Shelbyville Community Church: Recent Episodes
Shelbyville Community Church
Joy and hardship often must co-exist together. They are not mutually exclusive. If you wait until there is no hardship in your life to have joy, you will go your whole life without it. In the book of Philippians, Paul exhorts us to joy while he is in prison, chained to a Roman guard. His future is uncertain. His circumstances unfair. To make matters worse, others are using his imprisonment to take advantage of Paul and his situation. There is little that remains for Paul, except that Paul has a wildcard. His name is Jesus.Years ago, the great violinist, Itzhak Perlman, was playing a concert when one of the strings on his violin broke with a loud crack, and everyone heard it. So the conductor stopped, and he waited for Perlman to put on his new string, but Perlman told the conductor to start over. He played the concert with only three strings on his violin. He modulated and improvised. He recomposed and changed the piece as he went, even retuning strings as they played along. At the end of the piece, the audience gave him a standing ovation, recognizing His genius. After the concert, he stepped to the microphone and said, "It is my gift and my joy to make music with what remains."I don’t know what hardship you are facing. I don’t know what has been taken from you or what remains. I don’t know what strings have been broken in your life. But it is God's gift and His joy to make music with what remains. He can make new music in that marriage of yours. He can make new music in that career of yours. He can make new music in that broken heart of yours. The music isn't inferior because of the broken strings. The music becomes even more beautiful because it reveals the genius of the Master and Savior whose work in your life is far from finished.Join us this weekend as we discuss the secret to joy, even in hardship.
Baptism is a picture of a new life! This weekend we have the amazing opportunity to celebrate what God is doing here at SCC through the ancient practice of baptism. We’re used to thinking that baptism day is about us or the other people who made their declaration of faith alongside of us, but nothing could be further from the truth. Baptism is a celebration and picture of Christ’s loving work of salvation on the cross. It points us to His grace and power in our lives. For this reason, baptism is a reminder to keep our spiritual appetites sharp. It reminds us to never stop pursuing Christ, seeking to know Him, and letting Him fill us with His grace and mercy. Scripture reminds us: “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan from before the beginning of time–to show us His grace through Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:9).
The North American Porcupine is a member of the rodent family that has around 30,000 quills on its body. Each of these quills can be driven into an enemies’ body, inflicting tremendous pain. Sometimes the wounds can fester, occasionally even to the point of being fatal.The porcupine is not regarded as a loving animal. The latin name for porcupine means “the irritable back.” Porcupines seems to have two emotions when it comes to other animals, fear and anger. Books and movies celebrate almost any animal you can think, not just dogs and cats and horses, but even pigs (Arnold Ziffel, Babe), spiders (Charlotte’s Web), dolphins (Flipper), bears (Gentle Ben, Smoky the Bear) and killer whales (Free Willy). Skunks even get some love in the form of Pepe Le Pew. But I don’t know of any famous porcupines or of even one child who has one. As a general rule, porcupines are solitary and have one of two methods for handling relationships: withdrawal and attack.Porcupines don’t always want to be alone. In late autumn, a young porcupine's thoughts turn to love. But love turns out to be a risky business when you are a porcupine. Every porcupines’ dilemma is this: How do you get close without getting hurt? Turns out, porcupines aren’t the only ones who have that dilemma in relationships. This is our dilemma too. Every one of us carries around with us an arsenal of barbs and quills. Our barbs have names like anger, rejection, comparison, condemnation, resentment, arrogance, selfishness, envy, and contempt.We respond to those barbs exactly like the porcupine does, with either withdrawal or attack. Attack and withdrawal are practiced by every human being on earth, and every single time they damage a relationship, a marriage, a family, a workplace, or a church. The problem is that withdrawal and attack both violate the great command of Jesus to love. When I withdraw, I am unable to love, and when I attack, I am unwilling to love. Join us this weekend as we discuss the importance of community for anyone who would call themselves a Christian.
A few years ago, our church sent a missions team to Houston Texas to help rebuild homes that were destroyed by Hurricane Harvey. On our final night in Houston, the team was debriefing the week in a small upstairs room in St. Andrews Presbyterian church. Team members were talking about the high points of their week and the low points of their week. I asked "who here is tired?" Everyone raised their hand. I then asked, "But who here feels full?" And everyone raised their hand.Life doesn’t have to be easy to be joyful. In fact, ease of living and joy of heart have little to do with each other. Joy is not the absence of hardship, but rather the presence of Jesus. That week we were physically poured out for the benefit of a couple different families. We were doing manual labor for the week in the Texas heat and humidity. Yet we all felt full from the experience.Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi is a letter dripping with joy and surprisingly so. The author is writing from prison. As we begin our study in this beautiful letter, my prayer is that your love of Jesus would grow and in turn joy would fill you in spite of your circumstances.
This weekend we will be talking about Christian Atheism, which is an oxymoron. An oxymoron is two words that are used together that don’t seem to belong together.So for example, we may eat “jumbo shrimp” at a restaurant, take note of a “small Crowd” at said restaurant, and have the waiter or waitress give us an “exact estimate” of what the meal will cost. In history class we may talk about the “Civil War” while being taught by a “student teacher.” If we wanted to be guilty of employment profiling while also being mean-spirited, we might talk about a “postal worker.”The mantra of the Christian Atheist is a phrase we find in the book of Judges, right at the very end. “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him.” (Judges 21:25, CSB)Christian atheists are people that say they believe in Jesus, but they live their lives doing what is right in their own eyes. They say they believe in God, but they live as if He doesn’t exist. They don’t follow Him, trust Him, or obey Him. They do what is right in their own eyes. So a Christian atheist might say things like: “I believe in Jesus, but I don’t pray.”“I believe in Jesus, but I’ll never forgive them.”“I believe in Jesus, but I’m in charge of my sex life.” “I believe in Jesus, but I refuse to be generous with my money.”“I believe in Jesus, but I won’t share my faith.”Join us this weekend as we take a deep dive into Christian Atheism from our final look at the book of Judges. Following Jesus isn’t simply about saying we believe in Him, it is about living in a relationship of trust and surrender.
The story of Samson and Delilah is a well-known guy meets girl story. But what is less known is what Delilah is meant to represent. While the story of Samson and Delilah as it is found in Judges 16 is certainly a historical one, there is much more to this story than meets the eye. The name “Delilah” means “diminished” (possibly “one who diminishes”) or “delicate.” Interestingly, the Hebrew name for Delilah also rhymes with the Hebrew word for “night.” In Hebrew literature, night always represents darkness. Specifically, the darkness found outside the light of God. So, for example, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness.” (Isaiah 9:2, CSB)What if even in Delilah’s name we are meant to see a picture of sin and its consequences? Isn’t it true that sin diminishes us and causes us to walk in darkness? What if we could take a common Bible story and use it to give us great insight into the devastation that sin causes? What if that story might even cause some of us to change our minds about our own sin? Join us this weekend as we use the story of Samson and Delilah to look into the nature of sin and the incredible damage it inflicts on human beings. This could be a life changing message for many of us.
