This is the love of God among us – pt6 Prepare the way for the Messiah! John the Baptist Luke 3:1-6 As we move forward into ch 3 in the gospel of Luke, we are jumped some 34 or so years forward. Herod the Great is long dead, in 4BC. Both Jesus and John, the […]
John 3:22-36 Jealousy is a powerful emotion! Husbands and wives can be rightly jealous of their spouse’s affections. The Bible tells us that God, in his goodness, is jealous and will not overlook worship of another deity. But jealousy can also be unbalanced, destructive and prideful. Jealousy can cause us to say terrible things, destroy […]
Matthew 10:1-15 Let us think back over the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus and their foundational message from the early chapters of Matthew: To Israel they both cried out, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” John as the forerunner, and Jesus as the proffered kingdom in his own person. The […]
Pt-3, The nearness of the kingdom and entry into it Matthew 3:1-3, 4:17 John’s ministry was conducted in the Desert of Judea, barren and rugged land west of the Dead Sea. His message was forthright and had two parts: (1) a soteriological aspect, repent, and (2) an eschatological aspect, for the kingdom of heaven is […]
Pt-2, Parallels and comparisons with Elijah & Jesus Matthew 3:1-12 It was the practice in the time of Jesus, for forerunners to precede important individuals in order to prepare the way for their arrival. For example, when a king visited a town in his realm, his emissaries would go before him to announce and prepare […]
God sends His fore-runner of Christ, John the Baptist Pt-1, Gabriel’s annunciation of John to Zacharias Luke 1:5-23 In his gospel, Luke lays alongside for similarity and contrast the records of the annunciation, conception and birth of John the Baptist and that of Jesus. We’re going to invest the next few Sundays exploring the prophesy, […]