ReCreate Church’s Podcast

Faith Makes All Things Possible

Today, Pastor Michael is talking about a man that had faith but not enough faith for what he was facing.

He wanted to believe that the Lord would help him in his struggles; it’s not about the Lord’s might but about faith’s height!

This story takes place right after the Transfiguration, where Jesus was revealed as He truly is.  So Jesus and the three disciples come down the mountain and find the other nine disciples, them arguing with religious folks, the Scribes.

This was 1,000 years before the printing press, so the Scribes were who made copies of the Old Testament.  And they took their work very seriously!  Perfectionists, indeed!

They knew the letter of God’s law but not so much the spirit of it.  So, the crowd sees Jesus coming and wanted to ask Him what was happening.  Jesus makes His way to the Scribes and wanted to ask what they were doing.

A person in the crowd offered up that he was there with his son, who was having terrible seizures and wanted Jesus’ disciples to drive the spirit out of his child, which was causing that.  

This man brought his son, hoping to find Jesus but found the other disciples.  He asked them to do the miracle, and they could not.

Jesus is deeply bothered by this.  He is frustrated because His disciples do not have faith, and faith is the thing they needed.  

This dad asked, “If you can do anything, please help us.”  

Jesus responds, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

The real question isn’t if Jesus can help…it’s if we can believe.

The father had both faith and doubt, which is a common occurrence.  This man had faith because he asked for healing for his son.  The disciples had faith because they tried.  

(CSB Study Bible Notes) At issue was not Jesus’s ability but the father’s faith—everything is possible for the one who believes (cp. 5:36; 10:27).

Verses can be found in Mark 9: 17-29.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

A Glimpse of His Glory

Today, Pastor Michael is talking about the real heart of ReCreate Church.  We have something here that is unique, and we’ve only seen a little flash of what we can truly do!

Today’s sermon is about the Transfiguration and what happens when we see His glory.  

Our takeaway is, “If you glimpse His glory, you’ll tell His story!”.

Jesus let Peter, James, and John to a mountain where he was “transfigured,” which is, in essence, showing them how He’ll appear in Heaven.  Our lives are like that; we are in a world of darkness, and Jesus is the center of our being.  We want people to know Jesus.

Elijah and Moses, two of the greatest prophets in history, appeared with Jesus during the Transfiguration.  Moses died, but Elijah went to heaven in a whirlwind.  And now, Jesus is talking with Moses and Elijah.  Mark doesn’t tell us in his version, but Luke did explain more in his gospel about Jesus explaining his upcoming death and resurrection. But the disciples really didn’t understand what they were hearing!  This was likely due to being overwhelmed and a bit of fear, to put it mildly!

A cloud came and overshadowed them and told them this was His beloved Son, which pretty much eliminated all doubts about what was going on.  “Hear Him!” was God’s command and set them straight that Jesus was whom they needed to listen to! Mose and Elijah were cool guys, but they weren’t Jesus!  

The Transfiguration is a scene of Jesus as a representation of His coming kingdom in its fullness and glory.  Those who saw the transfiguration bore witness to it to the other disciples and to countless millions down through the centuries, and it was recorded as such in the Gospels.

Mark 9:2-4 (CSB Study Bible Notes) 9:2 Six days appears to refer to the time between Peter’s confession and Jesus’s transfiguration. It may also tie Jesus’s experience to Moses’s (Ex 24:15-17). On Peter, James, and John as Jesus’s inner circle, see note at 1:16-20. The high mountain is often identified as Mount Tabor, but Mount Hermon or Mount Meron may be better candidates. As he was transfigured, Jesus’s nature was not changed but unveiled. 9:3 Dazzling connotes extreme whiteness that is beyond natural explanation (Mt 17:2 describes them as “white as the light”). Matthew (17:2; cp. Lk 9:29) adds that Jesus’s face glowed like the sun (cp. Ex 34:35). 9:4 Mark probably intended to indicate Moses as the greater OT figure by saying Elijah appeared with Moses.

Verses can be found in Mark 9: 1-13.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

How to Win at Life

Today, Pastor Michael is talking about life. How we are created for a purpose.  If we are not pursuing that purpose, everything else will never satisfy us.

The win is in surrender.  Surrending to God. 

What is that area of your life that you don’t want God to take control of?  What do you not want to let go of?  

In our attempt to save our lives, we lose our lives.  If we don’t embrace God’s purpose, we lose on earth and in eternity. 

We honestly have it backward. We feel that accumulating things, making money, and living large make us special.  It’s living for OURSELVES.  

Living for yourself, is empty,  in the end.  It’s time to let it go.