In old Roman ruins archaeologists have discovered lots of prayers, ancient prayers, that people would actually pay to have written down and stored. They are called curse tablets because the most common kind of prayer recorded on them, by far, are curses. People would address a god or goddess and say, "This person hurt me, and here's how they hurt me, and I want payback. I want you to hurt them and here is how I want you to do that." Here is an excerpt from one of those prayers (really): "I invoke you, holy angels and holy names, tie up, block, strike, overthrow, harm, destroy, kill, and shatter Eucherios, the charioteer, and all of his horses, tomorrow in the arena of Rome. Let the starting gates not open properly. Let him not compete quickly. Let him not pass. Let him not make the turn properly. Let him not receive the honors… but instead, let him collapse. And let him drag behind...both in the early races and in the later ones." You know, just in case the gods got confused and let him win one! "Now, now! Quickly, quickly! Let his breath be bad, and let his teeth not be dazzling white." I just made that last sentence up; but the rest of this curse basically said, “He hurt me, please hurt him back.” Now guess how many “bless my enemy” tablets they’ve found in Rome? Maybe a tablet that reads: "Eucherios hurt me badly, would you deliver me from my resentment? Would you help Eucherios to find genuine repentance? Would you forgive his sin and mine? Would you heal our relationship?" The answer is Zero. Nada. Not a single tablet.This week as we look at the life of Samson, we will see that even though Samson was sent to bring freedom to Israel, he would live in bondage and slavery to his own emotions, especially anger, resentment, and a desire for revenge. Like a lot of men, his fuse was really short, and it cost him everything. I wonder, what is your own anger costing you?
For the next couple of weeks, we’ll be looking at the battles that men fight. I’m going to be talking to men, so if you are a woman reading this, I have a couple of thoughts.First, chances are you know some men. Maybe you live with one. Maybe you married one, or have been raising one, or maybe you grew up with some. Maybe you would like to marry one someday or you have some male friends. Since you probably have a lot of relationships with men, this is going to be a great few weeks for you as well.Second, especially for the married ladies, don’t nudge your man during the service this weekend. Men hate nudges, especially when a woman does it. Also, no glaring. Men hate glaring, especially when that glaring is coming from a woman. He needs to be able to process the teaching from this series, and so you need to give him the room to do that. You also need to know that we’re not really interested in the differences between men and women. We’re more interested in the differences between a boy and a man, and age doesn’t always produce a man.The call this Sunday will be to leave boyish thinking and behavior behind for something bigger and better. The call will be to become men, not just who are physically strong, but who are spiritually and emotionally strong as well. We want to build men who champion Christ, not just boys who champion themselves.When people think of a guy like Samson, they usually think of the ultimate male: jacked and handsome. But that’s probably not even true. Samson is not meant to be a picture of the ultimate male, but rather of what God can do through ordinary people through the power of the Holy Spirit. So Samson probably looked very normal. He may have even looked a little bit pudgy. He probably didn’t look like Hugh Jackman or Tom Cruise, but instead more like Jim Gaffigan.Join us this weekend as we leave boyish thinking and behavior behind for something better.
Pride and self-righteousness are incredibly damaging to our relationships with one another and our relationship with God. Unfortunately, you can be filled with either one and not even know it.In the story of Jephthah, we see how damaging his self-righteousness was to his own daughter and how his pride and need for self-preservation led to the slaughter of 42,000 of his own countrymen. Jephthah was right, and he had a sword to prove it! Join us this weekend as we continue our study in the book of Judges. God is going to do good things in and for us as we gather.
The period of the Judges lasted for about 400 years. That is about the same length of time since Jamestown and Plymouth Rock’s settlements were established and 150 years longer than the thirteen original colonies declared independence from Great Britain. God is so merciful and patient with all of us.Have you been like me before and threatened you kids with a “You do that one more time and I’m going to……”? Maybe you sounded more like, “Don’t try me or you’re going to end up in timeout?” We really don’t understand how patient and merciful our God is with us! Instead of saying “Play it Again, Sam”, He said, “That’s it! No more! You’ve made your bed, now sleep in it!” Well, it wasn’t exactly those words, but He turned them over to their rebellious choices and consequences until they “genuinely” repented.What is “genuine” repentance? What did it look like for Israel in Judges 10? What does it look like for us in 2024? What does it look like for Shelbyville Community Church? What does it look like for you and me? We won’t be blowing any trumpets tomorrow, but we will let the Holy Spirit apply this passage to our lives. Hoping to see you tomorrow.
Our study in the book of Judges this summer has given us some unseemly glimpses into the lives of God’s people and even His heroes. All of these stories are written for our instruction, examples to follow or avoid, warning, and encouragement. Gideon is still our character of emphasis this Sunday. Our main take away from Gideon is that he did things while he was still afraid.Gideon has a lot going on in his faith that we can identify with. He has a desire and willingness to serve God and is totally transparent with God about his fear to step out in obedience. I think I can identify with this guy! I like him because he didn’t stay stuck in fear, but asked God for help and ultimately “pulled the trigger” on his obedience.The story gives me a lot of hope related to God’s patience with us. He knows our weaknesses and speaks His promises to our everyday human lives. Mary and I will team teach again this week and will seek to unpack this story in relevant ways to our lives. We hope to see you this Sunday.
The Lord’s rule trumps man’s rule. Do you have any siblings? Have you ever wanted to hurt them, or even kill them? That is where our story is heading this Sunday. One brother wants to be the only one standing so he can rule. He does the unthinkable, kills all his brothers. We’ll see how our striving for power and authority can affect those around us. If not blessed by God, it can cause serious problems. Up to this point, all the judges have been appointed by God, but Abimelech does this on his own. We’ll learn more about his story Sunday. The beautiful thing is the story doesn’t stop there. One, we see things turn for the better as you continue to read in the book of Judges. Two, we know God is in control and He will one day send a better Lord to earth to save all of Israel once and for all. Join us as we’ll see the comparisons of a human king and our Lord.
Our series continues this Sunday morning in the book of Judges as we look at another broken hero. Our main character this week is a guy named Gideon.The circumstances were the same as the people were being provoked and trodden down by an enemy nation. They again cried out to God and God in His mercy raised up a deliverer. We probably will be able to identify with Gideon very easily since he was dealing with, doubts, fear, and a poor self image. He did not see himself as the hero type at all. I think that sounds like us, even though God has some incredible plans for us. I think we will be able to clean some applications this Sunday morning from the message, as we also learn how to do things that God has asked us to do even while we might be afraid. Obedience is not always full of great declarations and hope and faith. Sometimes, obedience is just a step in the right direction and then God gives us the grace to make the rest of the steps. I am welcoming Mary to help team teach with me this Sunday. We always enjoy teaching together. Hope you have a great Fourth of July weekend and hope to see you this Sunday morning.
We’re heading into week three in our study of the book of Judges. And just like the previous weeks, we’re going to see the sin cycle continue. As miraculous as Ehud’s defeat of King Eglon was, the victory didn’t last forever. There was 80 years of peace before a new generation grew up who didn’t know God.This week we’re going to see God deliver his people again, this time through an incredibly wise women, a reluctant leader, and a gal who was pretty good with a hammer and nailsAnd while this story clearly points to the problem of the human heart it also points forward to the permanent solution.
This Sunday we're going to continue our study in the book of Judges. Last week we setup the backdrop of the book and the call for Israel to place their complete faith in God for every aspect of their life. But, they fail to trust completely instead leaning into their own weakness, and in turn falling away from God.This Sunday we're going to look at the first major story in Judges, Ehud's delivery of Israel. It's a middle schoolers favorite bible story for a funny and very stinky reason.Join us Sunday as we look at how God uses people we never would to do things we never could.
