[OUT] Where is God calling you to lose life in order to gain it?

 Challenge: Put yourself on the line for His cause

Feeding the Many - Mark 8

In both this and the Mark 6 feeding miracle it is like the ultimate Foodbank! People need food ... and it gets provided. The actual Ely Foodbank has been like it (albeit food provided by donations!) - the donations have kept coming to the tune of 584 tonnes over the 10 year lifetime, with just 2% being purchased. Even with the recent 60% increase in demand only certain items have run dry for short periods. This is God's economy of abundance!

Sabbath People - Mark 2 & 3

In some countries if you think and act in certain ways, you can land in serious trouble. Various regimes clamp down on people for daring to question or think different. The police who crack down become known as the 'thought police', because you get arrested for what you think. In the time of Jesus the Pharisees seemed to be the same - calling out people who thought or acted in certain ways as ungodly trouble-makers. When Jesus and his disciples were going from A to B, and took some corn as they passed through cornfields for an on-the-go snack, but it happened to be the Sabbath, it was the Pharisees who took issue with them.

IN - Are we letting 'the Jesus Way' transform our ways?

 Challenge: Take seriously the sabbath and kingdom principles of Jesus

Jesus: Forgiver and Healer - Mark 2

In the story of the paralysed man, the friends climb onto the roof to lower the man in order to reach Jesus through the crowds. It is worth us considering how much faith do we think each of the different types of people had: the teachers of the law, the crowd, the friends, and the paralysed man himself.

Jesus is on the Scene - Mark 1

Mark's gospel gets straight to it. It skips the Christmas story and runs throughout at a quick pace. Because of this and it being the shortest gospel, it is my preferred gospel to recommend to people who want to start reading the Bible.

[UP] Who do you really believe Jesus to be?

 Challenge: Turn belief into action

I have the right to do anything, but ... - 1 Corinthians 10

Today we are looking at just 1 Corinthians 10:23 - 24, but noticing the duplication with 1 Corinthians 6:12. Paul repeats this line "I have the right to do anything", but in both chapters Paul spells out that it isn't quite that straightforward!

The Kingdom of God is Messy - 1 Corinthians 7

Paul and his team had led people in Corinth to Jesus - and people had responded from their diverse and (likely) morally dubious backgrounds. Paul acted as a single man - maybe he was separated or divorced, but he certainly travelled without a wife and under contract to no-one other than Jesus: he exemplified a life given to Jesus, free to travel on mission. He also lived his life as if Jesus' return was imminent, literally 'any day now'. In discipling new Christians Paul and the team would have modelled and encouraged new believers to 'copy' them (that is discipleship, after all). So naturally those new Christians would have asked questions: "Should we be single too?", "Do all of us have to start travelling in mission?", and "If Jesus' return is imminent, should I go through with my plans to marry?". This leads to the generic question: "In becoming a Christian, how much of my 'before Jesus' situation must be changed?".

[OUT] Where is God training you to be clearer and more direct in reaching out to others?

Challenge: Offer to pray someone - because you believe in Jesus who changes lives