Public Spectacle or Personal Encounter

Luke 24:13-35

“…these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” (Luke 24:11)

I. Jesus will meet you on your road to nowhere. 

II. The road with Jesus, as with any road, is filled with evil and suffering.

https://youtu.be/DDUdK5SYa7w

A. Jesus eats and drinks with His disciples.

B. Jesus is more physical than ghostlike.  

III. Jesus reveals Himself along the road in and through the Scriptures.

In today's episode, Youth Pastor SirGregory Thornton, Assistant Pastor Artez Henderson, and  Worship and Creative Director Adrianna Steele discuss Good Friday as we celebrate this Easter Season.

“Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.” (John 11:57)

I. We all want a King. 

II. Jesus is a King who is free to die. 

“…unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone....” (John 12: 24a)

“…who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:20)

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:38-40)

III. Jesus is a King who frees us to produce many seeds.

 “…unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12: 24)

“Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12: 25)

In today's episode, Adrianna Steele, Pastor Richard Rieves, Assistant Pastor Artez Henderson, and Children's Director Rebecca Rhodes discuss Palm Sunday as we celebrate this Easter Season.

Today's Scripture: John 5:1-30 (NIV)

What does this mean for us today?

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and is seated on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Today, Adrianna Steele, Artez Henderson and Richard Rieves interview DC Member Whitney Hale about her experience as a woman working in Marketing.

Main idea: Jesus demonstrates great works so that we might trust in Him alone!

1. Faith in Jesus is evident by taking a desperate posture.

So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” (John 4:46-49)

2.  Faith in Jesus is evident by believing His promises.

Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.  (John 4:50)

“God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19)

3. Faith in Jesus is evident by surrendering our lives to his power.

As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee. (John 4:51-54)

Today, Adrianna Steele and Richard Rieves interview DC Member Jennifer Goolsby about her experience as a woman working in Finance.

Today's Scripture: Jesus and the Woman of Samaria (John 4:1-26)

I. We should drink the water Jesus offers because it makes somebodies out of nobodies.

“The chosen are simply the ones approached by an enamored God who can’t stop thinking about you. This turns and reorients a life.”

Voskamp, Ann. WayMaker (p. 28). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

“Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’” (John 4:7b)

“‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (John 4:9a)

II. We should drink the water Jesus serves up because His love heals our wounds of rejection. 

“The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) .” (John 4:9)

“Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come here.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.’” (John 4:16-19)

III. We should drink the water Jesus serves up because it offers the intimacy for which we were made. 

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” (John 4:23)

Today, Adrianna Steele, Jessie Harvey, and Artez Henderson interview DC Member Caroline Bauman Steimer about her experience as a woman working in Journalism.