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In 2 Kings 5:1-19, Naaman, commander of the Syrian army, travels into enemy territory to be healed of leprosy. Naaman nearly didn’t experience healing when he stormed away in proud anger when the prophet Elisha told him to wash himself in the dirty Jordan river seven times. But the path for salvation always requires humility. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Have you experienced God’s saving work in your life through humble repentance and faith? When Naaman discovers he has been completely healed, he is stunned and realizes the God of Israel is the one true God. He alone is to be feared, obeyed, and worshipped. Do you know this? Does your life show that?

Probably no other passage is more descriptive of the church in action than Ephesians 4. Ephesians breaks into two segments of three chapters each. Ephesians 1-3 is the gospel story. Ephesians 4-6 explains how the gospel story should be lived out together as a church. How are we, as Christ’s church, to live, serve, and grow together? The surprising answer is, “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:2-3). This unity, built on core doctrine (4:4-6) overflows into service towards one another that builds up (4:7-16). 

When the church walks in a manner worthy of the calling to which they’ve been called (4:1), they are the answer to Jesus’ prayer in John 17:20-23. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

If you’ve never considered the dragon at Christmas, you’re missing how John presents the birth of Christ in the apocalyptic book of Revelation. Revelation 12 looks at Christ’s incarnation of Jesus from a global, cosmic perspective. The dragon becomes a central part of the Christmas story, as it depicts one of the purposes of the incarnation — the defeat of Satan. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). 

The dragon bears the title of "ancient serpent” (Revelation 12:9, 20:2) calling to mind the time when he devoured Adam and Eve in the garden, tempting them to disbelieve the Word of God and disobey God’s command. From that time Satan has engaged in war to prevent the fulfillment of God’s promise that the seed of the woman would crush his own head. What the dragon could not prevent was the birth of a champion-king dragon slayer — “the name by which he is called is The Word of God” (Revelation 19:13). This is the one of whom John said in John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

Listen to the following sermon to discover the meaning of Revelation 12 as we consider the sign of the woman, the sign of the dragon, the male child, God’s power to preserve, and the dragon’s defeat.

In Genesis 11 people gathered to build a tower and a city rather than disperse as God instructed them. This event reveals humanity’s propensity for self-exaltation (tower) and self-preservation (a city). In God’s wise sovereignty, he has used the confusion of languages to disperse and protect us rather than destroy us. In Acts 2 we get a glimpse of God miraculously reversing the linguistic barriers to allow people from every nation to hear the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. We are then given a future glimpse of God’s redemptive plan in Revelation 5:9-10 where “they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” God’s plan for the nations has always been the church, one kingdom and one unified people in Christ.

On Sunday, we learned from Daniel 6, how Daniel's habit and dependance on God through prayer enabled him to live faithfully as an exile. We, too are exiles — citizens of Heaven who live in a sin cursed world. As exiles in this world, Daniel 6 teaches us that we must cultivate a life of prayer for three reasons:

• To live with faithfulness to our calling and to the word of God (vs. 1-5).
• To live in communion with God (v. 10).
• To live with victory over trials.

In Luke 15, Jesus teaches a trilogy of parables. In each parable, something is lost (a sheep, a silver coin, a wayward child). In each parable, there is also great rejoicing (the shepherd, the woman, the father). In the third parable, the wayward son returns home and is joyfully received by and restored to the father. The older son, however, who remained geographically near is also distant from the father, and Jesus does not say whether he was ultimately restored to a close relationship with the father, or not. It’s designed to make us wonder. The father meets both sons in their need — he sees the younger son far off and runs to him, and he notices the older son is not in the house so he goes outside to entreat him. The unconditional love of the father is what is highlighted as he relates with both sons.

To younger wayward children, the invitation is to come home to the father. He is watching and waiting to receive you. To older children who have remained geographically near the father through religion or morality (Luke 15:1-2), the invitation is to come inside with the father. In both cases, the need is to be rightly related to the father. Thankfully, Jesus truly is a friend of tax collectors and sinners!

King Solomon enjoyed honor, fame, and extraordinary wealth as arguably one of Ancient Israel's greatest kings. While everyone bowed to him, there was one person to whom he bowed — his mother, Bathsheba (1 Kings 2:19). In Proverbs 1 Solomon specifically warns the reader not to forsake their mother's teaching. Motherhood is one of God's ordained means to teach children in the "fear of the Lord" (Prov. 1:7).

In Ephesians 4 we find three attributes or attitudes that are necessary to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace - humility, gentleness, and meekness.

It's important to understand unity does not hinge on uniformity or unanimity. Nor does disagreement demand disunity. Doctrine rightly divided does divide, but it should divide between believers and unbelievers, between false teachers and teachers of truth — not between Christians who land on different yet faithful interpretations of scripture (where different interpretations are understandable and permitted because they are not fundamental core doctrines). Sadly, some doctrines divide that shouldn’t divide. First Timothy 1:1-7, “As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, (different doctrine, not false doctrine but different. Non-essential, heterodox teachings — teaching logical extensions of truth as truth itself).

Let us renew our commitment to be walking with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Goodbyes are difficult and often a source of sorrow. In John 16:16-22 the disciples were wrestling with a goodbye of their own as they pondered Jesus's announcement that they will not see him for a little while. Jesus encourages them by giving them a promise. He promises to turn their sorrow into joy (vs. 20). This is the power of the resurrection. The eternal joys offered by God and promised in Christ are rooted in the resurrection of Jesus for all who are united to him by faith.

The "Palm Sunday" events recorded in John 12:9-19 happen shortly after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Jesus enters the city declaring his kingship by fulfilling a prophecy from Zechariah 9:9. Riding into the city on the "colt of a donkey" instead of a war horse showed he is a gentle and lowly king. And yet, He is the powerful king we all need. He alone can overcome the curse and condemnation of death that we deserve.