Holy Week 2022: Christ Our Hope in Life and Death
Palm Sunday & Easter 2022
Mark 16:1-8 - Resurrection Sunday 2022
April 17, 2022 • Pastor Jim Thomas • Mark 16:1–8, 1 Peter 1:3–5
The New Testament describes the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as an historical event, claiming that a physically dead Jesus rose up from the grave three days after His death on the cross. Over 500 eyewitnesses saw Jesus alive after He came back to life. In one of the earliest New Testament writings, the apostle Paul said many of those eyewitnesses were still alive and could be interviewed by any person choosing to investigate the Resurrection event. Now, what difference could it make to us if Christ was raised from the dead? Isn’t the whole idea of Easter just a spiritual warm-fuzzy, a metaphor for springtime and renewal, based upon a rehashed pagan celebration and merely designed to prop up the image of a good man who had a very tragic death? Why would it even matter to us that Christ was raised from the dead? Join Pastor Jim as he explores the significance of the Resurrection and why it provides Christians with an inexhaustible hope even in the midst of an increasingly dark and despairing world.
John 12:12-19 - Here Comes the King!
April 10, 2022 • Pastor Jim Thomas • John 12:12–19
The gospel accounts of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday describe a grand entrance in at least three ways: it was dramatic, it was deliberate and it demanded a response. Why did Jesus ride in on a donkey? Why did the crowds shout “Hosanna” at Jesus? How might they have misunderstood what Jesus was doing? How did the religious leaders react that day? And what timeless lessons about God’s love for us are to be found here? Join Pastor Jim for this study of that first Palm Sunday (a.k.a. Passion Sunday) from John 12:12-19.