Parade to Peril

On Palm Sunday we celebrate the King who was to free us from our oppressors. Jesus entered Jerusalem during a large feast time called Passover. The faithful would gather to remember that God had spared their ancestors from destruction in Egypt. God set them free through the sacrifice of the perfect lamb that each family sacrificed and used the blood to seal the doors of their homes.

In Jesus time on earth, the Israelites were under Roman oppression and life was hard. They wanted a leader who would set them free from the government. But Jesus came to do so much more. The problem was that the people really didn’t understand it. So on Sunday they would hail Him as their leader. On Friday they’d crucify Him as a criminal. The Parade had turned to Peril. Let’s explore together the importance of remember the road Jesus traveled that week. Hear more at: http://bit.ly/blsTbS

Eternal Insights Week 5--Nic at Night

In the Gospel of John, there is a leader of the religious establishment that comes to talk to Jesus at night. His name is Nicodemus and he has some questions for the teacher. He wants to know about a few things that Jesus has been teaching. He questions Jesus at some deep levels. Jesus has some very direct and challenging answers for him.
Nic sometimes gets a bad rap for his visit. Why did he come at night? Was he scared or was it some other reason? Why did he question Jesus in the way he did? Does God allow us to ask such questions? Shouldn’t he be punished for such “doubt”? Nic was a “good, religious” guy. Isn’t that good enough to please God? Why was Jesus so big on paying attention to “the wind” and other such “strange” things?
Let’s come together and explore these questions and more together this Sunday morning. Oh and if you want to get a head start, read over John 3:1-17 and see what you find. Maybe you have some of the same questions Nic did.

Eternal Insights Week 4--Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread. We pray it in the Lord’s Prayer. On the surface, it makes perfect sense. Why wouldn’t we take daily bread? Physically, we seek daily nourishment. What about spiritually? Sometimes we try to get a week’s worth of spiritual nourishment in an hour on one day of the week. We wouldn’t dream of trying to do the same thing physically. This week, let’s examine what it would mean to take Jesus seriously: that He is the nourishment that truly matters.

Eternal Insights Week 3--The Cause of the Effect

The Lenten Season we’re taking time to reexamine our standing in the Covenant that God has put forth through history. Looking through passages in the Gospel of John, we’re taking a good look at what it means to be a follower of Christ.

In this week’s passage, Jesus and the disciples are walking along and they see a man who has been blind since birth. The disciples ask Jesus, “Who sinned to make this man this way? Did his sin cause this or was this his parents’ sin that caused it?” (That’s my paraphrase). The disciples want to know what or who caused this. They are looking for someone to blame.

A man, blind since birth, sits before the disciples begging for a little money. The disciples want to know if this man, blind since birth, sinned to cause his blindness. That question makes me scratch my head a little. But what Jesus does in response to the Disciples’ question blows me away.

How would we answer the question? What would we do if we saw the blind man sitting there? What was Jesus answer to the question? Take a look at John 9:1-7. This Sunday let’s look at the passage together and see who really was the blind man. What caused him to be this way? What was the effect of his blindness? May God open our eyes to new Eternal Insights.