This Sunday we had the privilege of having Rev. Doug Hart preach from John 15:1-11.

One of the main roles of the Holy Spirit is the preservation of the Word of God.

The Lord keeps, maintains, and preserves his Word to comfort you in the midst of trials. The Word of God will comfort your soul.

Your love for Christ is the engine that will drive you to keep his commandments.

One of the primary things that Jesus is doing in the upper room is providing comfort to his disciples, which helps us understand why he said things like, “I go to prepare a room for you,” or even what we looked at last week where Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” There’s comfort in the clarity of Jesus’ words! There’s no ambiguity or second guessing what must be done in order for you and I to get to heaven. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

But Jesus not only comforts them by reminding them of who he is, he comforts them by reminding them what he’s doing.

And that’s what we see in this passage as well. Despite the nearly certain disappointment of Jesus’ in Philip, he still comforts his disciples by telling them that he’s going to work through them.

He tells them that they will do “even greater works.” But in order to do so, they must believe, rely, and trust in Jesus.

We live in an incredibly pluralistic, relative, and skeptical society. The lines between pluralism, relativism, and skepticism are often blurred or merged together, giving rise to the fundamental belief that either objective truth does not exist or if it does, we cannot know it with any degree of confidence.

Which is why what Jesus says here is so incredibly controversial in our day. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” According to Jesus, there is only one true religion and he is the only way to heaven.

Whenever we talk about comfort, we must ask ourselves: What’s the source of our comfort? Is it our health, the number in our bank account, our family?

Every now and again, we'll even settle for cheap comfort counterfeits like vague platitudes or perhaps a pat on the back, a smile, or a little nod.

All of those things might provide us with temporary comfort but none of it lasts. It’s all fleeting. We’re reminded in Sunday morning’s sermon passage that true comfort is only found in Jesus.

“Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” Psalm 100:1-5

We have so much to be thankful for in the life of Providence Presbyterian Church.

In the past 8 months since my last update, we’ve received our first members, led men’s and women’s Bible studies, organized several fellowship events, and celebrated one year since launching our first worship service.

The love you give is a reflection of the love you’ve received. The love that flows out of you reveals the sort of love that has flowed into you.

The Christian should strive to demonstrate love that goes far beyond their own personal experience. The love that the Christian displays should be a small taste of the love that he or she has received from Christ.

The passage should serve as a stern warning to all of us, because the reality is, you can talk about Jesus, even talk to Jesus, but never really know Jesus.

Through the simple act of washing His disciples' feet, Jesus demonstrated humble servanthood which should point us to three things: first, we see the depth of Christ’s love (vv. 1-5), second, we’re reminded of our need to be washed by him (vv. 6-11), and lastly, we’re instructed to wash each other’s feet as well (vv. 12-17).

Simply saying, “I believe in god” isn’t going to cut it on judgment day. This is what Jesus is telling us in John 12:44-50! Jesus is central to what we believe, of course, because he’s God.

But it’s not just that he’s God; He’s how we can experience peace with God. You have to rest in Christ’s atoning work on the cross. That his sacrifice on the cross was enough to pay for your sins so you can have communion with the living God.

Charles Spurgeon said, "The same sun which melts wax hardens clay. And the same Gospel which melts some persons to repentance hardens others in their sins."

Which are you?

There are some things in life that just aren’t worth it. We can anticipate the cost being far too high.

But what we see in this passage is that Jesus knew what was expected of him. He knew he was going to have to go to the cross, and yet, he did it.

For the Christian to truly live, he or she must first die.

Why the palm branches, why the cloaks, why the hosannas, why are they doing all of this? What do they know? Or the better question is, what do they expect from Jesus?

I think that’s really the key question. What do they expect from Jesus? Because if we put inaccurate or incorrect expectations on Jesus then we will miss him entirely. We have to accept him the way he presents himself. We have to expect him to do what he said he would do.

There are three things that must be included in one’s definition of worship. First it must be Christ-centered. Next, worship is a corporate activity. It’s something that Christians come together to do which is the apex of worship that’s been directed to us by God. But there’s also private or individual worship as well. I think all three of those things are necessary for a good definition of worship.

But what about this word as a descriptor for worship: Divisive?

There is no middle ground when it comes to Jesus Christ. There are only two options: trust in Christ for the salvation of your soul, or reject him in unbelief.

This Sunday we had the privilege of having Reverend Doug Hart preach from John 11:38-44.

It’s in this passage that we learn something incredibly profound. Jesus doesn’t idly stand back and watch you grieve and suffer. Rather, Jesus shares in your grief, pain, sorrow, and it makes him angry. That may sound rather surprising, but don’t worry, I’ll do my best to explain what I mean!

There are three things we see from this passage: First, we discover that Jesus grieves with his followers (vv. 28-30). Second, we learn that we should take our pain and grief to him (vv. 31-32). And we learn lastly, that our grief, pain, and sorrow makes our Lord angry (33-37).

Perhaps you’ve heard someone say that past behavior is the greatest predictor of future behavior. It makes sense that a person’s previous actions are great indicators of what he or she may do in the future.

What we see in these verses is something similar, but with a slight twist: It’s not the past that predicts the Christian’s eternal future, it’s the present. It’s the here and now. Because your eternal future is secured by a present faith in Christ.