Grace Messages

What we have from Jesus this morning is His final public teaching in the Book of John. To begin, we see Pharisees who believed Jesus message but did not confess Him. Then Jesus concludes in one final teaching which is really a restatement and summary of all that He has said up to this point. Verses 44-50 are a quick synopsis of Jesus' teaching in John. This is His final shot, His parting words to persuade the public one last time.

Jesus had just said something shocking to His audience. He said that He would be lifted up in death, and earlier He had said that His hour had come and that the “Son of Man” would be glorified. And, now the crowd is confused! How can the Son of Man be glorified and live forever if the Son of Man is going to be lifted up in death?! This lack of nuanced understanding of the Old Testament prophecies causes the crowd to reject Jesus, in spite of all the clear proof that He was indeed the Messiah.

All of the talk about death before life, NOT loving one's life, and being a servant put Jesus into a troubled state of mind. It stirred up deep emotional turmoil, and this moment in time provides a great example from Jesus and also leads to another incredible message. Jesus is the perfect balance of being in fellowship with the Father, but also being real about His feelings and His emotions. Our emotions may want deliverance from difficulties, but Jesus shows that deference to God's will and plan are to be preferred to deliverance.

Last time, we considered Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem for Passion Week, where Jesus presented Himself “officially” to the nation as their long-awaited Messiah. We learn this morning that among the group escorting Him into Jerusalem was a group of Gentiles and they were hoping for a private audience with Jesus. Jesus' message to them and anyone listening in the crowd was amazing for two main reasons! (1) Jesus' death would be highly beneficial and highly productive in providing salvation for anyone who would believe, and (2) The principle taught (death before life) can be life-changing if someone really values and understands the implications of His teaching. In the Christian life, death must precede life - death must precede divine production. (See 2 Corinthians 4:7-12)

What are you filling your mind with? Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks... Today, we hear from Joshua Miller as he speaks on the importance of what you fill your mind with. What you take in is what is going to flow out of you.

Last week, our narrative recorded a dinner immediately following the Sabbath on Saturday night. Mary, the sister of Lazarus, performed an act of loving devotion by pre-anointing Jesus' body for His upcoming death and burial. Now, the next day, Jesus begins His entry, His Triumphal Entry, into Jerusalem for Passion Week. We know this as "Palm Sunday." Now, there are a lot of amazing things we will observe about Jesus’ triumphal entry, but the most amazing is the timing of it from a biblical perspective. God had this exact day in mind for Jesus to be officially presented to the nation, and He predicted it through the Old Testament prophet Daniel!

This morning, as we celebrate our 42nd anniversary as a church, we want to reiterate how important our firm foundation is even when desiring to grow. Everything that we build on the foundation is intertwined and related to the foundation. In the first century the cornerstone was laid and everything was planned around it, including the foundation and the superstructure! This is our heart's desire for our own local assembly.

In chapter 11, we reached the climax of John’s seven hand-selected signs to convince and persuade his readers to put their faith in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life. The seventh sign was the resuscitation of Lazarus, and the eighth will be the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This morning, we will see an illustration of amazing love and devotion to Jesus Christ. What we will see is "first" love and what it looks like! (See Revelation 2:2-4). In contrast to the hatred that the religious leaders demonstrated (11:57) stands the love that Mary demonstrated toward the One whom she had come to believe in.

In this sermon, we'll explore the importance of working with purpose as unto the Lord. Let's discover how to find fulfillment in our work and glorify God through our daily tasks.

This morning, we are going to look at the story of Elijah the prophet, and incredibly successful prophet of Israel. He is one of only two men, mentioned in the Scriptures who did not die physically but was translated directly to heaven! He was a man who walked with God, but we are going to see that after many successes, he still failed in a miserable way. What is so incredible though is that his failure came on the heels of one of his greatest recorded successes. And what we find in the life of Elijah is that staying successful is often times harder than becoming successful to begin with!

This morning, we are going to look at another successful King, a Gentile king, the story of King Nebuchadnezzar. His is an interesting story because he was in the perfect place at the perfect time in history to be a divine disciplinary rod for the nation of Judah. He was brought to power and given incredible success by none other than Yahweh, Himself! However, it was this truth that was murky to Nebuchadnezzar. He attributed his success to himself and completely disregarded Yahweh.

This morning, we are going to look at another successful King of Israel, Joash. King Joash is the epitome of a man whose own success messed up his evaluator and made him very forgetful! He rode on the coattails of another man’s spiritual success, and he never really owned or valued what he said he believed!

This morning, we are going to look at another successful King of Judah, Hezekiah. Wow! Where do we start with Hezekiah? This man was probably only second to David in terms of raising the spiritual temperature in Israel across the board! It is what makes his failure, his fall from success, so incredible. His failure happened so suddenly and without warning, it literally snuck up and bit him!

This morning, we are going to look at another successful King of Israel, Uzziah. He was successful, partially, because of the same reason Solomon was initially successful. Uzziah pursued relational intimacy with the Lord! However, as we will see, the initial steps of success often are the first steps towards failure! In the life of Uzziah, we will see that success caused him to think too highly of himself, and it cost him.

Waiting is one of the most common tests Christians face in life. Waiting has many variations - large and small. But the bottom line is that waiting is hard. It exposes us to uncertainty, vulnerability, impatience, and much more. Biblical waiting means "...these tension filled gaps present an opportunity for faith" and its corollary - hope.

Some look at climate change and wonder if we are about to destroy the world. Some watch world events - October 7th, assassination attempt, wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, and wonder if we are on the brink of WWIII. Christians see these things, and many other biblical indications of the Lord's return and ask, "Is it soon?". Everyone wonders what to do, how to respond, how to be ready. I Thessalonians gives believers some solid answers these questions.

This morning, we are going to look at one of the most successful men who ever lived, King Solomon. Solomon is a picture of a man who grew in the wrong direction! He started well but continued poorly. Ultimately, at the end of his life, he was the epitome of an epic failure.

Sometimes when people “crash and burn” in life, it is shocking. You will often hear someone say, “I never saw that coming!” That may be true, but oftentimes, there are subtle indicators and little things along the way, that would have clued us in to the potential issues brewing. We are going to look at a story this morning where there were plenty of warning signs along the road to success. These warning signs were ignored and not utilized to course correct. We will see the way our group responds to these warning signs indicated they were not ready for success, and this was revealed in an EPIC failure!

This morning, we will consider three primary principles for why perceived success can be dangerous or detrimental to one’s Christian life. Paul is clear in 1 Corinthians 10:12 that this is a very real and present danger to be constantly aware of.

Last week, we reached the climax of Lazarus’ story – Jesus resuscitated him because He IS the resurrection and the life. This morning, we will see something that is still true today. Jesus’ life, ministry, and work on the cross demands a response! These things demand a decision! Will you “believe” in Him OR will you “reject” Him? There is no middle or neutral ground. Any decision or non-decision a person makes regarding this topic has consequences, either positive or negative.