Michael Rankins’ message on Sunday was “I Am The Way: the Master Teacher’s last great lesson.” Taken from John, chapter 14, this is Jesus’ message to his apostles at the Last Supper. He knew this would be his last lesson and he knew what they needed to hear. How does he start the message? With words of comfort: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” He goes on to say that he’ll prepare a place for them and that he is the way to that place. But when Philip said “Show us the Father” Jesus simply replied (John 14: 9-10), “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father… I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” This isn’t blind faith he’s asking for. Jesus is telling them to believe “on the evidence of the works themselves” -- works that they had already seen.

Further, he says that whoever believes in him “will do even greater things than these.” How could that possibly be? When we share the Gospel with others, and when they believe AND obey, we have given them the gift of eternal life. Moreover, we can bestow this gift again and again.

Jesus then promises not to leave us as orphans. We will have an advocate to help us forever - the Spirit of truth will be “with you and will be in you”. The Holy Spirit (John 14:26) will “teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you.” And in verse 27, Jesus brings the message full circle, back to a message of comfort: “Peace I leave with you… Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

That peace is his blessed gift to us. If we love Jesus, if we believe and obey, we will receive a peace that surpasses all understanding.

On Sunday, John Mulligan gave us Part 2 in the lesson on Heaven: Our Eternal Home. There are many questions that people tend to ask about Heaven, not all of which have clear answers. What is clear, is that the people there will be those who have not sinned, those who have been saved, and those who remained saved. Other clear answers include YES, we will know each other and NO, we won’t experience sadness.

Other questions about Heaven have less clear answers, e.g., what will I look like, what age will I be in Heaven? We really only need to know that we will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:36-38 says, “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed… God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.” We will be our best, as seen in God’s eyes. And 1 John 3:2 says “...we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him…”

The major takeaway from this lesson, as John told us, is that “the concerns of our earthly questions will be eclipsed by our eternal experience!” If we just stay the course and remain faithful, He will make everything new, there will be no more night, and (Rev. 22:1-5) we shall see his blessed face!

Michael Rankins’ message this week was “And You Are Clean”, the story about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples after the Last Supper. In Jesus’ time, people would walk barefoot, or wearing light sandals, on dirty, dusty roads. When they arrived at someone’s home, it was the custom to wash your feet before coming inside. A well off family would have a servant wash the guests’ feet - the lowliest servant generally being assigned that task.

So when Jesus “lowered himself” to wash the disciples’ feet, Peter was astonished. John 13:8, “No” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet”. Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” The symbolism is about baptism, being born again “of water”. As we walk through this dirty world, our feet will get dirty, we will be tempted by sin, and we will need to ask forgiveness.

Just as important though, and maybe more difficult, as we acknowledge our own dirty feet, we will also need to forgive others their dirty feet. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Our duty as followers of Christ is to live God’s Word -- not just to understand it, but to live it. To “love each other as I have loved you.” To lay down our pride and forgive each other. To humble ourselves by washing away the filth of sin through forgiveness. To show mercy to others, even as Jesus has shown mercy for us. This is no intellectual exercise. We will be blessed if we DO these things.

Michael Rankins’ lesson this week was about The Good Shepherd, the story from the Book of John, Chapter 10. Let’s start with the set-up from chapter 9. This is where Jesus heals the man who was blind from birth; he spit in the dirt, rubbed the mud onto the man’s eyes, and told him to bathe in the pool of Siloam. This restored the man’s sight.

Why that ritual? Jesus could have just cured him instantly, but the man didn’t even ask to be healed. Jesus was giving him the opportunity to build faith, rather than imposing God upon him. Out of his love, Jesus was gently inviting him to respond to God’s directions.

This is how a good shepherd leads. He knows and loves his sheep, and his sheep follow him gladly. The Pharisees, however, were self-appointed shepherds who cared only for the power they held. They didn’t care about this man who had been healed of a life-long affliction. Instead, they denounced Jesus for working on the Sabbath and threw the man out of the synagogue. Jesus’ actions drew a contrast between the Pharisees’ selfish leadership and Jesus’ leading by self-sacrifice.

A few of the lessons here are that not all shepherds are genuine; that God has authorized only one shepherd; and that true sheep listen to and follow the one, true shepherd. Our loving shepherd, Jesus, laid down his life for us. He sacrificed himself for us and he will lead us into eternal life.

Michael asked us to listen to the shepherd’s words in Scripture this week. Whatever words speak to your heart - words of encouragement, motivation, hope - go where his words lead you. He is calling to us if we’ll only listen.

