A congregation of the PCA in Franklin, NC

Author: David Izquierdo (Page 2 of 8)

The Great Divide March 24, 2024

John 12:37-43 (ESV)

The thing About Faith and Understanding

37: Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,

38: so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

39: Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,

40: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”

41: Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.

The thing About Love and Fear

42: Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;

43: for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

The Fruit of the Passion March 17, 2024

John 12:27-36 (ESV)

The Glory of the Name

27: “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28: Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

The Exaltation of the Son

29: The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30: Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31: Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32: And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33: He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

The Presence of the Truth

34: So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35: Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36: While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.

The Gospel, and the Demands of Discipleship March 10, 2024

John 12:20-26 (ESV)

A Sincere Search

20: Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.

21: So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

A Fruitful Death

22: Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

23: And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

24: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

A Holy Contempt

25: Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

26: If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

“The Love, and Hatred, of the Light” February 25, 2024

John 12:1-11 (ESV)

Devotion

1: Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

2: So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.

3: Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Derision

4: But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said,

5: “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

6: He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.

7: Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.

8: For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

Depravity

9: When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

10: So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well,

11: because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

The Gospel according to Caiaphas February 18, 2024

John 11:45-57 (ESV)

Faith, and the Nature of Fear

45: Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,
46: but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47: Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.
48: If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

54: Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.
55: Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.
56: They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?”
57: Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

Understanding, and the Nature of Prophecy

49: But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all.
50: Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”
51: He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,
52: and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
53: So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

“If, Then” February 11, 2024

Rev. Jim Phillis

Colossians 2:6-3:4 (ESV)

6: Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,

7: rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

8: See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

9: For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

10: and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

11: In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

12: having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

13: And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

14: by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

15: He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

3:1: If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

2: Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

3: For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

4: When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

“Death without Its Sting” February 4, 2024

John 11:38-44 (ESV)

A Manifest Glory

38: Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

39: Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”

40: Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

A Redeeming Prayer

41: So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

42: I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”

A Powerful Command

43: When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”

44: The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Putting Death in Its Place. January 28, 2024

John 11:28-37 (ESV)

Jesus’ Plan

28: When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
29: And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.
30: Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.
31: When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
32: Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Jesus’ Anger

33: When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
34: And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”
35: Jesus wept.

Jesus’ Power

36: So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37: But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

Dr. Flavien Pardigon January 21, 2024

Micah 1 (ESV)

1: The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2: Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.

3: For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.

4: And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.

5: All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?

6: Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards, and I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations.

7: All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste, for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them, and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

8: For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches.

9: For her wound is incurable, and it has come to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.

10: Tell it not in Gath; weep not at all; in Beth-le-aphrah roll yourselves in the dust.

11: Pass on your way, inhabitants of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame; the inhabitants of Zaanan do not come out; the lamentation of Beth-ezel shall take away from you its standing place.

12: For the inhabitants of Maroth wait anxiously for good, because disaster has come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem.

13: Harness the steeds to the chariots, inhabitants of Lachish; it was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel.

14: Therefore you shall give parting gifts to Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel.

15: I will again bring a conqueror to you, inhabitants of Mareshah; the glory of Israel shall come to Adullam.

16: Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair, for the children of your delight; make yourselves as bald as the eagle, for they shall go from you into exile.

The Grim Reaper’s Reaper, January 14, 2024

John 11:17-27 (ESV)

The Reality of Death

17: Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

18: Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off,

19: and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.

20: So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.

The Limitedness of Faith

21: Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

22: But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

23: Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24: Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

The Sufficiency of Christ

25: Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

26: and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

27: She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

« Older posts Newer posts »