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Answering Life’s Biggest Questions: Love, Purpose, & Priorities (Mark 12:28-34)
Our current mini-series has been covering the questions that Jesus was asked as He entered the Temple the day after He cleared the Temple courts by driving people out, overturning tables and releasing the animals. As He came up the stairs he was confronted by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, who had some…
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Five Important Examples of Mutual Submission (Mark 10:32-45)
In the previous sermon we spent time going through Mark 10:32-45 and talking about God’s view of how the world works, and how it flies in the face of our individualistic mindset. We are told all the time that we need to “stand up for our rights”, “assert ourselves”, “show our independence”, “be our own highest…
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Crop Top Day, Individualism, and Submission to Authority (Mark 10:32-45)
“And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son…
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5 Commitments to Prevent Divorce in Your Marriage and Promote Unity in Your Relationships (Mark 10:1-12)
“And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them. And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ He answered them,…
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Mother’s Day & The Persistent Love of God
“Before I was a Mom” By Suzana Haertzen (Hart-zen) Before I was a Mom…I made and ate hot meals. I had unstained clothing. I had quiet conversations on the phone. Before I was a Mom… I slept as late as I wanted and never worried about how late I got into bed. I brushed…
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What Does it Mean to “Deny Ourselves” and “Take Up Our Cross”? (Mark 8:34-9:1)
The Bali Nine This week in Indonesia, a group of eight convicted drug traffickers who were caught, arrested, and tried, finally met their end at their execution. I can’t imagine there is much sympathy out there for a group of drug smugglers, and there aren’t too many people in the world who would have…
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How to Deal with Doubts and Unbelief (Mark 7:31-8:33)
Today we’re going to study Mark 7:31-8:33. At first these stories are going to seem disconnected, but as we read them, hopefully you will see a theme developing. I also want you to listen for similar phrases and events. It’s set up as a sort of sandwich where we see a couple of similar events,…
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The Reluctant Doctor (Mark 7:24-30)
The Story of the Reluctant Doctor Once upon a time there was a doctor of medicine. This doctor was somewhat controversial, in that, though his patients were cured, he used extremely unconventional, even odd ways to cure them – he also had a bit of a mouth on him. He tended to…
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A Warning Against Hypocrisy in Our Religious Activity (Mark 7:1-23)
“Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of…
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Passion Week: The Grande Finale! (that wasn’t so final…)
Today marks the last day of the 46-day season of Lent, a time that begins with Ash Wednesday and goes until Easter Sunday. Hundreds of years ago, the ancient Christian church fathers set aside this time to give believers season to purposefully remember and prepare themselves for the high-holy days of Good Friday and Easter…
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Passion Week Series: Wednesday & Thursday (Last Supper, Judas’ Betrayal, Jesus Prays)
We’re continuing a series on the final week of Jesus’ life. We’ve already covered the events of Palm Sunday, and Monday where He cursed the fig tree, cleansed the temple. Last week we talked about Tuesday, a day where Jesus was attacked on all sides by every group in Jerusalem who wanted to trap…
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Passion Week Series: Tuesday (Attacked on All Sides)
A couple weeks ago we started a series going through the final week of Jesus life His resurrection on Easter Sunday. We’ve already covered the events of Palm Sunday and Monday where we saw the Triumphal Entry, the Cursing of the Fig Tree and The Cleansing of the Temple. Today we will talk about…
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A Parable of Unforgiveness (The Story of Peter and Frank)
Once upon a time there were two young men named Peter and Frank. Peter and Frank were friends. Not good friends, not best friends, just friends. They saw each other at school, occasionally played on the same teams in sports, and were generally friendly to each other. Peter never gave Frank much thought –…
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Passion Week Series: Palm Sunday & Monday (Cursing the Fig Tree, Cleansing the Temple)
Over the past couple years, going back all the way to September 2012, we have been working our way through the Gospel of Mark – and have made it all the way to Mark 7. My resolution this year, even though it is going to feel like lightspeed (to me), is to finish the…
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Love People, Use Things (Not the Other Way Around)
