Bridging the Gap

Today on Bridging the Gap, we’re going to meet The Lord’s entourage - the group of men He chose to be His disciples. Fishermen, a religious zealot, a hated tax collector, and six others we know little about - just ordinary men, but they followed and extraordinary God. Pastor Lloyd Pulley is sharing a new series titled “Jesus The Humble Servant”, and today we’ll begin in Mark chapter three.

Lending a helping hand is what makes a friend a real friend. If we say we care, but don’t ever lend a hand, then we really don’t care. Similarly the body of Christ is an extension, an arm of Christ, reaching out to a world desperately in need of help. Compassion, such as this is just one of several marks of a Christian that we’ll examine here today on Bridging the Gap as Lloyd Pulley resumes his verse by verse study of First Peter.

Today, Pastor Lloyd resumes his expositional study of First Peter. We’ll be considering chapter one and the first three verses of chapter two, where we receive encouragement not only turn to God and His word in times if trial, but also to understand why God allows those trials in our lives. Look, no one likes to suffer hardship, but God has a wonderful plan to grow our faith through them.

As we’ve studied John over the past several programs, we’ve seen the pain and humiliation Jesus experienced prior to and on the cross. Well, the good news is that no crucifixion, no spear in His side, no burial in a tomb could defeat Him! He conquered death and is risen! And because of that we can have life eternal. Pastor Lloyd Pulley is in John Chapter nineteen, with more about the great lengths Jesus went to for us.

Followers of the world’s religions are led to believe they have to do something to earn a spot in heaven. But Christianity stands apart, because everything needed to get us to heaven has been done already! Jesus completed the work of salvation at the cross. We then just receive the free gift! Today on Bridging the Gap we’ll be taking you to John nineteen, where Jesus is being tried and accused of crimes He never committed.

Our challenge is that God Himself tells us to go into the hostile, cold world and make disciples of men. How can we survive the cold and accomplish that goal? The answer lies in our sanctification, being sanctified in order to serve God and His great commission. Today on Bridging the Gap, our teacher, pastor Lloyd Pulley, will continue his study of John chapter seventeen. We’ll be in verses thirteen through twenty-six.

Today Pastor Lloyd Pulley brings us a message based in John chapter seventeen. This chapter is commonly referred to as the “red letter prayer”, because it consists entirely of the Lord’s Prayer the night before He was arrested and crucified. It’s a touching and powerful chapter to say the least. Prayer should be much more than just a repetition of certain words before a meal, and it should be more than a last resort in times of trouble.

We’re in the midst of a verse by verse study through John’s gospel, and we’ve landed in chapter fifteen today. In this chapter, Jesus explains to His apostles the nature of His relationship with the Father and, in doing so, reveals the ideal relationship between the Father and us. We are the branches and Jesus is the true vine. Just exactly what does that mean, and how can we pout those words into action in our lives?

Today we continue our series through the gospel of John with a final study in chapter fourteen. Jesus has some very powerful and thought-provoking words to share with His disciples as He prepares for His arrest and crucifixion. Jesus knew what awaited Him. He knew the pain, humiliation and violence that were just a few hours away. Yet, His concern was for His friends - and that includes you and me.

Today, pastor Lloyd Pulley shares the second half of a message from Colossians chapter one, titled “The Plan of The Cross”, and has us consider a situation most of us have faced at one time or another - feeling like our faith in Christ is not what it used to be. That special experience of being born again is something we never forget, but as we move along in life, sometimes that excitement kid of dwindles, doesn’t it? Pastor Lloyd is going to urge us today to continue in our faith, and he’ll use the words of Paul in Colossians chapter one, verses nineteen through twenty-three.

It’s great to have you with us today, as we bring you a special message for Easter, from Colossians chapter one, verses nineteen through twenty-three. These verses have to do with Jesus Christ and His role as reconciler. Who did He reconcile? Well, sin has separated man from God. God simply cannot have anything to do with sin. He hates it. So Jesus came to earth and died on a cross to reconcile us with God.

