Monday, December 19, 2016

According to John chapter 3, what are three things that "MUST" take place?  To find the answer, either read the chapter, or listen to this weeks sermon from Calvary Chapel Southwest Metro.
This weeks message from John 3

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Salvation or Condemnation?


In the third chapter of John we find some of the greatest words ever penned in the sixteenth verse; “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  During the holiday season it is encouraging to note that the tradition of giving gifts began with God!  For God so loved…He gave.  Just as we are told in James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”   There is no more good, or perfect gift, than the gift of Jesus Christ, who set aside His Glory to be born of a virgin, to be lain in a stable, to live a life of humility and service to the poor and needy, to die a martyr’s death upon a cross, to be buried in a borrowed tomb, and three days later, to rise again to life!

What an amazing gift that was!  What amazing love!  What amazing grace!  Too often however we stop at John 3:16.  That is like seeing the present under the tree, but leaving it there.  To really appreciate a gift, we need to unwrap it.  The next few verses will help us do that….let’s take a look.

John 3:17-19 helps us to understand John 3:16 even better.  In it, Jesus states, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”  You see, Jesus didn’t come to condemn, He came to save, because mankind was already condemned because their deeds were evil.

If you doubt the evil that is present in mankind, all you need to do is look at the world around you.  Today, the news is filled with stories about despots and dictators who turn their guns upon their own citizens.  In Syria, the government has even used chemical weapons against civilians, including children!  If you need evidence that is closer to home, look at the racial bias, discrimination, and violent conflict that is evident here in the states.  Even the verbal conflict between those who support and oppose political candidates like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton reveal a lack of love for our fellow man that manifests itself in our inability to carry on a civil discourse!  The fact is, mankind was already condemned, and was desperately in need of a savior; and, God gave us just what we needed.  He sent His Son to pay the price for all that we have done wrong!  Will you accept His gift today?  If you haven’t already, I hope that you will! 


To hear our most recent message from the book of John, click on the link below and listen in to a teaching from John chapter 3.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Will You Receive Him?

When Jesus came to Jerusalem during The Passover, He discovered cattle, sheep, and money changers in The Temple.  The people were being taken advantage of, and His Father's House, that was supposed to have been a house of prayer, had been made into a market place.  Jesus drove out the cattle, commanded that the doves be taken away, and overturned the money changers tables.  He created quite a stir, and the priests and the leaders of the Jews were not happy about it.

They should have received Him.  They should have recognized His authority, or at the very least recognized that he was correct in His criticism of the condition of the outer court of the temple.  But, as the scriptures tell us, "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not."  They questioned His authority to do what He had done, and asked for a sign to confirm His authority.  He told them to tear down the temple, and that in three days He would raise it up.  They were confused, thinking that He referred to the building itself, but as John 2 tells us, He was referring to the temple of His body, of his coming crucifixion, and the subsequent resurrection that would restore Him to life, and open the door to eternal life to all who believe in His name.

To hear more about the cleansing of the temple, and John chapter two, click on this link below and listen in on last weeks sermon.

http://www.ccswm.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=452:1242016-his-own-received-him-not&catid=1:sermons&Itemid=25

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

The New Wine is the Best Wine!

In the book of Exodus, the Lord gave Moses the power to turn the waters of the Nile into blood, but here in John chapter 2 Jesus transforms water into wine.  The transformation of water into blood is symbolic of judgement that was to come, but the transformation of water into wine speaks of the joy in the Lord that can be ours when the clay pots of our lives are filled with the water of God’s word!  As John 1:16 and 17 tell us, “…of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.  For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”  Click on the following link for last Sunday’s full teaching on this first of Jesus miraculous signs.

Friday, November 18, 2016

Doing the work of an evangelist....without actually being one....

John the Baptist was a powerful evangelist, ministering to the multitudes, rebuking the sins of the people, and urging them towards repentance as he prepared the way for the coming of the Lord.  He was, both figuratively and literally, “…the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord!”  Perhaps such vociferous evangelism seems to be beyond your power to emulate.  Does the thought of standing before crowds and preaching the gospel seem a little intimidating to you?  Well if it does, you can relax.  We are not all called to stand before multitudes and proclaim the coming of the Lord…  but we are all called to do the share the truth we have received. 

In II Timothy 4:5 Paul exhorted his young friend to “…do the work of an evangelist…”  So, what does that mean for us today, and what examples can we find in the scripture that show us how to do this work, aside from shouting from the roof tops or out in the wilderness?  John chapter 1:29-51 give us some awesome examples. 

In John 1:29, when John declares “Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” a couple of his disciples became very curious, and decided to follow Jesus to see what he was all about, they very quickly came to the conclusion that this was, indeed, the Messiah.  Instead of keeping this information to themselves, or tucking it away for future consideration, they immediately found someone to share the information with.  It is believed that one of these two men who first followed Jesus was John, the author of this gospel, but the other is clearly identified as Andrew.  After meeting Jesus, the first thing Andrew did was find his brother, and tell him about the discovery.  Verse 41 tells us that “He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ).  And he brought him to Jesus…”
 
This behavior was repeated a few verses later when, after having met Jesus, Philip also has to find someone to tell; vs 45-46 tells us that “Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 


The pattern is simple:  meet Jesus, go find someone with whom you have an existing relationship and who has not met Jesus, tell them what you have found, and invite them to come and see for themselves- No shouting in the wilderness necessary!  

