Welcome to Tuesday’s podcast. Our Bible reading today is Mark Chapter 9 verses 2-13.

REFLECTION:

In the Gospels there are 3 ways through which Jesus reveals himself to be God:

* Through Signs

* Through Scripture

* Through the things he Said

In today’s Bible passage we see all 3 of these at work. We’ll look at the first two briefly, but then focus on the third: listening to the things that Jesus said.

Firstly, in verses 3 and 4, there is the Transfiguration – where Jesus becomes dazzling white, Elijah and Moses appear and have a conversation with him, and then in verse 7, a cloud hovers and the voice of God speaks from it.

Unless your life has been a lot more exciting than mine, I consider these things to be a miraculous sign.

Jesus’ other miracles demonstrate his power over nature, sickness, evil spirits and death. However, in the Transfiguration, Jesus is miraculously transformed to reveal his true heavenly nature or reality, not just his earthly form. In his other miracles, people were able to see the power of Christ; in the Transfiguration, the disciples see the glory of Christ.

Secondly, Jesus uses Scripture to show people that he is God.

For Peter, James and John, the appearance of Moses and Elijah would have immediately connected their minds to Old Testament law and Old Testament prophecy. The appearance of a cloud was also something that the disciples would associate with the presence of God, through their knowledge of scripture. Mixed in with all this, is Jesus’ use of the phrase ‘Son of Man’ in verse 12.

This description of Jesus also comes from the Old Testament, predominantly the books of Daniel and Ezekiel. In this phrase Jesus is portraying himself as the people of Israel, who will suffer, but then be redeemed as the kingdom of God is established. Through this use of Old Testament scripture, Jesus is affirming his identity as the Messiah.

I have needed to use various commentaries to try and help me understand what is going on at the Transfiguration. In these books, Biblical scholars have used phrases such as: tricky, puzzling, cryptic, overwhelming, teasing, fuzzy, and “cloaked in mystery” to describe what happened at the Transfiguration, and what it means.

Whilst we are not Biblical scholars, trying to understand what it means to see the dazzling, radiant embodiment of Christ, on a mountain with Moses and Elijah; there are many of us I am sure, who would describe our current situation, our family, our world, as being tricky, puzzling, overwhelming, or just difficult to work out.

So, if you are feeling a bit confused….take heart…..you are not alone…..and instead focus on God’s response.

I find his words in verse 7 the most simple, clear, direct and easy to understand aspect of this extraordinary event.

“This is my Son, whom I love, listen to Him!”

The third way in which Jesus revealed himself to be God, was through the things that he said. And here is God the Father reminding us of this:

“This is my Son, whom I love, listen to Him!”

As I read these verses through it was this one that really stood out to me.

For some of us there are so many people trying to speak into our lives – our parents, our bank manager, our friends, our boss – advising us or directing us to make certain decisions, or take a certain path, that it is hard to know who to listen to.

Amidst the many voices, make time and space this week to listen to the One:

“This is my Son, whom I love, listen to Him!”

For others of us, the difficulty in listening to Jesus is not so much that there are many voices, but that we have a hearing problem. Our ears have been blocked or damaged by negative words that have been spoken over us; or because rather than listen to the truth; our ears are full of the lies of the world.

Two examples spring to mind here:

Welcome to the STC Sheffield podcast. My name is Helen and I’m looking forward to spending the next 5 days reflecting on Bible passages from Mark Chapters 8-10 with you.

REFLECTION:

Today we start with Mark 8:22 through to Chapter 9:1. In this passage sits v29 where Jesus asks Peter the following questions:

“But what about you?” Jesus asked, “Who do you say I am?”

It’s a big question. It’s an important question. And depending on the answer, it’s a life changing question.  And it’s this idea of asking questions and knowing the answers that we are going to look at in today’s podcast.

English children are among the most tested in the world, and in December 2018 the former Head of the Civil Service said that in the UK we have an “addiction to exams.”

I was at a training course recently where the presenter used the following quote from a 15 year old girl: “I guess I could call myself smart. I mean I can usually get good grades. Sometimes I worry though, that I’m not equipped to achieve what I want, that I’m just a tape recorder repeating back what I’ve heard. I’m worried that once I’m out of school and people don’t keep handing me information with the questions….I’ll be lost.”

There are many people who believe that the education system in this country no longer allows children and young people to ask questions, find out things for themselves, or develop the skills needed to become independent learners. Instead we have raised a generation who are used to being spoon fed the answers and taught to the test.

