Clear Bible

If our joy is fully in the Lord, then our hearts will always be satisfied, because the one thing that Jesus gives us without limit is himself. If what we want is Jesus himself—not the stuff he can do for us, but his presence—then we can continually rejoice in the Lord. Even if Jesus is the desire of our heart, it may seem sometimes like we are not fully satisfied, but scripture tells us that the Lord is in us, and with us, even when the voices of the world, flesh and devil whisper that our experience says otherwise. We can count on the promises of God to be with us always.

If we avoid grumbling and complaining, and we hold fast to the word of life, we will shine like stars, especially compared to the crooked and perverse generation of those who do not follow Jesus.

In John’s account of the resurrection, he shows us that faith in what we have not yet seen is more blessed than faith that insists upon personal, sight-and-touch verification. That kind of faith in the resurrected Jesus changes everything for those who have it.

The crowd on Palm Sunday were worshipping Jesus, but it may have been for the wrong reasons. Sometimes, we too, miss the point of what Jesus is doing.

Being a Christian means that we trust Jesus in such a way that it has consequences in our daily lives. It’s a bit like marriage. Getting married is relatively simple (you don’t need all the wedding pomp and fancy things). But once you are married, there will be years working the implications of your marriage out into your life. So, in the same way, it is simple to come to Jesus. We also spend a lifetime working our salvation out into our lives. And yet, it is not we who do the work, but God himself.

I feel that at least on this occasion, we should look at this text in the way that Paul clearly meant the Philippians to understand it. He wasn’t trying to write a hymn. If he was using a piece of an existing hymn, that is beside the point. He wasn’t creating a theology of Jesus, either. Instead, he was urging the Philippians to be humble in practical, loving ways.

From Pastor Wade Jones To listen to the sermon, click the play button: For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen. To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you … Continue reading SCANDALOUS VICTORY

You are invited to join us during Lent every Friday at noon, Central Time, in fasting, and a liturgy of prayer. I’ll explain below. I am not posting this in general on the blog site. Instead you are getting this message because you have subscribed to receive my sermons by email. I’m doing it this way to avoid the problems of spam and “bots.” I have a message on fasting below. At the end of the message is the link that you can use to go to the zoom meeting on Fridays. If you plan to come more than the first time, please save that link somewhere! If you would like to invite others to join, you are welcome to do so—just send them a copy of the link. Please don’t post it online in a general forum, however (i.e. don’t post it on Facebook, or Insta, etc.).

We are called, first an foremost, to live as citizens of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in a way that shows the rest of the world that Jesus is worthy. That includes being “family” to one another, sticking with each other throughout all the ups and downs, and also it includes suffering as we “fight the good fight of faith.”

When we are “in Christ,” we are never outside of his loving care, never lost, never alone. To live is to be connected to Jesus, sheltered and comforted by him, accompanied by him along every step of the road. We are not excluded, but we are part of the family: in Christ. This is true, even when we feel like it is not true.

The gospel is bigger and more important than anything: imprisonment, fear, or even hypocrisy.