Faith Presbyterian Church PCA (Clinton, LA)

Mark 8:1-21; Mark has kept one question before of his audience over these past 8 chapters, " Who is Jesus?" Today Mark once again answers that question by showing Jesus' compassion for those "outside", the Gentiles. He feeds out of his abundance. He satisfies out of his goodness. And yet, the Pharisees refuse to believe and the Disciples continue in their confusion. The qu...

Hebrews 10:19-39; Can you have assurance of Salvation? Can you know here, today that you are saved? This is one of the results of the reformers challenge to the dominate theology of their day. Scriptures teach that we can know, without any doubt, that we truly possess Christ. And yet there are warnings attached to that assurance. We need to judge whether or not we truly believe in Jesus or if we m...

Mark 7:31-37; Isaiah taught the Israelites that the Messiah would cause the deaf to hear, the blind to see, the lame to leap and the mute to praise. 700 or so years later Jesus begins his ministry and does all the things that the Messiah was suppose to do. But he does more than heal, he sympathizes with our condition. He feels our pain and he loves us enough to remove our shame but taking on himse...

Mark 7:24-30; Do you have what it takes? Well do you? In this passage a woman with all the wrong stuff approaches Jesus out of her great need. She is a Woman (second class citizen), she is a Gentile (Syrophonecian- considered separated from God because of her race), and she is ceremonially unclean because of her daughter's demon possession. How can she have access to God with all these strike...

Mark 7:14-23; What is wrong with the world? Where does evil come from? How is a person made right with God? These are the major questions that Jesus deals with in this passage of scripture from the gospel of Mark. His answers are just as offensive today as they were shocking nearly 2000 years ago. Jesus overturns all of the ordinary thoughts about religion and worship and forces us to wrestle with...

Mark 7:1-13; After leaving the rejection of Jesus in Chapter 6, Mark now turns his attention to Jesus in conflict. This conflict will ultimately lead to his crucifixion. Knowing this Jesus doesn't back down from the challenge and calls out the Pharisees for their Bad Religion. As well intended as the Pharisees were they perverted true religion by their actions.

Mark 6:45-52; On the heals of Jesus feeding the 5000 (plus) with almost nothing Jesus send the disciples and the crowds away. The problem is that Jesus send the disciples right into a nasty headwind and they struggle all night and make almost no progress. They would have been asking themselves, "does Jesus care?" And Jesus answers that question in an astounding way. He doesn't take...

Mark 6:30-44; We always want more. Its never enough. Nothing ever satisfies. Our hearts are broken. Jesus came to satisfy our hearts with himself. We were made by him to have our hearts full of him.

Mark 6:14-29; In the midst of the spiritual awakening surrounding the ministry of the disciples Herod Antipas hears about Jesus and has an unusual response. His heart is hardened against belief in Jesus because of his own heart commitments. We have heart commitments as well. We always act according to what we love. The question is, what do we love?

Mark 6:7-13; Jesus in authority calls, sends out, delegates authority and charges his 12 closest disciples. The Disciples in obedience to Jesus went out, proclaimed the message of repentance, cast out demons and anointed many. Their mission is our mission. And by God' grace we get to see the fruit of obedience to Christ.

Mark 5:21-43; Everything happens in the Lord's Time. Even the terrible and horrible things. And because He controls it he uses it for his glory and to give us the gift of faith. In today's passage Jesus meets a wealthy man in desperate need and a poor woman with a long term illness. To both he gives the greatest need, Faith in himself.

Mark 5:1-20; Many people reject Christianity because it is strange and unnatural. It just doesn't make sense in the way that the world counts sense. The story of the demonic and the Pigs is just such a story. Here we see Jesus going to an unlikely location, to an unlikely man, with an unlikely victory that leads to unlikely results. Perhaps its the strangeness of Christianity that lends it cr...

Mark 4:25-31; What are you afraid of? What keeps you up at night? What chills you to the bone? Fear is a wonderful diagnostic tool that the Lord uses to reveal our hearts. The Disciples' hearts were revealed on a stormy sea in a tiny, sinking boat. They were in dread until the realized just who Jesus is...then the real fear started.

Mark 4:21-33; Jesus teaches about his kingdom in Parables. His kingdom is revealed through the message that he preaches. Jesus teaches that his kingdom grows even when we least expect it. Finally he teaches us that his kingdom multiplies so that it is the largest of all kingdoms in the earth. In all of these there is a call to believe in the message that we have heard and to respond in faith to Ch...

Mark 3:22-20; What is the unpardonable sin? In context Jesus' confusing words make sense. The Jewish leaders make an accusation, Jesus responds with a logical confrontation. Jesus then offers a gracious exoneration and concludes with the only disqualification.

Joshua 1:1-9; Be Strong? How can I be strong when i am so weak and pathetic? How can I keep a command when I am not empowered to do what is commanded? The good news is that God gives us the gospel to empower and strengthen his people.

Mark 3:7-19 The Religious Leaders want to destroy Jesus. The Crowds want to crush Jesus. The demons want to distract us from Jesus. But Jesus goes up on a mountain and calls those he desires to himself. The Church is Christ's New Community and the only qualification for entry is his choosing, not our ability. Great news for sinners and loser like us.

Mark 2:18-3:6; Jesus did not come to make Old Religion better or to fix what was broken in the old system. He came to bring a completely new system. The hard part about Jesus' message is that he didn't come to validate the hard work, goodness, and self-righteousness of nice people. He came to show that we can never go to God in our work or goodness, but need him to come to us and save us...

Mark 2:13-17; Only the sick need a doctor. Sin is the worst of all sicknesses because it disguises itself as health. Jesus came to call sinners to himself and save them from their sins. In this passage Jesus teaches us why he came, who he heals and how heals.

Mark 2:1-12; Why is there suffering in the world? The problem of pain is one of the hardest challenges to Christianity. And yet the authors of the bible address this problem over and over. The question is whether or not we will listen to the answer. Jesus doesn't merely heal our infirmities, but he heals our souls and makes us right with God.

Mark 1:40-45; We like to keep our world antiseptic. We wash our hands regularly AND use hand sanitizer. We use deodant and perfume to make sure we smell good. But all of those things can't touch our spiritual uncleanliness before God. We are spiritual lepers and we live in our own leper colonies. We need a complete healing and that can only come from the touch of Jesus Christ.

Mark 1:21-39; Many people "respect" or "like" Jesus because he was a great man, an example to follow or a great teacher. But the gospel writer Mark wants to convince us that our small view of Jesus is not enough. Mark wants for us to be absolutely convinced that Jesus is "YOUR" Lord and "YOUR" king. As Mark begins to convince us of Jesus' Authority he s...

Mark 1:14-20; Jesus begins his violent invasion by doing two very unlikely things. First, he preaches the good news of God's Kingdom. He commands us to repent and believe the gospel. And next he goes and calls some regular guys to be citizens of his kingdom. We are called to leave behind our vocations, our families and our little kingdoms for his vocation, his family and his kingdom.

Mark 3:20-21; 31-35 Jesus' Mother and Family decide that they are going to stop Jesus from endangering himself. He's gotten too busy and too dangerous for his own good. Now, if they are successful that would mean that the plan of God would not be carried out and there would be no salvation for anyone, even Jesus' own mother. We fail all the time, but God's grace for his people...

Mark 1:9-13: Jesus is called "the beloved Son" by the Father. The Holy Spirit rushes on him in violence. We would expect for Jesus to be ushered in to his glorious kingdom...but he's not. He is exiled. Sent far away from the land of the living where he is tormented and tempted for 40 days. We learn something about the pattern of Christ's ministry, that is is one of substituiona...