SERVICE VIDEO: linkTEXT: Mark 4:1-25

Sermon by: Quay Youngblood (GSPC elder)Manuscript not available

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SERVICE VIDEO: linkTEXT: Mark 2:23-3:12

In the midst of all the kingdom-proclaiming, miracles, and inviting discipleship, our passage today gives us some insight into the real intent of God’s Word or Laws for human life. In two different scenes Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees for breaking the Sabbath, God’s law for resting on the seventh day. But in each case Jesus demonstrates that the purpose of God’s law is to bless human life. This has application for us as we consider the broad purpose of scripture for the Christian. It is not a bunch of rules to restrict us, but to grant us freedom to thrive. Let’s look…

SABBATH FOOD (2:23-28)

23 And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; 26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

It’s easy enough to understand the scene. Jesus and his disciples are walking through some fields of grain on the Sabbath and the disciples pick some grain to eat. The Pharisees accuse them of breaking the Sabbath. And if Jesus is breaking the Sabbath, it undermines any claims to be a Rabbi, much less the Messiah.

There are two things going on here. For one, the disciples aren’t technically breaking the Law of Moses. It prohibits work, but the law specifically names harvesting time (Exodus 34:21). In fact, the scripture provides for just what the disciples are doing. If a traveler was hungry, they might pick some grain by hand to satisfy their hunger so long as they weren’t using a sickle to harvest the crop. Listen to Deuteronomy 23:24-25…

“When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, they you may eat grapes until you are fully satisfied, but you shall not put any in your basket. When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, they you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.”

The purpose of the law was to give God’s people rest, but not at the expense of health or hospitality. If a traveler was hungry or thirsty, it was specified that they could take enough to satisfy their need. Any more would be stealing and/or work. The Pharisees seem to have lost sight of this provision of the Law. Or more likely, they had made the Law more restrictive than it actually was, again losing sight of the purpose of the Law to bless God’s people.

Jesus could have answered with that scripture, but he answered with a different one, leading off with “Have you never read?” That was a bit of a sting to the so-called “experts in the Law.” Interestingly, Jesus cites a historical example of eating on the Sabbath, a time when King David and his men were in need of food. The high priest made an exception to the Law because of the pressing need. This actually lines up more with the previous teaching of Jesus about his disciples not fasting because they were with the bridegroom. He is explaining that they are living in unusual times and the exception was mora analogous to King David doing the Lord’s work. In citing this Jesus did more than prove himself a Rabbi who knew the actual laws; rather he made a claim to be the Messiah by comparing himself and his disciples to King David and his men.

He cements this claim by asserting the authority to say, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (vv.27-28) Guaranteed the Pharisees did not like that answer, and only

SERVICE VIDEO: linkTEXT: Mark 2:14-22

Who has the authority to forgive sin but God alone?

We are in a series looking at what Jesus said and did, as told in the Gospel of Mark. We are looking at those things because Jesus invites us and prayed for us to follow him out into the world just as he went out into the world. We left off last week in Mark 2 with a paralyzed man being lowered through the roof of the home where Jesus was staying. Though Jesus would eventually heal the man, he did so as a sign of his authority to do what he did first: he told the man his sins were forgiven. And that scandalized the religious folks who were present. I suggested that we are probably not scandalized enough. We discount the importance of the “big miracle” of forgiving sin and focus on the lesser things of what God can do for us.

While today’s text seems to move on to other things, I see a point of connection on this theme of forgiveness of sin. Jesus goes from speaking it to living it out. I want to look at that with you and think a little more about how significant it is. We began the service with the first verses of Psalm 103, which declare God’s authority and willingness to forgive sin. This is the same authority and power Jesus claims and demonstrates.

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; 3 Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion.

We left off with Jesus heading back down by the seashore in Capernaum (Mk. 2:13) and our text for today picks up with meeting and inviting another person to follow him as disciples. Jesus passed by the tax booth and saw Levi, a Jewish man working for the Roman government. Levi would have been hated, as all tax collectors were, for selling out to the Roman empire and collecting burdensome taxes from his own people. As Jesus passed by, he said to Levi, “Follow me!” (v.14) And Levi got up and followed him, as had the four fisherman just days before.

