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 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” –John 14:1-4
This is a famous passage and one of great comfort. What we often miss because of the chapter division in John is that the context is the upper room. Jesus asks Peter there in the room, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.” What a heart-troubling thing to hear! And the next line out of Jesus’ mouth, probably without much pause is, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” It seems that the prerequisite of not having a troubled heart is having one. Then Jesus comes along and tells you who he is and what he is doing for you, and that is the cause of a peaceful heart. You’re not the cause of your peaceful heart. You can’t pacify your heart. Jesus is the cause of your peaceful heart because of who he is and what he has done. That’s the gospel!
Come hear it preached and enacted in the Supper this Sunday as we celebrate the Day of Pentecost.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder
Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove
Spirit of the Living God
Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart!
This Sunday is our community lunch for Pentecost. Use the contact page for more information.
Sunday school for children (on Acts and the Early Church) and adults (on Reformed eschatology) is up and running! Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!
 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” –John 11:21-26
Like most of us, Martha spends her time lamenting the past and taking an unexcited hope that it will all work out, but Jesus brings it to her immediate present. Jesus doesn’t says, “I will be the resurrection and life if you will just…” or “I will give you a resurrection and life if you will just…” But, “I am the resurrection and life. Whoever believes in me, though he die yet shall he live.”
There are so many great things about this passage, but probably one of the very best is that Jesus doesn’t invite Martha to try harder to measure up to earn resurrection and life. Whether or not she deserves it doesn’t even enter into the picture. On the contrary Jesus already is the resurrection and life and simple faith is all that is required. That’s the gospel!
Come hear it preached and enacted in the Supper this Sunday as we celebrate the event of Christ’s ascension.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name!
Crown Him with Many Crowns
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Sunday school for children (on Acts and the Early Church) and adults (on Reformed eschatology) is up and running! Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!
 John 10:11, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
It’s easy to imagine that a shepherd might put himself in harm’s way for his sheep or at least risk something, but lay down his life for the sheep? Most of us would find that ridiculous. But it’s exactly what Jesus did. In fact in verse 17 of the same passage Jesus says, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.” Why does the Father love him? Because he laid down his life for the sheep.
Among other things, this tells us that his work wasn’t just a good example of sacrifice or love. It truly secured the eternal life of his sheep. These are not sheep who call out to the Shepherd so the Shepherd can hear their voices either. These sheep hear their Shepherd’s voice who calls them by name. He knows who are his. That’s the gospel!
Come hear it preached and enacted in the Supper this Sunday as we continue reveling in his resurrection.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
Let All Things Now Living
Good Christians All, Rejoice and Sing!
Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us
Our next Community Lunch is this Sunday following the service. Click here if you’d like to find out more.
Sunday school for children (on Acts and the Early Church) and adults (on Reformed eschatology) is up and running! Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!
 John 10:9, 10, Jesus says, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
He not only protects the door of things going in and out of the life of his sheep, but he is the door of their coming and going. And the goal is abundant life, and he guarantees it for the sheep. He’s not like the “shepherds” in his original audience who, even perhaps well-meaning, ended up scattering the sheep for the institution’s sake and personal reputation. No, with him, he is ensuring rest, protection, and green pastures for his sheep. That’s the gospel.
Come hear it preached and enacted in the Supper this Sunday as we continue reveling in his resurrection.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken
Christ the Lord is Risen Today!
Take My Life and Let It Be
Sunday school for children (on Acts and the Early Church) and adults (on Reformed eschatology) is up and running! Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!
 Jesus said to some Jews who challenged his claims and were confident in themselves, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” –John 8:56
Then we look over at Hebrews 11:8-10, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”
There’s more about Abraham looking forward with faith too, but Jesus makes it clear that Abraham was really looking for him and lived that way. Not only did Abraham see Jesus, but it constituted his gladness.
