Around the world, the power of the gospel has taken root in places where the blood of martyrs has been spilled. Before a person can give his life for the gospel, he must first live his life for the gospel. We are introduced in Acts 6 to a man named Stephen who did just that. Let’s examine his amazin …

This day is truly a special celebration of our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but we actually celebrate the resurrection every Sunday. Our entire church is centered around the name of Jesus Christ. There is no other name like the name of Jesus! We gather today because of His name. We gather in …

This chapter represents a shift for the early church. At this point, there could be about 20,000 people that make up the first church crammed into the Temple courtyard for preaching. They filtered into hundreds of homes during the week for fellowship and Bible study. Their leaders had two scuffles w …

The church today likes to discuss how to reach more people. There are conferences on how to market the church, conferences on evangelism, conferences on revivals, and conferences on finances. People love to get together to discuss. But what you don’t see is too many churches getting the job done. Th …

I find it interesting that the very first problem the church had to deal with was not immorality, not embezzlement, not anger, not even arguing over music styles or dress standards. The first problem the church had to deal with was hypocrisy. I. The Description of Hypocrisy The word “hypocrite” is t …

Last time, we talked about the power of a praying church. We hit our knees and spent some time praying as a church family. Many of you enjoyed the prayer time and also the 20-minute message! The theme of prayer continues as we see some more results of their prayer. Any church that takes prayer serio …

Acts 4 reveals that not everyone is happy about the man who was healed and the message about Jesus that came up because of the miracle. They get arrested, not for the miracle, but for the message. This world likes the miracles of Jesus, but not the message of Jesus. The rulers didn’t like the teachi …

In prayer, we usually come to God with our list of wants. We humbly request of God to give us what we want. God often responds, not by giving us what we want, but what we need. Someone has called this passage the story of a man who asked for alms and got legs. The beggar was simply asking for money, …

We have spent the last several weeks looking at the price of Pentecost (what happened before the Spirit moved), the power of Pentecost (what happened when the Spirit moved, and today we look at the product of Pentecost (what happened after the Spirit moved). Acts 2 is a brief account of the birth of …

Many misguided believers and charismatic denominations jump in the middle of Acts 2 and claim to speak in tongues.  They pray for Pentecost to happen again.  To pray for Pentecost to happen again is to ignore the simple fact that it was a historical event, prophesied centuries earlier, with non-repe …

Vance Havner said, “We are not going to move this world by criticism of it, nor conformity to it, but by the combustion within it of lives ignited by the Spirit of God.” He was right. That ignition and that combustion happened in a very real way in Acts 2. We are living in a day of pep, promotions, …

Pentecost represents something that we as a church should still long for today – a mighty moving of the Lord! We are guilty of wanting the power of Pentecost without the paying the price. We want the wages without the work. We want the blessing without the business. We want the product without the p …

These verses are essentially Jesus’ farewell address. In 1983, a 50-year old tradition was dropped by the House of Representatives. They used to read George Washington’s farewell address on his birthday every year. Leaders from both sides of the aisle decided it was useless to read the lengthy addre …

Acts is a transitional book. It moves us from law to grace, from Jews to Gentiles, from synagogues to churches, and from Judaism to Christianity. There are several ways to divide the book. It may be divided around the two main people: Peter (1-13) and Paul (13-28). It may be broken down according to …

What are you waiting for this Christmas? Are you longing for anything? What are you expecting to receive? Are you looking forward to anything special this Christmas? We often sing a carol that says, “Come, thou long-expected Jesus.” What does that mean? In the Gospel of Luke, we come across two char …

Christmas is almost here and maybe you still have so much to do it is stressing you out. The phrase I have been struck with more than any other this season is in verse 19 where the Bible tells us that Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. We don’t have time to ponder anymore, do …

More than a season of shopping, Christmas should be a season of worship. Everyone can worship. Everyone should enjoy worship. The shepherds were common working men. The wise men were sophisticated, educated men. Both engaged in the worship of baby Jesus. Worship means “to ascribe worth toward.” You …

We are finishing our study of Daniel today. The first 6 chapters of Daniel comprise a historical narrative of the 65 years that Daniel served the kingdoms of Babylon and Persia. The second half of the book, chapters 7-12, are a prophetic journal of the various visions and dreams God gave Daniel over …

When I was growing up, I loved to play with Transformers and I even watched the cartoon. The tagline for these toys that changed into robots was “more than meets the eye.” When it comes to current events, world history, future prophecy, and even day to day spiritual issues, there really is more than …

