March 15, 2020 | Pastor Roger Melson | He Believed the Lord | Genesis 14:17-15:6

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March 15, 2020 | Pastor Roger Melson | He Believed the Lord | Genesis 14:17-15:6

                                               Roger and Marsha Melson

March 8, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | Down the Mountain: Wait for Jesus to Arrive | Mark 9:14-29

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March 8, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | Down the Mountain: Wait for Jesus to Arrive | Mark 9:14-29

Down the Mountain: Wait for Jesus to Arrive
Mark 9:14–29.

Jesus and His disciples are still in the region of Caesarea Philippi, the land of the Gentiles. They had been to the mountaintop, the “sacred mountain” (2Pet.1:17, 18), as Peter would later call it. They had seen the Lord transfigured and heard the voice of God. In contrast, now they were coming down from the mountaintop into a familiar world, a fallen world of sin, sickness, hopelessness and death. The contrast will continue to heighten as they are reunited with the other disciples who they find entangled in a great struggle with the Pharisees and the people. The disciples have no power or remedy for what they are facing – until Jesus arrives. This is the key to the passage and to all of life for believers. Wait for Jesus to arrive!

March 1, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | Down the Mountain: Clarifying the Eschatological Players | Mark 9:9-13

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March 1, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | Down the Mountain: Clarifying the Eschatological Players | Mark 9:9-13

Down the Mountain: Clarifying the Eschatological Players
Mark 9:9-13

From the moment of Peter’s confess: “You are the Messiah” (Mar.8:29), the disciples’ world began to change. In reality, the view of world they had lived in began to change. They had lived in a world of false teaching and deception. That world was controlled by an “adulterous and sinful generation” (Mar.8:38). They are witnessing the coming of the Kingdom of God in the coming of the Jesus, the Messiah. The disciples had misunderstood the person of the messiah and a proper understanding of the Kingdom (Rule) of God; they had misunderstood the cost of their calling to be disciples of Christ; and they had especially missed the mission and method of the Messiah’s coming. In this text today, Jesus will clarify the two main persons in God’s eschatological plan: John the Baptist and Himself.

February 23, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | Revelation from the Holy Mountain | Mark 9:2-10

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February 23, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | Revelation from the Holy Mountain | Mark 9:2-10

Revelation from the Holy Mountain
Mark 9:2-10

February 16, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | The Coming of the End | Mark 9:1

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February 16, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | The Coming of the End | Mark 9:1

The Coming of the End
Mark 9:1

Eschatology is the study of the end. Today it is largely viewed as the end of our current world. In recent years past, especially since WW2, it was pictured for us in terms of total nuclear annihilation – the end of our world and that of all mankind by global nuclear war. This view lasted about fifty years and in some places continues to be the view of the end of the world. More recently, in the last twenty year a new trend has risen – global warming in being presented as the terminal enemy of all mankind. For twenty years, we have been told daily that “in the next ten to twelve years, the earth will cease to exist” – because of global warming. Global warming in the the focus of our lesson today.

Since time began, people of all ages have held strong views of the end of the world. In Jesus’ day the Jewish people had a very simple view of the end of the world. It was a powerful and universally held view by the Jewish people. It was believed consistently for over a thousand years. And, it was simple. From creation and the fall Satan had ruled the earth. One day, God would send His Messiah, destroy Satan's rule, and the Kingdom of God would begin. The Messiah would rule the entire world through the Messiah and every enemy of God would yield to His power forever. In this text today, Jesus introduces this subject to His small band of disciples and states to them in no uncertain terms that this rule would begin “immediately, “during their lifetimes” “and as visible as a flash of lightning from one end of the sky to the other.”

February 9, 2020 | Pastor Roger Melson | Christians in Conflict | Genesis 14:8-19

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February 9, 2020 | Pastor Roger Melson | Christians in Conflict | Genesis 14:8-19

                                               Roger and Marsha Melson

February 2, 2020 | Pastor Roger Melson | The Outworking of God's Grace - Part 2 | Genesis 13 - Acts 11:23

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February 2, 2020 | Pastor Roger Melson | The Outworking of God's Grace - Part 2 | Genesis 13 - Acts 11:23

                                               Roger and Marsha Melson

January 26, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | Gaining by Losing | Mark 8:34-38 to 9:1

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January 26, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | Gaining by Losing | Mark 8:34-38 to 9:1

Gaining by Losing
Mark 8:34-38 to 9:1

In our last lesson Jesus asked “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (8:13). Peter, under the inspiration of the Heavenly Father, gave the answer "You are the Messiah” (Mar.8:29). He indeed got it right. Moments later Jesus explained to the disciples that He would go to Jerusalem, suffer, be crucified, die and three days later rise from the dead. At this point “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him” (8:2). In Matthew’s Gospel we observed that Peter further stated “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” (Mat.6:22). Here Peter indeed got it wrong, massively wrong. Jesus would never be allowed to suffer, die and be resurrected? The entire Messianic mission of Christ hangs on these realities. Peter’s got the word right, but missed its definition completely. The result of misunderstanding the nature of Jesus person and mission will lead to a wrong view of discipleship. In this text today, Jesus will draw all our attention upon what is required to become His disciple.

January 19, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | Who Do People Say the I Am? Observations of the Dead and the Awakened | Mark 8:27-34

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January 19, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | Who Do People Say the I Am? Observations of the Dead and the Awakened | Mark 8:27-34

The Gentile Campaign | Revealing the Kingdom of God Context | Mark 7:1 to 8:34
Who Do People Say the I Am? Observations of the Dead and the Awakened
Mark 8:27-34

Mark picks up on a common theme in this text. As before, he uses the phrase “On the way” to describe the nature of Jesus’ teaching ministry. It was a day’s journey (about a 25-mile walk) from Bethsaida to the region of Caesarea Philippi which lay in the north of the tetrarchy of Philip at the foot of Mt. Hermon, bordering on Syria. Jesus had worked miracles during this campaign, but had yet to clearly announce Himself to be the Messiah. As the disciples walked along this mixed terrain of hills and mountains, this would change. Caesarea Philippi was an unlikely place for the first proclamation of Jesus as Messiah, for its population was chiefly non-Jewish. There is a again a surprising contrast of belief between those Jesus reached out to in this region, the Gentiles, and Jesus’ disciples, who were with Jesus, observed His miracles and wonders, heard His teaching, and even assisted in two of the most significant miracles of His ministry, the feeding of the five thousand Jewish people and the more recent feeding of the four thousand Gentiles. Today we will see the reason from this perpetual unbelief by the disciples while in the very presence of the Savior Himself as Jesus the question: “Who do people say that I am?"

January 12, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | Are Your Eyes so Blind? | Mark 8:11-26

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January 12, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | Are Your Eyes so Blind? | Mark 8:11-26

January 5, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | The First Appearings of the Messiah | Luke 2:23- 3:6

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January 5, 2020 | Pastor John Bayles | The First Appearings of the Messiah | Luke 2:23- 3:6

Advent:Post Script
The First Appearings of the Messiah
Luke 2:23- 3:6

These two appearance of Jesus as a boy, which are recorded only in Luke’s Gospel, reveal a treasured glimpse into Jesus’ young years while in the care of Mary and Joseph. They also serve a prophetic prelude to the other Gospels and give insight into the depth of research which Luke pursued in discovering them, likely from Mary herself.