Gifts of Spirit, Wind, and Fire

May 24, 2026May 31, 2026 PastorPartridge Sermon Acts, Alliance, Bible, breath, Broadway, Christ, christianity, church, Corinth, faith, family, fire, God, history, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, John Partridge, Luke, Methodist, Ohio, Paul, Pentecost, Shavuot, spirit, wind

Gifts of Spirit, Wind, and Fire

May 24, 2026*

(Pentecost)

By Pastor John Partridge

John 20:19-23 Acts 2:1-21 1 Corinthians 12:1-13

Every family, and every family member, has a story. Our stories tell us who we are, and where we come from. In my family, there are stories, or at least speculation, about the first of the Partridges to come here from England, stories about my grandfather’s time fighting for Germany in World War One and his immigration to the United States afterward. We tell the story of his marriage to my grandmother on the docks of New York after he sent for her to join him, and there are stories of how my parents met in college, of Dad’s time in the Navy during World War Two, his brothers that served in other branches, Dad’s call to ministry, my brother Steve being drafted during Vietnam, my volunteer service in the Army Reserve and eventual call to active duty for Desert Storm and my own call to ministry. There are many more stories from Patti’s side of the family, stories about the miracles that we have seen, how our children joined our family, and many, many more. But it is the telling of those stories that anchor us in history and tell us who we are and how we got here.

Churches have the same stories. Christ Church has stories of beginning downtown, buying property on the hill and, eventually, building the church in which we now worship. There are stories of the Glamorgan family and how they came to donate the bells in our bell tower, stories about how the bells were hoisted, using horses and ropes long before the era of hydraulic cranes. Like biological families, our church has countless stories, passed down from generation to generation, and those stories tell us something about who we are and how we got here. But Christianity itself has stories that are a part of us, some that date back to the very beginnings of our faith, and some which, again, tell us about who we are and how we got here.

In recent months, as we have worked our way through the liturgical year, and through the scriptures highlighted by the lectionary, we have walked through many of those stories. You will remember hearing John the Baptist in Luke 3:16, when he said, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” And those words had to echo in the mind of Jesus disciples after Jesus’ death and resurrection when this happened in John 20:19-23:

¹⁹On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

²¹Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²²And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

We remember that the words that we translate in English as wind, spirit, and breath, are all the same word in Greek. And so, Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the holy breath” but also, as the NIV translated, “receive the Holy Spirit,” but also leaving us the option of “receive the holy wind,” which we will see as important in just a moment. Before Jesus ascended into heaven and left the earth, he reminded the disciples of John’s words by giving them the gift of the Holy Spirit. But he wasn’t done. In Luke 1:4-5, Jesus also told his disciples “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵For John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

And so, as we read in recent weeks, the disciples and other followers of Jesus did just that. They stayed together in Jerusalem, worshiping in the temple each day, praying, and sharing meals together until, in Acts 2:1-21, this happened:

^2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ²Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. ⁷Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? ⁹Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome ¹¹(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own languages!” ¹²Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

¹⁴Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. ¹⁵These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! ¹⁶No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

¹⁷“‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
¹⁸Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy.
¹⁹I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
²⁰The sun will be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
²¹And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

On the day of Pentecost, the believers and followers of Jesus Christ were gathered eating, socializing, praying, or otherwise being together and suddenly there was wind as Jesus had said, and there was spirit, and there was fire just as John had said several years earlier. But what is also notable, beyond the fulfillment of the words of John and Jesus, was the result of the infilling, and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in the followers upon whom the flames of the spirit had fallen. Filled with the spirit of God, the followers of Jesus went out into the streets just as the people in the streets gathered and crowded to search for whatever had made the sound of a violent wind on what was likely a calm and quiet day. And each person in the crowd of people who had come to Jerusalem from all over the know world for the Jewish festival of Shavuot, which is also known as the Festival of Weeks, heard the retelling of the story of the good news of Jesus in their own languages. And this from men and women who were uneducated, rural folk, who were considered to be country bumpkins.

The speakers certainly did not know the languages in which they were preaching… and yet they did so because of the power of the Holy Spirit working through them. Peter explains to the crowd that what they were witnessing was not a crowd of drunks, but the miraculous fulfillment of God’s prophecy for the last days of creation, that God was, even now, pouring out his spirit upon the people so that those who called upon his name could be saved.

But still, it was not always clear what the filling and indwelling of the Holy Spirit meant, and the people of the church had questions about what indwelling meant, or what it meant to be baptized by the spirit, or what God’s purpose was in doing so. And so, in 1 Corinthians 12:1-13, Paul writes to the believers in Corinth, and he explains it this way:

^12:1 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. ²You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. ³Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. ⁵There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

⁷Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, ⁹to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of languages, and to still another the interpretation of languages.¹¹All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

¹²Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³For we were all baptized byone Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

First, Paul clarifies that anyone that says that Jesus is cursed is not a follower of Jesus and is not filled with the Spirit of God. Second, Paul says that anyone who says that Jesus is Lord is indeed permitted to say so by the Holy Spirit. I would caution, however, that other scriptures still indicate that saying this does not automatically ensure all of what they preach is trustworthy. In any case, Paul continues by saying that the gifts that are given to each believer, when they are filled and empowered by the spirit of God, are not the same for each person. There are some common types and some common groupings of gifts, but each person is just as unique as one part of the body is from another. Just as the parts of the body work together to allow humans to do amazing things, our different gifts allow us, as the body of Christ, to work together and accomplish amazing, even miraculous things for the kingdom of God, in the name of Jesus Christ.