This is a very pro-Israel portion of Scripture. In Matthew 24:15, Jesus was speaking of God’s prophetic program for Israel and specifically mentioned this part of Daniel and said that the reader needs to understand this. This has been called the backbone of Bible prophecy. If you understand this, th …

We’ve been cruising along looking at some amazing prophecies in the book of Daniel, but things change gears in chapter 9. I have to tell you, this is one of the greatest prayers in the entire Bible. I think we all had safely assumed that Daniel was a man of prayer. To live the life he did, to live b …

I believe the Bible to be inspired, inerrant, and infallible, and I feel a spiritual obligation to honor the text as it was given to us by God. This means no skipping books or chapters. It forces us to handle tough texts and tough issues. Daniel 8 is the kind of chapter you would only go to if you w …

Daniel 7 as been called the most comprehensive and detailed prophecy of future events to be found anywhere in the Old Testament. We see a panoramic preview of the coming attractions to this world as God sees it. Sometimes, studying prophecy is a lot like looking at a panorama or even one of those mo …

It didn’t matter if it was lions and fires and prayers, oh my….Daniel lived by conviction in a culture of compromise. Of all the exciting stories in the book of Daniel, none is more famous than the one here. The thought of an 80-year old man being thrown into a pit with ravenous lions simply for p …

Even people who know nothing about the Bible or the Babylonians use the phrase, “the handwriting is on the wall.” The phrase means that something is a foregone conclusion – it’s a matter of when, not if, and there’s nothing you can do about it. We may recall that in chapter 2, Daniel predicted that …

This is a unique chapter in the Bible because it’s an official autobiographical document, prepared by the king of Babylon and distributed throughout his vast empire. It’s an open letter, prepared by Nebuchadnezzar and mailed throughout his entire kingdom, a copy of which is tucked inside the book of …

This story sort of takes the wind out of the sails of those that believe and teach that serving God always leads to health, wealth, and comfort. Bad things do happen to good people and bad things do happen to godly people.  But what if your best life, in the mind of God, involves the dismantling of …

This is one of the most famous and remarkable stories in the Bible. We are caught up in the part about the flames and the fourth man in the fire and the fact that not only did they survive, but their hair wasn’t even singed and their clothes didn’t even smell like smoke. But what got them thrown in …

If Nebuchadnezzar, or any world leader or world power, thinks that they will reign forever…they are dreaming. You think you’re in control? You think you are stronger than God? In your dreams! In this chapter, what looks to be an impossible situation is really just a set up for God to show His grea …

We have seen already from Daniel and his three friends that we must: I. Be prepared for the challenges that non-Christian cultures will throw at us to lead us away from God. (1-7) They will try to isolate, indoctrinate, assimilate, and re-identity us and we must be prepared. Secondly, we discovered …

Imagine the pressure these four Hebrew teenagers must have felt. The world always tries to squeeze followers of God into their mold in whatever way they can. The temptations they would face would be attractive and relentless. So they would not just need to be prepared, they would need to be determin …

This is such an important passage that I decided to take it slow and break it down into 3 parts. So integral is this section to the rest of the book that I feel we really need to soak in and chew on what is happening here and how it relates to us today. I’ll go ahead and give you the three main poin …

There is no doubt that Daniel is one of the most thrilling, difficult, and important books in the entire Bible. It is widely regarded that the six greatest books of the Bible are Genesis, Psalms, Isaiah, John, Romans, and Revelation and I believe that Daniel would be number 7 in overall importance. …

In this passage, we have a wonderful theology of giving and receiving that every believer, every pastor, and church member alike, should consider very closely. The Philippian church is a model of giving, and Paul is a model of receiving. Here is what’s happening: the Apostle Paul is trying to say th …

The truth is, we just can’t get enough.  It’s easy to see from our culture and advertising today that in many ways, the economic health of our country depends on the cultivation of our discontentment. Writing from prison towards the end of his life, the Apostle Paul tells us he has found the secret …

Since the discipline of having your mind renewed and under biblical control is so critical to the growth of the believer, you might wonder – are there any guidelines for what we allow to occupy our minds?  We continue to get these rapid-fire commands. These are not suggestions to apply to our lives …

There is much in the Christian life that can raise the anxiety level. Circumstances, satanic opposition, the pressures of this world, and our old natures war against a godly tranquility. Sometimes in life, we feel like the rug has been pulled out from under us. Anxiety is an abnormal and overwhelmin …

