A Prophet without Honour - Mark 6:1-13

“Receive Christ and all your problems will disappear!” If we’ve been walking with the Lord for some time, we all know that this is not true! Granted, there are many blessings we experience in Christ. Yet struggles and rejection are a part of the deal too. If you’re one of the few Christians in a family, you will experience this all the time – ridicule, jokes will be made at your expense, they just don’t understand why you believe the things you do. Sharing the gospel with them just seems a fruitless exercise, remain hard-hearted, think they’ll never come around. What’s the point?

Face a similar situation in a new church plant like ours. It’s challenging! People don’t just flock to church! Especially now in this pandemic. Face rejection from friends you invite, hard-heartedness and resistance from others. Some remain apathetic and battle with unbelief and fear. Like in our experience with our families, it’s easy to start to think, what’s the point? Should we give up?

Our passage from Mark 6 this afternoon, shows that that we should persevere! Why? Because even Jesus and his disciples experienced rejection and resistance to the gospel. It’s to be expected, it’s a part of the deal. Because Jesus experienced rejection and resistance, we should expect it too. But, as we will see here, we don’t need to lose heart – because God is sovereign, Jesus will nevertheless build his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail.

Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola.