Branches OC

The cross reconciles us upward unto God (our Being) and calls us outward unto others (our Doing) ...through Godly perspective, empowerment and empathy.

"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

-2 Corinthians 5:16-21 NIV

Jesus then said, "I am the resurrection and the life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. And everyone who lives because of confidence in me will never really die. Do you believe this?" - Jesus (John 11:25, 26)

3/2/2025 The Sacrifice of LOVE by Branches OC

The Parable of the Prodigal Son is Jesus' profound story of a wayward son who squanders his inheritance but returns to find unexpected grace. Through the father's lavish welcome, Jesus reveals God's radical forgiveness and the shocking invitation for both the lost and the self-righteous to join the redemption feast.

God is love, all other characteristics of God flow from the infinite spring of love that is God's very nature. 1 John 4:7-21

When you really think about it, the "Church" is amazing. It's made up of a group of people that would never had gathered together if it weren't for the grace of God. In Ephesians 2, we see how Jesus has torn down the walls that divide us by going to the cross, taking the penalty for our sins, and destroying the hostility that divides humanity, thus making peace. Through Jesus, we are given an invitation to experience true "shalom" with God and others.

Jesus and His Spirit led messianic mission ushers in the fulfillment of Jubilee and God's favor where restoration, liberation and mercy triumph over retribution.

This is the Story of God revealing his name and his character to Moses and how we are invited into a personal relationship with a personal God who has a name... Yahweh.

”God is like Jesus. God has always been like Jesus. There has never been a time when God was not like Jesus." - Brian Zahnd

"John’s account of the crucifixion reads like a birth story. Jesus has his clothes removed (19:23) and asks for pain relief. Surrounded by women, he exclaims, “Woman, here is your son” and “Here is your mother” (vv. 26–27), at which point his mother takes the young man he addressed home. After Jesus’ triumphant cry of “It is finished,” blood and water come gushing from his side (vv. 30, 34), a detail only John records. (Along with Luke, he also records the scars and marks that remain on Jesus’ body even after the Resurrection.) John persists with the theme in his letters, repeatedly describing salvation as being “born of God” and famously insisting on the witness of Spirit, water, and blood (1 John 5:1–8)."