Christ Church Jerusalem

3 Oct 2021 - 19th Sunday after Pentecost - In the beginning God created couples: Heaven and Earth, Light and Darkness, Male and Female. Each of these couples is in a relationship and it is difficult to understand one without the other. Marriage is also a relationship, but not all relationships are a marriage. We are all in relationships of one sort or another. We are in relationships with each oth...

In Leviticus 3, the peace offering. Led by Aaron Eime. Notes for this study can be found at https://www.christchurchjerusalem.org/sermons/bible-studies/leviticus-and-god-called/ Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) donation. www.christchurchjerusalem.org/donate/

26 Sept 2021 - 18th Sunday after Pentecost - Sukkot - As we celebrate the Feast of Michael and All the Angels, we reconsider the fundamental nature of the spiritual conflict that believers face. The devil is first and foremost a deceiver and has convinced many in our generation that God is nothing more than a pious myth and that the message of Jesus is irrelevant. By holding to the "testimony of J...

Leviticus 2 talks about a bloodless grain offering given as an option for the poor. Only this offering has a portion called "most holy." The LORD makes a way for all -- rich or poor -- to have relationship with him, and God highly values the poor among us. Led by Aaron Eime. Notes for this study can be found at https://www.christchurchjerusalem.org/sermons/bible-studies/leviticus-and-god-called/ B...

19 Sept 2021 - 17th Sunday after Pentecost - Sukkot - In Leviticus 23, God commanded the people of Israel to live in booths for one week every year in order that they may “know” that I brought them out of Egypt. How does enacting a ritual lead to the knowledge of the Lord? Rev. David Pileggi tell us that, among other important lessons, Sukkot teaches us the importance of making sure that our ritua...

We continue our study on the ordinances and rules surrounding the ‘olah’, the sacrifice known as the burnt offering. The first recorded ‘olah’ in the Bible is Noah in Genesis following the flood. The ‘olah’ is burnt entirely on the altar We recall that the ‘olah’ has a freewill component implied by the conditional question ‘if ’. God does not compel obedience nor worship. Leviticus is a calling and...

12 Sept 2021 - 16th Sunday after Pentecost - As the Day of Atonement approaches, religious Jews around the world will exchange the greeting “Gmar Chatima Tova", “…may your name be inscribed”, that is may your name be written and sealed in the Book of Life. In the Hebrew calendar, we are currently in the Days of Awe, a time of reflection, repentance, and making amends before the great fast day of Y...

We begin a new study through the book of Leviticus. Led by Aaron Eime. Notes for this study can be found at https://www.christchurchjerusalem.org/sermons/bible-studies/leviticus-and-god-called/ Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) donation. www.christchurchjerusalem.org/donate/

5 Sept 2021 - Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost - Rosh Hashana - The biblical Feast of Trumpets, which occurs just before Yom Kippur and Sukkot, has evolved into a two-day holiday called Rosh HaShana, that is New Year. It is a time when the shofar is blown 100 times as a wake-up call before Yom Kippur and Sukkot. Rev. David Pileggi looks at three biblical uses of blowing the ram’s horn -- as a warn...

We finish up our Galatians study with a look at the variant readings of Galatians 6:13 and consider the identity of the agitators pushing circumcision in the Galatian community. Led by Aaron Eime. Notes for this study can be found at https://www.christchurchjerusalem.org/sermons/bible-studies/letter-to-the-galatians/ ‎ Blessed by our teachings? Consider saying thank you with a small (or large) don...

29 August 2021 - Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost - Our tongues have the power to change the world and to defile us. Rev. Aaron Eime reminds us that we should use our tongues to love God and one another. God is ever calling to us, and our attention should be fixed on him. We must know the voice of the Beloved so we can respond to him and so understand what it is we are to do and what to say. Read...

Freedom in Christ does not mean that you can do whatever you want. Freedom is not and never will be a state of lawlessness. In the next few verses, Paul presents some practical instructions on walking out our ‘freedom in Christ’. Walking out our freedom, essentially Christian halacha, is described by Paul as those who are living by the Spirit. Paul instructs the community to restore gently those f...

22 August 2021 - Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost - The purpose of the Temple was to eat, drink and rejoice, says Rev. David Pileggi. God builds relationship with his people through food, much as we build friendship, family and culture around the meals we share. Food creates identity and tells us who we are. Jesus invites us to abide in him, to know and commit to him, lest we die. Readings: Psalm...

