Mark 5:1-20  Song: O Sacred Head Now Wounded  Notes:  First Jesus calms an external storm and then he calms an internal storm.  In this man, we see one of Satan’s primary strategies: to kill whatever he can. If he can’t kill you, he will kill your joy, your hope, your peace.  But don’t die before…

In his gospel Mark is showing Jesus’ victory over death and how Jesus dealt with death’s many invasions into human life. Because of Jesus’ resurrection, all the disciples believed that death was defeated, but the central question is why does its shadow still remain?  To help us, Mark gives us 13 “case studies” in how…

Psalms 24:7 Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Song: O Come to the Altar  Notes:  This verse is both a declaration and an invitation.  It is a declaration that the Lord of Hosts is the victorious King of Glory.  And…

To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. The trouble with times of trouble is that our hearts don’t believe what our heads know. So how do we make them believe? By seeking and seeing true beauty.

Song: Leaning on the Everlasting Arms Notes: Here we see David’s strategy for making war on worry. If you have this you can stand up to anything.  His fears are both hypothetical and actual.  Fear flourishes in the soil of what if… 3 primal things all humans need: Safety  Belonging  Love  Our only hope is…

The name of the Lord is our refuge. Here we run from bears and meditate on the four names of Jesus from Isaiah 9:6-7: Wonderful Counselor Mighty God Everlasting Father Prince of Peace His name is our refuge. His name is our rock. Run there and find rest for your soul.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation.” Ps 27:1 Jesus died in the darkness, so we can live in the light. The Bible begins with God bringing light into the darkness, and it ends with all darkness ultimately being defeated. But in the middle, there is a battle. One of the key plot tensions of…