Cut to the heart. A few times in my life, someone has said something utterly true that then rings through my ears and feels like a dagger has been rammed through my heart.  I can think of several times when someone has said a small sentence that has significantly impacted my life. The words ring still to this day. Some have had positive effects that remind me of my hope in Christ and the delight of heaven. While others show

Children have an interesting role in society. They do not bring much value (financial) to the community. They can be seen as a burden. They need full-time care; they need to be instructed and trained. They do not pay taxes. They cannot vote or run for office. Yet, we all see the need for children because they become society at some point. Children are sometimes seen as a blessing but often seen more as a burden. This passage shows this

Topsy Turvey means to turn something from its top to make the top the bottom and the bottom the top. The Christian worldview has this idea that flows throughout its thought. This is understandable because if what the world calls good, we call evil, or what we call evil the world calls good, then we will come to a world view of the opposite understanding. What we value is what they despise. In the next section in Mark, we see

The past few weeks, we have been looking at the transfiguration. Last week we looked at the question of why Moses was at the transfiguration. This week we look at the question of why Elijah was at the transfiguration. This is the question the disciples asked following the event in verse eleven. I have often pointed out the many things we take for advantage as we read the Bible. We are blessed to live with the complete Bible from Genesis

Last week we looked at the Transfiguration of Jesus on the high mountain. Jesus is transfigured before the three disciples, Peter, James, and John. John explains in the prologue to his gospel account that, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). The three disciples beheld the glory of God on the mountain that day. As Peter described

The saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words. Sometimes a picture can simply remove the need for words. In some ways, words can carry more than a picture can. A picture cannot describe the emotion as well as words can. With a movie, you are an onlooker, however, in a book, it pulls you into the pages, and you use your imagination to be in the story. However, even with words and pictures, some things cannot be

Peter has made the glorious confession that Jesus is the Christ (Mark 8:29). However, now comes the teaching about what the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, had come to do. Many people believed he would be a military leader who would come and establish the kingdom of Israel as David had done. They would be set free from the oppression of the Roman Empire, they would have their own land again, and their own King. They saw the promises of God