Christ Community Church - Leawood Campus - SUNDAY MESSAGES

2 Samuel 6: 1-15 // Tom NelsonWhere is lasting joy found? It is not found in managing God, lasting joy is found in the presence of God. Without God, there is no lasting joy. C.S. Lewis thought a lot about joy. One of his interesting insights I think he had about joy was the importance of proximity when it comes to experiencing joy. “If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them.” Lewis is right, proximity matters, and so does presence. Joy flows in and through a close relationship with God himself. Without him, there is no lasting joy. Being yoked with Jesus leads us to a more attentive life, one that enjoys the presence of God and experiences lasting joy. He wants to show us the way. Will you trust him?Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49088662 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.06.18

1 Samuel 24: 1-7 // Tom NelsonFor God’s covenant people throughout history, waiting was synonymous with knowing God and being known by God, of going deeper with God, but now waiting is more often than not, viewed as if we’ve missed what God has for us or that God must be ignoring us and our desires. I think it is fair to say, waiting on God is one of life’s greatest challenges.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49088649 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.06.11

1 Samuel 7: 1-11 // Tom Nelson The David and Goliath story is more than an underdog story, more than a big giant who is slain, rather it is a story about eyes that truly see. A story not so much about special courage as it is about spiritual insight. Not so much about an underdog who wins, but a shepherd boy who sees differently. Faith sees differently! Faith sight is different from eyesight. Through the eyes of faith, you can be confident that God is with you, God is ahead of you. Ultimately, the battle is the Lord’s. That all things ultimately are worked out for good by a Sovereign God who loves us and wills the very best for us. When we get our eyes on God, the difficult circumstances, fearful obstacles, griefs, disappointments, and losses we face are put in a more hopeful perspective. Through the eyes of faith, even large giants look small. Secondly, even slim odds are God-sized opportunities. One of our greatest challenges to continue to walk by faith is that we tend to forget God’s past faithfulness to us. Those victory moments when God has provided for us, protected us and his unmistakable presence has been there for us. We never outgrow the need to remember God’s past faithfulness to us. So how are you remembering to remember? How are you tangibly remembering God’s past faithfulness, his provision, his protection, and his unmistakable presence in your life?Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49085483Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.06.04

After millennia of promising a king would come, he finally appears, and it’s almost completely overlooked by the world. In the shadow of a massive empire, comes the king over all, and he came for us. Join us this Christmas Eve as we take time to notice and celebrate the birth of the promised king!Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new22.12.24

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48999988Prayer Request: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new22.12.25

1 Samuel 18-20 / Caleb JenkinsToday, as we explore the story of David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel, I want to convince you that there are three myths in our culture about friendship that prevent us from experiencing friendship the way it’s meant to be, and more than that, keep us being the kind of friend that we as humans need. We’ll see, especially as we consider the kind of friend that Jonathan is, three truths from this story that counter our culture’s myths, and also point beyond friendship to a deeper human need we have.These three truths are Recognizing the importance of friendship enables our flourishing. Our friendships should be intentional. Friendship is Costly. We all want a friend who makes our friendship primary, who’s intentional with us, and sticks with us even when it’s costly…. But it’s much harder to be that kind of friend for others. What might it look like for you to take a step towards sacrificing in your friendships?Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49081665Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.05.28

1 Samuel 16:1-13 // Tom NelsonEyes can be tricky things. They play tricks on us.We believe what we see with our eyes more than almost anything else, but as humans, we have trouble seeing. Our seeing can mislead us, even deceive us. What we see often depends on who we listen to. Our human eyesight does not equate with spiritual insight. What do we do when what we see is in conflict with what we have heard? This is often where we have to remember faith is opposed to seeing but not opposed to knowing. That is a warning: your eyes will deceive you. Only God sees rightly. Humans see partially. The only way for us to see rightly is to listen to the one who sees wholly. Are you listening? What are you not seeing that God wants you to see?Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49072341Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.05.21

