Our Messages

Jesus gets arrested in the garden and taken to a mock trial. John goes with Him and Peter, too. After getting brought into the courtyard, Peter denies Jesus. Jesus willingly allowed all the events of the Passion for our sake.

For Mother's Day, we are taking a look through some of the extraordinary cases of mothers throughout scripture, and the relentless, never-ending love that God has instilled into them. We want to thank all of the wonderful mothers out there, and thank God for blessing us with them!

After the teaching and instructions after the last supper in the upper room, we come to what many refer to as the High Priestly Prayer. Now He begins to pray first for Himself, then for His apostles, and finally for those who would believe on Him in the future.

Jesus finishes His discourse in the upper room by encouraging His disciples. They would be enduring a lot over the next few days, and this encouragement would be essential for making it through and coming out the other side with faith and passion.

Jesus again tells the disciples that He's leaving soon. He goes on to describe our relationship with the "world", seasoned with the promise that the Helper (the Holy Spirit) will guide us into all truth.

Jesus was aware that His time with the disciples was running short. Because of this, He knew it was important they had the proper understanding of their relationship to Himself, to God, to one another, and to the world. Today specifically, we will be looking at the relationship of Jesus’ disciples to Himself and the relationship of the disciples to one another. Jesus uses the picture of vines and their branches to describe our relationship to Him and we are to abide in Him and He in us. And as for our relationship with one another? We are commanded to love one another the same way Jesus loved us.

Why was the death and resurrection of Jesus so important? There were a lot of amazing and miraculous things about the life of Jesus. He was God in the flesh, born of a virgin, and performed numerous miracles during His ministry. But His death and resurrection were the culmination of His ministry. In these He purchased forgiveness for our sins and set us free from sin and death. He made us Alive in Him.

Here's the last words recorded before heading out to the Garden of Gethsemane. In this intimate setting Jesus comforts His disciples with the promise of the Holy Spirit. The profound truth is that He is exactly the same as Jesus, so in essence their walk with God is uninterrupted. We can experience the presence of the Holy Spirit when we show through obedience that we love God. We can proceed with confidence in the work of expanding the kingdom of God.

As we live in contrast to the world, it brings clarity to who we are.

Can you imagine how the disciples were feeling as we left off last week? Let’s recap the news the disciples had received during this short period of time. Jesus just told them He was going away. He had previously told them He was going to die in John 12:32. He told them that one of them was going to be a traitor. He just told Peter that he would deny Jesus 3 times. And in Matthew, it is recorded that during this supper, that all would fall away (Matt 26:31). That much bad news in such a short period of time is bound to weigh very heavily. The disciples needed some encouragement, and that is just what Jesus is going to do as we will see today.

As we continue into chapter 13 of John’s gospel, we see Jesus’ farewell message to His disciples. Over the next several chapters, we will see Jesus’ final teachings and instruction to the His disciples. John’s gospel shares and gives us more detail on these teachings then any of the other gospels as these next 6 chapters only cover a period of one night whereas the first 12 chapters covered a period of 3 years!

A day before the crucifixion, at the Last Supper, Jesus's last Passover with the disciples, He sets the example for us that we are to serve others. He also proclaims being the master and calls us "messengers" in verse 16. This section finishes with the promise that whoever receives the messenger receives the sender!