ReCreate Church’s Podcast

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, April 2, 2023

Palm Sunday

Today, Pastor Michael is in the story of Jesus where some things are being set into motion.  Folks are worshipping Jesus at this point, His disciples likely feeling like folks are understanding his message and rolling out the red carpet, so to speak.  The welcome one would normally give to royalty.

Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter.  It gets its name from people laying down palm fronds (i.e. becoming the ‘red carpet’) for a grand entrance. 

Jesus and His Disciples stopped at Bethphage and Bethany.  This is the only time in the bible that Jesus isn’t walking but actually riding a colt. 

Jesus, riding the colt, and His disciples started the descent from the Mt of Olives into Jerusalem, while followers shouted Hosanna, praising Him as the Messiah.  

The prophecy continues as Jesus arrives on a lowly donkey as an invitation to those that will humble themselves. 

Luke 19:29-34 (CSB Study Bible Notes) 19:29 Bethphage and Bethany were small villages near the road from Jericho to Jerusalem. Bethany, the hometown of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha (Jn 11:1) was only two miles east of Jerusalem, just over the Mount of Olives, a ridge across the Kidron Valley from the temple in Jerusalem. The two . . . disciples are not named in any of the Gospels.

19:30-34 Religious or political leaders in that time often borrowed property (a young donkey) for a short time, as here. Matthew 21:7 says that the mother donkey was also commandeered. This action fulfilled the prophecy of Zch 9:9: “Daughter Jerusalem . . . your King is coming to you . . . humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Verses can be found in Mark 11, John 12, Luke 19, and Matthew 21.  

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

 

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, March 26, 2023

Food and Walking on Water.

Today, Pastor Michael is following up on the “Feeding of the Five Thousand”.  Jesus and His Disciples were in the woods and the whole point of being in the wilderness area was to get some rest.  But the crowd followed them!  And during this time, Jesus feed well over 5,000 from just the meager leftovers of someone’s lunch!

So, here is this miracle-working man that can feed us every day!  If he were a king, he could feed us every day!  Let’s make this man a king!

But, they wanted to make him king for all the wrong reasons!  

When the evening came, the boat with the disciples was in the sea and they were paddling like crazy and getting nowhere!  They looked out and saw that He who had created water could walk on it!

The disciples all saw Him and were frightened, thinking He was a ghost, but Jesus spoke to them. When Jesus got into the boat, the wind flat-out stopped. The disciples were amazed because they failed to learn from the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were hardened. These miracles coming this close together should have reminded them that Jesus is the Son of God who has power over everything. He can create food; He can walk on water! 

 Mark 6:50-52 (CSB Study Bible Notes) 6:50 Jesus reassured the disciples with two commands: Have courage and don’t be afraid. The words it is I are literally “I am” (Gk Egō Eimi), the divine name of God in Ex 3:14 (cp. Is 41:4; 43:10-11; 48:12). Jesus did what God alone could do and used God’s name to identify himself.

6:51 In 4:35-41 the wind ceased when Jesus commanded it to stop; here it stopped when he got into the boat . . . Astounded was the usual reaction to Jesus’s power (cp. 1:22,27; 2:12; 5:15,20,42).

6:52 Mark diagnosed a twofold problem: the disciples had not understood and their hearts were hardened. Hard hearts (spiritual insensitivity) characterized the Pharisees at the synagogue in Capernaum (3:5).

Verses can be found in Mark 6: 45-52 and Matthew 14: 1-12.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, March 19, 2023

The Potter’s Wheel.

Today, Pastor Michael is turning over the reigns to Billy Huneycutt, who gave incredible lessons last year in July (“More and More”), October (“Come, Follow Me”), and December (“Is This Boat Gonna Sink?”).  

His signature piece, though, would have to be “The Potter’s Wheel,” which he last did for us way back in December 2021.

This is a piece that audio alone cannot do justice to.  And even more so this time, as we had an issue with our microphones, it was a lesson in patience :).  

There is a YouTube video posted of Billy’s last performance of the Potter’s Wheel in December of 2021.  Look it up, and it’ll add a lot of background information to the story Billy is trying to tell.

Next week, Pastor Michael is back in Mark, Chapter 6, so study up!