1 Samuel 2: 1-10 // Brent NelsenI know this is Mother’s Day, and Mother’s Day can be hard for some people. Many of you understand the pain that Hannah feels about being unable to have children. You may be struggling with infertility now. Or you struggled with it at some point in the past. Or maybe you are single but you have always wanted a family. You understand Hannah’s pain in a way that I can only imagine. You may be asking the question, “Why did Hannah’s prayer get answered and mine didn’t?” That’s a fair question. And what’s frustrating is that, like so many “why” questions (and we all have them), the Bible doesn’t answer it. It seems from the Bible that God doesn’t always feel the need to explain himself. Instead, it shows us a picture of a God who sees pain and suffering and promises to be with us in the midst of it. Who says, “I know you’re hurting, but I want you to know that I’m right here with you.” What’s so remarkable about the God of the Bible is that he’s not unmoved by human suffering. And this God also knows what it’s like to suffer himself. Who has been rejected, persecuted, abandoned, and even tortured for you and for me? Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49071055Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.05.14

Acts 1: 1-11 // Tom NelsonWe often hear things like being on the right side of history…but that can be a very tenuous and perilous assertion to make. As followers of Jesus, we know history is on the march according to a sovereign God’s plan and purpose. More important than being on the right side of history whatever that may be or not be, is that we know where we are in redemptive history. We now live in a time between Jesus’ first coming and ascension and his second coming. In that sense, we are “Tweeners”! We are somewhere between Jesus' first and second coming. Jesus' kingdom has arrived, but it is not fully yet here. Jesus has come to this world, he is now reigning in the heavenly realms, and will one day return to earth. What does that mean for us as faithful apprentices of Jesus on kingdom mission?Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49067541 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.05.07

John 21: 1-19 // Tom NelsonI don’t know specifically where your brokenness or struggles lie, nor do I know what mistakes you have made or what your most regretful failures have been or currently are. But I am confident that if you are like me in my mistakes and failures, a crying question of my heart is what is God’s response? For those who are followers of Jesus, or who are considering following him, a burning question we wrestle with, yet one we seldom verbalize, is what is Jesus’ response to us when we fail him? Does Jesus lecture us? Shame us? Condemn us? Abandon us? Jesus’ response may surprise you, even shock you.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49067531Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.04.30

John 20:24-31 // Andrew JonesThere comes a moment, in all of our stories, that to truly follow Jesus and believe in him requires more than intellectual assent to his existence. It is more than searching for him. It actually means understanding we are found by Him. He’s the one looking for us, not the other way around. Perhaps the most powerful doubts we ever experience are in moments of pain, loss, and grief. Suffering is the most earth-shaking experience when it comes to what we believe. Nothing makes us question the goodness of God, the trustworthiness of Jesus, like suffering that we just don’t understand. The hands that hold us are not immune to our suffering. They are not pristine and whole. They have been through all of it and more. They are scarred, as a reminder, that our scars will never have the final word over us. Thomas saw these hands and believed. Do we?Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49063916Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new

John 20:19-23 // Tom NelsonAs Jesus appears to his disciples, he greets them with one word that emotionally changes everything. It was the Hebrew word, shalom which is translated here in English as peace. Shalom is much more than an absence of conflict like we mostly use the word peace today. Shalom embodies the presence, power, and proximity of the kingdom life Jesus was inaugurating in the world through his atoning death and death-defying resurrection. The word Shalom here directly connects Easter with Eden. In the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis we encounter the original creation garden of Eden which means delight. The Garden of Eden was a place where original creation happened, but not only a place but a comprehensive reality when all was well in the world, all was as God designed and desired his very good creation to be. Before sin and death brought disintegration and death to God’s good world and to his crown of creation. With just this one-word greeting, the resurrected Jesus makes this connection with his awestruck disciples. Jesus is saying, I am who I said I am, I have done what I have come to do. Remember on the cross, I said it was finished. I meant it. It is in me you can have the flourishing life your heart longs for.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49052676 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.04.16

