JOHN: THE GOSPEL OF BELIEF - Our Lord's last twenty-four hours continue to fill the Apostle John's mind as he writes what we know as the last nine chapters of his historic account. And, in today’s text, Judas and Peter take a big part of the stage. We get to watch Jesus encounter a traitor and a terribly confused believer. And there are rich lessons from both as we gather around the cross of the Messiah.

DANIEL - Daniel has an almost unblemished record of service to the Lord - in some ways, even cleaner and stronger than David's. In this series of messages, we're going to try to answer the question: What made Daniel like that? What goes into the shaping of a person's character before God?

JOHN: THE GOSPEL OF BELIEF - Good spiritual changes will never come to those who automatically think of regular, sacrificial service to the body of Christ as more work. Doing what Jesus does only looks like work from the outside. Once the whole life is re-organized around seeking His kingdom first, things that used to excite us feel empty and the things that we avoided because we felt unqualified or too busy start to nourish our souls.

THE BIBLE AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION - I don't believe it is God's plan to take all homosexual people and make them heterosexual as part of their conversion experience. I want to explore with you why I think the process of sanctification as it's described in the Scriptures probably won't involve the removal of same-sex desires in the process of personal sanctification. I want us to see how God's plan is bigger than that.

JOHN: THE GOSPEL OF BELIEF - Jesus tells us His words are God’s words. That means His words are life-giving in a way Oprah’s or Mohamad’s or the Pope’s never can be. Don’t hear Jesus’ words as more moral advice for your crowded life. Hear Jesus as a way out of darkness. That’s why He came and that’s why He speaks.

THE BIBLE AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION - There is not a single Biblical text where same-sex intercourse is endorsed or mentioned in any favorable light. Two Sunday nights ago we continued our study of the Biblical texts condemning same-sex intercourse with a look at the well-known account of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

JOHN: THE GOSPEL OF BELIEF - Sometimes the sovereignty of God is a doctrine used to cancel out human responsibility. It’s almost as though we think God is pleased when His precious sovereignty over His creation is used to promote a kind of “Que sera, sera - Whatever will be, will be” attitude. That’s the issues starring us in the face in today’s text.

JOHN: THE GOSPEL OF BELIEF - Never let anything keep you from the cross of Christ. To try to save your life in any other way will end in disaster. In the words of Rudolf Bultmann in his extremely liberal commentary on John, “Life is of so peculiar a character, it so completely eludes any desire to have it at our own disposal....it is lost precisely when we desire to hold it fast, and it is won exactly when we give it up.”

THE BIBLE AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION - In this teaching we continue with our examination of the Biblical texts dealing with same-sex intercourse. And I hope you can see the significance of the last part of the title of this teaching. As in our last study, the important phrase is, “What Do the Texts Say and What Do they Mean?

JOHN: THE GOSPEL OF BELIEF - When our understanding lacks, Jesus wants us to know He is in control. Jesus makes things work out in the End in spite of the circumstances. The world will see God’s mighty salvation in spite of the ignorance of the excited branch wavers and the wickedness of the mob plotting His death. Just when you can’t imagine it looking any more hopeless, just like Jesus dying on a cross, God’s plan will redeem mankind. You can trust God even when you can’t see the light of day. And that’s a great truth to take home from church.