Sermon Central
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That You Might Believe
Contributed by Jim Drake on Nov 25, 2008 (message contributor)
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1. Signs Of Life
Contributed on Nov 25, 2008
Who is Jesus to you? Is He your friend? Is He your healer? Is He the One who does great things for you? I hope He is. But He is also so much more. As we start our journey through the book of John my prayer is you will see Jesus for who He is and that you
This morning, I have to admit that I am very intimidated. As most of you know, I am deeply committed to what can be called systematic consecutive expository preaching. Preaching is expository when it actually preaches the text instead of jumping from it. It exposes the true and accurate meaning ...read more
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2. Seeing God
Contributed on Nov 25, 2008
Have you ever wished that God would show Himself to you? Did you know that He already has? We’ll see that in our passage today as we look at the prologue to John’s gospel.
Do you ever wonder what it must be like to see God? I’ve heard it said that for us to try to see God in His fullness and completely describe Him would be like a germ trying to describe the universe. In and of Himself, God is completely incomprehensible to man. In His eternal three-in-one ...read more
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3. Wilderness Witness
Contributed on Nov 25, 2008
Today, we’re looking at the ministry of John the Baptist. You may think of his ministry as being a long time ago and happening in a place far away… but the fact is, Jesus has called you to the same kind of ministry today.
Just a few days after Christmas 2002, a man walked into a Baptist mission hospital in the Middle Eastern country of Yemen. He calmly sat in the waiting room with his pink slip that told security he was a returning patient. He sat patiently and quietly waited there with the other patients. Then ...read more
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4. Come And See
Contributed on Nov 25, 2008
What are you looking for? Are you looking for someone to give you all the answers? Are you looking for someone to liberate you from bondage? Are you looking for someone to reveal the mysteries of life for you? Jesus wants to show you so much more.
What are you looking for this morning? What is the reason you got up and came to church this morning? Did you expect anything when you walked in this door this morning? Expectations are amazing things, aren’t they? It seems like many times, our expectations lead to disappointments. They hype ...read more
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5. Glory Shows
Contributed on Nov 25, 2008
Jesus changes the water into wine. Will you allow Him to change you?
Everybody loves weddings, don’t they? Weddings in Jesus’ day were a whole lot different than they are today. Many times today, marriage is looked at as optional or temporary or even a big joke. People meet over a weekend in the Smokies or Vegas and get married in a chapel the same weekend. At ...read more
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6. Cleansing
Contributed on Nov 25, 2008
Discipline isn’t fun. It isn’t fun to receive it and it isn’t fun to give it out. But the fact is that discipline is necessary. Are you in need of a cleansing today? How will you react when it comes?
“This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.” How many of you have ever used that line on your kids? I remember when I got that line used on me. I didn’t believe it for one minute. As a matter of fact, I didn’t believe it until I had my own kids and used that line on them. Don’t you hate ...read more
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7. Belief That Isn't
Contributed on Nov 25, 2008
Many people believe Jesus for the things that He does. That’s not the kind of belief that Jesus is looking for.
Several years ago a famous liberal named Norman Cousins wrote an editorial for a magazine called the Saturday Review. Understand that he was no friend to Christianity when he wrote this. But what he wrote was true and should convict us all. He wrote about a conversation he had on a trip to India ...read more
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8. The New Birth
Contributed on Nov 25, 2008
Jesus tells Nicodemus of the new birth.
If you’ve ever taught a class, there is one kind of student that can absolutely drive you crazy. And it seems like there’s one in every crowd. That’s the person who has an answer for everything. I got a kick out of a couple of the kids during the youth rally who were like that. In the very ...read more
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9. Belief That Is
Contributed on Nov 25, 2008
How can these things be? That was the question Nicodemus asked Jesus in our passage today. Do you ever find yourself asking that question?
A few weeks ago, when we looked at 2:23-25, I titled the sermon, “Belief That Isn’t.” This morning, I’m using the title, “Belief That Is.” Before John introduced us to the person of Nicodemus in chapter 3, he took just a few verses to describe the vast majority of people who were around Jesus at ...read more
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10. God So Loved
Contributed on Nov 25, 2008
God’s love has two sides—salvation / judgment… life / death… redemption / righteousness. He loves with a purpose—salvation. He loves with a consequence—judgment.
What was the first memory verse you ever learned? For most of us, it was John 3:16. I have a set of 6 books at the house that I bought a few years ago. They are by a man named Carl F.H. Henry. When Carl Henry died in 2003, the New York times called him the brain of the evangelical movement. ...read more
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11. Addition By Subtraction
Contributed on Nov 25, 2008
Are you a true witness for Jesus? How can you tell? What does it take to be the kind of witness God has called you to be? We’ll answer those questions as we look today at the example of John the Baptist.
