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This passage in Acts is a wonderful account of a lame man who, when healed, goes leaping and shouting through the temple. When a crowd gathers, Peter gives us a clear understanding of how the Gospel is to be presented to others. We also see the opposite reactions among those who heard. We will learn a lot about what we believe and what we should share with others about the faith.
Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA
Leprosy brought with it exclusion, separation, and shame. It was essentially incurable. Yet the Old Testament detailed a means to be reinstated to society if the priest declares the leper clean. Our sinful hearts are a lot like leprosy and separate us from God. Our High Priest Jesus is willing to cleanse our hearts if we are faithful to come to Him for healing.
Mark 1:40-45
Leviticus 13:45-46
Sean Byham
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA
Mark tells us of a blind man who saw very clearly before he was actually healed... more than most see today... and we are called to be like him.
Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:
- Why was Bartimaeus named?
- Why was he so tough and unwilling to keep quiet?
- What does it say about Jesus that He heard him over the crowd?
- Why did Jesus ask him that obvious question?
- Why is the statement that "everyone will be in Bartimaeus' position someday" true?
- Why does everyone have to come to Christ like him?
Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA
Are you making progress in your faith? Does Jesus agree with your assessment? Mark tells us He challenged the disciples in this area and still does today.
Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:
- Why did Jesus heal these two men differently than most?
- What was Jesus' concern for the progress of the disciples' faith?
- How is our faith?
- Are we making progress?
- Are we making the connections?
- How can we nurture our faith?
Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA
Mark tells us of a woman who pursued Jesus with a determination that she could be healed with one touch of His cloak. There is much for us to learn from her and about Jesus who embodies in Himself even now all we need for salvation and life.
Leviticus 15:19-33
Mark 5:24-34,4:31
Romans 11:33
Faith brings an empty hand, receives everything, and can give nothing in return. No grace is so important to the Christian's own soul. By faith we begin. By faith we live. By faith we stand. We walk by faith and not by sight. By faith we overcome. By faith we have peace. By faith we enter into rest. No grace should be the subject of so much self-inquiry. We should often ask ourselves, Do I really believe? Is my faith true, genuine, and the gift of God? J.C. Ryle
There is a lesson here which all true Christians would do well to remember. We are not to be ashamed to confess Christ before men, and to let others know what He has done for our souls. If we have found peace through His blood, and been renewed by His Spirit, we must not shrink from avowing it, on every proper occasion. It is not necessary to blow a trumpet in the streets, and force our experience on everybody's notice. All that is required is a willingness to acknowledge Christ as our Master, without flinching from the ridicule or persecution which by so doing we may bring on ourselves. More than this is not required; but less than this ought not to content us. If we are ashamed of Jesus before men, He will one day be ashamed of us before His Father and the angels. J.C. Ryle
Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:
- What excuses could this woman have given to not get up and go to Jesus?
- When the Bible says that living faith acts/does things... how was this shone in her life?
- What does this passage teach us about Jesus... specifically, what does it mean that He embodies in Himself all we need for salvation and everlasting life?
- Why is faith easy in one sense, and how is that illustrated in this event?
- How is faith hard... and how is it illustrated?
Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA
"Stop fearing, only believe"... those are Jesus' words to a man who just lost his only daughter. How do we do this... how does our faith in Jesus alter our emotional state? These are the questions explored in this sermon from the book of Mark.
Mark 5:21-43
John 11:21
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
Psalm 68:5-6
Isaiah 46:4
Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:
- Why was Jairus conflicted about going to see Jesus?
- What motivated him to go?
- How does this kind of thing happen still today for people?
- What does this passage teach about Jesus?
- Why did He want this miracle to be kept secret?
- How can we stop fearing and only believe?
Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA
What an amazing passage of Scripture from Mark, the religious folks plotting to destroy Jesus, the demons falling at His feet calling Him the Son of God, and Jesus revealing what true religion is really all about.
Leviticus 24:5-9
1 Samuel 21:1-6
Mark 2:18-3:12
Luke 18:11-13
Matthew 6:16-18
James 1:28
Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:
- How did the religious folks respond to Jesus?
- Why do you think they did that?
- What was Jesus' message to the people of His day and ours through this passage of Scripture?
- Why did Jesus think it was so important to read the Bible?
- How can we avoid becoming a Pharisee?
Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA
Jesus delays healing a paralytic while he forgives his sins. That is not what the man wanted... he wanted to walk. What is Jesus teaching here in Mark about what is most important?
Daniel 7:9-14
Mark 1:45-2:12,1:1,1:11
Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:
- What does it mean that Jesus saw their faith?
- Why did Jesus not heal the man first and then forgive his sins?
- How were the scribes sort of right and also very wrong?
- How do people today want Jesus' blessings but are not really concerned about having their sins forgiven?
- Why is having our sins forgiven the most important thing?
Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA
Mark describes a man with leprosy who believed Jesus was powerful but wondered if He was willing to help Him. How many people find themselves in that situation?
Leviticus 13:38-46,14:1-20
Mark 1:40-45
John 14:6
Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:
- Why would it have been hard for the sick man to come to Jesus?
- Why is Jesus so willing to help?
- Why did the man have no questions about Jesus' ability?
- Why do we desperately need Jesus?
- Will He treat us differently than this man?
- What would it be like to see this healing?
Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA
Mark tells us that Jesus heals an entire town... why, what is this revealing about Him and the Kingdom He is bringing? Why did He spend so much time in private prayer? We will explore our Lord's life and seek answers to these questions.
