New Life in Christ (part 1 – Palm Sunday) Sermon Preview

I have participated in a few parades in my lifetime. As a kid in scout troops and civic organizations I walked in a few Christmas parades. As a student, I rode in Homecoming parades. As an adult, I have gone to parades to cheer on my son and his teams. As an American, I have witnessed 4th of July parades in various states. As a resident of my neighborhood, we all parade around the neighborhood once a year, and eventually eat popsicles!

Like I said, I have participated in a few parades in my life.

But … I have never been a part of a parade that was actually going someplace. Most parades are ceremonial, remembering a past event, or celebratory, marking a special day or season. But the parades never lead to a location where something of great consequence happens. The Christmas parade never ended with those in the parade building a homeless shelter. Even the doggone homecoming parade often did not lead to a victory by our team! For the most part, in my experience, parades are about the parade, not where they were headed.

But in Mark 11:1-11, we see a parade that was HEADED SOMEWHERE. In Luke 9:51, Jesus is said to “set His face to go to Jerusalem,” a journey that would take months to complete. But, when Jesus finally gets there, a parade forms for the last couple of miles of the journey. Make no mistake, this was quite the parade, complete with music, animals, and a celebratory crowd. It even happened on the verge of a major holiday! But this was no parade for the sake of the parade. Though most in attendance of this parade did not appreciate what they were doing or where this was headed, Jesus invited a procession that would lead to His Passion – His death on the cross.

Far from being a parade to no where, or a party halted by the Jewish religious police or Roman authorities, Jesus knew exactly what lay before Him and exactly what He was doing as He lay down His life on the cross.

This Sunday at Wildwood Community Church, we will look at Mark 11:1-11 (along with Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:33-34, 45) to see the significance of this Palm Sunday parade as we kickoff our two Sunday (plus Good Friday) remembrance of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection for our sins. Make plans to join us in our 8:30, 9:45, or 11:00 service this Sunday (March 29) as we kick off our short Easter Series “New Life in Christ.” See you there and bring friends! This is one parade that you should not miss, after all it headed to the most consequential event in human history.

Questions for Reflection: March 22, 2026

On Sunday, March 22, 2026, Teaching Pastor Bruce Hess’ message is “Perplexing Bible Truths: To Fear or Fear Not?”. Below are some questions for your personal or group reflection.

There are many things in our world today that easily can elicit a sense of fear and concern even for followers of Jesus. Honestly share what some of those are for you. What are some that you can see which most alarm our families, neighbors and co-workers?
What are some truths about God found in Isaiah 41:10 and 1 Peter 5:7 that can help us as we find ourselves face-to-face with some fear?
In both the Old Testament and New Testament, the ‘Fear of God’ for a believer is described in positive terms (see Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Peter 1:17). Why do you think there seems to be so little teaching on this idea?
How much have you heard about what it means for a believer to ‘Fear God?
Bruce mentioned how in Isaiah 11, regarding the future Messiah (Jesus), that it says of him, ‘His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.’ What does the idea of ‘delight’ mean practically?
Bruce mentioned Sinful Fear and Spiritual Fear. What do each of them mean in more detail?
Bruce shared several ‘insight statements’ from Scripture about Spiritual Fear. List some of them. What were some of the ‘benefit statements’ about Spiritual Fear?
Chuck Swindoll was quoted as saying: The fear of the Lord means taking God seriously—His holiness, His standards, His authority. What would that look like in our everyday life?
Pause to pray and thank God for His marvelous works, His promises of protection, and for His awesome greatness.

To listen to this message offline, click the link below to download:

Perplexing Bible Truths 2

To listen online, use the media player below:

To watch the service, use YouTube online:

Sneak Peek – Sunday, March 22, 2026

Welcome to June in March! Only a high temp on Saturday of 95 degrees! Where’s my shorts?

This kind of weather gets one thinking of the month of June, and June 1-4 means VBS! VBS is for kids ages 4 (potty trained) through those entering 5^th grade. Kids must be registered by May 25. For those of us who are “older kids,” there is the opportunity to both volunteer to serve at VBS and to donate to support VBS. All the detail info and signups are at www.wildwoodchurch.org/vbs

People often ask me about how to view or listen to Wildwood’s sermons. They can easily be found at www.wildwoodchurch.org/sermons When you click on the message and then “resources” you can locate the sermon questions (and for last week, the PDF summary of the message). Also, be sure to check each week’s bulletin for multiple ways to volunteer or get further involved in the life of Wildwood.

