Pastor Jay continues his "Vital Signs of a Health Church" series this week with a message titled "The Simple Church," from Mark 2:23-27. [powerpress] Mark 2:23-27 (ESV)

One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

A healthy church is relatively simple.

• A simple church is not driven by false taskmasters.
• A healthy church understands the Sabbath principle.
• A simple church keeps the main thing the main thing.
• A healthy church loves/accepts its limits.

Parent Connection Questions:

• What’s the hardest thing you’ve put together on your own? (LEGO, dollhouse, etc.)
• Were the directions easy to understand?
• How simple is Jesus’ work on the cross to understand?
• God wants to make sure we don’t complicate things He made easy to understand. Find one thing to talk about with your parents that you find hard to understand in the Bible.