Max Churm

Mark 13:28-37

A costly offering. A calculated betrayal.

10/18/26

1 It was now two days before Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and the teachers of religious law were still looking for an opportunity to capture Jesus secretly and kill him.

2 “But not during the Passover celebration,” they agreed, “or the people may riot.”

3 Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head.

4 Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked.

5 “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!” So they scolded her harshly.

6 But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me?

7 You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me.

8 She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time.

9 I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”

10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them.

11 They were delighted when they heard why he had come, and they promised to give him money. So he began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus. — Mark 14:1–11 NLT

The value you place on Jesus shapes the life you live.

Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself. — John 12:6 NLT

“Jesus, I give you the interpretation of all the events in my life and ask that You would open my eyes to see like You see.”

Mary recognized the infinite worth of Jesus, and it led her to extravagant devotion. Judas measured Jesus by what he could gain, and he disguised his selfishness as righteousness.

Loving Jesus and loving people aren’t competing priorities. Our love for Jesus should be what motivates and shapes our love for others.

Judas…went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them. — Mark 14:10

Mary’s love for Jesus led her to radical devotion.

She gave up a finite treasure to worship the Infinite One.

Judas’s love for money led him to radical betrayal.

He gave up the Infinite One to gain a finite treasure.

The value you place on Jesus shapes the life you live.

In our devotion and love for Jesus are we more like Judas or more like Mary?

Are we regularly and intentionally making time to be with Jesus?

Are we regularly and intentionally slowing down and quieting ourselves to listen to the Holy Spirit?

Are we regularly and intentionally spending time in Scripture, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to us?

Are we regularly and intentionally worshiping Him, both personally and together with other believers?

• Our attention.
• Our time.
• Our money and possessions.
• Our love.
• Our service.

I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, Lord, for it is good. — Psalm 54:6 NIV

Steven Verwey

8/23/2026

Psalms 115 1-8
1 Not to us, Lord, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.

2 Why do the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
4 But their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
6 They have ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell.
7 They have hands, but cannot feel,
feet, but cannot walk,
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
8 Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.

Romans 1 21-25

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Psalms 115 9-18

9 All you Israelites, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
10 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
11 You who fear him, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.

12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us:
He will bless his people Israel,
he will bless the house of Aaron,
13 he will bless those who fear the Lord—
small and great alike.

14 May the Lord cause you to flourish,
both you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

16 The highest heavens belong to the Lord,
but the earth he has given to mankind.
17 It is not the dead who praise the Lord,
those who go down to the place of silence;
18 it is we who extol the Lord,
both now and forevermore.

Praise the Lord.

And interview about worship with Jake McCaffrey

It’s not about you, but it is for you.

“You are worthy, O Lord our God,
to receive glory and honor and power.
For you created all things,
and they exist because you created what you pleased.”

Revelation 4:11 NLT

So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.

Ephesians 1:6 NLT

Exalt the Lord our God!
Bow low before his feet, for he is holy!

Psalm 99:5 NLT

Worship That Allows Us to Enjoy God

Wholly Deserved By God

Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor.
Let all the earth tremble before him.

Psalm 96:9 NLT

All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.

1 Timothy 1:17 NLT

Glory

Entertaining God’s Presence

Worship is a relational thing, not just an event.

Confession

“Confession reminds us that none of us gather for worship because we are “pretty good people.” But we are new people, people marked by grace in spite of ourselves because of the work of Christ.”

“In these small moments that reveal my lostness and brokenness, I need to develop the habit of admitting the truth of who I am—not running to justify myself or minimize my sin. And yet, in my brokenness and lostness, I also need to form the habit of letting God love me, trusting again in his mercy, and receiving again his words of forgiveness and absolution over me.”

“Repentance is not usually a moment wrought in high drama. It is the steady drumbeat of a life in Christ and, therefore, a day in Christ.”

Tish Harrison Warren— Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life

Take Time

Take Every opportunity to pursue a real relationship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Pastor Jon Verwey

Gathering in the same room creates the opportunity for community, but it does not automatically create community.

We were made for relationship—with God and with one another.

We need one another to become who Jesus created us to be.

Move toward God. Hold on to hope. Move toward one another.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. —Hebrews 10:19–20 NLT

The church is not a collection of impressive people who have their act together. It is a community of broken people gathered around Jesus our Savior who is making them whole.

