Sermon Passage: John 10:14-18
Sermon Title: I am the Good Shepherd Sermon By: Pastor Davy (Youth) Sermon Summary: In this passage, we encounter a phrase we have heard many times for those who have grown up in the church. We have grown accustomed to this image. Psalm 23 is one of the most famous psalm. The Psalm proclaims, “the lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…”. But while being so bombarded with this imagery, do we really know what this passage is telling us? To find the true meaning behind this ego eimi phrase, we look between the lines. First point of emphasis is the authority of Jesus Christ. There are powerful people in this world, there are people who could bring an end to entire nations with their signatures or their commands. But do they have authority over their own life? in verse 17, Jesus says he will (voluntarily) lay down his life so that he may take it up again. Jesus, having authority over his life, chooses to lay down his life. Why? so that he may take it up again. with the purpose of saving us, he lays down his life. But Jesus continues and speaks directly to the pharisees and says that no one can take his life from him. and Pharisees are reminded once again that Jesus is God but they are still blind. Second point of emphasis is Jesus’ relationship with the Father. It is important that Jesus’ authority is from the Father and we can see this through his relationship with the Father. in verse 15, Jesus says as the Father knows him, he knows the father and he lays down his life for the sheep. Jesus says the Father loves him and he loves the father and the result of this love is that he lays down his life for the sheep. This should come strangely to us. Why does the loving relationship with the Father result in Jesus’ death? Jesus is precisely saying here that his perfect relationship will result in perfect obedience to the will of God. So, what do we take away from this? We should look at our relationship with God when we are disobedient. We should work on our relationship with God. We need to realize that we are disobedient because we love ourselves more than God. and as seen in the passage, we do not yet know God as we should. In his perfect relationship with God, Jesus has all authority over life and all created things but through his perfect obedience to God, he laid down his life for us. He is the perfect example of love and obedience.
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Sermon Passage: John 8:12
Sermon Title: The Light of the World Sermon by: Pastor Davy (Youth) Sermon Summary: The second ego eimi phrase that we find in the gospel of John is in chapter 8: I am the Light of the World. First point of emphasis is the contrast between the Light and darkness. Immediately after his ego eimi phrase, Jesus says “those who follow will not walk in darkness”. To not follow Jesus is to walk in the darkness. But what comes after this is even more thought-provoking. Anyone would assume that since not follow Jesus is walking in the darkness, following Jesus would suggest that we walk in the light. But what does Jesus say? He says those who follow him will have the light of life. He doesn’t say we will walk in the Light but we will have the light of life. This Jesus says to indicate that when we are following Jesus, we still wont be perfect. We will not be walking in the Light which would indicate that we are sinless in this life but Jesus will be leading us into eternal life when we will indeed be sinless. But in the meantime, we are still sinners and prone to make mistakes and fall to the temptation of sin. So what does it mean to follow the Light? what is the Light? Light is a guide. In the Old testament, light is used in wide variety of metaphors but it is clear that God used light, by the pillar of fire, to guide the Israelites in the desert. Light is sight. Later in chapter 9, Jesus heals a blind man by using his saliva to make mud from the dirt and applying it to a blind mans eyes. then he commands him to go and wash his eyes and he is healed. When the man comes back to Jesus, he asks “Do you believe?” Most would ask, “do you see?” but Jesus intentionally asks “do you believe” because when we see, we should be naturally drawn to believe. Light is truth. When we turn on the light in a room, we don’t look at the light but we rather look at the room. it’s obvious but this is to point out the purpose of light. We don’t turn on a light to look a the light but we turn on the light to see what is in the darkness. Light reveals what is in the darkness. In this way, we must look at this world, our neighbors, through the lens of Jesus. This is the only way we can look at this world and see it as it was meant to be. To see this world through the lens of Jesus is the only way for us to love our neighbors as Jesus loves us. Jesus’ ego eimi phrases are not only revealing who Jesus is but also revealing who Jesus is in relationship to us. Because we have a genuine relationship with Jesus, we must try our best to love this world as Jesus has. Our first step in following Jesus is to see our neighbors through the Light of Jesus, which is to see them as they were made not as they present themselves to be, and to love our neighbors as Jesus does. This is why Jesus has come and why Jesus describes himself as the Light of the World. Sermon Passage: John 6:25-51
Sermon Title: The Bread of Life Sermon By: Pastor Davy (Youth) Sermon Summary: When Jesus started his ministry in the New Testament, I can only imagine how some Jews might have reacted to the claims that Jesus made about himself. in Chapter 6, we come across the first absolute ego eimi sayings. ego eimi saying are Jesus’s proclamation about who he is in relationship with mankind. To put this into context, when Jesus said to the crowd, “I AM…” The crowd most certainly would have understood this as Jesus proclaiming himself with the name of God himself. To Moses, in the Old Testament, God came in the burning bush and told Moses that He is “I Am that I Am”. And now Jesus in this sentence is saying the same thing. And later on in this conversation between him and the crowd, he talks of the manna that God gave to the Israelites in the desert. Jesus says this manna, even though, it sustained the Israelites through the desert, could not grant them eternal life. And Jesus them says that he is the “living bread” able to grant them eternal life. only if they believe in him. It is important to point out that Jesus doesn’t say those who eat this bread will have eternal life but those who believe will have eternal life. This is important because Jesus proclaims in verse 29 that it is not any work that we can do that is the work of God but the work of God is that we believe in the one who has sent us this bread of life. In this discourse, we get the first picture of the first ego eimi phrase in the gospel of John. Jesus is the bread of life, sent by God, that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. Sermon Passage: Romans 12:1-2
Sermon Title: Living Sacrifices Sermon By: Pastor Davy (Youth) Sermon Summary: As we usher in the New Year, what is our goal for this year? in fact, what is our goal as Christians? Apostle Paul states the goal of a Christian in Romans 12. Be living sacrifice. That is what we were meant to be. But not only does he give us the goal, he gives us why and the how. Why is this our goal? and how do we achieve this goal? To be a living sacrifice means that we are in a true and genuine relationship with God. God has sacrificed his one and only son and knowing this amazing truth, we now live as a sacrifice to him. Remembering Galatians 2:20. Why - Paul says this is our spiritual and true worship. What is worship? worship is our response to who God is to us and what he is doing in our lives. Worship is a reaction that we have from seeing his love, grace and mercy poured out into our lives. How - Paul speaks clearly and tells us that we should not conform to this world but be renewed. and renewal of our minds will only come when we read the bible and pray. So, as we usher in this New year, our goal is to be living sacrifices, through daily devotion to who God is and how he has presented himself to us in his Word. |
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