October 6, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | The Tradition of the Elders: Jesus Breaks Down an Ancient Citadel | Mark 7:1-23

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October 6, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | The Tradition of the Elders: Jesus Breaks Down an Ancient Citadel | Mark 7:1-23

The Tradition of the Elders: Jesus Breaks Down an Ancient Citadel
Mark 7:1-23

After the feeding of five thousand in our last lesson, we watched Jesus quickly send His disciples away ahead of him (Mark 6:45). Jesus did this because He did not want the crowd, who was proclaiming Him being a worker of miracles, to seek to make Him a king by force (John 6:15). We noted that this was also an important event because it demonstrated that Jesus was confronting an eschatological issue as well. Namely that God’s Rule, The Kingdom of God was the central force of His mission. He was not coming to fulfill a Jewish Eschatological Hope. That hope was centered in the belief that one day the Messiah, the One whom Moses spoke about, would come and throw off Satan, the oppressor, (in this case Rome) from the political neck of Israel and rule the world from Jerusalem forever. Yes, Jesus, the Messiah was coming to bring about a great change, but a change initiated by God alone, not by the force of men. It would indeed include defeating Satan, but the oppressor Jesus came to defeat was not an earthly power, but Lucifer, the Prince and Power of the Air. Yes, Jesus came to establish a rule over His people, but a people redeemed buy the power of His destruction of sin and death at the cross. In this text of Scripture Jesus will confront a massive citadel of the Jewish tradition, the teaching of the elders of Israel, the great citadel of the Mishnah.

September 29, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | Instructions for Disciples: Without Me, You Can Do Nothing! | Mark 6:45-56

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September 29, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | Instructions for Disciples: Without Me, You Can Do Nothing! | Mark 6:45-56

The Cost of Discipleship: Mark 6:6 to 6:56

September 22, 2019 | Pastor Roger Melson | The Rich Man and Lazarus | 2 Corinthians 5:10-11; Luke 16:19-31

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September 22, 2019 | Pastor Roger Melson | The Rich Man and Lazarus | 2 Corinthians 5:10-11; Luke 16:19-31

                                               Roger and Marsha Melson

September 15, 2019 | Pastor Roger Melson | The Eternal Perseverance of Our Faith | Genesis 12:1-9

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September 15, 2019 | Pastor Roger Melson | The Eternal Perseverance of Our Faith | Genesis 12:1-9

                                               Roger and Marsha Melson

September 8, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | Instructions for Disciples: A Jewish Feast with the Master | Mark 6:33–44

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September 8, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | Instructions for Disciples: A Jewish Feast with the Master | Mark 6:33–44

The Cost of Discipleship Mark 6:6 to 6:56

Instructions for Disciples: A Jewish Feast with the Master
Mark 6:33-44.

Earlier, Mark described the banquet that Herod Antipas provided for a small number his noted Jewish leaders in order to impress them. The result was the martyrdom of John the Baptist. This feast impressed his guests, but only as ones seeing a fool being trapped in his foolishness. In this narrative, Jesus also throws a banquet for likely over ten thousand of his Jewish guests . Not in a magnificent man-made mountain palace, but on a majestic mountain pasture of green grass – both venues had been built by the masters of the feasts. Jesus performed this miracle with effortless poise and grace. Yet, in a more crafty manner Jesus was continuing to train His disciples. The words " you give them something to eat" fall from his lips without the slightest sense of panic or concern as if a storehouse was near and already filled with food. Who was being tested by this generous offer to sit down and have a late dinner? The target audience was clearly the disciples. What did they hear and what did they learn. And, what will we hear and learn?

September 1, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | Instructions for Disciples: The Power of Solitude | Mark 6:30-34

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September 1, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | Instructions for Disciples: The Power of Solitude | Mark 6:30-34

The Cost of Discipleship Mark 6:6 to 6:30

Instructions for Disciples: The Power of Solitude
Mark 6:30-34

    In most commentary sources, this section is a transition to the account of the feeding of the five thousand. It is simply the moment when the disciples return and report to Jesus the results of their first missionary journeys and is quickly followed by the feeding of the five thousand. In Mark’s Gospel he inserts several very valuable observations Jesus makes to twelve disciples, whom he calls Apostles. Here is the lesson that the disciples observed in Jesus’ life. Perhaps they had forgotten it. Perhaps we forget it too easily. It the discipline of solitude. Solitude, rest, separation from and restoration from life – there are many descriptions. It is more than a goal, it is a survival skill for the disciple of Christ. Mark’s audience is a battered Roman community. May we lean in close today and listen to this wise counsel also.

