Sunday, September 1, Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Mark 7:14-23. The Heart of the Problem. It’s a problem that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. All of us are guilty at times of convincing ourselves that our sin is the result of something or someone outside of us. But not only do we fail to recognize the true source of our sin, we are also prone to turning to the wrong solutions for dealing with our sin. Thankfully we have the Word of God to help us properly understand both the source and the solution for our sins. In Mark 7:14-23 Jesus makes it clear that the source of our sin is the corruption of our hearts and that there’s nothing that we can do to make ourselves clean. Only He can make us clean.
Sunday, September 8, Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Mark 7:24-37. Jesus: He Does Everything Well. After Jesus healed the Syrophoenician’s daughter of a demon and healed the deaf man by touching him with His saliva (Mark 7), along with other unnamed miracles, the crowd declared, “He has done all things well…” (v. 37).This not only fits as the summary of these miracles, but it also is an appropriate summary of the life and ministry of Christ and His position as the Son of God: Jesus does all things well. When our Lord does something, He always does it well. He never does sloppy or substandard work. What He begins He finishes, and He always does it to perfection. That is good news for us, because if we are followers of Jesus believer, God is in the process of working on us.
Sunday, September 15, Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost, Mark 9:14-29. Lord, I Believe. Help My Unbelief. This lesson records a remarkable episode of Jesus casting out an evil spirit that His disciples were previously unable to cast out. The same episode contains Jesus’ teaching about the importance of faith. There were other instances when the disciples were able to cast out demons, but Jesus explains that the demon they encountered in Mark 9 could only come out by prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29). As we consider all that took place that day, we will see that Jesus was challenging the crowd, the boy’s father, and the disciples on the importance of believing in Him as the One who could accomplish what would otherwise be impossible.
Sunday, September 22, Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Mark 9:30-37. Who, Then, Is the Greatest? Jesus is the Holy Son of God who came down to earth to reunite all people with the Father. To achieve this purpose, He needed to be humble and obedient to the Father, even if it entailed untold suffering and death upon a cross (Philippians 2:8). His apostles did not fully understand the meaning of a suffering servant and instead argued with each other about who among them was the greatest. So, Jesus presented to them a child and asked them to be like that child. Who then is the greatest? To Jesus, it is not the mightiest ruler, or the fastest athlete, nor the handsomest celebrity. It is not what humans consider greatness it to be. It is quite the opposite.
Sunday, September 29, Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Mark 9:38-50. Be the Salt. There is a lot going on in this lesson. Jesus predicts His death, but the disciples avoid the subject by pointing to a man who was not one of them who was casting out demons in Jesus' name. In response to their objections to what this man was doing, Jesus says some very challenging and thought-provoking things and concludes with the importance of being "salty" disciples. As we consider this lesson, we will ask: Why are we so often at odds with one another? Why don't we have peace in our lives? This passage suggests that it is because: We fight to protect our turf. We destroy the weak among us. We will not let go of that which destroys us.
Children's Message
 |
 |