(CSB Disciple's Study Bible Notes) The keynote of the Christian life is surrender. To deny oneself is not a call to a colorless life. Rather it is a call to deny the baser nature and pursue the higher levels of ethical standards to which Jesus points. This paradox of finding life by losing it is open to the test of experience. Mature Christians attest to its validity.

Verses can be found in Mark 8: 35-38.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

Sending Celebration

Today, Pastor Michael is taking a Father’s Day sidestep from our study in Mark to talk about Billy Honeycutt’s forthcoming mission trip to Peru.  

Billy starts off by telling of his daughter calling and wanting him to join them on a mission trip.  Throughout the years, everyone in his family has gone off on mission trips, and he was the one left at home to work.  So he relates that he really, really wanted to go.

Now that he is retired, he’s not so sure about running off to Peru, a city he cannot pronounce (Trujillo)!  It’s in Peru, and that, by golly, is what he knows!  

So this journey is something that took a bit to decide to go! 

And what follows is Billy’s explanation of what it takes to travel to a foreign country and become a missionary.  And folks, it’s not easy!

Being called by God but being sent by Recreate Church!  

90% of knowing God’s will is just being willing to do it.

We are: right in the middle of who we are; we find this statement: we are a team of ministers and missionaries. 

So what does it mean to be a missionary?  We go to the bible for the greatest missionary statement of all, the Great Commission.  

Four big actions here: Go, Make Disciples, Baptize, and Teach.  This is how we do missions anywhere! 

You are a missionary! 

Billy, good luck, and God Bless!

Verses can be found in Matthew 28: 19-20, Acts 1: 8, and 13: 2-3. 

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

I Can't Make It About Me

Today, Pastor Michael is looking at Jesus returning to Galilee with his disciples.  He calls the folks at a distance to come and listen to Him.  

Jesus states, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it. For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life? What can anyone give in exchange for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

This is about true freedom and connecting with something bigger than you. If you want to be free, you can’t make it about you. 

Verses can be found in Mark 8: 34-38.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

Paper Doll Jesus

Today, Pastor Michael is saying that some folks have a “Paper Doll” mentality toward Jesus.  The Jesus that is in line with the beliefs that you have; the Jesus that is two-dimensional.  His own disciples had a very flat, two-dimensional view of Jesus.  Their understanding of Him didn’t match the truth of His person or purpose.  We see this disconnection in Mark of what his followers thought of him.

The story takes place in Caesarea Philippi.  During this trip, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say I am?”  And his disciples answered everything from John the Baptist to Elijah.  Then He asked them directly, “But, you, who do you say I am?”  Peter answered, “The Messiah,” and Jesus told them to tell no one.  Jesus knew the more they told people, the more His enemies would chase him down and try to kill him.  He knew it was not time for His ministry to end yet. 

Jesus was and is not just a great prophet, a miracle worker, or a teacher: He is the Son of God.  But people of His day and His own followers had a “Paper Doll” image of Jesus, a certain image that is not in line with what Jesus was and is. 

(CSB Study Bible Notes) Peter responded you are the Messiah. This is the first time in Mark’s Gospel that a person made this identification. To this point, only God (1:11) and demons (1:24,34; 3:11; 5:7) had testified to Jesus’s true identity. The word “Messiah” (Christ) means “anointed one” and refers to God’s appointed deliverer and King.

Verses can be found in Mark 8: 27-33.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

The Man Who Saw Trees Walking.

Today, Pastor Michael is going to tell a story about a man who saw trees walking.  A blind man could see, and others who could normally see were blind.

Bethsaida (“house of the fishermen”)is where Jesus is today; his ministry headquarters was just down the road in Capernaum. 

Jesus was in Bethsaida, and a group of people are coming up to him with a man whose eyes are bandaged, and they wanted Jesus to see this man and heal him.  Jesus took the man’s hand and leads him through the streets. 

They get to the edge of town, and Jesus keeps going out into the fields with the man.  Jesus then took off the man’s bandages, spit on his fingers, and touched the man’s eyes.

Jesus asked him, what did he see?  He told Jesus that he saw he saw men like trees, walking.  Then He put his hands on the man’s eyes again and made him look up, and he was restored and saw everyone clearly.  Jesus told him not to go into town.

This is an interesting story because the healing was incremental or partial.  First, the man saw ‘trees’ walking.  But after he was touched a second time, his sight was fully restored.

Healing isn’t the same all the time.  There is a lot of variety in the way folks are healed.  So, why is this a two-stage miracle?  Because some of the greatest miracles occur in two stages!

Every single person begins in a state of spiritual blindness.  Jesus will have to open our eyes enough to ‘see’ we need salvation.  The Holy Spirit will open our eyes enough for us to recognize that we need Jesus.