Pentecost is one of our key stories that we repeat each year because, just like family stories, it tells us where we came from and who we are, both as a church, and as individuals. We are the body of Christ as we use our gifts, together, to do the work of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. Each of us are unique and different from one another, but each of us has been given a specific set of gifts and talents, and then filled with, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, so that we can do our part as God calls us, and leads us as we work to accomplish his mission and ministry.

Remember the stories.

Remember where we came from.

Remember who you are.

And never forget whose you are.

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com . All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Resumé, Request, Blessing, Mission

May 17, 2026 PastorPartridge Sermon Acts, Alliance, anxiety, Bible, blessing, Broadway, Christ, christianity, church, faith, fear, God, humility, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, John Partridge, Methodist, mission, Ohio, Peter, promise, purpose, request, resume, Street

Resumé, Request, Blessing, Mission

May 17, 2026*

(Seventh Sunday of Easter)

By Pastor John Partridge

John 17:1-11 Acts 1:6-14 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

If you are like me, many of you have changed jobs from time to time. As a young person, the first time you apply for jobs, the process is intimidating, unfamiliar, awkward, and uncomfortable. But the second time the process feels more familiar, and by the third or fourth time, you understand the process well enough to feel the flow of it, to anticipate what will happen next, and almost read the minds of the people interviewing you. There is a current that flows between the initial contacts that are made and the work that is performed after you are hired to do the job. And, as I read our scripture passages for today, it is that flow that came to mind, and that process that you will see as we read, digest, and understand the path that the disciples, the followers of Jesus Christ, and we ourselves follow from the time we meet Jesus until he sends us out to do the work of God’s kingdom. We begin this morning by reading John 17:1-11, as Jesus prays with, and for, his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion.

^17:1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ²For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

⁶“I have revealed youto those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word. ⁷Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. ⁹I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. ¹¹I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power ofyour name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.

As Jesus prays to his father, it is as if he reads his resume and reminds God of the work that he has done during his time on the earth. And afterward, he requests that God return him to the glory that he had with God before the world began. Next, Jesus prays over the resume of his disciples, as if reminding God of who they are, what they have done, and what Jesus had taught them and given to them. And again, afterward, Jesus requests that God would protect them so that they would be unified in spirit, purpose, and mission for the kingdom work that they would be sent to do.

But, before that could happen, Jesus concluded his time on earth, ascended into heaven, and returned to his father. But only a moment before he did so, he made a promise and assigned a mission to them, both the promise and the mission have been passed on to us. We hear this in the words of Acts 1:6-14:

⁶Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

¹⁰They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ¹¹“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

¹²Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walkfrom the city. ¹³When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. ¹⁴They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Jesus is plain in saying that there are limits to God’s willingness to share the details of his plans for the future. While he called the disciples in the first century, and calls us today, it is not for us to know when God will choose to do the things that God will do. The important thing is that God promises to give us the power to do the things that he calls us to do, and that our mission is to carry his story and message of hope to the ends of the earth. Like the disciples, we cannot simply stand around, looking up at the sky, waiting for Jesus to return. Instead, we must wait in anticipation, and busy ourselves with the work that must be done until the time of his return.

But doing the work to which God has appointed us will not always be easy. In his letter of 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11, the apostle Peter gives the people of the church some advice on how we should live in order to accomplish the work of the kingdom, saying:

^4:12Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

^5:⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

⁸Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

¹⁰And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. ¹¹To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Peter reminds the people of the church that they should not be surprised that an ordeal of suffering had come to test them. Instead, rather than complain, flee, or quit, he encouraged them to rejoice that they cold share their suffering with Jesus and be happy that they would be rewarded on the day of Christ’s return. If we are insulted because of our faith in Jesus, Peter says, that is a sign that the Spirit of God’s glory, and the Spirit of God itself rests upon you.

Moreover, rather than being proud, or arrogant, that you are a follower of the Jesus and a follower of the most high, creator God, humble yourself before God and let him lift you in praise as he sees fit at a time of his choosing. Instead of worrying and being anxious about your life, trust the God that cares for you, and let him carry the burden of your anxiety and fear. Your job is to be alert to the manipulations of the enemy because he prowls the earth looking for ways that he can deceive, subvert, mislead, and consume the followers of Jesus Christ. Resist these temptations that are so common in our culture and stand firm in the faith that you share with many who are suffering. In the end, although God may allow you to suffer temporarily, he will ultimately restore you in body, mind, and spirit.

As we have seen in our scriptures today, there is often a process with God just as there is when we seek employment. God has seen our resume and Christ himself has prayed that God would protect you and bless you so that the followers of Jesus Christ might be one with God and be united and unified in purpose. We won’t always know the plans that God has for our future, but God promises to give us the power to do the things that he calls us to do. Our lives, as the followers of Jesus Christ, are not guaranteed to be filled with roses, and rainbows, and unicorns, but may often have its share of discomfort, suffering, insults, and fiery ordeals. But we rest in the knowledge that as we suffer, we share in the suffering of Jesus, and we are invited to humble ourselves, and let him carry the burden of our anxiety and fear.

Our calling is to stand firm in our faith and to resist the enemy of our souls, to be alert for his attempts to deceive, mislead, and tempt us to wander from the path of truth. Our mission is to carry the good news of Jesus Christ and his message of hope, healing, and restoration to the ends of the earth.

