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Going Back to the Beginning

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Going Back to the Beginning John 16-21 “And Jesus said to them, ‘Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you will find a catch.’ So they cast, and they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.” (John 21:6).                   Sometimes, when we fail, the best place to start is not by picking up where we left off, but by going back to the very beginning. When Jesus was arrested and crucified, the disciples were devastated and disillusioned. They could not comprehend what had happened. In their view, the Messiah was a political figure who would come and restore the glory of Israel by freeing the land from the oppressive rule of the Romans. Therefore, when they came to arrest Jesus, Peter was ready to start the campaign by fighting. However, all their dreams and aspirations were shattered when Jesus went with the mob to face his crucifixion. If Jesus was the Messiah...
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The Test of Discipleship

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  The Test of Discipleship John 11-15 “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”                   How do we distinguish between a genuine disciple of Jesus and a false disciple? Not everyone who claims to be a disciple is genuine. Judas was accepted into the inner circle of the disciples. He was likely well-respected by the other disciples, since he was chosen to manage the team’s finances. Yet we know that, in the end, he was a mere pretender, someone who claimed to be a faithful disciple of Christ but was motivated by his own ambitions rather than genuine faith. It is easy to give lip service to Christ and still fail to be fully devoted to Christ. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warns, “Many will say to Me on that Day, “Lord, Lord…’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew ...
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Finding Hope in a Hopeless World

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Finding Hope when Hope is Gone John 6-10 8:12, “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”                   If you have ever been in a cave with no light, you know what it is like to be in absolute darkness, a darkness so complete that you cannot even tell what is up or down. Your world is so dark that you cannot tell which direction to go.  It is both paralyzing and terrifying. It is one thing to be in physical darkness, but it is quite another to be in spiritual darkness, to be without any hope or any clear answer for life. Our culture is in a time of spiritual darkness. One reason our culture is so divided and polarized is that people lack clear perspective or hope. There is something deep within us that recognizes that something is wrong in our society and that we are rapidly ...
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Who was Jesus

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Who Was Jesus John 1-5 “He (Jesus) said to them, ‘Come, and you will see.” (1:39).                   The question has confronted humanity for the last 2000 years and remains the most fundamental of all questions. The question that confronts us is, “Who is Jesus?” How we answer the question not only determines our response to the message of Jesus but also our eternal destiny. This was the question John confronts us with at the very start of his gospels. While the other gospel writers began with the historical narrative of Jesus’ birth, John begins with a different perspective. Instead of asking where Jesus came from, he focuses on the question “Who was Jesus?”                     Historians agree on the historical reality of Jesus: he was born, and through his teaching, the Christian religion was esta...
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The Danger of Distractions

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The Danger of Distractions Luke 21-24 “But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”                   The number one cause of car accidents is not reckless driving (4 th ), drunk driving (3 rd ), or even speeding (2 nd ). For most, these are the three things we are most careful to avoid. However, the #1 cause of accidents is something we are all guilty of doing almost every time we get behind the wheel. The #1 cause of accidents is distracted driving: answering a phone call, checking a text message, fiddling with the radio, turning our head to talk to someone behind us, and the list goes on. A person who would never dream of breaking the law regarding drunk driving or reckless driving can easily fall into the greatest trap of all: just being distracted!    ...
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Self-reliance or Self-denial.

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Self-Reliance or Self-Denial Luke 16-20 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”                   There are always two questions we are confronted with when we pray. The first is, does God answer prayer? The second is, what prayers does he answer? We all struggle with prayer, for our prayers often seem ineffective, and we wonder whether God listens. In Luke 18, we find Jesus addressing the struggle we all face. Not only do we struggle to pray, but it often seems as if our prayers are ineffective. In verse 1, Jesus tells us a parable to encourage us in prayer. The phrase "lose heart" refers to one who has lost motivation and given up in prayer, for there are times when it seems as if our prayers go unanswered and, even more troubling, unheard! We pray continually and deeply ...
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The Prayer God Answers

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Does God Answer Prayer? Luke 11-15 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (11:9).                   How can we pray effectively so that we know God will hear and answer our prayers? This is a question we all struggle to understand. We believe in God and believe that he answers prayer, yet when it comes to “my” prayer, it seems as if heaven is silent. We hear the testimony of others and how God miraculously answered their prayers, but it seems we never experience such miracles in our own lives. So, like the disciples, we wonder if it is because we do not know how to pray. We read James 4:3, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your own pleasures,” and wonder if the problem is our lack of faith or improper motives. Even worse, we begin to question the legitimacy of the p...
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