Morning Musing: Mark 1:35

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“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up, went out, and made his way to a deserted place; and there he was praying.”
— ‭‭Mark‬ ‭1:35‬ ‭(CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

How do you recharge? How do you build yourself back up when you’ve hit the point of exhaustion? Different people fuel up in different ways. Extroverts, for example, need to get around people. After a long, stressful day of work, they need to go home, change clothes, and go to some crowded, public space where they can be the life of the party. Introverts like me, on the other hand, need isolation. After a Sunday morning of being “on,” I have to spend a few hours being completely “off” before I’m good for much else. Those are just two ways to recharge. Not every approach works for every person, and finding your source takes some trial and error. What we see here is Jesus demonstrating a way to recharge that is not only universal, but it’s also more efficient and effective than anything else. I’m talking about prayer.

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The Secret Weapon

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As we have worked our way through the story of the first church in Acts, we have seen them overcome challenges again and again and again. How did they do it? What was their secret weapon? We find out what it is and how we can put it into practice ourselves in this message. Keep reading to learn about it in this gripping story.

The Secret Weapon

For the last several months, I have been reading through the Harry Potter series with Noah and Josiah. At the end of last week, we finally started on the seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I’m speaking a little carefully right now because they’re going to listen to this sermon (well…they’ll be in the room for this sermon) and I don’t want to spoil the story for them. But, I don’t think I’m saying anything that’ll give away significant plot points when I tell you that the major quest for the seventh book is that Harry and his friends are going looking for horcruxes.

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Morning Musing: Mark 1:28

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“At once the news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity of Galilee.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Some people are attention hounds. They’ll do whatever they can to get people to pay attention to them. Sometimes the antics are positive and funny, sometimes they’re more unsavory, but attention is the goal. Social media has allowed for the creation of more of these folks than have ever existed in the past. There are people whose entire lives are spent finding new ways to get people to notice them. Jesus wasn’t like that at all, but He got it all the same.

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Digging in Deeper: Mark 1:23-26

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“Just then a man with an unclean spirit was in their synagogue. He cried out, ‘What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!’ Jesus rebuked him saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit threw him into convulsions, shouted with a loud voice, and came out of him.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Exorcisms make for a popular subject within the horror genre. Beyond the obvious horror elements, I think there’s a reason for this. Good horror movies (and by that, I mean ones that go beyond simple gore and cheap scares) explore the human psyche in ways that few other films really do. They allow filmmakers and moviegoers to examine what it is that scares us and why. And one of the things that frightens many people is the unknown, especially when it comes to the spiritual world. People have always had a sense that there is a world beyond what we can see and that it isn’t necessarily all sunshine and roses. Stories like this one in Mark confirm that notion, but in ways that should give us confidence, not fear. Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Mark 1:21-22

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“They went into Capernaum, and right away he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach. They were astonished at his teaching because he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not like the scribes.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I’ve had the chance to sit at the feet of some pretty remarkable teachers over the years. From seminary to the various conferences I’ve had the chance to attend, I have gotten to learn from published authors, nationally recognized speakers, and world-renowned experts on a variety of topics. These men and women were all brilliant and absolutely deserving of the acclaim they received. Without exception, though, when they spoke, experts though they were, when they taught, they consistently made reference to other experts to back up what they were saying. That’s just how people teach. It’s how they have always taught. When you say something that you really want people to believe, you find some other widely recognized authority on the matter and cite their work for support. Anyone who doesn’t do this kind of thing is either incredibly arrogant, a genius of the first order, or Jesus.

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