PASTOR MIKE’S MEDITATIONS

Reengaging in the Disciplines of Discipleship & Seeing the Bible in Color

January 2020

     Beginning January 5th, we will reengage in our sermon series on the Disciplines of Discipleship from the Gospel of Mark. Through the fall we worked through chapter 8 and ended with Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah and Jesus’ first prediction of his death.  Jesus said that as the Messiah he “must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law and that he must be killed and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31-32).  

            There we also find challenging teaching for us.  Jesus called the crowds to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:34-35).  Losing in order to gain what God wants to bring us is not only the way of the Cross for Jesus, it is God’s way for us to die to ourselves in order to receive the life God has to give.  Hard teaching indeed!

            As we reconnect with Mark’s Gospel after the Advent/Christmas season we will find that Jesus’ impending sacrifice is increasingly on his mind.  He knows that ultimate salvation will come through his sacrifice on the Cross for our sins, not by simply being a temporary political messiah as many hoped Jesus would be.  What does this mean for us?  It means that listening to God and receiving direction from him, allowing him to lead us verses trying to get God to follow our agenda is a central aspect of discipleship.  It also leads to our call to believe that God has the power to heal though at times it is not the way or at least in the timing that we might hope.  Still believing in God’s power to heal our greatest hurts and trusting in his will in the way that he does is another one of the key disciplines of discipleship as we follow Jesus.

            As we know, our interaction with and application of scripture is a key component to our discipleship.  I have been told that until someone visits the Holy Land you only the see the Bible in black and white, after being in Israel where the events of Jesus’ earthly life took place, you see the Bible in color.  That is why I am excited to travel to Israel from January 15th-26thwith tour group that is being led by a few local pastors I know.  Lord willing, I will then begin plans to lead such a tour for members of our church and community sometime in the next few years.  I look forward to sharing this experience with you in the short term as I believe that seeing a number of biblical sites for myself will positively infuse my teaching as well as in the long term plan to lead such a trip.  

            So, whether it is through our study of the Gospel of Mark on Sunday mornings and in many of our Growth Groups or through my own trip to Israel, my hope is that our experience of the life of Jesus will lead us into greater love and trust in Jesus in 2020.  May God bless you and your family and our church family as we together seek to follow after Him!

                                                                        Pastor Mike