On Sunday, John Mulligan gave us Part 2 of his lesson on The Reality of Hell - Avoiding the Unthinkable. One reality that we need to know is that Hell was not meant for people; it’s meant for the Devil and his angels.

However, there are specific groups of people who will end up in that desperate situation. These are (1) those who reject God, (2) those who reject the Gospel, and (3) those who abandon their faith.

These situations tell us that no one will be in Hell by accident. People who reject God and the Gospel, or people who once DID accept God, but gave up their faith, will be the ones joining the Devil in Hell. Choices have consequences. Our choices, here on earth as we live out our lives, will determine if we find ourselves in Heaven or Hell.

Rest assured, though, that some groups will definitely NOT be there. Anyone who is unaccountable (children, for example) or anyone who is mentally incapable of understanding that their actions could have such dire consequences will not go to Hell.

For the rest of us, for those who trusted and obeyed Jesus, and those who remained faithful, we understand that Hell is completely avoidable. Our only source of salvation is Jesus. Believe in God’s fairness, His nature and His willingness to do what is right. Trust and obey - there is no other way!

Michael Rankins’ message this week was another example of Jesus as a teacher. This lesson, taken from John 3:1-15, was when Jesus was teaching the Pharisee Nicodemus. Now, Nicodemus was a believer; he believed that Jesus came from God. But the Pharisees’ beliefs were about literal, physical things. They spoke of what they saw, what they knew. This is why Nicodemus struggled so much with the concept of how a person could possibly be born again.

Jesus said in John 3:5-6, “...Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”

He continued in John 3:8, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

This rebirth of the spirit is something that cannot be seen. Nicodemus had to learn to accept Jesus’ testimony about that.

Once we are born of water and the Spirit we can enter the kingdom of God, but know this: The kingdom is here, for this life now, AND for eternity. We are all heirs to Him who created the universe! The good news is that anyone can come to the Kingdom. Let’s share that wonderful news with someone this week.

Hell. Just saying the word is unpleasant. Some attempt to neutralize the idea through profanity. Others do it through avoidance. Still, the subject of Hell needs to be confronted. Jesus himself spoke about it more than anyone else in the Bible. What is this place called "Hell" and why does it exist? Most importantly, how do we stay out of it?

Michael Rankins gave us a lesson on “Breaking the Bread of Life.” Taken from John 6:25-71, this occurred after Jesus had fed the five thousand with a few barley loaves and two fish. The crowd wrote off that miracle and asked what sign Jesus would give them, citing the manna from heaven that their ancestors had received. That manna did feed them, but only temporarily and, ultimately, those ancestors died. Jesus said (v 33) “For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world… (v35) whoever comes to me will never go hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Jesus was telling them to stop focusing on food for their bellies and take in the bread that would feed their spirits - the Word of God. When he told them that (v 54) “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life”, many were confused, trying to understand the words literally, but the Bible uses many metaphors about God’s word as food. In Ezekiel 3:1-4, God tells Ezekiel to “eat this scroll”; he ate God’s word and “it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth”.

Michael listed some “food” from the book of John for us to take home and “chew on”:

1. Jesus is the Word of God (1.1)

2. That Word became flesh (1:14)

3. Jesus is the bread of life (6:35)

4. That bread came from heaven so that we might live forever (6:50-51)

5. If we consume the bread, it becomes part of us (6:56)

6. The Word contains Spirit and life (6:63)

7. The word of God and the bread of life are one and the same -- Jesus, the Christ!

Food sustains us for the day. Jesus, the bread of life, will carry us into eternal life. Let us eat eagerly and fill our hearts with the spirit of Jesus!

John Mulligan’s message on Easter Sunday was “A Living Hope: Why the Resurrection of Jesus Really Matters”. One interesting note John shared is that the word Easter is only used once in the King James Version and actually referred to the Jewish Passover. So Easter, like Christmas, is deeply rooted in tradition, but not Scripture. Still, we can seize the moment.

The first point John made was that the resurrection is rooted in historical certainty. All accounts were written as first person, “I saw this”. There are too many concise accounts of what happened to be written off as a fanciful “story”. Historians have written countless books and peer-reviewed articles documenting the facts around the resurrection. It happened.

John’s second point is that the Resurrection of Jesus changes everything. As we read in Romans 8, Jesus is at the right hand of God, Jesus is interceding for us and nothing can separate us from Christ’s love. Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

It is because Jesus was resurrected that we can know these things with certainty:

Our life is not futile.

Our death is not final.

Our future is not fearful.

Our service is not forgotten.

Let us take hope from the words of “Because He Lives”:

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,

Because He lives, all fear is gone;

Because I know He holds the future,

And life is worth the living,

Just because He lives!

Rejoice, dear friends! He is risen!