Just like finding a new job and building a career, it isn’t something that happens overnight. It is a path. It is a process. And it is a journey that we must choose to travel…

…one step at a time, one day after another, until at last we meet Jesus at the throne of grace.

Until then, let us do as the disciples did so long ago, let us pray together, worship together, and work together to rescue the lost, and do the work of God’s kingdom.

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From Chaos to Confidence

April 5, 2026April 19, 2026 PastorPartridge Sermon Acts, Alliance, Bible, Broadway, Christ, church, Colossians, creation, culture, Easter, faith, Genesis, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, John Partridge, Methodist, Ohio, Paul, resurrection, testify

From Chaos to Confidence

April 05, 2026*

(Easter Sunday)

By Pastor John Partridge

John 20:1-18 Acts 10:34-43 Colossians 3:1-4

Easter can still be surprising if we look at it from a different angle than we usually do. And one way to do that is to consider Easter as an act of God’s creation. That may seem unusual but bear with me and this message will become clear before we’re done. In the first words of Genesis, we hear these words:

^1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)

And, as easily as this passage comes to our memory, consider that the Hebrew that we translate as “formless and empty” is tohu va-bohu which implies an environment understood by the ancient world as one of terrifying disorder, such that in some modern translations, this phrase is being rendered simply as chaos. The world in the beginning was a place of terrifying chaos, and from it, God created order. And again, while the parallels might not be immediately apparent, bear with me as we begin this morning by remembering the first Easter morning that we read in John 20:1-18:

^20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ²So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

³So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. ⁸Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) ¹⁰Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

¹¹Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹²and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

¹³They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

¹⁵He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

¹⁷Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

¹⁸Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

The actions of the players in this story may not seem all that strange to us in the twenty-first century, but in the context of the first century, everything understood to be culturally normal is turned on its head. Women were believed and understood to be unreliable such that, under Roman law, the testimony of a woman in court was only considered to be dependable if produced under torture. But here, while the women are understandably emotional, they are the ones doing the work that must be done while the men have remained at home paralyzed with grief. Similarly, we are told that the disciples, who had walked with Jesus for three years, still did not understand that Jesus had to rise from the dead. These men were baffled, confused, and emotionally incapacitated to the point that they follow the leadership of Mary and the other women. Moreover, Jesus’ first appearance isn’t to any of his trusted friends and disciples, but to the women whose testimonies would automatically be doubted. From the perspective of the disciples and the people in story, everything here is upside-down and utterly chaotic. If the disciples had chosen to invent a story about the resurrection, this is exactly the kind of story that they would have avoided at all costs because it would have been completely unbelievable. To the original audience, this story is utter chaos.

But just a few weeks later, when Peter confronts a crowd of people in the temple courts in Acts 10:34-43, he says this:

³⁴Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism ³⁵but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. ³⁶You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. ³⁷You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— ³⁸how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

³⁹“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, ⁴⁰but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. ⁴¹He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴²He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Peter admits that it all seems crazy. He knew that the women saw Jesus first, that the men were the ones who were overly emotional and paralyzed by grief, and he finally sees the truth, he now understands that God’s plan doesn’t automatically follow the prejudices and favoritisms of human culture. Despite the chaos, despite turning the preconceived assumptions of culture on their heads, Peter admits that they stood as witnesses to the truth of the story that they shared and the message that they preached. The story that Peter and the disciples were preaching was chaotic, crazy, culturally disconnected, and felt uncomfortable and wrong to many who heard it, but nonetheless, they stood up and swore that this was the truth that they had witnessed.

But where does that leave us? Why does it matter? And what does it mean for us?

And as we read Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae, he connects the dots for us. Reading from Colossians 3:1-4, we hear this:

^3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ, who is yourlife, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Paul summarizes the story that the disciples told. Because Jesus died and rose to life again, and because we have chosen to follow him and to put our trust in him, we too have been raised from the dead. But, because have, and because we have this hope for the future, God calls us to live our lives differently from the people around us. We are called to focus on God’s kingdom and not on the things that our earthly cultures label as important. More importantly, we have confidence that when Christ returns, we will live with him in the glory of his kingdom.

Just as God’s presence in the story of creation transformed chaos into order, the resurrection of Jesus on that Easter morning two millennia ago has transformed the confusion and chaos of our culture into a calm assurance for our future and for eternity.

What began as chaos has been transformed, through faith, into confidence.

Our mission is to remember, and to live out, the words of Peter that we heard in Acts 10. ⁴²He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. We are called to preach, and to tell the world, not because we seek power, or influence, or because we want to manipulate people for our own selfish purposes, but because we choose to share the peace, confidence, assurance, and love that we have found, and because we want to help others to escape the chaos of our culture.

Happy Easter everyone!

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Scriptures for Easter Sunrise

April 5, 2026 PastorPartridge Sermon Bible, Easter, faith, Jesus, resurrection

Scriptures for Easter Sunrise

April 05, 2026

by John Partridge

Friends, I am not in the habit of preaching a long sermon at the Easter Sunrise service. I use this time as a musical celebration with our praise team, and for remembering the story of Easter. Since last year’s service used the story from the Gospel of John, this year I have interwoven passages from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Happy Easter everyone!

