Jesus appears to the apostles on the night of his resurrection and offers peace to the men who had betrayed him and left him in his time of need. He explains that he came to forgive us of our sins. As God has loved us and reconciled us to him, we are to forgive and reconcile with others. For love to live in our hearts we will forgive and look to reconcile with others. Love seeks to make real peace through forgiveness and reconciliation.

Love obeys because it trusts. We obey God because he loved us first and we trust him. We obey his commandments not to do him a favor but because we trust his way is best. For love to live and grow in our hearts we must continually trust and obey God and put our faith in him.

Jesus was love in action. Whenever we meet Jesus in the gospel, we see love in action. He went about doing good and healing people, but the world could not handle 100 percent pure love and killed him. However, the grave could not keep him and love conquered death. In this message we will look at how the resurrection of Jesus shows that love lives on and that it cannot be destroyed. Jesus lives in us and because he lives in us we can love as he did.

Palm Sunday 2021

In the reading from Jeremiah, God promises to give people a new heart. This is ultimately what we want. We are asking for God to give us a new heart that is not easily offended. We need to drive out the offense that is in our hearts so that we live with God’s grace and love.

Offense usually brings a sense of entitlement. Grace though destroys all sense of entitlement. Grace is a pure gift that we do not own. In this message we will look at the importance of responding to injury with grace as God did. When God had a right to be very offended by all the ways we had wronged him and injured him, he didn’t live in that offense. Instead he responded by sending his Son to us, to reconcile us with him. His Son humbled himself to become human.

Jesus offended people all the time and knew it. He even said, “Blessed is he who takes no offense.” In the Gospel, Jesus cleanses the Temple and overturns the tables. He does this knowing that he is challenging the stewards of the Temple and that it will offend them. If we live a life of purpose and direction and work to accomplish others, we will offend other people.

Offenses are inevitable. Offenses are a trap. But, we have a choice about how we handle offenses. This one truth we are looking at today can give you a more proper perspective on offenses so that you see them in the right context. This truth could change your life.

The Gospel tells us that Jesus was tempted in the desert for 40 days. Afterwards he said, “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news.”