Christians are supposed to have a counter-cultural view of happiness. Listen, Paul knew that storms rage in our lives and against the church, he knew that believers sometimes don’t get along, and he knew about doctrinal attacks. He knew about personal hardships and suffering and sacrifice. And yet t …

Paul wanted the church of Philippi to be a faithful, race-running, gospel-striving, Jesus-thinking, prize-winning church. He was well aware of the fact that it doesn’t take much to lose focus and lose the mind of Christ. Just a little neglect, just a small argument, just a little wrong focus and a c …

Philippians is a book of the Bible designed to help believers get their focus right and the aim of their life going in the right direction and after the right pursuits.  The apostle Paul had one all-consuming ambition and it wasn’t to pay off a mortgage, earn a nice retirement, have an easy life, or …

This is the pinnacle statement of his testimony. When Paul became a true Christian, it wasn’t the end for him, it was just the beginning. Paul truly switches from rules to a relationship. He wanted to know Jesus. Christianity isn’t an it, it’s a Him. Christianity is about Jesus. The key word of thes …

Paul has just severely warned the believers in Philippi to beware of the Jewish false teachers who were wanting to add to grace. It wasn’t Jesus only, but Jesus plus rituals, Jesus plus good works, Jesus plus their religious heritage. They were trusting in their flesh, and Paul doesn’t hold back in …

Paul did not want this church to be some free-for-all buffet where doctrine was up for grabs. He never wanted the church to become a watered-down, hodgepodge place of theological thinking and debate.  This passage is important because it teaches believers to guard and protect the true grace gospel o …

There is no doubt that God has used a few people in very powerful ways to do really big things for the kingdom of God. They are the Christian superstars and they make the headlines, the history books, and all the best sermon illustrations. But most of us will never make it big time for the Lord, and …

Not sure I can live up to the pattern of Jesus or Paul. Maybe the Holy Spirit knew these are big shoes to fill. So Paul now proceeds to give 2 more practical examples, two more living illustrations of ordinary saints that show us it’s possible to live this life: Timothy and Epaphroditus. These men a …

The hymn actually traces the life of Jesus from his pre-existence in eternity past, to His coming to earth to die on the cross, and His future reign. A few weeks ago, I realized that since we were already studying Philippians that this would make a great text for Easter, and I hope you’ll agree. It …

Jesus gave us an example of humility and sacrifice. This leads to us to ask “now what” and gives us a plan for growing as a Christian. We realize that God lives in us and His power helps us desire and do things that please Him and accomplish His will. What happens after that? There is a pattern to p …

Paul has just told us what a good example Jesus was for us, living for others, serving others, and sacrificing for others.  So, we move today from a pattern to a practical application. Notice the link from the hymn to this passage – “wherefore” or put another way, “so then” or “now what?”  Paul is l …

The Apostle Paul paints a picture. Here is the high bar and goal to shoot for. One Puritan preacher from the 1700s wisely said that an example is the best argument. Jesus Christ is about to be shown to us as the greatest argument against selfishness and pride – and the most amazing example of humili …

We are building up towards the greatest example of humility which is found in Jesus Christ in the verses just after this. But some groundwork has to be laid. Remember this is a book about joy and the proper mindset that is needed. In chapter 1, the secret of joy in spite of circumstances was the sin …

Paul gives at least four factors that help us stay focused on striving together for the great cause of the gospel. We already covered two last week and we’ll cover two today. I. Strive together with consistent conduct. (27a) II. Strive together with continued cooperation. (27b) III. Strive together …

There has been an obvious emphasis on the gospel in Philippians chapter 1. That word “gospel” shows up six times in verses 5, 7, 12, 16, and twice in 27.  We strive together in the fellowship, furtherance, and the faith of the gospel. What a loaded idea!  Remember that the word fellowship means more …

The deaths of John and Betty Stam would impact and inspire the evangelical world in the west. For instance, 700 students at Moody Bible Institute, and 200 from nearby Wheaton College, immediately dedicated themselves to missionary service – no matter what. On their tombstones (pic) were lines writte …

One way to think of Philippians is like a missionary update letter. After the greeting and the prayer, Paul now gets into his present situation and his outlook for the cause of Christ. This powerful teaching section of Scripture should cause us to maintain our focus on the gospel no matter what. I. …

Paul has already told these dear people how often he thinks of them and how often he prays for them, so what he does next a few verses later is actually pray one of those prayers. It is moving, marvelous, and mature, and it reveals Paul’s desire for godliness in these followers of Jesus Christ. Paul …

