The first command of the book of Philippians was found in 1:27 “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ”. From that point until tonight’s text Paul explained thoroughly what that looks like. Living worthy of the gospel is to live like Christ and for Christ with each other as the body...
Author: City of Refuge
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John 2:13-22 “Turning the Tables of Our Worship”
Today’s text presents some questions that we must deal with from the beginning so that we are on sure footing as we walk through it. All four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, present us with an account of Jesus cleansing the temple but they do not present us with the same account. Matthew, Mark...
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John 2:1-11 “The Significance of the Insignificant”
So far in the book of John we have been introduced to Jesus, the Son of God, completely divine and yet somehow completely human. We have been painted a picture of the Messiah as the Creator of the world, the Word who was with God and was God, who was not only before all things...
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Philippians 2:14-18 “Complaining and Disputing”
Paul’s first command in the letter to the Philippians was in 1:27 “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ . . .” Every command after that first one points back to it, everything that Paul tells them to do and not do is a step in living worthy of the gospel...
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Advent Series: The Word, The Light & The Lamb: John 1:29-36 “Behold the Lamb of God”
Over the last few weeks we have begun our study of the book of John by seeing how John introduces us to Jesus. John doesn’t start with Jesus’ genealogy or birth like Matthew and Luke, he doesn’t begin with John the Baptist as Mark does, John begins with Jesus’ eternal nature. It’s important to John...
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Christmas Eve: “The Word Became Flesh”
In his commentary on the book of John, Rodney Whitacre wrote “He who brought the universe into existence now is born within the universe as a human being. This thought is so familiar in Christianity we may no longer be staggered by it.” John began his gospel introducing us to Jesus by saying “In the...
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A Patient Christmas
Is there any question we ask more than “how long will this take?” I’ve started noticing lately that the vast majority of our questions revolve around time. How long will this take? How much farther? Will this be done soon? What time will you be here? We don’t just live in time we seem to...
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Advent Series: The Word, The Light & The Lamb: John 1:1-5 “The Light that Shines in the Darkness”
The prologue, the first 18 verses of John, are an introduction to Jesus as John has seen Him. The synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke are each a basic synopsis of Jesus’ life on earth, they cover events, details and experiences over a specific period of time in order to tell us “the story” of...
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Philippians 2:12-14 “Working Out Our Salvation”
Tonight’s passage completes Paul’s first command in the letter to the Philippians. In 1:27 he began the passage by commanding them “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ . . .” The rest of the passage gave the tools necessary to complete that command. Paul equates living worthy of the gospel...
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Advent Series: The Word, The Light & The Lamb: John 1:1-3 “The Word Was God”
As we mentioned last week, John is not like any of the other gospels, in fact, John is not like any other book ever written. Matthew, Mark and Luke are referred to as the Synoptic gospels because each of them gives a basic synopsis of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection but the gospel of John...