is soon...

Have you registered yet?

Get on it www.lcmchurches.org.au/rego

If Ephesians was a jar of Peanut Butter it would be the super extra chunky variety.

The stuff that sticks to the roof of your mouth and has those actual pieces of peanut that you crunch into. You know the one that is just so Moorish. So very good. It’s just brilliant. 

We're diving deep into the word this term, and as we eat our way through the deliciousness we'll be well nourished. Grab your spoons and get ready for a fabulous feast.

The last 2 weeks we've celebrated the wonderful truth that in God's goodness he sent Jesus to save us from the real consequences of our rebellion. If you want to know more come along, or check out what God's says himself HERE.

We're on about God's Word - the Bible.

We're on about Living Lives that bring God Glory.

We're excited for this year and what God's going to do.

See you tonight.

Over EVERYTHING.

Jesus Speaks and Stuff happens.

Over the physical. Over all things seen. Over Creation. Jesus Speaks and Creation listens, and is obedient. Raging Storms stop in seconds. Read the Story in MARK 4:35-41

 Over the spiritual. Over all things unseen. Over evil & demons. Jesus speaks and the demons listen and are obedient. Evil sees Jesus and knows exactly who he is. And they're afraid. Afraid because they know his true identity as Master, they know they're not on his side. Read the Story in MARK 5:1-20

 Over Death. Jesus speaks, and even death is obedient to the Master. Death cannot stop, hold back or defeat Jesus. Read the Story in MARK 5:21ff

In the good news as Mark tells is we see the amazing ways Jesus demonstrates that he is Master over all things seen, all things unseen and death. That means Jesus is Master over everything. And that includes us. You and Me. There can't be more than one Master. It's either you or Jesus. We often put ourselves in the centre of the universe, we often kid ourselves to thinking we are in control. But we're not God and we're not the Master.

So the questions today are: When Jesus, Master over everything, speaks do you listen? When Jesus, Master over everything, speaks are you obedient?

Listen! Listen up & Listen Well. Do you have ears to hear?

Jesus tells parables often and in Mark 4 it's all about Listening.

You can read the story in Mark 4:1-20 by clicking on the above link or watch it:

Watching I found there's moments people laugh, but at the same time it is quite terrifying. The explanations Jesus gives are, well, great. I love that he lets us in to hear what he's saying. The seed is the Word of God. God's Truth. The Good News. Gospel. It's the history of God's promises and his faithfulness to these promises. It's the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

The soils are the possible responses to this Truth. There's only one soil described as good. There's only one response that is therefore good. It's the person who LISTENS to the truth. Who even though they struggle to understand, they keep seeking, keep asking and keep listening to the answers God has in His Word. And as you listen what you hear is pretty great. You hear that Jesus loves you and gave up his life for you in your place. This news excites you. The fact someone loved you that much. People start paying you out for following Jesus, but you stand up for Him. You don't let other people's opinions get thing the way of listening to Jesus.

 You've accepted Jesus as Lord and by His Spirit you continue in your love for Jesus. You live a life that isn't perfect, but you seek to honour God. You bear Fruit. In the face of hardship you're joyful in Jesus.

People see this in you and say 'I want what they've got'. And so you get to tell them why you're different. Why you seek to honour God.

This is the good soil. Be the good soil.

Whether you love and adore him, or loathe with informed judgement, it's been hard not to hit the play button on the YouTube vids of PSY. He's the man of the moment, being flooded with Fame. But who was 'that guy' 5 months ago, or 5 years ago? When I was in high school it was the Spice Girls.

What about 100 years ago? It was Gandhi

2000 years ago?

They didn't have videos that could go viral, but the news of Jesus was spreading just as fast. Jesus was doing crazy amazing wonderful things. Healing people from all sorts of illnesses and ailments. Casting out demons. It got so bad that for some alone time Jesus had to head out from the towns to the desert and still people sought him out. I don't think we really get it. WHOLE TOWNS, that is every single person in the place, came out of their homes to get a glimpse, to hear Jesus speak, to see him heal.

Jesus was the man of the moment, being flooded with fame. And whether you love and adore him, or loathe with informed judgement, this is the scene of Mark 2.

In this story Jesus heals a man who can't walk. You would think that this guys greatest need is to get his legs moving. But when he heals him, Jesus doesn't just make his legs work. Jesus does something for him that is even great. Jesus heals him not only physically, but spiritually. Jesus tells the man 'Your sins are forgiven'. Now, this is MASSIVE. Only God and God alone can forgive sins. But Jesus proves he has the authority to forgive sins by showing he can heal the man physically too.

Jesus is truly amazing. He heals us in our greatest need. He heals what needs to be fixed most. He deals with our problem of sin by taking a punishment that we deserve. He forgives us.

Keep exploring here and here or keep reading Mark's account of Jesus here

This is the question we are forced to ask when we meet Jesus in the historical account written by Mark**. Except, that Mark gives us the answer STRAIGHT AWAY. 

Mark 1:1 is like the TITLE of his account rather than the first sentence.It says:

 "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God"

Mark is telling us that he's got some good news about Jesus. Christ isn't his last name, but a title. It's a Greek word. In Hebrew the word is 'Messiah'. And the English translation is something like 'Chosen King'. Jesus being the Son of God is pretty much saying he IS GOD. Jesus is divine. This isn't an idea Mark came up with but a voice from heaven confirms it. We read about this in Mark 1:9-11.

 Jesus priority is to tell people a message,

'Repent and believe the good news'.

 The  good news is that Jesus is the King (we'll continue to find out about this over the next weeks). The good news is that by repenting and believing in Jesus - his life, death and resurrection -  eternal life is yours.

Repenting is turning around. A complete 180. A u-turn. Making a change. And if Jesus is King, repenting is living not as yourself as the King of your world, but living with Jesus as King of your world.

** You can find the account here.