The book of Judges begins a new chapter in the history of Israel. Unfortunately it reveals a dark period in Israel's history and serves as a warning for us today. After the death of Joshua, the nation triumphed in taking the Promised Land before descending into a destructive sin cycle. God repeatedly raised up judges to deliver His people even as their disobedience continued.The book of Judges provides a clear reminder of how easy it is for disbelief to lead to destruction, idolatry to lead to slavery, and amnesia to lead to abandonment. All the while, God’s faithfulness is on full display despite His people’s faithlessness.This summer we’ll be looking back at the broken heroes that fell short and looking forward to the ultimate savior Jesus, who did what no one else could.Matthew 7:24-27.
Obeying Jesus trumps listening to Jesus Let’s dream together. Have you ever thought about a “dream home”? If so, where would you build it? What would it look like? Isn’t it fun to dream? My house would be ridiculous if I could have everything I’ve ever wanted in a house. I don’t even want to know how much it would cost me, haha. Did you know Jesus has a dream for you? He has a dream that you would hear His teachings and live the way He wants for you. He has a dream that we would be a people that would live out what He asks of us. He has a dream that we would be wise, by His standards. What would our lives look like if we lived out Jesus’ dream? It would be fun to see! This Sunday we’re going to look at the difference between obeying Jesus’ teaching and just listening. We’ll wrestle with what kind of foundation we want in our lives, our family lives, and for those around us to see. You get to choose!If you want to prep yourself for Sunday, read Matthew 7:24-27; James 1:22-25; and Ephesians 2:19-22.
A legal expert in Jewish law was trying to test Jesus' theology and asked Him what he need to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him back, "What do you think the scripture says about that?" The Pharisee quoted the very essential passage from Deuteronomy 6:4-5, called The Shema, when he said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus basically said, “Good job,” to which the Pharisee then asked, “But who is my neighbor?” He wanted to know who all that commandment applied to.Jesus’ response to him was the story of what we call, “The Good Samaritan”. We’ll unpack this loaded parable Sunday during both services. I’m confident we may see ourselves in more than one of the characters in the story.
It's easy to get busy and lose sight of the party.Have you ever held a large gathering, that included food? There’s a lot that goes into the preparation, to make sure there is enough and that the gathering goes well. To prepare for such a gathering, we need to require a count. This allows us to know the appropriate number and prepare the right amount of food and spaces. I had to do this for my wedding. We told people of the event and asked for their initial acceptance. Then we determined the food and how much, included with how many place settings. As I was doing that, the guests were to be preparing themselves for that opportunity. Once all was prepared, people would know that it was time to come and that it would be ready when they arrived. The hard part is not everyone showed up and we had a lot of food leftover, and people that wanted to come didn’t get to because we didn’t believe we had enough spots for them. God calls us to His table, everyone, no matter your story or background. He wants to fill His table up, that when the time comes, there isn’t an open seat left. This Sunday we’ll look at the Parable of the Great Banquet. We’ll look at His plan and what His table means for us. Please join us as we wrestle with what God has for us and those in our lives.
With all of the views on what happens after you die, is there someone’s opinion we can trust? What about someone who has actually risen from the dead? What about someone who has actually conquered death?
In Matthew 18, Jesus tells us a story about the Kingdom of God and forgiveness. The reason Jesus tells this story is simple: Life is filled with opportunity to take offense. Actually, that’s only part of the reason.Jesus also tells this story in response to a question from Peter about the limits of forgiveness. Here is how he asked it:“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:21–22, NIV)Many of you know the number 7 is the number for completion or fullness in the Scriptures. It represents perfection. The implication is that Peter thinks he is being super gracious. He thinks he is being magnanimous. But Jesus does a play on words with Peter’s answer.No, Jesus says, not just 7 times, but 7 X 70 times! If you do the math, that is 490 times. So do you think the idea is that on event number 491 of a relationship, we no longer have to forgive? Of course not. The idea is, you forgive someone as much and as often as necessary. There is no limit, no finite number to describe how often we should forgive others.And then to illustrate this, Jesus begins to tell a powerful and life-changing story. Join us this weekend as unpack it together.
Heart disease is among the greatest killers in the United States. We are often urged by medical professionals to get our hearts checked with the hope that test could literally save our lives. While we are aware of the importance of taking care of our physical hearts, the Bible tells us our hearts play a vital spiritual role in our lives. “Above all else, guard your heart, because everything you do flows from it”. (Proverbs 4:23). In the Parable of the Sower and the seeds, Jesus also talks about the importance of tending to your heart.In fact, Jesus says that the condition of your heart can determine, not only whether you are in the Kingdom of God or not, but even the kind and quality of fruit that you might or might not bear with your one and only life.Join us this weekend as we do a heart check of our own. We’ll tend to your heart assess together what might need to change for you to be ALL IN on Jesus.
In Matthew 24:3, the disciples ask Jesus a question: “What will the end of the world be like?” And Jesus answers their question by telling three stories in a row. First, He tells the Parable of the 10 Virgins. The primary point of this parable is: “Be ready, be prepared, don’t miss the party.” Then Jesus tells the Parable of the Talents. This story would seem to say, “Don’t waste your life!” Finally, He tells a story about some Sheep and some Goats. The point of this story could be summarized with “Take care of hurting and forgotten people!” When you stack these three stories together, Jesus answers their question about the end of the world with: “I want you to depend on the Gospel, declare the Gospel, and demonstrate the Gospel. If you do those three things, you will be fine.” They want to know what they end times will look like, but Jesus is more concerned about how they live and act in light of the end times. They want to know the future, but Jesus wants them to live in the present reality of the Kingdom. This weekend we’ll look closely at the middle story: The Parable of the Talents. One of the ideas here would be, “If you want to be prepared for the end times, don’t waste your life!” It’s going to be a powerful weekend, and you won’t want to miss it.
Baptism is a picture of a new life! This weekend we have the amazing opportunity to celebrate what God is doing here at SCC through the ancient practice of baptism. We’re used to thinking that baptism day is about us or the other people who made their declaration of faith alongside of us, but nothing could be further from the truth. Baptism is a celebration and picture of Christ’s loving work of salvation on the cross. It points us to His grace and power in our lives. For this reason, baptism is a reminder to keep our spiritual appetites sharp. It reminds us to never stop pursuing Christ, seeking to know Him, and letting Him fill us with His grace and mercy. Scripture reminds us: “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan from before the beginning of time–to show us His grace through Christ Jesus.”
Once upon a time in Silicon Valley there lived a very important and educated man. He routinely worked twelve to fourteen-hour days. Even when he wasn’t at work, he found himself thinking of work so that it was not only his occupation, but his preoccupation as well. He was vaguely aware that his kids were growing up and he was missing it. But he also reasoned that he was working for them and their future security. Making it big was important to him, partly because of what it could do for his family, but mostly for what it would do for him.One day he woke up to find his company doing so well it became necessary for him to lead his company through a technological revolution. This was the opportunity he’d been waiting for! He brushed up on his leadership and passionately poured himself out for the benefit of his company.When he arrived home that night, he told his wife, “Our future is secure! This means we can relax and enjoy life more. Let’s take that vacation together you’ve been talking about.” That night his wife woke up around 3:00 a.m. and noticed her husband wasn’t beside her. She found him hunched over his desk and touched him on the shoulder. He was cold.His death was a major story in the financial community. His obituary was written up in Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. At his funeral, his friends and co-workers gathered and talked about what an entrepreneur and innovator He had been. They buried him at the cemetery, and then all went home to get on with their lives.That night the angel of God made his way past all this other graves to the newly dug grave of this man. There on that tombstone the angel of God traced with his finger the 1 word God used to describe this man: “Fool.” By now you may have recognized this story as an updated story that Jesus actually told 2,000 years ago. In this story, Jesus doesn’t call this man wicked or evil, but simply a fool. Why? Join us this Sunday to find out! It’s going to be a powerful weekend, and you won’t want to miss it.
