For the last couple of weeks, we looked at the last miracle that Jesus did which is recorded in the book of John, which was the raising of Lazarus from the dead. And now we have come to the final week of Jesus’s ministry before His crucifixion. And in anticipation of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross 6 days later, John presents us with this dinner that is being held in Bethany to honor Jesus and Lazarus. It’s now been a few months since Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and as He heads back to Jerusalem to meet His predetermined

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Today we are looking at part two of a message I have called, Seven Principles of the Seventh Sign. This miracle that Jesus did in raising Lazarus from the dead, is the seventh and final sign or attesting miracle that John records Jesus doing in His public ministry. It is a long text, and as such we don’t have the time this morning to spend exegeting every verse. However, the story as a narrative is pretty self explanatory. But there are some important doctrinal truths which are illustrated by this story which is what I want to make the focus

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I have said repeatedly from this pulpit, that every miracle presented in the gospel is a parable meant to teach us spiritual principles. I will say it again to make sure you get that; every miracle presented in the gospel is a parable meant to teach spiritual principles. Now this is the seventh and final sign or miracle that Jesus did in the book of John. So we may presume that this miracle in particular is of great significance. We might deduce that simply due to the length of the passage which details it, as well as the fact that

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Today’s text is one that is somewhat difficult to deal with, for at least a couple of reasons. One, is we are coming into what is really the tail end of an ongoing dialogue that Jesus was having with the religious leaders of Jerusalem concerning His deity. And we are picking it up near the end of that discussion. So that provides some difficulty, in bringing you up to speed without repeating all of last Sunday’s message. And the other main difficulty is that Jesus makes reference to a somewhat obscure portion of scripture as validation of His argument, which

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One of the great questions of our age, particularly the post evolution scientific age, is whether or not God is real. From time to time you will hear someone ask the question, “if God is real, then why doesn’t He show us? Why doesn’t He reveal Himself? Why doesn’t God prove that He is real?” And sometimes, people will ask us that are Christians to prove that God is real. To prove that He exists. But it is noteworthy that Jesus Christ never addressed that question. He did not defend the existence of God. In fact, the Bible is not

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From the very earliest examples of literature, we find the use of anthropomorphic allegories or similitudes used to illustrate various types of human behavior. Even today, much of our perceptions of human behavior is influenced by tales of animals who talk, and think as we do. And so it is not surprising that we find in the Bible uses such analogies from time to time as a means of teaching certain principles. Today we come to one such allegory, that of the church, or the people of God, presented as sheep, and Christ as the shepherd of the sheep. Also

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As usual, today we are looking at the next passage in our ongoing verse by verse study in the book of John, particularly the teachings of Jesus. I don’t preach topical messages. It doesn’t matter if it’s Christmas or Mother’s Day, I’m going to preach the Word of God as we come to it. But I will say this in light of the recent events in our country. We live in a fallen world, we live in a broken world, a world broken by sin. And the only hope for the world is not found in political parties, it is

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Today’s message is the continuation of a story that we began looking at last week. I realize some of you weren’t here, but you should be able to catch up quickly – it’s a simple story of a man born blind, that Jesus healed. We looked at the first seven verses last week. Today we are going to try to finish this chapter which is basically a narrative of the people who are affected by this miracle. And so I have titled today’s message, “Salvation in slow motion.” The idea behind that title is that this passage illustrates salvation in

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I’m going to warn you in advance that today’s message is going to be a little bit different than usual. I’m not going to exegete every word, or every sentence in this text. I’m not going to reveal a three point outline in the passage and expound on each subject. I guess I could. That is what I normally do. But today I want to focus on just a few points that Jesus makes at the end of this dialogue we have been looking at for several weeks and use them as a springboard for our own application here this

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