In this passage, we are going to look at the early believers in real time as they encounter the risen Jesus. The message for the church today is that there is a special blessing for those who have not seen and yet believe.

This chapter is centered on a key word: “believe” which means more than simply believing that someone exists: It means “to trust”. It is a word that defines your heart’s devotion, what you give your life to, what you rely upon in an ultimate sense.

Jesus is our representative and substitute, paying the price for our sin, saving us from the wrath of God, and single-handedly defeating sin, evil, and death. He declared “It is finished!”

Jesus is literally engaging with the powers of a worldly kingdom, revealing the truth about the supremacy of his own Kingdom and his sovereign reign over all as the Son of God, yet still being rejected as he takes one more step toward the cross.

This is the account of Jesus’ arrest and Peter’s denial. This passage develops a contrast between Jesus and Peter as a way of highlighting the unique redemptive work that Jesus is about to do.

Jesus prays that his followers would be unified in the message of the gospel, finding our oneness in him, and showing the world the glory of Christ and the love of God by our love for one another and our steadfastness in proclaiming Christ.

What if we stood as a contrast to the world of instant gratification and instant results and instead embodied a long obedience in the same direction, a persistent and faithful walk with the Lord, knowing that God is not in a hurry to bear fruit in us, but that he will prune and cultivate our hearts and our lives for his glory.

We are going to talk about the glory of Jesus Christ. In a manger in a stable in a little town called Bethlehem, we witness the arrival of the Son of God, the sudden appearance of the Word made flesh, the glorious dawning of the fullness of deity in bodily form. God has entered the room and has spoken.

Jesus presents a picture of what life will be like after he is resurrected and ascended to Heaven. He says, “Troubles won’t go away in this world, in fact things might get more difficult if you say you follow me. But I need you to remember this, despite present circumstances: I have overcome.”

One of the most important things you can know about being a follower of Jesus is this: You are not alone. You are not alone because when you trust in Jesus Christ by faith, you have the personal presence of God indwelling in you: The Holy Spirit.

What are your expectations as a Christian? What is this life of faith all about? What should we expect when we walk in obedience to Jesus in this world that is so often set against God? This is the very question Jesus asks his disciples in the Upper Room on the evening before he goes to die on the cross.

We are called to live in prophetic contrast to the world by embodying the values of God’s Kingdom. In this text, Jesus uses two metaphors that explain the nature of our witness in the world, about how we are sent as ambassadors of His Kingdom: salt and light.

How do we view our lives, our resources, our relationships, our skills, our time, and the opportunities in front of us? How can we put these into the proper gospel-centered, kingdom-minded perspective? We need a biblical vision for being a Transforming Church where we are stewards of the gospel.

We are a Welcoming Church because we have received the gospel. We are all sinners saved by grace. Our hands our open to receive this gift in full surrender, boasting in Christ, not in our merit. And because we have freely been welcomed into God’s family through Christ, we freely welcome one another with those same open hands, opening our lives to each other as a community of sinner-saints, on level ground at the foot of the cross!

John 14 reveals to us the distinct trinitarian shape of the gospel, it unfolds the truth that God is three-in-one, and it invites us to find our hope and joy in the Triune God. In other words, the Trinity is good news.

I want to show you through a series of statements that Jesus makes the uniqueness and exclusivity of Jesus. I’m using these two words deliberately because they are tied together: because of who Jesus uniquely is, he is therefore the exclusive way to salvation.

Jesus illustrates the unfathomable depth of his love for his people by displaying his very heart of humility as he goes to the cross. He shows us the significance of his unique atoning sacrifice, but also invites us to follow his example of radically humble servant love for others.

The topic of civic engagement is important to understand biblically because if we’re not careful, our perspective on nations and politics can be easily defined by worldly priorities and ways of thinking. We need a distinctly Kingdom-minded and gospel-centered approach.

We need to see with greater clarity the glorious reality that we are created in the image of God with bodies that are designed to glorify him.

We are going to look at what the Bible says about marriage and family. These realities are designed by God, given to us for our good, and are living illustrations of the gospel.