The House Divided

Mark 3:20-35

If you were or were a religious leader intent on protecting your religious system, who would you protect it from?

The thinking may be the enemy would be the one seeking to bring down your power-base, but that would be untrue.

The enemy is just fine with religion. Again, the thinking may be that Satan’s territory would be unbelief – and it is – but he is quite content with the nominalism toward God religious systems produce. And even the fervent forms of religion we see in the world today are not fervent for God, they are fervent for the religious system of the practitioner.

The appearance of moral piety merely serves to build up the flesh, and to enhance the standing of men among men. God thinks nothing of the appearance of moral piety, because he knows it isn’t true. He knows the heart, and He knows why we seek to appear pious. Every religious system has in common this building up of the flesh. (The exultation of the self even if it means by suffering, or self-flagellation, or self-immolation, or even by suicide-bomb.) Who is behind this kind of self-destructive behavior?

Less obviously, who is therefore behind every behavior which builds up the flesh to the point it believes itself worthy of God’s favor – perhaps through the burning of incense, or endless repetitions of prayers, or marvelous architecture, or performance of outward moral superiority?

And so, we wind up with religious leaders in opposition to Jesus Christ Himself. Whose position is furthered by opposition to Jesus Christ? What can be learned by the constant friction, discomfort, and contention the religious leaders had with Jesus? (That they would accuse HIM of being in league with Satan?)

When is Satan’s kingdom divided EXCEPT in the person of Jesus Christ? How sad it is the strongest-appearing form of unbelief - the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit - comes by flesh-enhancing religion which makes even Jesus Himself to be a liar about how men must be saved.

-Pastor Bill

The Miracle Worker

Mark 3:1-19

What kind of “man” could take nothing and make it into something?

What kind of “man” has the power of creation available to Himself, and how is that power made available to Him, and when?

As we continue to walk with Jesus, bearing witness as a member of His crowd of followers to the things He does, one of the things we may notice is He never seems to do anything ordinary.

All His works are clearly extraordinary, and they all have to do with what is most needed.

As Jesus entered the synagogue at Capernaum, as His follower I would not have been thinking He was entering a trap. The synagogue was a place of worship and devotion to God, and men would gather on the Sabbath to demonstrate their culture, their heritage, and their loyalty to Judaism, if not to God. This was a very special gathering which would take place each Sabbath day.

Normally, a man with a defect would be restricted in their presence because of their defect, perhaps even restricted from being in the synagogue at all. (See Lev 21:17-24.)

One thing those in opposition to the works of Christ could already trust was that He would always go to the person in the room with the greatest need. Could He be trapped into performing a ‘work’ on the Sabbath – which would therefore publicly reveal Him to be in opposition to God?

The man with the withered hand is immediately noticed by Jesus, and Jesus is angered because He rightly perceived the Pharisees were using this man in a way that was an embarrassment to the man - and also in a way that was intended to trap Jesus. Would Jesus break the Law, and perform a work on the Sabbath?

Jesus’ question pierces like a knife: “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do evil, to save life, or to kill?” (How I answer that question reveals the heart of God in me, and also for me.)

-Pastor Bill

In the Spotlight

Mark 2:1-28

Now we see how Jesus ministers under the spotlight, in the din of the crowd.

Many a good man has folded under the intense pressure of expectations. Would Jesus be yet another example of the flash in the pan?

The thing we must remember is at this time in His ministry life Jesus was still an unproven entity. While this may be difficult for us to imagine, (since we are so familiar with the gospel accounts,) it is important for us as readers to place ourselves in the story and try to imagine what it must have been like to have been there.

Jesus has much to overcome.

He must overcome spiritual opposition in a manner and power I think we know not of, He must overcome material shortcomings that only One with creation power can, and He must overcome doubt - which is perhaps the greatest obstacle of all.

Who is this?

Who would say to a paralytic their sins are forgiven? (The scribes are CORRECT in their thinking ONLY GOD can forgive sin.) Who would say, “your sins are forgiven,” and then tell you to, “get up and walk?” Who would do that? Who COULD do that?

Who would call a tax collector to be one of His followers, and then double down on that inscrutable act by dining with not only tax collectors but known sinners? Would Messiah do that?

Who would be content to skip the present practices of fasting, in a culture when voluntary fasting two days per week is how devotion to God is demonstrated? Who could get away with such a contra-version of standard religious practice?

When the glare of the spotlight is turned on, what would this ‘Man’ do? Now we know. Everything He does is confounding on every front. Nothing will ever be the same. There is now no such thing as status-quo.

-Pastor Bill

God is For Us

Mark 1:16-45

Romans 8:31 declares, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Indeed.

Immediately, at the beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus sets out to demonstrate this fundamental truth: God is for us.

It’s why He came in the first place. He is for us. He loves us. He sees our needs. He knows our desires.

But it is more than knowing what our needs are, or understanding our desires; it is having and demonstrating the authority and power to do something about it.

We face a powerful enemy in this world. All of mankind always has. Jesus has come to defeat our enemy. His power is greater than Satan. His authority is over Satan.

Even after 40 days and nights in the desert, without food and water, Satan has no power over Jesus. None at all. This is the pronouncement of Satan’s defeat.

