Life in Palmyra, in Jesus
Two weeks ago we prayed for Maryam and Marzieh, two young Iranian Christian women who were being held in a prison in Iran. THEY WERE RELEASED NOVEMBER 18TH!!!! Do the Divine-math. God’s waiting to display His glory. Pray and wait and watch and see!
Story at VOM: Iran: Maryam and Marzieh free.
P.S. The audio hasn’t been coming through for the last few sermons. Sorry.
Thanks: LeAnn.
Resources mentioned this morning:
IDOP Sermon Audio.
JOSHUA PROJECT: resources for learning about and praying for unreached people groups.
International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. (website) Note the partner links to ministries that serve the persecuted church.
Voice of the Martyrs interactive map of restricted-access countries: Map.
Many people have trouble finding time to read good books, or perhaps they don’t know what books are good and worth spending their time on. Here are a some suggestions and opportunities.
This month only ChristianAudio.com is offering Desiring God, by John Piper for free. This is one of the most important theological and spiritual Christian books of the 20th century. Desiring God at ChristianAudio.com. You’ll also find that all of John Piper’s books are available for $5.00 each this month only: John Piper sale.
Also, for the next week, Christian Counseling and Education Foundation (CCEF) is offering the CCEF Library of Classics for just $99. Savings of 52%. And probably more valuable than gold.
DesiringGod and CCEF are a few positive ministries that I’ve really benefited from. -david
John 7:53-8:11. This story gives a flesh-and-blood example of what it means for Jesus to be the source of life and the source of light. He frees this woman from condemnation, but also shines His light on her, freeing her from her life of sin.
Sermon Audio.
Textual Issues: (meaning, issues with the text itself, not the story) “Jesus and the woman taken in adultery: Textual History” on Wikipedia, Pictures of Manuscripts on Wikipedia (also, you can dig around on the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts site too), John McArthur’s sermon on this (note his introduction), and Mark Driscoll’s sermon intro addresses this too (audio only).
This morning we looked at John 7:11-36. We watched as a two things happened to the people around Jesus.
First, the Jewish Leadership that had previously been on the lookout for a cloak-and-dagger opportunity to silence Jesus found themselves backed into a corner. He had to be silenced! They sent guards to seize Him.
Second, the crowd, which was earlier like “oh-i-don’t-know-maybe-he’s-nice-or-whatever,” now found themselves likewise backed into a corner. They could either anticipate His death (“Isn’t someone trying to kill this guy? What’s taking them?” 7:25) or believe in Him.
And this is the choice we all have, every day. Believe…or…Stick the ear-buds in, turn the radio up, crank the “News,” don’t stop talking. Whatever.
Just keep.Him.quiet.
Or believe: Sermon Audio.
Note: the audio quality is a bit weak as we’re in-between nice microphones.
This week we jumped into one of the most difficult stories in the Bible. It’s the sort of thing a person would never preach from unless he had to because that was the next passage. But far from John including this passage to twist our faith up, he included this story to build our faith. How’s that? Well, join the study to see an answer to that problem, as well as a meditation on the faith-building side of the story too: Sermon Audio. John 7:1-13 .
09.06.2009…John 6, What is good food? What is good work?: Sermon Audio.
09.13.2009…John 6:35, How to feel full: Sermon Audio.
09.20.2009…Hebrews 11:26 and the first duties of Mammon Worship: Sermon Audio.
Back in the Gospel According to John this week. What a joy it was to wade through the deep waters of Christ’s own explanation of His relationship with His Father. Now that’s heavy!
John 5:16-29: Sermon Audio.
We talked today about John 5:1-16, the beginning of Christ’s road to the cross. Here, the first cracks appear between the Jewish Leaders and Jesus. The crucifixion grows out of 5:16 and 18. But why? Why do the Religious Leaders miss Jesus? He bothered them. They didn’t like them.
Where’s God in your life? (Besides everywhere?) Look at the things that are bothering you, the people who are frustrating you. This is what we discussed this morning.
But God is not working the same way in ever situation. Some of the “bothers” may need to be left alone and your responsibility is simply to turn over controls to Christ. Some of the “bothers” are not safe and you need to approach them with help and friends. Approach each “bother” with prayer, and if you’re confused or nervous about it, talk to a friend or call up one of our elders. This isn’t God calling you to be Indiana Jones. It’s not all or nothing; hero or wuss. It’s slowly, prayerfully, move towards the frustrations in your life in partnership with others. That way, for sure, if you don’t find Jesus waiting for you, you’ll find Him along the way.
John 5:1-16, Sermon Audio.
