Click here to download the sermon as we continue in John 6:16-21.
A recap of the sermon from March 25, 2012 (John 6:16-21):
1. Jesus sends His disciples into a storm, He does that not so that He can learn something about us, but that we might learn something about ourselves and about Him.
2. “Most of us don’t like rough weather. We don’t like stormy lives. We don’t like affliction and sorrow. When the sea is calm and the Lord is right there with us, filling us with joy and blessing, we think it is wonderful. But our faith never grows that way. We never see His authority and power that way. It is in the storms of life, when sorrow and affliction are crashing against us, that we see God more clearly. God uses the sorrows and tests of life to sharpen us as tools He can use for His glory. The Lord often permits us to go into times of distress and affliction to keep us from something that could be infinitely worse.” (Dr. John Mitchell)
3. We learn through the experience of the disciples that:
-Obedience to Christ does not preclude obstacles in life.
-We cannot remove obstacles ourselves
-Jesus knows our difficulties
-We must trust Him
-We must persist in faith
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
The Impossible...No Problem
Click here to download the sermon as we continue in John 6:1-15.
A recap of the sermon from Sunday, March 18th (John 6:1-15):
1. God uses impossible situations in our lives to build our trust in His ability to meet our needs.
2. God uses impossible situations in our lives to help us see that our resources are not enough.
3. Jesus illustrates the “priesthood of the believer” (see 1 Peter 2:1-10). Even as Jesus involved the disciples in ministry by distributing the bread and fish through them to the people, so He expects us to be involved in meaningful ministry in the lives of others.
4. When we are faced with an overwhelming need or an “unsolvable problem,” we must:
-Realize our inadequacy
-Take our eyes off the little we have and fix our eyes on the great God we have
-Ask first, not “what do I have or can I do,” but “what can God do if I’ll trust Him”
A recap of the sermon from Sunday, March 18th (John 6:1-15):
1. God uses impossible situations in our lives to build our trust in His ability to meet our needs.
2. God uses impossible situations in our lives to help us see that our resources are not enough.
3. Jesus illustrates the “priesthood of the believer” (see 1 Peter 2:1-10). Even as Jesus involved the disciples in ministry by distributing the bread and fish through them to the people, so He expects us to be involved in meaningful ministry in the lives of others.
4. When we are faced with an overwhelming need or an “unsolvable problem,” we must:
-Realize our inadequacy
-Take our eyes off the little we have and fix our eyes on the great God we have
-Ask first, not “what do I have or can I do,” but “what can God do if I’ll trust Him”
Monday, March 12, 2012
The Sabbath and The Son, Part 3
Click here to download the sermon as we continue in John with the verses of chapter 5:16-47.
Recap of the sermon from March 11, 2012 (John 5:24-47):
1. Jesus asserts His deity following the healing of the paralytic in John 5:1-15. He claims equality with God in essential nature (vv. 16-18); in power (vv. 19-23); and in authority (vv. 24-30).
2. Jesus’ divine authority is seen in that He offers eternal life to those who put their faith in Him. They will not only never face judgment but pass from the realm of death to the realm of life (vs. 24). In addition He has the authority to call the spiritually dead to eternal life and to call the physically dead out of the tomb (as He will do with Lazarus in Ch. 11). Authority over life, death, and judgment are prerogatives of deity alone, thus Jesus is claiming to be equal with God.
3. In 5:31-47 Jesus calls upon five witnesses to the fact of His deity: John the Baptist (vv. 31-35); His own works/miracles (vs. 36); God the Father (vv. 37=38); the Scripture (vv. 39-44); and Moses (vv. 45-47).
-John the Baptist pointed the Jews to Jesus, as the Lamb of God and the Son of God.
-Jesus’ miracles showed that God the Father was at work through Him as He showed power over nature, over sickness, and over death
-God the Father affirmed the deity of Jesus at His baptism, the Transfiguration; and in the Triumphal Entry
-Repeatedly Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah, but the Jews had eyes but were blind to the truth, they didn’t lack evidence, but love for God; they exalted themselves while rejecting God.
-Moses (meaning the Pentateuch) spoke of the Redeemer God would send, the Prophet, the seed of Abraham, the Brass Serpent lifted up in the wilderness which saves from all those who looked to it in faith, the Passover, the Manna, the Offerings, the Priesthood. All of which pointed to Jesus Christ and were fulfilled in Him
Recap of the sermon from March 11, 2012 (John 5:24-47):
1. Jesus asserts His deity following the healing of the paralytic in John 5:1-15. He claims equality with God in essential nature (vv. 16-18); in power (vv. 19-23); and in authority (vv. 24-30).