Paul was having one of those days. Paul had every reason to think only of himself. From where he writes this letter, he is under house arrest, and Roman guards alternate shifts throughout the day and night, literally handcuffed to the aging apostle. Yet, it is clear as you read this letter that he i …

We dive in today to the book of Philippians. This tiny book is the Word of God, written by the Apostle Paul. It’s a small book…only 4 chapters and 104 verses, it takes up about 2 ½ pages in the Bible, it’s shorter than the average newspaper article and you can read the entire letter in less than 1 …

This is a great time of year to make some changes. Sure, January 1 is just an arbitrary date. The truth is you can turn over a new leaf, start a new habit, or quit an activity anytime if you really wanted to. Nonetheless, the calendar this time of year gives us some time to ponder some progress we n …

Perhaps this one today is the most well-known of the Christmas carols in the Bible and it’s the shortest – Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.  Indeed, the story of Jesus’ birth resounds with music that has inspired composers for 2,000 years. This text, commonly re …

We come today to another Christmas carol in the Bible playlist. This one is written by an old man by the name of Simeon. If you are keeping track and are in to Latin, this song has been titled the Nunc Dimittis, after the first words in Latin. Simeon here is past his prime. His voice is now crackly …

We continue to look at the Christmas carols in the Bible. First, we looked at Mary’s song, the Magnificat. Today, we will look at Zacharias’ song, called the Benedictus after the first words in the Latin translation.  Zacharias was a very interesting character. When you study Zacharias, he was a ver …

We are going to begin a series of messages called “Christmas Playlist.” We are going to looking at the major Christmas songs that occur in Luke 1 and 2. The first one is entitled “We Wish You a Mary Christmas.” Now, there is no typo in the title. I don’t mean merry, like joyous and festive, I mean M …

This last chapter of John is a wonderful text because it shows that it is possible fail big time as a believer and then get back on track for God and be used greatly by Him. But in order for this to happen, you and I must face things honestly and carefully. We must do some heart-searching business w …

It’s important to consider why there is even a chapter 21 in John. Why not end the book with the resurrection of Jesus and the dramatic testimony of Thomas? What a great climax to the story! But there is unfinished business and it has to do with Peter mostly.  It encourages all of us followers of Ch …

When it comes to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, much of what John shares is about a bunch of doubters who initially did not believe that Christ had risen from the dead. Even the disciples did not believe the first reports, and Thomas demanded proof. But the news began to spread, and their hesitat …

Isn’t it odd that we will spend the next several minutes exploring the death of Jesus on the cross and then go have Sunday dinner and get on with our lives? I can’t do anything about that, but I do pray that the Spirit of God will bring the truths of Calvary to us in a fresh and forceful way. Let’s …

This is the second part of Jesus being questioned before Pilate, but as we saw last week, Pilate is really the one on trial. We explored his character (he has none), his conversation with Jesus (“What is truth?”), his compromise (in releasing Barabbas), and because he is completely on auto-Pilate, i …

There have been several trials throughout history that have captivated the minds of the world.  But nothing over the course of the last 2,000 years compares to the 6 trials of Jesus prior to His crucifixion. More people have read its transcripts than any other trial in human history. And the whole w …

The final pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place. Here we see the interwoven stories of three main characters besides Jesus: Annas, Caiaphas, and Peter. Jesus deliberately gave Himself over to His enemies. I. Jesus stands trial before Annas and Caiaphas. (12-14, 19-24) Before Jesus Chr …

One writer called this chapter the “holy of holies” within the gospel of John. If the Word of God were to be compared with the OT Tabernacle, then the whole Bible would be the outer court, John’s gospel would be the Holy Place, and John 17 would be the Most Holy Place, the inner sanctuary. All Scrip …

Almost all Biblical scholars agree that this is the greatest prayer ever prayed and it is the greatest prayer ever recorded in Scripture. This prayer is personal, it is powerful, and it is priestly.  The three divisions of this prayer are not difficult to see. Jesus prays for Himself, then He prays …

Jesus has unloaded a dumptruck of earth-shattering news to the disciples. Now, He tells them that all these things will bring about the fullest joy they could ever have. Let’s consider four qualities about this joy. I. This joy is revealed in times of sorrow. (16-21) The Christians will sorrow only …

Jesus says that if we follow Him in the trenches, and serve Him in the harvest fields, and stand up for Him on the battlefields, we will experience these things. On top of all this, for three years, Jesus had been with them to protect them from attack; but now He was about to leave them. And their j …

It seems unbelievable to those of us that know Jesus and what He has done for us that anyone would hate Jesus. But that is what we will see here and that is what we see around us. We are in a section called the Farewell Discourse, and Jesus is now going to prepare His disciples for the persecution a …

