Should we stay or go? That is the question the people of the world wrestled with shortly after the flood. They settled on staying, against God’s wishes for the purpose of making a name for themselves. Our love God confused their languages and they scattered across the world. This language barrier was undone on that first Pentecost that started the New Testament church. That harvest festival continues today as we share God’s word with anyone who will listen.
We close out the Easter season with a plea. We’re back in St John’s Revelation to hear the two-fold cry of the saints in glory! First they direct the church to her Victorious Lord. Finally they call on Jesus to return and end the world. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Jesus is our VICTORIOUS King, but he doesn’t always look that way. Ascension is a unique holiday because as one of the three great historical festivals of the ancient church it was a highlight of year. Ascension is the coronation of our VICTORIOUS King!
VICTORIOUS Love might sound a little over-the-top, right? I mean, it fits the Easter sermon series theme of VICTORIOUS, doesn’t it? I think that this phrase is a good start, but doesn’t quite touch the meaning.
Our Good Shepherd is the VICTORIOUS Shepherd. And on this Good Shepherd Sunday as we consider all that our God provides for us.
Navigating life blind poses a plethora of challenges that the sighted do not face. This is why Scripture often uses the concept of blindness as a metaphor for how hard it is to navigate life without a correct understanding of Christ. Spiritual sight gives us the ability to see who holds our future in his hands and who is worth our eternal worship.
Sunday we looked once more at the victorious march of the church through the centuries. The difference this time is that we see Jesus stop and wait for Thomas to catch up. How great is the mercy of our God!
Life is VICTORIOUS over death on this Easter Sunday. That’s a big statement. Easter is the day we celebrate Jesus breaking the grave. It doesn’t work anymore. All the dead will rise from the grave one day.
It is a day of praise! Hosanna to the Son of David! On Palm Sunday the crowds of people lined the road to lay down their palm branches that Jesus might ride in like the King he truly is.
What? Old victories CRUSHED?! Why? The nation of Israel was finally free. They were leaving Egypt, actually they were being expelled with money in their pockets!
Like gravity, grace is a constant force at work in how God deals with us and how he wants us to deal with others. No one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. God never turns it off. When the weight of our sin makes us fearful of God’s condemnation, he reveals his grace yet again.
Where is God? We equate good fortune with God’s favor and bad fortune with his judgment. So if life is generally good, God must be happy with our performance no matter what we do! That false security must be CRUSHED. God must constantly remind us where he intends to be found—in the gospel.
How are shortcuts CRUSHED? If you want to strike fear into the hearts of my children. Tell them, don’t worry your dad knows a shortcut.
It was a custom known as “battle by champion.” Two opposing armies would each send out their best warrior to fight each other. That is what we see this week. Because Christ fought the battle against Satan as one of us, he won that battle for all of us. Jesus is our perfect substitute.
The veiled gospel that the Apostle Paul was talking about isn’t difficult to find or understand. It is veiled by the god of this world – the devil. There are many different angles of attack for him. In our message this Sunday we looked at the causes of spiritual blindness and how God reveals the light of salvation.
How is the resurrection revealed? This is the season of Epiphany after all. For the past six weeks we’ve seen Jesus reveal his power through one miracle after another. This Sunday we see that he is revealed as God on the pages of Scripture. The Gospel of Luke shows that perfectly with the Beatitudes.
How do you share the love? Tis the end of the season – the season of engagement. There is a very specific kind of love being shared. From Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day 40% of all couple get engaged.
Have you ever tried to make a U-turn? It’s not always easy to do depending on the situation around you. In conversion God calls us to make a 180 degree turn spiritually. This Sunday we looked at how God turns hearts around everyday by the power of his Spirit.
We’re going back to church! Attending worship can be an intimidating thing! Jesus had been to public worship his whole life, but this Sunday was different. He would be leading worship. We’ll look at what it’s like to enter God’s house. He is happy that you are there!
Changing water into wine doesn’t seem like it would be all that important. There was just a volcano last week that causes huge floods in the pacific rim. There are sick people and disease in the world too! War and military conflict continues around the world today. Why did Jesus take time out for this small miracle? In this message we explore the heart and power of our God.