Buffalo City Church

John Baumgartner \\ God requires prayers and thanksgiving from all people on the earth. Prayer offered with thanksgiving is a vital act in Christian life and corporate worship. God the Father hears all and only prayers made in the name of the Son, by the help of His Holy Spirit, with understanding, reverence, humility, earnestness, faith, love, and perseverance. We are commanded to pray for everyt...

Caleb Drahosh \\ At the end of the first week of creation, God blessed the seventh day and set it apart as a Sabbath day for rest and worship. Since the resurrection of Christ, the Church has recognized the first day of the week and called it the Lord’s Day, because it is the day that Christ was raised from the dead. On this Lord’s Day, we rest from all our work (excepting works of necessity and m...

John Baumgartner \\ Jesus returns from the Transfiguration’s mountaintop experience with God back to the trials and troubles of His life. Unbelief is all around Him—the scribes, the crowds, even His disciples are faithless. A father comes to Him with barely any faith at all, pleading with Jesus to heal his son. Jesus helps him see his real trouble, and redirects his eyes from focusing on his circu...

Caleb Drahosh \\ Jesus leads Peter, James, and John up a mountain and transfigured before their eyes. Moses and Elijah are there and the Father speaks: "This is my beloved Son; listen to Him." The three disciples witness a forward-looking glimpse of Jesus in post-resurrection glory. Jesus continues to give spiritual sight to His disciples; their understanding is limited, but growing.

Caleb Drahosh \\ Although the world is full of opinions about Jesus, Peter makes the good confession: Jesus is the Christ. He is the One who came into the world to save His people from their sin. But this confession comes with a cost: your life.

Caleb Drahosh \\ In his Gospel, Mark records Jesus healing many, but he gives some unique details in this instance. Jesus leads the blind man out of the town, spit on his eyes, and laid His hands on the man. At first the man's sight is only partially restored. Again Jesus laid His hands on the man and the man's sight was completely restored. Jesus performs this miracle for the benefit of His disci...

Caleb Drahosh \\ In a similar fashion to the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus feeds four thousand. Afterwards, the Pharisees come seeking a sign, but Jesus refuses. He then offers His disciples a warning concerning the Pharisees and Herod, but the disciples are just looking to eat some food. Jesus' compassion for people doesn't dry up; we're given many chances to see and understand. Our needs –...

Blaze Culliton \\ Jesus removes an unclean spirit from the daughter of a woman who falls at His feet, acknowledging that Jesus is Lord and provides for all who believe. Jesus heals a deaf man with a speech impediment and those around are astonished beyond measure.

John Baumgartner \\ The Scribes and Pharisees made rules to protect themselves from breaking God’s laws, but in the end it only made them worse. Jesus points out the real problem isn’t with the rules but with the human heart. No rules can keep a person from sinning because rules don’t solve the heart problem. We need Jesus to give us understanding and soften our hard hearts so that we may follow H...

Caleb Drahosh \\ After Jesus feeds the five thousand, He goes up the mountain to pray, preparing Himself for the next wave of ministry. The disciples leave in a boat, and Jesus comes to them walking on the water. But the disciples do not understand; they're terrified, astounded, and their hearts are hardened. When they get to Gennesaret, the crowds bring all the sick to Jesus. Jesus continues to m...

Caleb Drahosh \\ When the apostles return from their missions trip, Jesus invites them to come and rest. But it's short lived because the crowds saw them and sought them out. Jesus has compassion on the crowd and begins to teach. After some time, the disciples suggest that Jesus send the people away so they can find food. But Jesus tells the disciples to feed the people. He then multiplied the bre...

Caleb Drahosh \\ The question "who is Jesus?" continues to stump people, including King Herod. Herod thinks Jesus is John the Baptist back from the dead. John was killed by Herod when he made a rash vow to his niece. Herod feared John the Baptist; John was righteous and holy. But Herodias hated John because he called out her sinful marriage to Herod. Sin has a cumulative effect; sin begets sin and...

