The people who listened to Jesus teach at the temple every day woke up Friday morning, to find him already beaten, bloody, and nailed to a cross. The future hope of Israel was bleeding out in front of their very eyes. But as Jesus dies on the cross, there are a lot of massively significant things happening.
The religious leaders need the Roman authorities to rubber stamp the execution orders, so they take Jesus to the governor of Judea, Pilate. After much back and forth discussion, Pilate offers an exchange: The guilty for the innocent; the criminal for the king; Jesus Barabbas or Jesus the Christ. The religious leaders make their choice, and the crucifixion is approved.
We've finally come to the hour of darkness – the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter, and the final rejection of the religious leaders. All three are forms of temptation that Jesus warns his disciples to pray "so that they don't fall into."
How should the church be governed and led? What kind of person should be the leader? Where does their authority begin and end? In this message Pastor Rodney walks us through the role of an elder in the church.
As the cross looms large in Jesus' story, he sits down to a much anticipated dinner with his disciples – the Passover meal – a story full of rich history and remembering, a meal full of significance and joy, a meal full of promise and hope – a meal he leaves unfinished.
Satan enters Judas on the day of the Passover meal, and it looks like Jesus’ ability to avoid death and conspiracy has come to an end. There is a traitor in the group. But certain details of Luke 22:1-13 show us that from God’s vantage point, things are going “exactly as he said.”
Resurrection Sunday, 2023 – Every one of us has a dominant story that shapes the way we view the world, ourselves, and God. For some it's a story of pain, loss, rejection. For others it's a story of hard work, effort put in, and reward or accomplishment. But all of those stories are but smaller stories inside the Greatest Story...the Story of God as spoken in the Bible.
In this sermon from Luke 21:20-36, Jesus gives his disciples warnings about the temple and Jerusalem’s eventual destruction, and he also includes signs to look for as you watch for him to return.
Jesus' interaction with the woman at the well shows a beautiful picture of the gospel, as Jesus comes to meet her in the middle of her sin and sets her free.
Luke 21 opens with a small scene where Jesus notices a poor widow putting her last two coins in the offering at the temple, and it ends with Jesus' telling his disciples to be on guard as the end of days approaches, and the temple is destroyed