This week, we are kicking off a new series called Stories of the Bible because we believe that the Bible is a story that leads to Jesus and invites us to become like Jesus. That every page, paragraph and passages pointing to Jesus and that includes [...]

Well, what's up Bible Nerds? James here. And today is the final installment of our Bible Nerds 101 series, where we have been walking through the basics of how to read the Bible wisely. And to close everything out, today, we're talking about how the [...]

Well, what's up Bible nerds? Here is my question for you today. What do Harry Potter and a cookbook have in common? If you guess that they are both books, you are correct. Now, what is different about them? If it's that one is about a young wizard [...]

Well, what's up, Bible Nerds? In this episode of Bible Nerds 101, we are continuing our conversation about how to read the Bible wisely by remembering that Jesus is King and context is everything. Last week, you got to hear from a fellow Bible Nerd, [...]

I know that there are many of us who are in a posture of wanting to make this the best year yet, trying to figure out what goals can I set? What resolutions can I make? What habits can I put in place to become the person that God has made us to be? [...]

There is no greater way to get to know God, his character, his nature, his goodness, and the life that he has for you than reading his living word. Amen. And yet most people don't do it, right? People around the world and with good reason, they [...]

We're going to begin now with a review of the material that we went through in detail in the previous series of sessions which covered chapters 1 through 7. My review will basically not have much to do with the material on those chapters but I think [...]

One of the things that is so important to me is that all three persons of the Godhead are in that act. The Son, through the Spirit, offered Himself to the Father. You may have heard me relate, the second time I heard the gospel preached, which was [...]

I think it would be profitable if I just read through the note outline that you have commencing at the bottom of 7/1. I don’t intend to pause but just to get our minds in gear, then we’ll go on. Chapter 7:11, I’ve commented on the need for another [...]

"He [Jesus] has entered having become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek". Now we're back at the theme of the high priest. If you want to turn just for a moment back to your outline, 2/6, you'll notice that the third passage [...]

Let's look in Hebrews 12:15–17 for a moment. I believe we did touch on this, I'm not sure, I can't remember. But it says there, and it's in the middle of a sentence: Watching carefully [or taking care] lest there be anybody who comes short of the [...]

We are now, God helping us, and with the necessary permit, we're going to move on. We come to Hebrews 6:4–8. The third passage of warning. This is primarily against apostasy or falling away. I prefer the word apostasy because falling away suggests [...]

We're continuing now in Hebrews 6. We had just begun at the close of the previous session. If you turn to your outline it will be Page 6/1. This is the fifth 'let us' passage. And the 'let us' is 'press on to maturity or perfection.' If you don't [...]

We're commencing this session at the beginning of Hebrews 4. This is in the middle of one of the warning passages that I pointed out to you, the longest of all of them. It began in Hebrews 3:7 and it continues through to chapter 4, verse 13. The [...]

If you look now in your outline, Page 3/2, you'll see that this is the first occurrence of the word rest. And between this verse and chapter 4, verse 13, this word occurs 12 times. Without any question, a major theme of this particular section is [...]

We have arrived at Page 3/1. We'll look very briefly at the outline before we go on. This first verse of chapter 3 focuses on Jesus in two aspects: apostle and high priest. As apostle He was sent forth to perform the task of redemption. Having [...]

All right. Going on to verses 22–28: "And you shall make on the breastpiece chains of twisted cordage work in pure gold. And you shall make on the breastpiece two rings of gold, and shall put the two rings on the two ends of the breastpiece. [...]

In our previous session we got to the end of Hebrews 2 and we could just quickly glance again at those closing words. That is, Hebrews 2:17–18 where we have the first mention in the text of high priest which is a key point in the unfolding [...]

Father, we calm ourselves now. The music is set aside. The exuberance and excitement of being able to express to you the feelings and the worship of our hearts through song with others, as wonderful and powerful as that is, now is the time where we [...]

Father we thank you for the privilege that we have in this country to freely assemble. We don't worry about what the government, or the police, or rival groups, or religious persecutors might do to us. We can gather. We can come. We can celebrate [...]

