Category Archives: Pastor’s Desk

Scripture Reference: Mark 1:14-45 Bringing In the Outcast Please read Mark 1:40-45 for the background to this section. I have never personally known anyone with leprosy. However, I have heard and read of many who have devoted the best years … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: Mark 1:14-45 This Is Why He Has Come – Continued Please read Mark 1:29-39 for the background to this section. Continuing on, surprise number two comes in verse 38. Simon Peter and friends go out in the gloom … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: Mark 1:14-45 This Is Why He Has Come – Continued Please read Mark 1:29-39 for the background to this section. Jesus had gone out to some quiet hillside to find solitude with God, that union with His Father … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: Mark 1:14-45 This Is Why He Has Come Please read Mark 1:29-39 for the background to this section. That Sabbath evening, Jesus finds Himself surrounded by intense excitement. The next stage of the story contains two major surprises. … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: Mark 1:14-45 The Call You Can’t Resist – Continued Please read Mark 1:16-28 for the background to this section. If you remember, the beginning of the Gospels tell us that Jesus began His ministry by going out to … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: Mark 1:14-45 The Call You Can’t Resist – Continued Please read Mark 1:16-28 for the background to this section. From Last Lesson: Teaching was the scribes job, and how they taught! Their technique with any question was to … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: Mark 1:14-45 The Call You Can’t Resist – Continued Please read Mark 1:16-28 for the background to this section. These are the very men that Jesus calls. The reference to “fishers of men” is not just a play … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: Mark 1:14-45 Authority is an unfashionable concept today. The whole idea that one person should have power over someone else is deeply unpopular. But, to put it bluntly, that’s what authority is, the right to be in control, … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: John 15:12-25 From Last Lesson: Jesus did have to die for us. He died to reveal the Father’s compassion, not to appease the Father’s love. That may be the first thing we need to make perfectly clear. Christian … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: John 15:12-25 The arms race today, and the once called “cold-war” is like that. It is the cut that exposes the grain. The grain is national chauvinism, the assumption of moral superiority inherent in our kind of people … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: John 15:12-25 The man who is speaking the words in our reference scriptures will be dead and buried approximately twenty-four hours later. He is preparing a small circle of His followers to be ready to live without Him. … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: Acts 4:23-31 5. There Is Grace Abounding in the Lives of God’s People Luke told us that “great grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:33). The word grace here could be exchanged for the word Christlikeness. These people … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: Acts 4:23-31 3. There Is a Desire to Evangelize Acts 4:29 is probably the most challenging verse in this Scripture. “Now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: Acts 4:23-31 1. There Is a Continuous Desire to Pray A praying church recognizes the supreme importance of prayer, and always desires to pray. This is illustrated in the lives of the leaders of the Jerusalem church. Peter … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: Acts 4:23-31 Acts 4 is an account of a church at prayer. What wonderful things happened! An earthquake shook the building. Christians were filled with the Holy Spirit. Boldly they began to witness. There was unity in the … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: John 19:28-30 Concluding Thoughts From Last Lesson: There is no real and sincere wisdom, righteousness or true love among men unless it comes from Him who so loved His creation that He was willing to be forsaken of … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: John 19:28-30 3. Jesus Addressed Those He Had Come to Redeem – Continued From Last Lesson: I would like to continue on addressing some of the saints of the Old Testament with words of comfort that Jesus Christ … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: John 19:28-30 3. Jesus Addressed Those He Had Come to Redeem – Continued Now, I would like to address some of the saints of the Old Testament with words of comfort that Jesus Christ might have given them … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: John 19:28-30 3. Jesus Addressed Those He Had Come to Redeem – Continued From Last Lesson: “Peter, you will be “filled with the Holy Ghost” (see Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31) as I was filled with the Holy Ghost … Continue reading →

Scripture Reference: John 19:28-30 3. Jesus Addressed Those He Had Come to Redeem First imagine what He could have said to His disciples. “You, my friends now at last understand, that I and the Father are One. You, at last, … Continue reading →