Pearls From Peace

Jesus visits the home of Martha, and while Martha was concerned with service, hospitality, and getting things ready, her sister Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to Him teach. When Martha approached Jesus about Mary’s lack of help, Jesus commended Mary’s choice compared to Martha’s large workload, likely preparing food for dozens of guests. Jesus says that Mary chose the “good portion” and when...

Jesus often speaks in parables, which we describe as earthly stories with a heavenly meaning. The earthly story is something that we can connect with and understand, something that would or could happen in our world. Yet, behind that story, there is a deeper meaning, something more that is meant, something more that is said. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, we often want to think of ourselves...

Message 07/06/2025 - Text: Luke 10:1-20 - Guest Preacher: Rev. Oboya Ochalla by Pastor Brad & Pastor Glenn

Jesus set His sights on Jerusalem because He is preparing for His death (and resurrection). As He travels He planned to enter a Samaritan village, but because His sights were sent on Jerusalem, the people do not receive Him. We heard in the Gospel last week that some people did not receive Jesus after He drove out a legion of demons from a man. Jesus is rejected many times during His ministry on e...

Last week we heard the Jews claim Jesus had a demon inside Him. This week we see Jesus healing a demon possessed man. Before He does, Jesus asks, “what is your name?” The response is “Legion.” Just how many demons is a legion? In the Roman military a legion was 4,000-6,000 soldiers. I can’t imagine being possessed by one demon let alone thousands! And even then, these thousands of demons knew WHO...

As we celebrate Trinity Sunday, we confess our faith in the Triune God, that being three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, yet One God. In the Gospel reading, the Jews claim that Jesus has a demon in Him, to which He makes an even more outrageous claim, that being that He is the great "I Am," that He IS God, that He is the One who was there before Abraham, that He was there in the burning bus...

Our Life IN Christ also means a life IN the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the One who creates faith in us. In Acts chapter 2 we see the Holy Spirit works in the lives of God’s people so they can hear the Gospel in their own language. Jesus had promised, before He ascended into heaven, to send the Holy Spirit who would lead them into all truth. The truth of His life, death, and resurrection for the fo...

In what we know as the “High Priestly Prayer” Jesus prays specifically for those who will believe in Him through the Word. Who are those who believe in Him through the Word? You. Me. All of us who have believed after Jesus prayed this prayer, praying for… us. He prays that we would be one just like He and the Father are one. He prays that He would be in us and that His love would be in us, and tha...

Jesus gives words to the disciples to bring them peace. Because there are times coming where there will not be peace in the world for them. There will be trials, tribulations, trouble. Amidst of all that, the disciples are told to take heart, because Christ has overcome the world. Maybe the same words can be applied to us as we go through trials, tribulations, trouble in our own lives.

Jesus talks about the connection of the joy of childbirth to the joy of His return. As a woman goes through the sorrow (pain) of childbirth, when she meets her baby face to face, the feeling turns to joy. For the disciples, as Jesus was taken from the earth, died on the cross, the disciples went through the sorrow (pain) of His death. Soon that sorrow would turn to joy in the resurrection. For us...

Babies can hear the voice of their mother early on while they are still in the womb. The first of many voices, but mom's will always be the one they hear the most. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” As the Good Shepherd, Jesus lays down His life for His sheep to give them eternal life. He calls us by the Gospel, because Jesus has the words of forgiveness, lo...

Jesus appears to His disciples for a third time after the resurrection, and this time they are fishing on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus first called disciples (Peter, Andrew, James, John) to leave their life of fishing and to come and follow Him and be fishers of men. They left everything to follow Jesus, and now, it appears, they have gone back to their former ways of fishing for fish. Maybe Peter, b...

On Easter Sunday, Jesus appears to the disciples, but Thomas missed that first appearance. His response to the disciples seeing the resurrected Christ was basically saying, “I won’t believe it until I see it.” More specifically, he wanted to touch Jesus’ hands where the nails were and His side where the spear pierced Him. So, he would believe it when he saw it, and touched it. When Jesus shows up,...

