... that will kill you eternally is the sin of refusing to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior. Jesus Himself said in John 3:17-18, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He ... long as you compare yourself to somebody else. But when you compare yourself to the Lord Jesus, you realize that everybody fails. That is why John goes on to say in v.10, "of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more." Jesus had come ...
... if you take up mountain climbing. It obviously has great risks as well as great rewards. Jesus once asked his closest disciples Peter, James and John to join him on a hike up a mountain. We have no evidence that it was a harrowing climb it was no Everest but what ... But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Deut. 5:18; Mt. 5:27‑28). “You have heard that it was said, `An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you ...
... of fish. In that sense, I guess you could say that Jesus pulled in the "Catch of the Day" when he hauled in Peter, James, John and Andrew that day by the Sea of Galilee. It might not have been his biggest catch, but it certainly was the "Catch of the ... and shadow of death light has dawned." [17] From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." [18] As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a ...
... body. Isn’t that interesting? Her first thought had not been that he had risen. This thought seems never to have occurred to her. I mean, dead people don’t rise from their graves, do they? John tells us, “She came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put ... M.D. in A Piece of My Mind, edited by Dr. Bruce B. Dan and Roxanne K. Young (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1988), pp. 17-18.
... to preach and drive out demons when he was not “authorized” to do so. This offended the disciples and they told him to stop. The disciple John tells Jesus what they had done. It was not that the disciples had found any misuse of the name of Jesus on the part of the ... followers. May we be representatives of peace with all people. 1. (Colorado Springs: Waterbrook Press, 1999), pp. 17-18. 2. http://www.fourthchurch.org/sermons/2003/092803.html. 3. http://www.mtauburnpresby.org/sermons/2006_07_16.html. 4. ...
... The Creation Story –the 3rd Day Exodus 7:14-21: Moses First Miracle Turns Water to Blood Proverbs 3:9-10 Psalm 104 Isaiah 62; Isaiah 25:6-9; Jeremiah 31:1-14 Joel 2:15-24; 3:17-18 Amos 9:11-15 1 Corinthians 10 and 12: Paul’s Letter to the Corinthian Church regarding Baptism in One Spirit John’s Witness about Jesus’ Miracle during the Wedding at Cana in Galilee On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the ...
... of Jericho through Joshua’s “shofar.” It’s akin to God setting the altar afire as Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). It’s akin to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah or the later fall of Babylon. As in all of these cases, it’s akin ... of people as the “ladder” of God’s mercy. All people in our world are our parishioners. And we are bound, says John Wesley, to spread “scriptural holiness” across the land. We are people of the field, and we are on God’s mission to ...
... and fuzzy feeling. Not with good intentions or encouraging words. But with loving actions. Actions that cost us something. As verse 18 reads, “. . . let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” Talk is cheap, the writer ... that He loves us? By giving His Son to die on the cross and rise again to save us from the penalty of sin and death. John, the disciple of Jesus who wrote these verses, knew that if he didn’t make it perfectly clear what Christian love looks like, we would try ...
... and ask always the same questions: Where are you going? Can we come too? Who's going to stay with us? Jesus is about to go. What's to become of us? "I won't leave you orphans," he had promised (14:18). Still, can we be sure? Though this long farewell speech of Jesus occurs, in John's gospel, before his death, it is right that we occupy ourselves with it now, in the time after Easter, when we are apt to feel the tension between presence and absence, between having and not having Jesus more keenly than at ...
... am baptized?” In other words, he was asking, “Are you willing to do whatever is necessary to see my kingdom established?” To their credit James and John answered, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink, you will drink, and the baptism with which I am baptized, you ... years in prison for preaching the gospel. His captors smashed four of his vertebrae and either cut or burned 18 holes in his body, but they could not defeat him. He testified, “Alone in my cell, cold, hungry, and ...
... changed.” That’s the hope we are promised at Christmas time. In Jesus, we have a new King. The second promise and hope of Christmas is that in Jesus, we have new life. Notice that John baptized people in the Jordan River. This particular river was significant to the people of Israel. In Deuteronomy 30: 18, the Israelites had been wandering in the desert for forty years. The elders who had escaped slavery in Egypt had died off. And God planned to lead His people into Canaan, into the Promised Land. But ...
... the major themes of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and preached them as one long sermon that lasted 53 hours and 18 minutes. He began on a Friday and ended on a Sunday. Pastor Zehnder conceived of the record-breaking sermon as a way ... director agreed to let Reverend Hesselink baptize the three prisoners and bring them into a new life under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. John Hesselink says he cannot take credit for this change in the lives of the prisoners. It was not his language skills or his expert ...
... Granted, there were always the Twelve to whom she might expect the Master to turn when he felt the need to talk. But they were so involved in what was happening that they frequently lost sight of the forest for the trees. (Mark 9:30-32; Luke 18:31-34; John 10:6) Mary, on the other hand, had no such difficulty. For she had long since developed a sensitivity to the needs of others, like Walt Whitman attesting centuries later: I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person. So ...
