We continue in the season of Advent, the time each year when the church prepares for Jesus Christ to enter the world. It is meant to be a time of reflection and repentance, of hope and joy. This year, each of the four Sundays of Advent we'll consider the different themes of the candles on the Advent wreath and explore what it means that Jesus is the source of our hope, peace, joy, and love. This week: Joy!
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This week we continue in the season of Advent, the time each year when the church prepares for Jesus Christ to enter the world. It is meant to be a time of reflection and repentance, of hope and joy. This year, each of the four Sundays of Advent we'll consider the different themes of the candles on the Advent wreath and explore what it means that Jesus is the source of our hope, peace, joy, and love. This week: Peace.
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This week begins the season of Advent, the time each year when the church prepares for Jesus Christ to enter the world. It is meant to be a time of reflection and repentance, of hope and joy. This year, each of the four Sundays of Advent we'll consider the different themes of the candles on the Advent wreath and explore what it means that Jesus is the source of our hope, peace, joy, and love. This week: Hope.
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This week we return to the psalms, this collection of prayers, songs and poems that guide us in our own prayers and worship. Psalm 110 is said to have been used at the coronation of Israel's kings, assuring them of God's presence with them. But it is also the most quoted psalm in the New Testament, one consistently used in reference to Jesus and the authority given to him by the heavenly Father. This psalm has something to tell us about Jesus and what it means to see him as our king.
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This week we'll be looking at Psalm 26, a psalm of lament. The psalms are full of laments; honest prayers from places of hurt and hardship where people make their complaints to God and call out to him for deliverance. As we learn how to pray, these psalms teach us important lessons about how to be open and honest with God ourselves. In Psalm 26 we see how David makes his complaint before the Lord, and how by being honest with God he is brought from a place of lament to praise.
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Circumstances in life – the short days and long nights of winter in Prague, the daily challenges, the latest news, or meaningless distractions can rob us of our intimacy with Jesus. We can fill the void with more activities or noise or more distractions, but eventually we’re left empty and realize something is missing. This text shows us how the new covenant – which we will celebrate in communion this Sunday – shows us the way to intimacy with Jesus, enjoying him more, and becoming more like Him.
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As we come to the end of 1 John, we are reminded once again of the same themes the Beloved Apostle has been emphasizing throughout his letter - What do we believe about Jesus? Do we obey him? Do we love each other? How we answer these questions are good indicators of whether or not we are walking in the light of God's truth. But we're also reminded that it is God's love that comes first, and that in his great love God claims us as his children and assures us of our eternal life in him.
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In his letter, John seeks to assure believers of the salvation they have received in Jesus Christ. In this week's passage, John addresses the role of the Holy Spirit in this assurance. John reminds us that not everyone who claims to be a prophet actually speaks through God's Holy Spirit, and that we are to "test the spirits to see whether they are from God" (v. 4:1). But in the end we are to be encouraged because "the one who is in [us] is greater than the one who is in the world" (v. 4:4). It is God's Spirit who lives in us, and as we look to him he will guide us as we walk in the light..
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In our last passage, John emphasized our identity as God's children, reminding us of our heavenly Father's great love that has been poured out on us in Christ. In this week's passage, John reminds us again that with the love God has given us we should also love our brothers and sisters in Christ - not just by what we say, but by what we do.
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One of John's main purposes in this letter is to reassure his audience. He wants them to have certainty of the things they have learned about Jesus, sin, salvation and the life of discipleship. In this week's passage, John makes his strongest appeal yet, reminding us of God's great love for us, and that in Christ, we have been made God's children.
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The psalmist David declares that the one who is forgiven is in a very happy place—an enviable position. But very often, in our culture we tend to think that it’s God’s job to forgive (“To err is human, to forgive, divine.”). David instructs us in the way to forgiveness and fulness of joy. It’s only when we clearly see the seriousness of sin and the great cost of forgiveness, that we can begin to experience the joy of being forgiven by a holy God.
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One of John's main purposes for writing this letter is to refute the lies that some former members of their community had been spreading, seeking to lead people astray in what they believed. John writes to remind people of the truth that they already know, and to affirm it for them once again. In particular John is concerned about the truth of Jesus Christ, knowing that what we believe about him serves as the foundation for everything else in our faith.
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One of 1 John's main purposes is to encourage people to walk in the light, meaning to live according to God's truth. In this week's passage, John reflects on the relationship between our love of God and our obedience to him, reminding us that our love for God can't be isolated from our love (or lack of it) for other people.
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1 John 1:1-2:2
This week we begin a new series looking at the first letter of John. Written in response to some false teachings that had come into the church, this letter emphasizes many of the basics of the Christian faith, reminding it's readers of the truth of the Gospel and how we should live in light of it. John writes particularly about love: God's love for us in Christ, and how we should love each other in return.
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This week we conclude our series in the Book of Acts, with Paul having made his dramatic journey from Jerusalem to Rome, the capital of the Empire. We know from history that Paul's life ends there, but not before he continues to share the gospel with the people he met there. And while this brings us to the end of Luke's narrative, the Holy Spirit's work of drawing people to salvation in Jesus Christ continues on.
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On the Road with Paul
Acts 17-18
Paul's missionary journeys took him to many of the major cities in the eastern Roman Empire, including Athens and Corinth. Paul was adept at presenting the gospel in response to the culture of each place he visited, yet the heart of the message was consistent - Jesus is God's Messiah. And in the face of growing opposition, God tells Paul "do not be afraid...for I am with you."
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Trust the Story. This exhortation from our guest pastor Ian Martin, ICP's former youth pastor, was also the theme of last week's TCK (Third Culture Kids) Camp. From Genesis, throughout the Old Testament and culminating with Christ's death on the cross - there is a single narrative of the Bible: Jesus Saves.
Join us this week to hear how Moses' exclaimation "Yeshua is salvation" is equivalent to "Jesus Saves" nearly 1500 years before the birth of Christ - and how you can be confident in your own salvation.
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After being directed by the Holy Spirit to go and preach in Macedonia, Paul and his companions go to the city of Philippi. There they find both opposition and openness to the gospel, so that by the time they are asked to leave the city, they leave behind many people who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus.
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We return to the book of Acts this week as the focus shifts to the Apostle Paul and his ministry. In today's passage we find Paul preaching a powerful sermon that walks through God's work in Israel's history, ending with Jesus Christ and the forgiveness and freedom that are found by believing in him..
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