Jesus’ Demand for His Disciples (John 21:18-25)

John ends his gospel by describing the way that Peter will die. His Master uses dialogue to address this topic. There is a problem with Peter that must be addressed, a problem that we all have as believers. Comparing ourselves is a serious problem revealed by Peter’s question, “Lord, what about him?” When we compare ourselves, we take our focus off of who Jesus is.

The Resurrection Appearances of Jesus.

The resurrection is a necessary belief of the Christian faith. Everything crumbles if the resurrection is not true. There would be no hope. Because of the resurrection, the church rearranged its worship schedule to the first day of the week to weekly remember and encourage one another that Jesus is alive.

“It is Finished” – What Jesus Christ Achieves in His Death

From the outside looking in, Christianity can seem like a weird and even morbid religion. We are fixated on the death of a person who lived thousands of years ago and talk about it in a positive way. In fact, Jesus' death is the worst thing that ever happened and the best thing that has ever happened.

The reason it’s such a big deal can be summed up by what Jesus himself said just before He died (John 19:30): “It is finished.” In the original Greek, this phrase is just one word. Today, that’s all we’re going to look at, what Jesus meant when He said this.

Just over a week ago we celebrated “Good Friday.” Since when does the brutal murder of a 33-year-old Jewish man constitute anything “good”? The betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus Christ was not a good thing. It’s the worst crime ever committed in human history. All of us are guilty of that crime, because our sin put Him on the cross. Yet the betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus Christ was necessary to who Jesus is and what He came to do.

The Critical Transforming Nature of the Resurrection

All Scripture is founded on the truth and reality of the resurrection. God through the Word of God by the Spirit of God desires each of us to be transformed by the truth of the resurrection.

Jesus Will Be Glorified through Suffering.

In John 12:27-36, we come to the end of Jesus’ public ministry. We’ve already talked about the curious Jew worshiping Jesus, the marvelous worshipper Mary, and covetous Judas. As we look at these groups and their responses to Jesus, hopefully we aren’t interested in just calculating what we can get from Jesus like Judas did. Instead, let’s elaborate on how the seed has to die in order to bear fruit.

The Power of Jesus Even Over Death

Many scholars have called the raising of Lazarus, Jesus’s seventh sign and last public sign, the climax of Jesus’s ministry and the greatest of His public signs. In this chapter, John is preparing the reader for the cornerstone of our faith in Jesus Christ, which is the resurrection of the dead. We cannot have Christianity without the resurrection, and there cannot be resurrection without Jesus having authority over death.

The Mission of God’s Love

Written to people who need to know Christ, the gospel of John is clear about God’s initiating love towards each of us. John desires for us to understand God’s amazing love so we would surrender our hearts to Him as Lord and Savior.

The worst calamity is to be suffering and not to know why.

By Job 2:10, Satan has done his worst to Job and retreated from his life. God is silent and doesn’t make sense, and Job is alone.

Three of Job’s friends come to commiserate with him in Job 2:11-12. They respect his agony and sit with him in silence for 7 days.

In chapter 3, Job speaks. He asks the question “Why?” twenty times in this book, and a few are in this chapter. He asks why he was born (Job 3:3-10), why he is still alive (Job 3:11-19), and why he can’t die now (Job 3:20-26).

The Necessity of the Incarnation for Salvation & the Perseverance of the Saints.

God is light. When Jesus came to earth, He shone as a bright contrast to the dark world of sin and sadness. Divinity had to take on humanity to fulfill God's purposes. Incarnation was appropriate, necessary, and is a non-negotiable doctrine of Christianity.

On Sunday evening, we commemorated our Savior's death through song, Scripture reading, and observing the Lord's Table.

Jesus' Gold Standard of Love

1 Corinthians is a letter to a church that found itself in the most influential and cosmopolitan city of its day. Yet this was a troubled church. The church received the gospel, but it was not governed by it. In many practical ways, the church was governed by culturally-derived mottos rather than mature reflection on the gospel and its implications for life.

Nothing we can gain in this world remains for the next, but we have an enduring treasure in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

We’ve all delighted in new things—new things that ultimately God has gifted to us. But our delight in new things quickly fades. New becomes old. The universal, unescapable truth is that nothing stays new—not things, people, or relationships. Psalm 49 addresses this readily apparent yet rarely apprehended truth.

Jesus, as the predicted Messiah, fills out infinitely and eternally all human suffering in order to eradicate it!

At Christmas time, it is fitting to turn our minds to prophetic truths concerning Jesus the Messiah. The books of the prophets are usually the first to come to mind, and the literal fulfillment of the circumstantial facts they predicted hundreds of years prior to Jesus’ coming is nothing short of miraculous. Another prophetic witness is found in the Messianic Psalms. In total, twenty-five different psalms (one out of six) include at least one Messianic prophecy. Messianic psalms are quoted in eleven New Testament books.

These psalms are prophetic in a special way: in the words and feelings of the Psalmist were found the very words and feelings of the Messiah. (See Hebrews 2:12.) The Psalmist knew that the coming Messiah would “fill out” the emotional and physical suffering he was experiencing by experiencing them in a way he never could. The pain he spoke of figuratively, the Messiah would know literally.

How to Develop a Growing Flock While Vulnerable, Part 2.

Last week, we studied the believer's reality of possessing great spiritual treasure (2 Corinthians 4:7). The rest of our passage describes further realities that believers are assumed to enjoy.

Awareness that Refreshes Our Hearts.

Paul makes the Corinthians believers aware of his own hardship in 2 Corinthians 1:6-11. We can benefit from other people's struggles. They encourage us to persevere and endure in our own walk of faith until Christ returns.

Joyfully Enduring Life's Inexplicable Mysteries.

We try to understand God's plan, but we can never know all of it; and we couldn't handle that knowledge anyway. Life is full of spiritual mystery. What can and should we do as we live through this reality?

Wealth, Wisdom, and Eternal Purpose.

We are studying the third section of Ecclesiastes, which instructs us on how to rejoice in hard times. Joy is the reality of the believer who lives in the blessed will of God (Ecclesiastes 8:15). With the proper perspective, believers can enjoy all God's good gifts, but if distracted from eternal purpose, we will doubt the integrity of God and His providence.

This Do in Remembrance of Me.

Remembering is an essential discipline of living.

Philosophical Diversions that Impede Living Life on Purpose.

Human wisdom robs our joy. Left to our own thinking, life doesn't make much sense. Lived with God's wisdom, life can be enjoyed.