Jesus taught that the whole law and the prophets were fulfilled in obeying the two greatest commandments: "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind and with all of your strength" and to "love your neighbor as yourself." In today's message, the Apostle John writes about loving your neighbor (brother) in
1 John 4:20-21. He states that if we claim to love God, but hate our brother, we are a liar and the love of God is not in us. He also writes that love is an action and is demonstrated by what we do for people.

A teacher of the Law has an interaction with Jesus asking Him, which is the most important commandment in God's Word. Jesus answers with two commandments, which summarizes all of the prophets and the Law. Today, we're going to focus on the first command, which is to love God. In our desire to Love More and Love Better, Jesus points out five specific actions to loving God. We can increase our love for God by applying these five actions. Our love directed towards God is the first and greatest commandment.

We start the New Year by focusing on the purpose and reason why the Crescent City Church of Christ exists: "to love God, love people, and love the truth." This is the first message in the "Love More; Love Better" series, which urges us to love one another more and more. The apostle Paul writes to the Thessalonian Christians in 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 to exhort them to increase their love, to lead a peaceful life, to mind their own business, and not to be idle. By obeying these exhortations the believers would establish a good testimony before their non-Christian neighbors, and they would be reliant on nobody except God.

On December 25, we celebrate the birth of Jesus coming into the world, but what was the ultimate purpose of His coming?
In today's message, we seek to address and answer three questions: Why did Jesus come to Earth? Why should we think about His death when we celebrate His birth? Why did Jesus need to die? Watch the video to find out the purpose of Jesus' birth.

Peace is something we all desire. It is one of mankind’s greatest needs and desires. We struggle with fear of the future, conflicts in relationships, financial stress, health problems and so much more. During this time of the year, and in this day and time when anxiety is at an all-time high, peace can seem unlikely. However, God promised to send the Messiah, who would be the Prince of Peace. Jesus Christ is that Messiah. In order to have peace within ourselves and with others, we first needed peace between ourselves and God. The foundation for peace with all of creation is in having a restored relationship with God. So God sent Jesus to restore our relationship with Him. Jesus came as the Prince of Peace to be the One who would finally bring peace to the world, but He would give us peace in a way that the world could not give peace. Jesus came as our Prince of Peace to bring us wholeness, perfect unity between us and God, and other relationships, and a victorious sense of well-being. Jesus Christ is the only reason we can truly live peacefully with God and others. The peace Jesus brings is one that transcends all understanding. It is a peace that comes from knowing that God has everything in control, even when it doesn’t look like it. Jesus brings a peace that helps us to live at peace with God, with mankind, with ourselves, with family, with Christian brothers and sisters, with churches, and even with our enemies.

Jesus concludes His three-part parable, which expresses the desire of God the Father for the lost to be saved. In this third part of the parable, Jesus responds to the mutterings of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law over the fact that Jesus welcomed and ate with tax collectors and "sinners", by telling about a man who had 2 sons and one leaves home squandering his money in rebellious living. After spending all his money, a severe famine hits the country and he becomes so desperate that he hires himself out to a citizen of that country feeding pigs. The young son becomes so hungry that he desires to eat what he is feeding the pigs. Coming to his senses, he realizes how his father's hired men had plenty of food and here he was starving to death.
He decides to go back home, face the consequences, and beg his father to take him back as one of his hired men. This parable has more to do with the father than it does the son and we see how the father compassionately receives his son, but not everyone is happy about his return, his older brother is upset.
The father encourages the older son to celebrate and be happy for his brother was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found. Not only do we find out about the love of God for those who are lost and His joy for those who repent, but we are also challenged to have the same attitude toward the lost as God and to rejoice when sinners are saved.

Jesus expresses, through a three-part parable, the desire of God the Father for the lost to be saved. In the second part of the parable, Jesus responds to the mutterings of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law over the fact that Jesus welcomed and ate with tax collectors and "sinners", by telling about a woman who had 10 silver coins and loses one. Jesus, in an attempt to challenge their hypocrisy and inconsistency, asked them if they would consider doing anything differently than the woman who lit a lamp, swept the house, and searched carefully until she found it, and invited her friends and neighbors to celebrate with her over finding her lost coin.
We see that the lost have value to God and He seeks to find them and greatly rejoices over one sinner who repents. Not only do we find out about the love of God for those who are lost and the joy of God for those who repent. We are also challenged to have the same attitude toward the lost as God and to rejoice when sinners are saved.

In today's message, the apostle Paul helps us to learn three steps that can help us transform into more content and thankful people. Why is it that we are not as thankful as we should be? I believe that the answer to that question is that we have not yet discovered the secret of contentment. Paul had learned the secret of being content in any and every circumstance in his life through drawing upon God's strength, depending on God's promises, and depositing into the spiritual accounts of others. Let's listen in as Paul shares the secret of contentment that will help to unlock gratitude in our hearts.

Jesus expresses, through a three-part parable, the desire of God the Father for the lost to be saved. In the first part of the parable, Jesus responds to the mutterings of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law over the fact that Jesus welcomed and ate with tax collectors and "sinners", by telling about a person who had 100 sheep and lost one. Jesus, in an attempt to challenge their hypocrisy and inconsistency, asked them if they would consider doing anything differently than the man who left the 99 sheep in the open country to go search for the lost sheep until he found it, and joyfully brought it home, and invited his neighbors and friends to celebrate with him over finding his lost sheep. Not only do we find out about the love of God for those who are lost but also the joy of God for those who repent. We are also challenged to have the same attitude toward the lost as God and to rejoice when sinners are saved.

