Sermons

Biblical messages that inspire faith, strengthen your walk, and speak truth into everyday life.

Persecution and Protection Part 1

This is Memorial Day Weekend, as we come together to spend time in worship and reflection, we take a moment to honor those who have laid down their lives in service to this nation. Memorial Day is more than a holiday—it is a sacred remembrance of sacrifice, courage, and love for one’s fellow man.
Scripture tells us in John 15:13, “No one has greater love than this,
to lay down his life for his friends.” (CSB). On this day, we recognize
the men and women who embodied that love, who fought and fell so that others might live in freedom.

Persecution and Protection Part 2

We have been on a journey looking at Jesus instruction to the
Disciples (and ultimately to us) during and after the Last Supper.
The earthly ministry of Jesus is coming to a close, and things are
about to change. This change is necessary. Jesus has been
speaking about “these things” (16:1) to prepare the Disciples and
keep them from stumbling (changing course or being distracted).
Pastor Chuck Swindoll said this, “These things” refers to everything
Jesus had to say about the believer’s relationship to the world,
which is strained at best, hostile at other times, and can become
deadly.

Joy

What to do? What to do? Struggling to figure out the next steps is something we all face at one time or another. Being overwhelmed can lead to hopelessness, it can easily throw one into some kind of funk. It sounds like this is what the Disciples were facing as Jesus continued to reveal where His path was leading. From the time they had gathered for Passover (the Last Supper) until this moment, Jesus had been given them instruction and examples on how to live.

Truth

I am going to jump right in and give a synopsis of some of the events recorded in John 18. There is a portion of this chapter that I want to focus on after laying the background. From where we left off at our last time together in John’s Gospel, things are beginning to move quickly. Think of it this way … there were 3 separate scenes of a play taking place at the same time. The action in one scene takes place while the other scenes are going on. It all comes to a dramatic conclusion seen in the choice the audience (crowd) makes.

Justice

We are currently examining a portion of John’s letter that references the well-known narrative of the trial, punishment, and crucifixion of Jesus. This account of grace is recounted each year around Easter and signifies the purpose of Jesus’ arrival. John’s perspective differs slightly from other Gospel writers, helping those of us who were not there understand the significance of this historical event. It is crucial to our faith journey.

Prayer

Have you ever been to an all-night prayer meeting? They used to be commonplace when I was growing up. Four or five nights a year would be set aside to come together and pray through the entire evening. It’s difficult for many to pray for more than a few minutes. Praying for an entire evening is a commitment. Prayer is about drawing close to the Lord God … about sharing our lives with Him and listening to what He has to say. We read in James, “Come near to God, and God will come near to you.

Hope Part 1

We live today with 20/20 hindsight. Some of the moments we look at in Scripture must have been incredibly stressful and confusing. We are about to look at one of them. Jesus has been crucified – the Disciples world has been turned upside down. They were dealing with confusion (what do we do now?), fear (are we next to be killed because of our association with Jesus?), and grief (the One they loved and devoted their lives to had just been killed).

Hope Part 2

Life is a journey, not a destination. I’m sure that you have heard that before. Our journey is one that is filled with joy and happiness, with twists and turns, with bumps and bruises. That’s what life is. If you typed into Google or Bing search, “what is life?” There would pop up all kinds of scientific ways to determine what was living and what was non-living. Eventually, you would find the philosophical – “what is the meaning of life?” And that can lead us into an entirely different conversation.

Change

We are coming to the end of an incredible journey. We have been walking through John’s Gospel for quite some time. It has been eye-opening and encouraging. I hope that the lessons have spoke to your heart and helped you in your faith walk. The goal at the beginning of this journey was to help us grow in our knowledge and understanding of who Jesus is and what He taught us.