Where we left off on Good Friday…

Matthew 27

⁶²The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ⁶³“Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ ⁶⁴So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

⁶⁵“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

______________________

And how the story resumes on Easter Morning…

Mark 16

^16:1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. ²Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb ³and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

Matthew 28

²There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

Mark 16

⁴But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. ⁵As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

⁶“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

Matthew 28

⁸So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Luke 24

⁹When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. ¹⁰It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. ¹¹But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. ¹²Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Matthew 28

¹¹While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. ¹²When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, ¹³telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ ¹⁴If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” ¹⁵So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Betrayal, Humility, Sacrifice

April 2, 2026April 2, 2026 PastorPartridge Sermon Alliance, betrayal, Bible, Broadway, Christ, christianity, church, Corinth, Corinthians, faith, God, Holy Thursday, humility, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, John Partridge, Methodist, Ohio, Passover, Paul, sacrifice

Betrayal, Humility, Sacrifice

April 02, 2026*

(Holy Thursday)

By Pastor John Partridge

Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

What is it that makes your family, your church, your civic organization, or your community unique? What is the story that you tell others about how you started, or about your mission, that explains who you are and what you do? As I was growing up, I often heard that while we were encouraged to try new things, Partridges did not quit. If we tried something new, we had to give it a fair trial. Learning to play an instrument is difficult, and so was wrestling when I only weighed seventy-two pounds. But I wasn’t allowed to quit until I had, at least, completed a year or two of band and at least a full season of wrestling. I stayed in band until my second or third year in college and stayed in wrestling for two seasons until I finished junior high school. Patti and I sent the same message to our children when they were growing up. We encourage you to try new things, but once you start, you cannot quit until you’ve given it a fair chance. Every group, and every family, has similar stories that shape the character of the organization as well as the character of its members. And for the people of Israel, and later for the followers of Jesus Christ, one of those formative and defining stories is the story of the first Passover that we find in Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14.

^12:1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ²“This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. ³Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. ⁴If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. ⁵The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. ⁶Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. ⁷Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. ⁸That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. ⁹Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs, and internal organs. ¹⁰Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. ¹¹This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.

¹²“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. ¹³The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

¹⁴“This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.

The Passover story declares to everyone that all of Israel, from the least to the greatest, is a family and that everyone is included. It is also a story of God’s rescue and his love for his people.

And it is with this background in mind that we enter the story of Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion found in John 13:1-17, 31b-35 and hear this:

^13:1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

²The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

⁸“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

⁹“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

¹⁰Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” ¹¹For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

¹²When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴Now that I, your Lord, and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

³¹When he [Judas] was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. ³²If God is glorified in him. God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.

³³“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.

³⁴“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Jesus knew that these were his last hours on earth and, rather than fleeing to save his own life, Jesus followed the pattern of God, of Israel, and of the Passover, by placing love, family, and rescue ahead of his own wellbeing. Jesus takes on the role of the lowest ranking servant and humbles himself as he washes the feet of those who follow him. Jesus says that just as every person who belongs to the nation of Israel is a part of the family, every person who follows him must be humble enough to wash feet and serve others. The distinguishing character of Jesus’ followers will not only be family but also love and humility. Jesus says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” This can’t be the ordinary love that we see among families and friends, but it must be so extra-ordinary, so singularly distinctive, that people will see it and know that we belong to Jesus.

But there is another thing that makes our community unique and shapes the character of the organization and its members, and it goes beyond who we are and how we act. In 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, the Apostle Paul explains it this way:

²³For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Paul says that he was passing what he knew forward to new generations and that this was a key part of his mission. It was important that he passed on to others the knowledge and teaching that he had received from God. He passed on the importance of sharing a meal at the Lord’s table and remembering Jesus’ last supper, but he emphasizes that each time we share that meal together, we proclaim the message of Jesus’ sacrifice, death, and resurrection and teach others about him. Our celebration of the Lord’s table, or the Eucharist, or Communion, is a reminder to us, and a reminder to the world, of the gift that Jesus gave to all of us. And, like Paul, our mission is not to keep that gift to ourselves, but to share it with others and pass it forward to new generations.

*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com . All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Death and Taxes

March 30, 2026 PastorPartridge Blogs Alliance, apportionment, Bible, christianity, church, God, Jesus, John Partridge, Methodist, offering, test, tithe, tithing

Death and Taxes

April 2026

by John Partridge

It is said that the only two certain things in life are death and taxes.

And, since this month is the deadline for filing our federal income taxes, that seems like an appropriate topic. But, maybe not in the way that you might think. Our taxes, local, state, and federal, are things that we, as a society, have chosen to do together, though often they are also things that our elected representatives have decided that we should do and added that burden onto us as well. Regardless of our complaints to the contrary, these are burdens that we have, one way or another, chosen for ourselves.

As United Methodists, I have sometimes heard our conference apportionments described as taxes, but that language is not only officially discouraged, it’s wrong. Despite the feeling that our apportionments are levied on us from afar and, much like taxes, we do have the ability to elect representatives that vote on these things, a fundamental difference remains. While taxes are most often spent on things that we want for ourselves, such as defense, healthcare, highway, sanitation, parks, and so on, our apportionments are largely dedicated to helping others, doing the work of God’s kingdom, and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ outside the four walls of our church. Occasionally, we are on the receiving end of that giving pipeline when local churches apply for grants to do projects that benefit their communities. When that happens, other churches in our connection are helping us to reach for, and to accomplish, projects that would otherwise have been far too big for us to attempt on our own.

