December 21, 2014 | Pastor John Bayles | Fourth Sunday of Advent: Jesus, the Suffering Servant | Hebrews 12:1-4

How often do we interpret the life of Jesus from the vantage point of how we perceive our own life? Jesus was a man like us. He “endured such opposition from sinful men” (Heb. 12:3). We know from the Scriptures that He “suffered when He was tempted” (Heb. 2:18) and that “...we have One Who was tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Heb. 4:15). We can identify in a very worldly way with our Savior. However, though Jesus shared the humanity that we understand, it is wrong to believe that He experienced it as we do. Jesus’ visitation in the flesh was not at all common or even similar to us. Basically, He was like us in the flesh, but we are not like Him.

December 7, 2014 | Pastor John Bayles | Second Sunday Of Advent: What A Great Grace Is Mine! | Ephesians 2:1-10

The sentiment has been expressed throughout the ages that if we do not first understand how miserable our condition was and how far we actually were from God, we will not fully appreciate how great the benefits to us are of the cross. As has been the case throughout all of history, our present culture wants to think about the goodness of man, the greatness of man, the kindness of man. In fact it is believed by most that if treated well, fed well, and given equal freedom and comforts, mankind would never turn to evil naturally.