September 8, 2013 | John Bayles | The First Discourse: You Must Be Born Again (Part 1) | John 3:1-21

In this remarkable exchange, Jesus gently, but clearly outlines the elements of what it is to be born again. More than a simple personal decision, or embracing the religion of a parent or spouse as stated in the last chapter (1:13), Jesus tells an inquiring Pharisee, Nicodemus, that regeneration is the entry point to the Kingdom of God.

September 1, 2013 | John Bayles | The New Temple (John 2:12-25)

What did they see that day? That day in the temple when that huge display took place. Was it that crazy man going off in the temple? An insurrectionist, a militant, a fool? What a spectacle it was, whipping people and cattle, loosing birds from their cages, turning tables over, shouting threats, claiming that the temple was his own property and claiming to be God's son. Or was it a vivid mark of a new age beginning. An age in which a sacrificial system was being replaced for a sacrificed person. And age in which a place of worship, the temple, was being replaced with a person to be worshiped.