Pastor Reid Hankins

Rev. W. Reid Hankins was born and raised in Bellflower, CA. He received his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, with a minor in Classical and Medieval European Studies, in June 2000 from the University of California, San Diego. In February 2003, Pastor Reid started Hankins Consulting, Inc., a web development consulting company. He continued to operate his business throughout his seminary training at Westminster Seminary California, graduating in June 2007 with a Masters of Divinity (M.Div.) degree. During his seminary studies, Pastor Reid was distinguished to receive the Samuel and Ann Van Til Scholarship Prize in Biblical Studies and the Arthur Forest Wells Memorial Scholarship. He has been married to his wife Kim since January 2001, and they have two children, Will and Zoe. In his free time, Pastor Reid enjoys ice hockey, hiking, camping, fine dining, and playing board games.
Rev. W. Reid Hankins was born and raised in Bellflower, CA. He received his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, with a minor in Classical and Medieval European Studies, in June 2000 from the University of California, San Diego. In February 2003, Pastor Reid started Hankins Consulting, Inc., a web development consulting company. He continued to operate his business throughout his seminary training at Westminster Seminary California, graduating in June 2007 with a Masters of Divinity (M.Div.) degree. During his seminary studies, Pastor Reid was distinguished to receive the Samuel and Ann Van Til Scholarship Prize in Biblical Studies and the Arthur Forest Wells Memorial Scholarship. He has been married to his wife Kim since January 2001, and they have two children, Will and Zoe. In his free time, Pastor Reid enjoys ice hockey, hiking, camping, fine dining, and playing board games.

Whoever Desires to Come After Me

Have you ever thought you knew someone, because you had learned something about them? Maybe you learned where they were born or what their job was, and you assumed you knew everything about them. Those kinds of assumptions can certainly get you in trouble. In our passage, we find the disciples thinking they knew Jesus. You see, they finally learned something critical about Jesus — that he was the Christ!

And yet, just because they finally knew this important truth about Jesus, didn’t mean that they really knew him. No, no sooner do they make that momentous confession do we find them confused about what that meant. They thought they knew Jesus because they thought they knew what the role of the Messiah would be. However in this passage we find Jesus challenging their assumptions. We see Jesus calling into question what they thought they knew about him and his role as Messiah.

If we are to follow Jesus, we must understand his mission and role as the Messiah. Let’s look at what this passage says about that mission and how that affects how we follow him.

Passage: Mark 8:31-9:1
Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Sermon originally preached during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 07/27/2008 in Novato, CA.

Click here for the manuscript.

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You Are The Christ

In the Old Testament, the prophets rebuked God’s people for their spiritual dullness.  And when they did this, they often described the people’s problems in terms of the senses.  The people had eye and ears, but they weren’t truly seeing and hearing.   Obviously God was not speaking in a physical sense.  He was speaking in a spiritual one.  The people were spiritually blind and deaf.  They were dull to understanding the spiritual truths of God.  In our passage for today we see that the disciples fall into this same category.  In verse 18, Jesus rebukes the disciples concerning the same thing – having eyes but not seeing, having ears but not hearing.  The disciples show that they are typical Israelites, and typical humans – spiritually blind and deaf; hard hearts; unable to understand the things of God.  That is the state of all of us without Christ.  And yet the good news is that this passage shows how Jesus is the solution for our spiritual blindness and deafness.  As truly as he brought sight to the blind man in our passage and hearing to the deaf man, he can bring true vision, true hearing, and true understanding to our spirits.  So let’s dig into this passage and see God’s message for us today.

Passage: Mark 7:31-8:30
Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Sermon originally preached during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 07/20/2008 in Novato, CA.

Click here for the manuscript.

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