Calvary Baltimore Weekly Sermons

Today's passage is also in Matthew and Luke. Matthew 20:20-29: Matthew says the question about James and John sitting at Jesus' right hand comes from their mom. It may be they had their mom ask in case Jesus got offended by the request. Even if the mom is asking the question, it's coming from James and John! Also, Matthew says at the end that they come out of Jericho, while Mark says they were in...

Mark 10:32-52 v32-36... Jerusalem was built on a mountain, so one must ascend to it. Jesus describes how he will willingly be delivered over to his fate, and he'll do it all to save us through his resurrection! When you hear "the passion of Christ" it means the suffering of Jesus. There have been three passion predictions now.  James and John ask Jesus to do whatever they ask... We should pray bol...

B-Side: Mark 10:23-31 Recapping v17-22... The rich young ruler was wrapped up in his possessions. In 2 Timothy 3... people will be lovers of self and of money. The love of money is the root of evil; money itself is not the problem, but our relationship to it is. It can become an idol. This is what Jesus was dealing with in this man. He tells the man he needs to make himself (Jesus) his treasure, a...

Mark 8... Be like a child, a servant. Be willing to die in order to live... Rich young ruler... Jesus teaches other-worldly teaching, counter to the world.  Today's text: Mark 10:23-31...  Jesus offers the man eternal life. He can have it if he believes, believes in Jesus. Believes what he says. We too can have eternal life if we believe what Jesus said about himself and follow him!  V24... How di...

Mark 10:17-22 The rich, young ruler. This story is in Matthew, Mark and Luke! They were aware of what each other wrote; the Holy Spirit prompted them all to write their accounts. Mark was not written chronologically, but thematically. So far, Jesus has said that to be his disciple you must be of low importance, a servant, like a child. Also you must not be a stumbling block; don't misrepresent him...

Not all wealth is bad. There's something specific about this man's wealth that Jesus is dealing with. V17... This man realizes Jesus is special, but he's not sure how. He's essentially asking Jesus, "How can I know I'm saved?" He struggles with assurance.  Mt19:16... Someone asks Jesus, "what good deeds must I do to have eternal life?" Similar to this guy. He thinks he has to do good works to ente...

Our country isn't a permanent thing; it's temporary. We hope to be an influence on our nation, on our relatives, on our church family. But if any of those things are keeping us from our walk with God, we must pluck them out! The U.S. Constitution is beautiful, but it's not God's word; it doesn't bring salvation! He has a specific plan for us that may call us to go in a different direction than a g...

Today's passage begins of the second disputation of Malachi. God says the sins of a believer are bad because they grieve the Father's heart, not just because they're breaking some abstract rule. Though they are. James 1:22... It's a relationship AND a religion.  Don't assume that God doesn't care how we live, act, treat people, and worship him! A son honors his father... Jesus taught people to pra...

Mark 10:13-16 Luke 18:15 records the same passage, but the wording specifies that the children were infants. The book of Mark was said to be the eyewitness account of Peter, with Mark as his scribe. The Gospels show how the apostles were often obstacles to Jesus' ministry... Peter was brutally honest about the apostles' (and his own) spiritual ineptitude. This is comforting to us, as we stumble th...

A recap so far... Discipleship: learning what it's like to follow the Lord Jesus. It's about service, being someone of low status. Loving all people, even the difficult ones. He loves us because of his very nature: he is love! He served us when we had nothing to offer him, provided for us when we didn't know to give him glory.  Who has humbled himself more than the Lord? He's the highest being in...

Here's the link to the companion piece to today's sermon, which will also be Monday's B-side: https://calvarychapelbaltimore. subspla.sh/njrj98p Notes for today's sermon follow... Mark 10:1-12 Divorce is a difficult, weighty subject. Jesus was teaching in Judea. People were divorcing a lot! Divorce was permissible if the covenant was broken.  - Exodus 21:10-11... It's allowed in extreme cases of c...

Hello, welcome to this special B-Side…. Our text this morning is Mark chapter 10 v1-12….. This is a special B-Side today, (we will look at Sunday’s text, but will spend the majority of our time on the theme of divorce) --- 10:1 And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them. 2 And Pharisees cam...

