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Sounds of the Passion: Shouting Mobs :: John 18:37-19:16

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You never know what will happen when you bring a lot of people together. Sometimes it brings out the best in people, a positive energy that enables people to get things done. But more than likely, researchers find that when people get together in a group, the anonymity of the crowd lowers the bar for personal responsibility. The anonymity of the crowd allows people to make irrational decisions. And before you know it, the group begins to ignore risks, censor dissension, and develop a false sense of communion. A great example is found during Holy Week.  LISTEN TO THE SOUNDS OF THE PASSION FROM A SHOUTING MOB I. Typically, Jerusalem’s population was just 20,000 people. But on weeks like Passover, it blossomed to 200,000. People would camp in the streets. They would camp outside the city walls. They would camp wherever they could find a corner. They would camp together, finding safety in  numbers. It’s no wonder the chief priests and Pharisees feared what would happen if they arr...
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He Has Provided Salvation on the Mountain :: Genesis 22:1-14

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And Abraham called the name of that place, YHWH will provide (v 14).  [Introduction] Scripture was written to tell us about Jesus. As that sign on the wall in the back of the sanctuary says, It’s still all about Jesus! Every word of it. It’s all about how YHWH shows us our salvation. When Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible ... Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, he was writing about Jesus as the promised redeemer who fulfills the Law, who acts as the ultimate sacrifice and completes the story of salvation. It’s all there: His birth, his life, his death, his resurrection. Consider that Genesis 3 promises that the son who crushes sin, death, and the devil will come from the woman (v 15) and that God will cover our sin and shame (v 21). Genesis 37-50 describes his death and resurrection. It tells us that our redeemer will come from Judah, and that there is unconditional forgiveness. Exodus then highlights that God is always with us and that he sets us free...
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Sounds of the Passion: The Rooster’s Crow :: Matthew 26:69-75

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Then [Peter] began to curse himself and swear: I don’t know the man! And immediately, the rooster crowed (v 74). 5. Every once in a while, something happens that really lets us know that we’ve failed. For Peter, it was the moment the rooster crowed. Of all the Sounds of the Passion, hearing the rooster crow must be the most overwhelming. Peter idolized his pride. He cursed and swore he didn’t know Jesus. He despised God’s Word. Then the rooster crowed. Of all the people we would expect this least from, it is Peter. He was willing to take leaps of faith most of us would never think about, let alone try ... you know, like actually dropping his nets and abandoning his $100,000 boat, walking away from the only career he’d ever known, just because Jesus said, Follow me . Don’t we all wish we had that much faith?  Though Peter would become a pillar of the church, he became perhaps the most conflicted disciple. One moment he’ll say he doesn’t want Jesus to wash his feet ... and the next ...
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We Are His Highest Priority :: John 6:1-15

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When the men saw the sign that he did, they said: “This One is truly the Prophet, the One Coming into the world (v 14). [Introduction] Apart from the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, the feeding of the five thousand in the wilderness near the Sea of Galilee is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. That should tell you something about how important this great event is in the life of the church.  THROUGH THE FEEDING OF THE 5,000, OUR LORD TEACHES US THAT HIS HIGHEST PRIORITY IS OUR ETERNAL WELL-BEING Unlike Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the Gospel of John not only specifically associates the feeding of the five thousand with Passover and that it happened on a mountain, the place where heaven and earth meet ... we learn that it is Jesus himself, Jesus alone, who sees a need among the people, fills that need himself personally, and doesn’t wait for his disciples to do it. His highest priority is our eternal well-being. After taking bread and giving thanks, in John’s Gospel, it is Je...
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