All the Sermons

John 14:25-31 A Key Verse: "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27 While chapters 15 and 16 are included in the Upper Room Discourse, I believe that these are some of the last words spoken in the intimate setting of the upper room itself. Jesus takes these few minutes of talking face to face to review and wrap up His message before He moves out, and on to a new theme. First, Jesus emphasizes that it's okay if they can't remember everything that He has said to them on this evening or throughout His ministry. The Counselor, or Holy Spirit will come, and the Holy Spirit will help them to remember. Then, He reminds them of His gift of peace. He knows that the times ahead are hard. He knows that He is leaving His bride in a hostile environment, but He will give them His peace to help them cope in hard times. Paul referred to it as, "the ...

John 14:22-24 Key Verse: "If anyone loves Me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him." John 14:23 The world cannot see God, but they do see us. We are the world's window to God. That is why it is so important that we obey His Will. When we stray, yet claim to be His follower, we not only lie to the world, but obscure the world's view of God through our disobedience. "Lord, why do You intend to show yourself to us and not to the world," the other Judas asks? The world does not love Jesus because it does not know Him. Not only does it not know or love Him, it has rejected even wanting to know Him. They cannot see Him because they do not believe in Him. It is our responsibility, with Him within us, to woo others to Him so that they can see Him and believe in Him as well. We are His advertisement to the world. What does the world see of God through us? Jesus said that if we love one ...

John 14:15-21 Romans 8:22-27 Key Verse: "In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." Romans 8:26 How can sinful man and a Holy God truly become One? It's understandable that Jesus and God are One. After all, Jesus always was fully God and with the incarnation became fully man. He bridged the gap between us and made a way for us to have access to God the Father, but even a bridge cannot bring two separate sides of a river together. A bridge can join, but not meld two separate pieces of land. Yet, now, we are introduced to the third part of the trinity who will do just that. It is the Holy Spirit who makes it possible for Jesus to live in our hearts. "Because I live, you also will live." (John 14:19B) Remember, the disciples are still living in the Old Testament. They are familiar with stories of the Spirit of...

John 14:8-14 Key Verse: "Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father." John 14:9B Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: Don't you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?" (John 14:8-9A) It was one thing for the Jewish leadership not to recognize Jesus, but to still not be recognized fully by His closest friends must have been very frustrating for Him. The leaders were simply refusing to accept who Jesus was from sheer stubbornness. They  didn't like the Messiah figure that Jesus was claiming to be. Why, He wasn't one of them! He wasn't a power player. He hung out with the wrong people and mingled with the socially unacceptable! He would ruin their reputation and really mess things up with Rome, the leadership had reasoned, if they did things His way. The disciples were a different matter altogether. They weren't being stubborn or rebellious....

John 14:5-7 Key Verse: Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6 The fact that Thomas responds to Jesus the way that he does, demonstrates, for us, that the disciples still do not quite understand what Jesus is proposing. "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way? No groom in Jesus’ day would simply send a note or invitation or envoy to collect what is His, His one and only bride. No, when the time is right, the groom comes for her Himself and guides her to her new home. Thus Jesus can say, "I am the way." I will guide you and protect you. I will never leave your side or lead you astray. You can trust Me!" "I am the truth." I am your true husband. I love you and I will not lie to you. If you stay close to Me, I will not only lead you in paths of righteousness, but I will give you clarity. You will know the truth and the truth w...

John 14:1-4 Key Verse: "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am." John 14:3 Well, I bet that by now, you know where this is headed. We hear this passage so often in funerals to give us hope for eternity. You should know by now, however, that this is actually a part of the betrothal agreement. The intended bride has accepted the cup from the hand of the groom. They have drunk of it together, pledging their commitment to one another. Now, the groom must go to prepare a place, for He and His intended, to enjoy their marriage week together. He leaves her behind, in the care of her family, as He goes forth, to His father's home, to prepare the place. Some of us may be more familiar with the King James version of this passage which says, "many mansions." In our western, capitalistic society, that may be appealing. "Wow! When I get to heaven, I will have a mansion all to myself!...

