Sermons on Faith
What is this leaven of the Pharisees? Christ leads his disciples through a catechism of questions to bring them to the understanding. Like the man partially healed, Peter confesses Christ, but it’s clear he only had a partial perception. Turn now to the Gospel of Mark. Gospel of Mark, chapter eight. I’m starting at verse…
Though this Syrophoenician woman thought herself of a low estate–and those around her would’ve agreed, Christ deems her worthy, not of dog food, but of true spiritual meat: faith. Here we see the heart of Christ as he reaches out to those of low conditions.
Mark chapter six, starting at verse 30. Mark six. Verse 30, before we, if you’re reading about the Word and it’s preaching and it’s accepting, that’s the word of blessing on those hands. God, let’s pray together. Heavenly Father, we come again before you. We just wanted to hear from you. We praise you that…
What is most needful in life? If someone were to ask you that, how would you answer? In this passage, we see a man lying before Jesus paralyzed, and Jesus’ comment takes everyone by surprise: “Your sins are forgiven you.” It seems insensitive that this man is dealing with obvious physical need, and yet, Christ is bringing up the forgiveness of sins instead. By placing this in the text, Christ–through Mark– is making us reckon with some big questions. Not only does this cause cognitive dissonance, it makes a bold statement about who Christ is and the coming of the Kingdom. Christ is trying to show us something. The question is: “Will you see it?”
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: “Thus says Cyrus king of…