Jesus was not the gift Mary or the world may have expected, but he is the gift we need.
Looking at Friendship through the lens of Jesus life and death. Includes special interview with John Lauber and Tim Donaldson.
Is the Resurrection an April Fools joke? Is it merely a myth or a metaphor, or is it more? Christianity claims Jesus resurrection is real and the central and world changing truth of the story of Jesus. Christian history suggests The Resurrection is Credible, Terrifying and More than “Meh”.
We all seek power, but the kingdom that Jesus came to bring turns power on its head. Jesus is the Messiah, God’s son, but he doesn’t use his power for his own good, he surrenders it for ours. He allows the powers that be–religious leaders, Pilate, Herod–to unjustly to judge him (the Judge) and sentence him to death on a cross. Jesus calls us to do the same–to live the cruciform life and participate in his upside-down kingdom.
*The Reading of the Passion Narrative (from the ending of the Palm Sunday Service) is included after the sermon.
If you have ever experienced the silence of God, the dark night when you need him and don’t hear from him, you can understand some of what Jesus experienced for us. The night he was to be betrayed and the day before his crucifixion, Jesus asked if the Cup of Wrath he was to “drink” could pass. He was met with the Father’s silence–the foretaste of the forsakenness and wrath that he would experience in full on the Cross for us–and he was shaken to the core.
On the night before his death, Jesus celebrates a Passover meal with his disciples. But he changes everything–reinterpreting the climactic redemption of Israel from slavery in Egypt in light of his own impending death on the cross. As the Lord delivered Israel through Judgment and an offer of Mercy under the blood of a lamb, now Jesus was becoming the True Paschal Lamb the one who brings ultimate redemption.
This sermon was preached at a 1:00pm service Vienna Baptist because wind-storms had caused the cancellation of all activities at FCPS schools.
Unfortunately, the recording was not through our normal sound system and is distorted with background noise.
Jesus challenges the disciples as he fortells the destruction of the Temple. How can this be? Who will we be without the Temple?
Todays culture is shifting and changing so rapidly that it calls for new paradigms–approaches to mission that meet people in common space in a post-Christian culture.
The religious leaders try to trap Jesus with a question about paying taxes to Caesar. Jesus doesn’t evade the question, he overturns it–challenging their view of Kingdoms and inviting all to come and be a part of his upside down Kingdom by giving themselves wholly and completely to God.
During his final week, Jesus is teaching daily in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Chief Priests, threatened by his Kingdom message, question his authority. Jesus responds to their challenges with wisdom and clarity, but they refuse to listen because they have built their lives on another authority and are not open to the work of God in Jesus.
The issue of Authority – or the basis of our beliefs and worldview – is the primary issue of this century; it sits beneath political, social, moral and theological division and confusion. But most of us are not fully aware of the authorities we are trusting or the cultural assumptions that underlie them. God, through Christ, calls us to submit all other authorities to him and to build our life on his Word–understanding ourselves and interpreting the world on Him.
Entering Jericho and on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus meets a Blind Beggar and a Tax Collector named Zacchaeus. One is the poorest and the other the richest, one oppressed, the other an oppressor, both are outside of the community, both want to see Jesus. Jesus stops for both of them and offers them his transforming grace and love and both of them are restored. Why do these two See Jesus when so many others refuse to see or are unable to see who he is? And what do these encounters tell us about how we can See and experience Jesus too?
A Rich Ruler who has obeyed all the Commandments asks what he must do to to inherit eternal life. Jesus says he must sell All he has, give the money to the poor, and come and follow him. The man goes away sad for he was extremely wealthy.
“When will the Kingdom come?” is a question the Pharisees ask Jesus. It is a question Christians have been asking more frequently for several decades. Jesus answer is the Kingdom is in your midst–it is right before you–in me, Jesus. In Jesus, God came to inaugurate his Kingdom. And, He is coming again to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end–and when he does it will be obvious. As we live in the already, but not yet of what God is doing and will do, He invites us into the fullness of life in Jesus.