But that brings us to what is often an even more misunderstood idea in the church, and that is… the tithe. Several of you, if not more, just grumbled. But most, if not all, of that is why I say that the tithe is misunderstood. First, gifts to God, and gifts to the church… are not tithes. Whenever scripture mentions these things together, they are two separate things, tithes… and offerings. Offerings are just what they sound like. A gift that is presented to God. These gifts, biblically, could be an expression of thanks for what God has done, or as a part of a vow to God, or the fulfillment of a ritual. But regardless, they are gifts that are in addition to, or outside the scope of, an ordinary tithe.

So, what is the tithe?

Scripturally, the Old Testament said that when God gave the people freedom, blessings, land, and abundance, that his people were to return one tenth of what they had gained each year to God in obedience and in appreciation for what God had done for them. A big part of that was directed to the priests of God who, unlike the other eleven tribes of Israel, did not receive an inheritance of land but who relied upon the tithes of the other tribes for food, shelter, and survival. Tithes that were in excess of what was needed by the priesthood maintained the temple and were to be used by the temple leaders to care for widows, orphans, the poor, and anyone who legally, or financially, couldn’t care for themselves.

While this still sounds a lot like a tax, there are several things that are different. First, while God commanded that this was something that his people were to do, it is one of the few, if not the only, command that had no penalty for failing to obey. God never said that failing to do so was a sin, or that he would bring calamity upon those who didn’t or couldn’t tithe. From the beginning, this was an aspirational command, something that God’s people were called to do, but with the understanding that people in poverty wouldn’t be able to do give that much. Second, while God people are often warned never to test God, and there are plenty of stories in which people are chastised or punished for testing God, this is the single and only thing about which God openly invites and challenges his people to test him. In Malachi 3:10, God says:

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

Unlike government taxes that we pay out of obligation, self-interest, and fear of retribution, God asks that we give back a small portion of what he has given to us out of gratitude, devotion, and love. Moreover, God promises that if we dare to test him by giving him these gifts, he will pour out even more abundant, even amazing, blessings upon us, not to mention even defeating death and granting us eternal life.

They say that the only certain things in life are death and taxes.

But for the followers of Jesus Christ, we can only be certain of taxes.

And tithes are not one of them.

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The Story of Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Christ

March 29, 2026 PastorPartridge Sermon Bible, Broadway, Christ, christianity, church, crucifixion, Easter, faith, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John Partridge, Methodist, Palm, passion, triumphal entry

The Story of Palm Sunday and the Passion of Christ

March 29, 2026*

(Palm Sunday)

By Pastor John Partridge

Matthew 21:1-11 Matthew 26:14 – 27:66

PROCLAMATION OF THE ENTRANCE INTO JERUSALEM

Matthew 21:1-11

Pastor John:

^21:1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ²saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

⁴This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

⁵“Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

⁶The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. ⁷They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. ⁸A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna[save us] to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosannain the highest heaven!”

¹⁰When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

¹¹The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

PROCLAMATION OF THE PASSION STORY

Matthew 26:14 – 27:66

Pastor Chris:

¹⁴Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests ¹⁵and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Pastor John:

¹⁷On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

¹⁸He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” ¹⁹So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

²⁰When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. ²¹And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

Pastor Chris:

²²They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”

Pastor John:

²³Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

Pastor Chris:

²⁵Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?”

Pastor John:

Jesus answered, “You have said so.”

²⁶While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

²⁷Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸This is my blood of thecovenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

³⁰When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

³¹Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:

“‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

³²But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”

Pastor Chris:

³³Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”

Pastor John:

³⁴“Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”

Pastor Chris:

³⁵But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.

Pastor John:

³⁶Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

³⁹Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

⁴⁰Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. ⁴¹“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

⁴²He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

⁴³When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

⁴⁵Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

Pastor Chris:

⁴⁷While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. ⁴⁸Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” ⁴⁹Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.

Pastor John:

⁵⁰Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.”

Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. ⁵¹With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

⁵²“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. ⁵³Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”

⁵⁵In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. ⁵⁶But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

⁵⁷Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. ⁵⁸But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.

Pastor Chris:

⁵⁹The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. ⁶⁰But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.

Finally two came forward ⁶¹and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

⁶²Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” ⁶³But Jesus remained silent.

The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

Pastor John:

⁶⁴“You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Pastor Chris:

⁶⁵Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. ⁶⁶What do you think?”

“He is worthy of death,” they answered.

⁶⁷Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him ⁶⁸and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?”

⁶⁹Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.

⁷⁰But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

⁷¹Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁷²He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”

⁷³After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.”

⁷⁴Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”

Pastor John:

Immediately a rooster crowed. ⁷⁵Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

^27:1 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. ²So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

Pastor Chris:

³When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. ⁴“I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

⁵So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

Pastor John:

⁶The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” ⁷So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. ⁸That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. ⁹Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, ¹⁰and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

Pastor Chris:

¹¹Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Pastor John:

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

¹²When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.

Pastor Chris:

¹³Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?”

Pastor John:

¹⁴But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

¹⁵Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. ¹⁶At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was JesusBarabbas.

Pastor Chris:

¹⁷So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” ¹⁸For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

¹⁹While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

(CHOIR STANDS)

Pastor John:

²⁰But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

Pastor Chris:

²¹“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

Choir: “Barabbas!

Pastor Chris:

…they answered.

²²“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.

They all answered,

Choir: “Crucify him!”

Pastor Chris:

²³“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder,

Choir: “Crucify him!”

Pastor Chris:

²⁴When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

²⁵All the people answered,

Choir: “His blood is on us and on our children!”

Pastor John:

²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

(CHOIR IS SEATED)

²⁷Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him.

