It’s Advent! We celebrate “The Arrival”. 

Jesus came at that first Christmas – the Nativity. 

And He is coming again – the coming of the Son of Man. 

And He tells us to be ready. 

Mike walks through Matthew 24 with us. 

Cornerstone City Church - Medway Valley Community https://www.cornerstonecity.co.uk/medway-valley 

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Who’s the greatest? How do I get to the top of the pile?

By dying.

Yes, as Adam reminds us, Jesus died for us physically.

But Jesus shows us in Mark 9 30-37 that there is a downward path to greatness.

Death to self. Life in Christ. Be welcoming and loving the least and the lowest.

That’s His way. That’s what He calls us to. 

Cornerstone City Church - Medway Valley Community https://www.cornerstonecity.co.uk/medway-valley 

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Email: [email protected] 

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It was our privilege to have Nat Turner with us from Rochester Community.  He spoke to us from Mark 9 14-29.  

C. H. Spurgeon:  “While men have no faith, ... they are unconscious of their unbelief; but, as soon as they get a little faith, then they begin to be conscious of the greatness of their unbelief.” 

Cornerstone City Church - Medway Valley Community https://www.cornerstonecity.co.uk/medway-valley 

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Email: [email protected] 

Podcasts: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cccmedwayvalley 

This week we are in Mark 9 2-13 with Chris Norwood as our guide. Peter, James and John were going to be pillars of the early church. And Jesus took the three of them up the mountain so that they could see his glory. They needed to know without doubt who He was. They needed to be shown His glory, bringing them closer to the point where they would have no doubt that He was indeed the Messiah promised in Isaiah 53.

Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

Cornerstone City Church - Medway Valley Community https://www.cornerstonecity.co.uk/medway-valley

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Our journey with Jesus as told by Mark continues in Mark

Cornerstone City Church - Medway Valley Community https://www.cornerstonecity.co.uk/medway-valley

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Passions move us to do the unexpected. However, as Adam shows us from Numbers 25, God sees our passions, and the passions of one person can change the fate of many.  

Cornerstone City Church - Medway Valley Community https://www.cornerstonecity.co.uk/medway-valley 

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Email: [email protected] 

Podcasts: https://anchor.fm/cccmedwayvalley

It was wonderful to have the Chineka family with us from Chatham Community. TK walked with us through Jesus’ questions as we read them in Mark 8 27-30 and joined us in the challenge from Jesus: “Who do you say I am?”. And on our answer to that hangs everything!

[Quote by C. S. Lewis: “You must make your choice: either this man was,...”]

Cornerstone City Church - Medway Valley Community https://www.cornerstonecity.co.uk/medway-valley

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Jesus comes to Bethsaida in Mark 8 22-26 and a blind man is brought to Him by his friends. And Jesus heals him … differently. Julian points out how this event parallels and differs from other healings in the gospels. This is not another Bartimaeus. Jesus is not confined to any particular set process.

We then discussed the following questions on our tables:

1. Why do you think Jesus led the blind man out of the village before he healed him? 

2. Jesus spat on the man’s eyes. This is an offensive action in our culture, and do you think that this would have been offensive to the people around and to the man? Why do you think Jesus did it this way? 

3. As in 7:33, do you think that Jesus' spitting and laying hands on the blind man was an 'aid to faith'? Do you think that this lies behind the anointing with oil in James 5:14? 

4. Sight is such a vital faculty – people aren't trees (verse 24)! If you don't see clearly, it makes life difficult. You can't function properly. It is equally true in the spiritual realm. Who alone can give clear sight?

5. Once again, we see how a needy person was brought to Jesus by friends (verse 22). There is no better thing that friends can do. Is there anyone you need to 'bring to Jesus'?

6. On the subject of blindness, can you recall the occasion where you were previously blind to the truth of the gospel but then your eyes were opened? Let’s have a few of us testifying about this experience of having our spiritual eyes opened and how that happened? 

7. Let’s finish off this time by praying for items 4 and 5 above, including asking God to give you clearer spiritual sight and to bring to Him anyone you know who needs to come to Jesus.

Cornerstone City Church - Medway Valley Community https://www.cornerstonecity.co.uk/medway-valley

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The disciples, like you and me, were easily distracted from Jesus’ mission and message.

And Jesus challenges us today, just as He challenged the disciples then.

Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?  Do you still not understand?

Join us as Mike walks through Mark 8 11-21

Cornerstone City Church - Medway Valley Community https://www.cornerstonecity.co.uk/medway-valley

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Jesus is gracious, kind and generous. He loves to abundantly supply our needs. It’s His way that we sit and eat and be satisfied.

But, as Audrey shows us in Mark 8 1-13, He can also be totally intolerant.

He shows unending grace to the lost and to those He loves, but has no tolerance for Satan and his agents. He knows them. He knows their hearts. And He does not waste His time with them, their spiritual adultery, arrogance and pride.

Cornerstone City Church - Medway Valley Community https://www.cornerstonecity.co.uk/medway-valley

linktr.ee/cccmedway

Email: [email protected]