A Feast of Forgiveness (vv.15-17)

The scene shifts rather quickly to a dinner party, but the focus hasn’t changed from sin.

15 And it *happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

It’s a dinner party with many tax collectors and others deemed to be ‘sinners’. This would have described any number of non-religious Jews in the eyes of the Scribes and Pharisees. There is no doubt that there is a connection between calling Levi to follow him and this dinner party. The Gospel of Luke adds the detail that “Levi gave a big reception for Jesus in his house, with a great crowd of tax collectors and others.” (Luke 5:29)

Many, not just the scribes and Pharisees, would have considered tax collectors undesirable company. But this went beyond that. This was a group of people identifiable as ‘sinners’ – non-religious folks who did not keep the Jewish religious rules. Why would Jesus have a meal with them? I believe he was demonstrating that the Kingdom of God was for all who would listen, not just the religious crowd and not just the rule-keepers. I also believe he was further demonstrating what he had shown when he healed the paralyzed man. When Jesus healed that man he said it was “so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” (Mk 2:10). Here he is not performing a miracle, but he is just as much demonstratin

SERVICE VIDEO: linkTEXT: Mark 2:1-13

Why did Jesus heal people? What all was going on there? Today we are continuing our series called “Jesus Among Us” and we are looking at what Jesus did while he was living among humanity. We are doing that because he invited people and he invites us to follow him and he prayed for us to live in the world as he lived in the world.

We’ve been through the first chapter of the book of Mark in the Bible. Jesus has announced the presence of the Kingdom of God and is teaching about it, inviting people to be a part of it, and demonstrating what it is like through miraculous signs like healing and casting out demonic spirits. We also saw last week that Jesus takes time out to be alone and to pray and that he is not just motivated by a mission, but also by compassion. And even though he was being careful early on not to attract too much attention, word got out quickly in Capernaum and he went outside town and to neighboring towns for a few days for things to settle down.

Our passage today, in chapter two of Mark, begins by letting us know that after a few days Jesus came back to Capernaum and was at home there. By that it may mean he was staying at Peter’s house where he was just days before. It may well have served as “home base” for him and the other disciples as they came in and out of Capernaum. Remember that Jesus himself was from Nazareth, which was not too far away.

Persistent Faith and Friendship (vv.2-5)

And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. (v.2)

We read in verse 2 that “many were gathered together” there at the home. This had been the case days before when Jesus was there and healed Peter’s mother-in-law. Now days later Jesus has returned from preaching in other towns and the crowds quickly gathered again. Homes in those days might have been able to hold 40-50 people standing and packed in. We read that there wasn’t even room near the door.

And they *came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. (vv.3-4)

Continuing on to verses 3-4, there are four men who are bringing a paralytic, a man who was paralyzed and could not walk (at least). As with many others, they were hoping Jesus could heal their friend. And they could not even get close because of the crowd. So they managed to get up onto the roof… not as tricky as it might sound because often there were stairs up to the roof on the outside of the house. People would put things out on the roof to dry or for storage. So the four men carried the paralyzed man up to the roof and they dug an opening through it so they could lower the man and his pallet down into the house. Again, this isn’t like cutting through a modern roof. There would have been thatch and clay or perhaps clay tiles.

That’s some friendship! Have you ever gone to such lengths for someone? Or had others do it for you? That’s a first challenge to me in this story, and one I often jump right over. But bearing up another person’s pain, need, or situation is one example of what it means to live and serve in the world as a part of God’s Kingdom. We can do that through prayer and we can do it literally in reaching out to help others. We often have opportunities to do this as a church. It’s not just busy work; it’s Kingdom work! And I think Jesus recognized that in what the friends were doing.

And Jesus seeing their faith *said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (v.5)

In previous weeks we’ve seen that Jesus healed as a sign of the Kingdom. We’ve seen that he healed, stirred by compassion. What we read here is that he responded to the faith of the friends. Not even the paralyzed man’s faith, but the faith of the friends: “seeing THEIR faith.” But here’s the surprising

SERVICE VIDEO: linkTEXT: Mark 1:29-45

What did Jesus come for? You’d be right to say that he came to give his life for the sins of the world. But if we miss his focus on proclaiming the Kingdom of God, we’ve missed the main part of his teaching and active ministry. In fact, in today’s verses from Mark chapter 1, Jesus says of preaching to the towns around Galilee, “That is what I came for.” (v.38)

That’s the reason for this series. We don’t want to miss understanding Jesus teaching and earthly ministry, especially because he calls us to join in that same activity. He prayed to God the Father in John 17, “As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” (v.18) To be a Christian we must believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior. But is not enough to believe; Jesus invites us to follow. He is also Lord and King. So we are looking at his ministry in the Gospel of Mark to understand how we are to follow.

