Category: Jesus

Jesus here, in his capacity of High Priest of the new covenant, is compared to the priests under the old. They ministered daily, offering sacrifices that were not capable to truly taking away sin. In contrast Jesus offered up His sacrifice once. He offered up Himself as our perfect and effective sacrifice, accomplishing what the blood of bulls and goats could not.
After the sin problem was solved through His shed blood, He sat at the right hand of the Father, where He continues to reign in His kingdom. He is both Priest and King (after the order of Melchizedek).

The text indicates that this reign will continue until all his enemies are defeated. Elsewhere we are told that the last enemy is death (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:26). After that, “then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all” (28).

That sacrifice truly takes away the sins of those who come to Him in faith. We are told that we are made complete (or perfect) in our cleansing. This is it. We have been given the forever sacrifice that sanctifies us!

His name is Jesus. His earthly family consisted of a carpenter named Joseph, and his young wife Mary. We don’t know much about Jesus’ youth. We know at an important age for a Jewish boy, 12, He visited Jerusalem for Passover.

We know nothing more about Jesus’ earthly life until He became an itinerant preacher at about age 30. Within three years His teaching and claims incensed the Jewish leaders, who prevailed upon the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, to crucify Him on a cross between two other criminals.

In His life Jesus never traveled more than 150 miles from the place of His birth. He never owned His own home, never had wealth, and traveled in His ministry with 12 ordinary men, who were recognized as uneducated Galileans. He was buried in a tomb purchased by a friend.

What none of these modest facts about Jesus’ physical life tell us, is the significance of His birth and death, shown by His resurrection from the dead and His exaltation to God’s right hand.

Jesus was not just a man. He is God’s only begotten Son, sent from His Father to earth to redeem mankind. The scripture says, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son” (Galatians 4:4). Jesus was not only a man, He is our Lord and our Savior!

There are many misconceptions about the nature of Jesus Christ. These can be held by those who are antagonistic to the idea of God and His Son. They also are often held by those who would identify themselves as followers of Jesus.
We can know Jesus only by what is revealed in the Bible. We have Old Testament prophecies, the gospels, and what is revealed to us in the remainder of the New Testament. It gives us a complete picture of Him, one that often conflicts with the claims made by those ignorant of these words. Let’s examine some of the contrasting views of Jesus. What is legitimate, and what is not! As John wrote, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him” (John 1:10).

It is wrong to think Jesus will let everyone into heaven!

Jesus truly loves all mankind. It His desire that all men be saved, and He died to accomplish our redemption. But that gift Jesus has given has conditions! “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Continue reading “The World Does Not Know Jesus!” →

Using the book of Ecclesiastes as a starting point for the discussion, we distinguish between what the world considers as needs, and what are the true spiritual needs that are needed by all men.

Audio
PPTX (Right Click to SAVE)
YouTube Video of Sermon

<<———><><———>>

Question: What do we know about Melchizedek? Answer: Not much. The king of Salem is found only in Genesis 14.  We  know he was a king; He was a priest of God Most High (18); He blessed Abraham (19); Abraham paid a tithe to him (20).

Melchizedek’s Importance: 

• He was a type of Jesus Christ. We know nothing of his lineage, nor his birth or death. As such it is said of him by the Hebrew writer, “having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually” (3). Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, who ever lives as our High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

What we learn from Melchizedek:

• Christ’s priesthood is greater than that of the Levitical priesthood, “but he whose genealogy is not derived from them [the sons of Levi] received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better” (6-7).
• Jesus’ coming as a new high priest, proves that the Levitical priesthood was not perfect, otherwise there would be no need for Jesus to serve as High Priest (11).
• “The priesthood being changed, of necessity there is a change of law” (12). Jesus was from Judah so could not serve as a priest under the Old Covenant. The priestly tribe under the Old Covenant was Levi. Our hope is better as we draw near to God through our great High Priest, Jesus Christ!

A discussion of Jesus’ self-designation as the Bread of Life. It indicates eternal sustenance to those who come to Him. We discuss how to come to Jesus, and the reward we receive.

• Audio
• YouTube Video of Sermon

<<———><><———>>

In John 5, we read of the healing of a man who had been lame for a long time. It is an interesting narrative, and one of the first times in Jesus’ ministry that He came under fire by the Jews, who were angry at Jesus for healing this man on the Sabbath day.