John Baumgartner \\ The people of Nazareth are astonished at Jesus and offended by Him. Jesus is astonished at the people and marvels at their unbelief. And we should be astonished too. Jesus has gone right through every obstacle, healed every disease, cast out every demon, even raised the dead. But when He meets with unbelief so severe in His own hometown, He departs never to return. Unbelief is...

Caleb Drahosh \\ While Jesus was still speaking to the woman who had been healed, it was reported to Jairus that his daughter was dead. Jesus took Peter, James, and John and went to Jairus' house. Mourners were present, but Jesus told them the girl was only sleeping. They mocked Jesus. And so He left them outside and came into the room with only Jairus, Jairus' wife, and the three Jesus brought wi...

Caleb Drahosh \\ Jesus is met by Jairus who asks Jesus to come make his dying daughter well. Jesus accompanies Jairus, but on the way, a woman with an issue of blood secretively approaches Jesus and touches His garment, believing that she will be made well. Her disease is immediately healed. Things seen and unseen are subject to Jesus' power. The gift of faith in this woman brings her peace; faith...

Caleb Drahosh \\ When Jesus and His disciples get to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. There He encounters a demoniac, possessed by many demons. Jesus casts the demons out into their preferred host: a herd of two thousand pigs. The pigs run into the sea and drown. The people want Jesus to leave, but the ex-demoniac wants to come with Jesus. Jesus tells Him to make it known how much the Lord di...

Caleb Drahosh \\ On the same day He spoke His first parables, Jesus and His disciples got into a boat to cross the sea. A windstorm came up and the disciples found themselves living a parable. In the parables, Jesus explained how small things bring about big results. Here Jesus' three simple words end a violent storm suddenly. But the disciples aren't relieved; they're terrified. They witness the...

Mark Reeves \\ In this important parable, Jesus compares the effectiveness of the Word of God in the life of an individual to seed sown on different surfaces: The Path, Rocky Ground, Among Thorns, and Good Soil.

Caleb Drahosh \\ Jesus' family came for Him. They stood outside and sent in a message; they think He's gone out of His mind. But the people who come to Jesus sit around Him and do His will. These ones are Jesus' true family. Bloodlines don’t bring you into Jesus’ family. It's those who are purchased by His blood. We must have no deeper allegiance than that which we have to Jesus.

John Baumgartner \\ In this passage of Mark, we see two groups react improperly to Jesus because they don’t know who they’re dealing with. Jesus warns the scribes that they are in danger of committing an unforgivable sin. We mustn’t reject Jesus after having seen who He is, the Son of God, the Saviour.

Blaze Culliton \\ The crowd continues to grow around Jesus, people coming from all directions to receive His healing. The unclean spirits testify to Jesus’ identity as the Son of God and are ordered not to make Him known. Jesus creates the twelve apostles, establishing His church, so that they might be with Him and He might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons (ministering...

Caleb Drahosh \\ Two things happen in this passage: the disciples pluck heads of grain because they are hungry and Jesus heals a man with a withered hand. Both events take place on the Sabbath. The Pharisees challenge Jesus in both instances. But Jesus shows us that God's good gifts shouldn't be turned into a burden, rather they should point us to God's abundant grace. Jesus determines the intent...

Caleb Drahosh \\ Jesus came not to call the righteous, but sinners. The Pharisees and scribes relied on works of the law to be justified. The Pharisees demanded that Jesus' disciples fast, but Jesus challenges their attitudes. The Bridegroom had arrived; why mourn? Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, had arrived; why look for righteousness elsewhere? Self-righteous religion and Jesus simply don't mix...

John Baumgartner \\ Jesus continues His mission to preach the gospel. Four faithful friends interrupt His preaching by lowering a paralytic right in front of Him. Jesus uses this as a sermon illustration to prove that He as the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Jesus deals with everyone there: eager disciples, skeptical scribes, the four friends, and the paralytic. They all leave...

Ray Delaurier \\ After a long day of ministry Jesus is met with a multitude of people seeking healing from disease and freedom from demon possession. After a long night, Jesus departs early to a solitary place and prays to the Father. He is directed to leave the area and its needs to preach elsewhere. Sometime later Jesus is approached by a man with leprosy begging for healing. Jesus touches him,...