Pastor Prince

Truth is in the news a lot these days, particularly in politics.  This was the cover of Time magazine last week: That's a good question.  In these days of "truth hyperbole," "alternative facts," and "fake news," the truth can be hard to find.  Some people don't think the truth matters.  What matters is what we think and how we feel. We're not the only ones to wrestle with the truth.  People did in Jesus' time too.  In John 9:1:1-14, we read about Jesus healing a man born blind.  The main theme of the story is that Jesus is the light of the world.  He is truth. The Pharisees struggle with the healing because it occurred on the Sabbath.  In their interpretation of the scripture, healing was work, and work was forbidden on the Sabbath.  When some took the formerly blind man to them, they said that Jesus couldn't have healed him because he was a sinner.  Yet the man argued that Je...

What if the king we want isn't the king we need?  That's a question this week's message will explore.  John 6:1-15 tells the story of the Jesus' feeding of the five thousand.  God intended it to be a sign of one thing, but the crowd around Jesus saw it as a sign of another.  They were looking for a material Messiah, who would meet their material needs and wants.  But Jesus was a spiritual Messiah, who focused on spiritual needs.  The people wanted physical bread, so they would always have plenty of food.  Jesus offered them spiritual bread that would give them eternal life. We're a lot the same way.  Joel Osteen is much more popular than Mother Theresa!  The American Dream is more powerful than the dream of God's kingdom.  Jesus' sign of the feeding reminds us of what we need and how Jesus had provided it.  That sign points back to the exodus of Israel and looks forward to the Lord's Supper.  It showed that Jesus wa...

A father wants to save the life of his critically-ill son.  This is how the story begins about the third in our series of signs identified in the gospel of John.  John 4:46-54 tells how a desperate father heard about Jesus, and hastily made the journey from his home in Capernaum to Cana, where Jesus was staying. When the man asks Jesus for his help, Jesus replies by telling him to go home, because his son was going to recover.  On his way home, the man's slaves met him with the news that his son's fever has broken.  When he asked them what time it had happened, it was the exact time when Jesus said he would be healed. John identifies this as a sign of who Jesus was and what he came to do.  The OT scriptures teach in passages like Isaiah 25 that at the end of the age, God will bring healing across the world.  This sign Jesus performed showed that he was God's Messiah and healer, and that he was bringing healing to the world. Though we're muc...

In John 2:13-33, Jesus does things we don't expect him to do!  He makes a whip of cords, and apparently uses it to drive animals out of the temple courts.  He turns over the tables of moneychangers and cries out that they have made his Father's house a marketplace! I can't think of another story of Jesus in which he does something like this!  As his followers observe him, they remember Psalm 69:9, in which the writer speaks of a consuming zeal for God's house. The Jewish leaders were upset at what Jesus did.  They confronted him with the question, "Who gave you the authority to do this?  What miraculous sign will you give?"  Jesus responded by saying, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it again!"  Nobody understood what he meant at the time, but later, after Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples would know what he meant. This is Jesus' first public act in the gospel of John.  It's almost violently pass...

In this age of Google maps and such, we still need signs.  Signs show us which direction to go.  They also tell us what we're looking at! This week, we begin a new teaching unit titled "Signs."  The gospel of John flags a number of Jesus' miracles as "signs." These miracles are signs because they identify important things about Jesus and his mission.  They also point to spiritual realities in our lives.  This unit will last until Easter. The first miracle John identifies as a sign is recorded in John 2:1-11.  We might expect a miracle in which Jesus heals or raises from the dead.  Yet the first sign he gives, and one which sets the tone for all the others, is the sign of turning water into wine. Many Bible passages teach that one day God will establish his kingdom on earth and reign through his Anointed One (Messiah).  Several Bible passages (see Isaiah 25:6 and Revelation 19:9) teach that God will kick off his kingdom with a bi...

One of the most important and difficult parts of a renovation project is electric wiring.  Wiring is mostly hidden behind walls, so you can't see it.  You can assume all is well, but when you turn on a light or plug something in, nothing happens!  That's because the wiring has failed to supply power. The wiring and power source of the church is the Holy Spirit.  In Acts 1:8, Jesus promised his followers that after he ascended to heaven, they would receive power when the Holy Spirit fell on them.  In the Spirit's power, they would be his witnesses all over the world!  The rest of the book of Acts tells the story of how the Holy Spirit worked through Christ followers to accomplish that mission. Sometimes we think church growth is a matter of having the right plans, structure, music, space, and so forth.  But none of these matter without the power of the Holy Spirit!  The Holy Spirit transforms us and gives us abilities to minister ...

This week, we continue our church renovation show by thinking about windows and doors.  Matthew 28:18-20 records that Jesus gave his followers a commission to go and make disciples of all nations.  The church was to both go outwards and to bring people in.  Our mission is like our church's windows and doors.  Windows bring light, ventilation, and view.  We should subject all we do as a church to the light of our mission.  We should allow our mission to ventilate and refresh us.  We should also look out and view the needs of our community. Doors allow people to come in and out.  We go out our doors to minister in Christ's name in our community.  We invite people into our community through our doors. Our church's mission, vision and strategy statements reflect our need for windows and doors.  Our mission is to make disciples, united in worship and service.  This is our reason for being.  Our vision is to embo...