How Good Friday Brings People to Know Jesus

John 12:18-33

April 7, 2023 • Brian Jones • John 12:18–33

John 12:18-33 (A Good Friday Message)


18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 


19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”


20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 


21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 


22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.


23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 


24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 


25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 


26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.


27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 


28 Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 


29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.


30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 


31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 


32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 


33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

Romans 5:6-11

June 16, 2024 • Eric Johnson • Romans 5:6–11

Romans 5:6-11 (NIV) 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!  10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!  11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Back from the Dead

March 31, 2024 • Brian Jones • John 20:1–29

John 20:1-29 1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.  2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.  4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.  6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,  7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.  8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.  9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)  10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. 11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb  12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”  14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. 19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”  22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” 24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.  25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Isaiah 53:3-7

March 29, 2024 • Brian Creary • Isaiah 53:3–7

Isaiah 53:3-7 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,   a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces   he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 4 Surely he took up our pain   and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God,   stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,   he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him,   and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,   each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him   the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted,   yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,   and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,   so he did not open his mouth.