Be joyful in HOPE,
patient in affliction,
faithful in prayer.
Share with the Lord’s
people who are in need.
Romans 12:12-13
Exordium “He is risen from the dead!” We know these words so well, they can lose their impact. So think of it in the negative. What if we didn’t hear this? What then? What would be true if He didn’t rise from the dead? What do we lack? The first thing is that if death…
THE END OF THE GOSPEL The End of the Gospel. That’s where we are today. After a year of being in Mark’s gospel for the sermons, we come to the last 2 verses. It’s like the end of a story. If the gospels are the story of what Jesus did on earth, isn’t the end…
Mark 13:24-37 KNOWING THE TIME As Jesus concludes his sermon to His disciples about “what will be the sign of His coming and of the end of the age” (Mt 24:3.Mk 13:4), He gets into His actual coming, the moment when He appears in “great power and glory.” He speaks about things happening to the sun, moon, and stars that…
GOOD NEWS, WE’RE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS Mark 13 is one long answer to a question. This is also true of Matthew 24. Same event. This was on Tuesday of the week that Jesus died on the cross. He had just left the temple for the last time. While He thought about these things,…
CHRIST HAS CALLED YOU TO BE HIS MARTYR Perpetua was a young wife and mother, with a nursing child, in 203 A.D. Although the Roman emperor forbade conversion to Christianity, she believed in Jesus – with her servant Felicitas. They were arrested leaving church. She and Felicitas were thrown into prison. Her father (an unbeliever)…
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed a list of 95 statements to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany. They were “theses” for debate. It started a chain of events that resulted in what we call “the Reformation.” We think of Martin Luther as bold and heroic. But he certainly experienced self-doubt. Just four…
WHAT WE DO AFFECTS OTHERS, AND IT’S ABOUT ETERNITY Sermon Text, St. Mark 9:42-50 (ESV). “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes…
Mark 9:33-41 THE WAY OF TRUTH IS ALSO THE WAY OF LOVE The way to eternal life is the way of truth. Jesus said not only “I Am the Way” but also “I Am the Truth,” and: “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn 14:6). The way to come to the Father,…
WHAT ABOUT WHEN MY FAITH FEELS WEAK? Sermon Text, St. Mark 9:14-29 (ESV). 14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to Him and greeted Him. 16 And He asked them, “What are you arguing…
JESUS HEALS A BLIND MAN, BUT NOT ALL AT ONCE When Israel was about to enter the Promised Land, the land of Canaan, God gave them a great promise that He Himself would drive out the nations for them. In many cases it was obvious that God was doing this, that it was His doing,…
