Sermons | NPC Dublin Ohio

On Pentecost Sunday we celebrate God’s gift of the Holy Spirit and rejoice in the many ways the Spirit moves in our hearts and through the church to speak the word of God and do the works of God.

Despite our efforts to capture God’s glory for ourselves, Jesus teaches that true peace and happiness in this world are only possible by giving glory to God through the cross.

Christ’s words in John 14:15-21 are a rich encouragement for his disciples: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth... I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

The reality of Christ and his resurrection breaks through our cynicism, overcoming the nagging suspicion in our hearts that heaven is too good to be true.

In John 14, Jesus reassures His disciples, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me” and shapes in them a heavenly mindset that empowers prayer in a world full of doubt.

John 10 is a lesson about the leader who must be followed in a world where human leaders disappoint.

The gospel writer Luke wrote a reliable, sufficient account for generations of people who would never have first-hand encounters with Jesus so that they would encounter the truth, believe and be saved. “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (Luke 24:30-31).

After his resurrection from the dead, Jesus came to his disciples and said to them, “Peace be with you.” His peace gives us freedom from fear and doubt, and freedom for purpose.

With regard to the sacrament of the Lords's supper, the Westminster Larger Catechism states that believers "affectionately meditate on his death and sufferings, and thereby stir up themselves to a vigorous exercise of their graces; in judging themselves, and sorrowing for sin; in earnest hungering and thirsting after Christ, feeding on him by faith, receiving of his fullness, trusting in his merits, rejoicing in his love, giving thanks for his grace; in renewing of their covenant with God, and love to all the saints."

Palm Sunday is a celebration of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem of the promised Messiah and the Son of God who had come to bring peace. The apostle and gospel writer John writes that by believing in Jesus, the long-awaited King who defends the vulnerable, gathers the broken and exhausts violence, we “may have life in his name” (John 20:31).