This week, we were honored to welcome our friend Derek Koone to teach from Mark 11, where Jesus curses a fig tree and turns over tables in the temple. These moments might seem confusing at first—but Derek helps us see the deeper truth: Jesus wasn’t just making a statement about trees or temples. He was calling His people to something greater.
God has always desired that His people be a light to the nations, a place where heaven touches earth. But instead of bearing fruit, the people had built walls. Instead of welcoming the outsider, they were shutting them out. And Jesus came to turn that system upside down—not to purify a building, but to purify a people.
This message is a clear and timely reminder: because of Jesus, we can be “grapes in the desert”—a refreshing, welcoming presence in a weary world. Let’s be the kind of people who make it easier for others to experience God’s love, not harder.