Reading: Mark 10:1-31 Context: How do Jesus’ teachings on divorce reflect God’s original design for marriage relationships? Divorce is alien to God. His original design was that those who married would be married for life. Divorce was a response to rebellious hearts that didn’t want to take on the original design. Going back to God’s […]
Read More WIWO: Mark – Episode 17: Marriage, Children, and WealthThey witnessed Elisha walking with Elijah. They saw him at the river. They waited as both men crossed. Only Elisha returned, though, and he was not the same. They witnessed the disciples walking with Jesus. They saw them go up. They waited. But Jesus did not come back with them. And after a a while, […]
Read More Dryden Shorts: Not The SameThere’s a word that gets used so often in Christian circles that it has almost lost its edge. Fellowship. We say it after the service. We name rooms after it. We schedule it into the diary. But I’ve been in enough of those rooms and enough of those schedules to know that what we call […]
Read More KMCD 20: Depth of Fellowship and The KingsmanReading: Mark 9:33-50 Context: What prompts Jesus’ teaching about greatness and service in God’s kingdom? The lads are quarrelling before they reach the crib. He asks them why they’re arguing. They keep shtum, as if you can do that with a man who knows. The nature of their quarrel is about who is the greatest. […]
Read More WIWO: Mark – Episode 16: Humility and ServiceIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. He made man in His image with the capacity to have dominion and rule in righteousness. Although man rebelled, there are clearly expressions of man’s capacity to express creativity and imagination that bring out the best in what God created. Wherever it is expressed – […]
Read More Dryden Shorts – CreativityThe Kingsman lives in the present, but he does not live from the present. That distinction matters more than it might first appear. Paul lands at the end of 1 Corinthians 15 not with a conclusion but with something closer to a war cry. He has spent the entire chapter building the case for resurrection […]
Read More KMCD 19: Resurrection and The KingsmanReading: Mark 9:1-32 Context: How does the transfiguration confirm Jesus’ identity for the three disciples who witness it? Here’s the confirmation – it’s one thing to be told that He’s the son of God, it’s another thing to witness His transfigured form revealing the glory of the only begotten son of God. That kind of […]
Read More WIWO: Mark – Episode 15: Glory and DiscipleshipIt’s the royal residence. Understandably, it is not accessible to everyone. There are requirements for those who wish to gain admission. Unlike other royal residences, however, admission through the gates and into the courts is by way of thanks and praise. Not just that, but this admission also acknowledges a status that entrants have. Not […]
Read More Dryden Shorts – Gates and CourtsHosting well is something we’re not naturally equipped for. That might seem a strange thing to say. Most of us would consider ourselves reasonably welcoming people. We hold the door. We smile when someone new walks in. We’re not deliberately cold or unkind. But there’s a significant difference between not being hostile and actually being […]
Read More KMCD 18: The Kingsman as a Good HostReading: Mark 8:22-38 Context: How does the gradual healing of the blind man parallel the disciples’ gradually developing understanding? Throughout the journey of discipleship, the disciples see what Jesus does, but they don’t always understand it at the time. Indeed, they will often misunderstand what He does, and it will take gradual learning to understand […]
Read More WIWO: Mark – Episode 14: The Great Confession
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