Epiphany
Gospel of John - Sudden Moments of Revelation
04/16/18 God in the Graveyard
April 16, 2018 • Richard Cimino
This is the FIFTH of the amazing I AM declarations that Jesus made. REMEMBER ��� Whenever Jesus uses the term I AM ��� He is declaring Himself to be the God of Exodus 3. Exodus 3:13-15 3 Then Moses said to God, ���If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ���The God of your fathers has sent me to you,��� and they ask me, ���What is his name?��� what shall I say to them?��� 14 God said to Moses, ���I am who I am..... Say this to the people of Israel, ���I am has sent me to you..... This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. ���I AM the resurrection and the life��� With this 5th I AM declaration ��� Jesus took the subject of resurrection out of the realm of abstract theology and placed it into the personal. With one statement Jesus took the subject of resurrection out of a book and put it into a person ��� Himself.
04/09/18 The Epiphany in the Prelude - Part 2
April 9, 2018 • Richard Cimino
There are thousands of men and women filling seats and pews in countless churches today who say that they ���believe��� in Jesus. But in truth they do not come to Jesus; believe in Jesus; and worship Jesus as the resurrection and the life! They are still looking to and trusting in other things to give them life ��� a husband or wife; a baby; a job; a home; a car. The Bible calls those things idols. They come to Jesus because they see Him as the one who can give them their idols! For them Jesus is not the Resurrection and the Life ��� He is the idol giver! When Jesus asks ��� Do you believe this ��� He means, Do you believe that He is the resurrection and the life in the sense that it moves you to cast yourselves on Jesus Christ as your Savior ��� as the one who alone can give you life and victory over sin and death? THAT is the ONLY kind of faith that unites you with Jesus ��� who IS the resurrection and the life! And THAT is Christianity!
04/02/18 The Epiphany in the Prelude - Part 1
April 2, 2018 • Richard Cimino
By inspiration of the Holy Spirit John records for us SEVEN MIRACLES. In recording these miracles John uses the Greek word ���s��meion��� (say-mi'-on) ��� which means ���SIGN��� ��� because John wants us to know that each miracle was intended to POINT us to and TEACH us something about Jesus; His glory and His Divine Nature, and about the nature of our relationship with Him. The seventh and final sign recorded by John took place only days before Jesus would make His very public entrance into Jerusalem on the Sunday before He would die in our place for our sins. We find it in John 11 where we have the record of Jesus raising a man named Lazarus from the grave. This final sign recorded by John reveals to us the very nature of salvation. This sign should blow up even any sense of clich�� attached to the word ���salvation.��� This miracle screams to us that ���Salvation��� is nothing less than the giving of life to the dead. The structure of the account of this sign is so thorough ��� so layered ��� so nuanced ��� so packed with truth about the nature of Jesus and the nature of our relationship with Him that we just can���t spend one night walking through it. I���m going to call our first run at this sign EPIPHANY IN THE PRELUDE.
03/26/18 Truth for Troubled Hearts
March 26, 2018 • Richard Cimino
Some of us have versions of the Bible where some of the text is in red, instead of black. They stand out on the page from the rest of the words to let us know that every one of those words in red are the words of Jesus. Every word in the Bible is God breathed. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. The words in red should be read! The words in red should be well-read! The words in red should be well-read and re-read! Tonight ��� on the Monday Night before Good Friday ��� we���re going to look at some of the most precious red letters in the Gospel accounts. They are most precious because they are His parting words to His closest friends. He is saying these words to men He���d been with and invested in 24/7 for nearly three years. They are words He spoke to them just before He was arrested, beaten, scourged and crucified.
01/22/18 Water to Wine
January 22, 2018 • Richard Cimino
Tonight we���re launching into a mini-series titled EPIPHANY. Epiphany is a season in the liturgical calendar of the church that centers on the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the world as the Son of God. The church calendar recognizes the season of Epiphany from January 6 until the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday which is celebrated as the Transfiguration of our Lord. The Lord willing we will wrap up this series right before Easter.