Christ Church Jerusalem

The word believe also means trust in Hebrew. We are all called to trust the Lord and take courage to walk that calling in faithfulness. Faith is more than believing in something, it’s also something you do. Readings: Genesis 12:1-9; Psalm 33:1-12; Matthew 9:9-13,18-26. 👉🏼 Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) donation. www.christchurchjerusalem.org/donate/ 
...

If we are alive in the Messiah, we should walk worthy of our Lord. This means putting away things that are wrong, such as sexual immorality, greed, and covetousness. It also means living a life worthy of the Lord in our mind, heart, and tongue, even when it comes to our neighbours who are culturally, economically, politically, or socially different from us. In the time of Paul, the Colossians were...

The command to go and make disciples provides the perfect end to Matthew's gospel. The 1st Century context of Matthew's story includes the Jewish practice of discipleship. More than a set of doctrines or practicing spiritual disciplines, discipleship is attachment to a person. As Paul reminds us, a good way to become a disciple of Jesus is by imitating others who model His life for us. All who see...

Walk in the Lord! There are many paths to walk in this world but so many are empty. It is the Messiah who was raised from the dead. It is the Messiah who triumphed, who is God, who is above all and is head of the Church. And it is through the Messiah that we can be full, not full of ourselves, mind you, but full of life (as we also have been raised from the dead of our trespasses). And yet, too of...

This week, Reuven Doron leads us from Genesis through Revelation. While Pentecost is the day we remember God fulfilling His promise of the giving of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is, and always has been, God. And the whole breadth of Scripture declares that the Holy Spirit has been, and will always be, involved with God’s creation and people. Readings: Acts 2:1-21; Numbers 11:24-30; John 7:37-3...

Paul continues to speak of the Colossians' inclusion in the Saints and asks them to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. He turns their attention to the head of the Church–Jesus. Jesus, the creator of all, reconciled the Colossians to God. They were reconciled not because of their greatness or piety, but because of Jesus' blood. Through Jesus, they can be presented to God as holy and blameless. Th...

The ascension of the Lord is the majorly transitional point in the human story. Jesus has done all His work and now it is up to the Church to take the good news from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Readings: Acts 1:1-11; Daniel 7:9-14; Luke 24:44-53. Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) donation. www.christchurchjerusalem.org/donate/ 
This sermon is also...

The Epistles are generally written to address an issue in a Church. The Epistle of Colossians never directly addresses what Paul is may be trying to correct, but as we study Colossians we might be able to deduce something of the problem he is addressing. Meanwhile, Paul is grateful that the gospel going around the world has resulted in bearing fruit. Faith has brought results that are visible and...

A Place For You | Rev. David Pilegg Jesus told his disciples, "I go to prepare a place for you." We have a tendency to spiritualize these words, so we assume that Jesus is only talking about the world to come. Yet throughout the Hebrew Bible we see God’s provision of a place for His people that we only enter through love and obedience. Jesus invites us to that place where we can fully participate...

The Way, the Truth and the Life | Martin Lifer John 14:1-14 and Acts 7:55-60 give us the Good News of how to live, pray, and go even through death fully trusting in Jesus as The Way, The Truth, and The Life Jesus is not as simply another rabbi or visionary pointing to God. Jesus is God’s Son Who is One with the Father. In his death, resurrection & ascension, our Lord & Savior prepared a place for...

Salvation & Abundant Life | Rev. David Pileggi Today our Gospel reading is John 10, Jesus the Good Shepherd. The context is John 9, the account of a blind man who was thrown out of the community, a victim of crude theology (which some of us may retain in part). It was in this situation that Jesus responded, “I am the Good Shepherd … I came to give life to the full.” The benefits of salvation are f...

Amos Chapter 9 Judgment and compassion, exile and restoration. We so often focus on a single subject, but the prophets so often mention hope when speaking of God’s punishment as well as obedience and judgment when speaking of promise. While Amos 9 might seem to be divided into two different subjects, it’s good to hear the whole of God’s promises.