That's not fair!These three words make up a phrase that every person has said at some point in their life. Spend time with kids and give one kid a candy bar and the other kid a carrot. That's not fair! It points to our internal desire for justice. When we see something happen that doesn't seem just to us we make it known that it's not fair.This Sunday, we're going to look at the parable of the vineyard workers. This parable, illustrating the generosity of a vineyard owner, points to one of the biggest pitfalls followers of Jesus tend to fall into.Followers of Jesus would say they believe God is incredibly generous. I mean, He offered up his son as a sacrifice to make right what was broken between God and man, right? But what happens when God is so generous it doesn't seem right to you? Contractual Christianity is very real, and most likely robbing you from truly experiencing the generosity of God. And in turn, affecting your generosity towards others.
How does a person gain and maintain good standing with God? In the parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector, each of them chooses a different approach, both of which are still alive and well today. Some, like the Pharisee, try to gain and maintain that good standing with God out of their own sense of self-righteousness. They choose the way of self. Others, like the Tax Collector, take the way of grace. They know that all they have to bring to God is their sin, guilt, and shame. They know that apart from the grace of God, they don’t stand a chance of maintaining good standing with God. This weekend, Jesus will tell us which approach honors God, and which approach is bankrupt and toxic.
In our geographical area here in south Central Indiana, it’s almost planting time. We are used to seeing the corn and soybeans growing in the summer, but did you miss the week that the seeds were planted into the soil? Without the seeds being planted, there would be no fields of crops growing later in the season. Unless the soil in the field is prepared properly, the seeds won’t grow and produce the intended crop. You might say, “Duh, farmer, Dan, we’ve been doing and seeing this for a while!” Jesus told this story in Mark 4:26 - 29, and we will seek to unpack this parables’ application for us this Sunday morning. God is able to produce fruit in and through our lives, and we have a part to play in that growth and maturity. Jesus said that after the seed was planted in the soil, the farmer went to bed! The seed and the soil in our lives will do their “thing” and fruit will grow in us. We may not know when or how it happens. Sleep on it.
This Sunday we'll be teaching on the last of the three parables where Jesus taught about the joy of finding something or someone who is lost. The familiar parable of the Prodigal Son could most easily be called, "The Incredible Love of a Father." The parable begins with Jesus' words, "A man had two sons."Our study this weekend has so many applications for our lives, families, and other loved ones. We will all find ourselves revealed in one of the characters in Jesus' story. Anticipate being encouraged by the promise in Jesus's words that there is great rejoicing when the lost are found!
Self-help books that promise life transformation are everywhere. An article in the New York Times that is now over 10 years old reported that “the self-help movement has mushroomed into an 11 billion dollar industry devoted to telling us how to improve our lives.” The article reported that in 2013, there were over 45,000 self-help books in print. That number would probably be much larger today.The most popular topics include: diet and exercise, improving your marriage, getting control of your finances, stress management, and overcoming addictions. Clearly we know something is wrong with us, we’re just not sure where to start.Maybe the place to start is here. If self could help, we would have all been fixed a long time ago. What if instead of self-help, we all began to ask for God’s help? In Luke 15, Jesus tells a story about a shepherd that leaves 99 of his sheep in his field to find one that has wandered away. His wandering not only took him from the shepherds’ care, but endangered him, as domesticated sheep are defenseless in the wild. In this story, God is the shepherd, and every single one of us has been this lost sheep. A sheep lost in the wilderness doesn’t need a book on how to help itself, it needs a shepherd to come to its rescue. As lost sheep, we need far more than a book, we need a Savior! Join us this weekend as we discover God’s heart for seeking and rescuing lost people, as well as the key to life transformation and change.
When Jesus wanted to illustrate a powerful spiritual truth, He told stories. In fact, about a third of his Words are stories or parables. There are about 40 of them in the gospels. The idea of a parable is that Jesus would take an occurrence from everyday life, something people saw every day, and throw that story alongside a truth about the Kingdom of God. In fact, the word parable means “to throw alongside.”Ever see a poor woman desperately searching for her lost coin or a shepherd trying to save His lost sheep? Jesus would say, “If you’ve ever seen that then you know something about God’s heart for lost people.” He would spin ordinary stories from everyday life that illustrated the complex truths of the Kingdom of God. He told stories about corrupt judges, stubborn widows, buried treasure, lazy employees, bad debts and noisy neighbors, and people got it. They understood the truth about God for the very first time. They didn’t need a seminary or college degree.For over 2,000 years, these stories have stretched the greatest minds in the world and sustained simpler ones. They have pierced the hardest hearts and shaped the greatest souls to ever walk our planet. That’s why right up into June, we are going to invest ourselves in these stories. And I believe God is going to encourage and grow us like never before, because that is what good stories do.
This Sunday we're wrapping up our study in the book of Ruth. This short little story has a lot to say about finding hope in hard times. Because death, devastation, and destruction is how the book begins. But Joy, celebration, and new life is how the book of Ruth finishes.This is the gospel! That life comes after death.Everything we experience in life, both in joy and in pain, is meant to draw us closer to Jesus. This story is proof that God is never done working, so no matter what life looks like for you right now, there is always hope!
You can’t live a day without hope. Hope is why people get married and have children. Hope is why parents send their children off to school every day. Hope is why people buy ab machines and gym memberships. But what if hope isn’t just about our circumstances? What if hope is meant to spring from who we are in Christ? In the book of Ruth, we observe her go through a transformation in her identity. She begins as a foreigner, an outsider, and ends up as not just a servant, but a wife! As believers, our spiritual journey mimics that of Ruth. In fact, Ephesians 2:11 says it this way:“Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:12–13, NIV)Your identity in Christ is your biggest reason for hope.
Relationships can be fragile. We all long for them, but we also all know what it is like to be hurt by them. Over time, we come to learn that all relationships must be governed by certain principles if they are to be successful. When it comes to relationships, the Word of God is the gold standard. The principles found there bring life to all our relationships, and remind us that there is no relationship God can’t fix if we will offer it to Him. The problem is that sometimes the principles we bring to our relationships are actually eroding them. They are principles that we picked up in a bar or from friends, who are just as confused and broken from relationships as we are. But what if God has provided a better way? What if God wants more from our relationships than we are getting and has shown us the way in His Word? Join us this weekend as we glean some principles from Ruth and Boaz as they seek to build a relationship together. These principles are for any relationship. It could be a friendship, a courtship, or even a battleship (a possible metaphor for marriage).
We are so careful what we put into the things that matter to us. If you’re a guy and you like muscle cars, you would never think of filling yours up with inferior or low octane gas. If you’re an athlete and training for a marathon, you would never do that while living on a diet of twinkies. We understand very well that the fuel we put into our bodies contributes to their overall well-being and performance, which is why the food and diet industry is a multi-billion dollar enterprise. And yet there is very little concern, very little dialogue, very little interest in the kind of fuel we feed our minds. But what if what we put into our minds could change the entire trajectory of our lives? This is why the Bible says, “Be careful what you think, because your life is shaped by your thoughts” (Proverbs 4:23, NCV)Join us as we continue to work our way through the Book of Ruth, and discover with us the amazing power we human beings have change the narrative of our thoughts and even feelings.