Pastor Chris:

“Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. ³⁰They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. ³¹After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

Pastor John:

³²As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. ³³They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). ³⁴There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. ³⁵When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. ³⁶And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. ³⁷Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews.

Pastor Chris:

³⁸Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” ⁴¹In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ⁴²“He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

Pastor John:

⁴⁵From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. ⁴⁶About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

Pastor Chris:

⁴⁷When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

⁴⁸Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. ⁴⁹The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

Pastor John:

⁵⁰And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

⁵¹At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split ⁵²and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. ⁵³They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection andwent into the holy city and appeared to many people.

Pastor Chris:

⁵⁴When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

⁵⁵Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. ⁵⁶Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

Pastor John:

⁵⁷As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. ⁶¹Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

Pastor Chris:

⁶⁵“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Suffering and Survival Cultivate Compassion

December 28, 2025December 28, 2025 PastorPartridge Sermon Alliance, Bible, Broadway, Christ, christianity, Christmas, church, compassion, empathy, faith, God, Hebrews, Isaiah, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John Partridge, Matthew, Methodist, Ohio, priest, suffer, survival, survive

Suffering and Survival Cultivates Compassion

(First Sunday after Christmas)

December 28, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Isaiah 63:7-9 Matthew 2:13-23 Hebrews 2:10-18

If I were to ask you what experience in your life that you would hope to never repeat and, for that matter, would pray that your children and grandchildren would never have to experience, what is the first thought that comes to your mind? I can almost guarantee that nearly all of us over forty took less than a second or two to think of one, and probably several different difficult, and even traumatic, life experiences. Life is like that. We don’t make it through life without struggles and we bear the scars of the things that we have survived. But, at the same time, once you have chosen one of those things, if I were to ask you what you learned from that experience, and how it changed you, I have little doubt that you would be able to tell me a story about how that experience, as terrible as it might have been, has shaped your life and, at least in part, made you who you are today.

I have a friend from seminary who, as a rule, will not attend church on Mothers’ Day because she has few, if any, positive memories of her mother and chooses not to be reminded of that part of her life. But, as I have watched her life for the last twenty-five years that we have been friends, it is clear that she has worked tirelessly to be the most loving wife, mother, and grandmother that she could be. I have no doubt that the trauma of her childhood and early adulthood has motivated her to give her children and grandchildren the experiences and memories that she never had herself.

And that is something that I want you to look for as we read our scriptures this morning and remember the prophecies of Israel’s messiah, the fulfillment of those prophecies in the story of the holy family in their flight to Egypt, and then as we consider what that means to our ongoing relationship with Jesus. We begin this morning once again by reading the words of the prophet Isaiah as he reminds the people of Israel of the things that God has done for them in Isaiah 63:7-9, saying:

⁷I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord,
    the deeds for which he is to be praised,
    according to all the Lord has done for us—
yes, the many good things he has done for Israel,
    according to his compassion and many kindnesses.
⁸He said, “Surely they are my people,
    children who will be true to me”;
    and so he became their Savior.
⁹In all their distress he too was distressed,
    and the angel of his presence saved them.
In his love and mercy, he redeemed them;
    he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

Isaiah tells the people to just look at all the things that God has done for them and to judge God by his actions as well as by his words. Just look at the compassion and the kindness that God has shown us, and the many times that God has saved us in our times of distress. Look at the times that God has rescued us, carried us, shown mercy to us, and loved us. God’s actions, Isaiah says, reveal his feelings toward us.

And then, in Matthew 2:13-23, we witness God’s compassion and mercy toward Mary and Joseph and his own son, Jesus:

¹³When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

¹⁴So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and left for Egypt, ¹⁵where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

¹⁶When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

¹⁸“A voice is heard in Ramah,
    weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,
    because they are no more.”

¹⁹After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

²¹So he got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. ²²But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Because of God’s warning, Joseph and his family are able to escape and flee to Egypt before Herod’s soldiers arrive in Bethlehem and kill all the male children. Herod was widely known to be incredibly paranoid, and that paranoia was well fed by several genuine plots to overthrow him or to take his life. Herod allowed no one, even relatives, to live long enough to threaten his life or his power. But, because of God’s warning, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus leave the country, live as aliens for some years in Egypt, and then return home and, in the process, fulfill yet another prophecy that the Messiah would be known as a Nazarene.

But why does that matter to us and to our relationship with Jesus?

And the answer is, it matters a great deal, and we see this as we read the words of the writer of the letter to the Hebrews in Hebrews 2:10-18 when he says:

¹⁰In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. ¹¹Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. ¹²He says,

“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the assembly I will sing your praises.”

¹³And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again, he says,

“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”

¹⁴Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— ¹⁵and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. ¹⁶For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. ¹⁷For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

First, the writer makes it plain that, as we have put our faith in Jesus Christ, we have become not just followers, but family members. And, because we have been adopted into God’s family, God’s plan included a path for Jesus to share our humanity, to put on human flesh and become one of us, and to experience the suffering, grief, trauma, and daily survival that all of us have experienced. And, just as we have been, God allowed Jesus to be shaped by those experiences. Jesus’ life experience of trauma as an infant and young child, fleeing to Egypt, living there as a resident alien, and then returning home but settling in a new community away from his extended family, as well as his other experiences during his life, death, and resurrection, all came together to make him a merciful and faithful high priest that genuinely understands his people and their humanity. The writer of Hebrews says that because Jesus suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. And we can easily understand that, in the same way, because Jesus suffered, he understands our suffering. Because he experienced grief, loss, and fear, Jesus understands ours and he is able to walk beside us and comfort us.

