Mark 6:30-56 Are you good at allowing past lessons you learned change your present? Do you remember what God did yesterday and use that to trust him more today? The night after feeding the 5,000, Jesus’ disciples were overwhelmed by the wind on the lake. Amid their exhaustion, Jesus walked out to them on top of the water. We are told that they “were completely amazed, for they had not understood a...  Read More

Mark 6:1-29 There is a lie spread in many churches that if we have enough faith and obey God, it will lead to health, wealth, and prosperity here and now. This sounds wonderful, but it is profoundly unbiblical. John the Baptist was the forerunner for Jesus and preached a message of repentance to the masses. He fulfilled his calling, and the result was his gruesome death. He was first arrested by H...  Read More

Mark 5:21-43 What is the most desperate you have ever been? When was the last time you felt like life was out of control and there was nothing you could do to fix the problem? Mark 5 introduces us to two people who, in their desperation, did the only thing they could think to do: run to Jesus. We see Jairus, a synagogue ruler, and therefore, most likely not surrounded by friends who are encouragin...  Read More

Mark 4:26-5:20 In my whitewater canoeing days, my little canoe would more often than I liked hit a large wave and the cold water would rush into the boat. The air bags would struggle to keep me and the canoe afloat as I attempted to maneuver it to shore. The disciples found themselves in a similar situation in the Sea of Galilee. Mark 4:37 says “the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the b...  Read More

Mark 3:31-4:25 When someone asks you who you are, what do you share? You may talk about your job, your children, the city you are from, but do you ever share you are part of God’s family? When you place your faith in Christ, one of the things that happens is you are brought into a brand-new family. Jesus’ physical family rejected him as Messiah early in his ministry, but Jesus says “whoever does G...  Read More

Mark 3:7-30 Who is Jesus? That is the most important question we need to answer. This is so critical that it has eternal ramifications. Jesus says, “All the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of eternal sin.” Whatever this sin is, forgiveness is impossible. So what is it? When Jesus makes this claim...  Read More

Mark 2:13-3:6 How do the Old and New Testaments fit together? When we read the Old Testament and the Mosaic Covenant, we might wonder how they relate to Jesus. This is a question that many of the religious leaders had as well. Jesus brought a new covenant and a new way of life. In contrast the Pharisees and many in the early church tried to mash together the old way of things with the new. Jesus d...  Read More

Mark 1:29-2:12 What do you consider a productive day? Is it checking several things off your to do list? Is it making a bunch of money? Often our view of productivity looks more American than biblical, and more like the disciples than that of Jesus. Jesus’ public ministry has just begun and the disciples were ecstatic about the size of the crowds and their growing influence, but Jesus was not focu...  Read More

Mark 1:1-28 Where would you begin your life story? You might begin it with your birth, with some distant ancestor, with your first memory, or with a significant early event in your life. As we read through the four Gospels, we will discover they all begin in a different place. Matthew began with Abraham (a distance ancestor of Jesus) while Mark began with John the Baptist, a relative of Jesus. The...  Read More

Matthew 28:1-20 Have you ever experienced a time when sorrow was turned to joy? In the discovery of the resurrection of Jesus, we see the greatest transformation of emotions ever. Despair and uncertainty turned to joy and hope. The three Marys went to the tomb on Sunday to anoint a dead body, but discovered an empty tomb. An angel told them Jesus rose from the dead just as he said he would. Jesus ...  Read More

Matthew 27:32-66 What does power look like? How do we know whether someone is weak or strong? In the death of Jesus, we see that God’s view of power is very different from the world’s view. Those who watched Jesus’ death believed his crucifixion revealed weakness. While Jesus was on the cross, people mocked him for his seeming failure to fulfill his claims. The religious leaders also joined by say...  Read More

A correction and clarification from yesterday’s reading:The rooster crowed twice, not three times (Mark 14:30).  Also, Peter is taken back, but not Judas who is not saved (Matthew 26:24; John 17:12).Matthew 27:15-31 Who put Jesus on the cross? We could point to the religious authorities who had Jesus arrested and dragged him through his sham trials. We could point to the crowd who shouted, “Crucif...  Read More