This Sunday will be part 2 in the 2-Part series entitled, Reflecting on (sometimes) Perplexing Bible Truths. The message title this Sunday, To Fear, or not to Fear? Some have said that ‘Fear Not’ is the most frequent command in Scripture. At the same time, a great number of verses in Scripture, both Old and New Testaments, exhort us to ‘Fear God.’ How does all this work together? Are we to fear, or not to fear? Do we know as followers of Jesus what Scripture means when it says, Fear God? Did Jesus ‘Fear God?’

Our aim is to bring some clarity to what the Bible means when it urges us to ‘Fear God.’ I hope you will be able to be there Sunday. Lord willing, I will be!

See you Sunday!

Bruce

Questions for Reflection: March 15, 2026

On Sunday, March 15, 2026, Teaching Pastor Bruce Hess’ message is “Perplexing Bible Truths: Human Volition and Divine Election”. Below are some questions for your personal or group reflection.

How have you seen believers respond to issues related to what the Bible says about divine election in light of Scripture’s teaching also on man’s responsibility to believe?
Bruce agreed with and quoted Charles Simeon: “(We should) Be Bible Christians, not system Christians” What does that mean to you?
Romans 11:33 was a foundational verse for the message, focusing on the word ‘inscrutable’. What Greek dictionary synonyms for inscrutable did Bruce mention?
What are the ramifications for us of both Romans 11:33 and Isaiah 55:9?
Why do people often shy away from Scripture’s teaching about divine election?
Have you heard the term “antinomy” before? What definition did Bruce give for it?
Bruce emphasized that both streams of Bible Truth have been designed by God for a purpose. What two purposes did Bruce cite for Human Volition-Man’s Personal Responsibility? What two purposes did Bruce cite for Divine Election-God’s Sovereign Action?
Respond to this thought: The Bible holds to sovereignty and responsibility in salvation alike. A faithful Bible student should do the same.
Pray and thank God for the Scriptures and for His amazing, awesome greatness.

TWO CLEAR STREAMS OF TRUTH IN SCRIPTURE pdf

To listen to the sermon offline, click the link below to download:

Human Volition and Divine Election Sermon

To listen online, use the online player below:

To watch the stream of the service use YouTube online:

Sneak Peek: Sunday, March 15, 2026

Well, here we are on the cusp of spring break next week. Sounds like we will be starting the week with a mid-January-like day or two and then ending it with an early-June- like day or two. It’s FUN to be an Oklahoman!

Last Sunday was a wonderful celebration day of 22 baptisms at Wildwood. If you were out of town (like me, with some 14 guys at the Sky Ranch Men’s Retreat) or if you were unable to view all the baptism videos—good news! You can view the testimony videos by going to vimeo.com/channels/1959843. There are many wonderful and delightful testimonies from that day. It’s a joy to celebrate them. I would especially encourage you to see my friend Chad Shanks story. A wonderful testimony of our God’s gracious love and mercy. Praise the Lord for all the testimonies!

This Sunday will launch a 2-message series I’ve entitled, Reflecting on (sometimes) Perplexing Bible Truths. The focus of this week’s message is on the salvation issues of divine election alongside the responsibility of individuals to personally believe in the gospel. These Bible topics have often fueled confusion, consternation, and even controversy among followers of Jesus.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I do plan to share my best understanding of these issues and hope to bring some perspective that can help relieve some of the confusion and consternation. Our foundational verse for this week is Romans 11:33, Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

Just a reminder, you can always access the sermon questions for messages by going to wildwoodchurch.org/sermons. Click on the message, and then on “resources.” This week I will also be including a PDF summary of the message content.

See you Sunday!

Bruce

March 2026 Baptism Services

On Sunday, March 8, 2026 at Wildwood Community Church in Norman, OK, we gathered to worship Jesus while also celebrating the baptisms of 22 people who had professed faith in Christ. Below you will find the video of the baptism portion of the 9:45 service, the video of the full 11:00 service, a link to the audio of the 8:30AM sermon, and a link to all the testimonies shared in the service today.

If you are interested in being baptized at Wildwood in the future, our next baptism service will be August 2, 2026. Let us know your interest by filling out the form at wildwoodchurch.org/baptism.

