In his lifetime Jesus did many miracles, but this one, rising from the dead is the greatest of them all. Why? Because when Jesus did other miracles like say the turning of water into wine, he caused the material in that location to behave differently from the normal laws of nature for that period of time. The Resurrection miracle is different, because in Col 1:18 Jesus is called the “first born from among the dead”. That means there will be a second born and a third born and so on from the dead as well. So when Jesus rose from the dead, something happened to change not just the laws of nature in his physical body but something happened to change the laws of nature in the whole universe. The Bible also tells us that one day, this universe as we know it will end and there will be a New Heaven and New Earth. When Christ rose from the dead my friends, we got our very first glimpse of what our bodies might be like in this New Heaven and New Earth....

Argentine Mennonite Church

The Stone That Never Rolled Away

As a disciple of Christ our cross is not the physical cross but the cross of “self-denial”. And self-denial is very empowering. You know why? Because this “world” is designed to cater to our “flesh”. If you are not driven by your “flesh” then this world cannot give you anything that you truly hunger after. And if the world cannot give you anything you really hunger after then this world has no power over you. And if this world has no power over you, then you have all the power over this world. And if you have all the power then you can boldly proclaim the Gospel that God has called each of you to proclaim. You see if Peter became a bold proclaimer of God’s message after Jesus told him how his end would be, then we should become bold proclaimers of the Gospel after Jesus’ has told us to deny our selves and take up our cross and follow Him as well. ...

DNA of Discipleship: Embracing the Cross

So you must be wondering, how does this interaction Jesus had with Peter apply to your life?Well, the first thing to know is anything you have done in the past however terrible is not a disqualification. Jesus can redeem the worst of your actions and your worst memories by rewiring them all into new positive associations. The biggest example is the cross itself, the most negative of images has been transformed into the most powerfully positive one. So you don’t have to be stuck in the past or be stuck in the pit because Jesus can change your charcoal pit of denial into the charcoal pit of your restoration.The second thing to remember is that before we can account for how much we love Jesus, we have to face our weaknesses. If you don’t know yourself, no commitment you make has meaning. But remember Jesus will help us face ourselves and he will be with us and we do it so don’t be worried about anything.Thirdly, when you say you love Jesus, do you know what it actually means to you individually? Church people are quick to say that we love Jesus and we sing about our love for Jesus effortlessly. But for it to mean something we need to hear what Jesus’ call on your life is. Each of us have our own unique calling. And we need to be clear about it because without that we might be doing one thing when Jesus wants us to do something else. And if we are not doing what we are called to do Jesus is not going to feel loved by your actions.So remember this friends. It is never to late for Jesus to come into your life and restore or renew you. But to be restored we need to face ourselves and have clarity on what Jesus Christ is calling us to do.I pray that each of us will have our own charcoal pit moments with Jesus as he restores us and helps us to face ourselves and whispers his call into our ears. Then we too can say, Lord you know everything. You know I love you. And Jesus will say, yes I know. Let us pray.

DNA of Discipleship: Learning to Love

Jesus understands that we are tired and will get tired. That is why he himself makes breakfast for us.Three lessons to focus us here are: Firstly, it is only when we are on the water that will we be in a position to hear Jesus telling us, where to throw the net. So let’s give it all we got friends! A pastor friend of mine says, “you cannot steer a parked car”. When we get moving, Jesus will tell us which way to go. Secondly, remember that Jesus already has caught fish without us. He does not need us but he wants to give us the privilege of contributing fish to the table and then showing off our work for all eternity. We don’t want to lose the privilege of giving our Lord Jesus that joy. Thirdly, he knows that we will get tired. But he has made a provision for our tiredness as well. So let’s not grow weary in doing good because if we persist and not give up, we will reap a rich harvest...

DNA of Discipleship Obedience

The book of John opened with the prologue in poetry form describing God and Jesus. It starts by describing God and His Word as both separate and unified. And then it goes on to say that the Word became a person and dwelt among his people. And that person was Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ was the Son of God. And that meant that the One true God that the Jews always believed in consists of a Father and a Son. Why, was the Book of John written? It says so that you may continue to believe who Jesus is. the entire Gospel of John will all its beautiful construction comes down to this one thing. And in the end, its readers would recognize the power of the name of Jesus. I hope each of us, in the rough moments and low moments of our life will remember to go to this Gospel and walk as the first disciples did with Jesus and renew your love for Him, strengthen your faith and be empowered to fulfill the tasks he has given to each one of us no matter where in life we are.

Why was John written?

Earlier in Jesus’ prayer He talked about how disciples are those people who believe, accept and live out or keep God’s word. As they do that they are going to face opposition in the form of sowing disunity in their midst. Of course Jesus prays for protection from disunity for us in the power of His father’s name. In the next part of his prayer, he presents three more characteristics of being a disciple. Being joyful, being holy and being hated by the world. Today we are going to dive into all three and we are going to start with joy.

