April 8, 2024: Monday Morning Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 8:38 – 9:1
Christ Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed! May the Hope of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you in every part of your life. In the Resurrection Christ has driven the darkness and power of death away. Christ is victorious! Life, forgiveness, and Salvation belong to us through His victory. Now death is no longer able to separate we who believe from God. Please pray for Martha's family as they await her (mother, grandmother, and great grandmother) journey through death's gate as she prepares to join Christ's triumphant heavenly kingdom. Please remember Steve who is having surgery in about two weeks, and Kandice, Jeff, and Pastor David who are battling very difficult to treat cancers.
Thank you all for your prayers and support during Melody's recovery from knee replacement surgery last week. I know that God find's great joy when we come together as sisters and brothers in Christ to offer Christ's care for those who are ill or recovering.
I am out of the office for at least one more week, but I will continue to offer online Bible Studies, and I will be at Church on Sundays to lead worship, and to share music with you. Today we are going to cover only a few verses of Mark 8 and 9. Mark 8:38 helps us to see the confidence of the Savior as He grows closer to the conclusion of the journey to which God has called Him. Jesus is certain of the choice He has made to be guided by the Father. When others might be very doubtful of what is coming, Jesus knows that his enemies will succeed in taking Him to the Cross, and His death. Christ's detractors believe that in death they will have defeated Jesus and the Truth which He taught, and as this all unfolded, they would be able to save their own power and wealth. Jesus knew that the evil He defeated would never now be able to hide the truth. The truth is not defeated! I had to think that even the disciples may have had their doubts about how things would go moving forward without their Master guiding them every day. What would happen to the important work that Jesus did, if they were unable to really meet the task ahead? However, within a few decades, the Christian message was on its way through Greece, and Italy, and the people who bore its message were continuing to grow the Church. We know this to be true because we have the letters of Paul and the Disciples that help us to understand what was going on, and how quickly Christ's Word continued to move. But what about today? Nearly every congregation in our nation has seen a decline in active members since the pandemic. Though there were only about 200 members of the Way religious group after Christ's death, the work of the Light of Jesus Christ was not, nor will it ever be, defeated by darkness and evil. It is an interesting time to be a clergy. But I come to you today to say the Light will never be defeated by darkness. The journey of the faithful may be many decades long once again, but our faithfulness will never fail to carry the Light and Truth, it's power will continue to be with Christ's faithful children and the church. Though things look tough right now in terms of the survival of the of once vibrant places of worship, you and I can have the confidence of Christ, the Church is here to stay today, tomorrow, and always. Remember! Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
In Christ's love, Pastor Kim
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