Category: Holidays (Page 1 of 4)

This is the last sermon in our three-part series on John 1:1 – 18. In the first two sermons, I laid out some of the cultural issues that were present in John’s day as he painted the picture of who Jesus is. I also tried to build a bridge of application from that culture to our culture today. In everything I have preached so far, my desire has been to stay faithful to the text, while applying it to modern day believers and unbelievers alike.

We started our mini-Christmas series last week by looking at the first five verses of John’s gospel, where he began to give us an astounding description of Jesus that is very different from the other gospel accounts that we have from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. 

Well, here we are, Christmas is upon us once again! Christmas is a beautiful time of year that, for many people, is full of joy and celebration. For others though, Christmas is just another reminder of all that is wrong with the world and all that is broken in our lives.

Well, here we are! Today is Resurrection Sunday! Historically, this is the day that the church celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. For thousands of years, the church all over the world has set aside this day to intentionally highlight and celebrate the victory of the empty tomb of Jesus.

Good Friday is typically much different than a normal Sunday gathering. This once-a-year gathering is designed to be very short, very somber, and very dark. It is designed to be short, somber and dark because it is the night that we observe and think deeply about the events leading up to and culminating in the death of Jesus as our perfect, innocent, substitute on the cross of Calvary so that we might find forgiveness for our sins. The events of this night, a few thousand years ago, were more brutal than most of us can imagine.

            It is great to be with you after being away for three months on sabbatical! It feels like it has been an eternity since I stood in this pulpit and I have really looked forward to being back with all of you. I missed all of you, deeply!

            If you are visiting with us tonight, you might be wondering why we would include Mathew’s genealogy in our lineup of passages for a Christmas Eve Gathering. Here is the reason. We have been studying this passage for the last couple of weeks in our Sunday gatherings in anticipation of Christmas and as we have studied it, we have discussed what it must have been like to wait for Jesus for generation, after generation, after generation. Look at the passage with me…

            Well, here we are, three days away from Christmas: three days away from celebrating the birth of Jesus! For many of us, in three days, we will gather with family and maybe some friends to eat some good food (hopefully), participate in the tradition of giving and receiving gifts, take some good naps (maybe), watch some football or maybe watch some good Christmas movies like “Home Alone” or “Miracle on 34^th Street” or “The Christmas Story” or maybe even the best Christmas movies of all, the “Die Hard” movies or “Godfather” movies! Regardless of your movie of choice, there is much to look forward to in the Christmas season.

            As I prayed and studied the text we just read over the last week, I was struck with the theme of waiting on Jesus. When you think about the history of Israel, and our own history for that matter, it is easy to get the sense that we are all waiting for Jesus in some way or another. Here is a question for you: In. what ways are you waiting on Jesus right now? More specifically, what promises of God do you need to rely on right now as you wait for Jesus to fulfill them?

It is Easter morning ya’ll! A few thousand years ago, Jesus woke up from spending three days in the grave and he walked out of that tomb in full victory over Satan, sin, and death! Three days ago, the cross was as bloody as the most frightening horror movie you have ever seen. But today, the tomb is as empty as a womb of a mother who just gave birth!