Austin Life Church

In yet another effort to trap Jesus, the Pharisees and Herodians asked Jesus a question about paying taxes to Caesar. While Jesus does answer their question, His main focus is on whether or not the people will give to God what is rightfully His - our whole selves.

As people, we often times hate submitting to the authority of another. We do not want someone to tell us what to do. We can handle it. This is often times prideful. And if this is the approach we bring to Jesus, we will find ourselves digging a hole to our own destruction. May we repent in humility and surrender our lives to Him.

God has the power to set you free from sin.

We all want to see the miraculous happen. But how? What is our part, if any? Peter and the crew are stunned by another miracle from Jesus, and in today’s passage, Jesus tells them that they too could be a part of seeing miracles happen around them. Have faith in God!

In today’s passage, we see Jesus curse a fig true for not producing fruit, and then express a righteous anger towards those selling animals and exchanging money in the temple. What’s the connection? Both were outwardly portraying one thing, but upon closer examination, not the real deal. The deception led to the harm of self, others, and the glory of God. And this is what has Jesus so worked up.

This is the moment when Jesus publicly declares Himself as King! Jesus brings victory of life over death, salvation over sin, truth over error, love over hate, and forgiveness over condemnation.

As people we all want to be seen, to be known. We all want to experience progress, healing, growth. And yet the reality is, in the most important ways, we are needy, dependent. But do we see that? Do we know that? The good news is that there is a Grace & Power in and through Jesus that meets us in our humility, and will transform our lives through faith in Him.

Selffish ambition runs deep. It’s innate within us. But for Jesus, His purpose was not selfish ambition, but selfless service. And He served to the point of death, as a ransom for you and me. And now, as a follower of Jesus, my call is a life not of selfish ambition, but selfless service. For His glory, our joy, and the good of the world.

Whether we trust and follow Jesus or not, we’d all be interested to know how He says we inherit eternal life. The answer? That’s what Mark shows us in Mark 10.

God is gracious and patient, eagerly willing to forgive anytime we honestly, and humbly repent and return. His invitation to repent and return is and invitation to return to the fullness of life.

Before we understand divorce, we need to understand marriage. No matter how divorce has affected you, God is merciful and loving to uphold, protect, and purify us.

Jesus does not mince words when He tells us it is better to be drown in the sea or to cut off our hands, feet, or eyes than to cause another to sin or let sin remain in our lives. God hates sin. Will we believe Him? Will we obey?

Christmas is a wonderful time of joy and happiness and festivity. But do you ever wonder if we have drifted away from God‘s original design for Christmas? What really happened on the first Christmas? Why is it so important?

Jesus comes to his disciples in Mark 9:30-37 with the news of His coming death and resurrection, a reality that would later leave Him so stressed that He sweated blood. Jesus uses the humility found in a child to illustrate that the disciples’ prideful ways were stopping them from receiving the totality of Jesus. A humble heart makes room for the Lord to guide our steps.

We all have problems in our lives. Some big. Some small. But in this world, we will face brokeness and problems. And they are real problems. Some pure evil. But our biggest problem is never outside of us; our biggest problem always lies within.

In this turning point in Mark, Jesus returns Peter back to the way of Jesus, and also invites everyone else to follow Him as well. But first, Jesus makes it clear what it truly means to follow Him.

Christ reveals his glory in the Transfiguration as a foretaste of things to come. As we behold Christ’s glory, we ourselves are transfigured from one degree of glory to another, being prepared to inherit immortality with Christ.

Jesus tells us to abide in Him, for apart from Him we can do nothing. He tells us it’s by our obedience that we remain in His love. Simply put, to obey Jesus is to continually abide. To disobey Jesus is to disconnect.

We stumble over Jesus because our expectations are too mundane and the reality is too glorious.

When it comes to abiding in Jesus, one of the biggest battles we face is in our mind. How many times have our thoughts run wild rather than focus in on God? How many of our thoughts are toxic, unGodly, and leading us away from Him rather than to Him? We are called, with the help of the Spirit, to take every thought captive to obedience to Him. And this will help us abide further into Jesus.

One of the primary obstacles to abiding in Jesus is a distraction & preoccupation with doing and getting more of lesser things. We must trust the way and teaching of Jesus that being with God is the most important thing, even more important than doing for Him.

The fullness of life that we all desire is found when we live according to our purpose in life; BEING in a loving relationship with God, and then GIVING that love to the world around us. We only do that as we abide in Jesus. So how do we abide in Jesus? Well it all starts with faith - a trust in Jesus and His ways that moves our lives to follow in surrender and obedience.

The fullness of life that we all desire is found when we live according to our purpose in life. So what is our purpose? It is to BE in loving relationship with God, and to DO what God does (love) toward others. And the only way we can live in this purpose is when we ABIDE in Jesus.

After everything the disciples have witnessed Jesus do up to this point, we see in Mark 8:27-30 a huge moment and a declaration from Peter that Jesus is The Christ. The Chosen One. The Messiah. We have to make a decision for ourselves between Jesus either being Lord or being a liar.

Surrounded by miracles, the disciples and the Pharisees are still not seeing Jesus for who He is. Jesus shows us His desires for us through healing a blind man. He takes him by the hand, brings him to a blurred vision, then heals him to clear sight!