... judgment on evildoers" (Matthew 25:31ff). He wondered whether there would be any believers left when he came back (Luke 18:8). Some of his parables tell of the temporary absence and return of an individual of great importance for whom ... But only a faith that is anchored in Christ enables us to reach this goal. "This is the victory that conquers the world, our faith," said John (1 John 5:4). When our life is "hid in Christ" we are "more than conquerors, through him who loved us" (Romans 8:37). It gives us ...
... . God called his Son to die in payment for the sins of the world so that the world might be saved. Peter, James, and John saw Jesus in his glory. They were the privileged three who shared in so many extraordinary experiences with the Lord. They were there when Jesus ... , "All who reflect the glory of the Lord are being changed into his likeness from one degree to another ..." (2 Corinthians 3:18). You and I, all who believe in Jesus, are going to he in glory also, all because of Jesus, our God and Savior, who ...
... men believe they have a better chance of winning the Heisman trophy than finding the right holiday gifts for their wives. Only 18 percent of women feel the same sense of doom about shopping for their spouses. (1) That means that a third of ... NEED TO MAKE IN YOUR LIFE? Be honest with yourself. Is there some resentment you need to let go of? A relationship you need to examine? John calls for us to look within, to search ourselves and to deal with problem areas in our lives before they get out of hand. There is ...
... he goes into such detail about it. Now to be sure, we need the story of Zachariah because Zachariah is the father of John, and John is the forerunner of Jesus. But it would have been easy for Luke to tell that story – to record that fact -- without going ... would have been one thing for Zachariah to do that -- but did you note the basis of his disbelief. He asked the question in verse 18: "How shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years." This was his real difficulty -- how could ...
... in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12, NIV) If this even approaches truth, then mustn’t we confess we have never taken Jesus seriously? The least we have to ... the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:16,18,25-26, NIV). Can you imagine a more radical possibility?… “you will do greater things than these, because I am going to the ...
... well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain” (1:16-18). This is significant. At Jesus’ baptism it is difficult to know if anyone beside Jesus heard the voice from heaven saying, “This is ... our lives. “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). But we are sinners. We love him, but in the time of testing, we have each denied him. We are grateful to be ...
... no thinking Christian. Long ago Solomon prophesied, "Where there is no prophecy, the people cast off restraint" (Proverbs 29:18). The result of ungodliness is always unrestraint, which, in turn, results in spiritual death. A nation that locks ... through Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to take away our sins and rose again. Jesus says, "No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). If you want to know God, get to know Jesus. How do we know we know Jesus? Through the Holy Spirit, for we read, For ...
... Infiltrators of God’s Sheep Gate: Jesus’ Disputes with the Pharisees According to John (John 10) Minor Text The Role of the Priests and the Prophet Among You (Deuteronomy 18) David Son of Jesse, a Herder of Sheep, is Chosen to be King ... New Jerusalem (Revelation 21) Jesus the Good Shepherd and the Infiltrators of God’s Sheep Gate: Jesus’ Disputes with the Pharisees According to John “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other ...
John 21:1-14, John 21:15-25, Acts 10:1-8, Acts 10:9-23a, Acts 10:23b-48
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... God is sometimes not about whom you go TO on your journey, but who goes WITH you in your journey. May your metaphors light your way, so that Jesus, through you, may light the ways of others! *See Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; and Luke 5:2-11; now John 21. **Replica of a first century fishing boat from Jesus’ time at the Sea of Galilee. ***National Geographic Magazine online. “Can the Blue Revolution Solve the World’s Food Puzzle?” Based on the Story Lectionary Major Text Jesus’ Seaside Appearance ...
If you are a builder, or if you simply have built something at some time in your life, you know that “smoothness” matters. If you’ve ever gotten one of those pesky splinters from sitting on a wooden chair or sliding your hand across an antique table, you might be silently muttering against whoever it was who didn’t sand all of those ragged edges out, because now your hand has been neatly skewered by a slivery (and often elusively hard to remove) fine bit of wood that will silently torture you under your ...
... up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” There is Jesus’ comment in Matthew 18:10 (DLNT): “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see ... direction. In the Bible, God uses angels to guide people to begin new ventures, to protect themselves, to wait, to trust. Certainly, God used John to introduce us to Jesus. There is no reason to think that God has stopped guiding people that way. My advice is to keep ...
... all that you have. And the second commandment Jesus selected, even though he was only asked for one, was from Leviticus 19:18, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." That is, you shall hold your neighbor in the same regard you have for yourself. ... at their watch or gazed off into space absentmindedly. They listened as John preached his five-word sermon over and over: "My children, love one another." That was the essence of the gospel for John. It ought to be the essence of the gospel for us, too. ...
