More Than Bread

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Do kids matter to you? That's a good question to set the scene for our dive into this part of Mark 9. There are a number of different places we could dive into deeper, but for this podcast, it's all about the kids. When we welcome a child into our life, we welcome Jesus and when we welcome Jesus, we welcome God. If kids don't matter to us, how will we ever carve out space in the presence of God?

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Are you seeking a mountain-top experience? That almost seems like a rhetorical question. Of course, don't all of us want a mountain-top experience. As we listen to the story, that is often called, "The Transfiguration" we will understand a bit more the potential components of a mountain-top experience. More importantly, I will suggest that Jesus is inviting you to join him in a mountain-top experience, because even though we make a difference in the valley, we need our time on the mountain-top to gain strength and hope for the valley!

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What is your identity? That's a vitally important question that today has surprisingly uncertain answers. We will read the whole chapter of Mark 8 but focus in on the last few verses where Jesus calls his followers to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow him. I will suggest that Jesus is dealing here with the important question of our identity. Finding our identity in him as a part of the family of God...now that will change our lives!

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What is true worship? That's the question before us as we look at Mark 7:24-37. Actually, worship is occurring all around us. Every time we worship, we are stumbling into moments of worship that are already happening. And that worship doesn't just happen in a church on a Sunday morning as we sing a song. It's initiated by God at the intersections of real life, hard life, sometimes real hard life. In this passage we will find that sometimes our deepest worship happens in our most desperate moments.

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What's the point? That's the question we are pondering as we listen to Mark 7:1-23. What's the point of the Bible? What's the point of church? What's the point of Christianity? What's the point? Mark 7:1-23 is a moment in a day when it becomes obvious that the religious leaders of Jesus day were missing the point. If the point is all about religion and your religion isn't helping you love better...you might be missing the point. 

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Will I run to the storm? That's an odd question, isn't it? That's the question that won't let me go from this story in Mark 6. It's a storm story. If there is anything I know, when I enter a storm, it's my desire and hope to get out as quickly as possible. But what if Jesus is in the midst of the storm. What if hearing his voice in the storm is more important than getting to the other side? If Jesus is in the storm, run to the storm!

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Do we have enough to share? That's the question Jesus is asking us in Mark 6:30-44. Will I have a scarcity mentality that tries to hold on to all I have with all my strength, or will I give all I have so that I can see Jesus do more than I can imagine. This story is one of great miracles of scripture. The only miracle shared in all four gospels. And there is an important lesson for all of us. What you and Jesus can do together is beyond imagination!

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Jesus are you the one? That's the question that John the Baptist asked before he died. It's the question that each one of us should bring to the gospels. Jesus are you the one you say you are? Jesus are you the one who is King of the World? Jesus are you the one who loves me, the one I can trust? Jesus are you the one sent from God to save us? If the answer to the question is yes...that should radically change our lives.

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Does Jesus amaze you? That's the convicting question at the heart of this scripture passage. Jesus shows up to his hometown and they were not impressed. They had grown up with Jesus. They didn't worship Jesus. He was just Jesus. Has Jesus become ho-hum to you? If so, how do we regain our wonder? We creep with awe to edge. We take a risk. We go on mission!

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What do you fear and who do you trust? Those are the questions we are pondering as we listen to the end of the fifth chapter of Mark's gospel. In the last two chapters we have listened to multiples stories all connected by the theme of fear.  So let the scripture and the devotional thoughts cause you to ponder fear and what will ultimately drive fear out of our lives.