Christ Church Jerusalem

27 June 2021 - Fifth Sunday After Pentecost - Who is Jesus? Is he just a man blessed with an extra measure of the Holy Spirit? In the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, Jesus is revealed as the Holy One of Israel whose holiness is more contagious than the impure stain of death. Jesus calls us to join the fight of life over death and shares with his followers the authority to confront evil.

Readings: 2 Timothy 1:1-10; Psalm 130; Mark 5:21-43

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Paul begins his challenge of Peter's hypocrisy by saying, “We who are Jews by birth ... who know”. The primary comparison is between Jews and Gentiles as a matter of nature, that is birth, and not between a matter of “knowing”. If the focus was on knowing, then this would lead us close to gnosticism. Jews are not “sinners,” which is the natural state of Gentiles who have no natural relationship with God nor knowledge of Him. Paul in Romans spends more time reflecting on the advantages of the Jewish people. Interestingly it is these very advantages that make hypocrisy a great danger.

Led by Aaron Eime.

Notes for this study can be found at https://www.christchurchjerusalem.org/sermons/bible-studies/letter-to-the-galatians/ ‎

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20 Jun 2021 - Fourth Sunday of Pentecost - Despite knowing Jesus, many of us lack in spiritual maturity. Rev. David Pileggi, taking clues from the life of King David, points us to the path of transformation and maturity. We must discern the world as it really is, allow God to prepare us, and live a lifestyle of gratitude that bears testimony of God's faithfulness to us.

Readings: 1 Samuel 17:(1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49; 2 Corinthians 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41

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This sermon is also available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/christchurchjerusalem

Listen to this sermon and more on our podcast. Search for Christ Church Jerusalem in Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app.

Paul's opposition to Peter initially concerns itself with Peter's refusal to eat with the Gentile members of the believing community. The issue is part of a larger theological concern that is worked out in practical behaviour. Jewish people in the Second Temple period did not typically dine with Gentiles of any description, because of ritual purity concerns. The belief was that “things” could pass on impurity to other people. Gentiles were considered as being perpetually in an impure state. Peter had already “crossed the Rubicon” by eating with Gentiles in Acts 10. “Do not call unclean what God was made clean!” Following the conversion of the centurion Cornelius, Peter went to Jerusalem where he was asked, not about the Holy Spirit falling on Gentiles nor details of angelic visitations but “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them” (Acts 11:3).

Led by Aaron Eime.

Notes for this study can be found at https://www.christchurchjerusalem.org/sermons/bible-studies/letter-to-the-galatians/ ‎

Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) donation. www.christchurchjerusalem.org/donate/

13 June 2021 - Third Sunday after Pentecost - We long for revival and to see the Kingdom of Heaven suddenly overtake the powers of this world. In the parable of the growing seed, Jesus teaches us that the kingdom grows slowly but surely under the sovereignty of God in partnership with his "farmers." From 120 people on the Day of Pentecost, the Jesus movement has spread throughout the world in 2,000 years. Rev. Aaron Eime encourages to do our part in walking out our faith and planting God's seeds for the Father's glory.

Readings: Ezekiel 17:22-24; 2 Corinthians 5:6-17; Mark 4:26-34

Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) donation. www.christchurchjerusalem.org/donate/

This sermon is also available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/christchurchjerusalem

Listen to this sermon and more on our podcast. Search for Christ Church Jerusalem in Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app.

Music credit: The Train in the Darkness by MusicLFiles

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7240-the-train-in-the-darkness

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Paul continues to reveal some autobiographical material not found anywhere else in Scripture. In Galatians 1, Paul described his first trip to Jerusalem three years following his Damascus Road experience. In Galatians 2 he describes a second journey to Jerusalem, this time 14 years later. The use of the word ἔπειτα ‘then’ probably indicates the timing to follow after the initial three years. Thus Paul had spent 17 years in ministry since his calling in Damascus, studying in Arabia, ministering in Damascus, moving to his childhood home in Tarsus and finally being called to serve the Jewish-Gentile community of Antioch by Barnabas.

Led by Aaron Eime.

Notes for this study can be found at https://www.christchurchjerusalem.org/sermons/bible-studies/letter-to-the-galatians/ ‎

Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) donation. www.christchurchjerusalem.org/donate/

6 June 2021 - Second Sunday after Pentecost - What is the unforgiveable sin? Have we done it? Rev. Aaron Eime has us consider this anxiety-producing sin in light of God's desire to have relationship with us. The Holy Spirit is a person, not an impersonal power. It is the Holy Spirit that, through Jesus' work on the cross, dwells in us and unites us with God. If we reject God's offer of forgiveness and friendship, we blaspheme the Holy Spirit.

Readings: Genesis 3:8-15 • Psalm 130 • Mark 3:20-35

Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) donation. www.christchurchjerusalem.org/donate/

This sermon is also available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/christchurchjerusalem

Listen to this sermon and more on our podcast. Search for Christ Church Jerusalem in Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app.

Having laid forth a strong denunciation of the false gospel that currently persuades the Galatian communities, Paul gives some autobiographical material not found in any other epistle or writing. At the core of Paul's narration is that the Gospel preached by Paul is not Paul's gospel nor his invention. Paul claims divine revelation – the Greek word here is apocalypse – from the Messiah himself.

Led by Aaron Eime.

Notes for this study can be found at https://www.christchurchjerusalem.org/sermons/bible-studies/letter-to-the-galatians/ ‎

Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) donation. www.christchurchjerusalem.org/donate/

30 May 2021 - Trinity Sunday - We serve the God who sacrificially sends himself out to heal his creation. He restores us to himself and enables us to share in the divine life. Rev. David Pileggi reminds us that God then sends us out to live lives of love and unity modeled after the divine community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Readings: Isaiah 43:1-8; Isaiah 44:1-12; John 3:1-18

Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) donation. www.christchurchjerusalem.org/donate/

This sermon is also available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/christchurchjerusalem

Listen to this sermon and more on our podcast. Search for Christ Church Jerusalem in Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app.

The Train in the Darkness by MusicLFiles

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7240-the-train-in-the-darkness

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Having established himself as an apostle in the opening sentence, Paul follows the pattern of greeting he has learned from his teacher Gamaliel in the salutation to the communities in Galatia: “Grace and peace,” or in Hebrew, chesed v’shalom. Paul invokes God the Father and the Messiah Jesus as source of the grace and peace. Paul does not invoke a trinitarian formula and omits mention of the Holy Spirit. Why does he do this? We discussed that Paul rarely mentions all three participants of the Godhead in a single sentence. We discussed that one of the Holy Spirit's roles as a permanent gift from God is to glorify and honour the Father and the Son, and not seek the attention and glory for Himself.

Led by Aaron Eime.

Notes for this study can be found at https://www.christchurchjerusalem.org/sermons/bible-studies/letter-to-the-galatians/ ‎

Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) donation. www.christchurchjerusalem.org/donate/