Ccf Sunday Messages

If you saw a miracle, would you believe in Jesus? What if you saw 10 miracles, or 100 miracles? In John 12 verse 37 we read that many didn't believe even after seeing so many signs! But, then we find that Isaiah prophesied this about Jesus--that he would confirm the people's own decision to not believe. Jesus implores them in his last public teaching before the cross to listen to His Words, that they are from God, and that they are the words of eternal life.

Jesus speaks of his death as we continue walking through John chapter 12, picturing a grain of wheat that is basically useless until it is planted (dies in the ground), and then can generate a harvest of "fruit". Similarly, he applies for us that we can either hold on to our lives, and conversely lose them, but if we "lose our lives"--giving them to God for His use--we actually gain them!

After Mary anoints Jesus at the dinner at Bethany, John chapter 12 quickly moves to the scene of the triumphal entry of Jesus. While the religious leaders are considering and plotting against Jesus, and now Lazarus as well, they should have been studying the prophecy of Daniel, which would have pointed directly to Jesus as the Messiah! Pastor Steve covers this passage in a shorter study as we prepare for our monthly time of communion as a body.

As the news of the raising of Lazarus from the dead spreads, many are coming to faith in Jesus--the religious leaders in Jerusalem are very concerned as people turning to Jesus will raise the eyebrows of the Romans and potentially cause them to lose their "position" and power! Unknown to himself, Caiphas ends up prophesying that Jesus's death will be "one man dying for the people", true not to his own purpose, but to God's purpose to bring salvation through that "one man's" death. In chapter 12 the scene switches to Bethany and the springtime, and Mary, with only a week before Passover anoints Jesus' body for burial (unbeknownst to her) with very costly oil--a true sign of her worship and adoration of Him.

Today Pastor Steve takes us through the amazing and powerful story of Lazarus being raised from the dead--his crowning miracle that proves that He truly is "the resurrection and the life"! Only through God's power can life be given and taken away, and in this miracle Jesus shows Himself to truly be God in human flesh.

In finishing up the few versus of John chapter 10 we see both sides of Christ's ministry on earth--the Jewish leaders are continuing to want to stone Him and kill Him as they realize the impact of His claims to be God's son, and yet others are realizing the truth of His words (and John who came before Him), and the chapter closes with, and "many believed in Him". The scene changes as we start chapter 11--Mary and Martha, close friends of Jesus, have a brother, Lazarus, who is sick and near death. Thinking Jesus will come immediately for His sick friend, they send word to Him, but instead He waits! Pastor Steve started the discussion about Lazarus talking about our expectations and how they can get in the way..we'll complete this story next week!

Continuing our study in John chapter 10, at verse 22 we fast forward a few months to winter, and Jesus is in Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication--or Hannukah as we know it today. He is again talking with the Jewish leaders who want Him to plainly declare Himself as Messiah. Instead, he speaks again of sheep, and that if they were His sheep, they would know His voice. If you are one of Christ's then you hear Him and know Him, and follow Him, unlike those who don't know Him as their "good shepherd." And to be His sheep means that you are secure in Him, as He will lose none of those who are His! When he finishes, He declares that He and the Father are One, and we'll see next week that this incites the Jewish leaders to want to take violent action again.

One of our elders, Todd Giszack, continued our study in John by going through the first section of chapter 10 while Pastor Steve was away this Sunday. Listen in as Todd shares about Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who truly cares for His sheep.

Continuing our story of the man born blind, healed miraculously by Jesus, in John chapter 9, we see a continuing dialogue between the man who was formerly blind and the religious leaders. It is during these verses we see who is truly blind, as the religious leaders are offended that the uneducated, formerly blind beggar is "teaching" them about Jesus! In the end, the healed man is thrown out of the temple, but he is found by Jesus, who gives him a chance to understand that He truly is the Son of God! The man believes and worships, and his vision is clearer and better than those who thought they really knew God!

