Footprints of the Savior: Part 2

Footprints of the Savior: Part 3

The Mount of Olives isn’t just a hill outside Jerusalem. It’s a place where the life of Jesus comes into sharp focus, where prayer gets real, tears are shed, prophecy is spoken, suffering begins in Gethsemane, and the sky opens at the Ascension. We walk through Olivet as a “mount of prayer” and listen for what it teaches us about quiet communion with the Father when religion feels loud, busy, and empty. Then we cross the ridge into Bethany, the village where Christ is welcomed when the world has no room for Him. We talk about the moments that make Bethany unforgettable: fellowship around a supper, priestly compassion in shared grief, and the simple beauty of a home centered on the presence of the Savior. From Martha serving, to Lazarus sitting in silent communion, to Mary worshiping with costly love, we see a practical pattern for Christian discipleship that isn’t hurried or fake. We also sit with the hard part: Bethany as a “house of sorrow,” where waiting hurts and God’s timing doesn’t make sense yet. And we don’t miss the hope, because Olivet holds a promise that still steadies believers today: “This same Jesus will come again.” If you want Bible teaching that ties places in the Gospels to spiritual life right now, this message is for you. Subscribe for more, share this with a friend, and leave a review to help others find the broadcast. What part of Olivet or Bethany do you want your life to reflect most? Church Website — BibleBaptistDeLand.com [https://biblebaptistdeland.com] Ministry Website — JamesWKnox.org [https://jameswknox.org]  YouTube Channel — YouTube.com/JamesWKnoxSermons [https://www.youtube.com/jameswknoxsermons] Sermon Audio — SermonAudio.com/BibleBaptistDeLand [https://www.sermonaudio.com/biblebaptistdeland] Web Store — Store.JamesWKnox.org [https://store.jameswknox.org]

Footprints of the Savior: Part 2

A wedding runs short on wine, and Jesus chooses that quiet moment in Cana of Galilee to launch His miraculous ministry. That detail isn’t random. We follow the “Footprints of the Savior” into John 2 and slow down long enough to see what the first sign actually reveals about Jesus Christ and about us. Why Cana, not Jerusalem? Why a wedding feast, not a festival crowd? The answers point straight to grace, and to a Savior who loves to use small places to display great glory.  From the water into wine miracle, we walk through five clear themes the message draws out: the glory of Christ’s grace, His unselfish care for others, His sovereignty that cannot be commanded, His bounty that overflows with joy, and His deity beginning to shine through His humanity. Along the way, we talk about obedience in plain terms: what we put into trusting and following Christ often shows up in what we “get out” of spiritual life.  Then the scene shifts to Sychar in Samaria, where Jesus sits weary at Jacob’s well in John 4 and asks a Samaritan woman for a drink. We explore why “he must needs go through Samaria” is a mission of mercy, how Christ moves the conversation from water pots to living water, and how He brings a wandering heart to the moment of truth. The episode builds to one direct question that the gospel forces on every listener: who do you say Jesus is? If this message helps you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it. Church Website — BibleBaptistDeLand.com [https://biblebaptistdeland.com] Ministry Website — JamesWKnox.org [https://jameswknox.org]  YouTube Channel — YouTube.com/JamesWKnoxSermons [https://www.youtube.com/jameswknoxsermons] Sermon Audio — SermonAudio.com/BibleBaptistDeLand [https://www.sermonaudio.com/biblebaptistdeland] Web Store — Store.JamesWKnox.org [https://store.jameswknox.org]

Footprints of the Savior: Part 1

Bethlehem shows us how small a place can carry a world-changing promise, and Nazareth shows us how God can put His Holy One in the middle of a town everyone looks down on. We open a new series called The Footprints of the Savior and start where the gospel story gets painfully specific: a real journey, a real birth, and a real fulfillment of prophecy that no human planner could have staged. As we trace Jesus’ steps, we keep coming back to one steady truth: God’s purposes always come to pass.  We walk through Bethlehem’s biblical history and the way Scripture points forward, then we slow down and stare at the wonder of the incarnation. The eternal God enters time, the Lord of glory lies in a manger, and the Savior comes in poverty so ordinary people can draw near. That tension between sovereignty, mystery, and humility is not meant to be solved like a puzzle. It is meant to lead us to worship.  Then we shift to Nazareth, a name people used with contempt. We unpack what it means that Jesus is called “Jesus of Nazareth” again and again through His ministry, His rejection, His arrest, His crucifixion, His resurrection, and even the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. We also draw a clear line between praise and worship: thanking God for what He has done, and thanking God for who He is. Subscribe for the rest of the series, share this broadcast with someone who needs Christ, and leave a review that tells us what line or truth stayed with you. Church Website — BibleBaptistDeLand.com [https://biblebaptistdeland.com] Ministry Website — JamesWKnox.org [https://jameswknox.org]  YouTube Channel — YouTube.com/JamesWKnoxSermons [https://www.youtube.com/jameswknoxsermons] Sermon Audio — SermonAudio.com/BibleBaptistDeLand [https://www.sermonaudio.com/biblebaptistdeland] Web Store — Store.JamesWKnox.org [https://store.jameswknox.org]