Before we even take our requests to God, we need to ask the important question, “Will this bring glory to God?” If the answer is no, then we can save our breath, and refocus our prayer. That’s coming up today on Bridging the Gap, with pastor Lloyd Pulley. Welcome to the broadcast. We are currently studying the gospel of John, and in chapter fourteen Jesus has some important words to share with His disciples - and with us.

Today pastor Lloyd continues his series in the gospel of John, by taking us to one of the greatest and most significant chapters in God’s word - John fourteen. A troubled heart - it’s something that afflicts all of us at one time or another. The disciples were troubled as well, when they realized their teacher and friend was about to leave them. Turn to John chapter fourteen and let’s draw some comfort from the words of Jesus.

We’re about to sit in on an argument between the disciples over the question, “Who’s going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God?” It’s interesting how Jesus would respond, and through it all we discover a valuable lesson on what’s really important in life. Pastor Lloyd Pulley has us turn to the thirteenth chapter of John today where we see Jesus lay down a beautiful example of what a servant should look like.

If you knew you only had a few hours to live, what would you do for those last precious moments? A Lot of people would probably enjoy a big meal, or travel or spend time with family. When Jesus Christ knew that the time had come for Him to be arrested and crucified, what did He do? One of the best ways to understand the heart of Jesus is to look at the things He did in the last hours of His life.

Lloyd is currently leading us through an exciting and relevant study in the Gospel of John. I say relevant because that’s one of the most wonderful things about studying God’s word.... Though it was written centuries ago, the lessons contained here are important and practical for everyone today as well. Turn to John chapter twelve for today’s study as Pastor Lloyd explores the hours leading up to the arrest, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Can you imagine what would happen if there were no umpires in baseball? It would be total mayhem! “You were out”, “no I wasn’t”. “That was a strike”, “It was ball”. What a mess! Authority is important on the athletic field, and it’s also important in our lives in general. Who is the ultimate authority in your life? I hope your answer is Jesus Christ. Our scripture text today is John chapter ten, as we see Jesus assert His authority.

We’re back in the Gospel of John today and we’ll return to our study in chapter seven, where we find the Pharisees confronting Jesus and trying yet again to trip Him up with their clever questions. But, as we’re about to see, their efforts are to no avail, and Jesus wasn’t about to fall for it. It’s a fascinating study on just how stubborn people can be, and how gracious God is. Aren’t you glad God is gracious? We are in John seven, verses one through thirty-six.

Imagine being sick and unable to care for yourself for thirty-eight years. I think it’s safe to say, most in that situation would suffer with feelings of hopelessness and despair. We find a man in that desperate condition today on Bridging the Gap. Jesus is about to restore this man to complete health, and at then same time, show the people around Him that He truly is who He says He is - the Son of God.

Today we take you to John chapter four, where Jesus has a divine appointment with a woman from Samaria. Now this woman, like many people today, was trying to fill a need in her life with things that were not going to last. She’s about to learn that only Christ can bring satisfaction and meet her innermost needs. Join us, as we continue to see who Jesus is and what He’ll do in our lives if we’ll allow Him to.

Without the sun, our planet would die. The sun is the center of our solar system and gives us light. Now the moon on the other hand, doesn’t have its own light. It merely reflects the light of the sun. In our time together today you could say that John the Baptist was like the moon and Jesus like the sun. Without the sun, the moon wouldn’t shine. John the Baptist knew this and redirects those amazed with his teaching to Jesus, the beginning of truth and wisdom.

Pastor Lloyd Pulley is currently taking us through a study of John’s gospel and today we’ll be finishing up chapter two. Jesus had just cleared out the Temple Courts and He made this interesting statement: “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days.” Jesus wasn’t talking about the Temple building. He was talking about his own body! Pastor Lloyd will use that statement as the foundation for his teaching on the resurrection of Christ and how it impacts our daily life.