Church Of The Lost Sheep

'Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”' John 14:6-7 in the New Living Translation Version This is the 8th and last message of this series] In the previous message we opened with the introduction to the first 12 chapters of the Book of John. In this message we will conclude with the remaining nine chapters of this book. Here is the 2nd part of the video summary of the Book of John: At least once in our life let us read all the four gospel books, continue with the Book of Acts and then the rest of the Christian Scriptures. Audio Bible Or we can listen to audio versions, here are links to some of them: Book of Mark Book of Luke Book of Matthew Book of John Book of Acts The Gospel Series  New Believer Series Church of the Lost Sheep Message Series Links Church of the Lost Sheep 2012 Roadmap  (to navi

" In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:1-5 in the Berean Study Bible [This is the 7th message of this series] This will be the 4th and last book of the gospel. It was attributed to the disciple whom Jesus loved, named John. It is distinct from the other three in its presentation and how it presented Jesus of Nazareth. The excerpt above is how this book started... "in the beginning...". Perhaps because of this, many people recommend new believers to read this book first. There is some advantage to heeding this advice.  Each One of Us Is Unique Although each person is unique, this is why there are other books of the gospel message. And personally I would rather recommend t

" Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last. When the Roman officer overseeing the execution saw what had happened, he worshiped God and said, “Surely this man was innocent.” And when all the crowd that came to see the crucifixion saw what had happened, they went home in deep sorrow." Luke 23:46-48 in the New Living Translation Version [This is the 6th message of this series] In the previous message we opened the introduction to the first nine chapters of the Book of Luke. In this message we will conclude with the remaining chapters of this book (chapters 11 to 24). The excerpt above are the entries towards the end of this book. This is the part where the night of sorrow happens, just before the joy of the morning. Here is the 2nd part of the video summation of the Book of Luke: Like all the other books of the gospel, this is not your typical book, every chapter has more to it, each story, each entry ha

' And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. And reports about Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues and was glorified by all. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and according to His custom He entered on the Sabbath day into the synagogue and stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to announce the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away in release those who are oppressed, To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,  the year of jubilee. ” A nd when He rolled up the scroll and gave  it  back to the attendant, He sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your

"Jesus began telling his disciples what would happen to him. He said, “The nation's leaders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law of Moses will make the Son of Man suffer terribly. He will be rejected and killed, but three days later he will rise to life.” Then Jesus explained clearly what he meant." Mark 8:31-32 in the Contemporary English Version [This is the 4th message of this series] We will continue this series and introduce the book written by one of the followers of Jesus, his name is John Mark. The readers of the Christian bible is first introduced to him in Acts 12:12: "Then Peter went to the house of Mary the mother of John whose other name was Mark. Many of the Lord's followers had come together there and were praying." Luke wrote this entry in the Book of Acts, this was when Peter was imprisoned and the disciples were praying for him to be set free. Peter was able to get out of prison, we read tbst he went to the house of John M

'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always,  even  to the end of the age.” Amen.' -Jesus of Nazareth, 1st Century Matthew 28:18b-20 in the New King James Version [This is the 3rd message of this series] In the previous message we opened the discussion of the gospel with the introduction to the first 14 chapters of the Book of Matthew. In this message we will conclude with the last 14 chapters (15 to 28). The excerpt above is the last entry on this book. This is better known as the Great Commission -- the last words of Jesus to His students before He ascended into heaven. Below is the 2nd part of the video summation of the Book of Matthew: Again this book is not just any kind of book, every chapter has more that meets the eye. The mor

" “Blessed are the merciful,     for they shall be shown mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart,     for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers,     for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness,     for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." -Jesus of Nazareth, excerpt from the Sermon on the Mount, 1st century Matthew 5:7-10 in the Tree of Life Version [This is the 2nd message of this series] In this series of lessons we are going more into the gospels -- the stories about Jesus of Nazareth written in the land which Jesus walked for those living far away and for us in the future. Let us watch this summation of the first 13 chapters of the Book of Matthew.  Matthew was a tax collector and if you know anything about tax collectors in that day and time, you wouldn't choose one to be your student, let alone choose one to write your memoirs. But with God, we should always expect the unexpected.

" Jesus answered, “It is written:" Matthew 4:4a in the New International Version To understand why the first followers of Jesus unbelievably dropped everything to follow Christ and even died for the gospel, we need to know what was their condition was at the time, as well as what were the things that took place leading up to that point. Everything that needs to be known about all these things can be known and were written down. It is also written down in the old Jewish Scriptures , although somehow hidden in the stories and the events, and in the biblical characters. If we read the Jewish bible today, then we would say that they pretty much look like a book of fables , myths and legends. They may be, but what makes us believe other myths and legends written in other places at other times, but not those? Most, if not all legends were based in truth . Most of us are just biased and selective  in what we want to believe in. Bible The Christian Scriptures was written much l

"And keep in step with God’s love, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to show how kind he is by giving you eternal life. Be helpful to all who may have doubts. Rescue any who need to be saved, as you would rescue someone from a fire. Then with fear in your own hearts, have mercy on everyone who needs it. But hate even the clothes of those who have been made dirty by their filthy deeds." Jude 1:21-23 in the Contemporary English Version [This is the 7th and last message in this  series ] In the previous messages of this series we talked about the letters of John. In this lesson, we will read and end with the excerpt above, taken from the letter of Jude. We are still talking about the Gospel. The writer of the letter is, as stated on the letter, is Jude, brother of James. This James is a different James from the Apostle James, brother of John. Jude is the brother of James who also wrote letters to the early church in the 1st century). They were both brothers of Jesus.

