Hey TC Family,

As you well know we have been praying for and working on having someone step in to lead our children's ministry. It has been heavy on my heart lately that we have not been able to offer children's ministry for kids ages 6-12 on Sunday mornings. This has been a challenge for many families. Many of you have prayed about this and I want to say thank you for praying. 

Over the last few weeks we have been in conversation with Jenny Spurrell about stepping in to lead this vital ministry at TC, and just this past week we officially offered her the job. 

Jenny and her husband Micah have been coming to TC for the past four years. They have two boys, Matthew and Michael. Over the next few weeks, we are going to work on curriculum preparation and other administrative details. Our plan is to launch a Sunday morning children's ministry early in February. 

I look forward to continuing our series: Deep Talks With Jesus as we gather together to worship Him on Sunday! 

During last Sunday's sermon, I misspoke, not once, but twice! 

First, I made a reference to a king who had been told by a prophet of God that he would die but then after praying and repenting God changed the prophecy and extended his life by 15 years. In the sermon I said this was Jehoshaphat, actually, it was Hezekiah. You can read about this in 2 Kings 20. 

Secondly, while talking about Judas I said that the Scripture does not tell us the exact moment of when Jesus was made aware that Judas would betray Him. I hinted at the possibility that Jesus may have become aware of this during their meal together. But, in John 6:64 we read that Jesus knew who would betray Him from the beginning. 

I confess to having misspoken about the timing of when Jesus knew Judas would betray Him. I got the timing wrong, but I do still believe Judas had a choice in the matter. As I pointed out on Sunday, there is a significant gap in time between when Satan prompted Judas to betray Jesus, and when Satan actually entered into him. The point is, Judas could have confessed what was in his heart, but he did not. God knows everything, meaning He knows what we will do, but just because He knows what we will do does not mean He is forcing us to do it. He has given us the freedom to do His will, or to reject His will, just think about the garden of Eden. 

Two separate people approached me after the service and pointed these mistakes out to me. This actually caused me to rejoice, you are being Bereans! I've said many times from the pulpit, don't just take my word for it, dig into the Scriptures, and you are doing just that! I am grateful to pastor a church where people take God's word seriously! 

This week is part 2 of last week's sermon about Judas. Immediately after His interaction with Judas in John 13, Jesus prophesied to Peter that he would deny him 3 times! 

This week's text: 13:31-38, 18:15-18, and 18:25-27. 

Peter famously tells Jesus he is willing to die for Him (John 13:37). Peter proves that he is willing to die for Jesus too. When soldiers arrive to arrest Jesus Peter pulls out his sword ready to fight, he even cuts someone's ear off! (John 18:1-11). 

So how does Peter go from a sword-wielding defender of Jesus to someone who denies even knowing Jesus? Peter displayed that he was willing to die fighting, but his denial revealed an unwillingness to lay down his life willingly for Jesus. As you ponder this think about causes that are important to you, mountains you would be willing to die on. Like Peter, we all have things we feel passionate about. But Jesus was asking His followers to lay down their desires and ambitions and to pick up His (Jesus') desire and will. Jesus was asking His followers to be willing to lay down their lives for the sake of the Gospel. 

Many people assume that Peter got over all his issues after his denial of Jesus and Jesus' forgiveness of him. But, years later Peter did something similar and was publicly confronted for it. In Galatians 2 Paul writes about how Peter was accepting of new Gentile believers in Jesus and would eat with them, something devout Jews would never do. But, when influential Jews showed up on the scene Peter refused to eat with Gentile believers. Paul publicly called him out on this hypocrisy. It seems Peter still struggled with shame. When he denied knowing Jesus, Peter proved that he was ashamed of being associated with Jesus. And then years later he was ashamed of being associated with these new Gentile Jesus followers. 

God's grace, mercy, patience, and forgiveness are on full display in the life of Peter, a flawed man who loved God, sinned publicly and was transformed by Jesus throughout his entire life. 

If you want to check out last week's sermon, click the link below.

May Jesus' peace reign in your heart,

Pastor Nathan