Joyful, Holy and Hated

This is our fourth sermon in Jesus’ High priestly prayer. First we looked at the deeper insights we get from this prayer about the Trinity, and the meaning of salvation. Then we wrestled with the difference in Disciple DNA that demonstrates a unique capacity to believing and accepting the revelation if God the Father through Jesus His Son followed by the process of getting to know the Trinity and finally the power to keep God’s word.But Jesus knows that there is a big challenge coming. As He anticipates His leaving the earth, He knows that his disciples and going to get attacked and specifically the bonds between them making unity a challenge. That is what we are going to look at today.First let’s look at how Jesus prays in these 3 versus we are looking at. Our passage starts with these words, “All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory”...

The Unity of Christ Followers

God Invites You

Last Sunday we started with the opening of Jesus’ High priestly prayer in which he prayers for his glorification. Now within the first 5 verses of Jesus’ opening there were two verses we skipped over last Sunday. It has to do with the meaning of eternal life. Let me read it again. “For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent”. This is such a loaded two sentences that I decided they deserved to be a focus just by themselves. Because Jesus is giving us the very definition of eternal life here. And part of that definition involves having two personal relationships. One with the Father and the other with the Son. This involves wrestling once again with the Trinity and so today I am going to focus on these words of Jesus, when he says, this is eternal life that they know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Knowing Father, Son and Holy Spirit

This Sunday we are going to return to the Gospel of John and pick up where we left off. We will get into the 17th chapter of John which encapsulates Jesus’ high priestly prayer. This prayer has distinct sections and we will deal with each section separately. Today we will deal with the opening 5 verses of this prayer, Jesus’ petition for glorification. The opening of this prayer reminds you of another prayer of Jesus, the famous Lord’s prayer. The Lord’s prayer as you know opens with the famous line, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name”. Another way of saying, may your name be glorified. I bring that up because it does seem that the first concern that Jesus expresses when He prayers to his heavenly Father is that His father is glorified. But in our prayer, he says, “Father, glorify me so that I can glorify you”. These words may seem strange to our ears because we live in such a self-promoting culture. So it is possible that many might hear these words today and think that Jesus is asking to be glorified for some selfish motive. So let me deconstruct the background we come from so that we can hear more clearly what Jesus is saying...

Seeking His Glory

The City and its Temple

After three sermons focused on Job’s friends and looking at how people sometimes add to suffering by dealing in self-centered and insensitive ways with those who are suffering, we turned last week to how Job responded to his suffering. We looked at a model of grief pioneered by a famous psychologist called Elizabeth Kubler Ross. This model describes 5 stages of grief, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Each of these stages can be done well or badly. When I say well, I mean in a Biblical and Godly way. And when it is dealt with well it leads to healing and spiritual growth. On the other hand each stage can be dealt with in a worldly way that leads to bad outcomes. Now Job is commended by God both in the beginning of this ordeal, that means to start with, he was someone who lived a God-fearing life. And God vindicates him at the end of the book as well, that means he dealt with the challenges he was thrown within the book well. We know this because in the 10 speeches that Job has given you see each of the first 4 stages of grief circulating throughout these speeches. Thus looking at Job’s response is an opportunity for us to learn how to grieve well. And that means doing all the stages of grief well. Last week we looked at the first two stages of grief, denial and anger. This week we are going to look at the next three stages, bargaining, depression and acceptance. So let’s get started.

Grieving Well, Part II

Three ways we can be real friends to the “Jobs” in our life. Make sure that we don’t make their pain worse by pining the blame carelessly, especially not on the mourner themselves. Secondly, make sure to weep with those who weep so that they know that you are with them in the time of their suffering. Finally take their “why” questions to God for them. God can handle all questions and God promises that those who mourn will be comforted. If we have experienced that comfort from leaving our questions and problems at the feet of Jesus, then we will be able to pass that comfort on to those whom we are trying to comfort.

The Testing of Friends Without Discernment

We are going to turn our attention back to the book of Job. In our first sermon on Job we looked at the opening where the scene was being set for us, with God and Satan setting up a trial for Job in heaven. We also looked at how the trial plays out here on earth and we looked at the question that the book of Job is exploring. One way of framing the question is, is God just? The other approach to the question is, if God is good, then why do good people suffer? This is where Job’s friends come in. Because Job’s three friends soon appear to console him. Now each of Job’s friends have a slightly different take on how they respond to Job’s laments. These responses represent different philosophical perspectives to the question of God’s justice and human suffering. We are going to look at how these perspectives are formed and what is helpful and unhelpful about each of these perspectives when dealing with a grieving friend. Today our focus is going to be on Eliphaz, the Temanite.

Grief Counseling Gone wrong: Eliphaz and Job

My question to us this morning is, how does the amazing facts of Resurrection Sunday and the amazing promises to us impact our life today? I want to offer three quick things and stop. First, if God can do what He did for Jesus, is there any challenge that happens here on earth too great for God to handle? Because of Easter, the answer is no. There is nothing too great for God to handle. Can I get an Amen! If you have something in your life that feels impossible or dead even and you have lost all hope, can God bring life into the dead things in your life? Because of Easter, the answer is yes my friends! When you don’t see the plan and the way ahead is pitch dark, does God have a plan? Because of Easter, you and I can say with a resounding yes, God does have a plan forward.