And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. —Hebrews 10:21–22 NLT

Christian community should be one of the safest places to remove the mask—not because sin does not matter, but because grace is available and transformation is possible.

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. — Hebrews 10:23 NLT

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. — Hebrews 10:24 NLT

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. — Hebrews 10:25 NLT

Remain teachable rather than easily offended.

Stop pretending we have everything together.

Take the risk of moving toward others.

Give people permission to encourage AND challenge us.

Gathering puts us in the room but encouraging others is what we are supposed to do once we get there.

Patience, kindness, gentleness, forgiveness, and self-control cannot be developed in isolation. They require actual people—often inconvenient people.

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.

Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load. — Galatians 6:2–5 NIV

When we bring our gifts, share our burdens, and walk through life together, The Holy Spirit works through us andmultiplies what becomes possible.

Sunday Unpacked: Going deeper in the Word, faith, and friendship.

Read: Together, we hear the Scripture from Sunday’s message read aloud.

Reflect: Slow down, sit with the Scripture, and listen for what the Holy Spirit is teaching us.

Respond: Share what we are learning and consider how to live it out.

Sunday Unpacked is a place to grow as disciples, deepen friendships, ask honest questions, and encourage one another to follow Jesus.

Connections: Sharing a meal, sharing life, and moving toward Jesus together.

What does this story show us about Jesus?

What might God be saying to you through this story?

What might you do differently because of this story?

Come to the table. Join the conversation. Let yourself be known.

Bring what God has placed in you.

Because we need one another to become who Jesus created us to be.

When what looks trustworthy leads us astray

09/20/26

1 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”

2 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately,

4 “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”

5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you.

6 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.

7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.

8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. — Mark 13:1–8 NIV

21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it.

22 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time. — Mark 13:21–23 NIV

Jesus is revealing the future so we will know how to live in the present.

“Precisely because we cannot predict the moment, we must be ready at all moments.” — C. S. Lewis, The World’s Last Night

Jesus is revealing events from multiple time periods in the same teaching moment.

For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. v. 22

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. — Matthew 7:15 NIV

An appearance of goodness does not guarantee a heart of goodness.

We keep our guard up against wolves by testing everything.

Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. — 1 Thessalonians 5:20–22 NIV

We keep our guard up against wolves by looking at their fruit.

By their fruit you will recognize them. — Matthew 7:16a NIV

…Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. — Acts 9:17 NIV

[Saul] began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. — Acts 9:20 NIV

The problem with being deceived is that from the inside, it feels like being right.

…the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. — John 14:26 NIV

‘Holy Spirit teach me. Show me what I’m missing. Correct what I’ve misunderstood. Help me receive the truth, even when it challenges what I already believe.’

“…the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.” —CS Lewis Mere Christianity

Test what you hear. Examine what you see. Let the Holy Spirit teach you to walk in the ways of the Lord.

The Spirit’s Power for Everyday Faithfulness

Jesus is revealing the future so we will know how to live in the present.

[The Holy Spirit empowers us for faithful, bold witness, day after day.]

7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.

8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

“The strife and pain that Jesus is speaking of are woes that will give birth to a whole new world—a world that is better than anything we could imagine.” — Jason Meyer, Mark for You – Bible Commentary

9 “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.

10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.

11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.

13 Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. — Mark 13:7–13 NIV

On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them v. 9b

[To be a witness is to speak the truth about what God has done and who God is, especially when doing so requires courage.]

And the gospel must first be preached to all nations v. 10

…say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit v. 11b

[The Holy Spirit empowers us for faithful, bold witness, day after day.]

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. — Acts 4:13 NIV

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly… With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. — Acts 4:31&33a NIV

Our calling is to remain faithful to Jesus, depend on the Holy Spirit and keep being a witness for Him.

Faithful witness begins today with the people in front of us. Our conversations and the way we treat them can point them toward Jesus.

The Holy Spirit empowers us to speak about Jesus with courage and to treat people with the same love He shows us. And faithful witness means continuing in both, day after day.

…the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. — v. 13b

Day after day, we learn to depend on the Holy Spirit and follow where Jesus leads.

We don’t know what following Jesus will cost us tomorrow. But we can depend on the Holy Spirit and remain faithful to Him today.