What is Lent? We are currently in the traditional season of Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday and goes until Easter Sunday. Most Protestants, Baptists included, don’t really celebrate much of the liturgical calendar, but the Lenten season has been celebrated by many Christians around the world since the third century. Evangelicals usually avoid…
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The Parameters of Love
The Right Way vs The Bosses Way I remember listening to an old southern Baptist preacher that told the story of a time his daddy was driving him to his first job at the age of 7 years old. His father gave him this advice: “Son, there are three ways to do things in…
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From Superbowl to Suicide
I don’t follow the NFL, but I do enjoy watching the spectacle of the Superbowl each year. Unfortunately, in my mind, the fun and excitement that comes with the word Superbowl, will always be attached to a much more ominous word: suicide. I can’t remember where I heard it, but at some point in…
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From Saul to Paul: A Conversion Story
Saul: Enemy of the Church Paul has an amazing testimony, and it’s broken up into two very different parts. The part he is most famous for is where He is Paul, the great missionary and theologian of the Christian church. But he wasn’t always the Apostle Paul – for the beginning of his life he…
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How to Go Through Hard Times (Christian Suffering and Lamentations)
The book of Lamentations is only five chapters long, but contains some incredibly powerful, emotional language. We often sing the words of Lamentations on Sunday mornings. Lamentations contains exactly what you’d expect – laments. It is a series of five sad and beautiful poems, like funeral songs, portraying the capture, fall and destruction of…
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Ground Yourself (The Parable of the Two Builders)
I’ve started a, sort of, impromptu series that I’m unofficially calling “Kick Off the New Year Right” or “How to Prepare for 2015”… or something like that. The series title doesn’t matter. What matters is that I want to spend a little while going over a few things that we need to make sure…
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“Forgive Them”
The sinless One and judge of mankind was arrested in the middle of the night, dragged into a mockery of a trial where he was falsely accused publicly humiliated. The King of Kings was and brought before the foolish and wicked Herod Antipas, who had beheaded his cousin John the Baptist and wanted…
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Scrutinizing Our Path as the New Year Approaches
Podcast Audio: Ant City “For Christmas one year we bought our children what was called, ‘Ant City.’ This consisted of clear plastic plates on either side, filled with sand and ants. From our vantage point outside and above, we could see what these busy little creatures were doing underground. We watched as they tunneled…
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Jesus of the Advent Candles
Podcast Audio: Over the past month many churches around the world have celebrated Advent using a special wreath of candles. It is a simple and beautiful way to remind us that the meaning of Christmas. Each week we light a different candle, read a special scripture, and are reminded of another meaning of what…
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Totally Depraved Shepherds (Why “God Helps Those Who Help Themselves” is WRONG WRONG WRONG!)
Podcast Audio: The Christmas story has been told so many times that, to some, it can lose its potency. We all think we know it so well… Mary, Joseph, Manger, Wise Men, Shepherds, Herod, etc., etc. I want to ask you to try to listen again for the first time and thentake a look…
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An imPerfect Christmas
Podcast Audio: Christmas is a big deal. So much so that many feel quite pressured to have a “perfect Christmas”? The tree decorated just right, the right food and desserts, the proper music playing in the background, the vacation plans laid out, the cards sent, matching bow and wrapping on the gifts, the best…
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An Inexplicable God
Podcast Audio: Insatiable Curiosity Today, we want to have an explanation of everything. We want to know how everything works, where it came from, what it’s doing, why it does it, and what it’s going to do next. Our society has an insatiable appetite for knowledge. Sociologists study people so they can learn how…
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Getaway: Jesus Kidnaps His Disciples
Podcast Audio: We’re back into the Gospel of Mark. So far in Chapter 6 we’ve talked a lot about what happens to people who are faithful about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others. First we saw Jesus rejected and almost stoned to death in his hometown. Then as Jesus sends out the twelve to…
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Remembrance Day: Poppies, Martyrs, Suffering & Certainty
Podcast Audio: John McCrae and Flanders Fields The poppy has long been, in Canada and around the world, a memorial symbol of fallen soldiers. It has come to represent the immeasurable sacrifice made by those who have died defending and preserving the rights and freedoms of others. It was a Canadian physician, Lieutenant Colonel…
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The Ottawa Shooting – How Should Christians Respond?
