The Corinthians might have had the best intentions to be generous, but they needed accountability. They needed Titus to help them reach their goal. Generosity needs accountability. This has application for our real lives.

Paul doesn’t demand Christians to give back to God a specific amount or percentage of income. He goes beyond all that and calls Christians to give from the overflow of their position in the kingdom of God. For one church that was “beyond their ability.”

When people change their life and turn to God, their relationship to the material world, especially money, also changes. God’s amazing grace doesn’t just get you to heaven; it gets you to generosity.

This week we’re looking at Mark chapter 7:24-30 where Jesus healed a woman’s daughter from an impure spirit.

This story has an unexpected twist, because the woman who asked Jesus for help was not a Jew. She lived in Tyre, far outside of Galilee. Very few people would’ve expected to find in that area a non-Jewish woman full of faith. This story reveals a theme that has been developing in the Gospel of Mark: Unexpected people understood Jesus the most.

Early in the gospel, for example, we’re told about an outcast, a man with leprosy, who said to Jesus, “you can make me clean.” An outcast isn’t the kind of person we expect to be full of faith.

Ironically, it was Jesus’ family, hometown, and disciples, as well as the elite religious leaders, who most often misunderstood or mistrusted Jesus.

This has application for us: God still shows up in unexpected places and people. God shows up in day-to-day interruptions, conversations with annoying people, and a cancer diagnosis. He can show up and teach us something when we get cut off in the grocery line or frustrated with our boss at work.

But we’re never in danger more of misunderstanding and mistrusting God than when we think we have him all figured out.

Let’s take this next step to help us change: Look for God in the unexpected.

Be ready to find him when you get frustrated, get interrupted, stand in a long line, or have your coffee order messed up. We don’t expect God in those moments, but he is there; you just have to look for him.

We explore Jesus’ teaching about the walls we put up that block the flow of our love to God and others. It’s the story of God’s commands vs. human rules.

This week we look at an unexpected detail in the story of Jesus walking on water.

We journey into the story of the feeding of the five thousand. Our next step is to surprise someone with generosity and watch God multiply it.

On this special Homecoming Sunday, we draw lessons from 1 Thessalonians 1. We celebrate the good fruit God has already produced in us and set our eyes on the future where he will produce even more.

The unjust death of John the Baptist foreshadows the crucifixion of Jesus and tips us off that the way to true life is not through a castle but a cross. This has deep application for our lives. Join us as we continue our series through The Gospel of Mark.

When Jesus sent out his disciples two by two he was building their faith through on-the-job training. What does this teach us about how we go and share the gospel? A lot! Join us as we continue our series through The Gospel of Mark.