Perhaps this is why just a few verses later in Hebrews 11:16 we are told, “Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” Wow! God, ashamed? That’s not everyday language! But he isn’t. He isn’t ashamed to be called the God of all those who forsake their merits and personal confidences and ability in this world, and abide instead in the word of Christ. That’s the gospel.
Come hear it preached and enacted in the Supper this Sunday as we continue reveling in his resurrection.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
How Firm a Foundation
Christ is Alive!
Fairest Lord Jesus
Our third community lunch is this Sunday following the worship service. For more information, please use the contact us page.
Sunday school for children and adults (on Reformed eschatology) is up and running! Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”…These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. –John 8:12, 20
The treasury (or the Court of Women) was not where the powerful or the wealthy benefactors were, but where those who had pagan coins had to get them exchanged so as not to defile the temple. It was where any Israelite could go even if he was ceremonially questionable, and of course women, who had to remain 15 steps below in this court of their own. When Jesus went to the temple, this was apparently where he spent most of his time. He was with those who knew their sin and weakness the most. Sometimes we get the idea that we’re too sinful for Jesus to be with us–that we’re too broken and messed up for his attention. But John shows us that Jesus seeks out those whose sin and weakness is obvious to them and he speaks against those who feel more righteous about themselves right there in the presence of the sinners. That’s the gospel.
Come hear it preached and enacted in the Supper this Sunday as we continue reveling in his resurrection.
Sunday school for children and adults (on Reformed eschatology) is up and running! Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
 “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” –Jesus Christ, John 6:35-40
He’s telling you here that your believing in him is not the cause of your eternal life. He’s saying that your believing in him is the effect of the Father giving you to him. Your eternal life is the effect of the will of the Father. Put another way, your never being cast out is not from your making enough decision to eat of the Bread of Life; your never being case out is from God’s strength and will and devotion, not yours. That’s the gospel.
Come hear it preached and enacted in the Supper this Sunday as we continue reveling in his resurrection.
Sunday school for children and adults (on Reformed eschatology) is up and running! Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
 Many baptized believers walk through life wondering, “Am I obedient enough?” But that’s usually the wrong question. The question that a baptized believer should ask in times of doubt is this: “Was Christ obedient enough for me on the cross? Was that sacrifice acceptable to God?” And when Jesus shouted out, “It is finished,” you can know beyond the shadow of any doubt that it was satisfactory to God. He is never going to hold your sins against you. That’s the gospel!
Come hear it preached and enacted in the Supper this Sunday as we revel in his resurrection.
Sunday school for children and adults (on Reformed eschatology) is up and running! Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Also, our Easter Sunday Lunch is this Sunday. Please use the contact us page for more details.
 Isaiah spoke the word of the Covenant Lord’s promise that “I will divide him a portion with the many.”
This tells us that the Father gives to the Son “the many,” who in the previous verse are the transgressors he accounts righteous. That’s us, the church, the bride of Christ. The Son doesn’t wait for the bride to propose to him. May it never be! He is the perfect husband who makes the bride perfect even before the marriage. The Son dies for his own, and they are his reward for his sacrificial work. This is the gospel. Come hear it preached and enacted in the Supper this Sunday.
Sunday school for children and adults is up and running! Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Also, our Easter Sunday Lunch is next Sunday. Please use the contact us page for more details.
 Isaiah prophesied that the Lord’s servant “makes intercession for the transgressors.”
Over in Luke 22, on that Maundy Thursday evening, he says to Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you.” There Jesus is making intercession for a transgressor. Why does Peter not apostatize like Judas? They both deny him, but one is a son of perdition and the other a saint. Why? Because Jesus interceded for Peter.
Make no mistake, in Christ’s intercession, he is pleading for and defending the guilty. He only represents the guilty. He won’t take the case unless the accused is guilty as charged. This is the gospel. Come hear it preached and enacted in the Supper this Sunday.
Sunday school for children and adults begins this Sunday! Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Also, our second Community Lunch is this Sunday. Please use the contact us page for more details.
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“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” –John 14:1-4