We have seen the process of fruit-bearing and the potential for fruit-bearing. The theme continues in these verses as we essentially see the privileges of fruit-bearing. You don’t have to be Tarzan to learn to hold on to the vine. If we abide in Christ and “branch out,” what kind of life can we expe …

This is the seventh and final “I AM” statement in the gospel of John. These verses use a literary tool called an allegory to illustrate a great spiritual truth. Psalm 23 does the same thing with the sheep and shepherd metaphor. The allegory is not as important as the application. Here is the point: …

This is primarily a passage of comfort. “Let not your heart be troubled” shows up in verse 1 and verse 27.  Jesus is going away, so they need comfort. Jesus had told them some hard things, so they need comfort. They are wondering how they are going to do all these things Jesus is telling them, so th …

There is some debate about whether Jesus is giving them a rebuke or just instruction. I believe it is a little of both. This is a teaching rebuke. This is serious teaching that these disciples truly needed. Jesus is about to leave and now the idea of “knowing God” takes on new meaning. Jesus was abo …

Religion today is one happy, harmonious supermarket where you can choose the god of your choice. What Jesus Christ is about to say will shatter any attempt to pick and choose. Jesus Christ is about to say, in the clearest terms yet, the most dogmatic, exclusive statement that, to this day, troubles …

These verses have been considered down through time to be some of the most comforting words of Scripture. Jesus specifically gives information designed to calm troubled hearts. That becomes quite obvious when you read John 14 because He repeats this twice – verse 1 and verse 27.  Today, more than ev …

These chapters make up the longest continuous section of Jesus’ teaching in the entire Bible. Things are about to change drastically for them. We may not like it, but life is full of changes and we need to learn to adjust and be flexible and keep looking to Jesus. We don’t need to be discouraged or …

No American would ever name his son Benedict. And no one, who knows anything about the Bible, would ever want the name Judas. That name, to this day, still carries the stench of betrayal.  While Benedict Arnold betrayed America, Judas betrayed the Son of God!  Our study of John’s gospel has brought …

The familiar illustration of Jesus washing the disciples feet is now over. Jesus puts His regular clothes back on, takes His place back at the table, and asks the disciples if they understand what He has just done. There are lessons that they (and we) need to learn. I. A Lesson on Humility (1-5) II. …

What we will see today in this second part of the passage is why Jesus washed their feet. There was a very obvious physical reason why their feet needed to be washed, but we also see there was a less obvious spiritual reason why their feet needed to be washed. I. A Lesson on Humility (1-5) II. A Les …

At this meal, with all of this evil stuff taking place in the unseen world, Jesus Christ took the time to teach His disciples the key to their own happiness and the key to blessing.  In His final hours on earth, Jesus took the time to teach His disciples that the key to being happy and blessed is to …

Pathologically generous – the word pathological means, excessive, extreme; remarkably abnormal.  Sounds like the Macedonian believers Paul wrote about – who out of their great poverty excelled in the liberality of their generosity (2 Corinthians 8:2) . . . giving beyond their means. In other words, …

Today, I want to encourage each of you, but especially the mothers. Each of us have been affected by motherhood in one way or another, for good or bad. Everyone here either: HAS a mother, HAD a mother, IS a mother, is MARRIED to a mother, or KNOWS a mother. This is Mother’s Day and I’d like to take …

What we will talk about today is on the deeper end of the theological spectrum, but I also think it is necessary and helpful. It is a packed section of Scripture that brings much clarity to the question of why some people do not believe in Jesus Christ, and indeed, will not ever believe in Jesus Chr …

John recorded 7 miracles of Jesus. The first was at a wedding; this is the last, and it’s at a funeral. The first was in a glad environment, and the last was in a sad environment.  John 11 is the most dramatic miracle that Jesus ever performed while He was on earth. It is the longest miracle describ …

Some simple and effective metaphors of a shepherd and sheep are used in John 10 to describe Jesus and us. Let’s dive in to this great passage….and we’ll save the best point for last. I.  An Unpleasant Rebuke (12-13) When Jesus says “I am the Good Shepherd,” He is contrasting Himself with the false …

The Bible hits the nail on the head with two key metaphors that are used to describe God and us. The metaphor for God is Shepherd, and the metaphor for us is sheep. As much as I want to plow through and keep moving through John, we need to pause and consider the implications of this imagery in the s …

