Helping people experience God's truth

Author: Jeff Stott (Page 1 of 33)

Jesus: Not My Will (Mark 14:35-36, Part 1)

Sometimes doing God’s will is easy to follow. Sometimes doing God’s will is very difficult to follow. There are going to be times in your life doing what God wants you to do is going to feel terrible. You are going to feel grief and anguish to do what God has called you to do. You will feel the full force of dying to yourself to do it.

In Mark 14, Jesus is showing us how to follow God’s will when it is tough, and you would prefer another way to accomplish whatever it is God wants you to accomplish. We have a lot to look at today, so let’s get started. Continue reading

Jesus: Crushed with Grief (Mark 14:32-34)

We are about to step onto holy ground. Today we begin looking at the depths of agony and pain Jesus endured for sinners like you and me. Even before He went to the cross, He endured an incredible amount of emotional pain. Keep in mind, what we are about to look at day is about 12 hours away from Jesus hanging on the cross. The cross is beginning to cast its shadow.

As followers of Jesus, we need to know more about who we are following. The more we know and understand who Jesus is the better we can follow Him. Today, we learn something significant about Jesus. We are going to see the emotional pain Jesus went through in order to rescue you and me from our sins. Continue reading

Five Relationship Connections

Today is Reconnect Sunday. I want us to think about the five relationship connections we all experience. God wants you to grow in all five of these. These five relationship connections are crucial for your spiritual growth, joy, and peace.

The five relationship connections are…

  • God’s relationship with you
  • Your relationship with God
  • Your relationship with others
  • Others relationship with you
  • Your relationship with you

Before we look at each one, let me give you some general observations. Continue reading

Jesus: Leads you Victoriously (Mark 14:27-31)

One of the great things about Jesus is He loves you and is committed to you even when He knows you are going to stumble and make decisions from time to time that do not honor Him. Because of your personal weaknesses, He knows you are going to make bad decisions under certain pressure and situations. Even with that, He still is dedicated to you and does not give up on you. Continue reading

Jesus: The Shepherd (Mark 14:29)

Throughout God’s Word the Lord is described as your Shepherd and you are described as His sheep. Sheep are known to wander off the path and away from the flock. The Shepherd often must protect His sheep from the wolves, traps, thieves, and other dangers. Sheep will often scatter and run away and get lost when there is a storm, and become confused. They become overwhelmed by the circumstances and panic. When the storm is over the Shepherd will go and find the lost sheep and bring Him back.

Something similar is about to happen to the disciples. Something similar happens to you and me as followers of Jesus. As the Lord’s sheep we often fall away and wander off the path God wants us to stay on. We become frightened, confused, or angry at what is happening around us or to us and it causes us to fall away. However, like a good shepherd He restores us, reconciles us, comforts us, strengthens us, and refocuses us. We see all this in Mark 14:27-31. Continue reading

Jesus: Being Abandoned (Mark 14:27)

As a follower of Jesus, there are times where you are stronger than you think you are and there are times when you are weaker than you think you are. Learning to follow Jesus includes learning what your limitations are and learning from your failures.

Today, we are going to begin looking at Jesus telling His disciples they are about to lose their faith in Him, desert Him, and falter in their faithfulness. From this we are going to see some important lessons about ourselves when we begin to feel the world is falling apart around us and we blame God for it. At those times, if you begin to struggle trusting God, talking to God or defending God then you are not alone. Continue reading

Jesus: The Lord’s Supper (Mark 14:22-26, Part 2)

You and I are forgetful people. We need to be reminded of what is important, right, and significant in our lives. The Devil wants you to be distracted from the important. He wants you to forget your new values, your new love, your new life, and your new relationship in Christ with the Heavenly Father. He wants your heart and mind to be preoccupied with other interest rather than your interest in Jesus. He wants you to be unfocused and inattentive to what God has done for you and in you. Continue reading

Conversations Podcast

This is a podcast featuring conversations about life, theology, scripture, church and everything in between led by Jeff Stott along with various guest. Below is a link to one of the series.

Cognitive Dissonance

This is a four-part series dealing with the gap between what the Christian believes and their behavior, experiences, beliefs, and new information that contradict it. Cognitive dissonance deals with things like, “I believe I should not lie, but I just told my child (boss, spouse) a lie.” This is when your belief and behavior contradict one another. It also deals with things like, “I believe in God’s healing power, but when I and others asked God to heal my child, she became worse and died.” This is when your belief and experiences contradict one another. How do you respond to these contradictions in life as a follower of Jesus? Join Jeff Stott and Billy Johnson as they journey through this fascinating subject.

To begin with part 1, click on the following link:

Cognitive Dissonance (Part 1) – Conversations with Genesis Church | Podcast on Spotify

Jesus: God on Display (Mark 14:17-21)

What you believe about Jesus is crucial. What you believe about him will determine how you respond to Him. If you see Him as a nice person who did something wonderful for you, then you will be thankful. However, if you see Him as Lord, God, Master, and Savior who did something wonderful for you, then you will be thankful and surrender to His Lordship and authority. As a follower of Jesus, you are not following someone who is simply loving, you are following someone who is loving and Lord. That’s a big difference. Continue reading

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