Last week we were introduced to the Kingdom as he declared, “The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Good News.” (Mark 1:15) He also demonstrated His authority through his teaching in the synagogue (vv.21-22) and then by casting out an unclean spirit troubling a man (vv.23-26). The spirit acknowledged him as the “Holy One of God” and obeyed his command to leave the man alone. He also called the four fisherman to follow him. Our text today picks up right after that, with Mark’s typical language of “immediately after” that. Today we’ll focus on Jesus words and actions as we look at more signs of the Kingdom, the importance of prayer, and Jesus understanding of his earthly ministry.

Signs of the Kingdom (vv.29-34)

29 And immediately after they came out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they *spoke to Jesus about her. 31 And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she waited on them.32 When evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed. 33 And the whole city had gathered at the door. 34 And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.

Next stop after synagogue in Capernaum was the house of Simon (Peter) and Andrew. James and John, the fisherman brothers who were called to follow the same day, were also there. And here’s a tidbit in v. 30 that many folks don’t realize: Peter was married! His mother-in-law was sick with a fever and they ask Jesus to see her. Not only did Jesus heal her of the fever, but she got up and started waiting on them – as in offering them food and drink. Though this healing was done in private, word apparently got out about the man at the synagogue, because by evening “the whole city had gathered at the door” to bring him those were ill and demon-possessed. (vv.32-33) He healed many and cast out many demons, though interestingly he did not allow the demons to speak because they knew who he was. (v. 34) The demon at the synagogue had identified him, but Jesus seems to have a reason to not over-broadcast his identity just yet. Best we can tell, he knew that his ministry would end in arrest and death and he had work he wanted to accomplish first before getting to that point. As he gets closer and closer to the arrest and crucifixion he will allow more and more for people to share about him and will even begin to identify himself more publicly. For now, though, at the beginning of his earthly ministry, he seemed to want to focus on the Kingdom of God rather than on himself.

We are going to read about a lot of healing and casting out of demons in the coming weeks. What I want to highlight is that these healings demonstrated three things: the nature of the Kingdom of God, the authority and

SERVICE VIDEO (link)TEXT: Mark 1:14-28

Last week we began our Fall series entitled, “Jesus Among Us.” I noted the emphasis Jesus put on discipleship, on FOLLOWING him into the world. That’s what he invited people to do, saying, “Follow me.” And that’s what he prayed for when he was praying for those who believed in him. His desire for us is to be not just believers, but followers.

Over the next several weeks we are going to look at his life and ministry, at what he said and did, because he prayed, “As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” (John 17:18) We want to see how the Father sent Jesus into the world so that we can faithfully follow him!

We are going to be in the first few chapters of the Gospel of Mark. Mark starts right out with this ministry of Jesus in the world. He skips over the birth and nativity stories and starts with the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan with John the Baptist. We looked at that a few weeks ago, so we are going to start right after that in Mark 1:14 with Jesus preaching, calling disciples, and doing miraculous things.

Preaching the Kingdom (vv.14-15)

What was Jesus’ message? Have you ever thought about that or tried to put it into words? We talk a lot about believing in Jesus as the Savior, and he is, but that’s not what he spent most of his time talking about. The thing he talked about most was the Kingdom of God, and specifically the arrival of the Kingdom with him. And in most cases, as in v. 15, the Good News is the news that the Kingdom of God is here! It’s all there in a sentence in verse 15. Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Good News of God, saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel (Good News).”

We won’t unpack all of what the Kingdom is this morning, because it will be the core of Jesus words and actions over the next 8 weeks or so, but I’ll say a few things. That there is a Kingdom of God means that God is on the throne: there is a King! And that has connotations of God waging war against evil, sin, death, and Satan. It has implications for our place in the world, that we can be citizens of that Kingdom. It has values and characteristics that flow from the person and character of God: justice, righteousness, compassion, mercy, peace, and the presence of God with His people.

