Sermon - Lander Free Church

As Jesus reveals more about who He is to His disciples they struggle to understand Jesus' redemptive plan and fail in their ministry without Him.  Read Mark 9:2-29 and thanks for listening! 

The questions of who Jesus is and what that means for his followers become explicitly clear as Peter confesses Jesus is the Christ but fails to understand what that means. Read Mark 8:27-9:1 and thanks for listening! 

In a moment of déjà vu, Jesus miraculously feeds more people, while his disciples still don't understand, begging the question why Mark, in the shortest gospel account, records both of these events. Read Mark 8:1-26 and Thanks for listening!

After speaking of unclean foods, we now meet unclean people, and Jesus shocks us by both his words and deeds. Read Mark 7:24-37 and see you Sunday.

Mark turns us back to the teaching of Jesus, warning us of legalism, reminding us of what truly matters, what defiles, and the salvation that we truly need. Read Mark 7:1-23 and see thanks for listening! 

Mark illustrates the greatness and identity of Jesus through two miracles that clearly echo the Old Testament. Read Mark 6:30-56 and thanks for listening!

Having finished four parables and four miracles, Jesus commissions the twelve and we discover the fate of John the Baptizer, two events that have more to do with each other than meets the eye. Read Mark 6:1-29 and thanks for listening!

We conclude the four miracle stories about death and danger with our next Markan sandwich, with one story interrupting the other and each helping us understand each. Read Mark 5:21-43 and thanks for listening! 

In the second miraculous story in this set of four, Jesus shows his great spiritual authority to a mixed response, and gives a strange answer to several questions. Read Mark 5:1-20 and thanks for listening!

Jesus continues teaching in parables, now with a whole series of short ones, concluding with a monumentally important question which leaves us wondering how well the disciples were listening. Read Mark 4:21-41 and thanks for listening!

He is Risen! The season of repentance and renewal gives way to celebration, fasting to feasting. We turn to the New Testament and Paul's beautiful, rich explanation of the gospel message as we rejoice in the work of Christ. Read Ephesians 1:15-2:10 and thanks for listening! 

One final spiritual discipline and one final Sunday in Lent, Palm Sunday, we turn to the exercise of praise and worship. Read Psalm 95 and see you Sunday.

Leaving behind some of the more painful spiritual exercises, we turn to peace and contentment in Psalm 131, one of the shortest to read and longest to learn adn thanks for listening! 

What do we do with our own anger, particularly when we have been hurt or betrayed? Are we supposed to pray these imprecatory psalms, or do we have to abandon them? Read Psalm 35 and see you Sunday.

In another pair of Psalms we look to the tools of repentance and confession and their importance for Christians personally and communally as we enter into the joy of salvation. Read Psalm 32 and thanks for listening!

As we continue in the Psalms, we turn to suffering, not something we typically consider a spiritual exercise, and look at perhaps the darkest of all the Psalms. Read Psalm 88 and thanks for listening! 

As we begin Lent, we first turn to the practice of meditation, of being still and knowing he is God, a practice particularly difficult in the age of cellphones, the internet, and constant distractions. Read Psalm 46 and 136 and thanks for listening!

In our final Sunday before Lent, we wrap up chapter 3 with Mark's first sandwich story, which helpfully prepares us for what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Read Mark 3:20-35 and thanks for listening!

Jesus' ministry in Galilee transitions to a new phase as he appoints 12 disciples as apostles, giving us further insight into what it means to follow him. Read Mark 3:1-19 and thanks for listening! 

Controversies continue in the Gospel of Mark as Jesus violates expectations about fasting and the Sabbath, two important activities to consider today. Read Mark 2:18-28 and thanks for listening!

As we turn to the next chapter, Mark recounts a pair of stories full of surprises. Read Mark 2:1-17 and thanks for listening! 

Mark slows down his rapid account of Jesus' work as we turn to the first miracles of Jesus, miracles that tell us about who he is, what his gospel is, and who we should be. Read Mark 1:21-45 and thanks for listening! 

We begin a new year with a new series, turning from the Old Testament to the New with the Gospel of Mark. Read Mark 1:1-20 and thanks for listening! 

Somewhere between the moment when you first met Jesus and the life you live now, you forgot what it felt like to be a child of God. What if this restlessness you're feeling isn't something to be fixed, but something calling you back to who you truly are?

Jesus is the Light of the World!  Read John 9 and see you Sunday.