First Baptist Nixa Podcast

In the Triumphal Entry, Jesus publically declared Himself to be King. But what kind of king is He?

Mark 10:13-31 lays out two vastly different approaches to God - those who receive the kingdom with a child-like faith, and those who seek to achieve the kingdom of God through their works.

The state of marriage in Jesus’ day was not so different from our own. First-century Judaism had a kind of no-fault divorce policy, based upon a liberal reading of Deuteronomy 24:1, in which a man could divorce his wife if he found indecency in her. Jesus responds to the Pharisees’ question by making three assertions.

We are in a war against sin, eternity is at stake, and those who acknowledge this fact, arm themselves for battle, and go forth to fight will be saved, while those who surrender to the oncoming assault and let sin occupy their heart like a conquering enemy will be lost.

On the road to Jerusalem, Jesus has much to teach His disciples about what it means for Him to be the Messiah, and what it means for them to be followers. Today's passage contains three distinct lessons in discipleship, each confronting three dangers: Mission drift, ladder climbing, and a separatist mentality.

Mark 9:14-29 speaks two words to two different audiences. To the disciples, there is a lesson in the power for effective ministry. And to the desperate, there is a lesson in the wonder of Christ's mercy even for those who are weak in the faith.

The transfiguration occurred in order to give us a vision of the coming glory of Christ that we would know that after the suffering and after the cross, Christ will reign in power and glory, and we will reign with Him… if we suffer with Him.

According to the parable of the hidden treasure (Matt. 13:44), entering the kingdom of heaven involves two steps – seeing the treasure, and selling everything to obtain it. Last week (8:11-30) we focused upon seeing the treasure, which is Christ and our inheritance in Him. This week we focus upon what it means to sell everything in order to obtain it.

What you see in Jesus is a matter of ultimate consequence. Therefore, a passage dealing with the matter of spiritual blindness and its cure is of ultimate relevance. That is exactly what we have in Mark 8:11-30.

Isaiah 52:7; Joel 2:21; Psalm 68:3; John 15:11 Rom. 1:21-22,25; Gen. 3:1-8; Prov. 14:12-13

What should be our goal at First Baptist Nixa for the coming year? I find the answer to that question in 1 Timothy 4:7. We should resolve to be godly.

Revelation 12 helps us to view Christmas from a cosmic perspective, encompassing all of history and creation in the great story of redemption.

The purpose of Jesus' one and only excursion into Gentile territory was to reprogram His disciples and get them on board with God's global purpose to redeem a people from every tribe, and nation, and to gather them into one body, the church.

This passage of Mark’s Gospel contains a strange encounter between a Gentile woman and Jesus, in which He rebuffs her desperate plea for help and insults her, before finally giving in. What explains Jesus’ initial refusal and rudeness?

This passage deals with the fundamental human problem (the defilement of sin), the wrong way to address it (externally by works of the law), and by implication, the right way to address it (internally, by faith and the regeneration of the Holy Spirit).

When Jesus saw the crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. But Jesus came to be the great shepherd of the sheep. Mark 6:30-56 displays four ways in which Jesus fulfills this role.

We need a different view of discipleship, one informed more by the Word of Christ than the American dream. That is why we need passages like this, which call us out of our safe and comfortable lives and into the dangerous unknown armed only with a promise; Nothing can happen to us in the cause of Christ that has not been predestined from the foundations of the world for God’s eternal glory and our everlasting joy. We cannot fail.

In Mark's Gospel, Jesus touches the untouchable and cleanses the unclean. But how do we receive the cleansing power of Jesus? By faith. But what is faith? Today's passage shows us five characteristics of the faith that saves.

The theme of Mark 4:35 - 5:43 is that the authority of Jesus Christ is without limit. He has absolute authority over the forces of nature, evil, and even sickness and death.