James Reed's FORGE

We continue to take our survey through the Book of Mark, this week picking up in verses 26-34. We’re going to divide the passage today into 2 parts. Verses 26-29 is the first part where we see a repetition of the theme from verse 20. Jesus compares His kingdom with a seed that grows. What is interesting about this first part of our text today is that Mark is the only one that records this repetiti...

Today, we are going to get into the parable of the lamp. This parable comes right after the parable from last week’s sermon, the parable of the sower. Last week we learned that some are able to receive the message of Jesus, and some are not. There’s an implication here that the mystery of the kingdom of God is already revealed by Jesus, and those willing to embrace it, receive it. The verses we’re...

The recording on this one is rough, but listenable. As we have been making our way through the Book of Mark, I have reminded you that there is a parallel within the Gospels. I have mentioned what is called the harmony of the Gospels. As I was preparing for this sermon, I noticed that Matthew’s Gospel gives us a collection of 7 parables where Mark gives us 3. I find this interesting because both th...

One thing that is common among people, generally speaking, no matter where they are from, is the fact that everyone’s got an opinion. You might think that you’re not opinionated. But I can show you with just a matter of mentioning a few words, that everyone in this room has an opinion. Let’s start with something which may seem so very obvious. Republican vs. Democrat. You have an opinion don’t you...

Jesus had two sources of pressure coming at Him. First, as we have seen thus far in our journey through Mark, Jesus has had several collisions or as I like to call them conflicts with the religious leaders of the day. A second source of pressure would be His growing popularity with the people. It seems that everywhere Jesus went, a crowd followed. The conflicts which we have seen so far ultimately...

This narrative found here in Mark is also found in Matthew 12:9-14 and Luke 6:6-11. When you put all three accounts together, here is what we learn. Another sabbath has arrived, and Jesus has entered the synagogue. Here He begins to teach (Luke 6:6). Attending the service is a man with a shriveled hand; specifically, the physician Luke (Col. 4:14) tells us it is the right hand. The Pharisees and s...

This was supposed to be a the final point of the previous sermon, but ended up being its own sermon. It is my hope that this episode will be useful to you. Please take a moment and let me know the city where you hear my podcast. There's a one question survey you can take, or you can leave a voicemail through the link.

The setting for today’s text is back in Capernaum. As I often say, I would like for us to imagine ourselves in the narrative today. Imagine that you were there in the crowd. Imagine that you had heard about this miracle man—one who spoke with authority casting out demons and healing the sick. Imagine that you were there that day, and there was no room for you to even get a glimpse. There were so m...

According to a quick internet search, our national budget for fiscal 2022 was 1.688 trillion dollars. That’s a of tax dollars. It is almost beyond comprehension. In fact, we were talking about it a bit last week as we tried to wrap our heads around the concept of a trillion. As of February 2023, the US national debt was 31.4 trillion dollars. I did the math on our national budget only—not our nati...

Lord God, gracious and merciful, You anointed Your beloved Son with the Holy Spirit at His baptism in the Jordan, and You consecrated Him prophet, priest, and king. Father, we thank You for Jesus, the Son who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God. Pour out Your Spirit on us again that we may be faithful to our baptismal calling, ardently desire the communion of Ch...

We are going to be going through the Book of Mark. It is one of the four Gospels, and it has been called the “action” Gospel. Mark does not give a lot of details. This Gospel takes a fast pace, and it is a summary of the ministry of Jesus Christ. Mark hits the highlights. I expect you as devoted Christians to read the entire Book of Mark. If the only time you read your Bible is on Sunday, you are...

Today, we’re going to get a sense of Mark’s fast pace as we look at four action points brought out in verses 29-45. First, we’re going to notice the healing of Simon Peter’s Mother-in Law. Next, we will see how from this one location Jesus begins ministering to the multitudes of people coming His way. Another thing we will notice is that even Jesus our Lord needed a time of spiritual renewal and i...

