Palm Sunday when we commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem was a joyous occasion as was Jesus’ resurrection one week later. Those two joyful events were bookends to a week of sorrows. Greg’s sermon focuses on the meaning of Jesus entering the city.

“How are you?” is a common greeting.  Even when the person who says those words really wants to know how we are, and  while how we are is important for the here and now, who we are is critically important on this and the other side of eternity.

Christ-less religion explains that we must work first, and then God will give us his rest.  But, as it so often is, the truth of the gospel is the precise opposite!  The invitation of Jesus is to his rest, in which he then empowers us to work and become the workmanship of God.

To know Jesus is to know and experience new wine, the dynamic message of God’s grace that frees us from confining and restrictive old wine skins of stale, musty and oppressive institutionalized religion.

While many make the mistake of assuming the relationship God offers each of us is more like a contract than a covenant, we should not make another mistake by assuming covenants don’t involve counting the cost.

Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, Jesus is the one “who is, who was and who is to come” (Revelation 1:8). Jesus is supreme, the author of our salvation, the center of all that we believe and the completion of our faith.

Jesus Christ is “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations” (Colossians 1:26). In Christ we find meaning, significance and hope, even in the midst of suffering.

As we study the radical call of Jesus to love our enemies we realize that the “business as usual” teaching of Christ-less Christendom allows for Christians to kill their enemies – in fact it allows for Christians killing each other.

Hebrews 11 is filled with praise for world changers who, as revolutionary Christ followers, believed and practiced the life changing extreme grace of the gospel. God is calling each of us to be world changers!

The foundation is the most important part of any spiritual or physical building/house, yet it is normally unseen and unappreciated. What does biblical teaching about our spiritual foundation being in Christ alone specifically mean for us?

The book of Acts records God directing Philip to meet and embrace the Ethiopian eunuch – that event guides our thinking as we contrast religious elitism and exclusivism with the inclusive invitation and welcome God extends to everyone.

Christ followers are willing to “throw off everything that hinders” them and place him first and foremost in their lives.

No matter how old you are, God is not yet finished with you! We’ll concentrate on four keys to growing old grace-fully.

Jesus meets us at our times of loss, grief and despair.  This week we revisit the tomb of Lazarus, and we celebrate his resurrection.  Our passage reminds us that Jesus invites us into the work of helping to remove the grave clothing of dead works that cling to so many, helping to take away the religious rocks that imprison those who are bound in religious tombs.

Greg shares five of the lessons he has learned, in his journey in and with Christ, and invites you to make your own list – and for that matter, think about the lessons we ask God, by his grace, to continue to teach us.

What are YOU afraid of? What are your biggest fears? Join us as we discover how God’s grace deals with the shame that is at the root of our fears.

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. God grows the kingdom according to his timing and plan, by his grace. He does not depend on human efforts in so doing, and in fact, many times human efforts get in the way and pervert the idea of God’s kingdom.

Shame and guilt is a spiritual swamp – shame is normally connected with how we feel about who we are, and guilt is normally understood about things we have done. Shame = I am bad, whereas guilt = I did something bad. We will explore and study what Paul means when he says “no more condemnation.”

Some call the sample prayer Jesus gave us “The Lord’s Prayer” and others call it “Our Father.” Join us as we study the implications and significance of the meaning behind this short prayer in Matthew 6:9-13.

Join Greg as he explains that God’s forgiveness is not conditional on our forgiveness of others, as many believe. God’s forgiveness goes far beyond the absence of a penalty – God’s forgiveness is his presence.

Just as young children experience separation anxiety, so too do God’s children.   During those times when all that we can see or feel may lead us to think that God no longer cares about us, according to our keynote passage in Romans 8:31-39 we can always be assured of the love of Christ.

What do turtles have to do with the foundation of our solar system? Join us as we discuss the foundation of all that is, seen or unseen.

Healing in and by Christ is not simply a matter of receiving back something you once had – it’s receiving something you never had before.

Our freely-given relationship with God is literally a matter of life or death. As we prepare to remember his death and celebrate his resurrection, we turn our minds and hearts to Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith.

When Jesus chose his disciples, his decision wasn’t based on who had the best personality or who showed the most academic promise – how does God choose us for his team, exactly?

God’s hesed love does not give us immunity from pain and suffering. God’s hesed love isn’t always immediate pleasant or easy, but it declares that he will stop at nothing to demonstrate his unending love for you and me.

God’s grace is sufficient – there is enough of his grace to cover you and me during our suffering. In Christ we see God’s grace personified and exemplified – he entered into our pain so that we might grow and mature in him.

In this first of a two-part series on pain and suffering we ponder the paradox Paul explained – when he was physically weak he was strong (2 Corinthians 12:10). Join us as we discover that in Christ our suffering does not need to be meaningless and how God can transform us in the midst of our pain.

Paul told the Athenians that they were very religious because their gods needed them. The one true God, according to Paul, doesn’t gain or profit nor is he in anyway enhanced by human attention or activity.

Fads, fashions and conspiracy theories so popular in some parts of Christendom are often here today and gone tomorrow, in contrast with Jesus who “is the same yesterday and today and forever”

If you have ever wondered about the line from the children’s prayer –..if I should die before I wake… then you do not want to miss Greg’s opposing suggestion: how about praying ..help me wake up before I die..

As we discuss the kingdom of God, we will take some time to study five specific facets of God’s love that illustrate his kingdom.

Dale Carnegie taught about how to win friends and influence people, whereas Jesus offered a kingdom where power is not defined by riches or fame and where leaders are identified as servants.

Join Greg for a discussion of God’s love, as centered and defined in the cross of Christ, illustrated by the differences C.S. Lewis noted between all-too-human Need Love and divinely given Gift Love.

Had someone betrayed, abandoned and disavowed us the way Peter denied Jesus, we would have a hard time ever talking to that person again. But after his resurrection Jesus made sure that Peter knew he still believed in him.

It’s a meaningless little game we used to play when we were kids, thinking we could find out whether a person of the opposite sex liked us or not. Believe it or not, people use the similar approach to discover whether God loves them or not!

(Psalm 130) In the last of our seven-part series, we discover how Psalm 130 can help us watch for God and put our hope in him, and find the ultimate answers to our suffering and pain in the cross of Christ, the greatest ever demonstration of love.

(Psalm 121) If you are spending much of your time looking at real and present dangers in your life (not to mention potential future obstacles), you may be missing the dynamic, real presence of God, who is right next to you.

(Psalm 84) The theme of a spiritual journey permeates Psalm 84, enhancing our comprehension of what it means to walk, as a pilgrim, with Jesus.

(Psalm 51) It seems our world at large is becoming more resistant to saying “I’m sorry” – it truly is the hardest word. Join us as we embrace Christ-centered repentance.