About 4 out of every 10,000 children are born blind or declared blind before their first birthday. The man in John 9 is one of them. His physical blindness will serve as an illustration of mankind’s spiritual blindness. The greatest miracle was not the opening of his eyes but the opening of his hear …

One of John’s favorite descriptions of Jesus in his writings is that He is the light. John describes Jesus this way 22 times in the gospel of John, and the idea of light appears throughout the letter of 1 John also with concepts such as abiding in the light and walking in the light. Our world depict …

Today, as we see the forgiveness that Jesus gave the adulterous woman on that day, I want you to examine yourself. You are present somewhere in this story. You may be like the woman – condemned by everyone and needing forgiveness. You may be like the Pharisees – self-righteous judges of others but u …

John 7 is filled with debate and division over who Jesus is. The puzzle of Jesus’ true identity permeates this chapter.  This is basically part 2 of last week’s sermon as we finish up this powerful and rich chapter on who Jesus is and what He wants from us. Here are some outline points to mark out t …

The presence of God with us in the form of Jesus Christ is better than all the presents you’ve ever received. We are looking this Christmas season at the presents that come along with the presence of God in the gift of Jesus to the earth. We have seen the presence of light, and now we see the presen …

There are some presents that come along with the presence of God, and we’ll be exploring those over the next few weeks. The first one we’ll look at today is light. On the top of our Christmas tree is a star. You might have a star atop your tree also. The star of Bethlehem is one of the best known sy …

This has been a full chapter! What a change has occurred since the beginning of John 6, where we see a great crowd walking toward Jesus – now they are walking away. Jesus was surrounded by a huge multitude and not long after He has only His 12 disciples, and He knows one of them is a betrayer! This …

We need to back up to some of the verses we covered last time because there is a topic we need to tackle here and now because it comes up several times throughout John. For example, in John 10:26-27, it says “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep….My sheep hear My voice, and I know th …

John 6 is all about bread. The loaves and fishes were multiplied to feed as many as 20,000 people and that leads to Jesus describing Himself as the very bread of life. This is one of the great discourses in all of the New Testament. John carefully places this in the aftermath of two incredible mirac …

The multitudes recognize Him as a good option for a king, but they do not recognize that He is the King of Kings. They viewed Jesus as a good ruler because He multiplied food and fed them. Jesus knew this was their motivation so He told the crowd to go home, told the disciples to get in a boat, and …

Every miracle that John records in this gospel is for the purpose of bringing people to faith in Jesus Christ so that they might have eternal life (John 20:30-31). With that said, the point John wants to make is this: The miracle performed by Jesus Christ in providing physical food for thousands of …

Let me tell you what I am going to tell you, tell you, then tell you what I told you. Here’s the message in one word: Commitment. Mark #6 of a healthy church is commitment. It is full of church members and attenders who, no matter what, are committed to that church. I.  Five “Whys” of Church Commitm …

There is a legal precedent that goes all the way back to the Mosaic Law of the Old Testament and continues to the legal system today, and that is in the mouth of two or three witnesses, a matter is established. That’s what Jesus means in verse 31 when He says that if He bears witness of Himself, it …

The Pharisees had so twisted the law that it was even unlawful to perform a compassionate act of mercy on the Sabbath, even if Jesus was the one doing it. They hated Jesus for doing this and their verdict was that Jesus must die (verse 18). Their persecution of Jesus is now out in the open. The proc …

In some way or another, when the waters moved, they had a peculiar power. The very fact that people sat here for years attests to the fact that something supernatural or special had occurred here, or they wouldn’t waste their time. The affect of the bubbling water was believed to have some medicinal …

A major theme of John is belief. John wants us more than anything to “believe” in Jesus Christ – the word “believe” is found almost 100 times. The gospel of John tells us about 6 miracles that are not found in the other three gospels and this is one of them. At its core, the story of the nobleman’s …

Let me explain my title. Over the last few weeks in John 3 and 4, we have seen two powerful illustrations that Jesus can save anyone – a religious man or a rebellious woman. I believe that we have all been blessed by the metaphors Jesus uses about salvation like being born again of the Spirit and dr …

 Last week, we saw a momentous confrontation between Jesus and an unnamed, adulterous, Samaritan woman. In verse 7, Jesus broke three traditional taboos. First, He was talking to a Samaritan. The centuries old hatred of the Jews for the mixed race of Samaritans meant that even talking to one was unt …

You’ve heard of the Good Samaritan, who stopped to help a man in need. In our text today, Jesus confronts a bad Samaritan, a sinful woman, and God’s grace worked in her life in a wonderful way.  One of Jesus’ most memorable encounters in all of the Gospels is the one with the woman at the well. Let’ …