In short, the message we need to hear is that Jesus is like us. And, because he is like us, he understands what it is, and what it means, to suffer and to survive. The gods that were known the ancient world, the gods of the Greeks, the gods of the Mesopotamians, the gods of Egypt, and the gods of Rome, were all known to be selfish, capricious, uncaring, and even cruel to their human worshipers. But the God of Israel, was known to be different. And, because Jesus put on human flesh and lived among us, as one of us, he understands us, cares about us, loves us, and has invited us to become his family and be adopted by God as his brothers and sisters. We are told that Jesus was fully human in every way so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest.

The message is that Jesus is like us.

He lived a human life. He experienced the same emotions, temptations, pain, suffering, and grief that we do.

And, like us, those experiences shaped him and helped to make him merciful, compassionate, and loving in ways that would never be understood by the worshipers of other gods.

As we celebrate, let us remember that Christmas isn’t just the announcement of the birth of the savior and rescuer of humanity, but also an invitation to become a member of his family.

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Promise Fulfilled… and Expanded

December 21, 2025 PastorPartridge Sermon Advent, Ahaz, Bible, christianity, Christmas, corrupt, evil, expand, expanded, faith, fulfill, God, grace, Isaiah, Jesus, John, John Partridge, Matthew, mercy, mission, promise, prophecy, prophet, Revelation, Rome

Promise Fulfilled… and Expanded

(Fourth Sunday of Advent)

December 21, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Isaiah 7:10-16 Romans 1:1-7 Matthew 1:18-25

Today we celebrate the fourth Sunday in Advent, the Sunday that we remember Love. In previous weeks we have often spoken of God’s message of hope and the faithfulness of God demonstrated to us by the way in which he keeps his promises. But as we read the scriptures for today, what we discover is that God has not only fulfilled his promises to his people, but that his love is so amazing that he expanded and extended that fulfillment in a way that his people, and the world, never expected. We begin this morning by reading the promise of God given through his prophet Isaiah both to the people of God in the time of King Ahaz, eight hundred years before the birth of Jesus, and to future generations and beyond. Reading from Isaiah 7:10-16, we hear this:

¹⁰Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, ¹¹“Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

¹²But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”

¹³Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give youa sign: The virginwill conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. ¹⁵He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, ¹⁶for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

God’s promise to King Ahaz wasn’t just a future promise of a messiah eight hundred years in his future, but may have been fulfilled in the normal pregnancy of Isaiah’s daughter. It was a short enough time that, although at least eight or nine months in the future, Ahaz could find comfort in knowing that it would not be long before the threat of the two kings he feared would end. But that promise was always understood to be something more than just a baby that would be born in a year or so. God’s people read this and had long understood that it was about something more, about a rescuer that would come long after the time of Isaiah and King Ahaz, but about a messiah that would rescue Israel and its people forever.

And it is this understanding that that anchors the words of the apostle Matthew as he tells the story of Jesus’ birth in Matthew 1:18-25:

¹⁸This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Because Joseph her husband, was faithful to the law, and yetdid not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

By connecting his description of Mary’s pregnancy with the prophecy of Isaiah, Matthew declares to the world that the prophecy that had long been believed to be about Israel’s promised messiah had finally been fulfilled in a more permanent way than it had been in the time of King Ahaz. Matthew’s declaration is that the time had come for God to rescue Israel and his people forever. It is for that reason, Matthew declares, that the rest of his story, what we now know as the gospel message of the book of Matthew, is something that was of the utmost importance.

But even that doesn’t go far enough. As we read Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, we hear him point to the ancient messianic prophecies of the prophets and their fulfillment in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but then we also hear him declare the great expansion of God’s grace. In Romans 1:1-7, we hear this:

^1:1Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— ²the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures ³regarding his Son, who as to his earthly lifewas a descendant of David, ⁴and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in powerby his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. ⁵Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes fromfaith for his name’s sake. ⁶And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

⁷To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul begins by reminding everyone that the gospel, the story of the Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection, was a story that had been promised throughout the ages by God’s prophets. But Paul goes on to say that through Jesus, God has expanded on the message of the prophets and opened the doors of his grace and apostleship to all of the people that weren’t Jewish, to all of the Gentiles, so that all the people in all the world might come to obedience and faith in Jesus. Paul then reminds the people reading that letter, the people of the church in Rome, that they are among the Gentiles that are called to belong to Jesus, but then the big shoe drops. Paul then says that everyone in Rome is loved by God and is called to join his holy people.

And that’s a big deal.

In Christian circles, because of its power, its politics, its corruption, its polytheistic religions, its historic hostility towards Israel and the Jewish people, and the lingering cultural hatred ingrained Rome’s treatment of Jesus and the entirety of the Jewish people, Rome was often described as evil and cast as the bad guy. In Revelation 17:5, John goes as far as to describe Rome as “Babylon the great mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth.” But Paul flips the script and reminds the people of the church that despite the things that Rome and its people have done, God still loves every one of them and calls them to join his family.

For thousands of years, the prophets of Israel told the people about God’s promises of a coming messiah.

