Destination Church Spokane Podcast

We often don't see things clearly in the dark! When we're in the middle of a struggle, it can even be hard to recognize Jesus when he comes to us in ways and means we don't expect.  Jesus comes to his disciples while they are struggling forward in their boat and making painfully slow progress against the wind and waves, and they are terrified. (If you saw a figure walking on the water in the middle of the night you would be terrified too!)  Jesus words to them in their struggle and fear are the same words he says to us today:  "Take heart; it's me!"

Have you ever said, "I need a weekend after that weekend!" After the disciples' successful ministry, Jesus takes them away for some much needed rest. The culture that Jesus creates makes time for rest, and also makes time for people. "But I don't have time!" we may say to ourselves. Jesus can do more than we ever could on our own, and it is a faith challenge to actually believe this and to trust him. Rest matters, people matter, and faith matters; Jesus is building a culture that embraces this.

Privilege. Power. Influence. Murder. When news of Jesus' miraculous ministry makes it to the halls of the rich and powerful we discover more than just political intrigue; we must also grapple with the current reality of God's kingdom colliding with our own privilege and influence, and our own agendas. What if we dare to get in step with God's kingdom purpose, and trust the result to Him? It cost Jesus' cousin both his political freedom and his life. It was worth it then, and it's worth trusting Jesus now too.

While most Christians believe the church has a mission given by Jesus, the answers to how that looks may differ. When Jesus first sends out his twelve hand-picked disciples to represent him, how he sends them is telling: he sends them together in powerful community, carrying both his powerful mercy and his powerful message in the context of friendship. He sends us the same way, and we can expect similar results!

How do you honestly think you would respond if Jesus came to your town and you didn't know who he really was? In Mark 6:1-6 Jesus comes to his hometown, and the people are stunned. And offended. Jesus marvels at their unbelief, and soon moves on to other towns... but not before healing a few sick people.  No culture is so barren that Jesus can't bring healing to those who look to him. He makes time for the broken, even in an unbelieving environment.

When Jesus sails back across the sea he is quickly surrounded by a crowd, but it's the stories of two desperate people we are drawn into.  Jairus, whose twelve-year-old daughter's life is in the balance, and a woman whose illness throughout those same twelve years has left her penniless and alone.  We discover three kinds of faith:  Finding Faith, Focused Faith (both of which can be surprisingly fragile), and Following Faith.  All three kinds of faith are viable, and one is especially rooted into God's plan more than our own need.  Jesus' words, "Do not fear; only believe," still ring today, and are re-awakening dreams and dreamers!

Can you imagine Jesus making a special trip just for you? In the middle of your messed up life, Jesus steps in just to set you free? This is what happens in the beginning of Mark 5 when Jesus sails across the sea and rescues one seriously oppressed man, and sends him home with a story to tell. And Jesus isn't afraid to wreck the status quo to loose this man's story! While the others in the Decapolis rejected Jesus initially, this one man and his story of rescue will fill the entire region with awe. Your story of Jesus rescuing you out of your "crazy" is just as powerful to those who know you and your messed up history, and can see the transformation Jesus is making in your life.

"Why are you so afraid?" Jesus asks. After a long day of work, he has set out with his disciples to sail across the Sea of Galilee. While he slept in the back of the boat, a severe storm set in, and the disciples are afraid. Jesus does more than ask this question. He challenges, champions, and changes them through the storm, and he is still doing the same thing for us today. Who is this, that even the wind the sea obey him?

Do you believe Jesus wants you to be able to understand His Word?  That He wants you to understand and trust in His kingdom?  He does!  If we learn to listen deeply to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Bible brings us so much life, and His word has power to produce his life in us.  Though his kingdom may seem to start small, it will grow, bringing God's purpose in God's perfect timing!

Do you ever feel like your heart is hard? Shallow? Full of stuff you don't want?  No matter how hard, how shallow or stony, how prickly or how stunted we may be (or feel), God is freely scattering and sowing the seed of the Good News of Jesus Christ into us. He intends this Good News to be fruitful, and He is committed to a fruitful harvest.  So how can we receive and participate fully with His kingdom?  How can our hearts be prepared like a good soil?