John 20: 1-11 // Andrew JonesWhat is Easter to you? If you have been a Christian for a while, maybe you would say it’s about Jesus’ victory over death. If you haven't grown up in church, maybe it is a family day about dyeing eggs and hunting for candy. But what about John? He was a disciple of Jesus and was present for the first Easter. That first Easter was one of tragedy, loss, heartache, and pain. It ended with a woman crying over an empty tomb. I am not sure what brought you here today, but before you leave, I have one question I don’t want you to miss. Do you hear your name? There is someone looking for you. He is not far off. He is near. And he is more than the conqueror of death and despair. He knows your name. He calls you by name. The same voice who made everything from nothing beckons you away from the graveyard, and into eternal life with him. Do you hear him?Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49052667Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.04.09

John 19: 28-42 // Andrew JonesJesus lived a completely human life, but not just any human life. He lived a poor and oppressed life. He suffered rejection, ridicule and hatred. His best friends abandoned him. He was lied about, beaten and spat on until his death. He died a human death, but not just any human death. He died the most heinous and evil deaths any human could ever die. Jesus died that death for you. He did not have to die to prove he is God, but he does prove that. He did not have to die for the beauty, splendor and glory of a new creation, but he did that too. What Jesus could not have without dying, was you. Our sin, our rebellion, could only be solved by him. Jesus wants you, and me, to know that no matter how bad things get, no matter how much loss, grief and pain we can endure, Jesus can take the worst of it, and bring life out of it. From the foundation of the world, Jesus knew the cost of our sins, and he chose to pay it anyway.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49049017 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.04.02

John 18:28-19:6 // Tom NelsonThe game of chess reminds me of the Monday worlds we inhabit. The places we live, work and play are a lot like an extended chess game with many players all with differing abilities and degrees of personal, social, and institutional power. And in life, it doesn’t take long to realize not one of us is completely in control. Not one of us is all knowledgeable, nor are we invincible. Yet we often buy into the enticing illusion of our control, the attractive myth of our certainty. In life we all place our trust in something or someone, but who or what will we put our ultimate trust in? Who will rule us, and who will be our true king? In a riveting narrative terrain that feels a lot like a chess game, the Gospel writer John confronts us as readers to ask ourselves where our ultimate trust lies. Who is our king? Whoever is the king of your life ultimately gets to decide what you think is true, and what you think is untrue. Where your highest affections are directed, how your priorities are determined, and where your ultimate loyalty rests. Who is your king? It seems to me that there are three distinct possibilities… Is it king me, king others, or king Jesus? Am I King? Are Others King? Or Is Jesus KingSermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49045350Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.03.26

John 18: 1-18 // Brent NelsenWe live in a culture that says that when you get hit, you hit back twice as hard. And I think Christians are just as susceptible to this kind of mentality as anyone else and are all too often participants in it. But that’s not Jesus. Jesus says, when you get hit, you turn the other cheek. And here he practices what he preached. Jesus could have eviscerated this guy. But instead, his eyes are fixed on the cross, which is where he knew he was headed all along. It’s where he had to go for people like you and me. Jesus wasn’t surprised by Peter’s failure. In fact, he knew it was going to happen. Throughout this passage, Jesus was never not in control. And Jesus isn’t surprised by your failure either. And even if your world seems upside down, like Peter’s was that night, Jesus is still in control. And maybe Jesus isn’t meeting your expectations. Or you’re finding out that you’re not who thought you were, or who you wanted to be. Jesus isn’t surprised. He invites you to do the same thing as Peter: Run to the empty tomb. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49045339Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.03.19

John 17 // Andrew JonesJesus prays to his father: it’s time to reveal my beauty. Because Jesus knows that only his beauty can really change us. His beauty has been the purpose of his gospel from the very beginning. What we could never understand until Jesus, is the beauty of the God-man sacrificing himself for the same humanity that killed him in the first place. The image of sacrificial love, of dying to self, is our image. That is who we are now because we have been converted, not only to the truth of Jesus. We’ve been converted to the beauty of Jesus. The Christian life is a portrait. A sculpture. A play. We are supposed to look like, sound like, smell like, the love, the sacrifice, of Jesus. We know, and must proclaim, in all we do, that beauty did save the world. And it is saving us.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49041711Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.03.12

