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If Anyone Desires to be First
Sunday, August 31st, 2008As I’m sure everyone knows, the Olympics just finished a week ago in Beijing. Most of us probably watched a number of competitions during the last couple weeks, and now the festivities are over. And when you think of the athletes, I’m sure many things stand out, but one thing inevitably does. If you are an Olympic athlete, you most likely desire to be first. That’s the whole idea of a sports competition. That’s why they give out medals. That’s why they keep world records. You train, and you work hard, you get coaching, and you do that over and over again for years, until you finally compete, and you desire and hope to be first. That’s not only natural, but it’s certainly a good desire.  There’s nothing wrong in one sense to want to excel in whatever you do, especially in a sports competition.
But what about the disciples here? We find them having a competitive attitude with each other. Jesus catches them arguing among themselves about who is the greatest. And Jesus then even instructs them on how to be first. Well, is this desire by the disciples a good desire or a bad one? Was it good that they wanted to be first or bad? What does Jesus think about this?
Passage: Mark 9:30-37
Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Sermon originally preached during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 08/31/2008 in Novato, CA.
O Faithless Generation
Sunday, August 17th, 2008Has your faith ever faltered? Have you ever had any doubts about your faith? Well, if we are honest with ourselves, I think we can all say yes. Our faith is often lacking. This can quite commonly come during a difficult trial in our life, but our faith can also be lacking during the ordinary times of life too.
In our passage for today, we see Jesus cry out, “O faithless generation!” Those words were especially directed toward the disciples, but they obviously apply to all humanity. And in our passage, that is what we see. We see a number of groups of people and all of them show a lacking faith in God and in his Son, Jesus Christ. And so as we look at this passage, we’ll see how Jesus not only heals a demon-possessed boy, conquering the demon in this boy, but we’ll see how he also conquers unbelief in our lives. And so let’s look at how Jesus confronts unbelief in this passage.
Passage: Mark 9:14-29
Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Sermon originally preached during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 08/17/2008 in Novato, CA.
They Came Down From the Mountain
Sunday, August 10th, 2008When I was on half dome last week in Yosemite, it was easy to look around, and see the glory of God’s creation. There are few things more awe inspiring than sitting on top of a mountain peak like that and seeing for miles in every direction. It was just amazing and glorious. For Christians, such earthly glory should draw us to consider God as our mighty creator. In our passage for today, Peter, James, and John saw an even greater glory on top of a mountain more than anything Yosemite has to offer. For they saw the transfigured glory of Christ, not only as the creator, but also as the one who would be our savior!
Passage: Mark 9:1-13
Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Sermon originally preached during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 08/10/2008 in Novato, CA.
Whoever Desires to Come After Me
Sunday, July 27th, 2008Have you ever thought you knew someone, because you had learned something about them? Maybe you learned where they were born or what their job was, and you assumed you knew everything about them. Those kinds of assumptions can certainly get you in trouble. In our passage, we find the disciples thinking they knew Jesus. You see, they finally learned something critical about Jesus — that he was the Christ!
And yet, just because they finally knew this important truth about Jesus, didn’t mean that they really knew him. No, no sooner do they make that momentous confession do we find them confused about what that meant. They thought they knew Jesus because they thought they knew what the role of the Messiah would be. However in this passage we find Jesus challenging their assumptions. We see Jesus calling into question what they thought they knew about him and his role as Messiah.
If we are to follow Jesus, we must understand his mission and role as the Messiah. Let’s look at what this passage says about that mission and how that affects how we follow him.
Passage: Mark 8:31-9:1
Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Sermon originally preached during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 07/27/2008 in Novato, CA.