We’re used to thinking that baptism day is about us or the other people who made their declaration of faith alongside of us, but nothing could be further from the truth. Baptism is a celebration and picture of Christ’s loving work of salvation on the cross. It points us to His grace and power in our lives. For this reason, baptism is a reminder to keep our spiritual appetites sharp. It reminds us to never stop pursuing Christ, seeking to know Him, and letting Him fill us with His grace and mercy. Scripture reminds us: “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan from before the beginning of time–to show us His grace through Christ Jesus” 2 Timothy 1:9
Have you ever wondered why God allows some people to become super wealthy and others with similar character qualities struggle to keep their economic “heads above water?” Naomi and her daughter-in-law were definitely the latter, and another character in our passage tomorrow was definitely the former. God chooses to allow both conditions and works in us and through us in both conditions.Do you think God could trust you to still honor and follow Him if He allowed you to gain great riches? Would you trust yourself in that situation? We may never be in that situation to see our responses, but most of us have been or will be in different seasons of financial resources and provision.
The book of Ruth is unlike any other book in the Bible. There is nothing overtly supernatural or miraculous in its pages. There are no big fish or burning bushes. There are no dreams, no healings, no revelations. There are no explicit, overt interventions from God. There are no dramatic answers to prayer. What you find there is a group of people who are trying to get by and survive. You find a group of people who make decisions just like we do about things like where to live and what to eat. They have jobs, have to build and keep relationships, and trust God every step of the way, just like us. And yet, from cover to cover we see a very good God who is active and present in ways the people of this story could never have imagined. We will see a great God doing a great thing, not up front and center, but behind the scenes and through the circumstances. Does any of that sound familiar? Join us this weekend as we ask the question: “What do you do when you find yourself in a place you never thought you would be?” The answer will almost surely lead you into a deeper relationship with God.
“May I put it quite simply? If you understand these two words—‘but God’—they will save your soul. If you recall them daily and live by them, they will transform your life completely.” - James Montgomery BoiceIt is no surprise, then, that the human authors of the Bible use this phrase repeatedly to highlight God’s grace in every aspect of salvation. From Moses to Paul and just about everywhere in between, “But God” appears time and again at many crucial junctures in the Bible. It is the perfect phrase for highlighting the grace of God against the dark backdrop of human sin.As we close out 2023 and look forward to 2024, lets be a church that looks for the "but God" stories.
You were made for worship. It is who you are. Worship is part of your DNA and one of the primary motivations of your life. Every single one of us worships someone or something, even if you don’t consider yourself religious or spiritual. Worship happens anytime we take a good thing God has given us and make it the ultimate thing. It could be a relationship, romance, sex, money, power, control, a child, a marriage, happiness, it could be anything.The problem is that none of those things are reliable. Worship sex, money, or control, and you will always need more. Worship a relationship or a person, and they will disappoint you, betray you, or let you down. Worship happiness, and it will always elude you. Think about it: The people who are often the most unhappy are those who think the most about their happiness! This is why it becomes so important to worship that which can sustain us, both in this life and the next.In the case of the magi, it is clear they had one thing on their minds as they made their journey to Jesus: Worship. They cancelled at least three months of their life for the privilege to bow down before Him. One of the fascinating facts of the Christmas story is that almost no one was actually home that first Christmas. The angels traveled from their home to announce the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary left their home in Nazareth to go to Bethlehem, and then you have the travelers we will be talking about this weekend.Like them, each of us makes a journey to Jesus. And at the end of that journey, what is left is worship.
When it comes to the Christmas story, the rhythm of being in the Word is powerful. So powerful, that today’s statistics show us the “Power of 4.” The Power of 4 comes down to how many times we are in our Bible and how that impacts our life. When we are in the Bible 4 to 7 days a week, we’ll see huge changes in our lives. The Power of 4 is even shown to be more impactful, on a person today, than attending church on an average of once of month (the actual average of a regular attender in America) or praying at least once a day. We’ll see the power of parents, Joseph and Mary, being in the Word. How being in the Word for them impacted their life and their family. We’ll see the power of Jesus, the Word, and the difference He makes in our lives by spending time with Him. We’ll learn how to be in the Word, together, in 2024. Join us this Sunday as we tease out the rhythm of the Word in the Christmas story and talk very practically about how we can grow in our own Bible times.
For most of us, when we think about the Christmas Story, chickens aren’t the first thing we think about. But what if chickens provide a powerful illustration of how NOT to behave? Take any ten chickens. Any ten. Put them in a pen together and spread out a little feed. In a matter of minutes, those chickens will have established something called a pecking order. If you are higher on the pecking order, then things like food, water, and space will come easy. But if you are nearer the bottom of the pecking order, then you get last dibs on those things. The problem is that pecking orders aren’t just common to chickens. Human beings have them too.And yet our Jesus has commanded us to live free of pecking orders, to put the needs of others AHEAD of our own. Join us this weekend as we tease out the rhythm of service that forms the foundation for the birth of Jesus. As we gaze at the example of our Savior, it should form a deep desire within each of us to become like Him. He came to serve, not to be served! Make it a priority to join the conversation.
When it comes to the Christmas story, the rhythm of prayer is foundational, just as it is foundational to the story you are telling with your own life. Not only was the birth of Christ an answer to thousands of years of prayer, it is also a call to prayer every single day. Each of the characters in the Christmas story had a vital prayer life, which is precisely why they became a part of that story in the first place.Join us this weekend as we tease out the rhythm of prayer in the Christmas story and talk very practically about how you can grow in your own prayer life.
In Ecclesiastes 12, the teacher will say something very profound. He begins, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”—” (Ecclesiastes 12:1, NIV)Solomon is an old man at this point. He is saying, “Don’t forget about your Creator in this small window of your life called “youth.”Join us this weekend as we tease out the final key and summary the teacher gives us for living a beautiful life.
I have a book in my office called the “Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook.” It details how to survive many terrible and unexpected circumstances, like:- How to fend off a mountain lion.- How to survive a poisonous snake attack.- How to escape from killer bees.- How to disarm a bomb.- How to land a plane. (No, I’m not making that up)The premise of the book is simple: You just never know. You never know what is going to happen, so you have to be prepared. The teacher here in the book of Ecclesiastes is going to say the same thing, but add something very important. He is going to say, “You just never know what is going to happen, so do what you can in any situation, and then trust God with the rest.” “Don’t let uncertainty keep you from doing what you can, because uncertainty is part of this world.” “Do your best, and trust God with the rest!” Join us this weekend as we tease out this vital principle to living a beautiful life.
Woody Allen said, “It’s not that I’m afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” Aristotle said that death is the thing that is to be feared most because it represents the end of life. Jean-Paul Sartre asserted that death removes all meaning from life and represents the worst moment of anyone’s life. Join us this weekend as the teacher in Ecclesiastes laments the great enemy of mankind: death. But what if the gospel of Jesus has turned death upside down and taken its ultimate sting? What if death isn’t just the end, but the turning of a corner into something new and better? It is, according to our Jesus.
In Ecclesiates 7, the teacher wants us to understand the value of wisdom. He will talk to us as one who has done more and gone farther than any of us, much like a grandparent might try to impart wisdom to their grandchild. And he asks a very important question:“Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13, ESV)He’s talking about the brokenness of our world, which has been twisted and warped by the fall. Our Jesus stepped into the brokenness of this world, and He changed everything. Join us this weekend as we discuss how to live well and even joyfully in a world where things don’t always work out like we planned.