Our interest comes from verses 2-4. “Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had” (John 5:2-4). Notice that the healing of an individual came if he was the first to step into the pool at the appointed time. Continue reading “Jesus and Healing” →

We are disciples of Jesus of Nazareth. We believe as did Peter and his fellow apostles that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). This faith in the Sonship and Deity of Jesus is an indispensable aspect of our discipleship. It also has great ramifications, specifically in the area of authority, and the legitimacy of receiving worship from man.

Jesus has been given “all authority…in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). This indicates the Father’s intention to establish in His son a new covenant and new kingdom. We are told in the last days that God has “spoken to us by His son, who He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:2). Jesus is uniquely God’s means of redeeming men to Himself. Continue reading “Praise the Lord” →

After Matthew records the departure of the young Jesus to Egypt (a fulfillment of Hosea 11:1), the massacre of the infants in Bethlehem, and finally the death of Herod; an angel appeared to Joseph to return with the child and His mother back to Israel.

However, Joseph was afraid to return to Judea because the son of Herod,  Archelaus was reigning the place of his father.  Apparently Joseph’s fear was legitimate as God warned him in a dream about the danger there, and Joseph instead turned to Galilee.

The city of Nazareth was where Joseph settled, and where Jesus was raised. In fact, he was often referred to and known as Jesus of Nazareth in the New Testament.  Nathanael, in John 1:46 asked about Jesus, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Indicating the city did not have a good reputation in Israel at the time.

This was also a fulfillment of a prophecy concerning the Christ. “He shall be called a Nazarene”, which was written hundreds of years previously, in Judges 13:5.

The text refers to John’s reaction seeing Jesus, “I fell to his feet as dead” (17). It must have been an awesome and overwhelming vision.

But, Jesus quickly assured Him, identifying Himself in this first vision, not as a foe, but as God the Son. The eternal being who had directed this, and subsequent visions, for John to record through the written word. The visions had reference to the past, present and future and were designed to give Christians faith and confidence despite their present trials.

Christ also began to explain what it was that John was seeing.  The seven stars were the seven angels (or messengers) for the seven churches of Asia, to which Christ wrote letters in the next two chapters.  The context makes it difficult to know whether these angels were divine or men associated with those churches.  The seven lampstands were the churches themselves, the number seven indicating a full representation of such congregations.

A discussion of Jesus’ miracle, turning water into wine in John 2:1-11. We discuss the miracle, the conversation between Jesus and His mother, and the purpose of the signs Jesus performed.

• Audio
• YouTube Video of Sermon

Sermon Powerpoint View and Download:

[doc id=14287]

<<———><><———>>

Luke 9 narrates an amazing event, the transfiguration of Jesus, and His conversation with Moses and Elijah. The event ends with the Father’s endorsement of His Son. “Hear Him.”

• Audio
• YouTube Video of Sermon

Sermon Powerpoint View and Download:

[doc id=14036]

<<———><><———>>

An exegesis of Ephesians 1:3-5, which the apostle Paul, in one long sentence teaches three important points about God’s plan for redeeming man.

• Audio
• YouTube Video of Sermon

Sermon Powerpoint View and Download:

[doc id=13855]

<<———><><———>>

Our text reflects Mary’s praise to God while she visited her relative Elizabeth in the preceding verses.

In the first three verses she gave thanks for God’s consideration for her. She was to give birth to the prophesied Messiah, the son of David, “Immanuel” (cf. Matthew 1:23), and she praised the Lord saying, “And holy is His name” (49).

Verses 50-55 are a statement of Christ’s purpose in being sent.  God’s plan for redeeming man from their sins.  God’s mercy is shown to those who fear Him.  He resists pride and willfulness, but shows His mercy to the lowly, exalting them; and the hungry, feeding them.  As Mary said, “He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever” (54-55).

Verse 56 says Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months before returning to her own home. John the Baptist and Jesus were about 6 months different in age (cf. 36, 41, 56-57).

Aaron, the older brother of Moses, was appointed to be the first High Priest of the nation of Israel. This was an office established by God under the Old Covenant, the Law that God gave to Moses to govern the Jews. Aaron was the first of many men who served in this capacity before Jesus. He was a descendent of Levi, hence the priesthood is known as the Levitical or Aaronic priesthood. Put simply, these were mere men, themselves guilty of sin, who yearly had to offer the blood of bulls and goats for atonement, first for themselves, and then for the people of Israel, (cf. Leviticus 16:1-5).

In the letter to the Hebrews, the Holy Spirit makes clear the differences between Jesus as High Priest, and those who went on before. Consider the following: Continue reading “Comparing High Priests” →