The Church and the Tribulation IV: Jacob's Trouble

People throw around the words “tribulation” and “end times” like they automatically describe whatever is happening in America right now. We slow that down and ask a sharper question: when the Bible talks about the Great Tribulation, who is God talking to? Once you see the difference between the Old Testament nation of Israel and the New Testament Church, whole sections of prophecy stop feeling foggy and start reading plainly.  We walk verse by verse through major prophecy anchors: Jeremiah 30 where the period is named “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” Ezekiel 20 on Israel’s future regathering and purging, and Daniel 12 on a time of trouble tied to “thy people.” From there we connect Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, where the warnings center on Judea and the abomination of desolation, and we point out the striking absence of this specific tribulation period in the Christian epistles. If you care about Bible prophecy, the rapture, and how to read Revelation without guessing, this matters.  The backbone of the timeline is Daniel 9:24–27, the seventy weeks prophecy “determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city.” We explain why the final week is still ahead, why it relates to Israel’s future, and why that framework challenges modern “headline prophecy” that treats rising prices or cultural pressure as automatic proof the Church is entering the Great Tribulation. If this helped you, subscribe for more Bible teaching, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so others can find it. Church Website — BibleBaptistDeLand.com [https://biblebaptistdeland.com] Ministry Website — JamesWKnox.org [https://jameswknox.org]  YouTube Channel — YouTube.com/JamesWKnoxSermons [https://www.youtube.com/jameswknoxsermons] Sermon Audio — SermonAudio.com/BibleBaptistDeLand [https://www.sermonaudio.com/biblebaptistdeland] Web Store — Store.JamesWKnox.org [https://store.jameswknox.org]

The Church and the Tribulation III: Two Separate Events

If you’ve ever heard someone speak with total confidence about the Great Tribulation but struggle to find the same certainty in the actual text of the Bible, this teaching is for you. We open by calling out a common problem in Christian life: repeating catchphrases like “God said it” while never doing the hard, careful work of showing what God said and where He said it. Doctrine gets fragile when it’s built on personalities, not passages, and end times teaching is one of the fastest places for that to happen.  From there, we start a series on the tribulation in relation to the Church, beginning with the “first necessity” for clear biblical prophecy: understanding the differences between Israel and the Church of God. We walk through contrasts in origin, makeup, worship, and destiny. Israel is presented as God’s earthly people with national promises and an earthly future, while the Church is formed after Christ’s resurrection at Pentecost and is a spiritual body drawn from every nation. That distinction shapes how we read covenant language, judgment passages, and the purpose of the Great Tribulation.  Next, we compare two separate events that are often blended together: Christ’s coming for His saints, called the blessed hope, and His public appearing with His saints. We lay out differences like secret versus visible, meeting in the air versus coming to earth, comfort versus wrath, and the order of who is removed. We also address the parousia argument and finish with Scripture support from Deuteronomy 4 and Romans 11 to show why the tribulation is tied to Israel and the world, not the New Testament Church.  If you care about the pre-tribulation rapture, the second coming of Christ, and reading the Bible in context without forcing passages to fit a system, listen through to the end, then subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Church Website — BibleBaptistDeLand.com [https://biblebaptistdeland.com] Ministry Website — JamesWKnox.org [https://jameswknox.org]  YouTube Channel — YouTube.com/JamesWKnoxSermons [https://www.youtube.com/jameswknoxsermons] Sermon Audio — SermonAudio.com/BibleBaptistDeLand [https://www.sermonaudio.com/biblebaptistdeland] Web Store — Store.JamesWKnox.org [https://store.jameswknox.org]