In 2006, the cost of producing a penny became higher than its actual face value for the first time. Driven by the increasing price of metals like zinc and copper by 2024, the cost to produce and distribute one U.S. penny reached an all time high of 3.69 cents, over three times its actual value. In our passage this morning, Jesus calls over His disciples to observe something that gives joy to the heart of God: a poor widow gives to God what Jesus says are her last and only two pennies. He says that the value of those two pennies given with the heart that she has is greater than the value of the large amounts given by the wealthy worshippers that day who had plenty to spare. Jesus knew what is true of the penny today. In God’s economy what it takes to form and to forge a heart that is willing to give those last two pennies is of more value than the face value of the actual pennies themselves. God’s economy is famous for not working the same way that our earthly economy does. Let’s look deeper at how two pennies in an open hand to God are a much greater sum than a closed fistful of dollars.

On December 2, 2018 about 90 people shuffled into the downstairs gym of Deer Creek Church in Littleton, Colorado. Many of them were there out of curiosity, some were there for the free bagels. But most were there because they wanted to be a part of a new work of the gospel in Metro Denver in some way. Out of that gym, and from this surrounding community, came a group of about 35 adults, toddlers, children and teens who formed the Launch Team of Elevate Hope Centennial: a church for people who aren’t perfect and don’t pretend to be, bringing the real and lasting hope of Jesus to Metro Denver and beyond. We didn’t know what was going to happen, but we knew that God’s plan for reaching cities with the hope of the gospel is to plant more churches. And we would hear His call to start a new church in Centennial, Colorado where people could Connect with God, Connect with Others and Connect Others to God who were far from Him. In the last part of our Scripture passage this morning, people wanted to debate where the long awaited Savior would come from but Jesus wanted them all to know what kind of Savior would he be. And as I was prayer walking around this building a couple of weeks ago, I believe that our going to Dry Creek elementary was not about the “where are we going to be a church this summer?” but “what kind of church are we going to be when we return?” What does it look like to live out Jesus—to embody Him—in our communities so that His glory expands to every corner of South Metro Denver. That is what being a disciple of Jesus is all about!

God’s ultimate plan for human life is resurrection. Resurrection into new life, into a new existence that has the capacity to dwell with the holy God who made us for eternity. If the ultimate plan of God for His people is resurrection, then our sin-wrought death is no longer the period at the end of our life story. How would we summarize that great story in all of its hope and glory? Jesus chooses one unlikely verse of Scripture to do just that when confronted with skeptics who denied that God can raise us to something new. Let’s look at our passage this morning in Mark 12.

Mark 11:27-12:17 is all about the issue of authority. Last week we read that Jesus came into the temple, furious that the outer court which was made to be used by all nations seeking to worship God was taken up by God’s own people going about the busy-ness of their own worship and activity. Jesus turned over their tables, drove out the merchants and money changers, and wouldn’t let anyone pass through who wasn’t there to worship. You can imagine how jarring that was for everyone in the temple, so it was probably just as jarring when Jesus strolls back into the temple the next day. As He does so, the highest authorities in the Jewish temple, the chief priests, scribes and elders, confront Jesus about His authority to be doing these things. They set out to trap Jesus in His words that they might be rid of Him, but Jesus responds with questions and parables of His own, avoiding their snares while setting the trap for them.

The temple was a marvelous structure, but for Jesus it was something more; it was His Father’s house which was meant to reflect His Father’s heart. And what was His Father’s heart for the temple? To draw people from all nations to Himself. It was the one place they could offer sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sin, the one place they could meet with God, come to know Him and to corporately call on His name in prayer. The temple was not just a building; it was the place where heaven met earth, where all people could come and know the God of Israel. So on the way to His Father’s house, Jesus sees a fig tree that has such an explosion of green leaves that its beauty can be seen from a great distance. But upon closer examination of what is beneath the leaves, the tree is completely fruitless. But we aren’t troubled by the fact that the tree is unfruitful because the text tells us that it wasn’t the season for figs. What is troubling is that Jesus knows that the tree should not be expected to have any fruit on it and yet He judges the tree and it withers under His judgement of its fruitlessness. Let us examine how Jesus is making the tree itself a living parable about the state He finds God’s people in at His Father’s house.

Join us this Sunday as we once again dive into Exodus 20 to look at the ninth commandment — You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (ft. Colin Campbell, Member at Elevate Hope Centennial).

If we're honest, we know we can't make it on our own, both in this life and the next.  So we come to Christ to find what even a good life can't provide. But Christ's radical claim of lordship topples all our natural priorities and challenges us to trust and follow Him. (ft. Joel Stanton, Member at Elevate Hope Centennial).

As we continue in the book of Mark together, we come to chapter 10 in which Jesus addresses the issue of divorce. Before we jump in, we need to acknowledge a couple of things. First, the topic of divorce is not only difficult but is also very real for those who are going through it or who have been through it. And second, although the church can be a great source of help for believers in divorce, it has historically been a source of hurt and frustration for believers who have been through or are going through a divorce. My hope is that no matter what stage of life you are in, in terms of marriage, singleness, divorce or dating, that we can all learn the heart of Jesus from His teaching this morning around the area of divorce.

