Month: January 2024

“I have come to call not the righteous, but the sinners” -Jesus

Jesus calls a tax collector to be his disciple. And more than that, Jesus surrounds himself with tax collectors and others that people judged as sinners. Jesus doesn’t’ deny that they are sinners, but rather says that it is for sinners that he has come. With that statement, Jesus puts the ball in our court. Will we deny that we are sinners and so prevent Jesus from coming to us? Or will we admit that we are sinners and open the door for Jesus to come to us and save us from our sin? Are we the ones Jesus has come to save? We’ll talk about this on Sunday.

–Pastor Travis Norton

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“Son, your sins are forgiven.” Mark 2:5

This is what Jesus says to the man who was paralyzed, whose friends dug a hole in the roof to get him before Jesus. I think it’ s fair to say that the man wasn’t going to Jesus to get his sins forgiven. I wonder how we would respond if we came to Jesus for healing, or to have some other difficulty in our life solved and the first thing we heard from Jesus was ‘your sins are forgiven.’ I don’t get the sense that many of us are too concerned with unforgiving sin. Would we take offense, or would we just be confused? What do you think it means to have sin that needs forgiving? Maybe we need to start there? We’ll talk about all this on Sunday, see you there!

–Pastor Travis Norton

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Pastor Carrie Baylis

Mark 1: 21-28

This text is the brief story of Jesus teaching in the synagogue and when he is interrupted by a man he recognizes that he is captive by his demons and Jesus casts the demon out.

I wonder if the man who spoke out knew that he was captive to a demon?  As he shouted out to Jesus and told him that he knew he was the Holy One of God, it’s as though he was confessing a secret he knew about who Jesus really was.  Jesus silenced him and cast out the impure Spirit.

What are the demons that we hold onto?  Where are we confronted with demons or impure spirits and thoughts?  Just like the man held captive we too know that Jesus brings us promise, how do we hold onto that and our demons at the same time? 

-Pastor Carrie Baylis

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“‘When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” John 1:47-48

How great would it be to meet Jesus and have him exclaim to everyone around that you were a person with absolutely no deceit? Jesus declares this with an exclamation point! I wish I could be found by Jesus with such a track record, but sin is pervasive. Thankfully, Jesus sees us where we are. Jesus saw Nathanael under the fig tree. Jesus knew Nathanael before Nathanael knew Jesus. That’s the God we have, someone that knows us, sees us, and calls us.

We start a new sermon series this week called “The Jesus Impact” where we will explore the choices Jesus makes in his first few months of his ministry. How does he choose to tell the world who he is and what he has come to do? And this week we will consider who he called to join him on his journey.

-Michaela Eskew

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“And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him” Mark 1:10 

The heavens torn apart! I love that image and that language. When Jesus is baptized Heaven isn’t just open, which would be amazing in and of itself, but it is torn. A tear doesn’t go back, it’s hard to mend, it ragged and leaves a scar, it can be permanent. I like to think that baptism is an opening of heaven to us and there’s no going back. We are claimed by God, similarly to how Jesus was claimed. And that claims stamps us for the rest of our lives, calling us toward heaven. I’m excited to talk about this with you this Sunday! 

–Pastor Travis Norton

Looking for last week’s worship? You can find it here!

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