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“You can pick your actions, or you can pick your consequences, but you can never pick both” This was the central idea of a lecture on ethics I heard a while back. You can pick your actions, or you can pick your consequences, bur you can never pick both. The central idea is this: If you are picking your…

Salt and Light Matthew 5:13-16 Central Truth: God has M ade me to I mpact the W orld ! John 20:21 , Matt. 28:18 -22, and Matt. 6:33 ----------------- Salt & Light ----------------- - Who am I? Matthew 5:13 &14 – “You Are” A D isciple of C hrist : Matthew 5:1-2 100% A ll I n : Matthew 16:24-26 Different…

Intro What do Wilt Chamberlain, Mohamed Ali, Alexander the Great, and Paul the Apostle all have in common? Each of them are arguably touted as the greatest in their fields. Each worked very hard, held themselves to the highest standard. And they each call, challenged, and motivated others to achieve…

Recap of Last Week Subtitle: The Reality of Repentance Big Idea: Sincere repenters seek ways to live anew When repentance is preached, There are spontaneous responses Egotistic people become benevolent Malcontents find fulfillment This Morning we focus on 15-17 Big Idea: Preachers of the Gospel must…

38 Now John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. 40 For he who is…

Visions of Assurance Good afternoon. Chapter fourteen is a continuations of this lengthy interlude that we have been looking at for some time now. In chapter ten the seventh trumpet brought us right up to the time of the end. But before that time begins John is given visions of the lengthy struggle that…

Title : John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he wasn’t following us.” “Don’t stop him,” said Jesus, “because there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name who can soon afterward speak evil of me. For whoever is not against…

The Authority to Forgive Sins 1 When he entered Capernaum again after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and he was speaking the word to them. 3 They came to him bringing a paralytic, carried by four…

1. Death is a state of {separation} . 2. Both believers and non-believers will be {raised} from the dead. 3. Believers Rewarded A. Immediate Reward a. This judgment will occur in heaven immediately {after} the rapture of the Church. 4 For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this…

Intro Review Our Focus: What Jesus Did and Taught Mark’s Focus - Jesus as the Royal Servant | Behavior of Disciples Chapters 1-8 Actually might have a heavier emphasis on Servant and 9-16 on Kingdom. Start with Transfiguration in 9, building to an unmissable crescendo in 11 with the Triumphal entry and…

Introduction : If you have your Bible, let me invite you to open with me to the book of Mark chapter 9. If you do not have a copy of God’s word just slip up your hand and one of our church members will be glad to bring you one. We will begin reading in Mark 9:42-50 here in just a moment. Before we turn…

Look whose looking at me A Proud young man walked into a room looking for his friend. He passed two blond young women near the door who looked him over then looked at each other and said and the same time ‘NINE’. The prideful young man puffed out his chest and drew a big smile on his face then walked…

There is an old saying that goes something like this, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” That word “fury” means rage and anger. A woman scorned is a vindictive, determined woman to get her revenge [ Jezebel after Elijah ]. Though that saying might be true about a woman scorned, it is not accurate…

2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom…

Let us pray…Gracious and Loving God, as we come before you this day, our hearts are full of love for you and the life of your Son, our minds are full of the things that we need to do yet today and in this coming week, and our eyes cannot escape all that flashes before them as we scan the TV, computer,…

Let us pray…Gracious and loving God, as we come before you today, we pray for hearts focused on you, for ears trained to your still speaking voice, and eyes to see clearly the path you have laid before us, Amen. The Invitation I know in the last year this does not or has not happened much but think back…

Let us pray…Gracious and loving God, as we move further away from your Son’s birth, help us in this day to remember the glow, the excitement, and the joy that came from celebrating his birth. As we come before you today in this time of reflection, open our hearts, minds, and spirits to your still speaking…

INTRODUCTION We distance ourselves from the reality of Hell because it is unsettling. Some “preachers” don’t mention it. One to the first things we need to talk about it because it is the place God’s saves us from Hell is a real place Jesus talks about hell more than he talks about heaven and describes…

Palm Sunday Foretold by the Prophets 9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 22 The stone which the builders rejected…

Where do we start? 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever. What do we tend to fear? The unknown…

If this is your first or second time with us. Welcome to Branches Church! I am glad you are here. Branches is a Spirit filled, Spirit led church. What does that mean? As you have witnessed it means we are passionate in our praise and worship. It also means every service can turn out different. You never…

In Mark 9, Jesus confronts his disciples with the upside-down reality of the Kingdom of Heaven. Leaders are servants, children are important, outsiders are insiders, and we ourselves are our own worst enemies. So much of this is over-familiar to us, but what happens when we really apply it to ouselves? Can it change us? Should it? Does it?

Intro There was a Montana sheepherder who got sick and was taken to a hospital. His faithful sheep dog Shep kept watch outside his hospital door. It was not long before the sheepherder died and his body was taken to the train station, to be shipped back to his family in the East. The story is told, that…

A childlike spirit is the litmus test for spiritual maturity and against spiritual disorder. Not all spiritual growth is healthy. The Chinese has a term “Zouhuo Rumo 走火入魔,” which is equivalent to Kundalini Syndrome, a condition when a spiritual pactice gets derailed or melfunctioned that leads to mental and emotional disorders. In Christianity, I would call it Pharisee Syndrome. Pharisees are very spiritual people. They are very "faithful" to the scriptures, but according to Jesus, they are not "fruitful" because they got stuck in their egos and arrogance that caused the spiritual disorder.

Unlike in our economy, service trumps status in God's kingdom. Find out more in this message from Mark 9:30-50