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Now we come to the midterms. Anxiety of the pharisees. Lesson of the Loeaves—I am completely dependent on a generous God. Jesus tells them to watch out for the yeast of the pharisees. The disciples start worrying about bread. Read Mark 8:27-9:1 There is one question on the midterm: who do you say I am?…

Read Mark 7:1-23 We often get this passage backwards—we think that the Pharisees were focused on the outside—ritual and behavior—while Jesus is focused on the in keeping the inside clean. But that’s because we get confused about the point they are arguing. We think Jesus is abolishing dietary laws. “Are…

Coming out of COVID we were in a really good financial position. We found ourselves sitting on a good sized checking account. From that position, we made several decisions at various points: We increased the size of our emergency reserve fund We invested more of our money with church investment groups.…

Introduction Read Mark 6:46-52 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. They were surprised when they shouldn’t have been. They wouldn’t have been if they had understood about…

READ MARK 5:1-20 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. Jesus sees the Gerasene cemetery as it really is: JUST a PLACE . v. 1-2 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore,…

Background Jesus ended the last story by saying, Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. How can I "do God’s Will?” Do I have to BE CHOSEN…

READ Mark 3:7-19 There is a huge groundswell of attention on Jesus. He’s doing all these remarkable things, and the movement is growing. Jesus invites the twelve to make a deeper commitment to him--from disciples to THE disciples. The twelve agree, and are probably pretty excited and optimistic. If you…

When the Jews came back from exile, they had high hopes for God to return to them and set everything right. Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer, Regem-melech, and their men to plead for the Lord ’s favor by asking the priests who were at the house of the Lord of Armies as well as the prophets,…

Read Mark 5:21-6:6 These three stories connect faith and healing. Jesus constantly connects faith with healing and power. Faith is essential to following Jesus. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything…