Surprising Savior

John 1:1-14

God could have dealt with this world any way he chose. Why send his Son, Jesus, to be misunderstood, mistreated and crucified? Is that any way to save the world? Yes, it was the only way.

#2: Surprising temptation 9-13-09

Matthew 4:1-11

Right before the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus went to the wilderness to fast and pray. There Satan presented him with three temptations. They are not at all common temptations that we would expect. What do they say about Jesus and about us, the ones he came to save?

#3: Surprising loyalties 9-20-09

Luke 4:16-30

Sometimes it seemed that Jesus invited controversy. If the Jews knew one thing, it was that the Messiah, that promised conqueror, was on their side. The first thing Jesus did is to teach that God cares about others as well.

#4: Surprising teachings 9-27-09

Matthew 5:1-12

The beginning of Jesus' most famous sermon lists all those who are greatly blessed by God. They are everybody we do not think of as blessed.

#5: Surprising miracles 10-4-09

Watch the sermon (Pt. 1)

Watch the sermon (Pt. 2)

John 6:1-70

Why was Jesus so reluctant to do miracles at some times and so ready to do them at others? Why didn't he do more miracles to prove he is the Son of God? For that matter, why doesn't God do more miracles today?

#6: Surprising grace 10-11-09

Luke 7:31-50

When most people think of God, they think of how far they fall short of perfect. But when God became one of us, he didn't spend his time telling people how bad they were. Instead, he spoke of God's love, forgiveness and mercy. He always seemed to get along better with the outcasts than the respectable people of society.

#7: Surprising death 10-18-09

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Of all of the surprises that Jesus brought to the world, none was greater than his death. Could one so powerful actually be defeated by the Jewish and Roman authorities? Especially knowing that he is the Son of God, it doesn't make sense. Unless his death was not a defeat after all. We see in the Gospels that this was the plan all along. He was to be the sacrifice for our sins.

#8: Surprising resurrection 10-25-09

1 Corinthians 15:1-28

Did I say no surprise was greater than Jesus' death? (See above). Well, his resurrection was at least as big a surprise, even though he had predicted it and so had prophets from hundreds of years before. This sermon is about the story of the resurrection: Can we believe that Jesus was actually resurrected? If so, what does it mean to us? Why did God resurrect Jesus to live on this earth for forty more days?

#9: The final surprise 11-1-09