MAC KIRK

Mark 6: 45-52 Living in fear of what life brings is where some of us live from time to time. And, today we hear another sea story for summer. There is something about the ocean that gives us a feeling of relief and assurance. But these are not always calm days at the beach. " And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. " 6:48 If we were to ask to look inside our hearts , it may be overwhelming to us to see what He finds there. It is the things that rile us that test us to see what we truly believe. Family members may be ill or a tragedy of some kind strike that we never thought possible. Or we can be isolated in some way that we are not feeling well enough to speak about what is really hurting and bothering us. In the reading from Ephesians the Apostle prays, " ...that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine.." To have a foundation that is not s

Rest Yourselves! Mark 6:30 Coming Home “ Mark 6:30-34;53-56 Familiar places are just that. Familiar. And warm and comfortable as well. Coming home is a treat in so many ways. We know where to turn. We do not have to look for the road signs. We know the area . We are at rest because we do not have to deal with unexpected things usually. We come home to our own bed and our dog greets us with a warm hello or a crazy one in my case. Jack jumps all over the house when we come home. He speaks in loud barks a long time and is so happy to see us, that sometimes I have to get on the floor and touch lay with him and touch him, even before my wife. Yes, coming home is a delight. The disciples had just witnessed the death of John the Baptist at the hand of King Herod. They could have been obviously sad and forlorn. Their activities had dominated the weeks before. And now they came to report to Jesus what they had seen and done. “ And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus,

Mark 6:7-13 " Gleanings from the calling and sending" We need a more simpler life. As we look at the news, the world and our communities , it is not. What are we doing to help ourselves to make a simpler life happen? Too many choices is the problem and that can lead to disaster. The battle is in the mind. We heard last week of performers and others we end up dead way before their time. We wonder if money can buy happiness , and would like to try it if we had enough. We should make a simple choice as Matthew Henry says that our lives should reflect , " a new heart and a new way." The message of a simple life in God can be obscured. Mark is a great place to begin for simplicity and directness. He wrote to the Roman people mostly, but in direct sentences. It seems that many were just interested in what Jesus could do for them, but not in what He said. What He said is the essence and kernal of the gospel message for all. Mark tells about the works

2 Corinthians 12 " Boasting" " Boasting?" " In what?" Great CS Lewis quote for those of us who are struggling which is everyone....“In the same way a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble--because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out." - Mere Christianity” ― C.S. Lewis As we go about we know many are struggling....We learned about the stats about the suicide rate in the us that grew so much over the last couple of years. We heard about Anthony Bourdain, dead at 61. We heard about Kate Spade, dead at 55. Both died by suicide. The Christian lives in the world and has trouble. The Church has trouble. But if we know in whom we have believed we know that He is able to keep that which we have entrusted to Him...2 Timothy 1:12