NOTE: To view testimonies shared in this baptism service, click here.

To listen to the sermon from the 8:30 service offline, click link below:

Baptism March 2026

To listen to the sermon from the 8:30 service online, use media player:

To watch the 9:45 service baptisms, use YouTube online:

To watch the 11:00 service, use YouTube online:

Baptism Sunday (3/8/26) Preview

On Sunday, March 8, 2026 at Wildwood Community Church we will celebrate new life in Christ as 22 people are baptized across our 3 morning services. What a blessing it will be to hear the stories of how these individuals have come into a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. As with all our Baptism Services, we will NOT have any children, student, college, or adult classes meeting on Sunday as we will be all in the worship services together at 8:30, 9:45, or 11:00. To see who is being baptized in each service, see the graphic below. Can’t wait to worship with you Sunday … and bring friends!

Robinson Family Update (3/3/2026)

Family get together around Valentine’s Day … love this crew!

It has been about 3 weeks since our last family update. In many ways, it feels like our lives run in a three week rhythm now. Every 3 weeks, Kimberly sees the oncologist. Every 3 weeks Kimberly has another chemo infusion. This has been our rhythm for the past 16 weeks, alongside the steady drumbeat of a daily targeted treatment for her lung cancer’s particular mutation.

As someone who is used to life having a weekly rhythm (Sundays occur every 7 days after all), life feels like it has slowed down a bit over the past four months. In other ways, though, time is flying along. Josh is nearing the midway point of his second semester at OU. Wildwood is just 90 days away from wrapping up the construction phase of our Deep + Wide program. We loved the chance to gather with a number of our missionary partners at Wildwood’s Missions Conference this past week. And, Kimberly’s body seems to be responding well to the cancer treatments. We have much to be thankful for as Spring Break approaches!

As we head to mid-March, Kimberly’s medical team has added a new riff to our rhythm. Beginning Monday, Kimberly will have 5 radiation treatments on (what is believed to be) the original cancer site in her lung. This radiation is designed to burn up what the chemo has shrunk. The targeted treatments and chemo will take a week off while radiation does its work, then start back to keep the cancer in a dormant state.

As we adjust to this new groove, we’d love to have you pray that the radiation does not cause any unintended damage, but eliminates cancer in that original mass. We’d also love to have you pray for wisdom for her medical team as they determine the best plan for treatment after radiation. We also pray that all the cancer cells in her body right now would be eliminated, restoring her to full health. Personally, I’d also love to have you pray for me as the past couple of weeks have been played in a “minor key” for me. And also, please join us in praying for God to be glorified and for us to continue to see His goodness to us through it all.

In Christ,

Mark, Kimberly, and Josh

God of the City (part 2) Sermon Audio, Video, and Questions

On Sunday, March 1, 2026 at Wildwood Community Church Heber Torres, from Redeemer Church in Madrid, preached a sermon based on Acts 14:1-7. Below you will find audio and video of the message to listen to/watch, download, or share.

To listen offline, click the link below to download:

God of the City 2

To listen online, use media player below:

To watch the stream, use YouTube online:

God of the City (part 1) Sermon Audio, Video, and Questions

On Sunday, February 22, 2026 at Wildwood Community Church Pete Brunette preached a sermon based on 9:35-38. Below you will find questions related to the message for personal reflection or group discussion. You will also find audio and video of the message to listen to/watch, download, or share.

Sermon Questions:

Pray
Read Matthew 9:35-38
Pete said this morning that we are all tempted to read our Bibles like we read a yearbook … flipping through the pages to see the places were we find “us.” The reality is that the Bible is a book about God, His creation, His creation’s rebellion, and God’s plan to redeem it in Christ. The Bible is a story about Him and not just me. Did you connect with this idea? In what ways?
In Matthew 9:35-38, what did Jesus SEE when He looked at the crowds? What do you SEE when you look around at the world around you?
In Matthew 9:35-38, what did Jesus FEEL as He looked at the crowds? What do you FEEL as you look at the world around you?
In Matthew 9:35-38, what did Jesus SAY? Have you prayed the prayer that Jesus invites His followers to pray in response to what we FEEL about what we see in the world around us?
There are 3.2 Billion people around the world today who have no access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In light of this, what are we to do as individuals and the church?
What stands out to you most from this message? Any particular takeaway?