Let’s have a look at Peter’s revision period, leading up to his big question in verse 29, to see how it compares.

In many ways it is much easier for us to answer the question “Who do you say I am?” than it was for Peter, because we can read the Gospels and see how the story of Jesus unfolds, and because we live in a time after his death and resurrection.  However, poor Peter did not have this advantage. He can’t even be spoon fed the answers by those around him……in Chapter 4 v41, the disciples in the boat questioned who Jesus was, and in Chapter 6 we see that both the Jews in the synagogue and Herod in his palace, are also asking the same question – “Who is this man?”

Finding the answer to this question is seemingly made even more difficult by the fact that in the space of 8 chapters, Jesus has told people 8 times not to say who he is, or what he has done. There is no way Jesus could be accused of teaching to the test! In fact, if you re-read Chapters 1-8, you will see that the only declarations of Jesus being the Son of God are made by demons……which must have been very confusing for the disciples. And finally, earlier in Chapter 8, Jesus twice asked his disciples “Do you still not understand?” Just a few days before a big exam, no student wants to hear their teacher say those words!

And this is why Chapter 8 v29 is such a key verse – because it shows that Peter does understand, that he does know who stands before him, that he does know who this man Jesus really is.

He’s got the answer. He wasn’t spoon fed it, no-one prepped him. He worked it out by himself.

There are two things about Peter giving this answer that it would be good to reflect on:

Firstly, Peter’s answer was radical, politically incorrect and dangerous. As we have seen, Herod is already asking questions, and has recently beheaded John the Baptist for talking about a potential new kingdom and king.  1st century Palestine is not a safe place to be making statements about the Messiah – the anointed deliverer and Saviour. And so Peter puts himself on the line, at risk, for speaking out this truth. Are we prepared to do the same?

On the one hand we teach to the test, but on the other our post modern society and culture tells us that there is no truth, no correct answer, everyone can just believe or act according to what they think is right...

This podcast contains a recording of the talk from yesterday evening’s Holy Week Meditation.

Speaker: Mick Woodhead

Topic: The Power to Change

Bible base:

Ephesians 3:14-21 NIV

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

This podcast contains a recording of the talk from yesterday evening’s Holy Week Meditation.

Speaker: Helen Ward

Topic: The Power of Love

Bible base:

Ephesians 3:14-21 NIV

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

This podcast contains a recording of the talk from yesterday evening’s Holy Week Meditation.

Speaker: Tom Finnemore

Topic: The Power of the Spirit

Bible base:

Ephesians 3:14-21 NIV

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

This podcast contains a recording of the talk from yesterday evening’s Holy Week Meditation.

Speaker: Alan Ward

Topic: The Power of Prayer

Bible base:

Ephesians 3:14-21 NIV

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Hi everyone, it’s Mick here; you may well know that with my wife Tricia, we lead STC Sheffield. It’s Holy Week! This is a special week in the life of every follower of Jesus worldwide and it is a very significant week in our church here at STC. We love Holy Week! it’s full of Godly ‘invitation and challenge’ – an opportunity for space in our busy lives to check out my daily walk with Jesus. Check out our website for details.

A special part of our week are our evening meditations. Each evening Monday to Thursday our church family and others gather for 45 minutes of worship, prayer, silence and visual presentations. During these meditations there will be a short talk each evening given by a different speaker on the theme of ‘The Power of Love’ with reflections on eight powerful verses from Ephesians 3: 14-21, Paul’s great prayer for the church. Four opportunities for Jesus to speak to us about his ‘power’ at work in our lives as we follow him every day. You can then hear each talk on this Podcast the following day. I hope you can find a little space this week to join us as we reflect on these great truths. I am aware that finding space is not easy in our often busy and hectic lives, and especially if you have children around – it’s not easy but it’s not impossible!

REFLECTION:

The scene is set today by considering Paul’s great prayer for the church in Ephesus; these words are so relevant for us today as the STC church family. These words were written to followers of Jesus two thousand years ago encouraging them to re-examine their lives, to re-examine their lives as a church community – to see if love is at the centre of who they are and the power behind all they do.

This Prayer is so beautiful … in fact, after reading it and studying so many times over the years I still find these words breathtaking! Ephesians was written about 30 years after the Resurrection of Jesus – it was written by St Paul, probably while he was a prisoner in Rome. Again, it was probably a circular letter; not just for disciples in Ephesus – the mega city of its day! – but for smaller churches in Asia Minor, now modern day Turkey.