Mark 9:38-50... The King James version of the Bible includes a couple of extra verses in this passage (44 and 46) which have since been discovered to have been added later, missing from original manuscripts. These have not made the cut in newer translations. John is upset that the man casting out demons is not with them... Jesus says not to stop him. He looks at the man's fruit and sees that if he...

Mark 9:38-50 John sees a man who "didn't follow us" casting out demons in Jesus's name, and tries to stop him... this is pride! Jesus rebukes him; even if that man isn't yet truly a Christian, he soon will be. If he's not against us, he's for us!  Mt 12:30... Whoever's not with me is against me! ...seems like the other side of what we hear in Mark. Those who are not of Jesus are not OK. John and t...

This B-Side is a conversation between Pastor Josh and Pastor Rick, recorded before the Sunday sermon on 1/25... The Sunday sermon will be about the changes of clothing of Jesus in John 18 and 19, during the crucifixion. Parallels are drawn between the high priests of the Old Testament and the new high priest, Jesus. The pure white clothes of the transfiguration are discussed. The purple robes they...

John 19:23-24 God clothes himself in glory. He becomes man, so man can become like God. All creation is a divine work. He makes us into an entirely new creation, so we can be welcome in his house. The Holy Spirit changes our nature before we can respond to God. We're naturally at enmity with him. God covered the earth with soil, plants, flowers... replicating God's glory. Man is made of the soil,...

If people won't take God's commands from Malachi 1 to heart, they'll come under a curse. The priests are already grotesquely unclean in their hearts, so God will mirror that by spreading dung on their faces.  A priest should be a messenger of God! But these priests are corrupting the priesthood, showing partiality in their instruction. They were poor representatives of God to the people.  - Matthe...

B-Side... Mark 9:30-37 - This account is also found in Matthew 17 and Luke 9. v30... Jesus and the disciples have been mostly in the area of Galilee, and are now leaving it to head for Jerusalem; Jesus doesn't want attention because his ministry in Galilee is finished and he wants to focus on the disciples. v31... the original language may indicate that the process of the Son being delivered into...

v30-32... In today's passage, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to die. He came to save mankind-- but will be killed by mankind. The Father is delivering the Son into the hands of men. Then in three days, he will rise! And the apostles didn't understand.  He did rise again, and that is the basis of our faith. v33-37... It's never a good thing to think of yourself in terms of greatness. The apostles...

Jesus and the disciples come down from the mountain, and are immediately confronted with trouble... that's how it goes! This is where many fail. Why is the crowd amazed ("thrown into a terror") when they see Jesus? Possibly his appearance was changed like Moses' transfiguration, after being in the presence of the Father. They (a faithless generation) may have been afraid of him in the same way the...

Whenever Jesus is away from the apostles, they fall apart. This is true of all of us! When were not in daily prayer and reading and submission to God, were hopeless. "Apart from me, you can do nothing!" - John 15:5 They have no power to resist the devil, to resist the darkness. Who in the gospel was the furthest from receiving him? The well-pit--together, the successful, the wealthy. Not the desti...

I am the bread of life... John 6:22-53 - The people were all about the bread Jesus provided, not about the life he offers. Jesus calls himself the bread of life, pulling from many places in Scripture referring to bread...  - Ex29:2... Bread was a sacrifice offered to God. He's the bread offering of thanksgiving to God!   - The showbread... the bread of the presence of God, in the tabernacle. Jesus...

When God gives Hannah a son, she sings to him! Same with Mary and Jesus. 3 thoughts about today's reading... 1. Hannah's heart exalted the Lord... she's blessed, but she directs her praise to who God is!  He's holy, the most high, and the rock... - Holy: he's utterly separate! He alone is the self-existent one. - Most high, yet he came to die  - The rock: when love is really bad, where do we run?...

1. Jesus is the light of the world - John 8:12 - Jesus is the IAM... He's calls himself Yahweh, THE light of the world. In him there is no darkness! No malice, greed, no vice. He's our guiding light!  2. The light took on human flesh - John 1:1-5 - Angels sang glory to God in the highest! The shepherds were wrapped in the light of the triune God. Jesus will defeat the darkness! God appears as ligh...