Jesus commends the church in Ephesus for their commitment to truth, but he critiques their lack of love. This passage tells us that we can drift to a place where we believe the right things but are far from the heart of God. A healthy church has truth and love, working together to bear witness to Christ.

In Revelation 1, John has a vision of Jesus. The curtain is pulled back and he sees the risen and exalted Christ in all his splendor. It’s a vision that’s for all of us, because we need to see Jesus as he really is and know what's on his mind.

Peter’s failure resonates because we all fail. And yet, we don’t like talking about it. We want to push our failures to the background, but this story brings them to the front. The point is not to tell us how bad we are, but to show us how good God is and how much we need him. God meets us in our failure to restore us.

On the first Easter, the resurrected Jesus was met with various forms of unbelief. In John 20, Jesus moves toward different types of people in their particular form of unbelief to graciously give them the gift of belief. The unbelief we see in these people is common to all of us, as is our need for the grace of Jesus to help us believe in him.

As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the crowds gathered, hoping to see kingly glory. Jesus assured them that glory was coming, but in a form they never would have guessed: they would see the glory of God through the cross of Jesus.

The last thing Jesus does for his disciples before he steps out into the night to go to his arrest is pray for them (and us). He prays for everything his disciples will need to continue his work in the world: protection, sanctification, and unity. This prayer from Jesus gives us our most intimate glimpse into his heart for his people.

The spiritual reality in which sorrow can turn into joy has everything to do with the presence of God. When we know the Father's loving presence, our joy is made full. This text assures us God can meet us in our confusion, distress, need, and even in our failure.

When the disciples heard that Jesus was leaving, and that the world would hate them, their hearts were filled with sorrow.  But Jesus said it would be better because the Spirit is coming. How is it better? What would the Spirit do to help them bear witness about Jesus in a hostile world?

If we abide in Christ like branches in a vine, then we will inevitably share some of his experience in the world. Meaning we will face opposition (even hatred) from the world. But he also promises help in the midst of the hatred!

Jesus said the mark of his disciples is that they “bear much fruit.” We want to roll-up our sleeves and make it happen, but the kind of fruit Jesus is talking about comes from being connected to him. If we want to be truly fruitful, we must learn to abide in Christ.

In the Upper Room with Jesus, on their final night with him before his death, the disciples were filled with anxiety and fear. Jesus tells them (and us) that what they need, the comfort for their troubled hearts, is not a prescription but a person—a person who will come to dwell with them.

The disciples are deeply troubled by what is unfolding in the upper room. So, Jesus comforts them with words about the Father. He calls them to trust in the promises of the Father and the presence of the Father that they have in Jesus.

We have plans to build our own little kingdoms, and that makes it hard to understand the way of Jesus and his kingdom. Jesus sets before us a vision for life that is about the glory of God. We see it in the love of Christ, in our love for one another, and even in our weakness.

Betrayal is dark, one of the worst things we can imagine, a deliberate act of disloyalty. But even in the face of that darkness, the light of Jesus shines through.

The disciples often argued about who was the greatest among them. Jesus taught them over and over that true greatness is about humility, sacrifice, and service to others, but they never seemed to understand. It was by a shocking display of humility that shows us why Jesus is truly great, why we are not, and how we can be.

The Upper Room Discourse has been called “a window into the heart of Jesus.” Here in the first few verses, we get an inside look at the knowledge of Jesus and the love of Jesus. These two things not only establish the context of the upper room, they shape the entire discourse.

Jesus invites us to come and see who He is and what life with God is like. It is also an invitation to be seen and changed, so that we can see even greater things as we follow Him.

In this final Servant Song, Isaiah tells us that the Servant himself is the powerful arm of the LORD come to save. But who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?

The third servant song asks us to behold the obedience of the Servant. His obedience is born out of his intimacy with God, endures in the face of suffering, and is sustained through his trust in God's help. We are invited into that same kind of beautiful trust through Jesus, the Obedient One!

The second servant song is the Servant’s testimony about himself. He makes an announcement about himself to the whole world, because he came to do something for the whole world. And we are the beneficiaries of this good news!