Titus 2:13 is speaking of Christmas’s Future when it says, “…waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…”
Anyone who was once a child on Christmas Eve knows something about waiting with hope. When I was growing up Christmas Eve was easily the longest day of the year. Forget what scientists say about the Winter solstice and days being shorter around Christmas time; trust me, it’s the longest day of the year for little bo…
Think for a moment about how you have spent your day so far. Which would you say shaped your today more; was it yesterday or tomorrow? For example, if you went to work today, why did you work as hard and conscientiously as you did? Was it because in days past your parents modeled for you a good work ethic and taught you the value of hard work or is it because you are hoping to one day pay off your mortgage, get promoted or earn a raise? Or what if you loaded the family up and went out to bu…
Years ago I was challenged by a pastor to memorize Titus 2:11-14,
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own …
This Thanksgiving we don’t want to just say Thanks to God for His many blessings. We want to share in God’s nature by being a blessing and a help to others . In Acts 20:35, Paul quotes Jesus as saying “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” In Mark 10:45 we remember that Jesus also said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Christians, are Christ-imitators, we follow our Lord’s example in everything, and …
It was 152 years ago, at the height of the Civil War that President Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. In his Thanksgiving Proclamation, issued on October 3, 1863 and published a couple days later in the New York Times, he spoke of the many ways that God had blessed and helped the United States. Speaking of those many blessings he wrote, “No human counsel has devised, nor has any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the graciou…
In this message we study the eleventh chapter of John which contains the account of Lazarus being raised from the dead. As I have pointed out many times in our study so far these signs serve to teach us important truths about who Jesus is and why He came. This one, of course, is no different for it continues one of the most hope-filled of Jesus’ “I Am” statements- “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”
However, in verses 5 and 6 of that chapter we read these puzzling words, “Now Jes…
The ninth chapter of John begins with these words, “As [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
This man is described as having been born blind. To paint this dilemma in more provocative language we could say he was “created” blind. He came off t…
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a man who was punished by the “gods” to spend eternity rolling a large boulder up a hill that always rolled back down to the bottom just before he could reach the top. At times, we’ve all felt like Sisyphus, pouring money and years and energy into the pursuit of things that remain tantalizingly out of reach no matter how hard we went after it. Futility is an ugly sort of word that speaks to us of frustration, waste, hopelessness and despair.
In this message we continue our study through the eight miraculous signs of the book of John by taking up the account of the feeding of the five-thousand in John 6. This is a rich story and one that is full of weighty significance for the church today.
This morning as I was organizing my thoughts and preparing the message I felt prompted to pray the following prayer over our church family:
Heavenly Father,
If we are sleepy, wake us up.
If we are wandering, pursue us.
If we ar…
The purpose of this sermon series, in which we are studying the eight miraculous signs of John, is to see and understand Jesus more clearly. When we describe ourselves as “Christians,” Christ-followers, we are saying that He is the target at which we are aiming our lives. You cannot hit a target that you cannot see very clearly. So the purpose of studying these signs is to bring our target, Jesus, into sharper focus in order that our hope in Him would be more sure and we might follow Hi…
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