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This afternoon, Pastor Martin looks at the first few verses of chapter 14 and how the Apostle Paul emphasizes spiritual gifts for the benefit of corporate worship.

This Sunday, in John 6 Jesus reiterates his offer of salvation to the grumbling Jews. Their grumbling and refusal to come to Christ showed they were not the objects of divine grace they thought they were. Their grumbling and unbelief did not change the mission of what Jesus came to do, which was to give himself as a sacrifice for sin so to provide eternal life to all who believed in him.

This Sunday, Pastor Martin returns to the Gospel of John, which happens to be itself a superb “Christmas” text. Jesus is the one who has come down from heaven. Are we those taught of God, who believe, or are we those who grumble and stumble at the humility of the Christ God has sent?

This Sunday, Pastor Martin’s message will again focus on the incarnation by looking at the Old Testament prophecies concerning the birth of the Messiah. We will look at Isaiah 7:14 in the context of Isaiah 7 and 8. This prophecy is explicitly cited by Matthew in his Gospel, and lies behind the assumptions of the Gospels of Luke and John: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

The next several Sundays of Christmas Advent, Pastor will focus his sermons on prophecies of the Messiah. This Sunday, he is preaching on Micah 5, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

In the afternoon message, Pastor Martin continues to work his way through the chapter of 1 Corinthians 13.

This mornings message comes from Colossians 2:12–13, where Paul calls the believers to remember the great spiritual reality signified in their baptism. Even as baptism declares that we have put saving faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, it also portrays the great work of Christ in us. Paul wants us to remember our baptism, especially for the significance of that work, such that we live in light of it.

This Sunday, we’re back in John 6. Verses 38 through 40 are the ground of what Jesus taught in v 37. We have in these verses the unfolding of Christ’s wonderful promise, "Whoever comes to me I will never cast out." In Christ our salvation is secure, for it rests not on us, but on him and his grace. Jesus himself will accomplish our salvation. Jesus will bring us all the way through to the resurrection on the last day.

This Sunday, we continue to hear the words of Jesus in the “Bread of Life Discourse.” This Sunday, verses 36 & 37 are before us. The title of the sermon is “John’s Golden Chain,” because these verses (and especially 37) in John bear such a striking similarity to the ideas in Romans 8:29–30, the verses in Paul known by saints “The Golden Chain.”

This Sunday, we are back in John 6 and the “Bread of Life” discourse. This week, in our text Jesus calls himself “the true bread from heaven,” the “bread of God,” and “the bread of life.” The metaphor not only points back to the feeding of the five thousand, but to God’s provision of manna to Israel in the wilderness. The promise is glorious. Those who come to Jesus and believe him never hunger and never thirst.