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, March 5, 2023

Feeding Hungry Souls

Today, Pastor Michael is talking of how Jesus was taking a retreat with the apostles, all of them essentially worn out from a ton of preaching, taking them to a deserted place for some recharge time.  Wouldn’t you know it?  When they arrived, there were already many folks waiting for them!  A bunch of folks!  Jesus looked out over the crowd and felt empathy, a group of lost wanderers with no sense of direction—a deep hunger for “more”; a sheep without a shepherd.  

Jesus speaks to them about life, redemption, peace, and meaning.  He preaches for hours, but the crowd is getting hungry, a perfectly reasonable thing to happen.  The disciples start doing the math on how much it will take to feed the masses and come up short, as in seriously short!  They return to Jesus and inform Him they can only provide some with what they have.  Yet, they forgot the team they were on; they’ve seen miracles and are so hung up on what they thought they needed and didn’t have that they lost sight of what they DID have.  Jesus told them to inventory what they DID have; they had five loaves of bread and two fish.  Not a lot.

From that minuscule amount of bread and fish to work with, Jesus took that and blessed the food and started handing it out.  And He handed it out to over 5,000 people, and they were fed. So Jesus miraculously created twelve fish and bread baskets, and no one went hungry!  

It’s not really about the fish and bread, it’s about feeding souls.  What Jesus really had to offer was Himself!

(CSB Study Bible Notes) 6:44 A total of five thousand men were fed. Mark’s word (Gk) andres (“males”) is gender specific. Matthew adds “besides women and children” (Mt 14:21) which mean that considerably more than five thousand people were fed.

Verses can be found today in Mark 6:30 - 44.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, February 26, 2023

The Original Jesus Freak!

Today, Pastor Michael is continuing our journey in Mark.  Jesus, at this time, was traveling, preaching, and gaining quite a following. Unfortunately, Jesus has gotten Herod’s attention, and Herod has mixed Jesus up with John the Baptist.  The Herod here is Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, so you have the backstory in this complicated story. 

The story itself is beyond reality television but suffice it to say, there’s a marriage involved, a divorce involved, and a whole bunch of hurt feelings.  Herodias hated John and demanded that Herod put him to death because John called her out for a marriage that wasn’t legit.  Herod didn’t think this was right, feeling that John the Baptist was divinely inspired and a true prophet, so he just put him in jail instead of killing him.

This didn’t, of course, satisfy the wrath of Herodias, and she plotted to have Salome perform a provocative dance. Of course, Herod did not mind the dance, Salome being his stepdaughter, niece, step-niece, etc. (I told you it was insanely complicated!) Herod, at this point, says to Salome that he will grant her anything. But, she replies, she wants the head of John the Baptist right now!

John the Baptist, meanwhile, was a man who knew where his faith was when the executioner came.  When the executioners brought John’s head in on a platter, it looked like the good guys had lost.  John was dead, and the conspirers were alive; is that fair?

A few short years after this, Herod and Herodias were banished to Gaul and never heard from again.  John the Baptist’s legacy lives on.  In the grand story of history, who had the more significant impact?  John won in history.  

Living for Jesus may mean you take a hit on this earth, but you may change the trajectory of many by your obedience. 

Mark 6:17-18 (CSB Study Bible Notes) 6:16-17 Herod’s belief that Jesus was John the Baptist resurrected prompted him to reflect fearfully on the one he had beheaded (see Josephus, Ant., 18.5.2). John was imprisoned (1:14) on account of Herodias. Herodias was formerly married to Herod’s half-brother, Herod Philip, and had a daughter with him named Salome. Herod Antipas convinced Herodias to leave Philip and marry him instead. 

To clear the way, Herod Antipas had to divorce his own wife. 6:18 John the Baptist repeatedly condemned this marriage as not lawful (Lv 18:16; 20:21).

Verses can be found today in Mark 6: 14-29.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

 

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, February 19, 2023

Disciple!

Today, Pastor Michael is talking about the Twelve Disciples spreading the Good News.  

It’s not easy to share it, not knowing who to share it with, but we are disciples making disciples, as the twelve were so many millennia ago.  

Jesus sent out the disciples, two by two.  So everyone had a buddy.  Back in those days, under Jewish law there was a requirement for two witnesses for a testimony to be verified.  So, in modern terms, try to have someone that you can talk the Gospel with, share your Christian walk with and study together.  Jesus made us for community.  

