Sermon Notes

“Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: 

‘Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion.
Look, your king is coming,
    sitting on a donkey’s colt!’”              John 12: 14-15 NRSV

#1 Jesus sits up but ­­­­­­­­­in our midst not ‘Lording it over us’.

#2 Jesus sits up to live out God’s faithfulness and love.  This is another way of saying God is faithful to the Covenant God voluntarily makes with us.

#3 Jesus sits up to take on our suffering and death and to defeat these enemies with love and life.

Pastor Kim’s message is based on John 12: 20-33 . Jesus came so that all people could be lifted up into God’s love. What uplifting message do we pass on to others?

Sermon Notes 

²⁰ Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. ²³       John 12: 20-22

1.  Are we open to people we least expect being open to Jesus?

Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵ Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.          John 12: 23-26

2.  So Jesus attracts us by love for love.  Jesus reaches most people through friendships with other people.

3.  Put a name down after each category below of someone you would invite to try something at our church: worship, Mid-week study, Alpha, Men’s group Wildberries etc.  But first pray about this and let the Spirit guide you and that person.

a. friend

b. family member

c. neighbor

d. co-worker

Pastor Kim’s sermon text is John 3:14-21 NRSV

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.      John 3:14 NRSV

1. When we are facing a tough challenge is our first thought to the ways God has been faithful to us in the past or is our first thought about how we can’t possibly deserve this current challenge and why isn’t God erasing it without any effort on our part?
2. Do we believe that there are no problems for Christians only opportunities to live our faith?
3. Love yourself enough to be honest about your own darkness, and love Jesus enough to get to welcome his love into your life so that you are on the path to healing, the path of love.  That is the Christian path to living joyfully, courageously, and hopefully in the present.

Why Bodhidharma Went to Howard Johnson’s

“Where is your home,” the interviewer asked him.

Here.

“No, no,” the interviewer said, thinking it a problem of translation,
“when you are where you actually live.”

Now it was his turn to think, perhaps the translation?

~ Jane Hirshfield ~

(The Wisdom Anthology of North American Buddhist Poetry)

What does it mean to take up our cross?  Christians are NOT to take up unnecessary suffering.  We are to be faithful witnesses to Jesus’ love, no matter the cost.

Sermon Notes:

³⁴ He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶ For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷ Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?    

Mark 8:34-37 New Revised Standard Version

We have choices if we are to take up the cross:

1. The first choice is to run from or run towards our transformation in Christ.
2. The second choice is: Have we come to die to selfishness?
3. The third choice: Are we following a transformed cross?