Grace Church NOLA

A message based on Matthew 11:16-30: [Jesus spoke to the crowd saying:] “To what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and th...

A message based on Matthew 10:24-39:  Jesus said to the twelve, “A disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher and the slave like the master.  If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered up that will not be uncov...

A message based on Matthew 9:35—10:8-23: Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the la...

A message based on Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26:  As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.”  And Matthew got up and followed Jesus. And as Jesus sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with Jesus and his disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Jesus’s disciples, “W...

A message based on Matthew 28:16-20: Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw Jesus, they worshiped him, but they doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy...

A message based on John 20:19-23: When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you...

A message based on John 17:1-11: After Jesus had spoken these words to his disciples, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.  And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you h...

John 14:15-21:  Jesus said to the disciples:  “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and the Father will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.  This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees the Spirit nor knows the Spirit. You know the Spirit because the Spirit abides with you, and the Spirit will be in you. “I...

A message based on John 14:1-14:  Jesus said to the disciples:  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me.  In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be al...

A message based on John 10:1-10: Speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brou...

A message based on John 24:13-35:  Now on the day of Christ’s resurrection, two disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened.  While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them,  but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.  And he said to them, “What are yo...

A message based on John 20:19-31: When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After Jesus said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Fa...

A message based on John 20:1-18:  Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb.  She saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance, so she ran off to Simon Peter and the other disciple—the one Jesus loved—and told them, “The Rabbi has been taken from the tomb!  We don’t know where they have put Jesus!”   At that, Peter and...

A message based on Matthew 21:1-17:  As they approached Jerusalem, entering Beth-Phage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent off two disciples with the instructions, “Go into the village straight ahead of you, and immediately you will find a tethered donkey with her colt standing beside her.  Untie them and lead them back to me.  If anyone questions you, say, ‘The Rabbi needs them.’  Then they will l...

A message based on Mark 12:13-17:  Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent after Jesus to catch him in his speech.  The two groups approached Jesus and said, “Teacher, we know you are truthful and unconcerned about the opinion of others.  It is evident you aren’t swayed by another’s rank, but teach God’s way of life sincerely.  So:  is it lawful to pay tax to the emperor or not?  Are we to pay or n...

A message based on John 10:1-18: Jesus said, “The truth of the matter is, whoever doesn’t enter the sheepfold through the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber.  The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep, the one for whom the keeper opens the gate.  The sheep know the shepherd’s voice; the shepherd calls them by name and leads them out.  Having led them a...

A message based on Luke 6:17-36:  Coming down the mountain with the apostles, Jesus stopped in a level area where there were a great number of disciples.  A large crowd of people was with them from Jerusalem and all over Judea, to as far north as the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon—people who had come to hear Jesus and be healed of their diseases, and even to be freed from unclean spirits.  Indee...

A message based on Matthew 4:1-11: Then Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit, to be tempted by the Devil.  After fasting for forty days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry.  Then the tempter approached and said, “If you are the Only Begotten, command these stones to turn into bread.” Jesus replied, “Scripture has it, ‘We live not on bread alone but on every utterance that comes from the mout...

A message based on Matthew 17:1-9: Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.  And Jesus was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became bright as light.  Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.  Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be her...

A message based on Matthew 5:13-20: Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and...

A message based on Matthew 5:1-12: When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger an...

A message based on Matthew 4:12-23:  Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee.  He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the gentiles— the pe...

A message based on Matthew 3:13-17:  Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.  John would have prevented Jesus, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”  But Jesus answered John, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”  Then John consented.  And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the...

A message based on Matthew 2:1-15: After Jesus’ birth—which happened in Bethlehem of Judea, during the reign of Herod—astrologers from the East arrived in Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the newborn ruler of the Jews?  We observed his star at its rising and have come to pay homage.”  At this news Herod became greatly disturbed, as did all of Jerusalem.  Summoning all the chief priests and religious...

A message based on Luke 2:21-40: When the eighth day arrived for the child’s circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived. When the day came for them to be purified, as laid down by the Law of Moses, the couple took Jesus up to Jerusalem and presented him to God. For it is written in the Law of our God, “Every firstborn heir is to be consecrated to God...