In Ecclesiastes 5, the teacher is going to begin a conversation about wealth that no one in our culture is having. He is going to argue that pursuing worth and satisfaction in money is ultimately fleeting and worthless. He will say that no matter how much we accumulate, it will never seem like enough. He will tell us that the road to wealth is paved with things like sleepless nights, unscrupulous people, and worry and obsession over keeping and growing it. No wonder he laments that often we accumulate wealth to our own hurt and harm! Join us this weekend as we discuss wealth in light of reality and the way our world actually works. God wants freedom for you and satisfaction only in Him, and this weekend could be a huge step in the right direction.
I was reading some people’s comments this week about their “no need to go church” attitudes and beliefs. Some were saying that they do not have to go to a church to be a Christian. True! One person said that he could worship God in places other than at a church. True! Another said that it was the same old same old every week. Unfortunately too true! There were many but the saddest was the person who said that they just didn’t get anything out of it any more. True for them!The truth of the matter for when we make the effort to meet with others at a public church service is that it is more about what we give to God than what we are expecting Him to give to us. Solomon points out to us in Ecclesiastes 5:17 some “pre New Testament Church” attitudes to develop and maintain when we come before God, wherever we are.
It was God who said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” He said that on the day that He created mankind. The truth in that statement has not changed. He created the institution of marriage, the nuclear family, extended families, and communities. We all need a personal relationship with God and we all need good relationships with other people in our lives.
Ecclesiastes chapter 3 was made famous by what rock band? If you’re 40 or younger, you probably think it is the Backstreet Boys, which is incorrect. But if you’re over 50, you probably know the answer. While Solomon seems to say that seasons come and go randomly into our lives, he is actually arguing the opposite. In fact, he is going to tell us every season of our lives is appointed by God. He sends them, and He uses them. Just as our lives are given to us by God, the seasons of our lives are appointed by God, whether they be pleasurable or painful. And even the painful seasons God can use to make something beautiful.Join us this weekend for a hope filled message centered on God’s good and perfect work in your life, no matter the season.
The book of Ecclesiastes is one of God’s gifts to help us live well in the real world. In chapter 2, the teacher will try to bring happiness and meaning to his life through things like possessions, progress, and pleasure. His life becomes the stuff of bumper stickers and fridge magnets: Live for today. Be happy. Laugh well. Forget your cares. Enjoy yourself. Find your passion. Yet in spite of it all, he will conclude that happiness is still a vanishing vapor.Join us this weekend as the teacher goes further to find happiness than any of us are capable, and yet still concludes that true happiness can only come through a right relationship with our Creator.
The book of Ecclesiastes is one of God’s gifts to help us live well in the real world. In it, the teacher will note that life in this world is no fairy tale. He will argue that we live in a world where bad things happen, a world where injustice occurs, and where everybody dies. And yet, he will say it is still possible to live a beautiful life!A recognition of the brevity of life becomes the foundation for enjoying every single day that we are given. So join us as we unpack an incredibly rich book that will challenge and inspire you to a more beautiful life.
This Sunday we finish our study in the book of James. What a study it has been! God has spoken to each teaching pastor and used them to speak to the SCC family. As we finish the book, James shares the reality that some may wander in the midst of what is happening in their lives. Yet, there are those in the community that have the chance to help bring them back from wandering. The hard part is life throws trails at us and how we walk through them makes a difference where we’ll end up. Each of us has the chance to wander, and in many ways, we don’t want to or plan to. Which leads to our big idea for this Sunday: We all tend to stray, and we all can return to God. God, through His unlimited grace, allows us to come back to Him and uses those around us to help us. Will we listen to God and those who come alongside us?
James 5 is a call to a relationship of deep intimacy and trust in the Almighty in every season of life. It is a call to approach God no matter what you are going through, whether it be good or bad, physical or spiritual. He begins: “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray.” That phrase “in trouble” literally means “distressed.” Are you troubled? You should take your trouble to God. Prayer is, before it is anything else, intimacy with God. It is an invitation to invite God into your circumstances and to trust Him in those circumstances. Prayer is not a duty. It's a delight and a gift for the people of God to commune with their adopting, loving, merciful, Heavenly Father.
Baptism is a picture of a new life! This weekend we have the amazing opportunity to celebrate what God is doing here at SCC through the ancient practice of baptism.
Baptism is a reminder to keep our spiritual appetites sharp. It reminds us to never stop pursuing Christ, seeking to know Him, and letting Him fill us with His grace and mercy. Scripture reminds us: “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan from before the beginning of time-to show us His grace through Christ Jesus.” (2Timothy 1:9)
Life in a broken world is sometimes hard. This is why James tells us in chapter 5 that we must endure suffering with patience. Join us this weekend as we discuss what it looks like to endure hardship patiently. Our God will encourage hundreds this weekend, and you could be one of them.
Pride is the doorway to all the places in life we don’t want to end up. And yet, so often, it's pride that we think is the sin we don't struggle with, or we brush it off because we don't realize just how big a pitfall it is.
But the goal is not humility. Humility is the by-product of the real antidote to pride, and that's intimacy with Jesus. Apart from the Holy Spirit, we stand no chance in the fight against our own pride.
There was an old Persian ruler who wanted to impress a visiting dignitary, so he took him to a glass cage. Inside the glass cage was a lion resting comfortably next to a lamb. The dignitary was blown away and said, “How is it possible for a lion and a lamb to be in the same cage together?” “I do have a secret” said the ruler, “Every morning I put in a new lamb.”
When it comes to relationships, we’ve all been like that lion. But the crazy thing is that we also know what it’s like to be the lamb. If we were honest, we would have to confess that in our relationships we’ve played the part of both the lion and the lamb.
James reminds us that when it comes to our world, there are two kinds of wisdom that bring completely different results to our lives. There is “heavenly wisdom” and there is “earthly wisdom.” Heavenly wisdom is relational. It is the powerful ability to build and keep relationships with others. Earthly wisdom is all about me and what makes me happy. By the way, let’s not confuse wisdom with knowledge. You can have a lot of knowledge, but very little wisdom. Knowledge is theoretical, wisdom is practical.
In James chapter 3, James will remind us of the power of words. He will tell us that our tongues chart the course of our lives and have the potential to either blow up a relationship or to build up that same relationship.
But for James, it’s not as simple as simply monitoring our words. James says that the problem is that what comes out of our mouths simply reveals what is already lurking in our hearts. If you want to change your speech, you have to change your heart.
Did you know that Martin Luther, the first and most notable influencer of the Protestant Reformation, believed that the Book of James should have been removed from the Bible of his day? He thought that there was too much emphasis on having works as a prerequisite and the proof that we are genuine Christ followers.
The emphasis that I hope to convey deals with how to get our faith practically working its way through our lives and producing a life that is characterized by good works. We teach one to believe that, “We don’t do works to be saved, but do good works because we are saved.” Also, “Works don’t lead to our salvation, they are results of our salvation.”
In James chapter 2, he will shift from talking about how to love God to how to love people. And he will tell us that, among other things, love doesn’t show partiality. In other words, love doesn’t play favorites. It doesn’t discriminate against others based on external things like appearance, ancestry, or affluence, which are always superficial and shallow.
James will argue that when we discriminate against people based on external and shallow measurements, we are being unreasonable, unloving, and actually are guilty of unfollowing Jesus. He will also argue that by breaking the law of love through partiality, we are all lawbreakers, and therefore subject to judgement. But the good news is that God’s mercy triumphs over judgement, and so can our mercy with one another.
