In Mark 11:27-12:27 we’re going to see Jesus being tested. In fact, this message is called “Testing Jesus” because of what we'll see. We are going to see three different groups of people, all of whom are putting Jesus to the test and seeing if they might be able to trap Him in His words and thus fail the test put to Him.  And, in each case, the response of Jesus is stunning and shows remarkable wisdom…and it’s a wisdom we can learn from. 

We encourage you to listen in as Pastor Jeff continues our FOLLOW sermon series through the Gospel of Mark. If you have been encouraged, challenged, or blessed by this message, we invite you to share it with others whom you think may benefit from it as well.

Today, we’re going to consider some things that are very important that we’d see clearly, but the things we’re going to consider today can be difficult to see…and understand. Those things we’re going to consider are highlighted at the end of Mark 10:32-52. We’ve been making our way through this whole book, one passage at a time, and today we come to one that helps us take a look at Jesus and His purpose and to see clearly what it means to follow Jesus.

Thank you for taking the time to listen today as Pastor Jeff continues our sermon series FOLLOW. We pray this will be a blessing and encouragement to you as you move forward in your journey of faith.

Today, we’re going to meet someone we could say believed his heart was in the right place, but *spoiler alert*, in the end it doesn’t turn out so well.  The place where we find this guy is in Mark 10:13-31. In this passage, we’re going to find that Jesus has a lot to say about the heart.  And thankfully, we see much more than an example of someone who gets it wrong.  In fact, the passage begins and ends with what it looks like to get it right.

We invite you to join us as Pastor Jeff continues our series through the Gospel of Mark, FOLLOW, with today's sermon: A Heart in the Right Place.

Today we continue our sermon series FOLLOW through the Gospel of Mark. Jesus is tested with a dishonest question from the Pharisees that is meant to trap Him and get Him into trouble. Instead, we see the way Jesus responds gives us a glimpse into the heart of God for His people, especially those who are hurting and brokenhearted.

We invite you to listen in to today's sermon, A Glimpse Into the Heart of God, as Pastor Ben preaches from Mark 10:1-12.

What’s on your list of things that would make you great?  It might feel pretty awkward to think about what would make you great, because it seems sort of prideful. But Jesus gave us some advice about how to do it and we’re going to consider what He had to say. Today we’re going to look at The Path to Greatness as we continue our FOLLOW series through the Gospel of Mark. 

In recent weeks, we’ve seen Jesus transfigured before Peter, James and John. We’ve seen the disciples get a reality check on life and faith and power. They had struggled in some of those areas and it sets the stage for Jesus teaching them about the direction He would have them to go. He taught them about The Path to Greatness. 

We invite you to listen in to this sermon through Mark 9:30-50.

The truth is that we live our lives within a context and a culture. Both of them have influences on us, and the more dominant the context and culture, the more we can be influenced…and we live in a very dominant culture. We need to recognize that it has the power to shape how we see ourselves and how we even assess how our lives are going. Sometimes those comparisons are helpful, but what if we’re comparing ourselves against the wrong things and don’t even realize it?

Well, that’s when we need a Reality Check. It’s important that we would take a step back from time to time to take an honest look at where we are. But to do so, we need to have a standard against which we’re considering it. That’s where our passage for today comes in handy: Mark 9:14-29. It’s here that we can have a direct and honest look at where we are and get a reality check.

We invite you to listen in to this sermon from Pastor Jeff as he continues our series through the Gospel of Mark, called FOLLOW.

Mountaintop experiences are usually clarifying. They inspire and move us to commitment and action. That’s where the disciples in Mark 9:2-13 are too. However, spiritual excitement doesn’t necessarily result in clarity. And that’s something we need to open our eyes to. You see, just because we feel something strongly doesn’t mean it’s right or accurate or the direction God would have us to go. There is a discernment that is required of us that goes beyond how we feel.   

In our passage, we can see that the disciples are wrestling with this. And throughout, we see Jesus trying to get them beyond the emotions of the moment to the truth that is absolutely essential if they are going to be genuine followers. We’re going to take a look at what some of those are, and see how they are timely truths for us as well. We invite you to join us and share with others as we continue our sermon series FOLLOW, though the Gospel of Mark.

Jesus said, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:35). That verse comes right in the heart of our passage for today. This passage at the end of Mark 8 is probably one of the least popular of all the things Jesus taught. However, if you want to be an authentic Christ follower, you have to come to grips with these verses. It lays out for us "The Cost of Discipleship." That’s what we’re going to be talking about today.

We invite you to listen in and share with a friend!

Why do we sigh? Sighing is interesting. There has been very little research done on the topic, but the research that has been done has attempted to discover why we sigh, what we’re feeling while we’re sighing, and what happens/how we feel after sighing. Though they found different sorts of sighs during different emotional feelings, Karl Teigen, in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology summed up the report: “In the prototypical case, a sigh expresses a mismatch between ideals and realities."

That is what we see Jesus navigating in our passages today, Mark 8:1-30... A Series of Mismatches. We invite you to listen in as Pastor Ben continues our sermon series, FOLLOW, looking at how Jesus steps into these mismatches and helps us to think differently.

Have you ever been told to just “get over it”? A parent might say it to a whiny child who has just dropped the scoop of ice cream off their cone…get over it…though I might whine about that too. An employer might say it to a complaining employee. And a judge might say it to a greedy plaintiff. Get over it. And today we’re going to see that there are some things going on with some people and Jesus wants them to "Get Over It."

We find these circumstances in Mark 7:1-37. It’s here that Mark records Jesus making it clear that there are certain things He wants people to prioritize over others. He says that one thing is a better path than the other. He is saying do this “over” that.

We invite you to listen in to, and share with others, this sermon today as Pastor Jeff continues our series FOLLOW through the Gospel of Mark!