Jesus told them to take nothing for the journey; it was a minimalist event, to be sure.  All but empty-handed, they were sent out to make disciples.  They were also told to stay at people’s houses; this was a hospitality culture.  Folks in those days would take in strangers, a situation that has pretty much changed these days.  And Jesus mentioned not to go house hopping, either.  

Finally, Jesus allowed that if they were not welcome, to shake the dust off their feet and leave.  That was a cultural metaphor, the Orthodox Jews in those days, when they walked through Gentile territory, would shake their shoes off at the border. 

And they were preaching folks about repentance.  Something folks don’t readily accept, but it’s merely realizing you’re on the wrong road.  

So, who are YOU sharing life with?  Who can YOU share the Good News of Jesus Christ with?  If we are making disciples, are you being discipled? And, who are you discipling? 

We believe reaching people is more important than serving our comforts and our preferences.  

Thanks to Tony Hicks for his powerful testimony!

(CSB Study Bible Notes) 6:12-13 That people should repent was the content of their preaching, modeling the messages of John the Baptist (1:4) and Jesus (1:15). The ministry of the Twelve is summarized as preaching and teaching (6:30), exorcism, and healing. Anointing sick people with oil is mentioned here, in a parable in Lk 10:34, and in Jms 5:14.

 

Verses can be found today in Mark 6: 7-12, Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12, and Matthew 28: 18-20.

 

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, February 5, 2023

Jesus Is More!

Today, Pastor Michael is back in Mark after a hiatus over the holidays.  Mark is one of the Gospels, each one of which has a different viewpoint on Jesus’ story. 

Matthew—Gives an overall view.

Mark—Fast paced, action oriented, close up.

Luke—Detailed, intimate look.

John—overarching, high level view, where Jesus fits into history.

Michael’s opinion is that Mark is a great place for anyone to start reading the Bible at, especially since Mark was a protege of Peter.  And we’re pretty sure Mark is from Peter’s viewpoint.

So, with that introduction, we find Jesus back in his hometown of Nazareth, speaking at a synagogue.  Now you’d think, being in the hometown hood, he’d be well received, the folks happy to see him.

Not!

Folks were actually ‘astonished’ at His words, some even feeling offended. To the point that they called Jesus, ‘Son of Mary’, about a big a dig as one could get in those days, as folks were called sons of their father.   So it was readily apparent that Jesus still had the home town crowd in the holding a grudge of sorts as to his beginnings being suspect.  Clearly, people did not (and still do not) respect you in your hometown.  

Israel in those days had a big thing apparently, for false prophets.  Those type of prophets would tell them what they wanted to hear, not what they needed changed and cleaned up.  The true prophets were actually ridiculed.  As an example, look at the treatments of Isaiah and Jeremiah.  

Which brings up the point, what really is a prophet?  A prophet is someone who gives a message from the Lord.  These messages may or may not be predictive, but a lot of people associate prophets with predictive prophesy.  Prophecy does not simply seek to predict the future, but can also change the present.  So was Jesus a prophet?  No, He was much more than a prophet.  The teachings and miracles that surrounded Jesus proved he wasn’t sent from God; He is God.

To those determined to not believe, they will hold on to their own ways.  No evidence is enough, even to be raised from the dead.  So Jesus left Nazareth and went to where he was wanted.  

Jesus is more.  Jesus is more than a man.  More than a good teacher.  More than a prophet.

Jesus is God.

(CSB Baker Illustrated Bible Study Notes) Surprisingly, Jesus is not a celebrity in Nazareth as he is elsewhere in Galilee, but people were “offended by him” (or, he was a “stumbling block,” 6:3). This repeats Mark’s insider-outsider motif: those we should expect to believe in Jesus do not, and those we should not expect to believe in him do. The return to Nazareth ends with Jesus “amazed at their unbelief” (6:6). The greatest hindrance to faith is not sinfulness but hardness of heart.

Verses can be found today in Mark 6: 1-7.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, January 29, 2023

Seeking Jesus. 

Today, Pastor Michael is turning over the reigns to Billy Huneycutt and the message today is about seeking Jesus.  

Today we are concentrating on “seeking” and “Jesus”.  

And we find Billy covering Jesus where a huge crowd is converging on Him, with Jairus, a synagogue leader, pleading earnestly with him, to put His hands on his daughter so that she will live and be healed.  

