Empires, kingdoms, countries and nations come and go, taking up their tiny little dot on history’s timeline. But there is one King whose kingdom is eternal. His is a kingdom of joy, peace and grace. Christmas is the season of celebrating the birth of that King!

The Offer: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” All of the ceremony, all of the expectation, had its fulfillment in Him. For the nation of Israel, for ever individual within the sound of His voice, Jesus was the source of living water, God’s eternal provision for His people.

Jesus is true. Jesus is genuine. He is the real deal. How can we know this?

– He spoke the Father’s words for the Father’s glory, rather than just making a big splash to get a crowd with flashy miracles.
– Anyone with a bent towards obeying truth and not just hoarding it would know that Jesus’ teaching came from the Father.
– Jesus went to the heart of God’s law and kept it to the fullest with love and compassion.

At the burning bush, Moses encountered the “I Am” who would split the Red Sea and bring His people to safety. Jesus would announce Himself as the “I am” while walking ON the Sea of Galilee in a storm towards His disciples.

When we read the Bible, we see stories of people who took steps of faith both big and small. But every story of faith has two sides, the one who is walking by faith and the One in whom his or her faith is placed. It is a story of the one who trusts and the one who is trusted.

The Greatest Love is the greatest… …in extent (God loved the world) …in its sacrifice (He gave His only son) … in it’s gift (that whoever believes will not perish but have eternal life)

God reveals the person of Jesus to us so that we might truly know Him as the one who takes away our sin, who is God the Son, who baptizes us with the Spirit. We need to know Jesus!

Can Jesus be trusted? Will he keep his promise to take care of us? Is he stronger than the forces that will come up against us? In Mark’s account of Jesus calming a storm, he gives us a glimpse into the personhood of Jesus and of the strength of his power.

The most important question any of us will ever answer is, “Who do you say Jesus is?” The second most important question is, “Who are you?” This morning we will look to John the Baptist to help us with these important questions. He was asked by the authorities of his day, “Who are you?” They wanted to know where he got the authority to baptize. But before telling them who he was he made it very clear who he was not.

This morning and next week we’ll be considering Creekside’s vision of being transformed one step at a time, of being rooted in Christ and overflowing with the fruit of His life in us.