Sermon Central
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Book Of Mark: The Right Now Gospel
Contributed by Justin Steckbauer on Mar 19, 2023 (message contributor)
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1. The Uniqueness Of Mark's Gospel: John The Baptist In The Wilderness
Contributed on Mar 19, 2023
Focusing in on Mark chapter one verses 1-20, and we’ll be reflecting on three key events in this first portion of Mark. We’ll be looking at the ministry of John the Baptist as he prepared for the coming of Jesus, then the baptism of Jesus, and Jesus’ calling his first disciples.
Last night I was listening to some beautiful music. And I was just thinking, this music is a gift from God. It really is. Who is this creator who made everything? How are we to understand who he is? Of course, we know we understand from his word, but I was thinking, and I wondered: What can we ...read more
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2. Jesus Casts Out Impure Spirits And Heals A Fever
Contributed on Mar 19, 2023
Jesus is operating in a small part of ancient Israel, in the region of Galilee. And we’re going to see Jesus engaging in the spiritual battle, by dealing demons that are inhabiting people.
"John Paton was a missionary in the New Hebrides Islands. One night hostile natives surrounded the mission station, intent on burning out the Patons and killing them. Paton and his wife prayed during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to ...read more
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3. A Rock Solid Faith In The God Of The Impossible
Contributed on Mar 19, 2023
“Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.”
I remember growing up there were always students at school who were excluded. Some of them were excluded because they were different, they were handicapped, and others were excluded because they were considered different, were considered “losers” and sat at the “loser table.” What does it feel ...read more
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4. King Jesus Christ The Lord Of The Sabbath
Contributed on Mar 27, 2023
People take notice and the growth of the Jesus movement blows up. People in Israel begin to realize Jesus is something special in the history of the universe. And they want to know more. We should still want to know more today. Who was this Jesus? Why did he do what he did?
My girlfriend and I went to the dog groomer yesterday, we took her dog Sam in. He was not at all happy when he realized where we were taking him. Sam does not like the groomer, because of the loud noises, and the strange environment. So Sam was shaking as the groomer worked. Sam was uncertain, ...read more
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5. Is Your Heart Stubborn Or Soft? How To Guard Your Heart Diligently
Contributed on Apr 19, 2023
It depends on your heart. The seat of who you are, and your decision making. The heart. It’s about what is in your heart. And what influences your heart has taken in, what is your desire, what is your life pointed at? Where have you taken your heart in your choices?
I was over at cone zone ice cream on Saturday. And I was pulling through the drive through. On the front of my vehicle I have a license plate that says “Jesus Christ is the answer.” I saw a lady with her son look at the license plate and scowl and I could read her lips she said, “no it isn’t.” And ...read more
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6. Are You Led By The Spirit Of God Or The Spirit Of The World?
Contributed on Apr 24, 2023
Brothers and sisters, if you are in Christ today, if you are born a second time, a new being, with the Sacred Spirit within you, and it’s really real, then you are closer to me than my own flesh and blood family. We are family by the Spirit of God.
As believers in Jesus we are his representative body on the Earth. We are the body of Christ. This means Jesus does his work through us, as we are led by Him. That’s something I think we need to emphasize more and more, being led by God’s Spirit practically on a daily basis. Are you led by the ...read more
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7. Jesus Of Nazareth Calms The Storm On The Lake: What Are The Storms In Your Life?
Contributed on May 8, 2023
The storm hits, don’t wake up Jesus, trust that he's with you in the storm, even though he’s silent. He’s asleep. But, Jesus is with you even though he’s silent.
"In April 1988 the evening news reported on a photographer who was a skydiver. He had jumped from a plane along with numerous other skydivers and filmed the group as they fell and opened their parachutes. On the film shown on the telecast, as the final skydiver opened his chute, the picture ...read more
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8. The Man Who Lived Among The Tombs: The Gospel Hidden In Plain Sight
Contributed on May 20, 2023
What exactly is possession? It’s when a demon has actually entered someone and is exerting a level of control over the person. All of us today have been influenced by demons from time to time.
In my hometown growing up there was a main drive you’d go down called Grand Avenue. And as kids we’d often be traveling with the family in the car. And along grand avenue there was this huge grave yard, I mean like 5 blocks long, and we’d always say, hold your breath, as we passed by the graveyard. ...read more
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9. Jairus And His Sick Daughter: Don't Be Afraid; Just Believe (The God Who Heals)
Contributed on May 27, 2023
The Lord Jesus heals people physically, mentally, spiritually, he heals our past sorrows, he heals our broken memories, he washes away our sins. Our God is a healing God. That is fundamental to his character.
"One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, "Jump! I'll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, ...read more
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10. Who Was John The Baptizer? His Life And How He Died
Contributed on Jun 5, 2023
John the baptizer was born and spoke for the purpose of telling the masses to get ready, something huge is about to happen.
