Sunday, August 25, 2013

August 25, 2013 | John Bayles | The Beginning of the Advancing Kingdom (John 2:1-24)



What were the Jewish people of John’s time looking for? Some were not looking for anything, but Jesus appeared, worked some miracles and they followed him – these were the “crowd that was with Him” (Joh.11:17). Others, who had lost all hope of an independent Jewish homeland, passively hoped that perhaps, maybe, but most likely not, the old stories they had heard would perhaps come true one day – but they were not counting on them, and had adhered to the shoe of Rome in their lives – these were “the great crowds” (Joh.11:12). Others, were looking for something specific, signs of the coming of the New Age, particularly the signs of the One who would usher in the New Age, the Messiah foretold in the Scriptures – these were the “large crowd of Jews” (Joh.11:9). Finally, there were those who were Jesus family and those few men He had hand-picked as His disciples. John's goal is to fulfill his purpose in writing this Gospel.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

August 18, 2013 | John Bayles | Come and See (John 1:35-50)



In this text today, Jesus calls His first disciples. He is sure of them; they are unsure of Him. And, even when they seemed sure of who He was, they had only began to scratch the surface of the life and mission of the One who had come into their lives. This dynamic is the same today as then.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

August 11, 2013 | John Bayles | Stepping onto the Stage of History (John 1:19-34)



Behold the Lamb of God! These remarkable words by John the Baptist announced the beginning of a new age. "Are you the one?" Imagine how tempting it must have been to follow his fallen nature as it spoke within him - "say yes." But John demonstrated two things in these words. First that he was a man who had embraced his humanity in the clearest of terms. The fallen nature reasons that we are the center of the universe and that our lives are the core feature of what makes up reality.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

August 4, 2013 | John Bayles | The Prologue of John: Jesus Christ - God? Man? God-man? (John 1:1-18)



When we look at Jesus we must remember that His nature cannot be divided. The relationship of the second member of the triune God (the Word) and the man (Jesus of Nazareth) are indivisible. The one is in perfect unity with the other. John's purpose, and ours is not to show that God is not man or that man is not God, but that God has uniquely come to dwell in man in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the God-man.