Why in the world did the very people who should have recognized Jesus so ardently reject him? Take a look at this week’s passage to see how an attitude of demandingness can lead you straight away from God.

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Steve Treichler
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

For more resources or to learn more about Hope North Lakes, visit hopecc.com/northlakes

In a world that values inclusion, the words of Jesus in Mark 7, spoken to a desperate mom, come off as harsh and even offensive to us. However, if we push past our initial response and do the work of digging in to understand what's happening, this passage unlocks a beautiful truth about the gospel that transcends our greatest hopes for what inclusion might look like. We see that anyone can get in on this, but not in the way we might expect.

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

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When Jesus is asked why his disciples don’t follow the rules, he responds by calling an entire group of people hypocrites. This charged encounter ends with Jesus declaring that what makes someone unclean before God comes from within—from the heart. Yet remarkably, it is our hearts, not our rule-keeping ability, that God is after. We learn that it is an appeal to God’s mercy, not our own spiritual résumé, that leads to life.

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

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This week's passage uses a phrase that seems to sum up modern life: making headway painfully. We're told and sold the idea that we are only one piece of advice or one product away from stepping into our fullest selves. What if our bigger problem is that our hardened hearts have failed to understand who God is and what he's come to do? Only when God's chosen Savior in our boat will our hearts soften and our lives be opened up to grace.

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

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“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” The prophet Isaiah asks this piercing question, and if our restless, unsatisfied hearts are any indication, it’s one we’re still asking today. Sociologists describe the paradox of choice and the hedonic treadmill as reasons satisfaction never seems to last, no matter how great the purchase or how lofty the achievement. So where can lasting satisfaction actually be found?

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

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Where can we turn when hope feels lost? The Bible tells story after story of moments when defeat seemed inevitable—until God worked in unexpected ways to bring about redemption and victory. Following Jesus will often feel like losing, but in Christ we learn that it is always worth it.

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

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When Jesus returns to his hometown to minister, he’s not greeted with a red carpet—he’s met with resistance. Rather than being honored, he’s rejected. The people who have known him the longest fail to truly see who he is. By reducing Jesus to a caricature of himself, they miss entirely the life-giving relationship he’s inviting them into.

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

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For more resources or to learn more about Hope North Lakes, visit hopecc.com/northlakes

Mark’s account of these two daughters gives us a timeless picture of the hardest realities of human life. In these twin stories, we stare disease and death in the face, and we feel the weight of true desperation. And yet, like a diamond hidden in rough stone, what emerges is something of immense value: weak, imperfect faith resting in a powerful Savior.

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

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For more resources or to learn more about Hope North Lakes, visit hopecc.com/northlakes