An Overview John chapter 14 through chapter 16 Key Verse: "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you." John 15:15  The Seder meal is almost over. There is a sense of closeness and contentment among close friends. The room is lit by small, smoky lanterns. Perhaps, since it is spring, a gentle breeze wafts in from time to time through an open window. Everyone is full from a wonderful meal and at peace from the wine. It's one of those times that no one wants to come to an end. It's a time of peace. There is no more bickering or jostling for position. If only they had known what He knew, that these were their last few hours together.  In scripture, much attention is given to last words. The Patriarchs' last words are recorded as blessings, or curses, for the next generation. Moses issued words of enco...

Matthew 26:31-35 , Mark 14:27-31 , Luke 22:31-34 , John 13:36-38 Key Verse: "I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." Luke 22:32 Poor Simon Peter. There are very few events of our Lord's walk on this earth that are recorded in all four gospels. There is the feeding of the five thousand, the death and resurrection of our Lord, Judas' betrayal, and this, Peter's denial of knowing Jesus. I'm sure that, for Peter, this is a very painful chapter that he would rather have forgotten, but for our sake, I'm glad that it is here. I can identify with Peter. So often I have bravely prayed, during a worship service, as the music stirs my heart, or during a deep time of prayer, "Use me, Lord! I'll do anything for you, go anyplace! Make me brave for you!" Then, I cower or waffle when someone mocks my faith or when the Lord challenges me to do the unexpected. We deny ou...

John 13:31-35 , 1 Corinthians 13 Key Verse: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." John 13:34 Earlier in the week Jesus had been asked the question, "What is the greatest commandment?" Jesus had responded as any good Jew would, "To love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind." Then Jesus tacked on the additional, "and your neighbor as yourself," (Leviticus 19:18) prompting a smug lawyer to ask further, "Ah, but who is my neighbor?" Now, after the cup of the new covenant has been shared, after Jesus has proposed to His bride, He issues a new commandment, which is really His old commandment, but now, He adds clarification so that there can be no doubt what Jesus wants from those who will claim to follow Him. "As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my d...

Matthew 26:26-30 ; Mark 14:22-25 ; Luke 22:14-21 ; 1 Corinthians 10:14-17 Key Verse: "Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?" 1 Corinthians 10:16 Now that the celebratory meal is over, the liturgy resumes for the final two acts of the Seder meal. Both Paul and Luke make it very clear that what happens next takes place around the third cup of the Seder, the cup of redemption. "After supper He took the cup saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood;’" (1 Cor. 11:25B & Luke 22:20) For Jesus, this is the pinnacle of the meal between him and His disciples and the Church. First of all, we need to go back to before the main meal itself to the matzo that was dipped in the bitter herbs. Before that happens, the leader breaks off another piece of matzo, wraps it in a linen cloth and then hides it. This piece of unleavened b...

1 Corinthians 11:17-34 Key Verse: "Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of our Lord." 1 Corinthians 11:27 Many people mistakenly think that the books of the Bible are arranged in the Bible in the order in which they were written. This is not true, especially in the New Testament. In fact, many of the epistles, especially of Paul's, were written even before the Gospel of Mark, which is believed to be the first attempt to relay an historic account of our Lord's life on this earth. Paul wrote many of his letters to the churches that were spreading throughout the known world, especially in Asia Minor. He was concerned that baby Christians receive good instruction concerning what to believe and how to live if they were to be Christ's representatives on this earth, to a Pagan world. This account of Paul's, of the event that we are sharing in the gos...

