Buffalo City Church

Caleb Drahosh \\ With the backdrop of more division among the Jews, and at the Feast of Dedication, the Jews ask again if Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus answers by pointing to the works He does in His Father's name––they bear witness to who He is. Jesus indicates that He and His Father are two distinct persons, and yet are one. Jesus can guarantee our eternal security because of His oneness with the...

Caleb Drahosh \\ Jesus makes two "I am" statements in this text. Jesus is the door, providing access to relationship with God the Father, and He is the good shepherd who secures right passage for His sheep through His sacrifice. Jesus makes it clear that those who the Father gives to Him will enter by Him and follow Him. Unlike the traveler who is exposed to dangers and difficulties, Jesus gives H...

Caleb Drahosh \\ In this passage Jesus heals a blind man. The disciples question if it's the man or his parents that sinned that caused him to be born blind. Jesus tells them that it's neither. Rather the man was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him. The Pharisees question the man and the others who observe the sign. They remain blind to the truth of who Jesus is, despite...

Caleb Drahosh \\ In this passage we find an extended interaction between Jesus and the Jews. The Jews rely on their bloodlines for their inheritance, pointing backwards to Abraham. But Jesus says that if they don't have the faith that Father Abraham had, it proves that their true Father is the devil. And what was Abraham's faith founded upon? The eternal second person of the Trinity, Jesus Himself...

Blaze Culliton \\ Jesus Christ, the righteous, is the propitiation for our sins and our advocate with the Father. In knowing Jesus, we have assurance of salvation and knowing Him is evidenced if we keep his commandments. Those who abide in Jesus Christ walk as He walks. A correct understanding of the advocacy and assurance that Christ provides are foundational elements to knowing and following Chr...

Caleb Drahosh \\ Godly parenting takes its cues from our heavenly Father. In Ephesians 6:4, Paul addresses the head of the household, the Father. He instructs not to provoke to anger, but to raise children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. God's Word is the sole authority for parenting. When we patiently and diligently instruct and discipline our children, we follow in the pattern set...

Caleb Drahosh \\ In order to reflect Jesus, the light of the world, how are children to relate to their parents? Children are to obey their parents, and honor them. There is an ebb and flow to this relationship, but the command for children to honor their parents always remains intact regardless of age. When children honor their parents, there are natural societal implications; when people have re...

Caleb Drahosh \\ The relationship between a man and his wife is the foundational relationship of the Christian household. It pictures Christ and His bride the church. The husband in Scripture is given authority as the head. He leads and lives sacrificially in the pattern of Christ, including taking sacrificial responsibility for everything in the home. This is how the husband loves his wife. Addit...

Caleb Drahosh \\ In this passage, Jesus makes one of His seven "I am" statements. He says, "I am the light of the world." Jesus and the Father are in perfect step with one another; Jesus is the light of the world because He comes from the Father, speaks for the Father, is going to the Father, and is one with the Father. Those who follow Jesus have Jesus as their light, illuminating the path of lif...

John Baumgartner \\ In this passage, Peter is telling the Church what it is, even in the midst of trials and persecutions. It is the Temple of God, built not out of lifeless rock but living people. But this passage is not first about the people of God and how they live versus how those who reject God live. It's all about Jesus-who He is, what He's done, how people react to Him because of Him. Beca...

Caleb Drahosh \\ The Pharisees frustration with Jesus growing, they catch a woman in adultery, a capital offense, and bring her to Jesus demanding that He give an answer on how to handle the situation according to the Law of Moses. Jesus turns the conversation onto them and says that whoever has not sinned has the ability to condemn the woman. The weight of the conscience turns them all away. Sin...

Caleb Drahosh \\ The announcement of Jesus' birth surprisingly comes to an unsuspecting group of shepherds. The good news of great joy is declared to the shepherds first but quickly spreads as they respond by glorifying and praising God. Small, forgotten, unsuspecting people and places became the streams of water from where God would begin filling the earth with the glory of Himself, as the waters...

