From beginning to end, John has shown us the Christ. He is the Word made flesh. True God, true man, who truly died, truly rose, truly paid for the sins of the whole world. Join Pastor Bourman and Pastor Walsh as they wrap up the whole book of John!

I think one of the hardest things to do in studying our Bibles is to put ourselves into Jesus' shoes. It's hard, but I'll ask you to try here. See Jesus as he prays to his Father to take the cup of wrath away from. Think of everything you know about the relationship Jesus shares with his Father.  

From all eternity Jesus had enjoyed had the perfect relationship with his Father. He had been loved and affirmed. So much so that the Father had boomed from heaven about it three times while Jesus was on earth. Their relationship was perfect, their communication was perfect, they showed their love perfectly for each other.

And Jesus prays like that in perfect petition.  He prays not my will, but your will be done. He says, Father, I love you more than I love myself. Think about that. Try and put yourself into Jesus' shoes in that. Why?

Because then maybe we can appreciate what it must have been like for Jesus when his Father said no. The Father said no, here. And Jesus knew that. How did he know it? Because Judas walked up.  And when Judas walked up, Jesus knew his prayer had been answered with a no. And so he gets up and says, enough. Let’s go. Here comes my betrayer. And he takes his desire for the cup to be taken away from him and he perfectly submits it to the Father that he loves. Think on this. The Father said no to his Son Jesus. The Father didn’t spare his Son. Why? Because the Father wanted to spare us. 

Think on this as you prepare your heart for Sunday. Write in your heart and mind. This is the love with which you are loved. This is the passion that is for you. The Father said no to his Son, so that his wrath could be satisfied and he could say yes to you. This is the Father’s love for you. And this is Jesus’ love for his Father and his love for you. That Jesus drank the cup of wrath so that each one of us might do nothing else but drink the cup of salvation. This is cosmic God-sized passion. Poured out for you. Drink that in today. Drink in that salvation. And the passion of God for you. Drink it in.

Today's SOAP study focuses on another of Jesus' I AM statements. He tells us: "I AM the vine, and you are the branches." Join in with Pastor Walsh and Pastor Bourman to see this picture of relationship between us and Jesus, and this picture of Christian life in Jesus, who feeds us, and who gives us all that we need to bear fruit in his name. 

At this time of the evening (Thursday night), the night before Jesus dies, his heart is troubled. He knows that he is going to leave his disciples, and he knows that they can't come with him. He wants to give them comfort to hold onto, even while he's not with them. This whole chapter is filled with that comfort. Jesus tells his disciples, that he is going to send a comforter- the Holy Spirit- to remind them of everything he has taught them- everything he is, and everything he has done. 

It's a vivid picture. It's the day before Jesus is going to die. He knows it, even if his disciples don't know it yet. He know he's about to suffer. He knows he's about to die. But John tells us what's on his mind. "Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." He's not thinking about the suffering. He's thinking about his love for his disciples. And in that love, he gets down on his hands and knees and washes his disciples feet. What is he really doing here? He's illustrating the gospel. 

Listen in!

Caiaphas was the High Priest at the time when Jesus died. He was the supposed mastermind of the scheme to get rid of Jesus and have the people on their side. He was a schemer. He schemed to have Jesus killed, and it worked. And that bothers me. You can read about his scheme in John 11:45-53.

It bothers me because it pokes at the traumas and hurts in our own life experiences. It reminds me yet again that it looks like evil wins in life. And that stings. It feels like that’s all the world is- a place where evil wins. It seems like evil even won against Jesus! He did end up being killed didn't he?

That’s why we need to truly see the schemer. And when I name “the schemer” you should know that I’m not referring to Caiaphas. He’s actually not the Big Schemer in this story. Caiaphas’ scheme got trumped. Caiaphas said: “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” (v. 50) Do you see it? He didn’t know what he was saying, did he? He said that it was best that one man should die for the people. Caiaphas unwittingly and unintentionally shared the gospel. He said: the whole nation shouldn’t get placed on the eternal trash heap. Just one man should. One man for the world. The just for the unjust. The Son of God in place of guilty sinners. One man should take the punishments. One man should suffer in our place. Better he should die for us than we should die in our own place.  Caiaphas wasn’t this history’s greatest schemer. God was.

And you can see what that means for you, right? God is so big and so wise that he schemed the savviest schemers to proclaim his gospel and carry out his plan. The only thing left is to trust that in our lives. 

The word “identity” has got to be one of the greatest buzzwords of the century. It’s the great search of most every person. Who am I? Or probably better put, who am I meant to be? We could count off at least 5 of the most recent Disney movies that have identity at least tangentially at the heart, or we could cite studies that have been done with statistics of Americans who feel anxious because they don’t know who they are. I could write sermon after sermon about our search for identity. It’s important to know. Your identity is what drives you. It’s where you find your self-worth. It’s where you find your strength. It’s what keeps you going. And this is a text that shares everything. It’s all here. Christ’s identity and yours. It’s here. This text is that huge. 

Join with Pastors Tim Walsh and Paul Bourman as we walk together using the SOAP Bible Study method through John 10:11-18

The Pharisees hit a boiling point as Jesus comes back to Jerusalem. They make an accusation at him as Jesus makes a claim to be the Light of the World. See how he responds! 

In this episode we will use the SOAP Method (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer) to move through John 8:12-20, to move Jesus and his words from our head to our heart!