Untitled

[revdw1]

Encourage faith

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

When Paul made his way to Thessalonica, he brought with him the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Most had not heard the gospel; it was the first time such a man as Paul came with this amazing message. As he taught, some might have thought him crazy to believe so earnestly a story of saving grace which comes through a man once crucified, dead, but alive again.…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

He is risen

Mark 16:1-8

Many of the earliest manuscripts of Mark’s gospel end at verse eight. It is an abrupt ending, one that leaves people hanging as they read it. It seems incomplete, unfinished. It seems in our reading of Mark, moving from Good Friday to Easter Sunday is like trying to move from one universe into another new, unimagined one. There are no compass bearings. There is no road map telling us…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

The Son of God

The Son of God

Mark 15:21-39

Jesus let out a loud cry. After speaking words of forsakenness from Psalm 22, Jesus cried out and took in his last breath. With the exhale came his cry, a cry of relief, an exclamation of deliverance. Finally, after hours of endless pain and gasping torment, it is over at last. The suffering is ended. The ordeal is finished and nothing remains but the absence of all sensation. Yet,…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

Innocence found guilty

Mark 15:1-20

Several times in the last month or so, there have been stories in the news detailing how some wrongly accused men had been imprisoned for years. Each of these men were finally found to be innocent of the crimes and set free. Our judicial system is far from flawless, sometimes the innocent are charged and sentenced. Other times, the guilty go free.

The chief priests charged Jesus of…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

Betrayed - arrested - abandoned - denied

Betrayed – arrested – abandoned – denied

Mark 14:26 – 72

Betrayed It isn’t enough to say Jesus was betrayed; such language does not convey the gravity of Judas Iscariot’s actions. From the beginning, Jesus knew Judas was the one who would give him up. Still, Jesus taught him the ways of God; he modeled for him the way of humility. Judas heard Jesus’ call to love God and neighbor; he watched as Jesus had compassion on the sick, poor and…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

This is my body

This is my body

Mark 14:17-25

Gathered around the Passover table, Jesus reclined with his disciples for one final meal, one last teaching moment, one last time to show them the depths to which God was willing to go in order to save his people. It was the Passover, the commemoration of the day when God delivered his children Israel with an out stretched arm and mighty act of judgment. Ex 6:6 There is no way the…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

Make preparations

Mark 14:1-16

The two disciples Jesus selected to make preparations for the Passover had no idea that it would be the last meal they would share before Jesus would be handed over and killed. Along the way, Jesus told the twelve three times what would happen in Jerusalem. Yet, now that the plan was in motion, these two disciples were absolutely unprepared for the events of the next few days.

In the…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

No one knows

Mark 13:1-37

Certainly with all the conflict, violence and natural disasters, the end must be near. How could things get much worse? Evil is personified in so many ways; terrorist, tyrants, and gangs all threaten the safety and security of the human family. Just when we think the news could not get any worse, the headlines bring yet another round of stories concerning atrocities and hate. On the…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

Church and money

Mark 12:1-17

The Pharisees and Herodians were out to set a snare for Jesus; they wanted a way to charge and arrest him. In previous attempts, their plots could not stand in the light of God’s truth. With this latest trap, they tried to confront Jesus with another question with two seemingly wrong answers; “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?” If Jesus answered yes, they would have him on charges…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

Questions of authority

Mark 11:27-33

The day after Jesus drove the merchants and traders out of the temple, the chief priests, scribes and elders of the temple put Jesus on the spot, questioning his authority to do such things. They expected a direct answer. Instead, Jesus answered with a question of his own. Jesus’ hour had not yet come; if he said he did these things by his own authority, he would be arrested for…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

To be a house of prayer

To be a house of prayer

Mark 11:15-19

If Jesus were to enter into your church today, what would he find? Would he find a pastor who is diligent in leading the worship? Would Jesus find the pews filled with faithful children of God, gathered for the express purpose of offering their thanks and praise to the Father? If Jesus were to sit in on one of the church council meetings, would he read the reports and approve of the…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

Blessed is he

Mark 11:1-11

Following his baptism and temptation in the wilderness, Jesus set out in his public ministry preaching a message or repentance and the nearness of Gods kingdom. He performed many miracles; healing people of leprosy, feeding great multitudes, and raising a little girl from death.  In the middle of chapter eight, Jesus encountered a blind man who begged for his sight. Spitting on the…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

Restoring sight

Mark 10:46-52

“What do you want me to do for you?” It’s the same question Jesus posed to James and John when they asked him to grant a request. James and John wanted positions of importance; they wanted status above their peers. It does not take much thought to recognize the inward focus of the sons of Zebedee. James and John had been with Jesus for nearly three years. They had been with him as…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

Can you drink this cup?

Can you drink this cup?

Mark 10:32-45

Since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, it has been God’s plan to save his people. The parameters were set as God gave the vocation of tending the garden to the first humans; “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Gen 2:16-17The wages of sin have…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

Inheriting the kingdom

Mark 10:17-31

What must I do to inherit eternal life? This is the question asked of Jesus by a wealthy man as our Lord was on his journey to Jerusalem. It is also a question asked by so many others today. People might rephrase the question; “What must I do to make it into heaven?” but the connotation is still the same. The rich man in question is undoubtedly of higher than average status; he must…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

God's children and divorce

God’s children and divorce

Mark 10:1-16

On the surface, the text before us today has a strong message concerning divorce. Even in the first century, marriages failed due to infidelity or a host of other issues. The sad truth is, even when people love one another enough to marry, they don’t always love one another enough to stay married. In Jesus’ time, divorce was legal, just as it is today. Some would argue it was much…

View On WordPress

[revdw1]

Who is greatest?

Mark 9:30-37

Look out of number one. First come, first served. I need my space. These are just a few attitudes so prevalent today. When it comes to heading out each day, society practically begs us to always consider “Me first.” Inward focus is the order of the day, thus we become stars of our own social media pages, updating our status and sharing an abundance of selfies. Not to be out done,…

View On WordPress