Every fact in our Lord's life on earth, and every word which fell from His lips, ought to be deeply interesting to a true Christian. We see a fact and a saying in the passage we have just read, which deserve close attention.
We see, for one thing, an example of our Lord Jesus Christ's habits about private prayer. We are told, that "in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed."We shall find the same thing often recorded of our Lord in the Gospel history. When He was baptized, we are told that He was "praying." (Luke 3:21) When He was transfigured, we are told, that "as He prayed, the form of His face was altered." (Luke 9:29) Before He chose the twelve apostles, we are told that "He continued all night in prayer to God." (Luke 6:12) When all men spoke well of Him, and would sincerely have made Him a King, we are told that "He went up into a mountain alone to pray." (Mark 14:23) When tempted in the garden of Gethsemane, He said, "Sit here, while I pray." (Mark 14:34) In short, our Lord prayed always, and did not faint. Sinless as He was, He set us an example of diligent communion with His Father. His Godhead did not render Him independent of the use of all means as a man. His very perfection was a perfection kept up through the exercise of prayer.
We ought to see in all this the immense importance of private devotion. If He who was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners," thus prayed continually, how much more ought we who are compassed with infirmity? If He found it needful to offer up supplications with strong crying and tears, how much more needful is it for us, who in many things daily offend?
What shall we say to those who never pray at all, in the face of such a passage as this? There are many such, it may be feared, in the list of baptized people--many who rise up in the morning without prayer, and without prayer lie down at night--many who never speak one word to God. Are they Christians? It is impossible to say so. A praying Master, like Jesus, can have no prayerless servants. The Spirit of adoption will always make a man call upon God. To be prayerless is to be Christless, Godless, and in the high road to destruction.
What shall we say to those who pray, yet give but little time to their prayers? We are obliged to say that they show at present very little of the mind of Christ. Asking little, they must expect to have little. Seeking little, they cannot be surprised if they possess little. It will always be found that when prayers are few, grace, strength, peace, and hope are small.
We shall do well to watch our habits of prayer with a holy watchfulness. Here is the pulse of our Christianity. Here is the true test of our state before God. Here true religion begins in the soul, when it does begin. Here it decays and goes backward, when a man backslides from God. Let us walk in the steps of our blessed Master in this respect as well as in every other. Like Him, let us be diligent in our private devotion. Let us know what it is to "depart into solitary places and pray."
We see, for another thing, in this passage, a remarkable saying of our Lord as to the purpose for which He came into the world. We find Him saying, "let us go into the next towns, that I may PREACH there also--for that is why I have come."
The meaning of these words is plain and unmistakable. Our Lord declares that He came on earth to be a preacher and a teacher. He came to fulfill the prophetical office, to be the "prophet greater than Moses," who had been so long foretold. (Deutoronomy 18:15) He left the glory which He had from all eternity with the Father, to do the work of an evangelist. He came down to earth to show to man the way of peace, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind. One principal part of His work on earth, was to go up and down and publish glad tidings, to offer healing to the broken-hearted, light to those who sat in darkness, and pardon to the chief of sinners. He says, "That is why I have come."
We ought to observe here, what infinite honor the Lord Jesus puts on the office of the preacher. It is an office which the eternal Son of God Himself undertook. He might have spent his earthly ministry in instituting and keeping up ceremonies, like Aaron. He might have ruled and reigned as a king, like David. But He chose a different calling. Until the time when He died as a sacrifice for our sins, His daily, and almost hourly work was to preach. He says, "That is why I have come."
Let us never be moved by those who cry down the preacher's office, and tell us that sacraments and other ordinances are of more importance than sermons. Let us give to every part of God's public worship its proper place and honor, but let us beware of placing any part of it above preaching. By preaching, the Church of Christ was first gathered together and founded, and by preaching, it has ever been maintained in health and prosperity. By preaching, sinners are awakened. By preaching, inquirers are led on. By preaching, saints are built up. By preaching, Christianity is being carried to the heathen world. There are many now who sneer at missionaries, and mock at those who go out into the high-ways of our own land, to preach to crowds in the open air. But such persons would do well to pause, and consider calmly what they are doing. The very work which they ridicule is the work which turned the world upside down, and cast heathenism to the ground. Above all, it is the very work which Christ Himself undertook. The King of kings and Lord of lords Himself was once a preacher. For three long years He went to and fro proclaiming the Gospel. Sometimes we see Him in a house, sometimes on the mountain side, sometimes in a Jewish synagogue, sometimes in a boat on the sea. But the great work He took up was always one and the same. He came always preaching and teaching. He says, "That is why I have come."
Let us leave the passage with a solemn resolution never to "despise prophesying." (1 Thessalonians 5:20) The minister we hear may not be highly gifted. The sermons that we listen to may be weak and poor. But after all, preaching is God's grand ordinance for converting and saving souls. The faithful preacher of the Gospel is handling the very weapon which the Son of God was not ashamed to employ. This is the work of which Christ has said, "That is why I have come." J.C. Ryle
Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:
- What is the significance of Jesus' miracles?
- What do they tell us about the Kingdom of God which Jesus proclaimed?
- Why did Jesus pray so much?
- Why should I pattern my life after His in this area?
- Why did Jesus emphasize preaching?
- Why is this important to me?
Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA
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Luke 7:1-10
Matthew 8:5-13
Mark 6:6
Sermon quotes from Expository Thoughts on the Gospels by John Charles Ryle.
Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA
Left-click to Listen Now
Right-click to Download
Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA
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