John 16: 16-24 // Tom NelsonAs Jesus prepares his disciples for his absence in the Gospel of John, he does not answer when he will return. Jesus does, however, focus on what following him will mean in his absence. Following Jesus will mean waiting. Waiting is hard for all of us. Maybe you are waiting for something right now in your life, the healing of a physical or emotional illness, a broken relationship to be reconciled, or a new job opportunity to appear. As difficult as waiting is, if you choose to follow Jesus, that will mean waiting. Jesus tells us waiting will mean two things; waiting will be hard and waiting will be worth it. With constant expectancy and a blessed hope, those who follow Jesus learn to wait.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49037954Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.03.05

John 16: 4-15 // Andrew JonesIn our sermon today, Jesus is preparing his disciples for him to leave them. He is actually trying to convince them it is to their advantage for him to go. When I leave, the Helper will come to you, Jesus says and Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will come and is better suited to help us than even Jesus. His job is to be with us, everywhere at all times. He’s divine and eternal. He’s not just around us, like Jesus for his followers, but he is actually within us to comfort, strengthen and protect. If you are a follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is like a preacher that lives within you and speaks through you. He tries to raise His voice above all the rest and will always point us to Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we often need times of solitude so we can listen intently to what he is quietly preaching directly to our hearts. Are we listening?Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49029792Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.02.26

John 15: 18-27 // Tom NelsonIn our nation, the times are changing and they are changing fast. We see it and sense it in many ways. Those of us who are committed to following Jesus, who embrace orthodox Christian faith who hold to biblical truth in matters of truth, marriage, sexuality, and morality as Jesus did, will make an increasingly secular society uncomfortable, angry, and even hostile to who we are, what we love, what we believe and how we live. While growing opposition, even hostility toward our faith saddens us, it should not surprise us. Jesus told us this would be the case and this has been the more normative experience for Christians throughout history. We are not victims, we are apprentices of the king of kings who is Lord of all. Who said, The gates of hell will not prevail against the church. Our God is sovereign, his kingdom will triumph. But we must not forget we are in the midst of a great spiritual battle where two kingdoms are contesting for the love, devotion, affection, and allegiance of our lives and every facet of our society and our common life. A battle that was won on the cross, but continues still in our fallen world. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49025906Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new

John 15: 1-11 // Andrew Jones Jesus gave us an object lesson two thousand years ago. Christians must grow. Jesus understands the stakes of our growth better than we do. It’s actually the whole reason he came in the first place. He did not just come to die and forgive our sins, it was his means of transforming us through redeeming growth into a new people called the church. The key to growth is remaining or abiding , depending, on Jesus. The fruit he is looking for is a growing dependence on him for all things. It looks like asking for help from him in every part of our lives. He is not saying, ask for my help with the spiritual stuff. The fruit of dependence grows by depending on him in everything. Allowing ourselves to be completely dependent on God will often feel uncomfortable, like a pruning. It may not feel good, but it is necessary to grow. Growing is not a test to prove we deserve joy. Growing in him is joy. He wants so desperately for his joy to be our joy that he will not only endure the cross, rescue us from death, but help us grow into life.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49025899Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.02.12

If we were able to ask the Creator of the Universe where he would choose to live, where he would call home, it is not a place. It is you. He wants to live in you. The question is, do we want him to live in us? Because there is a cost. God’s grace is free, but it’s not cheap. If you want God to live in you, you have to love Jesus. This is not a condition or threat to us, it is simply a necessary condition if we truly want to accept his love for us. To be in a relationship with Jesus, we must love him. This is more than an emotional connection. Loving Jesus looks like obeying Jesus. We must want to obey him, trust him, and grow in our obedience to him. This is necessary for him to live in us. He doesn’t expect us to do the work alone, he tells us we will do it together.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49018549 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.02.05