This letter is often referred to as ‘the best book about church’. It’s a ‘constitutional document’ which shapes and guides our thinking and our actions. There is so much theological and practical stuff in this book and right at its heart is the amazing prayer – and right at the heart of this prayer is the power of God’s love! These verses will be read each evening at our meditations; let me read them to you now

Ephesians 3:14-21 NIV

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Every time I read these verses I am challenged – this love is shown in the life of Jesus; this ‘power’ is made available to us every day by the Holy Spirit; this is the God life I am called to live. Every day I fall short as I face life’s ‘battles’ – but every day Jesus sees me through as he pours upon me and those I love and serve his amazing ‘blessings’!

I’ve said this before but it’s worth saying again – the older I get and the longer I have been following Jesus,

Well here we are, we’re at the end of another week. It’s Palm Sunday in just a few days’ time and then we head into Holy Week. This is a really powerful time for us as a Church community. We’ll gather together to reflect on the Holy Week narrative and the passion of Christ. We’ll sing together, cry together, pause together and then finally rejoice and celebrate together as we gather on Easter Sunday. Today we’re going to talk a little about community actually. This is a reflection on the combination of passages we’ve had this week, but we’ll use verses from today’s passage, Mark 8:1-21 to help us.

REFLECTION:

In this passage we close the week with a similar story to that which opened the week. Jesus has arrived somewhere, a crowd has gathered to hear Him speak and after that rather than sending them away hungry He performs an incredible miracle and feeds them all. After the 4000 people have been fed, we read these words in verses 9-13:

About four thousand were present. After he had sent them away, he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.

Over this week we’ve seen Jesus in a rhythm of arriving somewhere, teaching for a short while, often performing miracles and then moving on. He doesn’t seem to stay anywhere for too long. There is a lot of ground to cover and not a long time to do it in. We see Him here questioned by some Pharisees. Now I’m sure there are a few motivations going on here. But in amongst them is the desire to see for themselves. Go on Jesus, we’ve heard you’ve performed miraculous things in other places, we want to see it for ourselves. We don’t care what you want to tell us, show us what those other people saw. Give us what they got. We want it all now, on our own terms.

I’m sure that Jesus had some parts of His message that He shared wherever He went. His love and kindness would certainly have been evident in every encounter. However if the Bible repeated everything He said to everyone then going through the Gospels in our Foundations podcast would take a lifetime, not a year. What it does record is the focus of His message in each place. Sometimes Jesus brings out parables, sometimes He quotes from the scriptures a lot. He knows what each of us need to hear, His awareness of the big picture and the individual details was perfect in each encounter. Here lies one of the wonderful things about community that the Pharisees missed. We all get a glimpse into who God is when we encounter Him. For the people in this week’s passage you can imagine the buzz around the whole area. Wasn’t it amazing when Jesus said this? That parable was so insightful. Did He tell you the one about such and such? No? Well this is what He said to us. What else did you learn from Him?

For us, we all have the Bible, we can all access everything that Jesus taught, but beyond that we all experience Him in different ways. In our community some will have incredible testimonies of healing and provision. Some will have had revelations of His love and grace. Others will have experienced God’s forgiveness and reconciliation. We all add to our community’s understanding of Jesus. Each of us has a story and are therefore part of His story, the story of God at work in His people. We are each needed in our community and when we make our stories known we add real value to the rich tapestry of how we, as a Church family, understand our creator and Heavenly Father.

This week let us be encouraged that we are part of God’s story. Each of us add real value to our community, STC. Let’s also be a people that recognises the value in what we can learn from those around us,

Hello. Dave here again. Today on our Foundations daily podcast we’re looking at Mark 7:24-37. In this passage we see Jesus continue to rack up the miracles. The book of Mark really is jam packed with amazing stories that make us stop and re-read them. There’s no way of reading this book and deciding to stay on the fence about Jesus. The book of Mark demands a response from us as Jesus is clearly either someone truly unique, mind blowing and life changing in every way, or, well, it’s all complete nonsense. There can’t be a middle ground!

REFLECTION:

After Jesus performs two more miracles in towns to the north of the Sea of Galilee, we get to verses 36-37 where we read the following: Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

I am a big fan of the Alpha course. A place where people can come and explore faith. Ask their questions without fear of being laughed at or patronised. People from all walks of life, people that know God, people that don’t, all going on a journey together in search of answers to the big questions that only God can answer. Why am I here? Is there more to life than this? If Jesus is real and the Bible is true then what does that mean for me? We’ve seen loads of Alphas happen at STC over the last six months. Alphas with over 50s. Alpha with students on campus.

