PassageWay Church

PassageWay Church

The weekly messages from Tim Kroeker, Lead Pastor at PassageWay Church in Blair, NE.  Learn more at www.passageway.church.

  1. EPISODE 1

    Psalm 118 - Salvation Songs: Celebrating Because of the Savior

    There are certain moments when it's not only appropriate, but expected, to celebrate. Like Kool & the Gang we celebrate good times. We celebrate our favorite sports teams when they win a championship. Next Monday one college basketball team will be cutting down the nets while confetti falls from the rafters of the arena. It will be a celebration. We celebrate birthdays. You might throw a party, eat cake, maybe play some games, give gifts, and even sing songs. That’s how we celebrate. We sing, shout, and dance. If it’s a celebration, people are happy.  We also celebrate holidays, such as Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week, the day that Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem. Throngs of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice singing, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” They were celebrating good times. The song Jesus’ disciples sang along the road that led into Jerusalem was taken from Psalm 118. This was a pilgrimage song that the people of Israel would sing during their annual feasts, especially the feast of Passover, thanking God for His deliverance.  This year during Holy Week we’re examining three Psalms full of Messianic meaning. These ancient songs help us as Christians express the full range of human emotion surrounding the central events of our faith. Psalm 118 is a song of celebration. It’s a party. You were made to celebrate.

    39 min
  2. EPISODE 2

    Psalm 22 - Salvation Songs: Processing Personal Pain

    The celebratory shouts of deliverance just days earlier had turned into derision. His body, beaten and bloodied by Roman executioners, now hung upon a cross between two common thieves as onlookers hurled insults. In unfathomable agony Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  It’s understandable why Judas the betrayer should be gone. He’d always been more interested in the money anyways. It might make sense why Peter the denier should be gone. He’d withered under the gaze of the gathering crowd. “But you my God, my most faithful friend, why have YOU forsaken me?” These words that Jesus uttered on the cross that day were taken from Psalm 22, a psalm of David who in the midst of his own pain and suffering felt all alone, abandoned even by God.  This year during Holy Week we’re briefly stepping away from our series in Acts to examine three Psalms full of Messianic meaning. These ancient songs help us as Christians express the full range of human emotion surrounding the central events of our faith, the death and resurrection of Jesus. It’s appropriate for Christians to be moved to tears when remembering that Jesus has so entered the human condition that he suffered in his humanity, being rejected by God and people.  This song of lament does end in hope, helping us process the problem of our own pain. Both David and his descendant, the Christ, who is the ultimate fulfillment of Psalm 22, put their trust in God. When you feel abandoned and alone, where is God? He is still near. He transforms pain into praise.

    35 min
  3. EPISODE 3

    Psalm 16 - Salvation Songs: Living Confidently Both Now and Forever

    Confidence is an inner feeling or attitude of certainty. It’s an important quality that we seek to nurture in our children, a quality that we expect in professionals, like an attorney or a heart surgeon. A lack of confidence can be debilitating. No confidence will keep you from initiating conversation with that guy or girl you’re interested in. If you walk into a job interview shaking and stammering you don’t inspire much confidence. Of course, overconfidence is perhaps even more dangerous. Or, putting your confidence in the wrong thing or person.  We read in Acts 2 that on the Day of Pentecost Peter stood up and spoke before a crowd of thousands. Something that certainly required confidence. Declaring the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, Peter said, “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken.” And, “You will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your Holy One see decay.” These confident assertions were the words of David found in Psalm 16. This year during Holy Week we’ve briefly stepped away from our series in Acts to examine three Psalms full of Messianic meaning. These ancient songs help us as Christians express the full range of human emotion surrounding the central events of our faith, the death and resurrection of Jesus. We’ve gone from celebratory praise to tearful lament.  In Psalm 16, David expresses confidence. David could live confidently even under the threat of death because the benefits of choosing to trust in God would be enjoyed both now and in eternity. Peter reveals in his sermon in Acts 2 that David looked beyond his own life to the coming of the Messiah. Jesus would defeat death and by His Spirit give life to our own mortal bodies as well. Because of the resurrection we can live confidently both now and forever.

    32 min

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The weekly messages from Tim Kroeker, Lead Pastor at PassageWay Church in Blair, NE.  Learn more at www.passageway.church.