August 25, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | Instructions for Disciples: The Ultimate Sacrifice | Mark 6:14-29

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August 25, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | Instructions for Disciples: The Ultimate Sacrifice | Mark 6:14-29

The Cost of Discipleship Mark 6:6 to 6:30

Instructions for Disciples: The Ultimate Sacrifice
Mark 6:14-29

The Gospel of Mark opens with the account of John the Baptist. This was a truly disturbing day in the life of Christ. Jesus said to His disciples prior to the beheading of John: “11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Mat.11:11). John had been the forerunner of Jesus “… preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”(Mar.1:5). Mark states that his message was singularly about the coming Messiah: “And this was his message: ‘After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” From his birth, John was elected by God to be not only a prophet, but also a disciple of Jesus. As he told his over five-hundred disciples, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less” (Joh.3:27-30). This account of John’s martyrdom is not incidental. Mark places it strategically between the sending and return of the disciples on their first missionary journey. He gives the greatest example to his Roman audience, and to us, of the dedication and ultimate sacrifice that comes with being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

August 18, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | Instructions for Discipleship, Then and Now | Mark 6:6-13

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August 18, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | Instructions for Discipleship, Then and Now | Mark 6:6-13

The Cost of Discipleship Mark 6:6 to 6:30

Instructions for Discipleship, Then and Now
Mark 6:6-13

     No disciple can passively stay at the feet of his Master. A true disciple must take up the calling and mission of his master. In his synoptic parallel Matthew gives the key to discipleship: “8 Freely you have received; freely give” (Mat.10:6-8). Truly the strength of discipleship is found in duplication. The disciples were called by Jesus, heard His teaching and marveled at His person and powerful acts. Mark does not outline new techniques or teaching for the disciples to perform. Everything Jesus tells His disciples to do, He has modeled. What they gained was not their own personal message and power. Their strength was that they were going to do what Jesus had done, yet not with their own authority, but His. They were being sent to give what they had received. Mark shows Jesus sending out His disciples to duplicate His mission. Later Mark features their return to report to Jesus the successes of their journeys. In between these two events, Mark will present the martyrdom of John the Baptist, Jesus’ first and finest disciple. Using these three events together Mark will show the cost of discipleship. Let us pay attention as we too are being called to go into our mission field today. May the Holy Spirit take the instructions of these passages and forge us into disciple Jesus Christ.

August 11, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | Where a Prophet has No Honor | Mark 6:1-6

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August 11, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | Where a Prophet has No Honor | Mark 6:1-6

Where a Prophet has No Honor
Mark 6:1-6

     In each of the four Gospels some portion of this phrase: “A prophet is no without honor, except in His own hometown.” In this text today, Mark reveals a strange teaching. This narrative has a similar twist as the healing of the woman with the issue of blood. Jesus told that her faith had healed her. In this text, Mark editorializes that the lack of faith in Nazareth was the reason that Jesus could not perform any miracles. In this sermon, we will make a very close examination to understanding of what this often misunderstood phrase means. As a means of context let us read Isaiah’s view of the Messiah. “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem” (Isa.53:1-3).

August 4, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | The Lord Over Principalities and Powers: Now You Have a Testimony | Mark 5:21-43

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August 4, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | The Lord Over Disease and Death: Salvation Has Come (Part 2) | Mark 5:21-43

Jesus’ Lordship Over the Fallen World: Chapters 4:35- 5:43

The Lord Over Disease and Death: Salvation Has Come (Part 2)
Mark 5:21-43

      Mark is writing to a suffering community of Christians. His audience is in Rome during the ferocious reign of Nero Caesar. He has presented two powerful illustrations from the life and ministry. First: he shows that Jesus is The Lord Over the Creation, in which Jesus, with a word, calmed the winds and the waves on the Sea of Galilee. Second: he presents Jesus as Lord Over Principalities and Powers as He drives out the legion of demons from the maniac at the caves in the region of the Gerasenes. Today, in his third installment, Mark will bring us into the lair of the final enemy, death and it’s grave companion, disease. All three of these Principalities and Powers existed in Jesus day. All three of these conditions struck out at the Roman church and each of them continue to seek a foothold in our lives today. What is the purpose of suffering? What is the point of death? Today we will look closely at these issues through the eyes of a grieving father and an woman stricken with a deadly disease. May we come from this study praising God through Jesus Christ that He has set us free from our last enemy, death and encourage our hearts as we cling to Him in our suffering.