I have always struggled with guilt in my life. Either with my parents as a kid, with friends I have possibly offended, or with my heavenly Father. The guilt would keep me from confronting the root of my sin and seeing the forgiveness I had with my Father through Christ.It became a “back and forth” relationship with Christ. I would avoid him until I finally became desperate enough to crawl back. Th...  Read More

If we wanted a nickname for Mark’s gospel, we might call it “The Hurried Gospel.” One of Mark’s favorite words, which he uses over 30 different times, is the word “immediately.” Throughout story after story, conversation after conversation, teaching after teaching, Jesus and everybody around him is always doing whatever the next thing is “immediately.” Clearly Mark has written his gospel this way,...  Read More

According to early documents, Mark received the source material for his gospel firsthand from Peter. In fact, many scholars believe it is possible to pick up on certain phrases throughout Mark’s work that seem to indicate colloquial, personalized reminiscences. In other words, Mark writes them down specifically in the way he heard Peter reminiscing about them. Three of these occur in the first cha...  Read More

Recently, Pastor Ben preached a sermon about community from the book of Jeremiah. God told Jeremiah to tell the children of Israel, who were physical exiles in Babylon, to put down roots. “Build houses, plant gardens . . .” in other words, live life…you are going to be here for a while. That place was their temporary new normal. This was not what they wanted to hear, but it was where they were.Thi...  Read More

There are a number of fascinating themes that weave subtly through the Gospel of Mark, and one of them is a continued emphasis on keeping things quiet. Particularly in the first half of the Gospel, Jesus is repeatedly trying to keep his identity and his wonder-working on the down-low. Why would he do this? Didn’t he come to proclaim the kingdom of God, to save the world, to get as much as possible...  Read More

A few weeks ago I ran across a helpful article that offered some simple but powerful reminders about prayer that we see in God’s Word:1. God invites us to pray. “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us” (Psalm 62:8).2. God is able and available to hear our prayers. “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, a...  Read More