The arrival of the Kingdom is Good News because it signals that the reign of sin and evil, of Satan, is temporary and ending. It signals the setting right of what was broken in the Fall. It heralds God’s salvation and involvement and making all things new. It is Good News indeed.

And while it’s not unpacked fully here, there is also a now and not yet aspect to the Kingdom. You get a hint of that with the words “the Kingdom is at hand.” It’s near, it’s arriving, but all is not finished or we would already be in the presence of God with no more tears, death, sorrow, or sadness. The arrival of the Kingdom is spread out in time, with the sure sign of God’s victory with the arrival of Christ, but the wait until everything is finally done. I have heard it likened to D-Day and the storming of the beaches of Normandy. That costly landing on the beaches of Normandy marked the beginning of the end of WWII. It was not done, but the end was set in motion, with V-Day to follow later. So it is with the coming of Jesus into the world. His arrival and costly suffering and death marked the beginning of the end of sin, death, evil, and Satan, but we are still living in the in-between time until what God in Christ started comes to completion.

What we see in Jesus’ life and ministry are the clear signs of God’s Kingdom arriving. His words, actions, and demonstrations of the Kingdom announced to the world and to us the Good News that God was setting things right and establishing His Kingdom once and for all.

Call to Follow (vv.16-20)

And so Jesus traveled around with this message, inviting people to be a part of the

SERMON LIVESTREAM VIDEO (link)TEXT: John 17:13-26

“Come and follow me!”

Some heard Jesus say those words and they dropped everything to follow him. Others listened, but would not follow.

Jesus said it to the fisherman, common laborers, after causing a miraculous catch of fish. And they left their nets and followed him.

Jesus said it to Levi/Matthew, the despised government employee, and he not only followed him, but wrote down the things Jesus said and did so that we can read them today in the Gospel of Matthew.

He also said it to the rich young ruler, who asked him how to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to give his earthly treasures to the poor and to follow him, but the man turned away, unwilling to give what Jesus asked.

I describe those scenes to set up our sermon for today as well as the series we will be in this Fall. Like this sermon, the series is entitled, “Jesus Among Us.” And my intent is to help us better understand… AND follow Jesus as he invites us to do.

It is one thing to believe Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world, even your Savior. It is another to follow where he leads, to serve him as Lord. But that’s his intent for us; that’s what it means to be a Christian. We are not just believers; we are to be followers.

Today we will look at Jesus prayer in John 17, in which he prays specifically for us and describes how we are to follow. Then, in the coming weeks, we will go through the first several chapters of the Gospel of Mark to look at what Jesus said and did in the world, because that’s what he prayed for: that we would live in the world as he lived in the world, that we would serve in the world as he served in the world.

The Word of Truth

There are several themes I want to highlight in Jesus’ prayer in John 17, and we are not even looking at the whole prayer. We are picking up in verse 13 just after his prayer starts (in v.6) to focus on his followers. Prior to that he was praying about what was about to happen for him. He is praying this on the night before his crucifixion, just hours before his arrest. He realizes he is going to leave them and begins to pray for them and those who will come after and believe their testimony. That’s you and me. So you can understand this prayer to be said for you as well as those disciples back then.

The first theme is God’s Word of truth. Jesus says that he has given them (and us) God’s word (v.14). In verse 17 Jesus prays that we be sanctified – or set apart – in God’s truth. He then prays, “Your word is truth.”

We’ll get a peek into what Jesus taught them in the coming weeks in the Gospel of Mark. Sometimes Jesus expounds on the Hebrew scriptures, our Old Testament. Often the topic of his teaching is the Kingdom of God, which he will explain with parables and point to with miracles. That teaching is not just about Jesus, but FOR us. It is how he is asking God to set us apart in this world. So we’ll make sure to look for that and ask how it is that this or that teaching marks us distinctly as belonging to God and set apart for God’s work in our world.

