Para Vista Lutheran Church

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Text for the day is Mark 16:1-8.

We believe that Jesus Christ, our Lord, died for our sins, that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.  We believe that we were buried with Christ by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead, we too might walk in newness of life.We believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and that we have eternal life through him.

The cross, the cup and the empty tomb. Three short presentations by Pr Rolly, Georgie and Pr Reid.

 

 

 

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Text for the day is Mark 16:1-8.

We believe that Jesus Christ, our Lord, died for our sins, that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.  We believe that we were buried with Christ by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead, we too might walk in newness of life.We believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and that we have eternal life through him.

The cross, the cup and the empty tomb. Three short presentations by Pr Rolly, Georgie and Pr Reid.

 

 

 

DauntLESS: a Good Friday audio message from Pastor Reid Matthias.

Jesus was many things to many people. In today's message we consider the epitaphs that different people might have applied to Jesus  on Good Friday. Despite what everyone might have thought about him, Jesus was undaunted - he fufliled the purpose for which he came. What epitaph would you write for Jesus?  What epitaph would God the Father write for Jesus his son?

 

DauntLESS: a Good Friday video message from Pastor Reid Matthias.

Jesus was many things to many people. In today's message we consider the epitaphs that different people might have applied to Jesus  on Good Friday. Despite what everyone might have thought about him, Jesus was undaunted - he fufliled the purpose for which he came. What epitaph would you write for Jesus?  What epitaph would God the Father write for Jesus his son?

 

Self-LESS. We’ll be hearing John’s story from what happened during the Passover meal on the night Jesus was betrayed. We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

Self-LESS. We’ll be hearing John’s story from what happened during the Passover meal on the night Jesus was betrayed. We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

“Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!” 

These words from Psalm 118 are what the crowd shouted with joy as Jesus made his way into Jerusalem on a donkey. After the miracles Jesus had done in Galilee and Jerusalem, and more recently the raising of Lazarus to life after four days in the tomb, Jesus’ reputation is soaring.

Jesus is hailed by the crowd as their long expected Messiah – and given a king’s welcome. Their shout: “Blessed is the king of Israel!” expresses their hopes and dreams that Jesus would bring freedom from Roman occupation, Roman taxes, and Roman brutality.  Many assume: “If he can raise the dead to life again, then nothing can stand in his way. A person with Jesus’ power is exactly the Messiah-King we need!”

Sadly, they are clueless to the sort of Messiah he is – and the path to freedom Jesus will forge for all people through his sacrificial death and resurrection victory.

While Judas Iscariot may have tried to tip Jesus’ hand through his act of betrayal, the rest of the disciples are also clueless as to nature of Jesus’ kingship. They don’t understand the significance of Jesus riding into town on a donkey.  In spite of Jesus’ repeated passion predictions, they couldn’t make sense of what unfolded – until afterwards.

As the crowd greets Jesus with a rock star welcome, the religious leaders are scratching their heads over how to eliminate him when he has such a large fan base. ‘Then the Pharisees said to each other, “There’s nothing we can do. Look, everyone has gone after him!”’ (John 12:19 NLT)

Yet within a few days the crowd were shouting: “Crucify him!”

The passion of crowd hysteria is powerful.  And fickle!

Jesus knew this would happen.  Yet he does not turn away from his destiny – and our destiny.  For the joy of seeing you and me in eternity with him, Jesus willingly endured the cross scorning its shame (Hebrews 12:2).  His passionate love for the world moves him to make the ultimate sacrifice for us!

May Jesus’ passion for each of us fuel our passion to serve, encourage and bless others in his name!

Shalom!

Pr Rolly Stahl

“Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!” 

These words from Psalm 118 are what the crowd shouted with joy as Jesus made his way into Jerusalem on a donkey. After the miracles Jesus had done in Galilee and Jerusalem, and more recently the raising of Lazarus to life after four days in the tomb, Jesus’ reputation is soaring.

Jesus is hailed by the crowd as their long expected Messiah – and given a king’s welcome. Their shout: “Blessed is the king of Israel!” expresses their hopes and dreams that Jesus would bring freedom from Roman occupation, Roman taxes, and Roman brutality.  Many assume: “If he can raise the dead to life again, then nothing can stand in his way. A person with Jesus’ power is exactly the Messiah-King we need!”

Sadly, they are clueless to the sort of Messiah he is – and the path to freedom Jesus will forge for all people through his sacrificial death and resurrection victory.

While Judas Iscariot may have tried to tip Jesus’ hand through his act of betrayal, the rest of the disciples are also clueless as to nature of Jesus’ kingship. They don’t understand the significance of Jesus riding into town on a donkey.  In spite of Jesus’ repeated passion predictions, they couldn’t make sense of what unfolded – until afterwards.

As the crowd greets Jesus with a rock star welcome, the religious leaders are scratching their heads over how to eliminate him when he has such a large fan base. ‘Then the Pharisees said to each other, “There’s nothing we can do. Look, everyone has gone after him!”’ (John 12:19 NLT)

Yet within a few days the crowd were shouting: “Crucify him!”

The passion of crowd hysteria is powerful.  And fickle!

Jesus knew this would happen.  Yet he does not turn away from his destiny – and our destiny.  For the joy of seeing you and me in eternity with him, Jesus willingly endured the cross scorning its shame (Hebrews 12:2).  His passionate love for the world moves him to make the ultimate sacrifice for us!

May Jesus’ passion for each of us fuel our passion to serve, encourage and bless others in his name!

Shalom!

Pr Rolly Stahl

Our preaching text this week takes seriously this statement from Greeks – outsiders, questioners and seekers – who want to lay their eyes on Jesus. In their request of Peter, they don’t ask to question Jesus; they don’t ask for a press conference or even an interview to do what the Pharisees and Jewish leaders do. They approach Philip, but what does Philip do? It sounds like he says, ‘Wait here. I’ll go find out if this is kosher.’ He goes to find Andrew and after a brief discussion, they go to find Jesus.

This story plays out many times in the life of Christians all across the world. Outsiders, questioners, seekers, even antagonists, demand that we show them Jesus, and for some reason, we suck in a deep breath of fear and think:

What if I say the wrong thing? What if they think I’m strange? What if I am persecuted for my beliefs?

So we take the easy way out: we go find ‘professional’ Christians, those who are good at explaining stuff, and we leave the outsider/questioner/seeker/antagonist to wait while we figure out what we’re going to do with them.

This week, we’ll take a hard look at who Jesus calls us to be.

Our preaching text this week takes seriously this statement from Greeks – outsiders, questioners and seekers – who want to lay their eyes on Jesus. In their request of Peter, they don’t ask to question Jesus; they don’t ask for a press conference or even an interview to do what the Pharisees and Jewish leaders do. They approach Philip, but what does Philip do? It sounds like he says, ‘Wait here. I’ll go find out if this is kosher.’ He goes to find Andrew and after a brief discussion, they go to find Jesus.

This story plays out many times in the life of Christians all across the world. Outsiders, questioners, seekers, even antagonists, demand that we show them Jesus, and for some reason, we suck in a deep breath of fear and think:

What if I say the wrong thing? What if they think I’m strange? What if I am persecuted for my beliefs?

So we take the easy way out: we go find ‘professional’ Christians, those who are good at explaining stuff, and we leave the outsider/questioner/seeker/antagonist to wait while we figure out what we’re going to do with them.

This week, we’ll take a hard look at who Jesus calls us to be.