Free Methodist Church of Santa Barbara

Mark 12:28-34

Missions Sunday/Thanksgiving Sunday

Missions Sunday/Thanksgiving Sunday

Mark 12:18-27

Mark 12:13-17 Before the crucifixion comes the testing. We often think about how hard Jesus' death was. . . and indeed the suffering endured by the Lord was probably worse than we can even imagine. But, what of the way His enemies try to discredit Him in public beforehand? As they look for an opportunity to find a loophole in His character or theology, they harass Him with questions which range fr...

Mark 12:1-12 On Sunday, we will hear a story Jesus tells after the confrontation He had with the main three groups of Judaic leaders: chief priests, scribes, and the elders. You will remember last Sunday, we discussed the notion of authority and who has it. We thought about the truth of how our power only has the backing of God when we are in sync with Him. That idea is carried into the parable Je...

Mark 11:27-33 This section which we will be looking at Sunday begins a series of difficult interactions which will ultimately lead to Christ's death. The Jewish leaders are becoming more aggressive with Him and He is not holding back either. We know the confrontations are part of the overall story, yet they can be painful/awkward/hard to read. In this story, Jesus is surrounded soon after He arriv...

Luke 14:13-24 Our guest preacher Sunday morning will be Ryan Radjuko. Ryan began coming to our church as a young teenager and is currently a student at Westmont College. He interned with us over the summer and started the ordination process in our conference. Ryan has a wide range of ministry and educational experience from Costa Rica, the Foundry, Frontline Youth, and most recently in the Westmon...

Mark 11:12-14, 20-26 For our communion meditation this week, we will be reading the story of the Fig Tree. This tree was cursed by Jesus as He was walking past one day because it had no fruit and He was hungry. When I read this, I find it to be an unexpected action from the Lord, which makes me question what's going on. It makes me wonder if this happens at the intersection of Jesus' divinity and...

Mark 11:15-19. This Sunday is designated as Freedom Sunday, a day we set aside to worship the Lord as we grapple with the truth of living in a world where slavery is still a thriving business. As Free Methodists, we have been committed since the beginning of our movement in 1860 to take a stand against the inequalities in this world, which God did not mean to be. We declare all people are indeed c...

Mark 10:46-52. Do you believe in miracles? Have you ever experienced one in your life or seen one happen in the life of someone else? The book of Mark is full of miracles (at least 18 or 19, depending on how you count them). On Sunday we will be studying one of the last ones: the healing of a blind man named Bartimaeus. This is an interesting story, because we learn so much about this man Jesus he...

Mark 10:35-45. One of the best parts of the Gospel is seeing the inner workings of Jesus with the disciples. They are, at once, a family and also the beginning of God's people living out a new kind of life together, the church. What is striking about this passage is the type of request James and John bring to Jesus because it is so honest. There is no editing here. They just put out there what the...

Mark 10:23-31. This Sunday, we continue with a story we began last week. A man comes to Jesus asking what he must do to inherit eternal life. After affirming the man for keeping the commandments, the Lord tells him he lacks one thing: he must go, sell all he has, give it to the poor and then come back and follow Jesus. The man is shocked by this idea and goes away grieving. While we understand thi...

Mark 10:13-16. This week we come to a familiar passage about a man who comes to see Jesus. In this interaction, the man is seeking what he must do to have eternal life. As they go back and forth, it is clear that the man is seeking more than the answer Jesus first gives him. We know that keeping the commandments is important, yet Jesus brought more when He came. This week, we will discuss the man'...

Mark 10:13-16. The picture of Jesus blessing children is a touching scene. Yet, I am not sure Jesus is going for sentimentality. In these few verses which we will study on Sunday, we will focus on the way Jesus allows children to freely follow Him and how children help us know His world more. These words are known well to us, but I want us to think about the implications of what Jesus is saying he...

Mark 10:1-12. Sunday, we delve into a painful topic for many in our society: divorce. As long as there has been marriage, there has been a wish to somehow get out of it. Divorce provides the legal means to dissolve a marital union. Those who come to Jesus to ask Him a question about this issue do so with the intent of hoping He will make a mistake. Their interaction shows us much about the society...

Mark 9:42-50. When I was in high school, I read a book by F.F. Bruce entitled, The Hard Sayings of Jesus. It was about how Jesus made statements which are difficult for us to decipher or cause conviction in our souls. As we read the gospels, sometimes there are longer passages that we would rather not deal with and would like to skip over. To use Pastor Nikki's analogy from last week, to fast forw...

Mark 9:38-41 This week we will be listening in on an important teaching moment Jesus had with John and the disciples. Jesus' words to "not stop" the work that is going on in His name, even by those who are not following him, convict and challenge us today. What are ways we have tried to stop God's work out of fear, jealousy, or short-sightedness? We will be confronting our temptation to limit God...

Mark 9:30-37. This week, we will look at an argument the disciples have about who is the greatest. This comes right after Jesus, again, tells them about his death and resurrection. While it is tempting to dismiss the disciples as being ignorant, comparing ourselves to others is something we see every day. Jesus turns their argument on its head and tells us that greatness is found in serving others...

Mark 9:14-29. There is rarely a dull moment in Jesus' days in the section of Mark in which we find ourselves. While coming down the mountain where God showed Peter, James, and John a glimpse of heaven, Jesus walks into a chaotic scene involving the rest of the disciples and a crowd who is eager to see Him. They know He will sort out what is happening and make sense of everything. At the center is...

Mark 9:1-13. In recent weeks we have been traveling the road with Jesus and along this road, He has revealed more and more of himself to the disciples and the crowds that followed. Peter has declared Jesus to be the Messiah but Jesus has plainly described the role of the divine Messiah while laying out the profile of a true disciple. As Jesus has moved the people into the uncharted territory of de...

Mark 8:31-38.

Mark 8:27-30. How does one decide who Jesus is? What needs to happen before a person can say with certainty that Jesus is the Savior God sent to save the world? Peter has shown us in the book of Mark his progression of being a fisherman called by the Lord to the passage we come to this week in which he shows clear understanding of Jesus' identity. What a gracious God! Have you stopped to think abo...

Mark 8:22-26. We continue in the book of Mark. Jesus is in Bethsaida, which means 'house of hunting' and was home to a few of the disciples. It was a place we see a few times in the Gospel and is located close to the Sea of Galilee. While here, some people bring a man who is blind in order for to Jesus to touch him. Jesus does so and there is a miracle performed as the Lord restores sight to the m...

Mark 8:11-21. Sunday, we will be talking about interactions Jesus has with two very different sets of people during His day. Neither go very well. . . so we are going to talk about why that is. What do we learn about Jesus here? What do we learn about ourselves? As you read it, what do you think is happening? What do you do when you have a conversation with someone that goes much differently than...