John presents Jesus Christ as God in human flesh. John presents Christ as the Messiah of Israel. John presents Christ as the Savior of the world. That's John's purpose in this gospel. And in the gospel of John, Jesus appears before the people of Israel to make His claims to be their Messiah. As we have seen, they have rejected His claims even though again and again Jesus has made them and corroborated them, there have been a few in Israel who have believed, but not many...a small number. Most have rejected Him. God deeply and greatly loved Israel and still loves Israel. God loves the Jew. He made His own Son of Jewish birth. His chosen people is still Israel. And God still has things for Israel. We believe that the nation that blesses Israel will be blessed and the nation that curses Israel will be cursed.

Have you ever noticed how different the individual members of the same family can be? One child may be melancholy while another is a live wire. One may be especially gifted in music, and another, who has no interest in music, may excel in sports. In some cases they look nothing like each other or even their parents. Yet the members of a family share a bond stronger than their differences.

In the same way, within the Body of Christ churches develop their own unique personalities. Some may insist on formal worship services, while others thrive in a relaxed atmosphere. But the most important thing about a church isn't the superficial things that make it different, but what it has in common with other Christian assemblies.

All people like to be happy– to be exhilarated with joy, to feel good, and to be on top of everything. There's nothing wrong with that. God wants joyous, excited, happy, and uplifted people. The problem lies in how happiness is generated. Some people think they'll find it in a liquor bottle or in a narcotic. But neither of those is the Christian's source of joy.

Ephesians 5:18 says, "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation." Paul doesn't try to prove that drunkenness is incompatible with Christianity, he simply gives the command. Once a person becomes a Christian, he says goodbye to the life he once lived in drunken debauchery– the party life is to have no place in a believer's life.

n this Age of Show Business, truth is irrelevant; what really matters is whether we are entertained. Substance counts for little; style is everything. In the words of Marshall McLuhan, the medium is the message. Unfortunately, that kind of thinking rules the church as surely as it does the world.

If you’ve been a parent for any time at all, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that your child came into the world with an insatiable faculty for evil. Even before birth, your baby’s little heart was already programmed for sin and selfishness. The inclination toward depravity is such that, given free reign, every baby has the potential to become a monster.

Obviously over the last number of weeks we have on Sunday nights been addressing issues that are on our minds and hearts at this time in our nation when we had been subjected to terrorists’ attacks. I’m trying to keep up with all of the nuances, all of the twists and turns in the road as we go and try to shed some biblical light on the issues at hand.

One of the new features in our country in recent weeks is this obsession with “God Bless America.” In itself certainly a nice tune and a well-crafted song that was sung on many occasions for many years in our country, but now has become our sort of new national anthem, if not, our national prayer. And apparently from all that I can tell, as I see the emotion that is attached with the singing of the song, there is not just symbolism here. There is not just shallow sentimentality. I get the feeling that Americans really want God’s blessing, and by that they mean protection. Blessing means, “God, don’t let me die.” It means, “Don’t let my children die…don’t let my spouse die.” It means, “God, don’t let the stock market keep going the way it’s going.” “God, stop the decline in unemployment.” “God, maintain our freedoms, don’t put us in a position so we have to make all kinds of laws against terrorism that wind up impinging upon our cherished liberties.”

Can the church fight apathy and materialism by feeding people’s appetite for entertainment? Evidently many in the church believe the answer is yes, as church after church jumps on the show-business bandwagon. It is a troubling trend that is luring many otherwise orthodox churches away from biblical priorities.

Church buildings are being constructed like theatres. Instead of a pulpit, the focus is a stage. Some feature massive platforms that revolve or rise and fall, with colored lights and huge sound boards. Shepherds are giving way to media specialists, programming consultants, stage directors, special effects experts, and choreographers.