When I was a boy growing up it was considered to almost be an anathema to question anything with regard to the Bible, the Church and God. The thought was, “How dare anyone question . . .?”. Doubting God or the Bible was considered to be a lack of genuine faith. I hope we have all moved beyond those narrow minded positions and can understand the role a questioning mind needs to play in our spiritual development.
Do you struggle with doubt at times? You actually are in good company. As the account of Christ’s resurrection continues to unfold in John’s Gospel, we see 10 of the disciples gathered in a locked room the night of that first Easter in fear for their lives. They questioned and doubted the validity of claims people made of seeing a risen Christ. Christ appeared to them and they believed. A week later, Thomas, who was the only one of the disciples absent the previous week, joined them. Thomas has a reputation of being a lead doubter (doubting Thomas!) doubted the reports from his closest friends of the resurrection, yet passionately believed when Christ appeared to him.
While Jesus does gently chastise all the disciples for a lack of faith to accept the accounts of the resurrection, I think Jesus understands humans will doubt. What we know happened for all those who doubted is Jesus led them to grow through that doubt to a fuller life in Him. Jesus understands our weaknesses and offers to help us grow through them. This Sunday we will see how Jesus led them, and can lead us, From Doubt to Life! Join me for this encouraging message for anyone that has ever dealt with religious doubt.

Sunday is Coming! This Sunday we join millions of Christians around the globe to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is no question that the resurrection of Christ is the pivotal event of all human history and I invite you to fully embrace Easter this weekend.

This Sunday we will see from John’s account of the resurrection the personal effect of the resurrection on the people John records for us. The resurrection is not just a historical event, or an annual celebration of the church. The resurrection needs to be personally applied individually to each of us. John’s Gospel begins by echoing the words of Genesis 1, “In the beginning . . .” to set the tone for the rest of the Gospel, that Jesus came to redeem his creation. Easter is the Re-Creation of humankind through the redemptive work of Jesus, and God wants to do that recreation in each of us. Join me this Sunday for The Re-Creation Story.

Join us for the sunrise service at the KB Pavilion – 6:15 am. I’ll be speaking from 1 Corinthians 15 on the witness of the resurrection.

This week we are wrapping up the sermon series, “Passion – It Wasn’t the Nails.” We conclude John 19 with the account of Jesus’ death and burial. If during Holy Week you only come to the two Sundays of that week, Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, the miraculous events of Easter are felt and experienced to a lesser degree. If you miss Good Friday, you are not impacted with the fact that Jesus actually died. We often pick the parts of Jesus we like: Baby Jesus, Miracle worker Jesus, Insightful teacher Jesus, peace loving Jesus . . . you fill in the blank. The part of Jesus we might feel uncomfortable with is the death of Jesus. If we don’t see, feel and embrace the fact that Jesus truly died for us, our Gospel is just a self-help philosophy. God does not want to help you be a better person! God wants to transform you, which can only happen through a miraculous life that died and came back to life again for you.
This Sunday we will consider the passion of Christ to the point of death. I believe John is very intentional to show beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus died, and in His death paid the full price for our redemption. Bookends on a bookshelf groups books of a similar topic, theme or genre together. You often hear me talk about “bookends” that are in the biblical writing: something is mentioned, some content follows, then the first thing is mentioned again, thus creating bookends that reveal a common theme for all that is between the bookends. The man, Nicodemus, is only mentioned twice in the entire New Testament; John 3 and 19. I believe the person of Nicodemus creates bookends that reveal the main theme of the Gospel of John; that Jesus died to save us from our sins. In order to believe Jesus can save us from our sins, we must know and believe that he died as our substitute on the cross.
My prayer is that God will use this series to help prepare you for a meaningful Easter Week and resurrection Celebration on Easter Sunday. Join me this Sunday for a deeper look into the death of Jesus who through His death paid our debt and purchased our redemption.