Journey to The Journey

We have come upon one of the most talked about moments in all of the Bible. Many, even those not too familiar with Christendom could recall Jesus and the washing of his disciple's feet (John 13:1-17). Why is this moment so renown? The reason for this story's popularity is that its significance goes way beyond displaying an example of humility (though its nothing less than that).

I always appreciate it when pastors cite sources. I give every pastor the benefit of the doubt that they are praying and reading their bible in preparation for teaching. However, I'm always curious as to what other sources they are influenced by. One pastor once courageously proclaimed to me, "I never use ANY other sources and completely create my OWN messages and curriculum, just me and my bible." Really!? We have 2000 years of Jesus-loving scholars out there with endless thoughts on Scripture and that guy couldn't care less?

Join us Sunday mornings as we continue our journey through this amazing gospel! To catch up on last week's message in preparation of this week's passage simply click below.

The hearts of the Jews, the palm branches & the donkey contribute great significance in this triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This miraculous influence that Jesus displays was meant to draw man's attention to his upcoming crucifixion.

As mentioned in previous posts, I'll be sharing end-time resources for the next 6 months in anticipation of our next teaching series over the book of Revelation. Above is a snippet from another great read on eschatology. "40 Questions About The End Times" by Eckhard Schnabel provides quick summaries of some incredibly hefty questions. A quick glance at these questions will quickly pull you into this book.

With that said, I believe we at The Journey have several reasons to tread through these apocalyptic waters. Upon the completion of the gospel of John (which I consider to be the most valuable time we've had together to this point) we find ourselves in a great position to transition into the last book of the Bible. Having walked through any of the gospels would be a great time to transition into Revelation but John is especially beneficial as the apostle John authored BOTH! By the time we begin Revelation we will have put in an entire year worth of study into Johannine literature, this is huge.

D.A. Carson writes, "Though it is not John's point, it has often been remarked that the authority of Jesus is so great that, had he not specified Lazarus, all the tombs would have given up their dead to resurrection life."

Last week in John 10:1-21 we studied about the reality of false teachers. Ironically, the very next section (John 10:22-42) is grossly misinterpreted by many false teachers today. Believe it or not, many false teachers will use this passage to say Jesus is not God and that we can all be gods (polytheism).

Judging isn't popular in our culture. We live in fear of saying anything that could be deemed judgmental. Whatever you do just don't say that anyone or anything is wrong, right? And therein lies the paradox, you have to be careful taking any moral position in fear of being publicly ridiculed or bullied by those who oppose (or judge) you.

A couple of weeks ago we studied a bold pronouncement of Christ, "I AM the light." This Sunday in chapter 9 of his gospel John tells us of a man born blind who was healed by our savior, from Christ's healing touch he saw the light. From this passage sparks a wealth of religious discussion. Why are some born with physical ailments? Why is there evil in the world? Why do people have to suffer?