Pastor Mark Reynolds' Podcast

The 23rd Psalm is a familiar Bible passage that most people don't believe. We say that God provides for us and protects us, but live as if God were absent, like we are left all alone to fend for ourselves in a hostile world. We create our own hell and then use the 23rd Psalm to help us survive the day. But what if God is trying to do something different in this passage? What if the 23rd Psalm discloses reality as God intends and invites us to leave our distortions so we can live in a whole new world.

In this message, Pastor Mark draws on Acts 2 to describe what a real Christian church looks like!

Bill Gates and microchips. Elvis sightings. Roswell. 9/11. People love a good conspiracy theory, and although the internet is an unfiltered clearinghouse for wacky ideas and misinformation, conspiracy theories are nothing new. In this message, Pastor Mark talks about how conspiracy theories developed around the resurrection of Jesus and why the claim, "Christ is risen!" has persisted for over 2,000 years.

Check out Pastor Mark's Easter message on the cross, the tomb, and the stone!

Focusing on the story of Judas, Pastor Mark shows how guilt gets converted to shame and creates a compulsion to control, which functions to intensify our emotional and spiritual pain. The only way out of this trap is forgiveness, but we don't go to God for forgiveness unless we know that God loves us unconditionally.

In this message, Pastor Mark teaches six steps for praying in times of crisis, looking specifically at Daniel 9.

Join Pastor Mark for online worship at First UMC Cocoa Beach. His message is about moving from fear to faith in the COVID-19 pandemic and creating adaptive change to meet the new challenges facing the church.

In this short message, Pastor Mark explains that this is not a time to isolate, hoard our resources, and look out for number one. Rather, it's a time to show the world what a Christian looks like. We cannot sit back and count the days until we can do church the way we've always done it, but are called to step out and serve now--to lead now--given all the needs right in front of us. Let's rethink how we do church and get to work finding new ways to accomplish the mission of Jesus!

Pastor Mark offers words of encouragement regarding the COVID19 pandemic and explains what is happening at First UMC Cocoa Beach to stay connected in ministry with each other and to our community.

Do you ever struggle with recurring issues that prevent you from moving forward in life? Whether it's an addiction or a self-destructive thought pattern, most people wrestle with some kind of entrenched brokenness that creates unusually strong temptations. When trying to understand these areas of life, the analogy of a slippery slope can be helpful. Since everyone has different vulnerabilities, how do we identify these slippery slopes? How do we install moral guardrails to keep us from going over the edge? Check out this message as we explore this topic and seek solutions.

New studies show that intermittent fasting can bring significant health benefits. But as people get more interested in fasting for health reasons, interest in fasting for spiritual reasons continues to decline. Indeed, fasting is perhaps the most misunderstood and underused spiritual discipline that God gives to us. One reason is because we too often disconnect fasting from the practice of social justice. The prophets (and Jesus) help us understand that when we divorce the two we rob fasting of its divine purpose and make it a self-serving exercise that breeds self-righteousness. Check out this message as we seek to better understand the principles behind fasting and how to practice them in our everyday lives.

One of the most challenging things in the spiritual life is finding a way to listen to God. How do you hear God's voice? How do you distinguish between God's voice and your own thoughts? Check out this message as we gain tools for discernment.

Have you ever met an adult who acts like a child?Just because someone grows up physically does not mean that they grow up emotionally, and the same is true of the spiritual life. Some people become Christians but fail to do the work necessary to mature in their faith. But God calls us to grow up! Check out this message where Pastor Mark distinguishes between immature and mature faith.

Jesus says in Matthew 7: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged." But what exactly does he mean by this? Do these verses mean that we cannot make moral judgments? Call out wrongdoing? Encourage people to make amends when they injure others? Change their moral behavior? And how does all of this connect with God's love and forgiveness? Does forgiveness preclude accountability? Check out this message as we reflect on the difference between judgmentalism and speaking the truth in love.

There is disagreement in the Christian church on issues related to human sexuality. In this message, Pastor Mark talks about how these disagreements are rooted in different ways of interpreting a handful of passages in the Bible. Regardless of where you come down on these issues, it is clear that hatred is not a Christian virtue and God calls us to love everyone, including those in the LGBTQ community and those who interpret the Bible differently than we do. Check out this message to see how.

Some churches overemphasize personal morality and underemphasize social justice. They talk much about drinking, smoking, and cussing, but say very little about poverty, the environment, race relations, war and peace, healthcare, immigration, fair wages, prisons, and hunger. But this lopsided view of Christianity does not do justice to the Bible, especially the teachings of Jesus and the prophets, and is easily co-opted by ideologues to do their political bidding. In truth, God cares about personal morality AND social justice, and so should we.

In this message, we reflect on science and the Bible, arguing that you don't have to reject evolution be a Christian. Tune in to learn a new way of reading the creation stories that will help you develop a more integrated faith.

A man dies in a car accident and someone says, "We may not understand, but we just have to accept that God's will has been done." A child dies and someone says, "God must have needed another angel." Too often, God gets blamed for awful things, and some religious people tell us that we must blindly accept these claims if we are going to be real, "Bible believing" Christians. But this is wrong. Check out this message to see why and to gain a more helpful perspective.

In this message, Pastor Mark raises a important question: What does it mean to say that the Bible is inspired? After surveying a few different answers, he explains that one can be a faithful Christian and not read everything in the Bible literally.

n this message, Pastor Mark reflects on the connection between our thoughts and feelings and how our decision to either focus on the negative or the positive produces more of the same. If you want to escape "stinkin thinkin" you have to learn to shift your focus in real time.