Hillview Family and Friends!
Children’s Ministry will be with the Ministry leader during worship time starting in the fall. Pray with us in our transition. Sis Debbie.
Youth ministry will meet in the fellowship hall at 9:30 am. Youth Ministry will be meeting every 2nd Sunday of the month at 9:30 am.
Please add pocket change in the “Stones of Truth” jar in the foyer. All monies collected will go to offset cost to the Branson 2025 trip.
If you want to volunteer to be on the calling team, please contact LaTanya Dunn.
We will need volunteers to help with cleaning the Sanctuary, Foyer, and vacuuming. Contact LaTanya Dunn hillviewchurchofgod@gmail.com
Happy Birthday and Wedding Anniversary to all family and friends celebrating in the month of January.
Pastor Dexter will be having a 6 week study “Horizontal Jesus” by Tony Evans. If anyone is interested, contact Pastor Dexter White.
Jan 18th Management Board Meeting 9am.
Jan 20th Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Pastor Dexter will be going over his sermon along with questions on Sundays at 9:30 am and weds at 6pm on Zoom. If you would like to join on weds night, please contact Pastor Dexter White.
Feb 1st First Day of Black History Month.
Feb 8th Church Clean up 8am-12pm.
Feb 14th Valentines Day>
Feb 15th Board Management meeting 9am.
Feb 17 Presidents Day.
If anyone is interested in being part of the Management Board, Please contact Pastor Dexter.
Offering Envelopes are located on the wall outside of the sound booth.
Church of God News
“Jesus is the uncontested subject of the Gospel of Mark, and He is portrayed as a man of action. Above all, Mark’s portrayal of Jesus is characterized by three factors: his divine authority, his mission as the suffering Servant of God, and his divine Sonship.”1
Sometimes as we read the Word of God, we mistakenly assume the events we’re reading about happened in a short period of time. For instance:
Mark 1:13, 14
13 and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.
We don’t know how much time passed between the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, and the imprisonment of John the Baptist. We aren’t given any information about a working relationship between John and Jesus in Galilee. What we do know is, after John’s imprisonment, Jesus entered Galilee and proclaimed the good news of God, “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
“What is the good news? These first words spoken by Jesus in the book of Mark give the core of his teaching that the long-awaited Messiah has come to begin God’s personal reign on earth. Many of the people who have heard this message since Jesus came have been oppressed, poor, struggling to make ends meet, and without hope. Jesus’ words are good news because they offer freedom, spiritual blessing, and most importantly, the promise of eternal life in a perfect world where justice and peace prevail.”2
An important point for us to remember is this, “The arrest of John and the beginning of Jesus’ ministry are intentionally correlated to show that the gospel is proclaimed and known in adversity and suffering, not in ease and comfort. Jesus’ announcement of “good news” in the immediate context of the arrest and eventual execution righteous John epitomizes Mark’s presentation of the gospel. The Baptizer is the forerunner of Jesus not only in message but also in his fate, which includes suffering and death.”3
It should be apparent to us that Jesus suffered for being God’s offering for our sins. As followers of Jesus, we should expect to suffer too.
John 15:20
20 Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.
When we suffer because of sin, our suffering leads to death. When we suffer because of our obedience to God’s Word, it leads to eternal life. In both instances, there will be suffering. The difference is, when we suffer for righteousness’ sake, not only is Jesus with us, but also the blessings of God.
Mt 5:10-12
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
A rabbi is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi. The primary function of the rabbi is to offer their community guidance on spiritual matters in the area of Jewish law.
From the Jewish encyclopedia I found out that in the Jewish religion the rabbi is not a priest, nor an apostle, and has no hierarchical power. He is simply a teacher, one that unfolds and explains religion.
Jesus is referred to in the Gospels as rabbi (Mt. 26:25, Mark 9:5, 11:21, 14:45, John 1:38, 49, 2:2, 4:31,6:25, 9:2, 11:8). However, there are similarities and differences between Jesus and the rabbis of his time on earth.
It appears that rabbis didn’t recruit students, students sought out rabbis to be their teacher. Looking at Mark 1:16-20, Jesus called his first four disciples to follow him.
16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”
18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets.
20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
How many of us responded to the call to discipleship on the first call? Apparently, these brothers responded to Jesus’ call, but returned to their fishing business. Jesus called them a second time and this time they stayed the course.
Luke 5:1-11
1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, {That is, Sea of Galilee} with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God,
2 he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets.
3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.
7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken,
10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.”
11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
Jesus’ call to discipleship consisted of three aspects:
First, Jesus is the subject of the call. Usually, the chief allegiance of rabbinic students was the Torah, not the teacher. The normal rule of thought here is not to follow God, but to follow God’s statutes. The call of the four fishermen is not rooted in the Torah, but in Jesus’ messianic authority alone.
Second: The call to discipleship is a call to service. “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus requires a change in perspective of his disciples, replacing self as the primary focus to the things of God. Doing so means separation from former allegiances, like their fishing nets, and families, or anything else that can get in the way of being Jesus’ disciple.
Third: “The call of the four fishermen indicates that the essential work of Jesus consists in forming a fellowship, and that only within fellowship is the call of Jesus heard and obeyed.”4
“It is not an exaggeration to say the seeds of the Christian church originated in the first act of Jesus’ public ministry in which He called four fishermen into community with himself.”5
Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.
Because the Temple in Jerusalem was to far for many Jews to travel to regularly worship. Many towns had a synagogue that served as a place to worship and as a school for boys to be taught the OT and the Jewish religion. On the Sabbath, Jewish men would gather to listen to a rabbi teach. Synagogues did not have a permanent rabbi, so the synagogue leader would ask visiting rabbis to speak. This is why Jesus often spoke at the synagogues in the towns He visited.
Visiting rabbis often quoted from well known rabbis to give their words more authority. This is where Jesus differed from the other rabbis, since He was the Son of God and knew the scriptures, He was the ultimate authority, and the people recognized it.
Mark 1:22
The people were amazed at his teaching, because He taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.
In that synagogue in Capernaum while Jesus was teaching a man with an impure spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!”
Jesus spoke sternly to the spirit, “Be quiet, come out of him.” The spirit had to obey Jesus, it shook the man violently and came out of him.
If we had been there, familiar with the teaching of that day and witnessed Jesus teach and cast out the evil spirit, we also would have been amazed and commented, “What is this, a new teaching and with authority! Even impure spirits obey him.”
1 James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark, Grand Rapids; Eerdmans, 2002, 13.
2 Life Application Study Bible, NIV, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Mi. and Tyndale House Publishing, Carol Stream, Illinois, study notes on Mark 1:15, 1660.
3 James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark, Grand Rapids; Eerdmans, 2002, 45.
4 Ibid, 51.
5 Ibid, 51.
Topic: Jesus’ Ministry in Galilee Part 2
Text: Mark 1:29-34
29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew.
30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her.
31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her, and she began to wait on them.
32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon possessed.
33 The whole town gathered at the door,
34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
Support Hillview’s Greeting Card Ministry – We have anniversary, birthday, and get-well cards on the table by the front entrance for you to send to others to let them know you are thinking of them. A donation of $1.00 will help cover the cost of cards and postage.
Continue to pray for the sick and shut-ins and their caregivers. Prayer is needed for our entire congregation as we are all dealing with spoken and unspoken needs and requests.
Weekly Events
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