Third Sunday of Easter The Big Why! | Rev. Sandra Matthews In this podcast we hear Rev'd Sandra expounding the dialogue between the two disciples leaving Jerusalem (for Emmaus) and Jesus. She reminds us that Jesus seeks the lost and confused and His desire is to answer our questions of WHY — but we need to be open to listen, hear, and receive Him. Third Sunday of Easter Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19 1 Pete...

Holy Week 2023 Devotional | Redeemer And Redemption Passover is the celebration of the founding of a holy people through an act of redemption. Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) donation. www.christchurchjerusalem.org/donate/ Listen to this sermon and more on our podcast. Search for Christ Church Jerusalem in Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or you...

Holy Week 2023 Devotionals

Holy Week 2023 Devotionals God told Israel to tell their children of the night of their redemption, when God spared all who put blood on their doorposts. But Israel hadn’t yet put blood on their doorposts. To tell of their redemption Israel had to actually obey God. Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) donation. www.christchurchjerusalem.org/donate/ Listen to...

Holy Week 2023 Devotional | The God that suffers God isn't simply with us when we suffer, although He is with us. God doesn't simply see our affliction and save us from it, although He both see us and redeems us. God also suffers, He knows suffering, grief, pain. And by His stripes we are healed. Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) donation. www.christchurch...

Amos 8: Seek the Word of the Lord. Amos has shown how proud and full of self-interest Israel has been and continued to be.. They seek riches above charity, self above God. Amos declares that one day Israel will desperately seek after God but they will not hear God. For they will look to gods that do not live and live in disobedience to the Lord God in preference for their own lifestyles; and God w...

The Community of Forgiveness Following the resurrection, Jesus instructs His followers to reflect on the redemptive image of God and be participants in the activity of forgiveness. The new community of God will be a forgiving one and will share God's forgiveness to the broken world. Readings for 2nd Sunday of Easter Acts 2:14a & 22-32, Psalm 16, John 20: 19-31 Blessed by our teachings? Consider sa...

It’s an Earthquake | Rev. David Pileggi Has the resurrection of Jesus become an abstract doctrine for us, or something that we only mention at a funeral? Like Matthew’s earth-shattering account, let us refuse to domesticate that most important event, and let’s ensure that it shapes our lives and sends us fearlessly out into the world to make disciples. Readings: Resurrection Sunday Jeremiah 31:1-6...

Resurrection Sunday. Reuven Doron He is Risen! Who raised Jesus from the dead and why? Readings: Jeremiah 31:1-6, Acts 10:34-43, Matthew 28:1-8 Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) donation. www.christchurchjerusalem.org/donate/ 
This sermon is also available on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/christchurchjerusalem
 Listen to this sermon and more on our...

Every Day is Good Friday | Rev. Bassem Adranly The cross is not just an event that happened at the end of Jesus’ life; it is the foundation of the Kingdom of God – a whole new heavenly culture. Carrying the cross is being willing to suffer, but there is suffering because of disobedience (like Adam) and there is suffering in obedience (like Christ). Every time we choose to deny ourselves and obey J...

Palm Sunday - The Tale of Two Processions | Rev. David Pileggi Christ Church Jerusalem sits directly on the site of Herod’s palace where Pontius Pilate stationed himself every Passover. He came with his entourage of pomp and military power from the West to ensure that order would be kept when the Jewish passion for liberation was at its height, during this Feast of Freedom. Coming into Jerusalem f...

Amos, seeing the judgment of God, begged God to relent. And God did! Twice Amos begged for forgiveness and the relenting of God's judgment. But, as he sees God's judgment for the third time, the very people he is pleading for accuse him of fomenting rebellion. Why would they accuse him? Perhaps it is because he is being effective? Even though many didn't listen to him, and it was these that stood...

I am the resurrection The gospel can be summed up in one sentence; Jesus rose from the dead. The resurrection is more than an event, the resurrection is also a person. To know Jesus and have a personal relationship with Him is to know and experience resurrected new life. Readings: 5th Sunday in Lent Ezekiel 37:1-14; Romans 8:6-11; John 11:1-45 Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you wi...