Since Satan is the greatest power the world can throw at us, (usually employing our own flesh in order to defeat us,) isn’t it comforting to know Jesus has the power to defeat Satan? Isn’t it wonderful to know that He wills to do just that - and that accompanying the power to defeat Satan is also the power to save mankind? (Me.)

All of our needs are met in Jesus Christ. He is our all in all. We are MORE than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loves us and has come to die for us and to help us and to demonstrate He is for us in every way we require.

Usually when someone meets your needs there is a payment required. Even in this, God meets our needs. Jesus is our payment for God’s love. And, He is willing to heal, He is willing to help, and He is willing to save. How could it be further proven that God is FOR us?

-Pastor Bill

Head First

Mark 1:1-15

Who shall believe our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? (Isaiah 53:1.)

The ‘report’ of the Word of God is amazing, fantastic, complete in every way, and extraneous of any unnecessary content.

The Gospel of Mark is a prime example of the spare-ness and specificity with which the Holy Spirit delivers His report.

THIS is the beginning of THE GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST.

It jumps off the page. Jesus is thirty years of age, and we are diving in head first. There is no mention of Jesus’ birth or childhood. There is no character development or foreshadowing or any other such thing normally practiced, especially in modern literature.

Modern literature doesn’t have anything of real meaning to say; Mark does. And he gets right to it. In this Gospel is salvation. There is salvation no other.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is great news, because it means death has been conquered. Given that death is an enemy to all people – and that death has been tracking and pursuing each and every one of us since the moment of our births – this is nothing short of fantastic!

Have you ever wondered why you have a sense of the eternal – and always have since the moment of your birth - even though no one taught you about it? (It is because God has designed YOU to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to be one of those who literally believe the report of the Word of God.)

Upon believing the report of the Word of God we receive everlasting life in the kingdom of heaven – which begins, wonderfully enough – in His Church, (which is also known as the kingdom of heaven.) The Gospel of Jesus Christ places each of us who believe into His Church for safe-keeping until we graduate into His Kingdom undefeated by death. That’s the Gospel Truth.

-Pastor Bill

Expansion

Matthew 28:1-20

Jesus has come to announce His kingdom on earth.

It was in the most radical, attention-gaining way possible, that the most people possible would come into it. (God loves you so much, He would do anything to make certain you have the very best opportunity possible to know of His love for you, and that you may be with Him forever.)

The image of the cross is burned into the consciousness and across the history of mankind. There is no getting around the cross. While it may be possible to dismiss the cross, it is not possible to deny it.

With the cross now in the past, (the greatest event in human history,) something even more radical has happened. Jesus is alive! He is raised from the dead!

First, the work of salvation was necessary. Jesus had to die to make it possible for all to enter His kingdom. Now the work of expansion is here, to make it possible for the whole world to hear about the opportunity God has created by offering His Son – that ALL may now come into His kingdom.

With every means available to God to convey His message, how would God choose to communicate the most important news in the history of the world? He began by telling a small group of the women who followed Him. This would be an absurdity and an embarrassment to Christ if not true. (In those days, a woman was not permitted to be a witness in a court trial, and they were generally thought of as property.) It would be these women Jesus would trust to first share the news of His resurrection. There would be no supernatural parting of the skies, or volcanic demonstration, or anything of the sort – but the small voices of these women who had first witnessed the risen Savior.

That message of faith has been conducted across the centuries without corruption, but not without difficulty. God’s message is opposed by satanic forces everywhere it is delivered. How has God continued to choose to deliver this most important message in the history of mankind? It is by the small, faithful voice of those willing to share it.

-Pastor Bill

Separation

Matthew 27:32-66

We have studied ‘why’ Jesus died, now we see ‘how’ He died.

Of course we understand He is dying the death each of us deserve to die. He is dying in my place, to pay the price for my sin. Never has it been more clearly demonstrated that “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)

Jesus’ death on the cross is not a free ticket to continue in sin knowing we are forgiven, but is a tragic reminder of the horrific, abominable nature of sin, and what comes of it.

Until you see yourself on the cross, you do not understand the price that was paid to set you free. How can you then live any longer in sin? How can sin appeal in light of the cross, and the cost?

We live such sheltered lives in our modern culture. We are so far removed from death it shocks us to the core when we are confronted by the necessity of it. How little we think of the slaughter-house that provides us meat? We have nothing culturally to relate to when it pertains to warfare or any of the sort of brutality that is caused by sin. Jesus reminds us who we really are.

And Who He really is.

You see, there was something that took place at the cross which goes far beyond even the physical brutality which we are making ourselves aware of. It may be the physical brutality which has the greatest affect upon us emotionally, and certainly it should affect us greatly, but it is the separation from the Father which we need to pay the closest attention to. In taking my sin, and the sin of the whole world upon Himself, Jesus made Himself a curse, and He became separated from the Father in that moment. It was plainly terrible for Christ, and His terror serves as a warning.

For those who choose to remain in their sin instead of enjoying and employing Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice for it, there will be an eternal separation from God. Of that, we must all be terrified. Oh how wonderful is the salvation of Christ which removes the middle wall of separation!

-Pastor Bill