Pious Imposters
Separating the frauds from the hypocrites.
Read the whole article at https://mbird.com/bible/pious-imposters/
owards the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus issues a warning against the false prophets who will eventually infiltrate his newly-established community. They will be devious, he says, but with proper diligence they can be detected: “You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit” (Mt 7:16-17). Whatever their impressive abilities and accomplishments, these would-be prophets will ultimately reveal themselves (one way or another) to be dangerous frauds…………………………..
Spiritual Conversations (Teaching Series)
When it comes to evangelism, we have real fear of giving offense or being rejected. This fear creates barriers for many Christians when it comes to talking about their faith. Many people have said when spiritual conversations happened previously, it only created tensions and arguments. What I have seen is when we meld our faith with grace and good news, it will become a joy to have spiritual conversations, because it is indeed good news.
When it comes to evangelism, we have real fear of giving offense or being rejected. This fear creates barriers for many Christians when it comes to talking about their faith. Many people have said when spiritual conversations happened previously, it only created tensions and arguments. What I have seen is when we meld our faith with grace and good news, it will become a joy to have spiritual conversations, because it is indeed good news.
Reading Plan
April 24th 22 -
How will they hear -Romans 10 - 11:6
May 1st 22 -
Why We Stopped Talking -Luke 22:54-62 , Ezekiel 34:11-17, Colossians 4:2-6
May 8th 22 -
Beautiful Conversations-Isaiah 52
May 15th 22 -
Egar Conversationist -Ephesians 5-6
May 22nd 22 -
Everyday Conversations -Acts 4, 1 Peter 3:13-21
LHM
(Lutheran Hour Ministries)
Book which inspired this series.
![[Sunday] Eager - Spiritual Conversations](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1652451592564-OR8VRNJ5T9YCLS6P4ZR7/SC+4a.jpg)
![[Sunday] Shattered Beautiful - Spiritual Conversations](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1651785690302-VA8ZK4LAMJDT3ZXHZYGC/SC+3a.jpg)
![[Sunday] Why We Stopped Talking - Spiritual Conversations](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1651194231068-V79DNM80WD6ZM3TG3M7Q/SC+2a.jpg)
![[Sunday] How Will They Hear - Spiritual Conversations](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1650637265412-WN94VFZQCGUDQTPGYOUU/SC+1bb.jpg)
![[Bible Study] Chapter 6 | Gospel of Mark](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1650583117481-LZ91X3A8JFHGOROIX2NO/mark5.jpg)
![[Sunday] Mark 16 | Amazed Easter - Revealing True Power](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1650056072699-PC55569C0DPBUVULH69M/Revealing+Easter+a.jpg)
[Sunday] Mark 16 | Amazed Easter - Revealing True Power
There are clues and breadcrumbs which God has left us so we can see the resurrection today. We see it when our faces light up with a glory of amazement that can only be told about over and over.
Questions for the week
Describe a time when you were amazed. What caused you to be amazed?
Read Mark 16:1-8. Why were the women at the tomb amazed?
Think back over the Gospel of Mark. What are some other stories where people are amazed at Jesus?
When have you been amazed by Jesus in your life?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
![[Sunday] A Song of Christmas Light - Pointing to Greatness Stave 4](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1766107074577-MKU6U8LW1N5S1EATE1RW/Christmas+light+4a.jpg)
![Christmas Dinner at Mission BBQ [photos]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1766111458710-ULPCKS16DAZCMUN7LI93/PXL_20251218_000243197.jpg)
![[Sunday] A Song of Christmas Light - Know Me Better Man Stave 3](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1765482111687-AQYCM4FZQV9BO7JIPL02/Christmas+light+3a.jpg)
Good Friday | The Passion of True Power
The Passion of Jesus the Christ in Mark
Service Noon
What Had happened at Grace this week.
Maundy Thursday | Unraveled - Revealing True Power
Sometimes life just seems to unravel before our eyes. Maybe we need a savior who will unravel the creation to get us back.
Service 6PM
What Had happened at Grace this week.
Jesus’ Triumphal March to Crucifixion
In this way, Mark presents Jesus’ defeat and death, the moment of his greatest suffering and humiliation, as both literally and figuratively a triumph.
![[Sunday] Mark 15 | Coronation - Revealing True Power](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1649424746590-H31IBKWT8JOISN7MSZ2O/Revealing+14a.jpg)
[Sunday] Mark 15 | Coronation - Revealing True Power
Jesus rides into Jerusalem looking strangely like a ride of power from years ago. As Jesus continues to walk to the cross, he takes a path that resembles so many parades of power and prestige from those seeking crowns of glory. Come see the coronation of true power.
Questions for the week
Name some of the most powerful people in the world. Why would you consider them powerful?
Read Mark 15:16-39. What do those who are powerful in the world do to Jesus?
How do the powers of the world today act in similar ways?
How does Jesus show true power in Mark 15?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
Pacing Ourselves: Learning Moderation
How did we come to know that we were dying a slow and unacknowledged death?
Read the article at Pacing Ourselves: Learning Moderation - Mockingbird (mbird.com)
We felt that it was important to be good to ourselves, and that this meant that it was dangerous to tell ourselves no. About anything, ever. Repression of one’s desires was an unhealthy thing […]
When did the collision between our appetites and the needs of our souls happen?