Sent Into the World

The world is another theme featured in Jesus’ prayer. I often like to point to verses 15-18 to understand our relationship to the world as followers of Christ. In verse 15 Jesus asks the Father not to take us OUT OF the world. That is, not to hide or huddle away without interaction. We’ll see in Jesus’ example and teaching that neither he nor we are to hideout. That’s like putting a covering over a light – I think I know a song about that!

In verse 16 he declares “they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” There are two meanings to that. One is that our citizenship is in God’s Kingdom, not in this world or a particular nation. We belong first to God. There is also a sense, used often in Paul’s writings in the New Testament, in which ‘world’ refers to the priorities and values of the world around us, often in tension or conflict w

TEXT: 2 Timothy 3:15-16Preacher: Quay Youngblood

Manuscript not available.

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TEXT: Matthew 3:13-17SERVICE VIDEO: youtu.be/kMhqQLYksSQ

It was early fall – in fact, it was the 21st of September, memorable because there’s an Earth, Wind, and Fire song called “September” about that date and it was the theme song that weekend.  That weekend was a college retreat for multiple schools in North and South Carolina, an annual tradition. I was two years out of college, but was back for a special reason. In the fireside room at Windy Gap, I pulled out a ring made from a diamond passed down to me by my grandmother and I asked Heather to marry me.  At that time is was relatively unusual for students to get engaged so early in their senior year, so the place was quite abuzz with it. People wanted to see the ring, congratulate us, and talk about our plans for the future. But everyone who saw or heard about it could pretty well imagine – pretty well ANTICIPATE – what was coming… a wedding, with vows, a white dress, family and friends gathered, and a life together.

Baptism is like that engagement ring because it is a sign and symbol of things yet to come. Just like an engagement ring anticipates the promises of the groom, fulfilled in the wedding and lived out in the marriage together, so baptism ANTICIPATES the promises of God, fulfilled with complete faithfulness in Jesus Christ (the groom) and lived out in our collective marriage to him and future with him.

Today we are nearing the end of our “Building Blocks of Worship” series and will look at baptism and all that it symbolizes and points to. Precisely because it is rooted in who God is and what God has done, we have deep hopes and promises for our present and our future.

The Baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17)

I want to try to take something that can be confusing and make it simple for you. The focal point of that explanation is the baptism of Jesus. I’m not sure why, but I rarely hear it referenced when people talk about baptism. But it is the primary baptism story in Scripture; it is when, by example and explanation, Jesus truly instituted baptism for us.

You heard the story. John the Baptist (Jesus’ cousin), is teaching and practicing a baptism of repentance. We come to realize that he is the last of the prophets preparing the way for God’s Promised One, the Messiah. He has been talking about the Messiah who would come – one greater than himself, saying, “I am not fit to remove His sandals” (v. 11).

He is surprised (and resistant) when he sees Jesus coming to be baptized. John says, in effect, “YOU should baptize ME; why do you come to me for this?” (v. 14, my paraphrase) 

Jesus responds, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” “Fulfilling all righteousness” not only signifies that Jesus is fulfilling prophecy and identifying as the Messiah John has been preaching about, but he also takes upon himself all the symbolism and meaning of water baptism.

Symbol and Sign

In scripture, water is rich in symbolism and meaning. I want to take a moment to briefly survey four ways water serves as symbol and sign. A symbol represents another thing or action. A sign points to something or someone, in this case what God has done.

1. DEATH/JUDGMENT: Throughout scripture water symbolizes God’s judgment (often resulting in death for the unrighteous). Consider the Flood in Genesis 7, the closing of the Red Sea on the Egyptian army in Exodus 14, and the hurling of Jonah into the sea in Jonah 1. In the New Testament Peter makes an explicit connection between the judgment (and deliverance) of Noah at the Flood and the judgment and salvation in Christ symbolized by baptism (1 Peter 3:20-21).

2. WASHING/FORGIVENESS: In scripture water also symbolizes God’s mercy and forgiveness, the washing away of sins. So in the context of Jesus’ baptism in John’s Gospel, John the Baptist names Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) In Acts 2, and again in Acts 22, baptism in th

There was no sermon per se, but we did hear a series of testimonies from the youth and leaders who went on the mission service trip to Panther, WV, with Son Servants. You can listen to the audio of all the testimonies, watch the whole service HERE or see the 5 min. slide show video below.

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