2. Jesus’ divine authority is seen in that He offers eternal life to those who put their faith in Him. They will not only never face judgment but pass from the realm of death to the realm of life (vs. 24). In addition He has the authority to call the spiritually dead to eternal life and to call the physically dead out of the tomb (as He will do with Lazarus in Ch. 11). Authority over life, death, and judgment are prerogatives of deity alone, thus Jesus is claiming to be equal with God.
3. In 5:31-47 Jesus calls upon five witnesses to the fact of His deity: John the Baptist (vv. 31-35); His own works/miracles (vs. 36); God the Father (vv. 37=38); the Scripture (vv. 39-44); and Moses (vv. 45-47).
-John the Baptist pointed the Jews to Jesus, as the Lamb of God and the Son of God.
-Jesus’ miracles showed that God the Father was at work through Him as He showed power over nature, over sickness, and over death
-God the Father affirmed the deity of Jesus at His baptism, the Transfiguration; and in the Triumphal Entry
-Repeatedly Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah, but the Jews had eyes but were blind to the truth, they didn’t lack evidence, but love for God; they exalted themselves while rejecting God.
-Moses (meaning the Pentateuch) spoke of the Redeemer God would send, the Prophet, the seed of Abraham, the Brass Serpent lifted up in the wilderness which saves from all those who looked to it in faith, the Passover, the Manna, the Offerings, the Priesthood. All of which pointed to Jesus Christ and were fulfilled in Him
Monday, March 05, 2012
The Sabbath and the Son, Part 2
Click here to download the sermon as we continue in John with the verses of chapter 5:16-23.
Recap of the sermon from March 4, 2012 (John 5:16-23):
1. How does God use suffering in the lives of believers?
-Romans 5:3, suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope
-2 Corinthians 1:3,4 – as we face trials/suffering we receive comfort from God, comfort that we can use in the lives of others to help them in their suffering
-2 Thessalonians 1:3,4 – suffering increases our faith and our love, makes us perseverant
-James 1:2-4, trials test our faith and can produce perseverance and maturity
-1 Peter 1:3-7, trials prove the genuineness of our faith which brings glory to God
-Job 42:5, trials/suffering deepen our relationship with God
2. Jesus uses the occasion of the healing of the paralytic by the Pool of Bethesda to assert His deity. In John 5:16-30 He claims equality with God, and in John 5:31-47 He introduces five witnesses who verify His claim.
3. Jesus is equal to God in essential nature according to vv. 16-18. Jesus claims a unique relationship with the Father. The Jews understood that He was making Himself equal with God.
-“The Jews understood Him to declare God to be His Father in a sense in which He was not the Father of other men. This is why they said He made ‘Himself equal with God.’ The importance of this is seen in that it contains a direct claim on Jesus’ part to be equal with God, i.e., a claim of absolute Deity. The Jews so regarded His words, and Jesus took no pains to correct that impression; on the contrary, His words that follow are an argument to prove that He was God.” (Dr. Gray)
-“This passage alone is sufficient to dispel foolish notions that Jesus never claimed to be God, or cult contentions that the Son is not very God of very God.” (Dr. Unger)
4. Jesus claimed equality with God in power (vv. 19-23).
Recap of the sermon from March 4, 2012 (John 5:16-23):
1. How does God use suffering in the lives of believers?
-Romans 5:3, suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope
-2 Corinthians 1:3,4 – as we face trials/suffering we receive comfort from God, comfort that we can use in the lives of others to help them in their suffering
-2 Thessalonians 1:3,4 – suffering increases our faith and our love, makes us perseverant
-James 1:2-4, trials test our faith and can produce perseverance and maturity
-1 Peter 1:3-7, trials prove the genuineness of our faith which brings glory to God
-Job 42:5, trials/suffering deepen our relationship with God
2. Jesus uses the occasion of the healing of the paralytic by the Pool of Bethesda to assert His deity. In John 5:16-30 He claims equality with God, and in John 5:31-47 He introduces five witnesses who verify His claim.
3. Jesus is equal to God in essential nature according to vv. 16-18. Jesus claims a unique relationship with the Father. The Jews understood that He was making Himself equal with God.
-“The Jews understood Him to declare God to be His Father in a sense in which He was not the Father of other men. This is why they said He made ‘Himself equal with God.’ The importance of this is seen in that it contains a direct claim on Jesus’ part to be equal with God, i.e., a claim of absolute Deity. The Jews so regarded His words, and Jesus took no pains to correct that impression; on the contrary, His words that follow are an argument to prove that He was God.” (Dr. Gray)
-“This passage alone is sufficient to dispel foolish notions that Jesus never claimed to be God, or cult contentions that the Son is not very God of very God.” (Dr. Unger)
4. Jesus claimed equality with God in power (vv. 19-23).
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