We then have that partial opening of our eyes and can see enough that we need Jesus.  Then He touches us, and we fully see that we can cry out to the Lord and be saved!

(Disciple's Study Bible Notes) 8:22-26 MIRACLE, Christ—Miraculous events may become symbolic parables. Jesus healed the blind man in a unique two-step process. As in 7:32-37 Jesus used the power of touch in healing. Unique here is the apparent partial cure after the first “treatment.” The larger context depicts the blindness of the disciples.

Verses can be found in Mark 8: 22-30.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

When Life Doesn’t Add Up.

Today, Pastor Michael is talking about the two miracles of fish and bread.  There is the feeding of the 5,000, known as the “Miracle of Five Loaves and Two Fish,” which occurred near Bethsaida, near the Sea of Galilee.  This was in Mark, Chapter 6.

The second is the feeding of 4,000, known as the “Miracle of Seven Loaves and a Few Fish,” which occurred near the region of Gerasenes, near Decapolis.

That second one is a miracle that essentially falls through the cracks (or could be said to be in the shadow of) due to the more known first miracle.

There are good reasons to believe these are two separate miracles.  Different amounts of loaves and fish, between the miracles. Different amounts of leftovers; the 5,000 had 12 leftovers (one for each of the Disciples), and the 4,000 had seven leftover baskets; Mark and Matthew both include these events.

The disciples had one loaf of bread in the boat they were traveling in and worried it wouldn’t feed everyone.  

The disciples here really had a tough time feeling that Jesus could feed everyone; they have seen him feed 5,000 and then 4,000 and then they stress over a single loaf for 13 people!  Arguing amongst themselves and didn’t look up. 

The core thought in today’s lesson: When life doesn’t add up, look up!  Look to Jesus for the answer.

Mark 8:21-22 (CSB Study Bible Notes) 8:21 This repeats the question of v. 17. The disciples still did not get it. This is Jesus’s most severe rebuke of the disciples in the Gospel of Mark, but there was a bright spot. They didn’t understand yet what Jesus was about.

8:22-10:52 In this section, Jesus completed his ministry in Galilee and began his journey to Jerusalem. It was time to leave the crowds, limit his miracles, and teach the disciples about his impending death.

Verses can be found in Mark 8: 1-21.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

Gentle Is Strong.

Today, Pastor Michael is talking about gentleness.  Gentleness is not weakness, and Michael is in the book of 1 Thessalonians, a book that started as an actual letter from Paul to the believers in Thessalonica on how to do things. 

Paul here is comparing himself to a nursing mother, feeding them, not with milk but with the Gospel of God.  They were giving of themselves, in their life force, to make them stronger in faith.  

If you want to see gentleness as evidence, consider being gentle to someone that is not being gentle back.  That’s one of the fruits of the spirit.  If gentleness isn’t present in your life, you’d better make sure Jesus is in your life.  

Jesus people should be gentle people.

The core idea of today’s message: gentleness is not weakness.  Gentleness is using our strength to make others strong.  

1 Thessalonians 2:7-8 (CSB Study Bible Notes) 2:4-7 Paul tried to please God in all he did and said because he was appointed by God to this task. God also continually examined Paul’s heart, so he did not want to deceive his audience or try to win their approval at the expense of God’s approval. Such should be the attitude of all Christians.

2:8 Paul’s method of ministry was not only the impartation of the gospel but the sharing of his own life as well.

Verses can be found in 1 Thessalonians 2: 7-8. 

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

Are You Open?

Today, Pastor Michael is giving us a story that is unique to Mark; it doesn’t appear in any of the other gospels.  The question we’re centering on in this study is, “Are You Open?”.  

As in, open to the will of God.

Jesus has just left Tyre, to the north of Israel, and He decides to go around the east side of the Sea of Galilee.  Folks brought a deaf man to Jesus, and He told him, “Be Opened,” and the man could hear again.

Jesus told the people not to tell anyone, but the more He ordered them, the more they proclaimed it.

The great thing here, however, is that the man could now hear and hear the most important thing he could ever hear: Jesus!

The question is not is the Lord speaking?  The question is, are you open to what He has to say?

Are you open?

(CSB Study Bible Notes) While Jesus’s other healing miracles brought astonishment and amazement (1:22,27; 2:12; 5:20,42; 6:2,6,51), this is the only time that extremely or “beyond all measure” appears. He has done everything well, echoes the Septuagint wording of Gn 1:31. Once again, Jesus had done what only God could do (Ex 4:11).

Verses can be found in Mark 7: 31-37.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.