We have all been called to freedom, both Jews and Gentiles. As part of sacred history, the Jewish people were called from Egypt to be a nation before the Lord. And Gentiles, too, were not to remain in bondage to elemental principles and the demonic forever. Where there used to be a separation between Jews and Gentiles in worship, places in the Temple, with table fellowship and prohibitions to inte...

15 Aug 2021 - 12th Sunday After Pentecost - Rev. David Pileggi continues to lead us in contemplating the beautiful, confusing, controversial words of John 6. After the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus invites us to be fed by him. God desires to provide for us in abundance as we encounter his life-giving presence. The best, most Christ-centered place to meet God and have him meet our needs is at the tab...

Gentile pagan culture was infused with idolatry and immorality, all wrapped in the presence of demonic elemental principles. The Messiah of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth, had set free both Jews and Gentiles to no longer be ‘yoked to slavery’. The slavery mentioned here is the bondage to sin. Gentiles had been in defenceless bondage to elemental principles without God and Jews had had the ‘yoke of the...

8 August 2021 - 11th Sunday after Pentecost - Continuing in John 6, Rev. David Pileggi explains how the Gospel of John sees eternal life as a present reality as well as a future hope. We are nourished into eternal life through relationship with Jesus the Messiah by consuming to the Word of God. This involves obedience, not motivated by fear of punishment but by love Readings: Isaiah 55:1-13; Amos:...

1 Aug 2021 - Tenth Sunday after Pentecost - The multiplication of the loaves and fishes points to the God of life who brings blessing. Jesus, the Bread from Heaven, comes to give us eternal life and blessing in this life and the next. Rev David Pileggi challenges with the question: Do we believe Jesus does satisfy, or do our undisciplined desires convince us that what God provides is not enough? R...

Having made the case that the Galatians are indeed heirs of the promise to Abraham, along with the Jewish people, Paul now urges them to ‘be like him’. This raises the question, should Paul not have pointed to Jesus rather than to himself? Paul is not sinless nor without his faults, unlike the Messiah. While it is true that we should all endeavor to keep and promote others to keep, our eyes on the...

25 July 2021 - Ninth Sunday After Pentecost - The writer of John tells us that Passover was near when Jesus sat on a mountain to teach and then feed the 5,000. John puts Jesus squarely in the context of Sinai and the Exodus, connecting Jesus with the Prophet Like Moses. God, in the Exodus, moves Israel from death to life so that he can dwell with his people. Likewise, Jesus performs miracles to sh...

A text taken out of context is a pretext, and I can do all things through a text taken out of context. Much commentary and discussion around Paul's epistle to the Galatians has been continually removed from the context. And I will continue to refer back to the contextual issues that face the Galatians believers. The issue is not, and I repeat, not that they doubt Jesus is the Messiah. No one is te...

18 July 2021 - Eighth Sunday after Pentecost - On Tisha b'Av, Deacon Aaron Eime has us consider God's promise to David. David desired to build a house for God, but God instead promises to build David into a house, a dynasty. This house would bring forth the Messiah, the one who will accomplish God's desire to dwell not just among Israel but all humanity. Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-14; Psalm 89:20-37;...

According to the Torah, God had promised Abraham that through his descendants all the nations (the Gentiles) of the world would be blessed. The physical Torah itself appeared later in history to Moses and was given specifically to the people of Israel. Israel were instructed to be a distinct people that would bring light to the nations. As people were drawn to the monotheistic faith of Israel, the...

11 July 2021 - Seventh Sunday after Pentecost - God the Creator is above his creation, and so is worthy of worship by his creatures. When God created the world, he did so to enter into relationship with his creatures. This has never changed. Rev. David Pileggi reminds us that it is only in holiness can we draw near to God. Holiness is not only refraining from evil, but it is also pursuing good. Ri...

Paul has made his argument that righteousness is imputed by God to Gentiles as well as to Jewish people and that it is not earned through the ‘works of the Law’ that create distinctions, boundaries and social standings between them. A new reality has been formed with the resurrection of the Messiah which Paul can see clearly now, yet others (his antagonists) are unable to at the present time. Jews...