Today we are looking at the moment Jesus is speaking to his closest followers and friends. His disciples. He is trying to prepare them for the worst night of their lives. They are going to witness humanity’s utter rejection of God’s grace in Jesus. Jesus tells them, and us, don’t be troubled; I know where you are going. Jesus, who knows he is about to die, be resurrected, and ascend to his Father, also knows where he is, we will also be. He is going to prepare a place for us. It is a place where none of the rules, the wisdom, of this age, this world, apply. It is a place that actually makes sense, for example, to love your enemy, which makes no worldly sense. Jesus says we must not be troubled because He knows He is enough for us and we will be with Him.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49014836Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.01.29

When we think about Jesus many things pop into our minds. Jesus was a brilliant teacher and a great healer, but Jesus was also the best friend a person could ever have. What John wants us to grasp today with both mind and heart is there is no greater happiness in life than a deepening relationship with Jesus. Jesus taught and embodied a servant posture as an essential power posture of His Kingdom. Jesus reminds his closest friends, Whoever would be great must be a servant…the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. Those who embrace humble foot-washing friendship, basin and towel servanthood are blessed and happy. Footwashing friendship requires both serving and being served. Jesus is a friend that can always be counted on. Jesus is a friend who humbly serves. Jesus is a friend no matter what. What a friend we have in Jesus!Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49014827 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.01.22

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49007529John tells us about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It’s a biography of the most influential and important person who ever lived. And John wrote this not because he thought it was interesting. But because he believed that trusting in Jesus, that Jesus’ offer to follow him in all that we do, was the most important invitation of all time. And that to miss out on that offer would be the most tragic, heartbreaking, but avoidable mistake any person could ever make. And this passage we just read is the warning. It’s the thing we wish we had AFTER we make a mistake. But we have it now. On the cross, Jesus proves that whatever the cost may be for following him, his cost to find you was higher. Don’t say no to him. Don’t. Even if you are here and you don’t yet know what to make of all of this. Don’t close yourself to it. Don’t walk away. Don’t say no to the one who does not say no to you. Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.01.15

Discipleship with Jesus involves a high cost that was not lost on first-century followers and it must not be lost on us as twenty-first-century followers. What is the cost of following Jesus? Is it worth everything we may be afraid of losing? Wherever we are in our spiritual journey, these are questions the Gospel writer John helps us thoughtfully and carefully consider. We must not miss that as apprentices of Jesus, we are called to take up our cross and follow him. Apprenticeship with Jesus involves losing one’s life, not keeping it. We are to love God first and foremost. That love for God must be so strong that other loves in our life, including love for self and others, are quite small in comparison. It is out of our love for him that we sacrifice our lifestyle for him and the advancement of his good news kingdom mission in the world.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49004672Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.01.08

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49002180Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.01.01

As we explore Psalm 22 together, it is my heart’s desire that we will see its profound connection to Christmas in our lives. Few texts give us a more compelling glimpse into the meaning of the Bethlehem manger than Psalm 22. This advent season may have you feeling very alone. Feeling alone is one of the most painful experiences of our lives. Loneliness can diminish our sense of worth, harms our bodies, robs our joy, an smothers our soul. The good news is that we have a promised king who will never, ever leave us. He gets our pain, goes to the cross for us, and gives us hope.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48992864Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new 22.12.18

The season of Advent is a season for asking questions like: is anyone coming to save me? Is the promised king we long for coming and can he save us from ourselves? Save us from this broken world? In Psalm 103, David wants to remind us of God’s great love and compassion in sending his son, who took on our frame, became dust, took on the form of a servant, was tempted and without sin, took our place, and died on a cross. Jesus shouts to us this Christmas season. Jesus is how high and wide and deep the love of God can go. None of us can look at a baby born in a manger and doubt if we are beyond rescue. Absolutely not! Part of this season, the reason we do this every year, is to remember God’s rescue.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48992858Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new22.12.11