I’ve been involved with two of those Alphas. Usually what happens is people come along for the 8 or 9 weeks and by the grace of God, somewhere around week 6 or 7 people start to respond to God. But not this time. At these two Alphas something amazing happened. At each one there was someone who came to Alpha, came to Sunday Church, and by week 2 or 3 had said yes to following Jesus. How incredible is that?! Other people became Christians as well over the course of the sessions, praise God. I was lucky enough to be in the room just a few weeks ago when two people committed to following Jesus, a wonderful, beautiful moment. But the ones that responded at the start of the course highlight something important. You see, they had a massive effect on their discussion groups. People were able to see up close and personal what it looks like when someone encounters Jesus. When we meet Jesus we cannot remain the same. In the passage the people couldn’t remain quiet once they’d met Him.

Encountering Jesus demands a response. We have to choose which way we will run. Will we run towards Him or away from Him? This is a choice that we all make throughout our walk of faith. Sometimes we dip our toe into the idea of faith or a particular area of Jesus’ teaching and we back off, scared. That’s not unreasonable. The unconditional grace and love that He offers can be overwhelming sometimes. The freedom that comes through His Spirit can be so other to us. Surrendering control to Him can be scary at first. And then the next time as well! And let’s face it, some of the miracles in the Bible are just so far beyond our perception of reality that they still sound weird, even if we have grown up hearing about them most of our lives.

The extraordinary life of Jesus necessitates a response from us. Let’s affirm our decision to run towards Him today.

PRAYER:

Jesus thank you that you bring so much life and freedom to us each day. Thank you for your Spirit at work in our lives. Help us to run towards you, to press into what you have for each of us. Come Holy Spirit and fill us afresh today. Amen.

READING: Mark 7:24-37

Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek,

Hi there, it’s Wednesday 10th April and today we’ll be looking at Mark 7:1-23. So far this week we’ve been hearing great stories of Jesus gathering crowds, performing miracles and ministering to the people that come to Him. This has been an exciting narrative, but we’ve not actually heard Jesus say much for Himself. Today that changes as the balance in my Bible of red text, the words of Jesus, and black text, everything else, swings firmly in favour of the red text!

REFLECTION:

I’ll read the whole passage at the end of this thought but for now, here are verses 6-8. For context, Jesus is talking to a group of Pharisees and teachers of the law.

He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honour me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain;

their teachings are merely human rules.’

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

Wow, there’s a challenge for us today! It’s important to remember that all of Jesus’ words have relevance to us today, but they were also all spoken at particular times to particular people. This passage is all about Jesus calling out the motivations that we have, good and bad. Now, Jesus brings challenge into our lives but He also always brings invitation too. Today Jesus asks us to come follow Him. He speaks His love over us. He affirms the things that each of us have done and will do today to honour Him.

You’re listening to this podcast for a start. Maybe you’ll spend some time in prayer. Maybe you’ll show love to someone for no other reason than to bless them. Maybe you’ll forgive someone, as Jesus taught us to do. Maybe you’ll go the extra mile at work, even though no one will see it, purely because you want your work to be an offering of worship to God. Jesus looks on us today and smiles.

But Jesus also looks at us today and loves us enough to call out the things that aren’t right. We all have times when the words of the passage apply to us. Where we honour God and others with our lips, outwardly we do the right thing, but our hearts are far from God. What we present front stage can be very different to what’s going on back stage, both in our hearts and in what we do and say in private.

This is a hard thing to wrestle with, as it can be relatively easy to change a behaviour but somehow much more personal to change how we think, how we look at others. It’s easy to think, come on Jesus, I’m doing the right things, I’ve been to every Church meeting this year. I’ve said something encouraging to someone as Dave asked me to on the podcast. I’m generally pretty kind and patient. But actions are never the point of the exercise with Jesus, the state of our heart is. Our willingness to surrender our whole lives to Him, to be moulded by Him, to worship Him each day not because we have to or because it makes us look good or fit in but because we choose to. Actions are merely the outward inevitable result of a changed heart.

God wants our hearts. He doesn’t want us to live like a house or kingdom that is divided, but one that has a single, beautiful aim. He wants us to choose each day to engage with Him, not to allow our faith to go through the motions and become stale. Where we honour Him with our hearts already, and there will be places, well done, the Lord smiles on you today. Where we are not, and there will be places, the Lord lavishes His grace on you today and offers a chance to change, a fresh start. At STC during Lent we’ve been using the Collect for Purity; let’s end with that now.

PRAYER:

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.