Pastor Darryl

John 15:1-8
Why was I born? I didn’t choose to be born. I didn’t ask to have all sorts of wants and needs thrust upon me. Why was I born with needs at all– the need for food and water, for shelter, for love?
Perhaps these are questions that you may have contemplated or heard from someone else. Perhaps the question needs to be reframed completely into something like: if I am created what was the purpose of the creator? What was the plan?
Well, if God is love, there must be love involved in my formation. I may not be loved by any other person, but I am loved by God. Perhaps that’s the purpose of my life, to be needed and loved by God above all else. After all he came to earth in the form of Jesus Christ to give himself for the world of which I am a part.
This week’s gospel text begins with the familiar “I Am.” Throughout the gospels Christ touches on things that we are very familiar with in our lives, bread, light, sheep, door etc: I AM bread of life, John 6:35; I AM light of the world, 8:12; I AM the door/gate for the sheep, 10:7; I AM the resurrection and the life, 11:25, and now “I AM the true vine.” Each one of these ‘I AM’s’ connect with something, something that relates to us and the world in general.
In today’s text Jesus connects himself with each one of us. “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” God has shown his need for you, a need born out of his love for you.
Pastor Darryl

Photo by Carlo Navarro on Unsplash

1 John 3: 14-21
The first Epistle of John, a letter or a sermon? John writes to one group of Christians, but he addresses three groups within the church; little children, those new to the faith, Fathers, those who have had a life lived in faith, and the younger persons who are full of vitality in practising faith.
Much of the letter is addressed to the ‘little children’, and in many aspects that’s all of us. The letter focusses on what is true and what it is to be and live as a Christian. What are the marks of Christian living? This week chapter 3, the focus is on love, the importance of love in the Christian life, where it originates from, and how it is a determining factor who we are.
Pastor Darryl

Photo by Fadi Xd on Unsplash

1 John 3: 1-7

What does it mean to be God’s children? We often mention it in our Sunday church services, but have you considered what this really means for you. It is rather extraordinary when you contemplate it. You are God’s child – now. You are not waiting for it to happen in the future, but God claimed you in the waters of your baptism.

He washed you clean, forgives you your sins, provides for you and gives you the promise of eternal life. You are precious to God right now. It doesn’t matter what is going on in your life right now, or how you feel. You are God’s child now. God sent his only begotten Son to live and to die and rise again so that you could become God’s child now and for eternity. By this, God has demonstrated tremendous love for you. Recognise it, and let it be in your heart and mind and every fibre of your being.

May God show himself through you just as he did through his dear Son Jesus, enabling you to
share that love with others, so that they may be children of God also
Pastor Darryl

Photo by Katie Moum on Unsplash

John 20: 19-31
The beginning of the Epistle of John reaffirms what John wrote at the beginning of his gospel: “That which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life–the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us–that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”

John had been with Jesus throughout his ministry. He had been present at the cross when Jesus was suffering and dying. John heard Christ’s last words. John saw Christ die. And John was there with the disciples on that first Easter, when the risen Lord appeared to them and said, “Peace be with you.” John saw Christ’s hands where the nails were and the wound in Christ’s side from the spear. This was a physical, resurrected, flesh-and-blood Saviour.

John announces that we have fellowship with God and with one another only through the enfleshed and proclaimed Word of Life, Jesus Christ. Jesus himself says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” And that’s us. Through faith in Christ, you do indeed have fellowship with God. You do indeed have eternal life.

Pastor Darryl

John 20:1-18
This week we have entered a most sacred time of the church year with Good Friday being a most sombre and powerful event. Yet, it is interesting that for some the resurrection of Christ is the highlight of the season.

Perhaps we may wish to bypass the cross and its suffering and head to the glory of the resurrection of Christ. But before the resurrection we must have the cross with Christ’s suffering and death and all of its implications. Because it is at the cross that we are saved. At the cross forgiveness is given. At the cross that God has restored that vital relationship with his children, a relationship torn apart by sin. It is at the cross that not only is God’s righteousness, but his boundless love revealed, although hidden in Christ’s death.

But it is the resurrection that solidifies it all. Because as St Paul writes to the Corinthians, If Christ has not been raised then both his preaching and our faith are useless, but as St Paul continues: “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22).
Pastor Darryl