Who was John the baptizer? He was not one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. He was in fact a blood relative of Jesus. Jesus’s cousin. But there was something very special about John. His birth happened in a very special way. He would become a voice crying out to the entire nation of Israel, to prepare ...read more
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11. Jesus Rejected In His Hometown: Are You Offended Or Faithful?
Contributed on Jun 5, 2023
We’ll be looking at two key moments in the life of Jesus, first the moment when Jesus visits his hometown and is rejected by them. Secondly, we’ll look at a moment when Jesus sent out his disciples to do ministry.
“Three elements of personality are involved in making a decision to become a Christian, or in making any significant decision for that matter. They are the emotions, the intellect, and the will. For example, a young man meets a young woman. They are immediately attracted to one another. They both ...read more
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12. Jesus Walks On The Water
Contributed on Jun 24, 2023
What’s the deeper message here for us today? It’s the gospel hidden in plain sight. I’ve noticed in the events of Jesus ministry we find the gospel again and again hidden in symbolic images.
Growing up in Wisconsin we would go “up north” twice a year at least, to a town called Minocqua. And we would spend hours boating, we would travel something they called up there the “chain of lakes.” We’d take my dads boat from lake Minocqua down through these thin passages, to lake Tomahawk, and ...read more
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13. The Pharisees Confront Jesus: What Does It Mean To Be A Hypocrite? An Issue Of The Heart
Contributed on Jul 10, 2023
The Pharisees today are often regarded as hypocrites, mean, nasty, people who killed Jesus, and it’s true that they plotted against Jesus. But in general these were not bad people. These were religious leaders trying to help the people live according to God’s ways.
A lot of the scriptures that we look at, I feel like we get to understand another piece of the puzzle about who Jesus really is. It’s like we dive into a moment in history and we get to look over the shoulder of Jesus and see what he does, and why he does it, and we’re amazed. We want to live like ...read more
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14. A Syrian Phoenician Woman Comes To Jesus For Help
Contributed on Jul 10, 2023
It’s an interesting incident for this Phoenician woman to come and ask Jesus for help. She is a Greek, not a Jew.
How does the gospel of Mark all fit together? It’s all one cohesive message, to answer the question, who is Jesus really? It begins with John in the wilderness proclaiming the entry of the messiah into history. We see God step into the picture at this point. Then, we see Jesus preaching a message ...read more
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15. Jesus Provides Food For The 4,000: The Response Of The Crowds, Pharisees, And Disciples
Contributed on Jul 10, 2023
These four thousand people have probably been eating what little they had with them when they began following Jesus, which probably wasn’t much. They may have found sources of water along the way. But they’re now in a predicament.
“Oh why didn’t I listen!?" The rich man cries out from the depths of hell, to this very day in 2023. He needed salvation dearly but could not see it. And he looked and saw Lazarus, comforted, in paradise. The rich man in sorrows, why didn’t he listen? He was rich, he was powerful, he did not ...read more
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16. The Way Of The Messiah: Deny Yourself, Take Up Your Cross, And Follow Me
Contributed on Jul 26, 2023
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Have you ever seen a star being born? Here we see a picture from the James Webb Space Telescope, of just such an event. From the STSI: “NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is celebrating the first anniversary of its start of science operations with this image of a star-forming region in the Rho ...read more
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17. The Transfiguration Of Jesus: What Is The 'mountain Top Experience' Christians Talk About?
Contributed on Jul 26, 2023
In the Bible we see various individuals who had spiritual experiences. Some of them include Jacob, who had a dream of a a staircase leading into the sky, Isaiah who saw God and was terrified.
Have you ever had an experience in your life where you saw something beyond this world? These experiences are rare. We live in a physical universe and we experience life in the physical universe. But, we know there are many things that go beyond what can be perceived by our five senses. We know ...read more
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18. I Believe Lord; Help My Unbelief!
Contributed on Aug 14, 2023
“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
“In college I was asked to prepare a lesson to teach my speech class. We were to be graded on our creativity and ability to drive home a point in a memorable way. The title of my talk was, "The Law of the Pendulum." I spent 20 minutes carefully teaching the physical principle that governs ...read more
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19. The Sound Of Freedom: God's Command To Love And Protect Children
Contributed on Aug 14, 2023
Will children be taught biblical values or gender ideology? What is right and wrong? How will we explain it to our children?
The hit film “The Sound of Freedom” has grossed over 155 million dollars at the box office, hitting on the key issue of human trafficking occurring at massive levels across the world. How should Christians treat children? That is a key point found in our scripture today. The Bible tells us that ...read more
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20. Jesus Addresses The Topic Of Marriage, Divorce, And Remarriage
Contributed on Aug 14, 2023
Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
Have you heard the dreaded stat that 50% of marriages today end in divorce? Yeah, that isn’t actually true. It was a myth. It came from a projection that if the divorce rate continued to raise by 2% each year, that it could reach that level. But it never actually did. It’s probably closer to 30 to ...read more
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21. Money Isn't Everything: A Wealthy Young Guy Meets Jesus Face To Face
Contributed on Sep 25, 2023
The young man falls on his knees before Jesus. He is overcome by his presence, he is amazed, and excited to meet Jesus, this God-man who is changing everything. And he asks him a very, very, very important question: How do I get eternal life?