And, with the coming of Jesus, his birth, life, death, and resurrection, God gave flesh to the words of the prophets and fulfilled his promises to his people. But God’s love was bigger than what could be contained in the words of his prophets and the coming of Jesus expanded on God’s grace and mercy, and invited the entire world to become the people, and the apostles of Israel’s God. Even those who God’s people often had thought of as being the most evil and corrupt were told that God loved them and was calling them to become his holy people.

As we celebrate Christmas this week, we are reminded that, like the people of Rome, we are among the Gentiles that are being called to belong to Jesus. And, like the people of Rome, there is no one on the face of the earth, that is so evil, or so corrupt, or so wrong in their present religion or beliefs, that God doesn’t love them.

As he has since the time of Jesus, God is calling the people of the entire world, with no exclusions, to become beloved and holy members of his family… if they will only hear his call and come to obedience and faith in his son Jesus Christ.

There are people that you know that desperately need to hear this.

Let’s make every effort to tell them.

Because that is the mission to which God has called us.

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Still They Endured

December 17, 2025December 17, 2025 PastorPartridge Blogs Alliance, Bible, Christ, christianity, church, encourage, endurance, endure, failure, faith, God, greed, hero, hope, humanity, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John Partridge, love, lust, Methodist, money, motivation, Ohio, power, struggle

Still They Endured

December 2025

by John Partridge

^15:4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

⁵May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had,⁶so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:4-6)

***********

Dear Friends,

As I was reading the scripture from our devotional guide today, I thought how important it was to our understanding of Christmas. In Romans 15:4-6, Paul says that every scripture that has been written was given to us to teach us that through the endurance taught by scripture, and the encouragement that we find there, we might find hope. Those are, honestly, not the words that we expected. We expect to hear that our hope comes from our faith in Jesus Christ, or from a future home in heaven, or from our confidence in an all-powerful, all-knowing God. But Paul teaches us that the entire purpose of the Old Testament (and we can include the New Testament as well) was to teach us that hope comes from the endurance that we witness in the people of the Bible and the encouragement that we find as we begin to understand it.

But why? How do we find hope in the stories of endurance that we find in scripture?

It’s simple when you think about it. I have often said that one thing that becomes obvious as we read history and scripture, is that human beings haven’t changed much. For as much as we pride ourselves on our enlightenment, knowledge, education, and technology, the things that motivate human beings, and the way that they behave, haven’t changed much, we are just as motivated by love, lust, money, greed, power, and pleasure as we were three thousand years ago. As much as we like to think that humanity has changed, it seems more like we’ve repainted the cover of the book and left the contents unchanged.

And that’s why we are encouraged by the endurance of the people that we find in the ancient writings of scripture. When we read the stories, we find people who are just like us. Sure, they lived in an entirely different culture but the desire for love and for children, the need for parents to provide for, and to protect their families, and many of the other emotion driven stories all resonate with us. It isn’t difficult at all for us to put ourselves in the place of the heroes and heroines that we find there. They seem familiar because in many ways they look just like us.

And that’s when we notice that the heroes of the Bible didn’t have perfect lives. Their entire world often was set against them. They weren’t perfect people. They had flaws. They struggled. They had everything they had taken away from them. And they waited, sometimes for times that must have seemed like forever.

And still they endured.

The greatest desire of Abraham and Sarah was to have children. And they waited for almost one hundred years to get one. Jacob fell in love with Leah and agreed to work for seven years to pay off her bride price. But he was tricked by his uncle and ended up working for fourteen years instead. David was anointed as the king of Israel when he was fifteen years old but didn’t actually become king until he was thirty. And much of that time, he was a fugitive that lived in the wastes of the desert as King Saul, and his entire army hunted him so that they could take his life. Over and over again we see the great heroes and heroines of scripture struggle, stumble, fall, wait, and endure.

And as we see their imperfections, their struggles, their endurance, and their faith, we are encouraged because we see that our struggles and failures aren’t new or unique. God’s people have been where we are before. They have felt what we feel. They have passed through the same trials in their lives that we face in our own.

And yet they endured.

Even in the Christmas story, the lives of Elizabeth, Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, and even Jesus, were far from perfect. They were poor, they were powerless, they struggled, and they endured. As Paul said, as we read these stories, we are encouraged by the endurance of the people that look just like us. And as we encouraged by their endurance…

…we find hope.

May we find hope, together, as we welcome the birth of the Prince of Peace this Christmas.

Blessings,

Pastor John

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Pastor Partridge

Sermons, blogs and other things from Pastor John Partridge

Bible

Gifts of Spirit, Wind, and Fire

Gifts of Spirit, Wind, and Fire

May 24, 2026*

(Pentecost)

Resumé, Request, Blessing, Mission

Resumé, Request, Blessing, Mission

May 17, 2026*

(Seventh Sunday of Easter)

From Chaos to Confidence

From Chaos to Confidence

April 05, 2026*

(Easter Sunday)

Scriptures for Easter Sunrise

Scriptures for Easter Sunrise

April 05, 2026

Betrayal, Humility, Sacrifice

Betrayal, Humility, Sacrifice

April 02, 2026*

(Holy Thursday)

Death and Taxes

Death and Taxes

April 2026

The Story of Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Christ

The Story of Palm Sunday and the Passion of Christ

March 29, 2026*

(Palm Sunday)

Suffering and Survival Cultivate Compassion

Suffering and Survival Cultivates Compassion

(First Sunday after Christmas)

Promise Fulfilled… and Expanded

Promise Fulfilled… and Expanded

(Fourth Sunday of Advent)

December 21, 2025*

Still They Endured

Still They Endured

December 2025