Father, we begin where we ought to begin, by talking to you, because this is your plan we're reading about. This is your truth. And you superintended the very writing of the documents that we are considering. And so, though John wrote it with his [...]

And let's prepare our hearts. Let's just pray, come before the Lord and purposely, intentionally, still, calm those hearts, our thoughts before God, making a determination that we're not going to let anything distract us, disturb us, steal away [...]

So at the risk of sounding a bit mushy, let me just say I love you. I love this church, and you may remember in the gospel of Luke, it says that when His hour had come, Jesus sat down with his disciples and he said with fervent desire, "I have [...]

Father, even as we've had a meal most of us before we've gotten here, we now sit down to a spiritual meal. We're recalling the night when you had a meal with your disciples, what you shared with them during that time, and what you talked about and [...]

Father, we calm our hearts and we give you, like Paul said in the book of Romans, we present our bodies before you as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable, which is our reasonable service. Lord, we pray that you would, through this time together, [...]

Would you please turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of John, Chapter 14. We were unable to finish last week. We took the Lord's supper together. I aimed to do a chapter or so. I didn't even make it through a chapter last week, but that doesn't matter [...]

I am indebted to a guy by the name of Stephen Langton who was the Archbishop of Canterbury back in the 1200s. Because in 1227, the year before he died, he decided it would be helpful if we had in our bibles chapters and verses. Up to that point, [...]

Father, we now focus our hearts, we calm them before you. We do so, because we know you, and we have come to trust you. And in this time of prayer, we ask you to be our teacher, that your Holy Spirit would break the bread of life, the word of God [...]

Father, we want to commit the evening into your hands, pray that you would take away the distractive thoughts, Lord, that would be there. As this is a divided nation, I can only surmise that any large group is a divided group. And I don't presume [...]

So there were three sisters, elderly sisters, who live together. Their ages were 92, 94, and 96, respectively. They were old gals. They had survived, and they were sharing a home. And as they were getting older, they were getting more frail. And the [...]

When I was growing up, funerals creeped me out. My mother told me that it was because when I was quite young I had a classmate die. And we went to his funeral. And I was like in grade school at that time. My first experience with somebody that I [...]

Gospel of John, chapter 10. One of the most famous plays by William Shakespeare is his play Hamlet. And there's a famous line in the third act in the first scene, some of which you know. When I say it, you're going to know it. You're going to [...]

Father, we want to pray as we have announced Sunday. We want to pray for this nation where you said, in your Word, that if those who are your people who are called by your name would humble themselves, and pray, and seek your face, and turn from [...]

We're in John, Chapter 9 tonight and we'll see how far we get before we take the Lord's supper. But some of you may remember years ago on television, Art Linkletter, anybody remember that name, OK, you do. So he hosted a program called Kids Say the [...]

Father we ask You to break the bread of life to us, the word of God. As Job said, "I have a esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food." Lord, I pray that we would be nourished, we would be encouraged, we would be [...]

Now Father, once again, we want to commit the hearing of our ears to the speaking of Your word. For we remember our Lord Jesus said, "whoever has ears to hear, let him hear," implying that not everybody who has words going into their head [...]

Father, thank you for the opportunity we have to, in the middle of our week, put everything aside, come from different parts of this city and even area, even the state, for I know people who travel from a long distance to come on Wednesday nights [...]

We are in the Gospel of John, but I looked. I saw that the Gospel of John chapter 7 has 53 verses. And ain't no way I'm going to do 53 verses outside on Wednesday night in the breeze with a fire going on before we take communion. So what I'm going [...]

Father, we give you this time during the week as part of our worship back to you. It's a way for us to say that we love you enough, we worship you so much, that what you say to us is worth our listening to, that gathering together as a group, as a [...]

Father, thank you for this group of people. That's my prayer. I'm so thankful that I look out and see familiar faces of those who through the years, Lord, have grown. And we have experienced things together, and that love is deep. Your faithfulness [...]