Pastor Shaun Marksbury

This world is fractured along many lines due to sin.  Christians, however, because they walk in repentance, do not need to dwell with the same separations, whether they be racial or otherwise.  The unity experienced between the Jews and Gentiles in the mystery of the Christian church is our guide. Peter O'Brien in his commentary notes, "The believers’ unity is described rather surprisingly. It is the unity of the Spirit, that is, a unity which God’s Spirit creates, and is not the readers’ own achievement. It already exists, hence the admonition to ‘maintain’ it. Believers certainly do not create it, but are responsible to keep it." Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians,  The Pillar New Testament Commentary  (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999), 64. We need to simply believe and maintain the unity that we already have in the gospel.  We don't need to create a false sense of unity by, for instance, taking a census of the ...

When the Lord warns of false converts, He predicts that they will claim great acts of service.  In Matthew 7:22-23, He says, "Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ " Many people are under the false impression that service of any kind pleases the Lord.  Yet, as Isaiah 64:6 says, even our righteous deeds are like filthy rags.  No one will be saved by their good works (Eph 2:8-9). Still, the Lord has created believers for good works (Eph 2:10).  Interestingly, the good works He prepares in Christians are not always banner or newsworthy, contra the false converts in Matthew 7.  Consider the kind of ministry Jesus speaks of in Matthew 25:31–46. Giving food to a hungry believer. Giving drink to a thirsty believer. Being hospitable to a belie...

As I prepare the sermon for Sunday, I'm choosing to give brief overviews of a number of topics, including that of leadership in the church.  Churches should be governed by a plurality of biblically-qualified elders, ruling independently from others, dependently upon the grace and power of God, and subordinately to His Word and each other. Some may find discomfort in some of the terminology, not liking “elder” or terms like “overseer” (1 Tm 3:1) or “rule” (5:17).  Here, an elder’s care for the church is likened to managing a household, keeping “children under control with all dignity” (3:4).   This means that elders have authority— the question is what it looks like.  a)                Note the Authority the Bible grants to elders Elders must oversee God’s people.   That’s the term used here, and in Acts 20:28, Paul told the elders that “the Holy Spirit has made you overs...

Struggle with understanding the unity aspect of the Trinity?  Many do and have. For instance, one heretical group in the Middle East was known to Mohammed, and as such, the Qur'an says that Christians believe in three, not one God.  What does Scripture say? Calvin explains: ________________________________________________ Moreover, because God more clearly disclosed himself in the coming of Christ, thus he also became known more familiarly in three persons. But of the many testimonies this one will suffice for us. For Paul so connects these three—God, faith, and baptism [Eph. 4:5]—as to reason from one to the other: namely, because faith is one, that he may thereby show God to be one; because baptism is one, that he may thence show faith also to be one. Therefore, if through baptism we are initiated into the faith and religion of one God, we must consider him into whose name we are baptized to be the true God. Indeed, there is no doubt that Christ willed by thi...

Good Christians disagree on this, so don't make it a test of orthodoxy.  The point is that we have the evidence to examine and debate, meaning that the text is trustworthy (a lack of debatable evidence would imply collusion and tampering).  Still, the evidence seems to point to Mark's Gospel ending on v. 8.  Here are a few resources I used in preparation for this topic.  They may help you to better understand the issue.  The first is a section from the MacArthur Study Bible: The external evidence strongly suggests these verses were not originally part of Mark’s gospel. While the majority of Gr. manuscripts contain these verses, the earliest and most reliable do not. A shorter ending also existed, but it is not included in the text. Further, some that include the passage note that it was missing from older Gr. manuscripts, while others have scribal marks indicating the passage was considered spurious. The fourth-century church fathers Eusebius and Jerome note...

Here's a good list of articles for those wanting a bit more introduction on this subject: An Introduction to Textual Criticism: Part 1–Introduction An Introduction to Textual Criticism: Part 2–The Writing and Transmission of Ancient Documents An Introduction to Textual Criticism: Part 3–Textual Errors An Introduction to Textual Criticism: Part 4–The Role of Church History in Textual Criticism An Introduction to Textual Criticism: Part 5–The Received Text An Introduction to Textual Criticism: Part 6–The Challenge to the Received Text An Introduction to Textual Criticism: Part 7–The Task of Textual Criticism: Weighing the Evidence An Introduction to Textual Criticism: Part 8–“Traditional Text” Positions: Textus Receptus and Majority Text Only An Introduction to Textual Criticism: Part 9–“Traditional Text” Positions: The Ecclesiastical Text An Introduction to Textual Criticism: Part 10–“Traditional Text” Positions: Byzantine-Priority An Introduction to Textual Criticism: ...

Last week, we spoke about the irony of the mockery Jesus faced ( you can listen to that sermon here ).  Toward the end of that message, we noted the irony of the unsuspecting disciple, Simon of Cyrene.   He just happened to be in Jerusalem for the feast when Romans forced him to pick up a cross and follow Jesus. So, we have Jesus, a near-eastern or Palestinian Jew in Israel.  Simon's hometown in modern day Tripoli, Libya; he's Jewish, but from North Africa.  Later, in the Book of Acts, we meet the Ethiopian Eunuch, another African who was likely of non-Jewish descent.  As the early church carried out its missionary journeys, converts and churches appeared in diverse cultures throughout the ancient world. Such an important heritage reminds us that the gospel and worship of the early church transcended any particular people group.  However, some have wondered if the doctrines of worship found in Reformation Europe too restricted the church to "white...