“… The truth will set you free” is a widely used phrase in society to establish the importance of truth. Caltech and Johns Hopkins University use it for their mottos and Johnny Depp quoted this after he was victorious in the trial with Amber Heard. It gets used so freely many people don’t know it’s a quotation of Jesus in the Bible, and if they knew it’s in the Bible, I would guess they don’t know the context of the statement. That famous quotation is in this Sunday’s text where Jesus is emphasizing the path to real truth . . . truth that is liberating.

While Johnny Depp and the above mentioned Universities use that statement to defend truth, and with it preserve freedom, that is not how it was originally used by Jesus. Because Jesus is the truth itself, there is no need to defend it. However, because we live in a world that is ravished by sin and ruled by the father of lies, the devil himself, truth needs to be discovered. And in that discovery comes true and lasting freedom. Considering the current assault on truth in our media driven world, this is a fascinating look at the timelessness and unchanging nature of truth. Join me this Sunday as we look at truth in an age of deception: You can know the truth and that truth will give you ultimate freedom.

I know I’m dating myself when I ask this question – do you remember the TV game show “To Tell the Truth”? A group of 3 people would all pretend to be the same person, of which one was actually that person. A celebrity panel would ask questions to determine who was the real person, making a guess at the conclusion of the show. The big reveal came after the host would say “Would the real ____ please stand up!” In these middle chapters of John there is a little bit of “To Tell the Truth” going on here. 

We know that during the time of Jesus there were other men making claims to be the promised messiah and many of the religious leaders were trying to determine who was the real messiah: will the real messiah please stand up!  In our text this Sunday we see a group of Pharisees peppering Jesus with questions and getting answers they were not happy with. In verse 25 they come to a point of exasperation and blurt out “Who are you?” And that is a very good question. A question that is still asked today regarding Jesus. In John 8 Jesus provides the verification of who he is – the promised messiah, and those points of verification still provide the proof that Jesus is the messiah. The passage concludes in vs 30 by recording that many people put their faith in Jesus as a result. The verification of Jesus as messiah still has that effect on people today as Jesus calls us to put our faith in Him to meet every need for time and eternity.

John 8 opens with the fairly well known account of the woman caught in adultery and then is presented in front of Jesus for his judgment on her sin. As you read this passage in your Bibles you may see there is a controversy over this passage’s credibility and place in John’s Gospel. While the exact location for this passage in the New Testament is a legitimate question, I am preaching on it because I believe it an event that did actually happen and God intended for this to be in the Canon of Scripture. 

In Sunday’s text, some poorly motivated men are seeking to exploit the indiscretions of this woman to trick Jesus to enhance their standing in the religious community. These men were bad judges but ended up bringing her to the good judge, the merciful judge, Jesus. Before we get too high and mighty,   finding fault with the woman for her adultery or with these men for being self-serving and inconsistent in their treatment of this woman, we need to understand this account is to reveal the deceitful nature of sin in our own lives. In a very quiet, yet deliberate way Jesus’ Words first expose sin in all the characters of this story and then the Words of Jesus, with love and kindness, extend an invitation to completely avoid the judgment of God by repenting of one’s sins. Join us this Sunday as we see the bad judge we all can be, and the good judge Jesus is. 

When Sue and I were newly married the only kind of vacation we could afford was going to a campground and staying in a tent. We actually still like to do this. For those who have had this experience, you know that the thin layer of canvas or nylon doesn’t provide a lot of privacy from the other families camping near you: You can hear what they are saying, see what they are doing,  and smell what they are cooking. In no time at all, whether you intended to or not,  you get to know the other people in the campground really well, and they get to know you. Most times camping has been a very positive experience for us and we have gotten to know some amazing people as a result. 

In John 7 Jesus and His disciples make the journey up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles.  Tabernacles was a harvest festival in the fall where people recognized God’s presence, as in the tabernacle tent, and God’s faithful provision in the harvest just gathered. In coming to Jerusalem they would build small, temporary tent like shelters to commemorate how the Israelites lived during the days of their wilderness wanderings. It was a campground atmosphere. It is in this setting that Jesus makes some of His most profound statements regarding what He came to do. In chapter 7 Jesus invites us to quench our thirst by drinking (believing in Him), resulting in a never ending flow of spiritual water from our inner lives. 

