Jeff Shelnutt Sermons

After months of ministry in Galilee, Jesus returns to His home village of Nazareth. Those who think they know Him are at first astonished by His teaching in the local synagogue. However, their astonishment quickly turns to offense. Their unbelief prevents Jesus from doing what He otherwise would do for them...and our unbelief has the same limiting affect.

While Jesus speaks to a woman who has just received healing after twelve long years of hemorrhaging, Jairus's daughter dies. Speaking into his despair, Jesus tells Jairus to keep on believing in spite of the circumstances. Jesus not only heals diseases, He raises the dead. Jesus resurrects that which has died in our lives as well, a foretaste of the the coming resurrection for all who trust Hi...

A woman who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years comes to Jesus in desperation. He responds to her focused faith. When we seek Jesus we must 1) feel our helplessness; 2) trust in His sufficiency; and as a result, 3) proclaim God's peace.

Those from the nearby towns who came out to see his transformation could hardly believe this was the same man who had been possessed by a "legion" of demons. Neither did they know what do with Jesus, who was responsible for his transformation, so they sent Him away. We answer three questions from the text: Can a person change? What does change look like? Who does change affect?

Jesus crosses the sea to Gentile territory. Upon setting foot in this dark land, He is confronted by a man who is possessed by multiple evil spirits. We see from this account what it looks to enter the darkness, how to understand the darkness, and what it means that Jesus subdues the darkness.

The disciples have a choice when the terrifying storm comes upon their boat and Jesus is asleep on a cushion: they can have fear or have faith. Jesus is Lord of all creation, therefore, the wind and the waves obey Him. In this account, we learn something about trusting in the storm, praying in the storm, and obeying in the storm.

Mark arranges several parables together in order to give the reader insight into Jesus' teaching about the kingdom of God. The kingdom grows imperceptibly, incomprehensibly, and out of obscurity. The kingdom grows on God's timetable. Like with our own spiritual growth, kingdom growth is difficult to analyze but powerful and impactful over the long run.

This parable Jesus tells about different types of soil shows us the different responses to the Word of God. According to Jesus, this parables serves as the key to unlock the other parables, particularly as they pertain to the Kingdom of God. He who has received the Word in turn becomes a sower so that others might hear as well.

Jesus used common, everyday scenes to convey spiritual truths about the kingdom of God. Mark doesn't record many parables in His Gospel, but the Parable of the Sower is an exception. This parable is about how people respond to Jesus and His message. We serve a speaking God. We must choose whether we will and heed His words.

The Resurrection was a one-time event that every Christian looks back to in faith. But resurrection power is an ongoing reality that God grants to those who are in Christ. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, the Christian is justified. Because of the resurrection life of Jesus, the Christian is given the ability to resist sin and live righteously.

The opposition of the scribes and Pharisees to Jesus is understandable. But even Jesus' own mother and brothers did not understand His ministry and mission. The follower of Jesus will face opposition, and sometimes this opposition will come from the most surprising places. Yet, God gives grace to His own so that they might do His will even as Jesus always did the will of His Father.

Many people wonder what it means to commit the eternal sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. To understand Jesus' words, we must realize why He spoke them and to whom. The focus of this passage is not actually on what has been called the "unforgivable sin." The focus is on God's willingness in His abundant grace and mercy to forgive all sins.

According to the religious authorities, the twelve disciples chosen by Jesus were "uneducated and untrained" men. Who were they? Who did they become? And how did they get from who they were to who they became? By answering these questions, we discover how others will also recognize us as having been with Jesus.

Though the religious class opposes Jesus, He is as popular as ever with the common people. They flock to Him for healing, and in the process, hear His teaching. Out of many disciples, Jesus appoints twelve who will be with Him and will be sent out to preach His kingdom message. Every Christian is called to be with Jesus, and then to proclaim with their words and life that Jesus is King.

At the close of Jesus' early ministry in Galilee, the Pharisees are watching Him closely for a reason to accuse Him of breaking God's Law. This time, it is a question of whether it is permissible to heal on the Sabbath. In the scene in the synagogue that unfolds, Jesus reveals the problem is the Pharisees' failure to see God accurately, and failure to view the word of God correctly. If...

The Pharisees take issue with Jesus over allowing His disciples to pick grain to eat while passing through a field on the Sabbath. They consider this "work." Instead of making a case for the ways the Pharisees add to God's Law, Jesus instead focuses on a story from First Samuel 21 about a young David. In establishing that He is in fact the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus also establishes...

Jesus is questioned about the fact that His disciples are not fasting like the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees. Jesus responds with an illustration about a wedding. He then gives two more illustrations that address the greater issue: how the new is not compatible with the old. The Christian follows a Person, not a system.

Levi left behind all that was tied to his tax booth when he chose to follow Jesus. And then, Jesus accepted an invitation to dine with other tax collectors and sinners. Jesus was not afraid that such company would influence Him. He knew the only way to reach those far from God is to draw near to them. We're all sick and need a doctor. It's just that many don't realize it.

In the first of five confrontations with religious leaders in Galilee, Jesus is brought a paralyzed man. So determined are his friends to help their friend, they lower him through the roof into the crowded room where Jesus is teaching. As debilitating as paralysis is, there is a much greater need that Jesus first addresses. Only after a person is forgiven of his sins can he get up and walk in newn...

So severe and debilitating was leprosy in the ancient world, it was thought as difficult to cure as raising the dead. Since only God can raise the dead, it's no surprise that Jesus cleansed a leper. Spiritually-speaking, we need more than healing from the penalty of sin; we need a cleansing that fundamentally changes who we are within.

Word quickly spreads around Capernaum about Jesus' healing power and authority over evil spirits. In this passage we answer 1) who to go to for healing; 2) why to go for prayer; and 3) how to experience transformation. Jesus' miracles verified His mission.

When Jesus began to teach in Galilee, His listeners were astonished by the authority with which He spoke. To prove the King was bringing in His reign, Marks records that Jesus cast out an unclean spirit and raised a woman from her sickbed. The One who dispels darkness and brings healing bids His followers to receive and serve.

The Kingdom has come in the King! As Jesus begins His ministry in Galilee, we observe the arrival, the message, the call, and the path of the King. When Jesus says, "Follow Me," we should respond immediately and completely.

Jesus, as the perfect Israelite, identifies Himself with His people in baptism. Then, like Israel before Him, the Son of God is driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. Because Jesus submitted to His Father and overcame temptation in the domain of the devil, the Christian receives life through submission to Christ.

In beginning a series on the Gospel of Mark, we discover that Mark does not begin his account with the birth of Jesus, but with the preaching of John the Baptist. John's message of repentance in the wilderness communicated to the Israelites who heard him that God was doing something new. Indeed, Mark focuses our attention in his Gospel on what it means that Jesus the Messiah is the Son of God.