Grace Church Indiana Sermons Grace Church

The final disciple of Jesus we will explore is one who may have never met him in person: Saul, later known as the Apostle Paul. Beginning his journey as a hater and persecutor of Christ-followers, Paul would go on to be a leading voice in the Church bringing the gospel of Jesus to the Gentiles and establishing Churches across the Roman world. What could have changed such a zealous Pharisee into an apostle zealous for the gospel? And what does the transformation of Paul’s life trajectory teach us about the grace God has for the broken?

After the crucifixion of Jesus, many of Jesus’ disciples were plunged into despair. However, upon his resurrection, Christ began to meet with these beleaguered followers to help them understand what had actually transpired. He appeared to two of these disciples on the road to Emmaus, explaining to them how his death and resurrection fulfilled what had been written in the Old Testament. In this message we will consider the grand story Jesus invites us into and what it means to follow him into his mission to heal the world.

Of all the disciples of Jesus, Mary Magdalene had one of the most troubled pasts. The gospels of Mark and Luke tell us that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her when he called her to follow him. It is little wonder she become one of the most devoted of his disciples. Upon the death of Jesus, it is Mary Magdalene, weeping at the tomb, who first encounters the risen Lord. It is Mary who is first sent out by Jesus with the good news that he has risen from the grave. What can we learn from this remarkable woman about what it means to follow Christ? And what is God’s invitation to us this Easter as we consider not just what God has done for us in the past, but who he longs for us to become in the future?

A week before his crucifixion, Jesus enters Jerusalem to great fanfare, riding on a donkey just as the prophet Zechariah had predicted (Zechariah 9:9). Was it possible that the coming of this Messiah was exactly what everyone had been waiting for? Was Jesus going to lead Israel to military victory over the Roman occupiers? These questions must have been ringing in the disciples’ ears as they wrestled with Jesus’ earlier predictions of his own imminent death at the hands of Rome. Which was it going to be? Victory or death? This moment of cognitive dissonance is a wonderful invitation for us to consider what kind of Messiah we are following. Is the Jesus we follow victorious by human standards, trampling down everyone we disagree with? Or is he the one whose victory lies in his self-sacrifice and surrender, and the grace he offers even to the despised?

In the days leading up to his crucifixion, Jesus accomplishes one of his most spectacular miracles: the raising of his friend Lazarus from the dead. Although we often talk about the moment of the miracle itself, in this message we will focus on the words and reactions of Jesus’ disciples throughout the experience. What they see and say gives us fresh insight into the person of Christ and what it means to follow a savior with power over the grave.

Although it was clear to Jesus that his path would lead him to a lonely cross in Jerusalem, his disciples struggled to understand. Peter, the “rock upon which the Church of Christ would be built,” struggled most of all. In a rather shocking moment with Jesus, Peter rebukes him for saying that his destiny lay in crucifixion. Peter is rebuked by Jesus in return, whose famous words, “Get behind me, Satan,” still ring in our ears today. How is it possible for disciples of Jesus to become agents of the enemy? And what does it mean for us to set aside our “human point of view” in our attempt to follow Jesus into the unknown?