Podcast Audio: Trying Times These are trying times in the lives of the people of Ottawa, Canada and the world. We’ve experienced something here in Canada that we are not used to – an attack on our own parliament buildings. Canadians across the country were glued to their TVs and computers as they watched…
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Be the Background (Life is Better There)
Every now and again I have the wonderful privilege of speaking to a group of AWANA children. Here’s a talk I gave recently (based on this previous post). Podcast Audio: Background is Important Cartoons wouldn’t be the same without the background, would they? You’d see the characters doing things, but you wouldn’t know where…
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The Importance of Knowing Our Core Values
Podcast Audio: It’s important that we remind ourselves what God has been telling us in scripture, in prayer, and through the leadership of the church. Which is why, if you recall before Thanksgiving, we started a short series on our Mission and Core Values statements. What is a Core Value? When we asked the question,…
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Total Depravity and Thanksgiving Dinner
Podcast Audio: Let’s talk about Nehemiah 8. But before we do, let me give you a quick background to what’s going on. After the peaceful reign of King Solomon, the son of David, was over, the kingdom of Israel split in two. Israel to the North where 10 tribes were living, and Judah to…
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Don’t Mess with Jesus’ Kids (Abortion, Parenting and Ministering to Children)
Podcast Audio: “And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you,…
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Truth In Love – Loving People in a Biblical Way
Podcast Audio: Our church’s mission statement says that we “share the love of Jesus” two ways: “….through Biblical Teaching and loving relationships.” The second part of that is easy to understand. We have a loving relationship with Jesus and that makes us prioritize having loving relationships with others. Agents of Truth But sometimes it doesn’t…
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The Importance of “We”
Podcast Audio: “I Need a New Seven-Hundred-and-Ten” A man walks into a car dealership. He’s not fond of being there, because he knows that some of these places are famous for ripping people off, so his plan is to not let on that he has no idea what he’s talking about. He gets into…
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Be the Frame Not the Picture
Podcast Audio: Do you know what this is? It’s quite famous and has been around for over 100 years. Millions and millions of people have seen this, probably including yourself. Now can you identify it? Of course you can. Interesting isn’t it? When people go to the Louvre in Paris, not too many even see the…
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Why Do People Hate Christians?
Podcast Audio: “He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such…
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Having Faith During Suffering and Crisis
Podcast Audio: And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little…
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How Temptation Works
Podcast Audio: The Bug Zapper Have you ever sat outside next to a bug zapper? My parents have one. It’s a little gadget that hangs from the roof of their patio and glows. And the light that emits from it attracts bugs… and when they get close… ZAP! I know exactly how those little…
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Satan and Demons (Origin, Powers, Defeat and Going On The Offensive)
Podcast Audio: Three Realms Sun Tzu in “The Art of War” says, “Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.” That’s a great quote and it’s hugely applicable to the Christian life. One could almost summarize the path of discipleship using almost those words. Being a Christian…
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Where is God When Bad Things Happen? (Or, If God is Good, Why Does Evil Exist?)
Don’t forget to enter the “Be the New Podcast Intro Voice” Contest! Podcast Audio: Don’t You Care? “On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats…
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Don’t Underestimate the Small Things (Parable of the Mustard Seed)
Podcast Audio: Jesus & Parables When Jesus was speaking to crowds, instead of wowing them with His intellectual power or overwhelming them with theological lectures, He often spoke in little word pictures that captured people’s attention and forced them to use their imaginations to think through big ideas. We call them parables. There may…
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Contest: Be the New Podcast Intro Voice!
Podcast Audio: Be the New Intro Voice for the Art of the Christian Ninja Podcast! Despite what you’ve heard, I don’t love listening to the sound of my own voice, so I’m looking for someone to introduce the podcast. I was going to do this quietly, but I think it would be way more…
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“The Growing Seed” – Having Patience when God Seems Inactive
I’m back from vacation and looking forward to catching up on my posts. I had a wonderful holiday and I’m very thankful to the church for allowing me to be able to spend time with my family taking a break. I hope you are all able to do the same this summer. Podcast Audio: Planting…
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The Demise of Biblical Manhood (a Father’s Day Sermon)
Podcast Audio: The Same Message I’ve been reading a lot about men these days. I just finished The Screwtape Letters and The Abolition of Man by CS Lewis, Happy Happy Happy by Phil Robertson, and am half-way though Mansfield’s Book of Manly Men by Stephen Mansfield. Mansfield is a New York Times best selling…
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“Weigh It Out” – The Importance of Being a Doer and Not Just a Hearer
Podcast Audio: I want to take you on a bit of a journey around scripture today. We’re still in the Gospel of Mark, but we’re going to jump around a bit to explain part of what we are going to talk about today. First, open up to Mark 4:21-25. Let’s remember our context. Jesus…
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Just for Fun: A Fake Intro to a (hopefully) Soon to be Real Podcast
A fellow pastor (Chad Graham), a good friend of mine (Steve Bastian) and I are in the process of putting together a new podcast/vodcast where we spend some time chatting about big questions and current events. So, just for fun, I put together an intro for him. He liked it so much that we agreed to…
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Spiritual Journaling Using Scripture as your Guide
Podcast Audio: Last week I gave you a brief introduction to Spiritual Journaling using Scripture as your Guide. (If you haven’t read that yet, I suggest you start there.) I said that the system I’m teaching isn’t the only way to meet with God, but it is one way that has worked for me…