Jesus delivered what was very likely his most offensive sermon every preached. It would cost him the majority of his disciples, and act as a turning point in his public ministry.
John 1:19-51
Like the overture to a symphony, John’s first chapter introduces themes he will revisit throughout his gospel, in this twenty-minute multi-media presentation.
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Gospel of John: Lamb of God Judged
If God did not judge sin it would mean that God was indifferent to the existence of right and wrong, good and evil. But the Lord is not indifferent. God's wrath, grief, and intense pain over sin is the necessary and only right response.
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Gospel of John: Setting the Scene
In this week’s posts, Judas had been having one small rebellion after another, and covering it over by pretending to love Jesus until finally, it seemed like out of the blue to the other disciples, he did something unbelievably awful.
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Gospel of John: Background Stories
Before entering into the events of Passion Week, it seemed good to gather the backstories that were in play during those fateful seven days. I promised to give four stories that would provide foundational understanding for what happened. Yesterday was the first story, Story #1, A Lamb. Today are two more stories, and tomorrow will come the last story.
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Gospel of John: Life-Giving Feast
Jesus had delivered possibly the most offensive sermon ever given in his time, a message so viscerally horrifying, so unspeakably grotesque, that many must have been left actually speechless.
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Gospel of John: Flesh and Blood
D.L. Moody once said “One day you’ll read that D.L. Moody is dead. Don’t you believe it! I’ll be more alive on that day than I have ever been before!”
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Gospel of John: Stairway to Heaven
I picture these six men now looking at Jesus with wonder and perhaps a little fear. If what he said were true, then who was he really? How could they, ordinary men all, be standing here with one who connects heaven and earth?
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Gospel of John: A Gospel Sidebar
even though Penal Substitutionary Atonement is an important concept, maybe even a foundational one, it is not the only important word on salvation, the gospel is so, so much more.
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Mercy and Grace
Some warm to the largely comforting and hopeful philosophy that babies are born pure and innocent, and it’s the morally unhealthy culture, surrounding society, that inclines us to sin. Others argue that to believe such a theory takes a person off the hook—my sin is always someone else’s fault, rather than owning we are born sinful.
Grace and Peace, Joanne 