A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor David Singh.The Ascension of Jesus into heaven is very significant in its implications for us on earth and for God in heaven.  If we look at what Jesus did as he ascended to heaven, it is clear that God in Jesus Christ is blessing the church as it has never been blessed. Luke 24:50-51 says Jesus, "lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven." Jesus commands the disciples to wait for this blessing. The promise that they “will be clothed with power from on high” is the same promise with which Mary conceived Jesus by the power of the most high. This is the blessing that the church is now clothed with the promised Holy Spirit.  The power to carry Jesus into the world is the endowment and blessing. Jesus’ ministry on earth is completed with this final blessing. With the ascension, Jesus’ human presence now in heaven and on earth, there comes the abiding presence of the Spirit. There is a new commonality between what is happening in heaven and on earth, a foretaste of what is to come. God indwells us and we are invited to indwell in God. What an amazing relationship!  Alleluia!

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor David Singh.Mark 16:17 says, “And these signs will accompany those who believe…”  The call of Jesus is to believe in Him, that he rose from the dead. This is not only a theological statement of faith, but also a practical outworking of the mission of the church.  To live like Jesus lived is to continue in such a way that the whole creation can experience Jesus in us and through us.And he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation." Mark 16:15. Easter impacts all of creation. There is life instead of decay and death.  It is the fulfillment of the prayer:  Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is the good news that the kingdom of heaven has come in Jesus. All of creation is called to share in the resurrection power of Jesus. 

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor David Singh.The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the pivotal turning point in the battle between satan and the church. In the practice of the church today, the Resurrection does not seem to be as prominent as the Cross. We are so salvation-focused that we forget the magnitude of what is happening both on earth and in heaven. The answer to the prayer “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is established at the Resurrection of Jesus. Jesus rising from the dead is not just so that we can live forever, and death has no dominion over us. Jesus has taken command of earth and heaven, and the prince of this world has lost his hold. Daniel had this prophetic vision of Jesus: “there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom.” (Dan 7:13-14)We are called to live in this ethos of Jesus being crowned king of earth and heaven, that at his name every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.  This is what gives us an even greater longing for the consummation of the kingdom of God. Come Lord Jesus, come soon!

A Sunday sermon by Pastor David Singh.The work that Jesus inaugurated in his own life on earth is meant to be carried out by his disciples. This is not only an apostolic call, which is required of the 11, but it is also meant to continue in our own faithfulness to be apostolic.In such a short time of little over a month after Easter, the disciples have not grasped the magnitude of what Jesus has already accomplished and is now delegating to them to continue. The earthly life and ministry of Jesus was very local and focused primarily on Israel. After the Resurrection, the whole world will hear about Jesus. And those who follow him will be from all nations. For the first time those who are baptized will far exceed the Jewish believers. Our faithfulness to the apostolic call will always drive us out of our comfort zone of working with our own people and learning to love people we do not know or have not seen. May we hear the command of Jesus afresh to go to all the nations. 

A Sunday sermon by Pastor David Singh.In the Resurrection appearances of Jesus, Peter is singled out.  Peter outran John and entered the empty tomb to see for himself. Peter is clearly the leader among the twelve apostles.  He was in the inner circle of the three who accompanied Jesus. Peter is impulsive, enthusiastic and demonstrates a greater capacity than others to discern that Jesus is the Messiah. And yet Jesus asks Peter three times, “Simon son of John do you love me”?  What if Jesus were to ask you the same question again and again?  This is not a confrontation, nor a condemnation, it is simply a question that needs to remain at the center of our relationship with Jesus.  It is our love for Jesus that is paramount and more important than what we are ready to do for him.  God is love, and those who live in love live in God and God lives in them. Let us live in this love of God!

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor David Singh.Moses asks God that he may see his glory. (Ex 33:18).  Jesus promises his disciples, "they will see me”  (Matt 28:10). The last chapter of the bible, Rev 22:3-4 promises, "his servants will worship him. They will see his face.” Have you ever, like Moses, asked God, "Lord I want to see you"?  This desire to see God is not for proof but for worship. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.”  Easter creates a longing to see the glory of the Risen Son. This is an experience of fear and joy. Fear because you see God and joy because there is no greater human desire than to worship God. This is a beautiful tension, and worship preserves our humanity and God’s divinity. In worship we transcend death and experience eternal life. In worship we see God. The more we worship the more we will see God!

An Easter Sunday morning sermon by Pastor David Singh. The Resurrection of Jesus is the lynch-pin of Christian faith.  In affirming that there is life after death we are placing our faith in our God Jesus who is the, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end. We are alive because he gives us life. We will die, but we are confident that we will live because He died, and yet He lives.  Jesus took death upon himself and so shares life with us. This is hard to believe rationally. But it is knowing Jesus, which moves us beyond reason to the place of faith. Faith is not blind. Faith is firmly rooted in the bodily resurrection appearances of Jesus and the testimony of witnesses. Faith comes from seeing Jesus and knowing him.This knowing of faith is a whole experience, which involves more than the mind. Knowing Jesus reaches deep into our experience, a familiar memory, and a resonance of our own inner spirit.  In the end even reason kicks in. We believe in the Resurrection from the dead and Life Everlasting!

A Palm Sunday morning sermon by Pastor David Singh. Palm Sunday, which leads to Good Friday and Easter, sets the tone and vision for the victory of Jesus.  Jesus comes riding on a donkey, and this act is a visual assault on the complicity of violence, war, power, money, and religion.  Jesus is not just going to the Cross to save us from sin that is individual. Even more important, He saves us from sin that is communal, national, and international. This paradigm change truly inaugurates the Kingdom of God and prepares us to live by a different set of values. Freedom of access to God, prayer, healing, and praise become the primary instruments of the people of God to live according to kingdom values.  The nations, the sick and suffering, the sinful and condemned, even infants and children are all welcomed, included, and have an integral part to play in God’s kingdom. Come Lord Jesus! Come into our world!

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor David Singh.Our God is a God who hears our cry, the longing of our hearts, and even the deepest anguish of the spirit. “24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.” Genesis 2:24.God hears, God saw, and God knew. This is the heart of God. And God responds. Therefore, John says “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (ESV). This is what Paul says of the Spirit: “the Spirit himself intercedes for us.”  The Father, Son, and Spirit actively participate in hearing our cries and in responding to them. The Trinity set the example for what we are called to do as disciples. Let us listen to the hidden, forgotten, ignored cries of the world. It is our firm belief that the closer we draw to the heart of God the more we will hear the cries and prayers of the world.  Let us ask God to send us the broken, the wounded, the poor, and the lost so that we may love them and share Jesus Christ who is the way the truth and the life.

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor David Singh.In John 17:11, this is what Jesus prays for us: “I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name.” What does it mean to be in the world and to be kept safe in His name? How can we learn to be in the world and not of the world.Jesus came and became fully human; he knows what it is to be to be tempted in every way like us and to be in the world. From the beginning and after being filled with the Holy Spirit, satan himself came to tempt Jesus. Jesus sets us an example of how say no to sin and yes to God. By the power of the Word, by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony, the people of God have overcome sin and death. When the disciples return from their ministry and report how demons were cast out, Jesus rejoices that he saw Satan fall down like lightning from heaven.  In the name of Jesus, we have the victory!