Transit Church Sermons

In the midst of the storms that life will bring us, we are challenged in this text to not look fearfully upon the power of the storm, but to place our trust in One who is in the boat with us.

Mark 4 is a whole chapter of parables. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Through parables, Jesus taught about himself and the Kingdom of God.

What is God's family and how do I become a part of it? As Jesus begins to talk about family, he redefines what true family is, and he reveals that only those who follow Him; only those who submit their hearts and lives to trust Him are included as part of God’s family.

In this passage, Mark presents to us a stark contrast between Jesus and the Pharisees, grace and legalism, compassion and condemnation, and ultimately between life and death.

On the surface, this text is just about a basic healing. But there's a sub-narrative in the passage that goes beyond this initial healing. It's that Jesus not only heals a man, but tells him he’s forgiven of his sins.

Jesus had just had an extraordinary day of teaching the scriptures, casting out demons, and healing the sick—all on the sabbath. He serves the hurting late in the evening, well past sundown. And even though the day is drawing to a close, there is more to be done to enable the kingdom to advance against the powers of darkness and evil. Along with exercising the miracles of healing and exorcism, we...

There are two aspects of Jesus’ ministry, where we’ll see over and over again in Mark’s gospel, that he confronts people -- the supernatural and authority.

Jesus is inaugurated at His baptism, He enters into the first battle with the enemy in the wilderness, then begins His official work. What this text highlights are the message and the mission of the King.

Finally the day comes and the much anticipated King arrives on the scene, forever changing the landscape of human history.

As Mark begins to pen his historical theology of Jesus, he is primarily concerned with this main idea: He wants people to know Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who served, suffered and died, and rose again as a suffering servant of the Lord, just as he was depicted by the Prophet Isaiah.

As we celebrate the five short years of our church, we're reminding ourselves of where the church came from, what are her roots, who is the church supposed to be, and what did the early church do? Having settled that, we let that revelation drive who we are supposed to be.

When we say "vision" we don’t mean coming up with some amazing new ideas for the coming years for the Church. When a pastor talks about vision, he’s talking about discerning what the Lord is doing, and asking ourselves, "How can we align ourselves with whatever that is?"

In Ephesians Paul tells us that God’s church is His glorious plan for reaching the nations; for revealing his wisdom; and for forming his people. In Ephesian 2:18-22, Paul uses three different metaphors to teach us what the church is and why it matters.

Nowhere in all the Old Testament does the gospel of Jesus Christ shine more clearly than in Isaiah 53. Seven hundred years before Jesus came into the world, God opened the eyes of his prophet to see into the very heart of Christ's saving work. And the heart of that saving work is what we celebrate on Easter.

One of the more hurtful things to experience in life is betrayal, especially by someone you call a friend. There's similarly, no more ugly, repulsive a word than "traitor" and that is the word personified by a disciple named Judas.

The Garden of Gethsemane is one of the most sacred and solemn scenes in all of Scripture. In this passage, we catch a glimpse of the agony that Christ experienced at the anticipation of the cup that He would have to consume for our ransom.

The "Last Supper" was the last divinely sanctioned and authorized Passover ever held. As an observance, the Passover is the remnant of a former covenant. Here, Jesus celebrates the meal as a way to bring it to its end. As he does, he institutes the feast of something new. We call it, "The Lord’s Supper."

The traditional form of the Lord's Prayer includes the line, "For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen." The footnote is that Jesus didn't teach this. So...how did this phrase came about? Why do we even say it even today? And what it means for the reliability of the Bible and our prayer?

The last petition of the Lord's prayer is a humble request that the Good Shepherd would intervene on behalf of His sheep, sheep who need to be daily led and delivered from evil.

Jesus' Prayer makes two points, both serving as underlying characteristics of forgiveness: (1) anyone who genuinely asks God for forgiveness will be forgiven; (2) a person who has truly experienced forgiveness through Christ should be willing to extend that forgiveness to others as well.

There is a vulnerability to praying "give is this day our daily bread," in that it uncovers a deep-seated need that we have. We are asking God to provide because there are some things that we can’t provide for ourselves.

Knowing God's will can be one of the most complex topics to grasp. So what does it mean when we pray your will be done? What Jesus teaches in the Lord's Prayers is that prayer is not about us bending God’s will to our plans. It’s about bending our will to His plans.

When we pray "your kingdom come?" we're praying a multi-level prayer. We're praying for the future kingdom of Jesus to come; we’re asking Jesus to work in his church; and we're asking for God's kingdom come in us.

This prayer, "hallowed be your name", is the most important petition in the Lord's prayer. In these four words, we find both the purpose of our existence and consequently the purpose of prayer itself.

To call God Father ("Abba") was a revolutionary way to pray; unthinkable for Jews. That we would come to and call the Creator of the universe, "Abba" ("Papa"). Yet, that is what Jesus is teaching us how we should pray in the Lord’s Prayer.