Did you know that Martin Luther, the first and most notable influencer of the Protestant Reformation, believed that the Book of James should have been removed from the Bible of his day? He thought that there was too much emphasis on having works as a prerequisite and the proof that we are genuine Christ Followers.
The emphasis that I hope to convey deals with how to get God's Word practically working its way through our lives and producing a life that is characterized as "true religion." We teach one to believe that "We don't do works to be saved, but do good works because we are saved." Also, "Works don't lead to our salvation, they are results of our salvation!"
So far in the book of James, we’ve been introduced to the author—James, the half-brother of Jesus. We’ve learned who this letter is too, Jewish Christians who have fled Jerusalem due to persecution. And we’ve learned that trials form in us what nothing else can, maturity.
As the letter progresses, James is about to share with us that trials have a way of wearing us down. And when we’re worn down, we’re more likely to give into temptation.
James, the half-brother of Jesus, is writing this letter to Christians who are fleeing Jerusalem due to persecution. He opens the letter saying, "consider it a great joy when you face trials of various kinds." Imagine being a recipient of this letter, knowing that you could be arrested, beaten, or killed for following Jesus, and his half-brother is telling you to be joyful for it.
The Jewish Christians are now spread out into the world, no longer in one location. With that, they are facing trails of many kinds. How will they handle that? How will they choose to live their life while following Jesus? How will they handle the different topics James discusses? Will people see Jesus in and through them?
This weekend we will be concluding our teaching on Jesus’ most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. The last nine verses of this famous message summarizes the sermon by asking us to picture our lives as a house being tested by the forces of nature.
The sermon on the mount is one of five different sermons recorded in the book of Matthew. Matthew contains more instructional discipleship material from Jesus than any other book in the Bible. Jesus begins his sermon sharing who the Kingdom of God was for. He then shares what the Kingdom will be like and eventually begins sharing some Kingdom practices. It's only fitting that as Jesus begins to wrap up his most famous sermon, that He calls everyone who hears to make a decision.
In Matthew 7 are found some of Jesus’ most famous and most quoted words, even by those who would not call themselves Christians: “Judge not…“It’s important to note that there is a comma here after “Do not judge”, not a period. In other words, Jesus is just beginning a conversation on judgement, he’s not ending it. Now, let me give you a definition of judgement: "Thou shall not size me up and write me off." Judgement sizes people up and writes them off. The idea is: “Don’t hear something I say, see something I wear, or see something on my body and size me up and write me off because of that one thing.”
We have been unpacking Jesus' teachings from His famous Sermon on the Mount for several weeks. It will take a lot longer than that to faithfully apply those teachings to our daily lives!! They were spoken in the revelation that Jesus is the ultimate authority in the Kingdom of God and that He desires us to live under His loving authority with other Kingdom Seekers. I'm one of those Seekers and I bet you're one too.
In Jesus’ most famous sermon, on a day when He could have talked about anything, Jesus chose to talk about worry. This reminds us that even 2,000 years ago, people worried about stuff. As long as there have been people, worry has been a constant companion. The reason is simple. Life is uncertain, and that makes us very uncomfortable. We like a sure thing, and we worry when we bump up against uncertainty.
Baptism is a picture of a new life! This weekend we have the amazing opportunity to celebrate what God is doing here at SCC through the ancient practice of baptism. We’re used to thinking that baptism day is about us or the other people who made their declaration of faith alongside of us, but nothing could be further from the truth. Baptism is a celebration and picture of Christ’s loving work of salvation on the cross. It points us to His grace and power in our lives.
In Jesus’ most famous sermon, on a day when He could have talked about anything, Jesus chose to talk to Jewish peasants about worry. When it comes to worry, there are three kinds of people.
As we continue looking at the sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes an absolutely insane statement. "Don't worry about your life."If only Jesus knew what I had going on! Does He know my schedule or what's on my plate? Does He understand what it's like living in 2023?
In John 20, Jesus shows up right in the middle of the terror and confusion of His disciples. And He brings calm, assurance, and peace with Him! I wonder, what does Jesus need to show up in the middle of in your own life? The resurrection means that Jesus shows up, right in the middle.
We’ve talked often about the Kingdom of God being the backdrop and context for the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus talked about the Kingdom more than any other subject, but His next favorite topic might surprise you. He often talked to Jewish peasants about something they had very little of, and that is money!
Did you know that what we traditionally call “The Lord’s Prayer” was taught as part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount? Have you been noticing that a lot of what we have heard people say as we have grown up has its roots in Jesus' historical sermon? I trust that this Sunday’s message will uncover some new nuggets too. I think I can assure you that it won’t be boring!
Matthew, the author of this book wrote to a Jewish audience. Many of Jesus early followers were Jewish. As we look at the opening verses of chapter 6, Jesus speaks directly to three Jewish practices: giving, praying, and fasting. Jesus really challenges the hearts of those listening. Is what you do for righteousness or reputation? Is what you do a show to impress others or is it for you to draw near to God?Jesus really goes after the heart. After motives. After intentions... It's a great reminder for us to consistently check why we do what we do.
As we continue through Jesus’ most famous sermon, we come to two of Jesus' most famous, most misunderstood, and least applied commands of the entire sermon. Both commands illustrate how we are to love those who would hurt, shame, or mistreat us. The reason they are so sparingly applied in our world is because the natural bent of our hearts is toward revenge.
In Jesus’ day, there was a type of divorce available only to men called an “any cause” divorce. Predictably, it immediately became the most popular form of divorce in Israel. Rabbis even went so far as to list different faults they believed a husband could divorce his wife for under this “any cause” provision. This type of divorce is the backdrop for Jesus' words about Marriage and Divorce in both the Sermon on the Mount and the similar teaching he gave in Matthew 19.
Jesus was always concerned about relationships as priorities. There is nothing that steals trust from our relationships like lying to one another. The Psalmist said that God desires truth in our innermost being. Even when we swear on our mother’s graves or make pinky promises, Jesus still brings it back to, “Just do what you say.”
When we mishandle our sexuality, when we use it selfishly or callously, we damage the two things that are most dear in the Kingdom of God. We damage our heart, and we demean relationships. We take a man or a woman who has been made in the image of God and reduce them to body parts for our own gratification.
In His most famous sermon, Jesus speaks about the danger of anger in the most certain of terms. Jesus is not saying here that all anger is bad, but any anger that would foster a deep resentment of others or dismiss their competency or undermine their value will result in judgement.This kind of anger is a big deal for Jesus. He says this is as serious as the most serious sin there is. Seriously.
One of the most misunderstood and misquoted verses of the Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew 5:17. Jesus says, “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17, CSB).Why did Jesus feel the need to remind people that He had not come to abolish the Law? Because He knew that in light of what he was about to say it would sound to many as if he had come to do exactly that.
Baptism is a picture of a new life! Baptism is a celebration and picture of Christ’s loving work of salvation on the cross. It points us to His grace and power in our lives.
In the ancient world, salt was a game changer. They discovered it acted as a preservative for food. It kept food fresh from decay, rot, and corruption. And in a world without refrigeration or the ability to preserve and store food, salt meant the difference between food on the table and starvation.You can’t understand what Jesus is saying unless you understand that in the ancient world, salt was prized. It was precious. But what did he mean when He said that?
Transitions are the doorways to change and potential expansion. When we make a change from one place, state, stage, or condition to another, we transition.The space between where you are right now and where you want to go, that’s the transition. It is relevant to us spiritually, financially, relationally, emotionally, physically, mentally, educationally, and geographically.
