March 29, 2026
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John 1:1-18
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Christ, jesus
If God has come near… do we recognize Him? Because it’s possible to: know the story… but miss the Savior; to be religious… but not have a relationship with God.
That was the tragedy of the first century. And it is still the danger of the twenty-first. What we need is not more information about God, but an introduction to God. We need a true revelation of God. We need to see and know Jesus for who He truly is and the relationship He offers to know God.
And that’s exactly what the opening of John’s Gospel gives us. It doesn’t begin with a manger…it begins with majesty! It begins “in the beginning.” And it pulls back the curtain and shows us who Jesus really is!
In the gospel of John, he presented a beautifully poetic and theologically rich prologue to show that Jesus is the eternal Word who became flesh and tabernacled among us, revealing God’s glory and inaugurating the fulfillment of the Story.
April 20, 2025
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John 11:25-26
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easter
On this day Easter Sunday we are reminded that Jesus claimed to be the Resurrection and the Life. He claimed that He was not only able to defeat death, but that He is the only way that we can receive this resurrection life. Where do you need this resurrection life today? Where are you experiencing death today? For there are many kinds of death: death of an unfulfilled dream; death of a relationship due to divorce or discord among former friends or family; and of course the finality of death itself. How do you face death? What do you believe about this?
Jesus not only claimed to be the resurrection and the life. He proved it! His resurrection is a fact and a matter of historical record. Do you believe this?
In the gospel of John 11:25-26, about two weeks before the first Easter Sunday, Jesus called Martha, whose brother Lazarus had died, to believe in Him as the resurrection and the life. We can experience resurrection life by believing in Jesus.
December 15, 2024
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John 1:1-18
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christmas
In John 1:1-18, the apostle John bore witness of Jesus as the Son of God who came into the world that we might believe in Him and become children of God. The Magi’s gift of frankincense points to Christ’s divinity. We can believe John’s witness that Jesus is the Son of God.
May 19, 2024
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John 6:25-40
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eternity, heaven
What must we do to prepare for what comes after death? How can we prepare for the ultimate journey? It’s a journey that most of us don’t want to think about, but it’s a journey that everyone must take.
Trips take a lot of preparation, some more than others. But how much more must we prepare for the trip that everyone will face one day… the trip to our eternal home! In the gospel of John chapter 6, Jesus told His hearers what they must do to be prepared for eternity.
December 24, 2023
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John 3:16
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christmas
Above all else Advent, which means arrival or coming, is about God’s love coming to us! You see, that’s what motivated the greatest gift ever given. It was God’s love. Yes, Jesus was wrapped in swaddling cloths, but more than that, He was wrapped in God’s love. As the Bible says, “For God so loved the world that He gave.” What did He give? He gave us Jesus.
As the prophet Isaiah proclaimed, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” (Isa. 9:6). And as the angels proclaimed, “Unto you is born this day” (Luke 2:11). Jesus is God’s gift of love to us… to you!
So, God has given us this gift. It’s for you. It’s got your name on it. But it’s not really yours until you open it and receive it for yourself.
December 10, 2023
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John 14:27-28
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christmas
Where is the peace we are promised in the Christmas story? Today’s news is filled with stories of war. As the prophet Jeremiah said, “People are saying, ‘Peace, peace’ when there is no peace.”
Are you at peace today? Do you have a deep, abiding, quiet sense of peace? Or are you struggling with anxiety and a sense of disquiet and disorder? The Advent season is an invitation for us to consider the promise of peace found only in Christ. God’s peace is more than the absence of hostility. It is a divine state of tranquility and well-being, with God, self, and others. In the gospel of John, he reported how Jesus gave His disciples a promise of peace in Him at the last supper the night before His crucifixion. We can have this peace that Christ alone can give.
September 17, 2023
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John 14:15-27
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recovery
What is this peace that God offers through Jesus? It is more than the absence of hostility. It speaks of a deeper peace, or as the Jews call it, “shalom.” This peace that God offers means a sense of quiet, of harmony with others, a sense of security and well-being, wholeness, prosperity, a tranquil state of the soul without anxiety or fear.
How do we overcome our anxiety, our worries and fears, to receive and thrive in God’s peace? In John’s gospel, Jesus prepared His disciples to face His soon departure by giving them His peace and teaching them to how to continually keep themselves thriving in His peace. We can receive the peace of Christ and continually to keep it.
August 13, 2023
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Matthew 5:4, John 11:17-44
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beatitudes, grief, recovery
For many of us, we don’t know how to grieve. We don’t know how to mourn. So, we just bottle it up. We deny it. Or we try to medicate it with booze, or pills, or overeating, or over-working, or materialism or… But the pain remains. Unresolved grief can cause us to give up on happiness.
The blessed life, the supremely happy life, is ours when we are willing to admit that we’re powerless to change, to overcome our hurts, habits, and hangups. And that we need to mourn, grieve, and trust Jesus as the only One truly able to comfort and heal us. In the gospel of John, Jesus called those who were grieving the death of Lazarus to believe in Him as the only One who could truly comfort their grief and turn their mourning into blessing. We can release our grief to Jesus to receive His comfort.
December 11, 2022
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John 1:1-18
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christmas
Do you have sense of mystery this Christmas season? Or have you lost the sense of mystery you had as a child? Wouldn’t you like to rediscover the sense of mystery this Christmas?
Some of life’s greatest mysteries have to do with origins. Like the origin of the universe, or the origin of life, or of intelligence. But why would we consider such mysteries at Christmas? The gospel according to John opens up with one of the most amazing and mysterious prologues in the Bible. For in John’s gospel, he revealed the mystery that Jesus Christ was the Son of God come in the flesh. We can rediscover the mystery of Christmas by considering what John revealed about Jesus.
July 3, 2022
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John 17:20-26
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collaboration
We live in a competitive and divided world today. The list of things that divide us has outgrown what might unite us. Aren’t you tired of the division? What would it look to see or be a part of a group of people who are united and willing to work together for a common purpose?
Did you know that one of the last prayers that Jesus prayed on earth was that we would be unified and willing to collaborate in proclaiming the gospel to the whole world? It’s true. He prayed it that night in the Garden. In the 17th chapter of the gospel of John, he recorded one of Christ’s final prayers for believers that the Father would make them one with Him and with one another, so that the world might believe in Him. We can recognize Christ’s prayer that we collaborate as one, so that the world might believe.