The work of Jesus in salvation does not simply add to whatever good we may think we already possess. The Gospel is a radical, supernatural transformation of the person that Jesus depicts as going from being a thirsty person to being a life that has a continuous stream of living water flowing from it. If you are coming to Jesus for a cup, or bucket of water at a time you will never be satisfied. Jesus offers to satisfy our thirst so much that we have an overflow of water continuously flowing from our soul. Join us this Sunday and hear the teaching of Jesus on how to satisfy your thirst and let the water flow from you.

The Meaning of Baptism

While baptism is a deeply personal thing for the people getting baptized, for the Church it is one the most significant things we as a church do. In the great commission Jesus instructed the church to “. . .make disciples, baptizing them . . .” Because baptism is linked with discipleship, I want to take this opportunity to look into the scriptures for the meaning of baptism. The only requirement we make for baptism is a personal confession of faith in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and the redemption of our souls for eternity. My message on Sunday I will explain what it means to confess Christ as savior, concluding with an invitation to publicly profess that faith in believer’s baptism. After the service I am already planning to baptize 5 people in the Ocean, and that number can increase. If you are willing to publicly confess to Christ and request baptism, we will be happy to baptize you.

Who is Jabez? If you read the book by Bruce Wilkinson called the Prayer of Jabez you know who he is, but apart from that book not many people know who he is. Jabez has all of 2 verses in the Bible devoted to him, tucked away in the middle of 1 Chronicles. Let’s be honest, how often do we read from the book of 1 Chronicles? Not very often if at all. Jabez is an interesting person in the Bible because in spite of the small place he holds in Scripture, he hits the nail on the head when it comes to asking God for something.  Jabez asks God to bless him! Who of us does not want God’s blessing in our lives? I want the blessing of God for me personally as well as for the ministry of this Church.  Join me this Sunday at our Campus Church service where we will peel the layers back on what it means for God to bless us, and bless our church.

This Tuesday we celebrate our nation’s independence and on Sunday I want to draw our attention to the strong influence our Christian faith has had not only on the forming of our country but also the blessing our nation has experienced since its founding. Sue and I have had the privilege to travel to a number of other countries around the world and there is no question that The United States of America is the greatest nation in the world. In the United States every person has the potential and opportunity to reach thier greated outcome. A fair question to ask is, what is it that has made our country what it is today? 

Before he became president, Dwight Eisenhower was the Supreme Commander of Allied forces during WWII. Following the war he was very concerned about the advancement of opposing worldviews such as communism that would undermine what he saw as the strength of the United States as executed in defeating the fascism. He firmly believed the strength of this nation was rooted in a common faith in the God of the Bible and that when God was honored, His blessing would result. It was President Eisenhower that added the words “under God” to the pledge of allegiance for our country. Psalm 33 is likely the most influential passage in scripture that led him to add those words to our pledge and that will be the text for my message on Sunday. 

Every generation of Americans needs to come to terms with what are the foundations of our nation. What do we believe will bring about the blessing we all desire for our nation? Join me this Sunday as we consider what it means to be “One Nation Under God” and genuinely seek His blessing on our nation.

What an unappealing sermon title! Who in their right mind would want to go listen to a preacher that just goes on and on, not knowing when to conclude. Maybe you have been in a service like that – where you thought the sermon was never going to end. Maybe you have thought that about me sometimes.

The title of my message this week isn’t referencing the actual message this Sunday. I promise you – it will not go on forever. Instead, the title is referencing a message we are all to proclaim without end. That message is found in our observance of the Lord’s Table / Communion. This Sunday we will not only participate in the communion service but I will teach on it from 1 Corinthians 11. In that passage the Apostle Paul instructs us to continue to proclaim the truths found in communion until the return of the Lord. And that is the Sermon that Never Ends. 

Communion is an important aspect of our spiritual life because it takes us back to the beginning point of our relationship with God; That we are all condemned in our sin, but in Christ we are saved through His blood and death on the cross. Communion, in the simplicity of the bread and the wine, takes us back to the foot of the cross, reminding us we are only saved by Christ’s vicarious sacrifice for us. Romans 8:32 reminds us that if God was willing to give up His own Son for us, what else would he withhold from us? Nothing. Communion provides a reset for us and challenges us to live not in our own strength, but in the strength of all that Christ provides for us. When we do that, we become the living sermon of the Gospel that never ends. Join us this Sunday as we share the elements of communion and discover how we can be a gospel message to all that we encounter. 

