Why We Sing
Week by week we come to church and we stand and sing. It is something we assume will be part of our church experience and therefore it is something we often take for granted. How regularly do you think about why we sing in church? Pastor Joe begins this new series and seeks to answer this question by investigating one of the most important songs in Israel’s history. In this song we discover why it is that God wants His…
Jesus: Captivator of Hearts
As we finish our series on the life of Jesus we come across an amazing encounter between Jesus and two of His disciples. They walk on a road with heavy hearts from the fact their hopes were shattered by Jesus’ death, but as Jesus walks with them and gently teaches them something amazing happens. At the end of this encounter the heavy-hearted disciples end up with a renewed passion that challenges where our own hearts are at.
Jesus: Defeater of Death
We saw on Friday that Jesus suffered the greatest act of injustice ever perpetrated against an individual resulting in His death in our place. Well His body was taken and placed in a tomb for burial. Sometimes we feel as though our lives are a bit like Jesus’ friends… trapped in a small room and burning with gut-wrenching hopelessness about where we are at. Well as the sun rose that Sunday morning everything changed… for the disciples and us!
Jesus: Sufferer of Injustice (Good Friday)
In our society our sense of injustice is incredibly finely tuned. When we are wronged, even in the smallest of ways, we are quick to respond with shock, anger and emotion. We have seen just how radical Jesus’ life has been. He has sought out the lost, welcomed in the sinners, healed the sick and overcome evil; Jesus was the most amazing man who ever lived. And yet the religious leaders of His day hated Him and conspired to kill…
Jesus: Lover of the Lost
We have seen how Jesus demolished the religiosity of the Pharisees and how He is the One with true authority and victory over evil. This week we hear about Jesus’ heart for the lost. In one of His most famous parables, Jesus tells the story of two sons… one rebellious and destructive the other obedient and hard working. As we look at how each son responds to the father we learn so much about how people in this world respond to God.
Jesus: Defeater of Evil
After seeing that Jesus breaks the mould of religiosity last week, this week we see Jesus meets a man who has been overcome with evil. How will He respond? Will He hide from the man? Will He condemn the man? Will He destroy the man? As Jesus responds to this man and the evil that has overpowered him we see that Jesus has a radical authority that we all desperately need.
Jesus: Demolisher of Religiosity
Jesus is the most talked about man in history so your response to Christianity isn’t based on whether or not you believe in Him, but what you believe about Him… So today we start looking at His life so that we can make an informed decision about the things He did and said. In this encounter we see Jesus’ desire to take His message of salvation to the people who need it most and how He demolishes our religiosity to do so.