In today's passage we look at two tragic events.  Pilate brutally murdered a group of pilgrims on the temple mount. In another event, a tower accidentally fell and killed 18 people. Were these people especially "bad" that such things happened to them? Christ says no, and that a much worse fate awaits those who refuse to repent. He then tells a parable to show what true repentance looks like. 

Paul writes to Titus about the grace of God.  This grace has appeared to all men (in the person of Jesus Christ!). This grace brings salvation.  We are not saved by good works. But grace also teaches us that we must deny ungodliness and worldly passions.  As we live lives marked by godliness, we "adorn" the doctrine of God for others.  This Christian life should also be marked by expectancy of the Lord's imminent return. 

We conclude this discourse that took place after the healing at the pool of Bethesda. Here, Christ mentions several witnesses to authenticate His ministry. There is the witness of the Father, the witness of John the Baptist, the witness of His wonderful miracles/works, and finally the witness of the Old Testament scriptures! 

Christ assures all who hear and believe in Him that they have (present tense) eternal life and will not come under condemnation.  The Son has the ability to give life and raise the dead.  He gives life to the spiritually dead, and one day will raise every person who has ever lived from their grave. All will experience resurrection, but not all will have the same outcome.  Some will be raised to eternal life.  Some will be raised to condemnation in the Lake of Fire.  Anyone whose name isn't written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be cast into the Lake of Fire. 

After healing the man at the pool of Bethesda, Jesus Christ is persecuted by the Jewish leaders. They accuse Him of violating their sabbath laws. He does not debate with them.  Rather, He states that God is working on the Sabbath and as the Son of God, He's working too! This was an explicit claim to deity. This was not an attack on the Jewish view of monotheism (one God). It was an explanation of the Son and the Father's equality in the Godhead.  All judgment has been committed to the Son.  Anyone who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father. 

Pastor Donnie Helms from the North Wadesboro Baptist Church preached our first night of revival. He preached from I Peter chapter one. 

Homecoming service 2026, former pastor Jim Phillips brought us a message about the 10 Virgins from Matthew 25. 

During one of the Jewish festivals, the Lord Jesus meets a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years. Gathered with other invalids at the Pool of Bethesda, he hoped to be healed.  When Jesus found him and realized he had been a long time in that condition, He asked him a question that carried many implications.  Did the man really want to be made whole? The story has an interesting turn of events.  We aren't told whether the man ever followed Jesus or not. 

After the festivities of the feast of Tabernacles, the Lord Jesus explained that He was the Light of the world. One of the seven great "I AM" statements in the gospel of John.  Those who follow Him will not walk in darkness. 

We come to the conclusion of Stephen's long speech in Acts. Instead of cries of repentance, the crowd cries for Stephen to be stoned.  The angry mob is contrasted with Stephen, who is a picture of serenity.  He is filled with the Holy Spirit.  He sees a vision of the glorified Christ at the right hand of God.  In death, he calls upon Jesus to receive his spirit and prays for the forgiveness of his murderers.  There are many parallels between Stephen and Jesus Christ.