We often hear, “You hold the pen—write your own story.” But chasing that ideal can leave us burdened and searching for meaning. What if there’s a greater story already being written—one that invites us in, not because of our worthiness or impressiveness, but because true love has found us?

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

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For more resources or to learn more about Hope North Lakes, visit hopecc.com/northlakes

We love stories with clear-cut villains—where it’s easy to point fingers and identify the good guys and the bad guys. But the storyline of the Bible compels us to see things differently. In an account about religious leaders and a man in need of healing, we uncover a deeper spiritual problem than we ever imagined: our own hearts are hard toward God. What can melt a hard heart?

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

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For more resources or to learn more about Hope North Lakes, visit hopecc.com/northlakes

Like someone obsessed with their lawn, we’re constantly looking outward—measuring our lives, our status, and our efforts against others. In this search for a sense of rightness, we often end up unloving, insecure, and exhausted. Rather than producing love, our striving for justification breeds comparison and contempt. What we need is a love, rest, and freedom that doesn’t come from us but to us—a grace that resets our hearts and shifts our gaze from outward striving to upward dependence.

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

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For more resources or to learn more about Hope North Lakes, visit hopecc.com/northlakes

Mark 2 paints a portrait of a man going from lifelong paralysis to joyful walking down the street. And this happens in an instant! How was he made well? By the words of Jesus. But it's what Jesus does first that confronts us with the true nature of grace. Grace won’t operate on our terms, or come from within us. Before the man is healed, he is forgiven by Jesus. This teaches us that our help comes from outside of us and that a transcendently greater reality–God’s kingdom–is breaking into our world. What might it look like for grace to get us on our feet?

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

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For more resources or to learn more about Hope North Lakes, visit hopecc.com/northlakes

So often, we feel isolated and like we are in a desolate place because we’ve bought the lie that “belonging to ourselves” is where life is to be found. And we’re burning out because of it. It takes this story of a leper, unwilling isolation, and a surprise encounter with Jesus in a desolate place to take the weight of the world off of our shoulders, restore us, and bring us out of isolation into the freedom of belonging to God.

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

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For more resources or to learn more about Hope North Lakes, visit hopecc.com/northlakes

For good and bad reasons, trust in authority is waning. And yet, we feel a need to look somewhere for hope and leadership. We need an authority figure who is powerfully and relentlessly committed to making all things new. We need an authority figure who is personally invested in our lives. We need authority we can trust. Where can this person be found?

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

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For more resources or to learn more about Hope North Lakes, visit hopecc.com/northlakes

What if every day didn’t have to feel like a performance review? What if we could find relief from keeping score or from wondering if we'll ever be enough? Jesus announces that the time is at hand to believe the good news, and this good news has the power to finally set us free from being defined by what we do. No more being defined by our performance!

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

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For more resources or to learn more about Hope North Lakes, visit hopecc.com/northlakes

Why does Jesus get baptized? And what does it mean that He came to “fulfill all righteousness”? In Mark 1, these surprising moments reveal the heart of the gospel — a Savior who stands in our place and sets us free from living for approval. In Jesus, we receive a new lease on life under the smile of God. And this comes not by pretending we have it all together, but by being honest about our shortcomings and turning to Him for approval and grace.

Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes

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For more resources or to learn more about Hope North Lakes, visit hopecc.com/northlakes