Throughout the course of human history, neighborhoods have constantly changed from a family-based entity, to a grouping of families, to the spacious agrarian environment, to muti-ethnic, urban communities. And with the changes to neighborhoods comes questions of what it means to be a neighbor. This Sunday we are considering the very famous “Good Samaritan” parable in Luke 10 where Jesus is asked two questions: 1) what must I do to inherit eternal life? 2) And who is my neighbor? This passage makes it clear that neighboring and eternal life are related to each other. The way we view and treat our neighbors is a reflection of how genuine our faith in God is.

One of the effects of our fallen, sinful nature is we live with great limitations. There are only 24 hours in a day. We can only spend money according to our income. And our emotional bandwidth can only manage people who share our beliefs and convictions about the world around us. Those limitations lead us to ask the question “who is my neighbor?” Because of my limitations I need to limit the number and kind of people I’m obligated to be a neighbor to. When Jesus tells the Parable of The Good Samaritan He doesn’t answer this question because it is the wrong question. Jesus concludes the parable by asking the correct question about neighboring: Which of the three do you think was a neighbor . . .? And that is the correct question we must ask ourselves as we think about how genuine our faith in God truly is. Join us this Sunday as we look at this parable and the age old question of neighboring.

This is Memorial Day Weekend and our nation will pause to recognize those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for the continuing freedom of our nation. Our freedom is not attributed to politicians or business icons, but our freedom is attributed to the American Soldier. Some would question the validity of a church patriotically recognizing such national holidays, but in reality it is one of the most Christian things we can do. The sacrifice our fighting men and women have made for the freedom we enjoy today is rooted in something much deeper than nationalism. It is rooted in the belief that man is created in the image of God as free beings. The freedom of man reflects the righteousness of God and when we fight to defend freedom, it is a defense of God’s righteousness. The sacrifice of our wartime dead reflects, knowingly or not, an acknowledgement  as a nation in the righteousness of God.

In Matthew 26 we read the account of a woman (believed to be Lazarus’s sister, Mary) anointing the feet of Jesus with an expensive perfume. The sacrifice she made was estimated to be the equivalent of a year’s wages. Imagine that in today’s economy, yet she willingly poured it out for Jesus. Why would she do that? The sacrifice, although it was of great value, pointed to something of greater value, and thus increased in its own worth. Her sacrifice is still discussed today, making it the most famous perfume in the history of man. Her sacrifice pointed to the righteousness of God. As significant as our fallen soldier’s sacrifice is, its value increases infinitely when we understand it as a sacrifice for God’s righteousness and the continued freedom of mankind. For that reason, Memorial Day is a very Christian holiday and we will recognize it this Sunday!

This Memorial Day, will you  pause to reflect on the sacrifice of life for our freedom, but also look with thanksgiving for the deeper significance in that sacrifice – the righteousness of God? Join us this Sunday as we consider the Value of Sacrifice. 

Our final Healthy Habit is an aspect of the spiritual life that you may not hear a lot about but is a habit we all need to develop; Lamenting. The society we live in is very good at gathering information and expressing opinions, but we are not so good at dealing with strong emotions. We have all seen it, or worse, we have done it: bottled emotions up inside us until they erupt from the core of our being in a very disruptive and embarrassing manner. Learning to deal with emotions is a habit we all need to develop. Mainstream society does not provide an environment needed to properly deal with our emotions: you will be criticized, condemned or viewed as flawed. Part of the good news of the Gospel is God provides a safe and effective way for us to deal with our emotions. In the Old Testament, particularly in the book of Psalms we find the genre of The Lament. The Lament is a way to appropriately express our emotions in a way that honors God and helps us grow spiritually. Laments are a lot like Blues music. Blues songs start off by voicing a problem, followed by how that makes them feel (blue), concluding some resolution to the problem so they can move on with life. The Blues provide an outlet for the person feeling emotional pain. Laments in the Old Testament follow a similar structure with a major difference. While Laments express their emotion directly to God, they also take comfort in the faithfulness of God and discover the peace they need because of God’s unchanging character. What are the emotions you are struggling with right now? How are you dealing with them? You don’t need to feel defeated by them because in His infinite love for us, God always has time to listen to our hurts, providing the assurance we need to grow, even through the most difficult emotional distress. Join us this Sunday as we conclude our Healthy Habits Series with learning to lament.

Resources:

Right Now Media Course – A Mentally Healthy Faith

The Boundary Series of Books

Book – Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

A Healing Body – Right Now Media

Article – The Art of Lament

Article – The Gift of Lament

Book – Telling Yourself the Truth