Just look at how holy the early church was!

Bethlehem Lutheran Church

This Sunday brings together a favorite theme in John’s Gospel and First Epistle: that we love because we have been loved by Christ. God’s love flows to us from the Father through Jesus. This love is expressed chiefly when Jesus lays down His life for us on the cross (Jn 15:9, 13). It is then Jesus’ commandment that we love one another (15:12). Our loving is solely by God’s initiative; we did not choose Jesus, but Jesus chose us and appointed us to bear the fruit of love (Jn 15:16).

Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Easter is all about life and the Gospel for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, insists that it is only through our connection with Jesus Christ that we live the kind of life in Him that bears fruit.

The Shepherd as a metaphor was already established in Jesus’ day, and it was his application of the significant Old Testament Shepherd theme to Himself that amazed Jesus’ hearers and offers the greatest comfort and peace to us.

Bethlehem Lutheran Church

How can we be okay with things that aren’t okay?

We all desire communion and fellowship—a sense of connectedness and community with God and others, for we are created for fellowship. Sin kills relationships. It destroys our fellowship with God and people. God’s love overcomes our sin in the greatness of His love for us in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Christ’s cross is God’s “love story,” and in God’s gift of forgiveness is the power to be reconciled and restored to a relationship with God and our fellowman.

Bethlehem Lutheran Church