We all need a king who is truly for us. Not just when we are strong or good, but when we are weak and anything but good. Not just when we know where we are going, but when we have lost our way. We need a king who is truly there for us, who will not abandon us, even when we ignore him, doubt him, blame him or turn our backs on him. The good news is that we have a kind like that! A king that knows our human vulnerability, sees us as precious, and is with us now and forever.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48991413Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new22.12.04

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48977463 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new22.11.27

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48977448 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new22.11.20

The bible has often been called the “good book” for it indeed is that. It is the masterpiece of masterpieces. But the good book can be misused for deceptive aims, abusive purposes and nefarious ends. The bible can be wrongly taught to say what it does not say, to support deceptive plausibilities that perpetuate anything, but truth, goodness and beauty in the world, but rather legitimize abuse, domination, evil, and suffering. Our hearts break at this, but it is a sober reminder for us of the importance of teaching what the Holy Scripture actually teaches, of teaching the whole counsel of God and embracing the moral clarity it brings to our broken world.We are not our own. We belong to Jesus. We learn from Jesus as yoked apprentices who understand and steward power radically different from the world. re–what a glorious place we live, love and work before an Audience of One.Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/newSermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4897744122.11.13

For most of us, we just have to learn to dance. Occasionally, that means stepping on each other’s toes. The marriages that do this best, sacrificing and submitting, loving and respecting, they don’t even know they’re doing it. They aren’t focused on the steps. They are focused on their partner. Your marriage is not about you and that is the best news in the world. Because the truly best things in life are not about us. They are about Jesus. The greatest story of all time. God as our husband. And even when we run from him, hide from him, hurt him, betray him…He never stops pursuing us. Sacrificing for us. Cherishing us. Loving us. Never ever ever. You in this room are God’s beloved.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48977429Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4897395622.10.30

When we are at our worst, it is often because something has deeply hurt us. Hurt people hurt people. But what if the opposite is also true? What if loved people love people? This is the point the apostle Paul is trying to make in Ephesians 5. Paul knows we will never love each other, our neighbors as ourselves, until we know how loved we are. He calls the church, those who follow Jesus, beloved children of God. For those of you who have children in your lives, you know the look on a child’s face when they know they are loved. There is a delight, an ease when a person feels like someone takes a genuine interest in them. A safety that you are in the love and care of someone else. Loved people love people. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4897058422.10.23

I meet people who their entire lives have never been taught that God cares about their work, but actually he has called you to serve Him there. More than that, he actually put you there to do something only you can do. As we have been learning in Ephesians, as Christians, we are called to take off our old self and put on our new self to live out our calling in all areas of our lives, not just church on Sunday. Whether paid or unpaid, our honest work produces something good. God is a worker, and he created us to work, and Jesus redeems us to work, not only as a means to provide for ourselves, but of worshiping Him and serving our neighbors. He not only calls us to work, but He is in our work with us. All work that produces good things not only honors God, but serves others. Our faith matters in our work.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4896701622.10.16

I think it is fair to say that our contemporary culture is one marked by an identity crisis. We don’t know who we are anymore. In our modern quest to know ourselves, we have become more anxious, confused, isolated and despairing. As members of God’s family and the Christian faith, we are knit together in community. Like changing our clothes, we are called to put off our old self and put on our new self. We are not to live as we used to live because we are not who we used to be. We are a new family with a communal code of ethics tied to the relational outworkings of joyful Christian love. Paul points out three distinctives of our new family, the new us, the true us. We must be wise with our words, good at anger, and radically forgive others. These disciplines are not only about experiencing God’s power to change, but more to deeply encounter his abiding presence with us moment by moment.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4896328822.10.09

As a church, we are the body of Jesus. When people see us individually or collectively, they should see Jesus. We should be able to say to people, if you want to see Jesus, look at us. We are His body. Often though, we do not look like Him but instead look like the rest of the world in our values, behaviors, and attitudes. As the church, we are called by God to oneness; that is one Body of Jesus. To make oneness possible, we must be humble, gentle, and patient with one another. We all need each other. We can’t grow up alone. We can only become the fullness of Christ together with God’s help. It’s not always easy, or pretty if we’re honest. But we are growing up into something glorious, something eternal, something more like Jesus. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4895963922.10.02