 Last time we saw the identity of a man named Nicodemus. He was religious, scholarly, wealthy, and powerful but he knew something was missing in his life and he knew something was different about Jesus. He came to Jesus with an inquiry and Jesus revealed the man’s insufficiency to earn heaven by his …

God cares about you as an individual. Jesus gets to the heart of things with each individual person and He loves each person here. Each individual person needs to be born again by faith in Jesus Christ.  We are building up to and understanding the context of the most well-known verse in all the worl …

It is so easy to have a perspective of Jesus Christ that is good when He does something positive like be a good guy at a wedding who changes water into wine. But when He goes to Jerusalem and starts disrupting things in the temple, it is a different story. Everything John writes is designed to show …

We who read the story of Jesus in its entirety are prone to take these events for granted; but to the disciples, each day and each new event brought marvels and miracles that were difficult to understand. This one proves that Jesus can change the very nature of anything He touches. The best of anyth …

If you want to know how we got to where we are now 2000 years into the church age, it all starts here. It begins with Jesus calling specific men to follow Him. This passage tells us how the first disciples became disciples and what qualities Jesus was apparently looking for. I. Motivation (35-38) Th …

John the Baptist didn’t care who got the credit, his mission in life was to simply advance the cause of Jesus Christ. I. The Mission of a Witness A witness is someone who knows something and shares it with someone else. A witness is someone who tells what they have seen, heard, or experienced.  A wi …

Few statements in the Bible are as simple and profound as the first few words of verse 14 – the Word became flesh. Let’s notice several observations about when God became a man. I. Incarnation God came to this earth in the person of Jesus Christ to offer God’s grace to sinners. The verb “become” mea …

Matthew starts his gospel with the genealogy of Jesus. Mark jumps right into the action of Jesus’ ministry. Luke begins with the birth account. John plunges right into the deep of theology concerning Jesus Christ. All of this so a bunch of blind people can see a clear picture of the Son of God. Let’ …

John has carefully selected data from the life and teachings of Jesus Christ for the purpose of generating faith in the Son of God. 90% percent of John’s material is not found in the synoptic gospels. This book contains no genealogies, no birth account of Jesus, no record of His childhood, temptatio …

God doesn’t take center stage in the book of Esther, but He is certainly at work behind the scenes. We can’t see His entire hand, but we can notice traces of His fingerprints. There are many times in our lives when it seems God is nowhere to be found. There are times when it seems like God is lettin …

When it comes to the story of Esther, we tend to stop reading after Haman is hanged on his own gallows. But the next few chapters give us the rest of the story. Even though Haman’s life has ended, the edict against the Jews still remains in place. There’s this annoying little provision in the law of …

This story is starting to resemble a Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoon. Mordecai’s refusal to bow to Haman was the “beep-beep” ringing in his ears. Haman could stop anytime were he not obsessed with killing the Jews. Haman would be humiliated and then hanged on his own instrument of death. Grav …

Chapter 5 left us on a cliffhanger. Let’s be honest, if we stopped reading the story at chapter 5, we’d wonder where God was and why He was allowing such things to happen. It seems like Haman is more in control than God is. But the story isn’t over. In chapter 6, we see a series of providential even …

Last week, we saw from the life of Esther how we can make the most of God-given opportunities. We do that by putting feet to our faith, seeking God’s favor, being selfless and strategic, and obeying God even when we can’t see the end of the path. Today, we see the other possibility of how to miss ou …

Imagine what it would be like to have to go before a president and convince him not to destroy you or your people. You can’t afford to make one mistake in timing, actions or words. Do one wrong thing at this meeting and you will lose your life. That is the pressure that faced Esther in this chapter. …

Too often we find ourselves in situations in which everybody knows that somebody needs to do something about an issue, but nobody does.  Mordecai is going to challenge Esther to be that “somebody.” If we are going to make an impact on this world for Jesus Christ, we have to realize the power that on …

History is filled with various attempts to destroy the people of Israel. For 4,000 years, the Jewish people have faced relentless persecution, opposition, and attempts to annihilate them – and in the future, the struggle against Israel will continue. Yet, according to the video we just watched, the …

As if the story hasn’t already been dramatic enough, things take a turn for the worse in this chapter. The Jewish people suddenly find themselves on the brink of annihilation once again. We are introduced to an evil, power-crazed man who is mentioned 53 times in the book who hates the Jews and tries …

