LORD of the Storm
LORD of the Storm
John 6:16-21
Rev. Bruce Brown
I. Jesus' Disciples in the Storm (verses 16-18)
II. Jesus' Dominion over the Storm (verses 19-20)
III. Jesus' Deliverance through the Storm (verse 21)
"Trial... is part of the diet which all true Christians must expect. It is one of the means by which their grace is proved, and by which they find out what there is in themselves. Winter as well as summer -- cold as well as heat -- clouds as well as sunshine -- are all necessary to bring the fruit of the Spirit to ripeness and maturity." ~ J.C. Ryle
Christ the Provider
Christ the Provider
John 6:1-15
Rev. Bruce Brown
I. The Setup that Purposed His Plan (verses 1-6)
II. The Lack that Proved His Power (verses 7-11)
III. The Instruction that Provided a Principle (verses 12-13)
IV. The Provision the People Missed (verses 14-15, 51)
“Naturally in almost anything I offer to Christ, my reaction would be, “What is the good of that?” The point is, the use he makes of it is none of my business; it is his business, it is his blessing. So this grief, this loss, this suffering, this pain – whatever it is, which at the moment is God’s means of testing my faith and bringing me to the recognition of who he is – that is the thing I can offer.” ~ Elisabeth Elliot
Prosperity Presbyterian Church - 704-875-1182
5533 PPC Drive
Charlotte NC 28269
The Christian Sabbath
John 5:9-18
Rev. Bruce Brown
May 7, 2017
I. Missing the Point of Sabbath (John 5:9-10, 16, 18)
II. The Christian Sabbath (Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:8-11; Isaiah 58:13-14)
III. Enjoying Christ's Rest (John 5:17-18; Matthew 11:28-29)
John 5:9-18 (ESV) -- 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews[a] said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” 18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
“New graces ever gaining from this our day of rest, we reach the rest remaining to spirits of the blest. We sing to you our praises, O Father, Spirit, Son; the church its voice upraises to you, blest Three in One.” -- Hymn – O Day of Rest and Gladness
Prosperity Presbyterian Church, 5533 PPC Drive, Charlotte, NC 28269 - 704-875-1182 ext. 4
Sunday Worship Service is at 10:00 AM -- Come and worship with us.
Receiving the Testimony of the Father
John 5:31-47
Rev. Bruce Brown
April 23, 2017
I. John the baptist and Miracles (verses 31-36)
II. The Witness of scripture (verses 37-40)
III. Missing the Message (verses 41-47)
John 5:31-47 (ESV)
31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. 33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from people. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
“There is more here than first meets the eye. Self – glorification will keep us from the truth, and in fact any moral deficiency is capable of doing so. Finding the truth is as much a matter of the heart as of the mind… So when we come to the Scriptures, there must be a yielding of our lives, a focus not on self but on God. Then we will be able to hear what the Scriptures have to say to us.” R. Kent Hughes
Prosperity Presbyterian Church, 5533 PPC Drive, Charlotte, NC 28269 - 704-875-1182 ext 4.
That All May Honor the Son
John 5:19-30
Rev. Bruce Brown
Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017
I. Like Father, Like Son (verses 19-20)
II. Life In Himself (verses 21, 24-26)
III. Lord of All (verses 22, 27-30)
John 5:19-30 (ESV)
19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father[a] does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
“Life is the highest and greatest gift that can be bestowed. It is precisely that thing that man, with all his cleverness, can neither give to the work of his hands, nor restore when taken away. But life, we are told, is in the hands of the Lord Jesus, to bestow and give at His discretion. Dead bodies and dead souls are both alike under His dominion. He has the keys of death and hell. In Him is life. He is the life.” ~ J.C. Ryle
Sunday Service 10:00 AM
Prosperity Presbyterian Church
5533 PPC Drive
Charlotte NC 28269
704-875-1182
Established in 1789
When Jesus Rolls Up His Sleeves
PALM SUNDAY
John 5:1-18
Rev. Bruce Brown
April 9, 2017
I. Jesus Restores a Paralytic (verses 1-9)
II. Jesus Disturbs the Jewish Leaders (verses 10-13)
III. Jesus Claims All Authority (verses 14-18)
John 5:1-18 (ESV)
The Healing at the Pool on the Sabbath
5 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic[a]called Bethesda,[b] which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.[c] 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews[d] said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
Jesus Is Equal with God
18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
“Now, when Jesus did this miracle on theSabbath and commandedthe paralytic to carry his bed on the Sabbath, he widened the breach between the Pharisees and himself. At that time the Pharisees decided they were going to have to do away with Jesus. So humanly speaking, our Lord sealed his death warrant with this miracle. It sent him to the cross. He loved the paralytic that much. He loves us that much.” R. Kent Hughes
From Faith to Faith
April 2, 2017
John 4:43-54
Rev. Bruce Brown
I. Jesus Tests an Imperfect Faith (verses 43-48)
II. Jesus Strengthens a Growing Faith (verses 49-50)
III. Jesus Confirms a Proven Faith (verses 51-54)
John 4:43-54 (ESV)
43 After the two days he departed for Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.
46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you[a] see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.51 As he was going down, his servants[b] met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour[c] the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household.54This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.
“Let us settle it firmly in our minds, that there is a meaning, a needs-be, and a message from God, in every sorrow that falls upon us. There are no lessons so useful as those learned in the school of affliction. There is no commentary that opens up the Bible so much as sickness and sorrow. "No chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous--nevertheless afterward it yields peaceable fruit." (Heb. 12:11.) The resurrection morning will prove, that many of the losses of God's people were in reality eternal gains.” J.C. Ryle
A Hungry Savior
March 26, 2017
Rev. Bruce Brown
John 4:27-42
I. The Woman's Work (verses 27-30)
II. Jesus' Food (verses 31-38)
III. A Savior Revealed (verses 39-42)
John 4:27-42
27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word.42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” (ESV)
“Jesus is the glorious Son of God and Savior of the World whose food is to accomplish God’s purpose, namely, to be food that gives eternal life. He doesn’t need life-giving food; he is life-giving food. He sows the world, and he reaps eternal life. May God give you eyes to see his glory and treasure him over all.”
John Piper