Paul describes the local church as a holy temple, a dwelling place for the Triune God by (in) the Spirit. If we are followers of Christ our very individual bodies and collectively as the body of Christ, are a people, a place where God’s presence dwells. The Holy Spirit is the one who somehow brings that reality into time and space. God’s divine presence and supernatural power of Trinitarian love is experienced in time and space, both individually and collectively. To in joyful submission, heartfelt obedience, and contagious hope allow our embodied lives to be increasingly empowered and controlled by the Holy Spirit. To be spirit-filled individual apprentices of Jesus, to be a spirit-filled local church where the fruits of the spirit are manifested in our relationships and experienced in our relationships. The fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The local church is not only a prayerful community, it is also a supernatural community, created, empowered, and sustained by the Holy Spirit.Sermon Notes: https://bible.com/events/4895580922.09.25

As modern westerners, we live in a pretty materialistic culture. We tend only to trust what we can see with our own eyes. That is actually a pretty unusual way to look at the world historically. But in a biblical worldview, there are powers that have influence in our world for good and evil. When you consider the depth of evil we see in the world, and the unexpected moments of healing, joy, or grace, it’s not hard to imagine that there are powers we cannot see who nudge our experience this way or that. These powers speak of God’s ultimate wisdom, brilliance, and magnificence. When God looks at us, he sees his most brilliant work of art. We are the victory of God. We must not lose heart because Jesus has overcome the world.22.09.18

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48948509Ephesians 2 gives us a soaring vision of the church as a new family. Something surprising the Triune God is building for his glory and for all eternity. Something also rather messy, yet amazingly and beautifully diverse. Jesus calls us to a different way of seeing one another as a family but also seeing ourselves differently. Not one with a posture of superiority, but one of centered humility. We are a family. In grace, Christ not only reconciles us, breaks down the dividing walls, but also gives us a new identity. We the church are fellow citizens of a kingdom with all the privileges, loyalties, and responsibilities of that kingdom. We the church have a new king and we have been given a kingdom agenda.22.09.11

Grace in the Bible is the free gift of God. There is nothing we can do to earn it. We can either accept it or reject it, but if we accept it, it doesn’t leave us the same. It changes us from death to life. We cannot build our faith on anything less than this. When we don’t know God or haven’t accepted his gift of grace, we are dead. We are not only dead, but we are guilty. We are guilty before God and his standards for us, but God’s judgment is different from the judgment we know towards one another. God’s judgment is rich in mercy. His gift of grace is a gift of mercy. He offers to us the payment for our guilt if we would only accept it. When we place our trust in Jesus, his life becomes our life. Whatever is true of Jesus, is true of us. Whatever good is in him, is working itself out in you. And whatever Jesus is, in life and death, in mountains and valleys, in darkness and light, wherever Jesus is, you are with him. And nothing can change it.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4894485422.09.04

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48941176We are anxious people living in anxious times. The many challenges of pandemics, climate, technology, overwhelming information, and political and governmental concerns seem to “seep into our collective consciousness, building on an increased sense of insecurity and powerlessness…an anxiety over an uncertain future.” Prayer is God’s most powerful antidote to anxiety. Prayer helps us regain a hopeful perspective. Prayer helps us remember who is really in charge. Prayer helps us reconstruct a more communal faith. As creatures made in God’s image, we were created to pray. We were always meant to have an ongoing communion with our Triune God who we increasingly know and are increasingly known by. We pray to Jesus, the one that is really in charge, the one who has all authority. The one who loves us more than anyone and has the sovereign and omnipotent agency to act on our behalf and to intervene in our lives and in a fearful, anxious, and uncertain world.22.08.28

