God provides for our simples needs, our real needs, and our greatest need in advance us even asking him. He does this by giving us Jesus, who was cast down so that you might be lifted up… just like an ax head at the bottom of the Jordan River.

God’s Word is His revelation to humanity, the unveiling of who He is and what He has done for us. His Word is both information, but most importantly, it is an invitation to a life-transforming relationship with Him, made possible through trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Many of us have a vague sense of what happened after the resurrection, but a lot of us have no idea, at least in terms of knowing not just what Jesus did but why it matters.

How do we explain the rise of Christianity? The most probably explanation is right here in the words of Mark’s Gospel. God on a Sunday morning, three days after he was crucified, raised Jesus from the dead.

On the night that Jesus was betrayed, He celebrated one last Passover meal with His disciples. At that meal Jesus rewrote the script of Passover, showing that He was the truer and better Passover lamb, the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world.

It's Wednesday; and Friday is coming. A woman pours expensive perfume on Jesus, unknowingly anointing him for his death. The people in the room filter this scene through their financial wisdom — they are indignant. Jesus filters it through the very reason he came to Jerusalem — to die as the new Passover lamb.

From the Mount of Olives Jesus and disciples are overlooking the temple, and prompted by questions from the disciples He begins to prophecy about the future, both near term and far. Notably, He predicts the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem (AD70), and of His second coming.

The religious leaders send waves of confrontation against Jesus, hoping to entangle him with their questions. These encounters confront us as well, asking if we are willing to deny ourselves, entrust ourselves to his kingship and follow him, or deny him and live as our own authority.

In our text, Jesus tells the parable of the wicked tenants as a response to the challenge placed by the Sanhedrin in regards to the validity of His authority. Through this parable, Jesus retells the story of Israel, their leaders and their response to the patience and kindness of God.

A common refrain through God’s Word is that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. At the end of Mark 11, we see Jesus oppose the proud and pretentious religious elite of Israel by refusing to reveal Himself to them. What we learn in this text is that saving faith is not about proximity to Jesus, but about the posture of our hearts towards Him.

Mark 11 introduces a moment where Jesus confronts the heart. As he enters Jerusalem and goes to the temple, he comes both to the heart of the Jewish culture and their Nation and challenges the very identity of their religious convictions.

As Jesus journeys to Jerusalem his bewildering demands continue, as shows his followers a better way to both lead and to follow. We are sent to serve.

Jesus continues to teach on the values of the kingdom, and he gets even more practical. Jesus will say, this is what true greatness looks like in our day. Then he connects the dots to three particular areas: marriage, children and our possessions.

Our culture is obsessed with ourselves and the pursuit of our own greatness. However, in Mark 9:30-50, we learn that true greatness is a life devoted to the fame and greatness of another, Jesus Christ.

If you knew that you were headed on a difficult journey; a season wrought with pain, temptation, and discouraging circumstances, what do you think would be the most helpful thing to persevere through it? I wonder if you'd think about glory? That's what Jesus does.

Mark has taken eight chapters to show us the great gifts Jesus came to give: forgiveness of sins and the Kingdom of God. Chapter 8 is a turning point because Jesus tells the disciples what it really means to follow him.

In Acts 2:42-47 we get a picture of what happened to the early church in Jerusalem after Pentecost, and what we see is a community that is collectively devoted to God, to each other and to the lost.

2 Kings 22-23 is an impactful story of what happens when we come into contact with God's Word. With this, Transit Church launches our new Community Bible Reading plan for the year.

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon looks back at the end of his life and he's reflecting on all that life has taught him. The over-arching theme in Chapter 10 is folly. Ecc 10:10 conveys that it takes more strength to swing an axe when the blade is dull. Yet this is exactly the way foolish people live. Wisdom says, take time to sharpen your axe.

At Christmas, we celebrate God’s great gift to the world in the baby Jesus; a light brought into the world to dispel our darkness. But have you ever given thought to what if Jesus hadn't been born; if there weren't a Luke 2; if God hadn't given us Jesus?