John Baumgartner \\ After hearing from the angel Gabriel how God is at work, Mary goes to visit her relative Elizabeth. Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, pronounces a blessing upon Mary. She responds with a song of praise woven from the promises of God and praises of His people. Her faithful response shows us Mary’s character as someone we should imitate.

Caleb Drahosh \\ The angel Gabriel appears to the virgin Mary and tells her that she will conceive by the Holy Spirit and have a son. And that her son will be named Jesus, He will be God's very Son, and He will be king. Gabriel also tells Mary that her relative, Elizabeth, who was past child-bearing years, would also have a son. Redemption for God's people comes from the places we least expect. No...

Caleb Drahosh \\ An angel of the Lord appears to Zechariah and tells him that his wife, Elizabeth, will have a son despite her old age. Zechariah and Elizabeth were a godly couple, righteous and blameless, but they had no children. The child they would have was to be named John; he would be filled with the Holy Spirit and play a major role in God’s plan of redemption. That plan of redemption is fi...

John Baumgartner \\ In these verses, Peter is continuing to teach on the command he gave in verse 17, “Be Holy as God is Holy.” Here he is telling us what holiness will look like in our everyday life: loving one another earnestly from a pure heart, just as Jesus has loved us. This love that was impossible God has made a normal reality for His people, and it is a love that by its very nature begets...

Caleb Drahosh \\ Much confusion about Jesus remains amongst the crowds, to the point of division. The religious leadership grows frustrated by Jesus and their minds are darkened. But in the middle of the passage, Jesus declares that all who thirst should come to Him. Those who seek truth will find it in Christ who freely gives the Holy Spirit to those who believe in Him.

John Baumgartner \\ In this passage, Peter displays a reversal of thinking: where earthly kings are ransomed by their people, the heavenly King came to pay the ransom for His people. Christ came to ransom us from our slavery to sin so that we will be holy as God is holy.

Caleb Drahosh \\ After an extended period of time, Jesus returns to Judea for the Feast of Booths. We learn of many who do not believe in Jesus, and many who question Him. But Jesus says that there is a way to understand the validity of His ministry and His authority: obedience to God's law. All who are justified by faith are given the freedom in Christ to obey all that God commands, and through o...

Caleb Drahosh \\ After Jesus finishes the bread of life discourse in the synagogue, many of His disciples choose not to continue following Him. Jesus' words were hard to hear. But Peter, on behalf of the twelve disciples, says to Jesus that they had nowhere else to go. Jesus has the words of life. Those who have life in the Spirit are those who hear, believe, and press on despite the difficulty. T...

Caleb Drahosh \\ All who put their faith in Christ and His atoning work are joined to Christ and become the inheritors of eternal life. What we receive from Christ is received by faith alone, not on the basis of works that we perform, but only on the righteousness of Christ credited to us. Those who eat the bread of life, those who eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, are those who become...

Caleb Drahosh \\ In this text, Jesus dives into the heart of His sermon in which He declares to the crowd that He is the bread of life. He tells them that to work for the food that does not perish is to believe in Him as the One who the Father has sent. Jesus' words are about certainty and assurance. Those who come to Jesus and believe in Him will be given eternal life in which they will be eterna...

Caleb Drahosh \\ After Jesus and the disciples cross the Sea of Galilee, the crowd catches up. Jesus tells the crowd that they were seeking the wrong thing; they were seeking the gift rather than the giver. But Jesus tells them how it can be corrected. We should not work for temporary satisfaction, but eternal satisfaction in Him.

Caleb Drahosh \\ After Jesus fed the five thousand, the crowd planned to take Jesus and forcefully make Him king. But He slipped away. Meanwhile, the disciples made their way across the Sea of Galilee and a storm came up. Jesus, walking on the water, came to them and delivered them. Although Jesus was unwilling to be crowned king by a rogue crowd, we quickly find out that He is a king and that His...

Kalen Heller \\ Rejoicing in the way fellow believers walk in the truth and encouraging others to do the same is essential to fulfilling the mission Jesus has given us to make disciples of all nations. The central component to walking in the truth of the Father’s command is to do so with love, which has always been the case–as we have heard from the beginning. Many deceivers–false teachers–are in...