Pastor Jack's Corner
Jack Patrick, CPC Pastor
FOOD
FOR OUR LENTEN SOULS Lent began on Ash Wednesday, February 17 th and there are seven weeks in this season of reflection and remembrance of our savior’s sacrifice on Good Friday.
We need nourishment to help become strong, and energy for endurance in the growth asked of us from our Lord.
This year we will use the Gospel of John as our food source. John is filled with 7’s.
A. Titles for Jesus:
1. Word of God (1: 14)
2. Lamb of God (1: 9, 36)
3. Messiah (1: 41)
4. Son of God (1: 49)
5. King of Israel (1: 49)
6. Savior of the World (4: 42)
7. My Lord and my God (20: 28)
B. Seven Signs of who Jesus is:
1. Water to wine (2: 1 – 11) Master of Creation
2. Cure of Nobleman’s son (4: 46 – 54) Master of Distance, Space
3. Cure of Paralytic (5: 46 – 54) Master of Time
4. Feeding of the 5,000 (6: 6 – 13) Master of Quantity
5. Walking on water (6: 16 – 21) Master over Natural Law
6. Sight to the blind (9: 1 – 7) Master over Misfortune
7. Raising of Lazarus (11: 1 – 45) Master of Death
C. The Seven “I AM” Statements:
1. Bread of Life (6: 35) Satisfies our deepest spiritual hunger
2. Light of the World (8: 12) Illuminates our dark world
3. Door of the Sheep (10: 7) The only entrance into God’s family
4. Good Shepherd (10: 11) Personal concern for each of the flock
5. Resurrection and the Life (11: 25) Conquers death providing eternal life
6. The Way, the Truth and the Life (14: 6) Hope for the lost sinner,
and assurance of going home for the believer
7. True vine (15: 1) We can be productive attached to the true vine
D. Decisive moments:
1. 2: 4 – My hour has not yet come
2. 4: 21, 23 – The hour is coming … for worship in spirit and in truth
3. 5: 25, 28 – The hour is coming … to hear his voice
4. 7: 8, 30 – No one laid hands on him because his hour had not yet come
5. 8: 20 – No one arrested him because his hour had not yet come
6. 12: 23, 27 – The hour has come for the son of man to be glorified
7. 13: 1; 17: 1 – Jesus knows it is the hour of departure from the world;
THE HOUR ----- “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son that the son may glorify you.”
Using the Gospel of John, we can focus upon Jesus. One way to make it interesting for you is to pick a topic from each category and read the passage to get a sense of the person of Jesus. Like when the Chinese restaurants first came out with ‘Pick one from Column A, one from Column B’, you can choose one from each of the four categories to look at each week.
My prayer is that all of our Lenten preparation will be blessed by Jesus as we spend time with him in private and corporate worship. Praise to our King of Kings, our Savior, and our Lord!