The John that is in our passage this morning is not the same John that wrote this Gospel. The John that wrote this Gospel is the brother of James. Jesus called him a son of thunder. He was the one whom Jesus loved. But that’s not the John in our passage. The John in our passage is the one we ...read more
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12. Personal Gospel
Contributed on Nov 25, 2008
Many people today claim to be Christians yet have no idea what that really means. All too often we have stripped Christianity of all its content and meaning in an attempt to win converts. But Christianity does have content. Its content is the Gospel and t
I read the transcript of an interesting interview this week. The religion reporter from a newspaper was asking a person in her town about his faith. But what was interesting was that she didn’t just ask a couple of basic questions. She started off by asking him point blank what he believed. And ...read more
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13. Well Witnessing, Part 1: The Pattern Of People
Contributed on Jan 3, 2009
People are different in so many ways, but in many ways, they are also the same. But no matter how similar or different people are, they all share the same core problem with the need for the same solution.
http://brushforkbanner.blogspot.com The fourth chapter of John is a very familiar event to us. Most of us are very familiar with the woman at the well. So we should just be able to fly right past it, right? Wrong—because, like every other event in this book, this one is rich. It is full of ...read more
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14. Well Witnessing, Part 2: The Pattern Of Evangelism
Contributed on Jan 9, 2009
As Christians, we have wonderful news. Are we telling anybody? In this passage, as Jesus talks with the Woman at the Well, He gives us the pattern of evangelism.
http://brushforkbanner.blogspot.com Every morning, giant double-decker busses drive through the streets of London. But they don’t just stay in London. They move back and forth across the entire country of England. Since the busses are constantly on the move, they are constantly being seen by ...read more
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15. Well Witnessing, Part 3: The Pattern Of Response
Contributed on Jan 26, 2009
When going into a new situation, it’s always good to be prepared for what’s going to happen ahead of time. In this passage, we see how people typically respond to the gospel in one-on-one evangelism.
Pastor Jim’s blog: http://brushforkbanner.blogspot.com As you know, we’ve been in this passage for three weeks now. There’s a reason for that. The reason is that I think this is one of the best passages on personal evangelism in the whole Bible. The Bible is filled with personal evangelism ...read more
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16. The Pattern Of Worship, Part 1: Spiritual Worship
Contributed on Feb 8, 2009
Jesus told the woman at the well that God is seeking people who will worship Him in spirit and truth. In this message, we will examine the first part of that statement. What is spiritual worship?
http://brushforkbanner.blogspot.com/ We’ve just finished three Sundays looking at the pattern of evangelism in this passage of the woman at the well. Starting this morning, we’re going to zoom in on this one part of Jesus’ conversation with her. You remember that Jesus had just presented this ...read more
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17. The Pattern Of Worship, Part 2: Truthful Worship
Contributed on Feb 14, 2009
True worshippers worship God in spirit and in truth. Last time we focused on what it means to worship God in spirit. Today we’re going to look at what it means to worship God in truth. Even though we’re looking at them separately, it’s not just about one
http://brushforkbanner.blogspot.com/ Once again, this morning we’re focusing on these few verses in the account of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well. You remember that as Jesus was presenting the Gospel to the woman, He showed her her sin. And as He showed her her sin, she was ...read more
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18. The Pattern Of Worship, Part 3: Real Worship
Contributed on Feb 21, 2009
God is not to be worshipped by turning the church into a carnival. Neither is He to be worshipped by allowing the church to become a crematorium. The only way to avoid that is to worship the way that Jesus tells us to in this passage. He tells us how to w
http://brushforkbanner.blogspot.com/ What comes to your mind when you think about heaven? Do you think about clouds and angels and harps? Do you think about a place of perfect peace and contentment? Maybe when you think about heaven, you think about a lost loved one. Maybe you think about a ...read more
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19. White Unto Harvest
Contributed on Mar 10, 2009
Do you have an eternal perspective like Jesus does? Or are you focused solely on temporal needs like health, prosperity, healing, personal comfort and relationships? That’s where the disciples’ perspective was in our passage. That
http://brushforkbanner.blogspot.com/ When you deal with people, it doesn’t take very long to realize something. People are different. And because people are different, they can see the same thing in different ways. Police know this. As a matter of fact, they expect it. One of the ways that ...read more
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20. Tested Testimony
Contributed on Mar 16, 2009
If you were to trace each of the great historical revivals back to its very beginning, do you know what you’d find? You’d find a single person. Before anything can even be recognized as being revival one person has to start the fire.
http://brushforkbanner.blogspot.com/ This is our last Sunday with the woman at the well passage. We still have a couple more weeks in John 4, but after this morning, we’ll be leaving Sychar. But when Jesus left Sychar, it was a much different place that when He arrived there with His ...read more
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21. Word Or Wonders?
Contributed on Mar 21, 2009
Why are you believing Jesus? Are you believing Him only for the miraculous things He is able to do for you? That’s why the Galileans welcomed Him and He marveled at their unbelief.