The home is packed full of people gathered to Jesus, listening to His teaching. But is Jesus out of His mind? His mom and siblings are convinced that he is, and they've come to do something about it. Jesus' response is more than a little bit shocking! It's also an invitation to each of us to become part of his family, and he even tells us how to do it.

In Mark 3 Jesus is accused by religious leaders of being in league with the devil. Jesus responds to them face-to-face, and asks, "How can a divided kingdom stand?" He claims to be powerfully plundering the devil, not partnering with his domain. Is Jesus still plundering the kingdom of darkness today? Yes, and he is still bringing freedom to us!

It was dangerous business that Jesus was up to when he went up a mountain and appointed twelve men as his apostles.  The new community, the renewed Israel with Christ  Jesus at its center, would be extremely controversial!  (In fact, it still is!) These twelve men were hand-picked - although also very ordinary - and men in whom he took delight. Do you know today that if God has called you he also delights in you? Really knowing this is foundational, for God's call also will likely require great effort and sacrifice. Will you follow Him?  (NOTE:  There was a glitch in this recording, so they recording quality is very poor in the second half.  Our apologies, but we wanted to make the material available anyway!)

What purpose might Jesus have in calling us to withdraw with him?  When Jesus withdraws with his disciples by the sea, a massive crowd gathers to him, coming from not only from Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem, but from the non-Jewish culture of Tyre and Sidon, from Idumea in the south, and from Trans-Jordan to the east.  They come with needs, and they come because they want Jesus to set them free.  When Jesus invites us to strategically withdraw with him, we can expect the results to be freeing for us and for those God draws to us, whether that's in "church", the grocery store, or the beach!

You can almost taste the tension in the synagogue on this particular Sabbath.  A man with a real struggle, a debilitating issue, is there, but so are the hard-hearted legalists who are watching in order to trap Jesus.  The story begins with a man in the worship gathering who has a "withered" hand.  Will Jesus act according to their traditional Rabbinic law, leaving the man in his state?  How does he handle this religiously-charged environment?  And what will he do about our hands and hearts today?  The invitation stands:  stretch out your struggle.

Do you know how to rest?  Could it be that there is physical, emotional, and spiritual rest for us in Christ?  When Jesus says a Day of Rest was created for us, we are wise to hear His words and take them to heart.

Do you enjoy Jesus? Is that even okay to ask? What happens when we substitute spiritual disciplines for relationship with Jesus? When he is asked a question about why his disciples don't fast, Jesus responds, "No one fasts while the bridegroom is with them." Discover how Jesus uses three common life examples to establish our spiritual disciplines on a healthy foundation.

Who are the kind of people we would like to see follow Jesus? Now, think about this: who is Jesus actually calling to himself? Jesus calls to sinners, choosing even those society despises! In a culture torn through sinfulness of all kinds, Jesus calls both to people just like "us", and to people who are also very different to us, inviting us all to sit and to find rest and freedom at the same table with Him.

Is Jesus really accessible? Can He really forgive our sins and change our lives? When Jesus comes back to Capernaum and spends time teaching in the home where He is living, we see just how accessible He really is. Crowds fill the placee to overflowing, and four men show up at this impromptu meeting, bringing their friend who is paralyzed. They literally tear open the roof, interrupting Jesus as He teaches, and lower their friend in so he can be healed! How does Jesus respond? The implications for us are of eternal value!

During the Covid-19 pandemic a sense of being "untouchable" quickly permeated much of global culture, which brings up an important question. How does Jesus engage with the "untouchable"? In Mark 1:40-45 a man comes to him with a potentially contagious disease, and Jesus counter-culturally, physically touches him! A guy rejected by society, that the law demands be separated from society, is touched and instantly made clean. Beyond Covid-19, who are the "untouchables" in our culture? How does Jesus call us to engage with the outcasts?  How is Jesus engaging with us?