Series: Theme: Miracles of Jesus
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Miracles of Jesus
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The Centurion’s Servant |
Matt 8:5-13 |
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A Paralysed Man |
Mark 2:1-12 |
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Demons & Pigs |
Mark 5:1-20 |
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A Canaanite Woman |
Matt 15:21-28 |
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Ten Lepers |
Luke 17:11-19 |
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Jesus walks on Water |
Mark 6:45-56 |
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The Man Born Blind |
John 9:1-16 |
Matt 15:21-28
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
A Canaanite Woman audio (4MB)
We Christians often get criticised for our belief in the uniqueness of Christ. People accuse us of being exclusive because we believe that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and no-one comes to the Father except through him. We believe that there’s no other name given under heaven by which we can be saved and so we’re seen as judgmental or prejudiced. There may be some of you who have the same concerns. This becomes even more common when you start to discuss heaven and hell. It sounds so terrible to think that God might exclude people from heaven just because they don’t believe in Jesus. We think to ourselves, “That’s not how Jesus would have behaved, surely?”
But then we come to a passage like this and what do we find? Jesus is in the region of Tyre and Sidon. That’s Gentile territory, no longer in Israel, and one of the local women comes up to him and starts shouting for help. “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.”
Mark 6:30-44
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Feeding the 5000 - A Lesson in Ministry
audio (2MB)
The Romance of Ministry
It wasn’t fair. If it were you or me we’d be feeling so frustrated. The disciples were on a high. They’d just got back from a mission trip. They’d been preaching the gospel, casting out demons and healing people, just like Jesus. But now there were people everywhere and they hadn’t had a chance to talk to Jesus about it. What they needed was some time to themselves to process what they’d just experienced. So Jesus suggests they get away by themselves; go on retreat. They’re fishermen so it seems easy. They can just hop in boat and get away from the madding crowd.
But it’s not to be. Their plans are foiled. It’s like a film star trying to avoid the paparazzi. People see them going and hurry after them.
The Reality of Ministry
And so the disciples discover the reality of ministry. If you’re in ministry (and every one of us is, in case you didn’t realise it!) you don’t always have the luxury of being able to do just what you want. Sometimes, perhaps even often, you have to give up your own desires in order to serve God in some way. Sometimes you have to modify those plans you’ve made so carefully, because God throws another possibility into the mix; something you’ve never thought of; something totally unexpected even.
Facing the Shadows
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- Written by: Heather Cetrangolo
audio (5MB)
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes (v1)
So Jesus and the disciples made a trip to the other side of Lake Galilee, and what happened while they were there?
Oddly, not very much at all. Jesus had just this one encounter with a demon-possessed man, and then he went back across the river.
So Jesus made some strange choices. He chose to go to the other side. Then he chose to help this demon-possessed man and then when the townspeople asked him to leave he chose to leave immediately. And that’s it. That’s all that happened in the country of the Gerasenes.
So, you know if you where Jesus’ pa or his agent, let’s say … you might say, that was all a bit of a waste of time; that it wasn’t a very productive use of time or energy. The disciples could have just stayed on the other side of Lake Galilee, where the crowds were waiting to see Jesus.
Not only was it unproductive, but it was also unpleasant. Horrible really.
The Message, The Man, The Miracle (Mark 2.1-12)
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- Written by: Adam
(Regrettably the podcast failed to record, text version below)
Today we continue our preaching series on miracles in the Gospel. And as we look at the passage about the Paralysed Man today – I want to suggest that the theme is NEWNESS … something new is going on. There are definitely recorded miracles in the Old Testament but in the Gospels there’s an explosion … seventy-six passages in Matthew, Mark and Luke alone. And in Mark’s Gospel which we are looking at today 209 out of 600 verses are about miracle stories (30% of the Gospel). Which suggests that this is an important area to reflect upon and learn about …
Today’s passage is in Chapter 2, and the whole Gospel of Mark moves at this very quick pace (a bit like the holiday I just had …). So in the space of one chapter, we begin with John the Baptist, Jesus is baptised by John in the Jordan, Jesus is then tested by Satan in the wilderness for forty days, Jesus returns preaching in Capernaum, he performs an exorcism, heals a man with a physical disability, great crowds gather around him and he performs many more miracles, Jesus then goes on a preaching tour around the neighbouring cities and then today’s passage begins with him re-entering Capernaum.
And the content of his preaching we find in Chapter 1, v 15:
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;repent, and believe in the good news.”
Guidance 5
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
With a Bit of Help From my Friends audio (4MB)
Well, we’ve come to the end of our series on Decision Making, so let’s have a quick quiz. What have we learned about making decisions in our lives? First of all, who do you rely on to guide you through your life?
If your answer was God or the Holy Spirit you’ve started well.
Next question: What is the primary means by which God promises to guide us? I hope your answer was through his word; through what we find in the Bible?
That leads to the next, and much more important question: Have you resolved to make reading your Bible a priority for your life? Have you worked out that knowing that God has given us his word to guide us is of no use unless you actually take it and study it?
Next Question: What happens if you get it wrong? Does that ruin God’s plan for your life? This one’s a little more difficult isn’t it? All of us get worried at one time or another that we’ve blown it with God. Some of us have made such terrible mistakes that we think they’re irredeemable. Yet we know that God promises to overlook our weakness. In fact he tells us that his power is made great in our weakness. So there are no mistakes that we can make that will limit God in bringing about his plans for us. God is sovereign over all things, including our mistakes.
Here’s our final question: Apart from knowing God’s will and waiting for the prompting of the Holy Spirit to show you the right path to take, what else can you do to make sure you make the right decisions?
A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
audio (5MB)
As we’ve been thinking about decision making over the past few weeks, I wonder whether you’ve thought to yourself “I’m not sure if I could ever know what God wants me to do and I’m not sure I could feel confident in asking him to show me.” Or have you thought you couldn’t ask God to guide you because you may not be good enough? In fact is that how you think about asking God for anything?
It’s very natural isn’t it? I regularly find myself thinking “I can’t ask God for that. I haven’t done this yet.” But the question is, what do you see as the key to faith. What is it that faith hangs on? Is it something in ourselves or something outside? Well today’s gospel reading provides us with something of an answer to that very question.
Here we find two accounts of Jesus healing people, very cleverly interwoven so that we see a number of contrasts and a number of similarities.