"In 1928 a group of the world's most successful financiers met at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. The following were present: The president of the largest utility company, The greatest wheat speculator, The president of the New York Stock Exchange, A member of the President's ...read more
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22. How Can I Be The Greatest In God's Kingdom?
Contributed on Sep 25, 2023
It was great for me, a breath of fresh air in fact, to escape that rat race, and find myself in an entirely different system, a system called the kingdom of God.
We’re coming into the primary season that will lead up to a presidential election in about a year, and there was a debate recently, and many interviews on television, and Trump and tucker talking on Twitter, and Biden and RFK Jr. and various others on both sides of the political debate getting ...read more
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23. Jesus Christ Drives The Money-Changers From The Temple
Contributed on Sep 25, 2023
Messiah Jesus clears the temple of the money changers. This is symbolic of the fact that Jesus would make the way of the gentiles to come into God’s kingdom as well.
"While Josh McDowell was attending seminary in California, his father went Home to be with the Lord. His mother had died years earlier, but Josh was not sure of her salvation. He became depressed, thinking that she might be lost. Was she a Christian or not? The thought obsessed him. ...read more
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24. Jesus' Authority Questioned: Who Has Authority Over Your Life?
Contributed on Sep 25, 2023
We want to understand as Christians that Jesus Christ fundamentally has authority over our lives. What does authority mean? Authority is power, control, influence. My life is not my own, my life belongs to God. God has authority over me.
"In U.S. Navel Institute Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute, Frank Koch illustrates the importance of obeying the Laws of the Lighthouse. Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead ...read more
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25. Jesus Questioned About Paying Taxes
Contributed on Sep 25, 2023
So knowing that the U.S. government apparently is somewhat reckless in how it spends money, should we still pay our taxes faithfully? Or should we try to get around our taxes?
In the year 2022, according to the CBO, the United States government raised 4.9 trillion dollars in tax income. About half came from individual income taxes. It’s a massive amount of money that we’re talking about, but despite that, the U.S. government is currently 33.1 trillion dollars in debt, ...read more
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26. What Is The Most Important Command Of God?
Contributed on Oct 16, 2023
Conquer yourself. That is the challenge isn’t it? We’re not talking about something outside ourselves. We’re looking right into our own heart.
"A lighthouse along a bleak coast was tended by a keeper who was given enough oil for one month and told to keep the light burning every night. One day a woman asked for oil so that her children could stay warm. Then a farmer came. His son needed oil for a lamp so he could read. Still another ...read more
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27. The Signs Of The End Times: Be Watchful And Be Alert
Contributed on Oct 16, 2023
Israel was brutally attacked by Hamas terrorists from the Gaza strip recently. In a few short hours, over 1,400 had lost their lives. 3,400 were injured. 199 people were kidnapped.
On Saturday October 7th 2023 the nation of Israel was brutally attacked by Hamas terrorists from the Gaza strip. The attack involved thousands of rockets, men launches themselves through the air on hang-gliders, as well as complex breaches of the fences protecting Israel from the Gaza strip. In a ...read more
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28. Only By Remembering Our Past Can We Face The Future: The Woman Who Anointed Jesus
Contributed on Oct 23, 2023
Set a pattern in your life. Remember the day you received salvation through Jesus Christ. Celebrate that day. Rejoice. Remember the day of your birth, the day God gave you life. Celebrate Christmas, that Jesus was born.
It’s so incredibly important that we remember our history, our heritage, and who we are. If we don’t know who we are, the history of our people, our nation, our faith, our religion, our family, our state, our city, all of these things, then we’re liable to believe anything that we’re fed, and to be ...read more
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29. Three Dark Moments Of Jesus' Life: The Falling Away, The Garden, And The Betrayal: Sunset, Early Night, And Deep Night
Contributed on Nov 4, 2023
“You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written: “‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’”
What was your darkest moment in life? When did you hit a sort of rock bottom? I can think a few of moments in my life. I remember when I was 17 years old, I was downstairs in my parents basement. My parents had just split up. I had been bullied a lot in school, until I started doing drugs and ...read more
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30. The Trial Of Jesus Before The Spiritual And Government Authorities
Contributed on Nov 13, 2023
We’ll see how three groups respond to Jesus: the spiritual leaders of the nation, the followers of Jesus themselves, and governmental authorities.
"For centuries people believed that Aristotle was right when he said that the heavier an object, the faster it would fall to earth. Aristotle was regarded as the greatest thinker of all time, and surely he would not be wrong. Anyone, of course, could have taken two objects, one heavy and one ...read more