Jesus cranks things up a notch by talking about end times and the importance of being watchful in this passage from Mark 13.14-37. [For the next vlog in the Mark series on Jesus and perfume and creating space for the interruption, click here]
Finishing off my video blogs of the Gospel of Mark as i work through the last four chapters with thoughts and insights from each passage as I go: All men will hate me? Mark 13.1-13 Be ready, be very ready Mark 13.14-37 Jesus, perfume and space for the interruption Mark 14.1-11 Having your enemies round for some pizza Mark 14.12-26 why DID Jesus keep them around? Mark 14.27-42 Jesus heads to the garden and gets arrested [...]
How do you put a positive spin on the words, "All men will hate you because of Me"? Especially when they come from the mouth of Jesus [which makes them a little bit harder to ignore or explain away]. Perhaps that is why Mark 13.1-13 is not a particularly popular passage for those who don't specifically preach continuously through the Bible? The rest of it is End of the World stuff which generally is good [...]
DAY 7 In Matthew 6, the disciples of Jesus ask Him to teach them to pray and He responds with what has become known as the Lord's Prayer. Task: Spend some minutes today focusing on this one line from the Lord's prayer Give us this day our daily bread, Think of the relationship implicit to this request: Trust Expectation Need Faithfulness Provision Father Abundance Hope Thankfulness Enough Take some moments to think about your life. [...]
Welcome to the Lent experience… it's not too late to join in... Each day for 40 days i will be posting a suggestion to give you an action or focus point or challenge for the day as we head towards Easter time and want to spend the time meaningfully by focusing more on who God is and what He did, learning to love people more deeply and slowing down from the busyness and caught-up-ness of [...]
Welcome to the Lent experience... Each day for 40 days i will be posting a suggestion to give you an action or focus point or challenge for the day as we head towards Easter time and want to spend the time meaningfully by focusing more on who God is and what He did, learning to love people more deeply and slowing down from the busyness and caught-up-ness of our day to day. If you are [...]
Verse 31 of Isaiah 40 is a well-known muchly quoted one: Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint. Which is great and has become a huge source of strength and encouragement... BUT if you skip the lead up into that verse you miss out on so much more: Isaiah 40.27-31 [...]
this is a super great psalm and just one of those where virtually every verse can be looked at and appreciated and spoken into - for that reason i want to encourage you to go and read the whole psalm and then come back here and share what stood out for you. i am just going to be looking at two specific sections that stood out for me: 8 Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound [...]
had lunch with a friend of mine who doesn't 'go to church' any more... i know, i know, i should have been spending the whole meal challenging him about how important it is and how pathetically self-focused he is being and something something about the body of Christ and all that... but i was too busy finding the encounter so refreshing. you see, Bill [let's call him that - i know how friendly you okes [...]
as i read the first four lines of this psalm it felt like i was part of a liturgical choir speaking them out: 1 Praise awaits You, our God, in Zion; to You our vows will be fulfilled. 2 You who answer prayer, to You all people will come. the psalm is subtitled as being a song of David and so maybe that is why it conveys that fullness of message and delivery. i can imagine a congregation [...]