The Conquering Lamb - John 11:45-12:19

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Date:  08/31/14
Speaker:  Matt McCullough
Title:  The Conquering Lamb
Scripture:  John 11:45-12:19

Description:  These three stories point us to the irony we have to recognize if we want to understand Jesus and what it means to follow him: he is the death-defeating king who conquers by dying, the champion who wins by losing, the one who gains his glorious throne by embracing the shameful cross.

Death, Resurrection, And The Glory Of Jesus (Part 2) - John 11:1-44

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Date:  08/24/14
Speaker:  Matt McCullough
Title:  Death, Resurrection, And The Glory Of Jesus (Part 2)
Scripture:  John 11:1-44

Description:  To see the glory of Jesus, to fully believe in him and rest in his power, we must see him in light of the problem he came to solve, the problem of death. And when we’ve seen the glory of Jesus, when we’ve tasted the sweetness of what he offers by his life, death, and resurrection, we come to see the problem of death in a whole new light.

Death, Resurrection, And The Glory Of Jesus (Part 1) - John 11:1-44

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Date:  08/17/14
Speaker:  Matt McCullough
Title:  Death, Resurrection, And The Glory Of Jesus (Part 1)
Scripture:  John 11:1-44

Description:  If we want to understand the full significance of Jesus and what he came to do for us, we have to look squarely at the awful reality of death. It’s in the context of this most basic human problem that the glory of Jesus shines most brightly.

The Good Life and the Good Shepherd - John 10:1-21

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Date:  08/03/14
Speaker:  Matt McCullough
Title:  The Good Life and the Good Shepherd
Scripture:  John 10:1-21

Description:  Jesus claims that he is the door into the good life—a life of safety and satisfaction. He claims that everyone else offering the good life will ultimately bleed you dry, not fill you up. And he claims that he will deliver where all others fall short because he is the Good Shepherd who loves his sheep enough to die for them and who’s powerful enough to conquer death for them.

Neither Do I Condemn You - John 7:53-8:11

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Date:  06/29/14
Speaker:  Matt McCullough
Title:  Neither Do I Condemn You
Scripture:  John 7:53-8:11

Description:  Though most agree this famous story doesn’t belong in John’s Gospel, it stands as a vivid and beautiful illustration of the Bible’s consistent and clear message: sin is a universal problem (and not just someone else’s problem), but it is no match for the liberating power of Jesus’s grace.

Power and Purpose - John 6:1-15

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Date:  05/18/14
Speaker:  Matt McCullough
Title:  Power and Purpose
Scripture:  John 6:1-15

Description:  Like Matthew, Mark and Luke, John gives us the story of the feeding of the 5,000, where Jesus turns a glorified snack into a full meal for a massive crowd of hungry people. It’s a story meant to demonstrate that Jesus has power that isn’t limited by rigid laws of nature, that in him we catch a glimpse of a new world breaking into the somber limitations of this old one. But John also means this story to provide a sign of Jesus’s purpose. He will use his power not necessarily to give us what we want but to give us what we need above all else.

How Can You Believe? - John 5:30-47

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Date:  05/11/14
Speaker:  Matt McCullough
Title:  How Can You Believe?
Scripture:  John 5:30-47

Description:  In this dialogue with those who opposed him, having just claimed to be equal with God, Jesus points to the evidence that supports his claim. But his main focus is explaining why those who’ve seen the evidence still don’t believe in him. If we believe based on what we want, and if we want the respect and praise of other people, we’ll never believe in Jesus. But if we want the approval of God more than the approval of other people, Jesus becomes beautiful to us.