This is important because synagogue leaders didn’t trust Jesus and here is a leader of a synagogue and he lies prostrate to Jesus, crying out for help for his daughter.  He sought after Jesus wholeheartedly and his need was great.

And a woman was there, who was subject to bleeding for 12 years.  It was against the law for her to be in public.  Crazy rules in those days, huh?  Immediately her bleeding was stopped and she was freed from her suffering.  She felt in her body that she was free from her suffering. 

Mark 5:21-26 (CSB Study Bible Notes) The intertwined miracles involving Jairus’s daughter and the bleeding woman occur in all three Synoptic Gospels (cp. Mt 9:18-26; Lk 8:40-56). Both miracles involved uncleanness.

5:21 The other side refers to the western side of the Sea of Galilee. Mark has already recorded key ministry events by the sea (1:16-20; 2:13-15; 4:1-34). Mark’s description of Jesus’s return is virtually identical to that given in 4:1 before he crossed the lake. 5:22-23 Synagogue leaders such as Jairus were respected laymen responsible for synagogue oversight and activities. Fell at his feet and begged him earnestly shows Jairus’s desperate concern for his little daughter. Luke recorded that she was his only daughter (Lk 8:42). The ruler’s request lay your hands on her shows awareness of Jesus’s method in other healings (1:31,41; 6:5; 7:32; 8:23,25). Jairus’s word for get well also means “be saved.” The same word was used of the woman in v. 28 and in Jesus’s proclamation in v. 34. 5:24-26 The implication is that the woman suffering from bleeding, making her unclean according to OT law (Lv 15:19-33). That this had gone on for twelve years (cp. v. 42) and she had been treated by many doctors but not helped at all indicates an illness that was beyond the help of current medicine. Furthermore, she was financially depleted—she had spent everything she had.

Verses can be found today in Matthew 6: 33 and Mark 5: 21.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

 

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, January 15, 2023

Nothing Energizes Like Purpose!

Today, Pastor Michael is continuing our study on “overflow”.  Today’s topic that ties into overflow is energy.  Energy is a strange thing: when you’re young you have time and energy and no money.  When you’re retired you have money (hopefully!) and time but no energy!  And then there’s that “in-between” time, when you’re raising your family and you have no time, no energy and no money!  

Where do we get energy? There are plenty of worldly ways: caffeine, exercise, good diet.  But the spiritual side of energizing power is called “purpose”.  When we have purpose it energizes us.  

And the ultimate source of purpose?  Almighty God!  Trust in the Lord to give you purpose and He will give you meaning and direction.  

(CSB Study Bible Notes) God not only had strength, but he distributed that strength to his people. The criterion for receiving God’s strength was not youth but trust. Those who trusted God would have an unlimited source of strength.

Verses can be found today in Isaiah 40: 30-31 and 1 Kings 19.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. 

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, January 8, 2023

Oil and Treasure (also known as:  Blessed to Be a Blessing!)

Today, Pastor Michael is looking at the Principle of Overflow.  This is rooted in the 23rd Psalm at verse 5, where we hear, “my cup overflows”.

This is a symbolic meaning of how God blesses us beyond our capacity.  What do we overflow with?  Joy and peace come to mind immediately.  Last week we talked about time.  Today we are exploring what we would love to have too much of: resources (money for example).  Is there such a thing as too much money?  Too many resources?  Resources come in all types but to have too much of them is both a rarity and a blessing. 

We have a hard time recognizing when we have an overflow.    Especially an overflow of resources.

Now, Michael is talking about olive oil and how it was used for practically everything and was an everyday provision back in biblical times. Oil was mixed with fragrances and used to annoint people on special occasions.  To be anointed was to be in the Lord’s favor.  

Examining verse five, one way to look at this is, if you could put your blessings in a cup, they would run over the top. Goodness and mercy will be following you always, and you will spend eternity with God. That’s the ultimate blessing!

So, knowing that you can say, you are blessed in order to be a blessing!  And God is worthy of our trust, regardless of the overflow or shortfall!

(CSB Study Bible Notes) In Jewish society oil was a symbol for rejoicing (104:15) and was also used in the welcoming of guests (45:7; 92:10; Lk 7:46).

Verses can be found today in Psalms 23: 1-6.  Proverbs 21: 20.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.