Whispering Pines Church Pastor Nate Roschen

Easter Sunday

Join us this Easter Week for our Good Friday Service (3/29) for a time of reflection on the cross and the significance of Christ’s passion and crucifixion. Then, on Sunday (3/31), join us as we remember Christ’s resurrection, the promise of our salvation!

As we remember the passion of Christ, we are humbled by God’s willingness to live a spotless life, die in our stead, and rise again after three days. Christ’s sacrifice is truly extraordinary. No king ever dies for their citizens. No god ever dies for their followers. But Christ came for us. Join us as we reflect on the significance of His sacrifice, and consider our response to Jesus, the Savior!

-Pastor Nate Roschen

Palm Sunday 2024:
From the Gospel of John

Join us this Easter Week for times of remembrance and celebration. We begin this coming Sunday with Palm Sunday, where we remember and reflect on Christ’s triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, the introduction to the events of the Passion of Jesus – leading to His crucifixion and resurrection.

On Palm Sunday, we remember the cheering crowds who welcomed into Jerusalem by throwing down palm branches and cloaks before Him. They cheered Jesus on – they welcomed Him as a coming King. Only days later He would be crucified. Palm Sunday is a day to examine our hearts and to consider… What did they expect of Jesus? And what do we expect, today? What has Christ come to do? And what has He come to do, in me?

-Pastor Nate Roschen

In Romans 12, Paul commands the Christians in Rome concerning how they are to live. Paul does not have in mind a few minor changes, but complete and total transformation for Christians. Christians are not to conform to the pattern of this age (12:2). The ability to test and approve God’s will (12:2) is a dramatic change from the first several chapters of Rome where Paul describes a desperate and hopeless humanity.

Paul then addresses humble service in the Body of Christ by using the gifts distributed by the Spirit (12:3-8). God’s will is for Christians to be Holy and exhibit love in community and toward outsiders. Paul encourages Christians to use their gifts and to see themselves accurately, not in either a conceited or undervalued way. To do this, he uses the analogy of the body, where each part is critical to the life of the whole. Join us as we begin this final section of the book of Romans on Christian Living!

-Pastor Nate Roschen

In Romans 11, Paul asks the same question several different ways. The question is: did God reject His people? Paul answers, “By no means” because Paul himself is a Hebrew. He himself is an example of how God has not rejected the remnant of His people (11:1). Paul gives several metaphors to explain that the remnant of Israel sanctifies the whole. The remnant of dough sanctifies the rest of the dough and the root sanctifies the branches. Paul also commands the Gentiles to be thoughtful and kind in their relationships to Jewish Christians because they have both been grafted on to the “olive tree.”

Gentile salvation depends on the mercy given to the Jewish people. Paul highlights the grafting of Gentiles onto the Jewish people by using the ridiculous metaphor of grafting wild branches onto cultivated roots. Anyone would have understood how unnatural and strange this command from Paul sounded. Paul says that both Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians are the branches. The Gentiles remain Gentiles, the Jews remain Jews. They are however now all a part of the same tree. Join us as we continue our study through the book of Romans!

God seems to highlight throughout the Scriptures instances where Gentiles, people who are on the outside, without knowledge of God – who when given the opportunity, respond to God more readily than God’s own people. We see this with Rahab and Ruth, with the Ninevites in the story of Jonah. We find it in the New Testament, when Jesus highlights an example of a “good Samaritan.”

In the book of Romans, Paul is observing the same thing. “The Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it” (Rom. 9:30). It seems the Jews, who believed in the necessity of righteousness, struggled to release their grasping attempts to attain it for themselves. While the Gentiles, who had no such barrier, were able to readily accept a Savior. Join us this Sunday as we explore our understanding of grace and receiving God’s promise for ourselves.

Alternatives Pregnancy Center cares for Denver-area women and men in pregnancy-related crisis and offers them a meaningful alternative to abortion. Following the example of Christian love, we seek to meet their emotional, physical and spiritual needs. And we enable and encourage them to choose life every day.
The vision of Alternatives is to be a primary life-affirming resource in the Denver area. Through our programs and services, Alternatives educates, enables and encourages those we serve and the Denver community to honor life. We provide a safe place for women and men to make informed decisions regarding unintended pregnancy, sexual health as well as healing from abortion loss. Through our proactive approach to relationship education and life skills, we promote whole-person health education for youth and emerging adults.