Courage and Proclamation: The Outlook of a Sacrificing Servant
November 22, 2020 • David Staff
The world is broken, let’s fix it.
What a great motto for a company. Better yet, what a great motto for Jesus’ church! What a great motto for the gospel of Mark, the essence of Jesus’ life. The world is broken; let’s fix it!
So what did Jesus do to fix this broken http://world...and now that we are disciples in this generation, awaiting his momentary http://return...what does he call us to do in a broken world?
The answer of Mark’s http://gospel...and especially the final 6 chapters, is simple.
SERVE: POUR OUT YOUR LIFE TO SAVE SOMEONE ELSE.
True Righteousness: The Passion of a Servant
November 15, 2020 • David Staff
As Jesus enters God’s chosen city (Jerusalem) amidst God’s chosen people, what is He looking for? What is his passion, his hunger? In this manual on servanthood, what is Jesus showing his disciples (in these chapters of Mark) about being a servant of God? I think Mark is moved by the Spirit of God to give us a vivid portrait in Jesus of this:
God’s servants (like Jesus aligned with God’s heart) are passionate for righteousness. They hunger for it. A hunger that is obvious. A hunger that is expressed in their impact, influence.
Self-Denial: The Habit of Servants
November 8, 2020 • David Staff
One of the most important things that a new Christian—or any Christian for that matter—must realize is simply this. If you are going to seriously follow Jesus Christ, what you think and the way that you think will have to change. Your habits of thought, what you think to be the way to do things in your life, what you regard to be really important, or valuable…all of that will need renovation. Quite frankly, a complete overhaul.
This sermon will bring the difficult truth that to follow Jesus means to deny yourself.
Extra Mile Serving
November 1, 2020 • David Staff
Ever been in a position when you just didn’t think you had any more to give?
Ever been there? “Lord...I’m tapped out.” I can hear your heart’s inaudible response already. “Sure I have.” You know what I mean. You kinda hit a personal dead end.
It could be with that difficult person to love.
It could be with the stress of your job.
It could be with that child, or teenager, who has managed to drain your tank down to the last http://drop...and if you could, you’d wash your hands of it and simply walk away. But you can’t and you won’t; still you’re spent.
http://shucks...it could be financially.
Of all the people I’ve ever known well, I don’t know of anybody who hasn’t at some time reached that point with someone or some thing important in their lives. When you do, you feel it down deep. “Lord, honestly, I just don’t have anything more to give.”
Which is why I love the Bible. Why you love the Bible. It is so real to life, full of people who’ve arrived at the very same place.
Fearless Faith: The Trust of Servants
October 25, 2020 • David Staff
We see our modern decorations. Ghosts dancing around trees, carved pumpkins (some happy, some frightful), witches and goblins suspended in mid-air, skeletons hanging from trees, zombies with ghoulish, gashed faces stalking the living. A fascination—perhaps playful—with the aura of death and graves and spirits.
It’s a time when we are supposed to be afraid. In the movie Halloween Sheriff Leigh Bracket tells Laurie Strode, “It’s Halloween; everyone’s entitled to one good scare.”
Fear is an interesting experience; on most days we avoid it like the plague. We are told
Fear is a natural, powerful, and primitive human emotion. It involves a universal biochemical response as well as a high individual emotional response. Fear alerts us to the presence of danger or the threat of harm, whether that danger is physical or psychological. Sometimes fear stems from real threats, but it can also originate from imagined dangers.
But when we are afraid, our heart races, adrenalin spikes exponentially increasing our alertness. Whether it’s a snake, or thinking about the future, or boarding a plane, or the presence of a crowd, fear quickly shouts, “You can’t handle this…run (if you can) to safety.”
So why would God ever allow any of us to be in a frightening, fearful situation?
Compassion and Truth: A Servant's Calling
October 18, 2020 • Kyle Bartholic
In this sermon, Pastor Kyle Bartholic takes a look at a story of four men who were convinced of the life-changing power of Jesus, moved by compassion for someone in their life that couldn’t get the help he needed, and along the way, they will hear truth that is deeper than they could have
hoped for.
Key Truth: In fishing for people, servants encounter those who need timely help
and timeless truth.
In other words: What others need matters to me.
Fishing: The Savior's Call to His Servants
October 11, 2020 • David Staff
Every time I see that segment from The Bible, something stirs within me. Every time.
Especially now. Don’t you wish you could change the world? Maybe not by http://yourself...but be a part of something where you could do your part—along with others—that would really make a difference? I just turned 67 this past week, and I can’t remember a time in my lifetime when I’ve felt that so keenly. Sometimes, we hear all the political and cultural noise, and want simply to withdraw.
But we follow Jesus, And that’s what He came to do. That’s why God sent John the Baptizer out in front of him, crying in the wilderness that Someone truly great was coming, Someone who required I clear out my sin clutter,
Someone who would plunge me into the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. Someone was coming, John insisted, who wanted to thoroughly change my life, my world, was coming.
So what was his plan? After his own baptism and his own time of rigorous testing in the desert. What was his plan to change the world?
To change the world, Jesus develops followers into fishermen.
God's Special Servant Son
October 4, 2020 • David Staff
In my following of Jesus, will I choose the greatness of being a servant?
So let’s take any blinders off and start our look at God’s great servant.. Mark’s first sentence:
1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Mark says this account will be about “the gospel (good, hopeful news) about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” There is good news about God’s Son, Jesus. And you discover it when you look carefully at his life – when you listen to him teach and watch him operate. Rather than guessing blindly, we can clearly know who He is.
