What if the hope we wait for isn’t being whisked away… beamed up… but instead remade? Join us as we unpack the biblical vision of a new heaven and new earth, (oh… and a new BODY) - where Jesus returns to remake everything good and right.

Be warned though… You may have your assumptions of the “end times” deeply challenged

What if the hope we wait for isn’t being whisked away… beamed up… but instead remade? Join us as we unpack the biblical vision of a new heaven and new earth, (oh… and a new BODY) - where Jesus returns to remake everything good and right.

Be warned though… You may have your assumptions of the “end times” deeply challenged.

We wrap up this series on the last words of Jesus with a question on what it means to finish well.

We appreciate good STARTERS in our culture… entrepreneurs, innovators… people with fresh ideas and new ventures, but how much more meaningful is it to FINISH well. In fact, ending poorly forever tarnishes an otherwise noble legacy.

But what did Jesus mean? Specifically, WHAT was finished?

His life? His day on the cross? Surely it was more profound than that?

Oh it was indeed. And it’s a truth that has forever changed the world ever since.

After Jesus’s first few final statements, which are amazingly directed to the care, concern and forgiveness of OTHERS, Jesus then faces something even more excruciating than the physical pain (if that were possible).

He literally carries the weight of the world on Himself - specifically, all the murder, rape, injustice, evil and sin known to man.

In the midst of that embodied sin, the Father looks away.

Jesus quotes the prophecy from Psalm 22:1

I am still amazed that in the midst of the most excruciating torture ever devised, Jesus’ thoughts and concerns are for the welfare of others.

What a man. What a Saviour. What a good God.

Most of us don’t have that kind of selflessness. In fact, I would also say that most of us don’t have the kind of parent that would easily be compared to the “Humble” and “Highly favoured” servant of God found in Mary.

So what can we apply to our own lives from these last words of Christ? How can we aspire to the kind of goodness and care exhibited here?

The Bible says that two criminals were crucified next to Jesus - one on either side. They represent in some ways the two extremes in all of us. Unlike Jesus, they actually HAD done bad and illegal things.

One criminal is angry, defensive and joins in the mocking.

The other criminal is humble, broken and repentant.

What Jesus says to the second criminal - the second of His seven last statements - and the authority in which He says it, is both shocking and some of the best news you’ve ever heard.

What do the last moments… the last breaths reveal about a life lived?

Most of us probably won’t get an opportunity to state a profound epitaph as our dying words. Very few have.

In ”Famous Last Words" we’ll eavesdrop on our Saviour’s final breaths: the seven last statements of Christ.

These are words which may force us to ask blunt questions: Do our endings expose failure or faith? Can forgiveness arrive in time? Will grace be loud enough to drown out our wickedness and doubts?

Come curious — leave unsettled, perhaps changed.

We continue our series TETHERED - what it means to be rooted or grounded or anchored to the 2000-year-old essentials of Christianity as found in the Nicene Creed, as opposed to the whims, trends and fads that muddy the waters of faith.

Despite all the ways the institutionalized Church may have hurt, embarrassed or disappointed us, it is still truly a miracle. An unstoppable force in the world and Jesus’s plan for spreading His Kingdom. Not the “institution” but the gathered and “called out” PEOPLE!

And as ONE Holy Church our biggest witness to the world might just be our ONENESS!

We continue our series TETHERED - what it means to be rooted or grounded or anchored to the 2000-year-old essentials of Christianity as found in the Nicene Creed, as opposed to the whims, trends and fads that muddy the waters of faith.

This week we come to the “stanza” in the Creed that highlights the Holy Spirit - what Pastor and author Francis Chan has called “The Forgotten God”.

Perhaps not forgotten by you, but maybe hard to conceive in your mind… difficult to picture or even understand what (if anything) distinguishes the Holy Spirit from God the Father and God the Son, Jesus.

There are certain faith traditions that would be much more comfortable proclaiming, “I believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy SCRIPTURE”

For them, the Holy Spirit is just too… impetuous.

Ultimately, we’ll discover the Holy Spirit is not a doctrine to be studied; He is a person to be experienced in power.

We continue our series TETHERED - what it means to be rooted or grounded or anchored to the 2000-year-old essentials of Christianity as found in the Nicene Creed, as opposed to the whims, trends and fads that muddy the waters of faith.

We once again confront the core aspects of Jesus’s life and mission. There are those - and you’ve probably heard this rhetoric - that acknowledge Jesus’ impact and teaching and kindness but stop short of any affirmation of His resurrection, ascension or miracles.

On Sunday, you may discover that His resurrection is, in fact, the singular most compelling evidence of the Christian faith.

It’s that important.