The Park Road Pres Podcast

The Word of Salvation

The two transgressors (Mark 15.28) are called simply "bad workers" in Luke's version while Mathew and Mark call them "thieves" (λῃστής) not likely petty thieves but likely repeat offenders, armed robbers or even revolutionaries against Rome who had stolen to support their cause. This morning, I want to look especially at ONE of these thieves and even though we only have very few words describing him we actually get quite a bit of information.
So, let's look at:
What the thief knew
What he wanted
How he got it and
What ever happened to those thieves?

The Word of Forgiveness

Today I want to look at this oft-quoted prayer of Jesus Christ, "Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing" IN its wider context. I hope this look will get us into the series AND help us to think WITH God about the meaning, the reception and the practice of forgiveness.
Let's look at:
The Wider View
The Word of Forgiveness and
The Worry of Your Heart

The Anointing

What happens when YOU get it…and the people around you DON'T? What happens when the real core meaning of Jesus Christ's coming DAWNS on you and you see, feel, and embrace it…WHEN IT EMBRACES YOU…and the people around you don't? This scene is a gripping case-study in THAT. It's enthralling.
Let's look at:
The Combustible Moment
It Only Takes a Spark
Pouring Oil On the Fire

Fruitless Figs & Faithless Financing

Possessor Possessed

And now we meet a character, also included in Matthew's and Luke's accounts, a very interesting and also rather tragic figure. By harmonizing Matthew, Mark and Luke, we know him to be The Rich Young Ruler. He occasions this amazingly vivid contrast, a study on how the kingdom of God and the gospel, the basic message of Christianity, how the gospel provides a unique alternative to one of humanity's basic pursuits that is the quest for security.
That's our topic for today:
Sources of Security
The One Impossible Alternative Christianity Offers

Eyes Open and Not

YOU may wish YOU had faith… you may think that your educated, scientific mind is getting in the way of faith. OR you may think that IF you had proof THEN you could believe (and have faith) … So what IS faith and how does it come about…how do we get it/grow it?
Let's see what Jesus Christ does:
Faith Planted
Faith Cultivated and
Faith FRUITFUL

Religion Inside Out

The passage presents a side of Jesus Christ we try to ignore because it doesn't always fit our categories. And yet to face this part of the portrait is both painful and liberating.
So, let's look at
The PORTRAIT of Jesus
The METHOD of Jesus

The Other Side

The Authority Question

Today, we meet a group of friends who won't take "no" for an answer. They have a need; they see Jesus Christ as the answer to their need and they must get TO Him …and WILL get to Him at any cost. And Jesus Christ not only honors their persistence (really more like desperation!) but He also uses the whole crisis moment to reveal something about Himself that leaves the whole crowd looking to God in a new way, joyful – "we have NEVER seen anything like THIS!"
Let's look at four markers of a time of revelation and growth and see if these may exist in our own present experience: This was a time of:
Controversy
Companionship
Commotion and
Captivating Conclusion.

He Drove Out the Man

This morning I'd like to look at this "prologue" of Mark. …from this concise introduction, FOUR FACTS or four spiritual truths that have to be known mentally AND ALSO believed, trusted, felt, experienced. And without these realities in place, the spiritual life gets sidetracked and grinds to a halt. Here they are:
1.We Are Driven Out2. The Heavens Are Rent3. The New Adam Is Driven Out4. The Good News of God Has Come