Life is challenging, uncertain and even unfair, yet Jesus calls us to face into these struggles empowered by his glory. Much like those around Jesus we can choose to respond to the glory of Jesus by doubting it, trying to control it or by listening to him.

This story has for us this: Only when you stand under the authority and mercy of Jesus can you find forgiveness, restoration and peace.

To experience the joyous life you must relinquish your old ways and let Jesus make you new.

The gospel of Mark is challenging us to see ourselves as unworthy but wanted by God, to see God not as distant but searching for us and we are warned not to be like the Pharisees unwilling to see our need and chasing people away from Jesus.

Today we look at a passage of Scripture where faith is on display, and a team effort to bring a paralyzed man to the feet of Jesus.

Today we are going to take a few minutes and look at the classic passage from 1 Corinthians 13, often called the love chapter.

We find a definition of love, but even more than a definition God issues to each of us the high calling of leading and living with love. That is we are to love with a love that brings out the best in everyone around us.

We are called to live with Biblical Love; this love is necessary, this love builds up others and this love is perfectly demonstrated for us in Jesus.

Instead of asking about success perhaps we are to strive to live with excellence: Today we encounter a passage of scripture about Peter at a moment when he was not very successful, but he lived with excellence and that excellence transformed his life and his relationship with God.

In turn, our text today offers us four keys on how to live with excellence, especially in our relationship with God. We can capture those keys with four words: Hearing, Obeying, Understanding and Answering.

We learn from this story that If you want satisfaction in life you must recognize God’s authority over you. How do we live under God’s authority?

If I am going to recognize the authority of God over my life I need; to be honest my condition, to surrender my pride and live with the expectation that God is good, powerful and loving. When I am able to put these three ideas into practice I am able to experience the best life has to offer.

We often ask the wrong questions when we encounter the Bible. Perhaps it is better to say we ask good questions but we let our questions crowd out God’s voice. Perhaps while we ask those questions we need to make sure we are asking with increasing diligence, "Lord, what word do you have for me?"

You can face temptation by saying “Yes”. Today We are going to read the story of Jesus facing temptation in the wilderness. In this story we learn much about Jesus, but we also get an important tool for dealing with temptation. You can say no to temptation by saying yes to God.