This morning we have reached a transition text. These three verses mark a transition from the wonderful revival that just happened in Samaria… to the time when Jesus went back home to Galilee. In one way, you can think of what has happened in chapter four up to this point as a stopover. Remember ...read more
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22. Behold The Lamb Of God
Contributed on Apr 7, 2009
Why is the Apostle John the only Gospel writer to record the words of John the Baptist referring to Jesus as the Lamb of God? We will discover the answer to that question in this topical message titled Behold the Lamb of God.
http://brushforkbanner.blogspot.com/ The words that John the Baptist chose to describe Jesus are very interesting. As a matter of fact, Jesus is only specifically called the Lamb of God twice in the whole Bible—once here and once a few verses later in verse 36. There is no doubt that John the ...read more
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23. Believing Is Seeing
Contributed on Apr 27, 2009
There is no more helpless feeling in the world than being a parent with a dying child. That was the experience of the man in today’s passage. Out of his desperation, he came to Jesus. But because of the grace of Christ, that’s not how he left.
http://brushforkbanner.blogspot.com/ Many of you remember what was going on last year in Lakeland, FL. Around this time last year, Todd Bentley began making national headlines for the Lakeland Revival. Reports of 10,000 people per night came to see him and participate in these events. What ...read more
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24. Poolside Views
Contributed on Apr 27, 2009
Does God still perform miracles? Of course He does. But what why does He? Is it to cause people to believe in Him? The sad fact is that most people who witness the miracles of God still refuse to believe—just like the people in today’s passage.
http://brushforkbanner.blogspot.com/ This morning, we come to a new section in the Gospel of John. We have noticed before that John didn’t set out to record every single miracle of Jesus. As a matter of fact, in the last verse of the book, he wrote, “And there are also many other things which ...read more
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25. The Bonds Of Legalism
Contributed on May 4, 2009
Instead of doing a full exposition of the passage, we’re going to focus on one aspect of it. We’re going to focus on the bonds of legalism. And make no mistake about it, legalism is bondage.
http://brushforkbanner.blogspot.com As you can tell, we are in the same passage this morning as we were last week. But this morning, rather than doing a full exposition of the passage, we’re going to focus on one aspect of it. We’re going to focus on the bonds of legalism. The fact is that ...read more
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26. Rejection!
Contributed on Sep 7, 2009
Why would the religious leaders of Jesus’ day want to kill Him? For the same reasons that we reject Him today.
What a wonderful time of the year! The feel of fall is in the air. We often think of spring as the time of new beginnings—and it is. But so is fall. This morning we mark the beginning of a new Sunday school year. As part of that, many people moved up into new classes. That’s a new beginning. ...read more
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27. The Claims Of Christ: Jesus Is God In Person
Contributed on Nov 16, 2009
As part of our ongoing study in the book of John, we will spend the next several messages examining some of the claims of Christ. In each of these messages we will see different ways that Jesus claims to be God. Today we will see Christ’s claim that He
If you were with us last week, you’ll notice that we’re in part of the same passage we were then. Last week we started in verse 16 and looked at how and why the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus and wanted to kill Him. At the same time, we looked at how we reject Jesus for the same reasons. We found ...read more
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28. The Claims Of Christ: Jesus Is God In Works
Contributed on Nov 16, 2009
As part of our ongoing study in the book of John, we will spend the next several messages examining some of the claims of Christ. In each of these messages we will see different ways that Jesus claims to be God. Today we will see Christ’s claim that He
This morning, we’re looking at Jesus’ second claim to being equal with God. Back in verses 17-18, we have already seen that Jesus claimed to be God in person. In our passage this morning we’re going to see that Jesus claims to be God in works. In other words, Jesus claims to be equal with God ...read more
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29. The Claims Of Christ: Jesus Is God In Power
Contributed on Nov 16, 2009
As part of our ongoing study in the book of John, we are spending several messages examining some of the claims of Christ. In each of these messages we are seeing different ways that Jesus claims to be God. Today we will see Christ’s claim that He is Go
Do you ever get frustrated? Do you ever look around at the things that go on at work and get frustrated? Or maybe things at school? I know that we all look at things going on in government and get frustrated. And inevitably, when we get frustrated like that, what is one of the first things we ...read more
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30. The Claims Of Christ: Jesus Is God In Honor
Contributed on Nov 16, 2009
As part of our ongoing study in the book of John, we are spending several messages examining some of the claims of Christ. In each of these messages we are seeing different ways that Jesus claims to be God. Today we will see Christ’s claim that He is Go
I think I was as shocked as everybody on Friday. I was studying in my office at home when I got an email about our president winning the Nobel Peace Prize. I thought it was a joke until I checked several news sources and found out it’s true. Now, you know how I feel about politics. As ...read more