January 30, 2021

Dear Road Church Friends,

Grace and blessings,

The theme of this week’s message is, “Jesus makes everything new.”  There are two Gospel reading that illustrate what this means. In Mark 1:21-28 we have the story of when Jesus was the guest speaker in the synagogue at Capernaum. Mark doesn’t tell us much about what Jesus taught, but he has a lot to say about what the people thought. “They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes...They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, what is this?—a new teaching with authority!  It seems the scribes were boring, and Jesus was not. But it wasn’t just the sizzle of his style that captivated them. It was the substance of his teaching. Matthew uses the same words to describe the response of the crowd who listened to him deliver the Sermon on the Mount. This suggests that the people at both events heard the same “new teaching.” Matthew 5:38-48, the other reading on Sunday, presents a contrast between what the scribes taught and Jesus’ new teaching. This “New Teaching” defines what it means to be a Christian.

Not only did Jesus give us a new teaching, but also a new birth that makes us new creatures, change agents, whose calling is to make all things new in us and around us.

POEM OF THE WEEK

A Prayer

Lord, what a change within us one short hour

Spent in thy presence will prevail to make!

What heavy burdens from our bosom take,

What parched grounds refresh as with a shower!

We kneel and all around us seems to lower;

We rise, and all, the distant and the near,

Stands forth in sunny outline brave and clear;

We kneel, how weak! We rise, how full of power!

Why, therefore should we do ourselves this wrong

Or others, that we are not always strong,

That we are ever overborne with care,

That we should ever weak and heartless be,

Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer,

And joy and strength and courage are with Thee!

Richard C. Trench

In faith and confidence,

Pastor Norm

Worship from January 31, 2021 on YouTube: https://youtu.be/r1QjKFLaM0E