the process and even damage another person’s property! However, they are determined to take whatever consequences come their way for the sake of their friend. As a result, their friend gets much more than he anticipated. Mark 2:5-7 5 When Jes...

Jesus and his crew hit the road. They begin to travel throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. The way Mark presents this transition from local ministry to a wider one is very positive. It becomes more complicated as Jesus exposes to the people who he really is, but those days are yet to come. For now, it is an exciting and fresh time for Jesus and his early follow...

Jesus was a man on a mission. His mission was going to challenge the authority of his religious traditions. He knew he was going to be facing a lot of opposition from those who felt control slipping from their hands so, early in his ministry, Jesus established his authority. Mark 1:22 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of...

The Gospel of Mark has Jesus calling his disciples “without delay” and disciples following “at once”. This calling becomes iconic within the church. The Gospel of Mark is the first writing to include the clever line from Jesus: 17 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men.”

Mark presents the open of Jesus’ ministry by pointing to three actions: 1. Jesus’ baptism. 2. Jesus’ desert temptations. 3. Jesus taking over the message of God’s Kingdom from John the Baptist. Hardly any details are given to fill out these passages. As we read this passage, instead of comparing it to the other gospels try and think about the Old Testament passages to which Mark’s gospel points. M...

In the Gospel of Mark, the motif of the wilderness is one which the author goes back to again and again when describing the ministry of Jesus. The wilderness is a place of reckoning. It is where we consider our past and prepare for the future. Mark 1:4 4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Today we are going to be looking at one of the four Gospels, and that is the gospel of Mark. While it is the shortest gospel, it is deep and revealing in its own way. Today we are going to be looking at a brief introduction to the author, his writing style, and the message of the gospel before getting into the text itself which will then take us several weeks, probably into next year.

Jesus prayed for His followers not to be taken out of the world, but to be protected and sent into it. In this sermon, we will look at how Christians often struggle between the extremes of isolating from culture or conforming to it, and how the truths of Creation, the Fall, and Redemption offer a better way. God calls us to live in the world but not be of it, illuminating the culture with His grac...

Love is not just the greatest thing we can receive or give, it is also the only thing that can truly change us. You rarely see true and significant change happen in someone's life, even among Christians. But when it happens, it is through beholding God's love. 2 Corinthians 3 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degr...

“God loves you” is one of the most repeated phrases in modern Christianity, but have we lost the true meaning? In this sermon, we try to understand God’s love by explored the unpopular love story of Hosea. God commanded the prophet to marry an unfaithful woman to serve as a living illustration: Hosea represented God, and his unfaithful bride represented God's people. The world tells us that love i...

Love is one of the most addressed topics, in movies, songs, and stories. It is the deepest emotion we can feel. As Christians we are called not just to feel it, but to practice it. We are meant to love each other the way that Jesus loves us. 1 Corinthians 13 4–5 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable...

Loving God is something we often sing about and hear about. But what does it actually mean, and why is it so important? Many passages in the Bible emphasize it in their writings as more important than anything else. Revelation 2:1–5 2 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 “ ‘I know...

One of the big questions of life is “Why do bad things happen to good people?” This is a more complex question than people generally think. We are going to look at the answers to this question using Job’s story for context.

Today is our final sermon on the life of Jacob. We are going to be looking at how this man who craved the blessing of others then blessed his family at the end of his life. Blessing in the Bible is more than just saying nice words about a person. It was a combination of prophecy, destiny, and evaluation of character. Genesis 49:28 28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what thei...

When we read about lives like Jacob, we have a tendency to think that we will never have any kind of part in the purpose and plan of God. But the truth is that, through Christ, the promise to Abraham, Issac and Jacob to be a blessing to all nations has found its fulfillment in you. You have been included, chosen, to be part of a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you...

Jacob wrestled with God. We are called to do the same. Not physically, but spiritually and emotionally. We are called to bring our questions, doubts and frustrations to God instead of keeping them to ourselves. If we work them out together with Him our faith will be strengthened instead of weakened. Genesis 32:28 Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have st...

I think one of the things we tenuously grasp as Christians is how different life is intended to be for those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Christ is not just an event meant to impress, but it is intended to change everything about the human experience. It transforms the expectations of life lived now and our expectations of what it is to come.