You can be physically blind but spiritually aware, and you can also have physical vision, but be spiritually blind. In the story from John 9, Jesus heals a physically blind man, but raises the ire of the religious leaders who He clearly shows to be spiritually blind! This is an amazing story, with application to us today--where are we spiritually blind even if we have our "sight", or have we not had our eyes opened to the truth for the first time?

As we finish up John chapter 8--with this intense conversation between the Jewish/religious leaders and Jesus--Jesus finishes the chapter with a clear claim to be God. He says "before Abraham was, I AM" Even if you don't get the "language" of the I AM statement, you can see it was not lost on the religious leaders: they immediately picked up stones to stone Jesus for blasphemy. Instead of having a demon, as they had tried to slander him in verse 48, he was the exact opposite--He was and is God in the flesh and yet they mistook Him for a crazy or demon-possessed person! Help us to see clearly and not get defrauded by the lies we tell ourselves and the ones the world tells us!

Pastor Steve looks at Jeremiah's visit to the potter's house as a message for the New Year--not for resolutions, but to think about *revolutions*: another year revolving around the sun; the potter's wheel going around and around. In this new year will you be pliable in the Master's hands, ready to submit to Him in what He has in store for you?

Listen to our Christmas Eve message from 2013, looking at the baby in the manger as 'no ordinary child'!

Continuing our study of John, we are in the midst of a long conversation between Jesus and the religious leaders in Jerusalem. In this section Jesus makes a claim that "truth will set you free"--what did they (and we!) need set free from? The bondage of sin--when we commit sin it takes control of us and we become its slave. As hard as it was for the religious leaders to hear this message, it is hard for us today--we want to say "we have never been a slave to anyone!", but if we are in sin, we are being mastered by it, but Jesus has the truth that will set us free!

As we continue through the discussion underway in John chapter 8, in verses 21-30 Jesus and the religious leaders cover some difficult ground--Jesus makes it clear that if they don't believe that he is the "I AM", they will die in their sins. Steve covered the common misconception that "God sends people to hell"--rather, we understand from Jesus that people who reject the cure for the disease of sin are the ones who choose hell by refusing the free antidote to the problem of sin found in Jesus.

Continuing our study through John, we reach the second "I am" statement from Jesus midway through chapter 8: "I am the light of the world!" Pastor Steve expressed the pictures that "light" and "darkness" bring, both in our tangible world, but also the concepts in the spiritual realm. Living in darkness is impossible when we allow the light to shine into our lives, and Jesus wants to be the light that dispels darkness in our lives and in every corner of the globe!

Who do you thank when you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner? Who allowed you and enabled you to be blessed in the ways that you are? God speaks to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 8 of the danger of forgetting how and why our blessings came to us--especially after a time of want and need when we cried out to God and realized our dependence on Him. As our life is blessed, maybe because we cried out to Him, the warning from God is to not forget that He is the one who enabled those blessings as you find yourself in a better place due to His grace and mercy!

Pastor Steve briefly closed out the remaining verses of John 7, and covered in detail the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8. What a powerful story--where again the tables are turned on the religious leaders, who believe they finally have a slam dunk way to discredit Jesus. While it was never about the woman (it was about their trapping Jesus), Jesus again shows the power of His grace to bring forgiveness where there is shame and sinfulness!

As Jesus has attended the Feast of Tabernacles on his own time and terms, He is now in direct conversation with the religious leaders and the gathered Jews attending the feast. Many are arguing and trying to resolve his "origin"--the Messiah would just appear, but they know where Jesus is from? The leaders are angered at his claims and responses which put them to shame. But--it is his statement on the last day of the feast that grabs the scene: Whoever is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink! Are you thirsty? Come to Him and find yourself overflowing with His Spirit as you believe and trust in Him.

How can we know that God's Word is true? On what authority is Jesus's teaching compared to the rabbi's and teachers of His time? In John 7, Jesus attends the feast of tabernacles in Jerusalem under his own terms and timing, and when he reveals Himself he also claims that His authority is from the One who sent Him! And a good test of truth? If the words of a teacher bring glory to himself, then we need to be careful--but if those words bring glory to God, then they are trustworthy (v.18)!