... to be present for you. Jesus has promised to be present wherever and whenever two or three gather in his name. (See Matthew 18:20.) Jesus has promised to be present whenever we eat and drink in his name. Jesus has promised to be present wherever his ... all people. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven," Jesus tells them. "If you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:23). What is important here is the fact that Jesus sees to it that the very life, the very breath, the very Spirit of ...
... has been the focal point for one generation of Christians after another. That is why the Apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 1:18: "For the message about the cross is, I know, nonsense to those who are involved in this dying world, but to us who ... me to drink?" This was God's will, and that was enough. Jesus was himself faithful unto death" (William Barclay, The Gospel of John, Vol. 2, The Daily Study Bible Series, Westminster Press, pp. 223-224). It is this last quality of Jesus -- his utter obedience -- that ...
... He says, "You shall love the Lord your God." In calling us to love, Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. These verses are called the shema or "the first word" in Jewish Law. This commandment to love God was and still is the first ... it clear that our love for the Creator is measured also in our love for his creation, which includes people, yourself, and the environment. 1 John 4:20-21 teaches, "If anyone says 'I love God,' and he hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love ...
... no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.'" (John 19:11, NASB) It makes no difference whether it is a democratic form of government, a monarchy, or a dictatorship. All political authority comes from ... Let Commissioner Rule, USA Today, December 6, 1983. 2 John Leo, "The Selling of Rebellion," US News and World Report, October 12, 1998, p. 18. 3 Steve Farrar, Standing Tall, pp. 23-24. 4 In Other Words, November/December 1994.
... . Some people think they can postpone that decision, but Jesus did not agree. Jesus said, “Whoever believes in the Son is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:18) To fail to decide is to reject him today, not knowing if there will be a tomorrow. Jesus wants to be your Savior, but he demands a response. He will be either your Savior or your judge. The decision is yours. (4) I’m sure that there ...
... our memories: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (John 3:16). "Blessed ... are those who hear the word of God and obey it" (Luke 11:28)! "What is impossible for mortals is possible for God" (Luke 18:27). "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). "Follow me" (John 1:43). "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit ...
... to focus on some of the most beautiful, dramatic and powerful words in all the Bible. They are found in the prologue to the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him ... glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth . . . .” Then he adds in verse 16-18: “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace ...
... to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end" (John 13:1). Love is central to the verse. Jesus is about to demonstrate what love means — first in the upper room, and then on the ... word that means "separate or different." In that passage God tells the people, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18), words that we know better for the fact that Jesus quoted them as part of the greatest commandment. Nor would an ancient ...
... in today’s gospel text was “We do not know.” They knew. They knew lots of things. They knew that if they admitted that John the Baptist had performed his baptisms and offered his message of redemption under the authority of God, as a true prophet of God, then they ... of political correctitude is this: “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and actions” (1John3:18). We spend so much time and energy loving with our language, making sure our words don’t give offense, that ...
... also teaches us, "Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love" (Psalm 33:18). God keeps his eye on the whole world all the time. However, at the same time, he keeps a closer, constant microscopic look on his ... you been through the gate called Jesus? Our Gate Is a Proposition Not only is our gate a person, our gate is a proposal. In John 10, Jesus offers a proposition to all who are not yet living for him. Here it is: "Whoever enters by me will be saved" (v. ...
... I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain (2 Peter 1:16-18 NIV). Although I was not an eyewitness to the works of Christ, I have been a witness to the glory and power of God all around ... mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe” (John 20:24-25 NRSV). At one time or another, we have felt like Thomas: “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and ...
... notes in his commentary on John, it is ironic that Jesus ... craving. The Gospel of John claims the one human ... the phrase "eternal life." According to the Gospel of John, eternal life is not merely a dwelling place in ... John 4:14). Maybe that is why the writer of the Gospel of John focuses our gaze on a particular event that happened at the cross. A soldier pierced the body of Jesus with a spear and "water came out from his side" (John ... John I-XII (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1966), pp ...
... freely in Jesus' parables and miracles. Almost immediately he called two fisherman out of water. (Matthew 4:18-20) He fabricated his own flood story in the parable of the two house builders. (Matthew 7:24-27) He calmed a storm that came out of nowhere. (Matthew 14:22-23) In Cana he changed water into wine in no time flat. (John 2:1-12) He healed the blind, the lame, the paralyzed in Jerusalem in a pool of water. (John 5:1-13) Good so far. Then in the passion drama Jesus' water-logged ministry appeared to ...