... distance from her. Supposing him to be a gardener, she approached him for a clue to the mystery she was facing. When he called Mary by name she recognized Jesus, and on the wings of joy she sped to share the good news with the disciples. (John 20:15-18) Not only was Mary Magdalene the first to know of the resurrection, she was likewise the first to bear witness to it to the world. Indeed, so telling was her testimony that the French scholar, Ernest Renan, does not hesitate to declare, "Next after Jesus ...
... starts right at the beginning. God makes Adam and Eve together because He says that it isn't good for them to be alone (Genesis 2:18). Then comes Abraham, whom God calls to build a nation (Genesis 12:2); and Moses, who is called to gather the people together and lead ... by a hard, strong wind. No, we Christians are meant to be a giant flame together, a light which the darkness can never overcome (John 1:5). We are meant to be together in Christ, a flame of faith, hope and love which is large enough to make ...
... other words the world was to be their congregation! The content of the apostle’s message, says Jesus was to "convince the world of sin, and of righteousness and judgment (John 16:8)." That may sound confusing because we tend to think of sin and judgment in negative ways. However, a word of judgment can awaken a sinner to their ... . 1. Bob Greene, "From Sufferer to Another," Chicago Tribune, August 1987 as printed in Pulpit Resource, Vol. 18, No. 2, Logos Productions, Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. p. 31.
... , Paul picks up the theme of the light of Christ shining through common Christians. The Living Bible paraphrase of 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 is enlightening. Since we know that this new glory will never go away, we can preach with great boldness, and not as Moses ... become the children of God; who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. - John 1:9-12, RSV Let me put it-another way. We Christians have been given a gift of light to see beyond what we behold. We have ...
... acquittal. The punishment we deserve has been carried out on Jesus. "He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross" (1 Peter 2:24). Thus John wrote, "Those who believe in him are not condemned" (John 3:18). Jesus said, "Anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life" (John 5:24). At the Second Coming four things are accomplished that make it good news: +Christ puts an end to all opposition to God.+God's purpose ...
... Doesn’t Christ call his church out of the world so it may be a great nation and a blessing to all of humankind? In John’s Gospel, soon to be crucified, Christ prays: "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the ... truth; thy word is truth. As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world." (17:16-18) His mother was also given a glimpse into this realm of respect connecting the generations; in the Magnificat, she declares, "He has helped his ...
... native-born Medes and Persians. By this time Daniel was in his 80’s but was still at the top of his game. The actor John Barrymore said, "A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams." By that definition, Daniel was not old. Recently someone e-mailed ... the order to toss Daniel into the lions’ den. He said to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you." Verse 18 tells us that the king was so distressed that he could not sleep that night. At the first light of dawn he hurried ...
... Jesus had walked those streets many times. He knew the people and even some of their animals. He had probably said to his friend John in Bethphage, "Look, I’m going to need to borrow your colt during Passover. I’ll send my disciples to get the animal at ... ’ parables about prayer: "Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up." (Luke 18:1) While none of us should dare to regard God as our personal "Celestial bellhop," we can be sure that God hears and ...
... awaited the blessed arrival. Here is what he wrote: “John Paul Jones, J. Paul Jones, John P. Jones, the Rev. John P. Jones, the Honorable J. Paul Jones, Senator John Jones, Dr. J.P. Jones, President John Jones, “All the Way with JPJ!” What if ... author of Hebrews declares, “Because Jesus himself was tested.. .he is able to help those who are being tested.” (Hebrews 2:18) About this time each year, people will ask one another, “Have you caught the Christmas spirit yet.” It is contagious and ...
... coerce people into confessing the creeds. Then, too, Thomas Aquinas advocated the killing of sinners. The great medieval theologian quoted Exodus 22:18 which says it is well to remove one member for the good of the whole body. He said: "If a man be ... sees it, do we risk having our own ideas changed. And changed and enlarged our ideas must surely be, for as the Pilgrim’s pastor, John Robinson, said: "It is too great arrogancy for any man to think that he has sounded the word of God to the bottom." Then, as ...
... about saying you believe and profess very little, but in the Bible the Lord Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life ..." (John 14:6) The Bible also says, "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men ... Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5) If we ... be as scarlet; they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18) The Apostle Paul had been guilty of murder, yet was forgiven and became a useful apostle. He once wrote, "This is a faithful saying ...
... for the improvement of humankind. When a Christian understands that God loves him in spite of his sins and failures, he is immediately led to love others in spite of their sins and failures. This is what John meant in his epistle when he wrote, "We love, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:18). This is why Jesus taught that true Christians are those who are involved in working to help others: feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, clothing the naked, visiting the imprisoned. He even said, "Inasmuch as ...