Deconstruction is a process by which we question what we know, or at least what we have been taught. When it comes to deconstructing our religious beliefs, our faith, we’re talking about things of ultimate significance. If we are going to reconstruct, to build something that will stand the test of time, it all starts with God. His plan was set in motion from the foundation of the world and stands the fullness of time. And there’s even more to God’s plan. It’s news for all people. It’s grace that forgives sin and adopts us into God’s family. God’s plan is about more than just people. God's plan is to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. There is nothing in all creation not touched by God’s plan. Because God’s after all of it. Everything. And he’s calling us into all of those spaces to participate with him in his work of redemption and renewal. It’s all for his glory, not yoursSermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4893759222.08.21

There are fewer things harder in the Christian life than waiting for Jesus. The glory of God is not so much about the glory due to God, but something God will reveal about himself. Something we sometimes have to see to believe. Something that sometimes makes us wait. Jesus waits for reasons inexplicable sometimes to us, and Jesus weeps when he sees us weeping, and Jesus rages when he confronts death and suffering in his good world. The glory of God is this: in Jesus, there is no grave over which Jesus cannot triumph, including his own, and including yours and mine. And when we believe he is the resurrection and the life, the Son of God, he, too will one day call us by name, will speak over every tomb, grave, urn, or ashes we’ve become, and say, “Come out” and no one and nothing can stop him. Jesus wins. Do you believe this?Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4893393022.08.14

No one likes to think about aging. Our natural reaction to aging is usually revulsion, but time is coming for you. And as uncomfortable as that makes us, or as painful as that may be, the better we are able to reckon with that idea, the wiser we will be, no matter how young or old we may be today. It’s never too early to remember your Creator, to remember that we are creatures, with an expiration date. We must take seriously our frailty, our impermanence, and our death, which pretends to, tries to, convince us that life has no meaning at all. But we can do more than remember our Creator. On this side of Jesus, when we see the whole testimony of God’s revelation to us, we can do one more thing here. We can hope in our Redeemer, because every passing day in Christ, we are one day closer to the renewal of all things. Yes, even as we age, renewal only gets closer. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4889633622.05.29

We all want to be on the front line of protecting freedom, but the fight for real freedom is not outside of us, but within. We must beware who offers us freedom and at what cost. Satan will use the common areas of our lives to deceive us from our sin. Sin permeates, stains, and spreads. It begins in one part of our life and moves into the deepest parts of us where our subconscious takes over and suddenly we are driven by fear, shame, success, and idols we have cultivated where Satan is at work in our identity. The greatest weapon against the Enemy’s lies is truth. Only truth has the power to set one free and truth is not elusive. Jesus also stands in front of us. He sees our hearts and offers us freedom from sin and the enemy’s captivity. The yoke of Christ gives us rest so that we can experience love and faithfulness over manipulation and destruction, turning us towards what is good. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4892008422.07.17

Our family shapes who we are in ways we are hardly even conscious of most of the time. We come from extended families with their own stories, histories and patterns. But are we in Jesus’ family? In this family obedience is not because we earn something from Jesus. It’s because, as Jesus says, his words, his instructions, his design, IS eternal life. Obedience to Jesus doesn’t just give us access to life. It is life. And you know this because Jesus obeys. Jesus constantly obeys. In fact, if you really look at Jesus’ words about himself, he is constantly reminding us that his real power comes from obedience to and dependence on His Father. Obedience is the life we want to live. Being a part of Jesus’ family means that our obedience and love for his words grow over time. Is your love of Jesus’ words increasing? Do we read his word and want to obey?Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4892302722.07.24

When you first hear Jesus speaking in our passage today, you may be slightly offended. Jesus claims to be our shepherd. Jesus says he is our good shepherd because he knows us by name. He doesn’t just lead us, he knows us. He will not leave us or forsake us. He gave his life for us. The hands that stretched out, on the cross of calvary, pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, are in fact the same hands we’ve been looking for our whole lives, and when they find us, will never let us go. He is the good shepherd who calls the atheist by name, the Muslim, the Hindu, the Buddhist, and you and me, by name. He invites all of us into his fold, if only we would enter by him. And he knows your name. He lays down his life for you. He holds you. And even death itself cannot take you from his hands. Do you know His voice? Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4893026022.08.07