When it comes to a race, it is not about how you start, but about how you finish. When it comes to the Christian life, often likened to a race, the same reality pervades.

Sometimes we treat what we see as the only things that are, but we do better to focus on the substance found in the invisible Christ.

Our source of joy and our focus should not be on what we are doing for Christ, but what Christ has done for us.

In the midst of the great darkness there came a great light.

Why is the coming of the Lion King of Judah such a great hope in the midst of darkness?

The world may have reason to scoff at the idea of a gentle giant, but the Lord regularly presents himself as both mighty and gentle, both far off and near, both transcendent and immanent. This passage is no exception.

With all the righteous blood shed on the earth crying out for vengeance, how can anyone escape being sentenced to hell? Thank the Lord that there is one righteous Man's blood that speaks a better word.

Being precedes doing. True righteousness and cleanness comes from the inside out. "We are really what we are inwardly."

The Pharisees are poor leaders because they are blind to what really matters. They may have good religious scruples, but they have missed God's call for character and communion from the heart.

The Pharisees go above and beyond in seeking to reach those outside the fold, but all that proselytization does more harm than good.

Jesus is everything, we are all equally nothing (of ourselves) under him, so we can and should make him our everything.

If you are interested in the musical works introduced in this sermon, you can find them at these links:

"I Haven't Either" ~ Andy Gullahorn

"Hand Me Down Clothes - Intro" ~Rich Mullins