Luke 22:24-30 , Key Verse: "Who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves." Luke 22:27 This subject must have come up a lot among the disciples during Jesus’ ministry. We've had to deal with this already on several occasions. To have it take place even tonight, however, must have grieved our Lord bitterly. If you've ever taken your children out for a special occasion or served a special meal to celebrate something and then had it marred by constant squabbling, you may have some idea of the frustration and disappointment Jesus may have felt at this moment. These were supposed to be grown men after all! Nevertheless, here we are again, talking about what the world worries about, who will get the credit? Who will get the honor? What's in it for me? Here is Jesus, wanting to have a close, warm last few minutes with His closest friends before He dies for them a...

Psalm 41:8-9 , Matthew 26:20-25 , Mark 14:18-21 , Luke 22:21-23 , John 13:18-30 Key Verse: "Even My close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared My bread, has lifted up his heel against Me." Psalm 41:9; John 13:18B History has painted Judas as evil personified. In doing this, however, we lose the sense of brotherhood that was present that night. Even though Jesus knew what Judas was about to do, He sincerely referred to Judas as, "friend," and that view of Judas by Jesus does not change. If you have ever been betrayed by someone close, in whom you have trusted, you can understand Jesus' emotions at this point. John says that "Jesus was troubled in spirit” and testified, "I tell you the truth one of you is going to betray Me." (John 13:20B) This was not an easy thing to accept for our Lord, especially after all they had been through together. For our best understanding of the sequence of events that follow, I am going to rely on the thr...

John 13:1-17 Key Verse: Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to Him; so He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him. John 13:3-5 This is such a rich event. I wish that I could write pages on it. My prayer is that, what I say here will cause you to ponder the depths of this episode because I will confess to you now that I already know that my few words will not begin to convey the profound depths of the love and grace that were demonstrated by our Lord in these few moments. We often mistakenly think that this was the first thing that Jesus did when they all entered the room. In truth, after the cup of Sanctification, there is a ceremonial washing of the hands that takes place. The passage actually says that Jesus ...

Exodus 12:1-10 , Matthew 26:17-19 , Mark 14:12-17 , Luke 22:7-13 Key Verse: He replied, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, "The teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with My disciples, at your house." Matthew 26:18 Well, when we put it all together, we know that Peter and John are the two disciples that Jesus sent on ahead to get things ready for the Seder. We never learn just whose house had the famous Upper Room, but my understanding is that it is speculated that it may have been associated with John Mark's family who may have been related to Peter. Isn't it interesting that this is a detail that God doesn't deem important. The fact that the house had an upper room, may say something about the wealth of the family since many of the houses were mostly one room with a platform for eating and sleeping and the lower part housed the chickens and so forth at night. In the poorer houses, socializing to...

Exodus 12:1-30 Key Verse: "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord a lasting ordinance." Exodus 12:14 "Celebrate the feast of unleavened bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come." (Exodus 12:17) "And when your children ask you, "What does this ceremony mean to you?" then tell them, "It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when He struck down the Egyptians." (Exodus 12:27) The original act was an act of worship as the first true act of freedom for the people of Israel. They had been brought to Egypt by Joseph during a time of famine so that through Joseph God could preserve their lives. ( Genesis 37 , & 39-50 ) After Joseph died, however, instead of heading back to C...

Zechariah 11:12 ; Matthew 26:1-5 , 14-16 ; Mark 14:10-11 ; Luke 22:1-6 ; John 12:4-6 Key Verse: "I told them, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver." Zechariah 11:12 Matthew, Mark and John all seem to agree that the anointing of Jesus' feet with the expensive perfume was the breaking point for Judas. We must remember that all of these accounts were written in hindsight, as the Apostles pieced things together. At the time, however, no one seems to have suspected Judas of anything. To them, he was one of them, a special follower of Christ. He had been with them when Jesus prayed and preached. He had been sent out, two by two, to do the same, as an imitator of our Lord. He was assumed to be so trustworthy that he was the keeper of the purse for the entire group. It is only in hindsight that John mentions that Judas was a thief who often took from the purse for himself. He must have remained...