When I have read the latter half of Mark 9 in the past, my mind always went to how hard it was for the disciples to hear what Jesus had to say to them; plucking out eyes, cutting off hands and feet. But I’ve always overlooked how hard it must have been for Jesus to hear what the disciples were saying. If you can imagine going through the last couple years of your life, knowing that you are going to die, going to be betrayed, going to go through incredible suffering. The idea of a dying and suffering Messiah had already caused many to turn against Him, even Peter at one point. So Jesus confides in His closest friends, telling them plainly what was awaiting them at the end of this journey. But they didn’t want to talk about His dying. While Jesus was talking about how to give His own life to save all of them, they were arguing about which one of them was the greatest. Join us this morning as we learn what is means to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

In the verses immediately before our passage, the disciples were worried sick over trivial things like how much bread they had to eat. But then, Peter, James and John get a surprise behind-the-scenes look as the veiled glory of Jesus is suddenly revealed. How does seeing the glory of Jesus even just for a moment change our perspective? At the beginning of Mark 9, Jesus says the cryptic words: “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” That is, some of those standing with Jesus would not suffer death until they get a glimpse not of the crucified Christ, or even the risen Christ, but behind-the-scenes to the glorified Christ. Mark tells us that six days later, that is exactly what happens. Some standing there see the power and glory of Jesus that has up until that point been veiled to their eyes; they get a behind-the-scenes look at who Jesus really is.

If you were to ask an AI chatbot, “what is love according to the Bible?”, you would get this answer: In the Bible, love is not primarily an emotion, but an active choice and a reflection of God's nature. It is a selfless and sacrificial commitment to the well-being of others, demonstrated through actions and a desire to see them flourish. This kind of love is unconditional and focuses on the good of the other person, not on personal feelings or benefits. So, what is love? If you take out the Bible, the world’s definition of love is primarily a positive emotion that you feel towards another person. And while that is true, the Bible’s definition of love is more enduring than that because it doesn’t start with us and our feelings; it starts with the other person and what we are willing to sacrifice for them. The Bible’s definition of love always includes self sacrifice. In our passage this morning, the Apostle Peter makes a claim about Jesus to which Jesus says in Matthew’s account: “Upon this rock, I will build My church.” So, upon what kind of love is our church built, both as the church gathered and as the church scattered in the world? That is the theme of our passage this morning, let’s look closer.

Have you ever felt like you are ready to give out on the journey of life, like you are about to faint along the way? Maybe you are just coming out of a season like that, or maybe you are in a time like that right now, or just entering into it. Jesus asks us to follow Him with our whole person, with everything that we have and that we are. But sometimes that’s hard and we can feel like we just don’t have enough energy, margin or ability to go the distance in our jobs, our relationships and our families like He calls us to. Join us in Mark 8 as we observe what Jesus has to say about Himself, our only true source of sustenance and satisfaction when we are weary.

Join us this Sunday as we once again dive into Exodus 20 to look at the eighth commandment — You shall not steal. (ft. Colin Campbell, Member at Elevate Hope Centennial).

Join us this Sunday as we once again dive into Exodus 20 to look at the seventh commandment — You shall not commit adultery. (ft. Colin Campbell, Member at Elevate Hope Centennial).

We don’t often think of being sick as an act of grace. Whatever we may call it, praise God for building into our bodies a system of getting rid of unclean things that have gone into us. Be it the normal everyday way we do that or when our stomach needs to grind into reverse gear. But what about the things that make not our stomach sick, but our heart sick? What about the things that fatally contaminate our hearts, minds and souls, and separate us from eternal life? How do we get rid of those things? Stomach sickness seems worse than heart sickness because we immediately feel it. But unlike heart sickness can we get rid of stomach sickness quickly; sickness of our soul is harder to perceive. We often don’t feel it until we have hurt others, hurt God, or slowly destroyed ourselves over a lifetime until we reach the final day of judgement. Jesus says it’s time to talk openly about what is making us really sick, and the diagnosis isn’t good.

Jesus walking on water may be the most famous of His miracles. It is also one of His hardest miracles to believe if you are a skeptic, and with good reason: it defies the laws of nature. Mark also records that the disciples knew it defied the law of nature and that they didn’t believe it at first either. C.S. Lewis said this about miracles: “Men became scientific only because they expected Nature to behave according to certain laws. And they expected Nature to behave according to certain laws only because they believed in a supreme Law giver…Belief in miracles, then, far from depending on an ignorance of the laws of nature, is only possible if there are laws of nature and we have come to know and expect what they are.” Why did God choose to work this miracle in that moment and what did He want his disciples and us to see? That is what we will look at today in Mark 6.

Our passage in Mark 6 this morning is about a miracle that Jesus did to provide for thousands of people in dire need. But really, it is a text about the giving of two things that we often feel like we don’t have enough of: our rest and our resources, our margin and our money. God has ordained that His kingdom will spread through our generosity to Him! Jesus asks a boy to give his food, and asks the disciples to give their little remaining margin, rather than Him providing it all out of thin air because God is interested in making disciples and not simply consumers of His grace. He is interested in cultivating the fruit of compassionate, eternal and generous hearts in our lives as disciples of Jesus.

The saying goes that ‘familiarity breeds contempt.’ Initially, familiarity with one another is what deepens our love and deepens our connection. If we continue to honor each other, familiarity leads to even deeper respect and love. But as we become more and more familiar with someone, there is also a temptation to let pride set in. And once pride sets in, pride erodes familiarity into contempt. And we lose respect for the person or thing that we have come to know so well. In Mark 6, Jesus comes to His hometown with the best news that humankind has ever heard, that God has come as one of us to save us from sin and judgement. And so far that message has been well received in all the towns He has been in. When Jesus demonstrates His authority in other towns, people ask, “Who is this?” But when He comes to Nazareth, they don’t ask that question; they assume they know who He is and they ask questions that reveal their bruised sense of pride at being called to repent by one of their own.