We are at the end of Galatians, and I think that it’s important for us to note the manner in which Paul began, and now the manner in which he ends this Book. Throughout this Book, we have seen Paul’s seriousness, and we have seen his heart for the Lord’s Church. One of the things that I hope you have seen is Paul’s emphasis upon fleeing from false teachers and their teachings. Paul opened up with...

We need to understand that calling sin what it is, is not judgment. If I love you, I must do everything I can to lead you to repentance. We want to encourage others who were once a part of the fellowship to come back. All will be made whole again, if the one who has fallen down comes to Christ in repentance. This doesn’t make me your judge; it makes me your friend. Confess, repent, believe, and co...

We’re moving on through Galatians. By the end of today, we will only have one more chapter to go—Lord willing. As I brought out last week, we’ve had a lot of solid doctrine in this great book, and now Paul moves us into some practical application. Today, we’re going to be talking about our flesh and our renewed spirit because of the Holy Spirit. If you’ve ever caught yourself doing something which...

I want to speak to you about Christian liberty. Salvation in Christ is liberation, and the Christian life is one of liberty—Christ has set us free (Gal. 5:1; John 8:32, 36). Christ’s liberating action is not a social gospel. It is not Critical Race Theory nor is it Liberation Theology. It is not progressive, nor is it humanistic. In fact, Christ’s liberty does not have anything to do with politica...

What is a Christian? This question was asked to J.I. Packer. He stated, “The richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father… Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption… The truth of our adoption gives us the deepest insights the New Testament affords into the greatness of God’s love.” [1] In preparing for this sermon, I read a story about...

Can you imagine someone wanting to be in jail or prison? Who would want to go back after tasting freedom? That’s what Paul is bringing out to the Galatians in our text. The Holy Spirit directed Paul to use analogy here to show the Judaizers that God’s plan of redemption has always been the plan of grace. We’ve learned already that the law is our teacher, and at the same time it condemns us. Salvat...

As we continue on with Paul’s discussion of works of the law as opposed to faith in the promise, we’re going to see how these two different approaches effect people. In verses 6 through 22 of this same chapter we have seen that the Abrahamic Covenant of promise is superior to the Mosaic Covenant of the law. Now, we’re going to look at personal application in verses 23-29. Paul takes a kind of befo...

On the last episode, we focused on covenants. God has chosen to deal with His people and their redemption through covenants. We talked about the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants last week, but there are others too. There was the Noahic Covenant and the Davidic Covenant. In creation, God entered into a covenant of works with Adam. Adam was called to obey God. The law at that time was not to eat of th...

The doctrine of justification has been called the storm center of the Reformation. For Paul, it was the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. From Galatians 2:15 through 5:1, we will learn how this concept shaped Paul’s message and devotion. This subject of justification by faith is spoken of by others in the NT, but it is most often the words written by Paul that we turn to when we seek to defend...

I don’t think I’d be too far off base if I told you that our culture has completely embraced what is called moral relativism. This philosophy states that whatever is right for you may or may not be right for me. If you’ve ever heard someone say, “I have to speak my truth,” they are referring to moral relativism. Relativism on the whole states that everything is relative, and depending upon the sit...

Paul heard the reports that the Galatians had departed from the true gospel of Christ, and that false teachers had brought in ideas of keeping the law in order to truly be a Christian. By now, you may have noticed that the Apostle Paul has a very stern tone with the Galatians. If you think that Paul has been harsh over the first 2 chapters, just wait to see what happens here in chapter 3. There’s...

There are two pillars of the gospel. 1. The grace of God. 2. The death of Jesus Christ upon the cross. These are so important for us to understand because to the extent that you understand this, will be the extent that you run from false gospels. You will run from legalism. The full doctrine of justification by faith in Christ alone is that we are saved by faith unto good works. Ephesians 2:8-10 s...

Chapter 10 of the Westminster Confession is entitled “Effectual Calling”, and it begins with the following: “All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds...