Trinity Fremont

In this week’s Living Hope series, Peter calls us to “be holy,” but what does this mean? For some, those words sound like a crushing burden. For others, they sound like a reminder of how stuck they are. For others, they sound like a word for somebody else. But because Jesus is risen, we hear these words through the Holy One who ransomed us with His precious blood, made us His own, and set us free to live as His holy people.

• Acts 2:14a, 36–41
• 1 Peter 1:13–25
• Luke 24:13–35

Peter’s letter to new Christian churches and new believers is straightforward but wonderfully powerful and most of all, his letter is full of hope, a living hope.  This hope includes an inheritance.  In other words, we just receive it, regardless of what we have done or not done to deserve it.  It is ours for the keeping.  

The inheritance is quite the inheritance.  Peter describes it as imperishable, undefiled and unfading.  He goes on to let us know where this inheritance is kept for us - HEAVEN.  What this looks like we aren’t exactly sure other than we will be with Jesus.  However Peter reminds that it WILL be revealed to us when Jesus comes back to make all things new.  

So there is much to be joyful about with this promise Peter shares with us even though this life, in this time and this place isn’t always so easy.  Peter describes our challenges as trials, but trials that are only temporary as we rest in the promises of our Living Hope, Jesus.  

 

• Acts 5:29–42
• 1 Peter 1:3–9
• John 20:19–31

This Easter, we hear the good news that the tomb is empty and Christ is Risen. He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!! But Easter is not only about what happened to Jesus back then. It's about what His resurrection means for you now, for your future, and for the good news you now have to share. Because Jesus is risen, that changes everything for you and for the whole world!

• Jeremiah 31:1–6
• Colossians 3:1–4
• Matthew 28:1–10

Jesus has made his triumphant return to Jerusalem.  Now what?  Well, he begins teaching again, except this time, he has quite an audience.  Jerusalem is filled with visitors for the upcoming Passover Feast.  It’s an annual celebration.  But since Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, things have ramped up.  People are paying close attention to what Jesus is saying, more than ever.  Some are listening to Him because they are hoping that indeed He is the promised Messiah.  Many are listening to Him for evidence He should be arrested and put to death.  

Then he says this: “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” His death and burial and ultimately, His own resurrection are all being foretold.  They all are necessary for glorification to occur.  A glorification we too will experience when Jesus raises us from the dead. 

• Isaiah 50:4–9a
• Philippians 2:5–11
• John 12:20-36

Jesus is not only a good guide, he is the GREATEST Guide.  He guides us from the darkness of sin into light.  He guides us through His Word.  He guides us because He loves us, a love that led Him all the way to the cross where He suffered, bled and died for us.  

But our guide is alive.  He is not dead.  He rose to continue guiding us and saving us until He returns to overcome the darkness once and for all.  

• Isaiah 42:14–21
• Ephesians 5:8–14
• John 9:1–7, 13–17, 34–39

This week, we hear Israel grumble in the wilderness and ask the deeper question hiding underneath their thirst: “Is the Lord among us or not?” In Exodus 17, God answers not simply by changing their circumstances, but by standing on the rock and giving life to His people. We’ll see how that question still rises in us when life gets hard, and how God answers it fully in Jesus, who was struck for us and now gives us His life through His gifts.

• Exodus 17:1–7
• Romans 5:1–8
• John 4:5–26

After around 2,000 years, after the Fall in the Garden of Eden, there is a turn of grace by God by His calling of Abram.  God’s grace is not only given TO Abram it is given THROUGH Abram.  Through Abram and his offspring, ALL nations/people will be blessed.  And they were and we are.  

But we tend to get caught up in celebrating OUR being blessed without sharing God’s grace.  There is plenty of grace to go around.  It is our nature to turn in on ourselves, celebrate what we have, and not want to or forget to share it.  

God’s grace is NOT JUST FOR YOU.  It’s for ALL PEOPLE.  He repeatedly returns to us in grace, and He repeatedly turns us in grace toward others.

How’s that going for you?  Turning in grace toward others?  How is God turning you in grace toward others in YOUR life?   

How might God work through you to be a blessing to others in little or even big ways?  Possibly there are things in your life you would like to turn AWAY from?  How’s that going for you?  What are things you would like to turn towards in your life?  

Turning towards God’s grace and sharing it with others is God’s desire for you. 

Genesis 12:1–9
Romans 4:1–8, 13–17
John 3:1–17

What do we do with the guilt of sin?  Many times we don’t own it.  We tend to “pass the buck.”  We tend to rationalize “it’s not MY fault.”  It’s human nature.  It’s exactly what Adam and Eve did in the garden that fateful day when they gave into temptation.  What do you do when YOU give into temptation?  Do you take accountability or do you pass the buck?

Unfortunately, because of our sinful condition, of which David reminds us in Psalm 51, we  were even conceived in, we not only pass the buck, but we just keep on sinning in our thoughts, in our words and in our deeds.  So now what?

Well, Jesus takes all of those sins.  He takes them to the cross.  He says, “The buck stops here.  Right here at the cross.”  And it does… and He did, take them to the cross with Him so that we might be forgiven and redeemed.  He WANTS you to be with Him.  It’s why He did what He did.  

Our response?  Repentance, just like King David. 

• Genesis 3:1–21
• Romans 5:12–19
• Matthew 4:1–11

In this week’s Kingdom Parables series, Jesus gives us a last day picture of His kingdom through the Parable of the Wedding Feast. This is not a moral lesson about proving we belong. It’s a kingdom story about what the King does for His people. The King not only invites. He provides what is needed to belong. We’ll see how Jesus makes us worthy by clothing us in His righteousness through His Word and Sacraments. And we’ll end with the promise of the feast that never ends, when death is swallowed up forever and tears are wiped away.

• Isaiah 25:6–9
• Philippians 3:1–11
• Matthew 22:1–14

In this week’s Kingdom Parables series, Jesus confronts our instinct to keep score and demand what feels fair. In the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, we see that the kingdom of God is not built on what we earn, but on the goodness of the King. Jesus calls people into His kingdom and gives the same salvation by grace through faith, no matter when He calls them. And when our hearts grumble, Jesus doesn’t revoke His gift. He defends His goodness and invites us to receive salvation as the joy it is. Not entitlement. Not comparison. A gift.

• Jonah 4:1–11
• Romans 9:14–18
• Matthew 20:1–16