October 27, 2019 | Pastor Roger Melson | The Judgement Seat of Christ | 2 Corinthians 5:1-11a

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October 27, 2019 | Pastor Roger Melson | The Judgement Seat of Christ | 2 Corinthians 5:1-11a

                                               Roger and Marsha Melson

October 20, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | My Sheep Hear My Voice: The Children’s Bread | Mark 7:24-30

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October 20, 2019 | Pastor John Bayles | My Sheep Hear My Voice: The Children’s Bread | Mark 7:24-30

The Gentile Campaign | Revealing the Kingdom of God Context | Mark 7:1 to 8:13

My Sheep Hear My Voice: The Children’s Bread
Mark 7:24-30

In this section Mark reflects upon Jesus' sudden exit from Galilee northward into the land of the Gentiles. The one hundred and fifty mile campaign began in the regions of Tyre and Sidon and then looped southeast through Caesarea and continued down into the region of the Decapolis, the ten cities. Here Jesus shocked his whole team of disciples as he ministered to the Gentiles and even conferred salvation upon them. Noteworthy is the Apostle John’s description of Jesus’ description of those who were His sheep: “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd” (Joh.10:14-17). Jesus goes on to further clarify: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand” (Jon.10:27). As Jesus ministers to a Gentile woman, the words “I have other sheep” comes to an illumined clarity.

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.