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Who Was John The Baptist?

So, who was he?
Where did he come from?
What was it he came to accomplish?
What can we learn from his ministry?

For the answer to all of these questions and more, listen to the latest teaching from Calvary Chapel Southwest Metro in Burleson, Texas by clicking on the link below!

http://sermonsave.com/ccswm/sermons/2016/1113-John1.mp3

Blessings,

-PK

Friday, November 11, 2016

The Divine Expression!

John 1:1 tells us who Jesus really is.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  This passage takes us all the way back to the beginning of time, and at the beginning of time we find that “the Word” was already there! 

Jesus, you see, is not a created being, but is Himself the creator of all things.  The scripture makes it very, very clear that He was both with God, and that He was God.  Jesus was the “Word” which in the Greek language of the New Testament is “logos” and can be translated to mean, “the divine expression.”  Jesus then, is the very expression of God the Father. 


In the book of Hebrews, chapter 1, verses 1-3 this truth is expressed beautifully as it is written, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory  and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power; when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” (NKJV).  

Not only does this passage confirm that Jesus is the express image of God’s person, it also correlates with John 1:3-5 in confirming Jesus as the creator of all things.  As John writes, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (NKJV).  Jesus created all things in the beginning, and entered into His own creation, to redeem us to the Father.  He is the divine expression, and came to express not only who God is, but also to express to us the love that God has for us.  He is the divine expression, the very demonstration of God’s love!

Monday, November 7, 2016

An Introduction to John, "That You Might Believe"


Join me in listening to our introduction to the Gospel of John that was presented this past Sunday at Calvary Chapel Southwest Metro, by clicking on the link:  http://www.ccswm.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=448:11062016-that-you-might-believe&catid=1:sermons&Itemid=25.  Or by clicking on the ccswm.org web site listed above.

Have a blessed week,

PK

Saturday, November 5, 2016

This week here at CCSWM we will begin our study of The Gospel of John, and I for one, am very excited.  John’s gospel is one of my favorite books of the Bible for a variety of reasons, one of which is that John is very clear about why he wrote it, and another is that John offers a unique perspective on the life and works of Christ that stands apart from Matthew, Mark, and Luke in both content and design.

While some are critical of the differences between the synoptic gospels, as Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called, these differences are not contradictory, but rather complementary.  Of the three synoptic gospels, Mark was written first, and it seems clear that Matthew and Luke referred to Mark when penning their accounts of the life and ministry of Christ.  John was written last of these four, and though John had access to the preceding works, chose rather to compliment them than to simply repeat the things that had been written in them.  John acknowledges these differences, and expresses his purpose for choosing to focus on different details in John 20:30-31 where he writes, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (NKJV). 

John’s stated purpose in writing this Gospel, is to encourage belief in Jesus as the Son of God, and his profession is that those who do believe will have life in the name of Jesus Christ.  In this brief statement John communicates the heart of the Gospel.  It is my hope, that as we read together, we will be strengthened in our conviction that Jesus Christ is who this book professes Him to be, the only begotten son of the true and living God.  

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Join me for the journey!

Hi there!  And thanks for joining me today, as I begin this journey through the book of John!  My name is Ken Davis, and I am the pastor and teacher here at Calvary Chapel Southwest Metro (CCSWM) in Burleson, Texas.  CCSWM is a friendly fellowship of believers in Jesus Christ, and it is our pleasure to welcome you to join us some Sunday morning as we work our way through this amazing book. 

As we study each week in the Gospel of John, each of our Sunday morning sermons will be drawn from its verses.  Here at Calvary, we like to study the Word of God chapter by chapter, and verse by verse.  That way, we try to avoid adding to, or taking away from, the thing that God is communicating to us through His word.  I truly hope you will decide to pay us a visit. 

That having been said, if you prefer to read through the scripture on your own, you are more than welcome to do so, and to join us here online.  There are a variety of ways that you can engage with us here on the web.  You can check in for what I hope will be weekly blog postings discussing the passage that is currently being covered at church, or you can follow the link to our web site where each week’s message is available for free download.  You can also link to our Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook feed through this page as well…just check out the links as you like for occasional updates and interesting information.
 
As we read together, I hope to share with you devotional thoughts, Bible study tips, scriptural insights, and encouragement to grow in your knowledge of the grace and love of Jesus Christ.  If you have any comments, or questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section.  It is my hope that even if we don’t always agree, we can always grow from these exchanges.  I am a firm believer in the benefit of civil discourse, and I hope that you are too.  I am really looking forward to this time together as we prepare to launch into this wonderful study of a truly amazing book. 

Be on the look-out for my next post, in which I will offer a brief introduction of John’s Gospel, as we prepare to begin our study together.

Until then,


Pastor Ken (PK).