When A Change of Scenery Isn’t The Answer

Posted on 2016/10/17 by Shawn Thomas

“When he had gone out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him, and said to those who were there, ‘This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.’ And again he denied it with an oath, ‘I do not know the man.”” (Matthew 26:71-72)

Peter had been sitting outside in the courtyard of the high priest, when he was identified by a servant-girl as being a follower of Jesus. He denied it. Evidently he became uncomfortable sitting where he was (if you can imagine that!) so he decided to move out to the gateway instead. But there was no escaping it; in just a few moments he was asked basically the same question by another servant-girl, and he responded with yet another denial: “I do not know the man.” Changing his location didn’t help Peter any — because his problem was not in his geography! Continue reading →

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Defective Discipleship

Posted on 2016/10/13 by Shawn Thomas

“But Peter was following Him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and entered in, and sat down with the officers to see the outcome.” (Matthew 26:58)

Jesus calls us as His disciples to follow Him. But we often fall short of really living out that call. In the aftermath of Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see how Peter exhibited a “defective discipleship” in a number of ways:

— “Distant Discipleship”: It says he was “following Him AT A DISTANCE.” Why was he following “at a distance”? Undoubtedly because he didn’t want to be associated with Him too closely.  And sadly, many of us today adopt the same posture. Continue reading →

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“Accept the Things I Cannot Change”

Posted on 2016/10/12 by Shawn Thomas

“How then will the scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?” (Matthew 26:54)

The final words of Jesus’ sentence here were significant: “It must happen this way.” His arrest was going to happen. It had been prophesied in the scriptures. In fact it had to happen, in order that He could die on the cross for our sins. The redemption of mankind depended upon it. “It must happen this way.” Jesus knew that, and He did not resist His arrest — and He told His disciples to put down their swords and accept it as well.

This is not merely a historical fact; it also serves as a reminder that we may experience such occasions in our own lives as well. Continue reading →

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“Thy Will”: Not A “Bad” Prayer

Posted on 2016/10/11 by Shawn Thomas

“My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” (Matthew 26:42)

We all face difficult time in our lives, and when we come to them, we should bring our situation to our Heavenly Father in prayer, just like Jesus did here.  And as He did here, you can ask that a difficult thing be removed from you — or whatever request you desire. But when you do, it is not wrong to add “If it is Your will” or “Your will be done” to your prayer. Continue reading →

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“That He Gave” (John 3:16 sermon)

Posted on 2016/10/10 by Shawn Thomas

One movie that Cheryl, Michael & I enjoy watching together is the 1960’s musical, “My Fair Lady”, in which Professor Henry Higgins takes Eliza Doolittle, a young flower girl from the streets of London and transforms her into a well-spoken and young lady who attracts the affections of others. In the musical one young man is trying to woo the “new” Eliza with a beautiful, word-y song, when she interrupts him with a song of her own. She says: “Words, words, words, I’m so sick of words; I get words all day through,first from him now from you … Don’t talk of stars, burning above, if you’re in love, show me! … Sing me no song, read me no rhyme, don’t waste my time, SHOW ME!”

A couple of weeks ago we saw in I Corinthians 13 that love is not merely a “feeling”, or saying certain words, but it is defined there by a series of 16 VERBS; ACTIONS which “SHOW” us what real love is. Here in John 3:16 we see that God Himself has this kind of real love towards us. His love for us was not just a mere feeling; because of His love He took ACTION on our behalf. Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrated His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God “so loved”, that He DID SOMETHING: “He GAVE His only begotten Son.” As Eliza Doolittle might say, He “SHOWED US” His love towards us. Today we come to the central part of this great verse, and the heart of its message: the sacrificial gift that God made for our sins. (Next Sunday we are going to look in more detail at the Person of Jesus who was sacrificed for us, but today our emphasis will be on the giving of the gift: “For God so loved the world THAT HE GAVE His only begotten Son …”. Continue reading →

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Not For One Hour?

Posted on 2016/10/10 by Shawn Thomas

“And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter: ‘So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?'” (Matthew 26:40)

What a pathetic response to an amazing invitation! How blessed were Peter, James & John for Jesus to have taken them with Him into the heart of the Garden of Gethsemane. Verse 36 tells us that He had commanded most of the disciples to “sit here” while He went further to pray. But then :37 says that He actually took the three disciples (Peter, James & John) with Him deeper into the Garden, where He poured out His heart to His Heavenly Father in prayer. It was an amazing opportunity: to be invited into His “inner ring”, and to witness one of the pivotal moments of all history, as the Lord conversed with His Father about the deepest struggles of His heart, regarding the impending atonement He would make for His people. It would have been the single greatest highlight of the life of any person who could have been there.
And yet what did they do with this amazing privilege that Jesus gave them? Continue reading →

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A Daily Gethsemane

Posted on 2016/10/06 by Shawn Thomas

“My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39)

The words spoken by Jesus here are some of the most important ever uttered in human language. Continue reading →

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An Eternal Destination

Posted on 2016/10/05 by Shawn Thomas

“These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:46)

This is the last verse of Matthew 25, and in it Jesus concludes His Parable of The Sheep and The Goats. Fittingly, this final verse contains an important truth regarding the eternal destination of our souls: Continue reading →

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What Displeases Your Master

Posted on 2016/10/04 by Shawn Thomas

“But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.'” (Matthew 25:26)

There are two things which the master of the slaves, who represents the Lord in this parable, condemns here: Continue reading →

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“The World” (John 3:16 sermon)

Posted on 2016/10/03 by Shawn Thomas

“Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world; red and yellow, black and white; they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” Many of us have known that song since childhood. Where did we get such an idea that “Jesus loves the little children of the world”? Where did we get such an idea that if we fly halfway across the world to a remote village in Romania, to the outcast gypsy children there, that we can tell them that Jesus loves them? We get it from the verse we are studying today, from John 3:16.

We saw with the opening words of this verse (“For God”) the centrality of God, the one-and-only God of the Bible, and that salvation originated with Him. Then last week we saw how this God “so loved” – that He responded to our with love instead of judgment, and with an intensity of love that is beyond our understanding.  Today, as we come to the third pair of words in this great verse, we see that this love which God has is for “the world.”  “For God so loved THE WORLD …”. Let’s look together at what that means: Continue reading →

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