Jesus encourages the crowds of people who think that they want to be His disciples to count the cost of not being a disciple versus the cost of being a disciple. Jesus makes it very clear that there is a cost to following Him. You will have to re-prioritize the relationships in your life and put Jesus first, you will have to sacrifice yourself and your desires, and you will have to relinquish your control over your worldly possessions.
Following Christ is not cheap, nor is it easy,
but it is well worth the cost.

Jesus tells a parable of a man who invited many people to a banquet to which three men make excuses as to why they cannot attend. The lesson is about people who try to delay or resist responding to Jesus' invitation to salvation by making excuses. Jesus says that if people reject His invitation they will be rejected for entrance into His kingdom.
Don't make excuses, do what is required of you in response to the invitation.

David wrote Psalm 19 to declare God's greatness through His creation and His Word and through people's hearts. God reveals Himself to mankind as Creator through creation, Instructor through Scripture, and Redeemer through daily experiences.
We see the contrast between the infinite God and finite man in this psalm.

After healing the man suffering from dropsy at the home of a Pharisee, Jesus saw how the guests were picking the places of honor at the table and was moved to tell a parable that illustrated the people's desire to seek honor. Jesus mentions that there are two ways that people seek out honor: through arrogance or through humility. Jesus encourages the guests to humbly seek out the lesser places of honor, rather than picking the places of honor so that the host won't humiliate them in the presence of the other guests by making them give up the place of honor to someone more distinguished than them. It is better to choose a lower place of honor and have the host move you up to a better place and be honored in front of the other guests. The main point that Jesus makes is that "those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted."
Then Jesus tells the host that whenever he gives a banquet not to invite those whom he knows will repay him by inviting him to a dinner in return, but to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, who cannot repay him, and he would be repaid by the blessing of the resurrection of the righteous.

Jesus is invited to eat at the home of a prominent Pharisee, where a man suffering from dropsy has been planted as bait to see if Jesus would heal him on the Sabbath.
The Pharisee and the experts in the law are watching Him closely to see if He takes the bait. Jesus, however, sees through the setup and turns the tables back on them.
Knowing their thoughts and intentions, Jesus asks them if it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not. They remain silent, because Jesus put them in a position where if they say yes it is lawful, it undermines their condemnation of people who have violated their laws regarding the Sabbath and if they say no it is not lawful, it brings up questions regarding their motive for inviting the man suffering dropsy to attend the meal if they would prevent him from being healed. Either way, they would make Jesus look good and make themselves look bad. Jesus' point is that it is lawful to do good to others on the Sabbath by pointing out that if their son or ox falls into a well on the Sabbath they wouldn't hesitate to pull him out.

As Jesus is on His journey to Jerusalem from Galilee, He is met by some Pharisees who bring some ungodly opposition in an attempt to derail Him from His mission. However, Jesus is determined to continue doing the things that God sent Him to do until He reaches Jerusalem to fulfill His purpose of dying on the cross to save mankind from their sins. Jesus grieves over the response of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who are unwilling to accept Jesus as their Savior, Lord, and King. Jesus shows us three ways to respond to ungodly opposition that we face when we are doing what is right.

In our text of Luke 13:22-30, Jesus continues traveling to Jerusalem from Galilee on the way to the cross to pay the price for mankind's sins. A person comes to Him and asks a question which Jesus answers by inviting people to examine their lives and be sure of their standing with God.
Those who are saved will be the people who accept the gospel invitation and enter the kingdom of God through the narrow door (Jesus Christ). His answer focuses on two categories of people: those outside the door and those who are on the inside.
Jesus warns against being excluded from the kingdom of God and urges people to make every effort to enter the kingdom through the narrow door before it is closed and they suffer the judgment of God against their sins. Jesus opens the door to salvation by His death and resurrection. He stated that He is "the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father [enters the kingdom] except through me." (John 14:6)

Jesus illustrates the small beginnings of the kingdom of God and its abundant growth and spreading influence through the world and history by telling two parables: the mustard seed and leaven. The first parable deals with outward growth and the second deals with inward growth.

Today's message takes place on a Sabbath day in one of the synagogues where Jesus is teaching. A woman, who has been afflicted by an evil spirit with a spinal disorder that causes her to be bent over and unable to straighten up for eighteen years, gets the attention of Jesus, and out of His compassion for her, He heals her, setting her free of the infirmity that Satan has kept her bound. Instead of being happy for this woman, the synagogue leader becomes indignant with Jesus, because He healed on the Sabbath. Jesus then has an interaction with the leader over the absurdity of his arguments for prohibiting the healing of this woman who has suffered at the hands of Satan for eighteen years. God's mercy and compassion know no limits to time and place when we turn to Him with a spirit of trust. Have you been set from whatever Satan has bound you? Are you ready to come to Jesus and allow Him to set you free to live fully for Him?

Today is Grandparents' Day! Grandparents are among the most blessed people in the world and are special in the eyes of God. In the message today, we look at what the Bible has to say about grandparents and the powerful responsibility they have for influencing their grandchildren and future generations.

In honor of Labor Day tomorrow, September 5, I am preaching from Psalm 127. The main idea of this psalm is that without God life and all our efforts are not worth it, but when you give God the rightful place in your life, you can rest in His blessing. When you leave the Lord out of your life, all that you do is in vain. The word “vain” shows up three times in this psalm. It means something that has no value or worth. It is an empty achievement. Solomon introduces this idea through two parallel images: the building of a house and the guarding of a city. He then makes application to those who labor and toil without trusting God. And then finally he closes by speaking about God’s provision for our needs, using children as an example. Are you able to find rest in His blessing and provision, or do you labor in vain because you leave God out of your life?