Recent Sermons

In the calling of his disciples in this passage, Jesus issued invitations to come and see, and to follow him. For Andrew and Philip, these calls were not only life changing, but they were also followed by an excitement to reach out to others and share the truth of Jesus Christ with them.

This metaphor is a part of a much larger sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. To accurately understand and interpret it, one must view it in the context in which Jesus used it. In order to be salt in the world as Jesus intended his disciples to be, they must understand and apply the beatitudes.

John the Baptist had such an influential ministry that the Jewish leaders decided to investigate it and attempt to shut him down. The questions remain for us to investigate: Who was John? Why was he baptizing in the wilderness? What was the heart of his message?

The parable is a literary form used often by Jesus Christ 1) To make ideas clear and intelligible, 2) to make lasting impressions, 3) to veil truth through the use of pictures that might otherwise cause offense, to elicit a judgment in one sphere in order to transfer it to another and 4) to fulfill prophecy (Matthew 13:34, 35; Psalm 78:2). There were those whose hearts and minds were closed to anything Christ would have spoken and to these, Jesus used parables to speak directly, as He did with the Scribes and Pharisees. Some of the parables contained mysteries so that His genuine followers would understand while others could not. It was not unusual for Jesus to reveal the motives of His hearers by using parables. Therefore, through parables Christ both concealed truth and revealed truth.

After being confronted with the reality of who Jesus is (God in the flesh, the creator, the light that leads to life), the question remains as to what you will do with Jesus. John the Baptist, the world, and the Jews all responded in different ways to Jesus and the truth. What will you do?

With three synoptic gospels already having been written, why did the Apostle John write his gospel? Amidst all of the miracles and teachings of Jesus, John had a special burden to present selective miracles and encounters in the ministry of Christ so that his readers would not only have the facts of Jesus’ life and ministry, but so that they might believe and have life.

Most people today do not know the joy and peace that comes from living by faith. Outside of the church, there is much strange thinking about the subject of faith. It is treated as a noun instead of a verb. Faith is an action word and it is always linked with obedience. We are living in an age when it is assumed that faith means nothing in the realities of contemporary life. It is a greater tragedy when the believer in passivity fails to trust God to the point of personal and active involvement in the life of faith. Romans 14:23 reminds us that whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Our lifestyle must arise out of a genuine trust in God or it will be categorized as sinful.

Habakkuk was a prophet who ministered toward the end of the seventh century BC, about the same time that Babylon was gearing up to be the dominant power in the Near East. The key text is quoted three times in the New Testament - "The just shall live by faith" (2:4). Habakkuk complained to God about the lurking danger of the Babylonians only to recognize that God was fully in control and that he needed to trust Him. It is God's will that the believer live by faith recognizing that God's way is perfect regardless of how terrible things seem to be. What seemed apparent to Habakkuk was based on the "now" instead of the eternal. A life of faith always keeps eternity in view.