Focal Passage: John 18:1-11 In our fallen culture, it’s not uncommon for criminals to scramble from police to avoid arrest. A few weeks ago, a man in West Tennessee was accused of assaulting a family member.  When the police arrived, the suspect barricaded himself inside the home and threatened to open fire on the officers. The standoff lasted for over four hours until a special response team carefully made their

Focal Passage: John 17:13-26 One of the great blessings of having close relationships with other believers is the ability to call upon them to pray for us in a time of need. As a pastor, I receive numerous prayer requests each week, where people ask me to pray for the most serious and urgent needs in their lives.  Similarly, it’s not uncommon for me to call upon many others to

Focal Passage: John 15:26-27; 16:7-15 One of the strangest elements in literature is what’s called a “paradox.”  According to the dictionary, a paradox is a statement that seems self-contradictory or illogical. In other words, it’s a message that seems backwards or doesn’t make sense.  We encounter paradoxes when business owners say, “You have to spend money to make money;” or when a counselor states that “failure often leads to success.”

Focal Passage: John 20:1-18  A few years ago, my girls and I were listening to a popular podcast where a Bible teacher was explaining Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. As he was describing all of the glorious details, my oldest daughter’s eyes began beaming with fascination and she said, “Oh, I just love the story of Jesus coming out of the tomb!”  Hopefully that’s the emotion you feel when you

Focal Passage: John 15:1-17  One of the most popular topics among believers is spiritual growth. It’s the subject of countless books and blogs, the theme of numerous conferences and events, and the aim of sermon series, church programs and small group studies.  According to Barna Research, 75 percent of Christian adults desire spiritual growth in their lives. This desire comes naturally for true believers who are being sanctified in Christ,

Focal Passage: John 14:16-29 According to the World Health Organization, approximately 264 million people have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder — and these numbers continue to rise, especially among children. Those who suffer often feel restless and on edge, and experience frequent headaches, stomachaches, and other pains.  Many sense difficulty when trying to concentrate, sleep, make decisions, and control feelings of worry and doubt. But whether we live with

Focal Passage: John 13:31-14:6 A few years ago, Emily and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary by taking a very special vacation. The only difficult part was leaving our small children behind for over a week as we traveled to a distant country.  As expected, our girls were very apprehensive about us leaving. I was a little nervous about leaving them as well. We had practically been with them every

Focal Passage: John 12:20-33 One of the great privileges we had while serving in a previous church was a missional partnership in Haiti. We would send ministry teams at least once a year to serve in one of the most impoverished places in the world, both materially and spiritually.  However, on one of our trips, we were connected with a group from another state and worked alongside them for a

Focal Passage: John 12:1-11 Not long after we married, my wife and I quickly discovered the value of looking at the weekly supermarket circular before heading to the store to buy groceries.  It was astounding to see how much money we would save by simply planning meals around what was on sale. After doing this for a while, we became very familiar with how certain products were priced and could

Focal Passage: John 11:32-46 Death is hard. It’s a reality that no one wants to face.  We dread the day that we will have to say an earthly goodbye to our loved ones, and the thought of our own departure from this world can be equally disturbing.  Even when we try to distract ourselves from this mortal reality, our news channels and social media feeds are constantly bombarding us with