by ray | May 7, 2010 | Mark, NT, Sermons
Jesus speaks in parables because he is veiling himself and giving us a chance to respond without coercion, but rather in voluntary love and surrender. But there is another reason why Jesus speaks in parables. Here is an excerpt from Mark 4 — 9Then Jesus said,...
by ray | Apr 29, 2010 | Current Events
Here is an article from CNN that I read a little more than a month ago. It’s about about a man who in 1993 was wrongly placed in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He was 31 years old. Now, 16 years later, he is 47 years old and free. The article focuses...
by ray | Apr 29, 2010 | Mark, NT, Sermons
All this talk about teachers of the law and the Pharisees and you might be thinking, what does this have to do with me? I have been reflecting on this passage and I realize there is a lot more religion in my life than I care to admit. Earlier, I shared how religious...
by ray | Apr 27, 2010 | Mark, NT, Sermons
How do the teachers of the law and the Pharisees view Jesus? They view him as a threat. He threatens their entire religious system. He threatens what they had worked so hard to attain. The social standing. The financial security. They must have thought, I will...
by ray | Apr 25, 2010 | Mark, NT, Sermons
1Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand,...