How did we come to know that we were dying a slow and unacknowledged death? And that the only way back to life was to set all our packages down and begin again, carrying with us only what we really needed? -Barbara Cawthorne Crafton………………………
![[Bible Study] Chapter 4-5 | Gospel of Mark](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1649425419789-QSL97BZATD1V4XI7JKH7/mark4.jpg)
4-6-22 Wednesday - How Do You Like Me Now
How Do you Like Me Now - A Deep Dive into the Passion of Christ in Mark
Press Logo above to play service. For 4-6-22
What Had happened at Grace this week.
![[Sunday] Mark 14 | Pride & Power - Revealing True Power](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1648830962083-20B9KO9UOBIS0FY5YYQM/Revealing+13a.jpg)
[Sunday] Mark 14 | Pride & Power - Revealing True Power
Our pride and search for power can blind us to the realities of our life. It can cause us to call evil good and good evil. It can even cause us to kill and destroy the things we love. This week we see how our pride is destroying Jesus.
Questions for the week
Describe a time when your pride caused you to miss out.
Read Mark 14:43-72. Describe ways where you see pride and lusts for power push people further away from Jesus.
Read Mark 14:12-25. Even though Jesus knows Judas will betray him and Peter will deny him, who does he invite to his table? What does he do for them?
What does Jesus do for you and me, even though our pride and lust for power get in the way?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
Jesus Is After You
God is not a quaint idea.
Read article at https://mbird.com/religion/testimony/jesus-is-after-you/
young woman named Kelly Tietsort was called by God to be a missionary to Boys Town, a red-light compound controlled by a cartel near the border town of Reynosa, Mexico.
To be clear, she wasn’t a missionary in the traditional sense. She didn’t establish a church or even a school. Instead, she walked around Boys Town and prayed for the women and children trapped inside and for the men who traveled from near and far to the hellish destination.
One day as she sat outside the gate to Boys Town, a gray Crown Victoria car slowly drove past. The driver with gelled up hair and big reflective, Robocop sunglasses locked eyes with Kelly and gave her a smirk. Clearly keeping an eye on the guests at Boys Town, the spiky hair driver asked Kelly what she was doing. …………………
3-30-22 Wednesday - Running Shame
Running Shame - A Deep Dive into the Passion of Christ in Mark
Press Logo above to play service. For 3-30-22
What Had happened at Grace this week.
![[Sunday] Mark 13 | Stacking Bricks - Revealing True Power](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1648163410824-CURVVP0WZ4TOXMA0DJ7D/Revealing+12a.jpg)
[Sunday] Mark 13 | Stacking Bricks - Revealing True Power
Look at these huge buildings. Look at how high these bricks are stacked. The disciples walked into Jerusalem amazed at the splendor and power of these buildings. But like all temporal powers, they will be thrown down. In those days, if our trust is in how high the bricks are stacked, then our trust will be thrown down as well.
Questions for the week
Describe a time when you have clung to something that was falling apart. Where was your hope in that situation?
Read Mark 13. How does Jesus bring peace in the midst of the horrors he describes in this chapter?
Describe a time when Jesus brought you rest in a difficult or scary situation.
How might you be the hands and feet of Jesus to someone else in one of these scary times?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
A Conversation with a Ukrainian Refugee Pastor (featuring Rev. Scott Yount)
So much is still happening overseas and it’s effecting the lives of millions of people in the country of Ukraine. Our friend Scott Yount has been a Missionary Pastor in Ukraine since 2014 and is now experiencing being a Refugee and helping so many across the boarder. We would love for you to hear his story and there is even other ways to help out his work.
So much is still happening overseas and it’s effecting the lives of millions of people in the country of Ukraine. Our friend Scott Yount has been a Missionary Pastor in Ukraine since 2014 and is now experiencing being a Refugee and helping so many across the boarder. We would love for you to hear his story and there is even other ways to help out his work.
To support Scott and other Ukrainian work, please visit.
Spiritual Orphans Network - https://sonetwork.org/give/
God’s Hidden Treasures - https://www.godshiddentreasures.org/
If you would like to Give through Grace Hit the give link on the top of the page.
Write Ukraine in Memo Line or Give through Paypal and choose Ukraine.
Offering Dangerous Promise In Rural England
Hope is a difficult and maybe a dangerous concept to offer or promise.
Read the rest at https://mbird.com/social-science/money/economics/offering-dangerous-promises-in-rural-england/
Another way too exciting, frightening, and extreme Lenten season. I feel like I’ve said that several years now, in a row. Can we turn it down a bit, Lord, even now, like right now? Something a friend of mine (David Babikow) said to me recently got me thinking about the incarnation and Lent. It gets right at something I’m somewhat worried about, what with the triple crown of crappy years………………….
![[Bible Study] Chapter 2 - 3:20 | Gospel of Mark](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1648163220223-9V10KSOF89Q4UOCDFVS7/mark2.jpg)
[Bible Study] Chapter 2 - 3:20 | Gospel of Mark
[Bible Study] Chapter 2-3:20 | Gospel of Mark
Peter sat up from writing the last paragraph and thought about all the times he was difficult to Jesus. He had put his foot in his mouth so many times. He even denied the Lord on that cold day when everything changed. But Peter's heart filled with warmth when he remembered how Jesus treated him when he rose: with gentleness and respect.