SCRIPTURE: Mark 9:33-37 Among chickens, there is a pecking order… among humans too. We are eager to establish ourselves in a good place, to try to rise up in the ranks, to belong and be valued. There is something normal and healthy in this, God created us to belong and be valued. But the curse of…
Author: Norm
Ignorance is not bliss
SCRIPTURE: Mark 9:30-32 Were they embarrassed about their lack of understanding, or afraid about the meaning of Jesus’ words? It’s plain to us today, we’ve heard this explained so many times, but this was ‘crazy’ to their minds. Jesus is avoiding the crowds, and trying to get His message through to His disciples. The problem was…
Physical and spiritual healing!
SCRIPTURE: Mark 9:25-29 This kind can only come out by prayer… are their kinds that can come out in other ways? I am not sure what went wrong with the disciples healing attempt, or why they were arguing with the religious leaders. I am not sure why “this kind” of spirit was different, and how “this…
“Everything is possible for the one who believes.”
SCRIPTURE: Mark 9:14-24 “Everything is possible for the one who believes.” Compare the optimist and the pessimist, and you will this verse illustrated. The person who allows doubts to reign in their mind and heart are easily defeated. But the person who allows God-confidence and possibility thinking to reign seem to be undefeatable. It’s not that…
Christian atheists or Atheist christians?
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 53 David is overwhelmed by how many people deny and defy God, how foolish and corrupt so many of them are. While it is true, I believe, that it is foolish to deny God, I do not think that therefore every atheist or agnostic is the worst kind of person morally; in fact I…
Why the world is a dangerous place…
“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who do nothing about it.” (Albert Einstein)
1 Chronicles 1-16
SCRIPTURE: 1 Chronicles 1-16 What do you sense the Lord saying to you? PRAYER
Who Jesus really is!
SCRIPTURE: Mark 9:9-13 Jesus wants His disciples to stay quiet about His identity as God’s Messiah (the Son of Man of Daniel 7:13-14). He knows that the people do not understand God’s kingdom; they expect a worldly victory over the Romans. But Jesus will accomplish a spiritual victory over sin, death and hell through His death and…
We all display the Lord’s glory!
SCRIPTURE: Mark 9:2-8 I’ve always assumed that this story was the divine nature of Jesus peaking out momentarily. But now I wonder if this is God’s way of showing the glory of the human Jesus as an obedient son. This is the glory that we all contain, as God’s children, when we live in the likeness…
What must I do to be sacrificed?
SCRIPTURE: Mark 8:31-9:1 So is following Jesus about ‘being saved’, or ‘being sacrificed’? Most of the focus of the Church’s message today seems to be on being saved. But Jesus makes it plain that if our motivation is to save our lives, we will lose them… Peter was thinking about survival and success, for himself and…