So many things can hold us back from seeing and believing that Jesus has indeed risen from the grave.  Fear?  Grief?  Shame?  What if God were wanting to roll those stones away so that we could live into the fullness of life he intends for each of us today?  Could we believe then?

As Jesus rode into Jerusalem one last time before his crucifixion, people were ready to crown him King of Israel.  But strangely he rode a humble donkey, and not a war-horse stallion as they expected.  This points to the truth that Jesus' kingdom is not one of power and might, but of peace, nonviolence, and humility.  And we who call ourselves by his name, are to walk in that way as well.   

As Jesus’ time with his disciples was drawing to a close, he took time to share with them some very important words.  He reminded them that while they would be incredibly sad following his death, that joy would return when they experienced his resurrection.  In the meantime, he encouraged them to be persistent in prayer, and faithfully obedient to his words.  

Jesus challenges his followers to be in the world, but not of the world.  But what does that mean?  The Beatitudes in Matthew 5 give us a clearer picture.  The poor in spirit.  Those who mourn.  The meek. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.  The merciful.  The pure in heart.  The peacemakers.  Those who are persecuted because of righteousness.  The insulted.  Sadly, we, in America today, don’t mo

People are much like sheep.  Without the voice of a trusted good shepherd, we can easily be led astray to places we never intended.  In today’s scripture, Jesus tells a parable about The Good Shepherd.  His sheep listen to his voice and they follow it.  Jesus is our Good Shepherd who leads us to life and life to the full. 

Jesus and those who had followed him, but no longer were, had a heated discussion about truth and their source of truth.  Jesus’ truth came from God the Father.  Whereas their truth had come from other means.  In this day and age, we must weigh the world’s truth that seems to change daily with God’s truth in his Word which never changes.   

How we live our lives on earth has eternal consequences.  In Jesus’ Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Jesus makes that plainly clear.  As Christians, God calls us to care for the most vulnerable not only in our community but around the world.  We cannot and should not turn a blind eye to the suffering of others when it is in our power to do something.  We may not solve poverty, but we can start small and let that impact grow into

Today, we can’t be more cautious about fraudulent emails, text messages, phone calls claiming one thing but in reality, are another.  Somehow, we need to be able to authenticate what we are hearing is true.  In Jesus’ day, the religious leaders had somewhere between 200 to 570 Old Testament prophecies of what the Messiah would be like.  Scholars indicate that Jesus fulfilled all of them and yet these leaders still would not believe that

In today’s day and age, it is far too easy to fall into an “Us versus Them" mentality.  As for myself, I would much rather spend time with people who are just like me.  But that is not the way of Jesus.  In our scripture story, Jesus forces us out of our comfort zones, so that we can face our sin and to be reconciled with those with whom we’d rather avoid…so that we can worship God in Spirit and in truth.  

Terroir is a french term used in wine making that describes the environmental characteristics in which grapes are grown. In other words, this is the soil, climate, and sunlight that give the grapes their distinct character and taste. Our Christian faith has its own terroir which includes the idea of spiritual rebirth.  Jesus said without being reborn in the spirit that we cannot being to understand spiritual things.