When we come to Jesus, we sometimes think we get to define the terms of the relationship. But that's not what Jesus tells us in John 10. It's there we discover that we have a Good Shepherd who we desperately need and who makes His voice clear to us.

Everyone in this life faces disappointment. From small things like failed Amazon deliveries to massive trials and sufferings. No one felt this disappointment more than the disciples on the Emmaus Road. They expected the Messiah to come and conquer the Roman empire, yet Jesus meets them to rebuke how they are not trusting in God's promises. In sum, the revelation of Jesus brings peace in disappointment.

When we allow chaos to invade and reign over our hearts instead of peace, sin creates patterns of unhealthy fear and unbelief in our lives. Because of this, we need someone or something to calm the storms in our hearts. In His resurrection, Jesus does just that by bringing peace to us amid the chaos in our lives.

While many start the Christian story in Genesis 3, we must begin in Genesis 1-2 where God dwelled in perfect shalom (peace) and fellowship with humanity. Yet, when sin entered the world, it caused us to become confused, fearful, and worried. Even more tragically, it kept us from seeing Jesus clearly. But in His resurrection, Jesus has come to bring us perfect peace and to help us see Him for who He is: King over all.

Much like the humble hobbit named Frodo Baggins, Jesus is the hero we did not expect, but the one we truly needed. In this account of Jesus entering the holy city of Jerusalem in Matthew 21, we see He is a promised and humble king, but He is also a confrontational and compassionate king.

It seems as if our world is afraid of one thing: death. Because of this, we can have many false and faulty ideas about death. Yet we see in John 11 that Christians can live with hope in the face of death because Jesus is the resurrection and life.

In this stunning chapter, Jesus heals a physically blind man and exposes the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees. Yet because of our first parents Adam and Eve, we have all inherited this same spiritual blindness. The good news of John 9 is that Jesus has come to bring salvation to the humble and expose the prideful.

What do we think the fundamental needs in life are? Does it look like mere surviving or mere thriving on the temporary things of this world? It's true, there are things we need to survive like air, water, and food, but we need Someone else in order to fully survive and thrive in this world. Like the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, our greatest need this morning is to find our satisfaction and salvation in the person of Jesus.

How does one enter the kingdom of God? According to Jesus' interaction with Nicodemus, you will not enter the kingdom unless you are born again. Jesus shows us in John 3:1-21 our great need for a new birth, that it only comes through the Spirit, and is only made possible through His sacrificial death.

We begin this season of Lent by reflecting on Jesus' temptation in the wilderness by Satan in Matthew 4. In His temptations and victory over them, Jesus becomes our example and hope when we are tempted.