Today’s sermon, “iWitness” from Mark 16:9-18 is now online. I thought God’s Word just opened up in amazing ways and we were able to see how we can be bold in our witness as well as how vast our witness should be. I hope this message was a service to you.
I was really struck by all the excuses I can make for not sharing the good news. May God shake us with boldness for Him.
Thought we had a good morning yesterday. The sermon, entitled Following Jesus, from Mark 15:39-47 is now online. The thrust of the passage, obviously was on the burial of Jesus. In Mark’s Gospel, with last week’s clear picture of who Jesus was, I think Mark intentionally gave us some pictures of what it means to follow, since that has been a major theme of Mark’s Gospel.
My three applications to conclude were:
Confess – speak of Jesus before men
Serve – identify with Jesus by serving Him
Courage – don’t be driven by the fear of man; courageously honor Christ
Hope you had a great Lord’s Day!
I thought we had a great Lord’s day and was thoroughly encouraged being with God’s people. In the morning, my sermon was from Mark 15:16-32 and focused on how Jesus’ suffering gives us hope. What was driving a lot of my thoughts on this text was how comfortable we have it and how Mark’s readers were those facing suffering. No doubt reading of the sufferings of Christ would have given them great grace. Hopefully it accomplished this for us as well.
In the evening, the sermon was entitled Return and Repent from Hosea 6:1-6. I think the amazing picture God provides us for renewal in this section encourage us to pursue a relationship with God Himself. He desires love, not sacrifice. Good word to consider, especially when we so often substitute religious practice for relationship. H
Hopefully, the saints were built up and encouraged today, as well.
This seems like a good summary of where we were this AM. I, for one, really sensed my unworthiness of such a thing as the Gospel. That My King would die in my place is awesome thought. If you are looking for the quote by Spurgeon I used at the beginning, I referenced it last week. It is also available in a sermon entitled, “The Blood Shed For Many.” Enjoy!
Today’s sermon is now online. In it, we look at Peter’s denial from Mark 14:66-72. Gotten some good feedback and how this made our battle with sin and temptation come alive, so thanks for that. Some might wonder about that quote from Sinclair Ferguson on killing sin I alluded to in discussing the way sin seeks to master us from Genesis 4:6-7. You can find the quote here. Hope you have a good week fighting sin and temptation to the glory of God.
My last post summarized the final day of the Gospel Coalition. Once I returned, I was off and running here for a Men’s Retreat held in our church. Our guest speaker was Mike Hubbard from Genesis Church in Eureka, MO.
I commented Sunday morning to the church how stuffed I felt after all my week (spiritually speaking).
The Men’s Retreat was a great time. Thanks to the men who helped pull so many details together including: Bob G, Benjamin, Elrond, and Mark Trotman (who graciously hosted all the men at his farm for this event).
Friday night, the 24th, we began with some good old grilling and a stiff southern wind pounding us in the chin (it is Kansas after all). Mike spoke on the Man and the Gospel from Genesis 1:1 – Genesis 3:15. It was a great way to begin, showing all the men present how we fail to live up to God’s glory and really need Christ’s life, death and resurrection in our lives.
Saturday morning, the 25th, the coffee was flowing and after breakfast, Mike got practical speaking about the Man and His Roles from Ephesians 5:25 and following. He really encouraged us to love our wives in very active ways. The final session that morning (and for the Men’s Retreat as a whole) was entitled the Man and the Church. It really sought to instill Paul’s message in Titus to us as men.
The Men’s Retreat was a spiritual high for me. What a blessing to fellowship with men and be encouraged through God’s Word.
After this, Sunday included Mike speaking again Sunday morning to our entire church on how God has called us to be a sent people to our community. He brought encouragement through what Genesis Church has been able to do by God’s grace.
Sunday evening small groups looked at several practical means of grace God uses to make us holy, again another spiritual feast for the taking.
Now comes time for application of all these things, though. Are there any application or thoughts from my readers who attended these things that they would like to share?
Somehow yesterday’s AM Sermon and PM sermon came together. The over-arching thrust of both messages was how we should strive to be holy.
In the AM, we were looking at Jesus in Gethsemane from Mark 14:32-42. Jesus was the model of spiritual strength, submitting to the Father’s will and demonstrating humility in His actions. Meanwhile, the disciples were asleep. Jesus encouraged them to “watch and pray” that they might not enter into temptation. The word “watch” speaks of a diligence or a passion to stay alert. We must exercise some passion in our striving to be holy.
In the PM, God had a contention with His people due to their adultery and wickedness in Hosea 4:1-19. They had forsaken Him. The leadership failed to direct the people to holiness. Men had failed to take leadership in their homes. God was going to punish the people to warn Judah from the same plight. Holiness was not the direction of the people, therefore, they were languishing in wickedness.
This weekend inspired my passion to strive to be holy. Hope that is the case for you as well.
Sunday’s sermon, Jesus: Risen One, from 2 Timothy 2:8-9 is now online. I thought we had a great morning. The fellowship around tables is always an encouragement. But being able to gather together and celebrate the Lord’s conquering of death was amazing. I was especially convicted by those two closing applications: 1) Will you remember Jesus when you are heading to work Monday AM and 2) Will you endure, confident that God will be by your side in the midst of whatever suffering you face?
I feel exhausted after the events of today, but greatly encouraged.
The sermons from yesterday are now online.
In the AM, we had a great time seeing spiritual weakness displayed by Jesus from Mark 14:26-31. I found the article by Steve Young in the latest Briefing to be helpful in exposing a particular weakness in my life. I hope God uses His Word to spark serious work in our lives towards humility.
In the PM, it was interesting to see how God continued to woo His people by overwhelming them with love in Hosea 3:1-5. We must be characterized by genuine, costly love is our message is to be one that is God-centered. Hosea learned this lesson and we would do well to do so.
Hope you have a great week. Be watching the church website for our Holy Week Devotional to aid in your worship of this Savior.
I was just thinking this afternoon about how gracious God was to us this past weekend. Normally, one wouldn’t think of a near natural disaster as a blessing, but this weekend was. Here are some thoughts I had on this…
First off, our hearts are with Central Christian Schools. The roof fell in on their cafeteria, but God, in His grace, allowed no children to be present and used this to possibly save other schools from the same fate.
Related to the Missions Fest (Eyes Open Weekend), here are some thoughts…
1) God was gracious to allow Freddy Wyatt to get here and get rest. Some of you may be familiar with the break-neck speed at which life operates for those of us in ministry. We don’t really have set hours and get calls of all kinds. The life of a church planter takes this demand and simply intensifies it. Freddy and his family have been going non-stop since moving to NY in October. This weekend allowed him to get rest. God was gracious in this way.
2) God demonstrated grace to us in what was shared last night. What an incredible evening. Freddy did finally get to speak (check out the audio of it), and was able to challenge us to share the good news of the Gospel with others. The meal was fantastic (Thanks Adam!) and getting to fellowship with the saints was a huge blessing. The praise team did an excellent job in pointing us to the Gospel (Thanks Arwen, Kathy, Chris, Conor, Jandee, Theoden and Elrond). There were just blessing after blessings happening last night and after being cooped up all weekend, getting back with the saints was a welcome relief.
3) God allowed some to finish the project at Open Door. We had 3 projects to accomplish this weekend. 2 were cancelled due to the weather, but some faithful workers were able to finish putting some new paint on the walls of the Crisis Pregnancy Center yesterday. Praise God for that.
God was at work in more ways than we know. We should simply praise Him with hearts of thanksgiving–not only for the incredible benefits of the Gospel we daily walk in–but for the weekend in which His glory was manifest.
