Seasons Church

Kicking off this new sermon series, we find ourselves in John 18 - in the Garden of Gethsemane.  This is the location where Jesus is betrayed, arrested, and hauled off to the house of Annas in the city of Jerusalem.  Considering what He went through (and perhaps knowing the whole story), as followers of His we must be willing to ask ourselves if we are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that the truth of God is heard and known to those around us.  Jesus demonstrates an incredible testimony and example that despite what was coming, He was committed to DOING the Father's will.  Do we walk with the same determination in this world of brokenness that each of us knows all too well?  God bless you. 

Jesus concludes His time in the Upper Room, and His final Passover meal, with several asks of God the Father; each of them requested from the foundation of His desire to only see God's glory revealed.  It is a tremendous lesson of encouragement for the believer today to see that His words were focused on unity, strength, obedience, sanctification, and of course the request that the Disciples and those who would come after them would one day be where He is.  God bless you and thank you for taking this journey of faith with us.  

Closing out the Conversation from the Upper Room series, Jesus prays specifically for three different requests.  In this message, we discover the first prayer which is for Himself - but not in the way that we might consider praying for ourselves.  Instead, Jesus prays personally to the Father for His restoration to glory, so that He might bring glory TO the Father.  

Is this how we pray today?  Do we pray in our own prayer time that God would also be seen, revealed, and glorified in our lives?  It is a model of prayer that seems lost on our generation, and one that we would be wise to see, to know, and to return to so that as Christians we might (also) bring glory to the One who created us.  God bless you. 

The final words Jesus speaks to the Disciples in the Upper Room give us incredible clarity to what was truly on His mind.  It is the revelation and unpacking of the resurrection that Jesus goes into great detail on - but not the mechanics.  No!  Jesus speaks life, peace, and calm into these men who He loves, so that they (and by studying it, we) would understand that what we are facing now is NOT greater than what is coming from the Father.  God bless you! 

The work of the Holy Spirit has three goals, and none of them are related to propping humanity up or allowing us to stay the same once we have encountered God's grace!  The good news in this work of the Holy Spirit is that we are not left without hope to face life's every challenge.  Jesus promises a great return for our labor if we will remain faithful, but will we?  Will we continue to follow Jesus's calling to love God and people and make disciples?  God bless you. 

Jesus words to His disciples become more and more relevant to the Church (right now) IF we will take the time to read, to understand, and to seek the Holy Spirit's guidance on how we should live, daily.  We may willingly admit that we are called to abide in Jesus - but abiding without having a testimony is useless because the joy of our testimony comes from our enduring in faith of Christ!  Are we willing to lay down our preferences, and understand that Jesus has instructed exactly how to survive in this world of chaos?  Truly, there can be no greater challenge for us to consider.   God bless you. 

Continuing our series in John 15, we must never miss the clarity of Jesus:  He is the vine - and God (the Father) is the gardener.  This amplification of truth must be at the heart of all believers, helping us to draw into a closer, more intimate, relationship with a God who loved us so much that He would send His Son to die for us.  It is in these words that we can be strengthened to live, and in these words we must anchor ourselves firmly to testify to God's incredible goodness and love for us.  May we all hold tighter to the vine this week.  God bless you.  

Receiving the Holy Spirit is the greatest gift God could ever give humanity, especially since Jesus is teaching that He would no longer be physically present with the Disciples.  This encouragement, and this gift, is also extended to those who would submit to Him today to have joy, peace, and security.  Jesus promises an Advocate, a Companion, who will walk with us through each of life's challenges - and truly there is nothing greater that we might ever need.  May we truly be receptive to this gift of God, and obey the commandments given to follow Him in everything we do.  God bless you. 

In John 14, Jesus told the disciples (and us) specifically where He is going – AND He has invited us to come and  be where He is - in this physical, created place (abode).  He then follows this up with the most declarative statement spoken in the New Testament that the ONLY way to get there is by the way He provides.  The question for all of us now is, "Will we listen and follow?"  God bless you. 

Continuing our series, "Conversations from the Upper Room", we see a very important aspect of the kind of relationship Jesus calls His disciples (and us) into with Him.  The real challenge to this relationship comes in our choosing to deny Him, just as Judas did, and what the eternal implications of that action are for us.  In examining this, we must be willing to ask ourselves, "Is my sin worth this?"  Because, every time we flirt with disobeying Jesus -- we should remind ourselves that denying His calling for a few fleeting moments of sinful behavior may be our eventual undoing.  God bless you.