Posts by Jon Payne

Posts by Jon Payne

I Hold You in My Heart

This article is part one of a three-part collection reflecting on your pastors’ favorite verses in the book of Philippians. Throughout most of 2019, we will continue our sermon series on this beloved epistle. Come join us Sunday as we continue to learn and worship together. “It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for…

Mystery

Scripture Reading: Matthew 27:57-61 After his shocking and agonizing death on the cross, Jesus was laid in a new tomb. For the entire night, and day, and night following his death, his lifeless body lay in that tomb. His heart did not beat, his lungs provided no oxygen to his bloodstream, his brain waves, if they could have been registered, would have shown no activity.…

Resolved

Scripture Reading: Mark 10:32-34 Why did Jesus come to Jerusalem after he raised Lazarus from the dead? The apostle John records that after that miraculous event, the authorities in Jerusalem were determined to put Jesus to death. It is not difficult to perceive their motives. Jesus’ fame had already reached the entire country. His power to heal, to exorcise demons…

The Coming King – Palm Sunday

Scripture reading: Matthew 21:1-11 When an ordinary looking man approached the city of Jerusalem, no observer could have told by his appearance that he was unusual or important. There wasn’t any striking military parade clearing the way before him, there were no gold laurels of victory crowning his head, and he had no retinue of royal courtiers demonstrating his wealth…

Our God: Like Us to Save Us

This Sunday, we continue our Advent series by studying the humanity of Christ. Of course, humanity, by itself is not particularly unusual. We see human beings every day, we live as humans, and we’ve never not been human. To be human is, in one sense, the most normal thing in the world. Yet, being human is not “normal” for God. Consider just a few attributes of God — he is…

Our Advent: God the Son

Around 30 AD in Galilee, a Middle Eastern province under the dominion of the Roman Empire, there was a religious teacher named Jesus of Nazareth. What was most readily obvious about him was that he was a man. He walked, spoke, ate, drank, slept, woke, grew cold and hot, felt the sun and the rain, dealt with angry people and attended normal cultural activities. He was a…

Our Hope: Christ the Messiah

Every day and every week, every month and every year, Christians worship the Lord Jesus Christ. The focus of our faith is in his person and work as the one Mediator between God and Man, our Savior and King. In the Christmas season we especially celebrate his advent — his entrance into the world as a baby, his holy arrival as the mediator between Heaven and Earth. During…

Five-Year Anniversary Reflections

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!  Psalm 115:1 This Sunday our church celebrates our five-year anniversary. Five years! Five years of growing together as a church, building new friendships, and journeying together across the breadth and into the depths of God’s Word. Five years of singing…

The Trophies of Jesus Christ

“Do you want arguments for soul winning? Look up to Heaven, and ask yourself how sinners can ever reach those harps of gold and learn their everlasting song, unless they have someone to tell them of Jesus, who is mighty to save. But the best argument of all is to be found in the wounds of Jesus. You want to honor Him, you desire to put many crowns upon His head, and this…