On Easter Sunday, the women go to the tomb to prepare Jesus' body. He isn't there. The angels tell them. But still, they are looking for His body, they're perplexed. The disciples hear from the women. They go to the tomb, it's empty. They're confused, they don't understand, they go back home. Mary Magdalene sees Jesus who she thinks is the gardener, asking if He knows where Jesus' body is. Eventua...

As we gather on Good Friday, we see Jesus' beaten, bruised, bloody body on the cross. His body that is nailed for us. His blood that is shed for us. His death that is died to give us life. Seeing what Jesus went through can create many feelings for us. Sometimes we want to feel all those emotions. Sometimes we don't. Even though we can't begin to understand all that Jesus went through for us, we k...

On Maundy Thursday Jesus washes the feet of His disciples, giving them an example of service. He eats the Passover meal with them and shares His own Supper with them, a Supper we still partake of today. He prays in the Garden of Gethsemane that God's will would be done, knowing full well that it meant His death. And He loved His people until the end. That ending comes on Good Friday as He says, "i...

Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. The crowd that saw these things happen was the crowd that welcomed Him into Jerusalem with shouts of "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Little did they know that their shouts of joy might soon turn to shouts of "Crucify Him!" And even though Jesus had told His disciples, His entrance into Jerusalem also meant His own resurrection wou...

When we think about parables being an "earthly story with a heavenly meaning" we might often think about where we fit into the story. In this parable we are the wicked tenants. And unlike last week when Jesus was the father in the Parable of the Lost Son(s), here Jesus is actually the son and the owner of the vineyard is God the Father. The wicked tenants who do not want to give to the owner of th...

This may be one of the most famous parables we know, and if you know the story, the title makes you think the story is about the son, when in reality, the story is about the father, and the costly love that the Father shows. And when we see the deeper meaning in the parable, we discover that the father is actually Jesus. And how the father deals with the son, is exactly how God deals with us: with...

When you look around at the world today, and see all the people in it. Are any of us THAT different from one another. Or to put it another way, are there people who are “worse sinners" in the world compared to others. This is the question Jesus was faced with. His answer for all people is: repent or perish. For those who are sinners, which is all of us, the answer is the same: repent! And you can...

Jesus looks at the city of Jerusalem wanting to gather the people to Himself as a mother hen gathers her chicks under the shelter of her outstretched wings. Unfortunately, the people of Jerusalem are not willing and instead of finding refuge in Him, they will take Jesus and stretch out his arms and nail them to the cross. Thankfully for us, all who take refuge in Christ and Him crucified, who beli...

Jesus faces temptations of all kinds in the wilderness from the old evil foe, Satan. Every temptation that Jesus faced He responded with the Word of God. We face similar temptations daily, and we have the same weapon that the Christ used to overcome His temptations: the Word of God. Today, Satan comes knocking on our door, at an opportune time, with the same kinds of temptations Jesus faced. Becau...

Sometimes Jesus says things that we are okay hearing, and sometimes Jesus says things that we are not as okay hearing. In Luke's Gospel for today Jesus says to "love your enemies." Sometimes it's hard to love the people we like, let alone our enemies. However, how does Jesus treat His enemies? He dies for them. And if Jesus is going to give up His life for His enemies, whom He wants in heaven with...

When Jesus is transfigured on the mountain, Moses and Elijah appear with Him and talk about His departure, His exodus. Peter, James, and John witnessed this, but have you ever wondered how they knew it was Moses and Elijah, even though they had never seen them before? And what about you? Have you ever thought about how you can believe in a God that you cannot see? A God that you cannot touch? A Go...

We know the famous Beatitudes in Matthew, and here, from Luke, we get from Jesus blessings and woes, and this is where Jesus says the unexpected. The rich will get nothing, the poor will get everything. The satisfied will be hungry, hungry will be satisfied. Those who laugh will weep, those who weep will laugh. Those who live their lives for earthly things will find themselves longing in the life...