A lot of difficult decisions and ethical dilemmas confronted us in the first half of chapter 2. Even though we know the rest of the story, we still have to wrestle through some of the details in the scriptural narrative. As with many situations in the Bible that recount the lifestyles of sinful peop …

The book of Esther opens on a king who is the most powerful ruler of his day. We jump back into the middle of chapter 1 and pick up the narrative that we already discussed at length last time. Today, we will outline the passage and stop and make some practical application along the way. I. A Lewd Re …

There were times in the Bible when the voice of God was audible, the miracles of God were visible, and the power of God was unmistakable. In our world, things don’t work this way anymore. Perhaps that’s why the story of God’s people in the book of Esther connects with us. We don’t see God anymore. W …

Esther is about the providence of God. In Esther, God is behind the scenes. He is there, even though He is not seen, heard, or felt. Esther is unusual in that, in the original language, no name, title, or pronoun for God appears in it. It’s the only book of the Bible that has no mention of God and n …

If you make the primary ambition of your life to obey God’s Word and yield to His Spirit, you will reap many wonderful blessings in many areas of life. If you make the primary ambition of your life to obey your flesh and please your own sin nature, you will discover you will reap misery. It may not …

One of the ways that we determine whether we are walking by the Spirit or walking according to the flesh is in our relationships. In the flesh, we bite and devour one another (15). In the Spirit, the result is supposed to be that we serve one another in love (13). The fruit of the Spirit being lived …

There are only two choices on the shelf: pleasing God or pleasing self. We continually manifest one or the other. We either demonstrate the works of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirit. Notice the conjunction “but,” which begins verse 22. In sharp contrast to the works of the flesh, there is anothe …

Each of us has a war going on inside our heart. Inside every Christian are two different natures; two ways of thinking and acting. One is the old sinful nature and the other is the new spiritual nature. Like the two wolves or two dogs, we have two natures that are always fighting (v.17). One of thes …

This is one of the most important passages on the Christian life in the entire New Testament.  We have a permanent resident that dwells inside of us. The Holy Spirit is resident so that He might be president. We will see today the power and the product of this life-changing force that resides in us. …

Paul has just finished giving the Galatians a gentle rebuke. They were doing so well and running so excellently in grace until the Judaizers came along and hindered them in the race. The idea is that believers need to have more discipline in their lives to go far for God, but they also need to have …

The door to freedom scares a lot of people. They prefer the comfort of the known, even if it means death to the uncertainty of the unknown.  As a result, very few people actually find freedom from the attitudes and habits that enslave them day after day. They live their entire lives under a captive …

Paul indicates, in a nice way (verse 11), that he thinks he has wasted his time among them. Since they have been saved by grace, their returning to the Law is the same as returning to their former idolatry. The Galatians had been listening to false teachers, and they were looking upon Paul as an ene …

We spent the last message covering the statements a legalist might say, the specifics of legalism as far as the actual fundamental definitions of this way of thinking, and then we considered one powerful verse (Galatians 4:9) that simply condemned legalism as spiritual backsliding, enslaved to works …

We have seen how legalism in Paul’s day added works to salvation, but that is largely not what modern-day legalism is in the church now. Legalism for us applies in the area of how we perceive our sanctification and how we portray our spirituality to others. I. The Statements of Legalism These are th …

The works of the law could never offer us a meaningful relationship. To be a slave your entire life is devastating and discouraging. To be under the guidance of a schoolmaster is frustrating and limiting. But to be a son or daughter, to have a Heavenly Father, that’s a relationship you can enjoy for …

Galatians 3 has been challenging since it covers many history lessons from Israel in the Old Testament. So far, we have looked at Paul’s interrogation of faith, then the illustration of faith from Abraham, and the importance of faith have priority over the Law of Moses.  Now, with a difficult journe …

We have seen the interrogation of faith and the illustration of faith and today we’ll see the importance of faith. Next week is the identity of faith.  Paul anticipates the Judaizers next objection since they were huge fans of the law of Moses. In general, they recognized the importance of the Abrah …

We’ve been talking about justification by faith for awhile now. It’s under attack in the churches of Galatia. To prove his point, sometimes Paul puts on boxing gloves and fights back. Sometimes he bases it off his own credentials and experiences with Jesus receiving the grace gospel. Sometimes, he p …

As Paul continues to defend doctrine, he asks the Galatians six rapid-fire questions in 5 verses. They are boiled down to 5 questions for this sermon. The interrogation – the questions that Paul asks them here – comes after he offers his bold and harsh assessment of their condition. You can tell the …