"And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony . So we have these three witnesses — the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree. Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son." -The Apostle John, writing to the first believers, 1st century 1 John 5:6-9 in the New Living Translation Version [This is the 5th message in this  series ] We shall continue with the first letter of John addressed to the second generation as well as to us, all succeeding generations of believers. We are continuing on with John telling more about the Gospel. In the excerpt above, John is instructing the new batch of believers that Jesus, the Christ -- the Messiah, the Son of Man (and the Son of God) is who He said He is. And He backed

" We love because God loved us first. Whoever says, “I love God,” but hates another believer is a liar. People who don’t love other believers, whom they have seen, can’t love God, whom they have not seen. Christ has given us this commandment: The person who loves God must also love other believers." -The Apostle John, writing to the first believers, 1st century 1 John 4:19-21 in God's Word Version [This is the 4th message in this  series ] We shall continue with the letter of John addressed to the second generation as well as succeeding generations of believers. We are continuing on with John explaining more about the Gospel. In the excerpt above taken from John's first letter, he is telling the new batch of believers that Jesus, the Christ told them He left them with two commandments -- to love God and to love others (in actual practice). In Practice Not Just Theory One cannot say they love God when they do not love other believers. John is trying to illustrat

"Think how much the Father loves us. He loves us so much that he lets us be called his children, as we truly are. But since the people of this world did not know who Christ is, they don’t know who we are. My dear friends, we are already God’s children, though what we will be hasn’t yet been seen. But we do know that when Christ returns, we will be like him, because we will see him as he truly is.This hope makes us keep ourselves holy, just as Christ is holy." -The Apostle John, writing to the first believers, 1st century 1 John 3:1-3 in The English Standard Version [This is the 3rd message in this  series ] We shall continue with the letter of John addressed to the first believers (or the second generation of believers) where he was elaborating on what the gospel is all about. In its simplest form, the Gospel is the story of Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Promised Messiah, the Christ, Savior of the world as prophesied for hundreds of years. And as we read from the excer

"My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world." -The Apostle John, writing to the first believers, 1st century 1 John 2:1-2 in The New Living Translation Version [This is the 2nd message in this  series ] The Gospel is the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth. In the previous lesson of this series, we introduced  -the gospel as the story of Jesus, -John, one of the closest followers of Jesus as one of the writers of the four gospel stories, and  -that He wrote three letters to the first believers. As we read in the excerpt above taken from his first letter, John is telling the pioneers of the faith that he was writing them so that they will not sin. No , not that they will not sin. They will. Jesus died to atone fo

"From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!" -The Apostle John, writing to the first believers, 1st century 1 John 1:1-4 in The Message Paraphrase Version [This is the  1st  message in this series ] The gospels were written eye-witness accounts of John, Mark, Matthew and Luke --  contemporaries of Jesus of Nazareth. Of the four, John was one of a three (him, his brother James and Peter) who was with J

"God wants everyone to be saved and to know the whole truth, which is, There is only one God, and Christ Jesus     is the only one who can bring us     to God. Jesus was truly human, and he gave himself     to rescue all of us. God showed us this     at the right time." 1 Timothy 2:4-6 [This is the 24th message in  this series ] There is a song, a modern worship song that sounds like an old hymn and the second verse of this song goes like this... ' Behold the man upon a cross, My sin upon His shoulders; Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice Call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held Him there Until it was accomplished; His dying breath has brought me life – I know that it is finished' The first and  third verses of this song complete our redemption story. And it is all about God's love for us, and reminds us of our sins which was the reason why Christ was up on that cross, from the third to the ninth hour that first Good Friday. -- secu

' But we wanted you to have the true message. That’s why we didn’t give in to them, not even for a second. Some of them were supposed to be important leaders, but I didn’t care who they were. God doesn’t have any favorites! None of these so-called special leaders added anything to my message. They realized that God had sent me with the good news for Gentiles, and that he had sent Peter with the same message for Jews. God, who had sent Peter on a mission to the Jews, was now using me to preach to the Gentiles. James, Peter, and John realized that God had given me the message about his undeserved kindness. And these men are supposed to be the backbone of the church. They even gave Barnabas and me a friendly handshake. This was to show that we would work with Gentiles and that they would work with Jews.' -the Apostle Paul writing to the first Christians in Galatia, 1st century Galatians 2:5-9 [This is the 14th message of this series ] With the help of the Holy Spirit, we hav

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.” -Jesus of Nazareth written by Matthew, 1st century This is the 8th message of this series ] In the preceding messages, we've learned about how the first followers of Jesus finally believed Him and also how succeeding believers after them were able to do the same. Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow and this is why Christianity is still here after 2,000 years, and even after all the persecution and attempts to silence it. [Gamaliel had the right idea when he said something like if this is from human origin then it will die a natural death, like all the

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene 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

The Resurrection of Christ "Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. And last of all He appeared to me also, as to one of untimely birth. For I am the least of the apostles and am unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked hard

"For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but that I [give new life and] raise it up at the last day.  For this is My Father’s will and purpose, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him [as Savior] will have eternal life, and I will raise him up [from the dead] on the last day.” -Jesus of Nazareth, 1st century John 6:38-40 [6th message of the New Believer Series] In the first century, multitudes of people -- thousands, came from in and around the Galilean, Samarian and Judean countryside to listen to Jesus of Nazareth speak about the Kingdom of God. For about three years, He gave many compelling speeches, told story after story and shared words of wisdoms that His fame grew day by day and He attracted more and more listeners and followers. In the middle of this (feeding) frenzy came the great falling away. This happe