Matthew includes four foreign women in the story of Jesus to show that Jesus’ mission would include all people, no matter their gender, race, background, heritage, hurts, habits, or hang-ups.
When most of us think of the Christmas story it starts with an angel, a young couple, a baby in a manger, and maybe some wise men. But, Matthew 1 tells us the Christmas story actually began with a man named Abram.
The game of Monopoly is incredibly similar to real life, isn't it? We don't get to keep anything. We spend all our time saving, buying, insuring, and in the end, we don't get to keep any of it. It doesn't really belong to us in the first place. At some point, it will go right back in the box. Right back to God, who is the rightful owner.
Jesus always rides into town on the backs of the generosity of his people. If a community is going to be stirred and made whole, it will always happen because of generosity. Generosity has tremendous power. It has the power to literally write us into the story of God.
Just like we’ve seen in 2 Timothy, the book of 1 Timothy addresses issues from False Teachers. One of their teachings was “godliness is a means to financial gain.” We will look at 1 Timothy 6:6-10 to see what Paul teaches in response to that statement, and how learning from this text can help us live generously.
As Paul closes out his letter He makes some bold statements as he reflects on his life. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." As readers of these words in 2022 it's easy to look at Paul's impact on Christianity and agree with his words. Paul's letters are a large component of our Bible. Paul's missionary journeys led to him planting churches that planted churches spreading the gospel globally. Paul is one of the most prominent figures in the Christian faith.
But, as Paul penned these words he was a lonely man, abandoned by many, with a few days remaining on earth. On your last days on earth could you too share these words? What about today?
Resilience is born out of the Word of God. Timothy wasn’t sure if he was going to make it, he didn’t know if he had what it takes, and Paul essentially said to him, Stay Anchored to the Word, Timothy! Whatever it is that you are facing, whatever it is that you are going through, God’s Word will see you through.
Scripture tells us to welcome suffering as a friend. While the world would see suffering as random and unfortunate, Biblical writers tell us that God has transformed suffering into something purposeful and beneficial for us. Through our suffering, God is shaping within us the strength and character of Jesus.
In 2 Timothy 3, Paul discusses the inevitable downward spiral of people in our world and how we can avoid becoming like them. The future of our world is at stake, but we can change that by faithfully and intentionally following Jesus together.
What is the role of a "Servant of the Lord?" Paul shares how to prepare to be used by God and the role we are called to play. Paul tells us that it's never our job to save people, that's God's job. But even though God gets to do the saving work, we do get to partner with Him in it!
Deep within the hearts of each of us is a deep-seated desire to be used by God. In 2 Timothy 2, Paul tells Timothy that when believers argue with one another over inconsequential or secondary issues, it leads to “catastrophe.” He reminds him that when brothers and sisters in Christ argue with one another, they forfeit their witness to a watching world.
Jesus is “risen from the dead.” Jesus is all-powerful. He is risen to prove it. If Jesus has risen, then there is nothing he can’t do. When you speak of him, you are not telling stories of antiquity. He is alive and well! He is here, now, in the present because He lives! This means you and I are not powerless or impotent in the face of adversity. Jesus is with us, even in the valley.
We’re used to thinking that baptism day is about us or the other people who made their declaration of faith alongside of us, but nothing could be further from the truth. Baptism is a celebration and picture of Christ’s loving work of salvation on the cross. It points us to His grace and power in our lives.
Paul spoke into the trials of Timothy with these words. “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 2:3, CSB) He is saying to Timothy, “You are a soldier in the army of God. Soldiers go to war. In every war, there are casualties. This is war, Timothy, not a picnic. In war, you must be willing to endure suffering.”
Being resilient means springing back, rebounding, and returning to its original form. One way we can be resilient is through growing in grace. Growing in grace comes from trusting Christ, daily, that He will provide what we need for that day.
Paul opens his letter to Timothy by speaking into Timothy, but not by coddling him. He is going to remind Timothy of some key truths to consider in the face of opposition and hardship.
I don’t know what hard things you are facing right now. But I know that Paul’s words to Timothy are meant, not just for Timothy, but for you and I.
We tend to believe that God loves good, successful people, who follow all the rules and are kind and respectful of others. We believe God loves people who demonstrate character and commitment. Then we work really hard to become the sort of people that we believe God could love.
But what if God already loves you? What if instead of being attracted to strength and success and how hard we try, that instead God is drawn to our weakness?
“We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” - Romans 8:28
Regardless of your circumstances, if you love God he will work things out for good. If God can bring good out of the cross, He can bring good out of anything.
In Romans 8, Paul is talking about the pain and suffering of creation. He says, “The whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.” Why would Paul use that phrase? Why would he compare this era of creation with labor pains? Because all of the pain and suffering of creation today will one day give way to new life and unrealized glory.
Romans 8:12-18 presents us with a classic good news/bad news scenario. First the good news: As a child of God, you are an heir of God and a co-heir with Christ. That means you'll inherit everything God owns - Romans 8:16–17a. But it comes tethered to some bad news: You and I are going to have to suffer to get it - Romans 8:17.
Your mindset is a choice. Romans 8 tells us that we can have a mindset focused on our flesh, or a mindset focused on the Spirit. “Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6).
We live in a world filled with condemnation. But what if the good news of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection from the dead offers a solution to this problem? Maybe there is a principle at work here that looks like this: Condemned people easily condemn people. Likewise, gracious people extend grace to others.
So far in the book of Habakkuk, it seems like the Babylonian bullies are destined to take whatever they want without facing any consequences. But then God makes it clear to Habakkuk that he knows exactly what the Babylonians have done and that he will deal with the problem. Though it won’t happen as quickly as the prophet would prefer, he walks away assured that justice will prevail.
The prophet Habakkuk preached during a dark time in the history of God’s people. After the good King Josiah died, the people had turned away from God and descended into violence, injustice, and spiritual corruption. Habakkuk lamented these struggles to God, watching and waiting for a response as the Babylonian invasion loomed over the land of Judah. Yet in the midst of this suffering and chaos, God called Habakkuk to be faithful.
In the book of Habakkuk, we learn a lot about the nature and character of God when we face circumstances that rock our world. Like Habakkuk, when we’re in the middle of it is when we need to lean into God most. Throughout the book we see Habakkuk engage in lament. Lament invites us to turn our gaze from the rubble of life to the redeemer of every hurt
In the face of moral decay, corrupt leadership, and war surrounding Judah, Habakkuk is struggling with the knowledge that God is sovereign while his daily experience appears to reflect something quite different.
The armor of God represents the protective covering of God. Paul is clear that we can forfeit God’s protection through things like sin, character issues, division, or a lack of trust in Him.
The Bible is very clear that when it comes to our world, there is another invisible world that impacts our world in ways that are tragic and deadly. And that invisible world isn’t just random. It has a leader who deceives and whom Jesus said came to kill and destroy.
We explore Ephesians 6:5-9, where Paul explains to slaves and masters how they can walk in wisdom and participate in Jesus’ victory over death. We wrestle with what Paul has to say as a chance to be grown in your faith and equipped to have difficult conversations with others seeking after truth.
All throughout the book of Genesis, we're told the story of messed up families. Murder, drunkenness, lies, polygamy, slavery, etc... Feel better about your own family now? So why all the drama? Those families are meant to remind us of our need for a Savior. This weekend we unpack what Ephesians 6 has to say about parenting.
In Ephesians 5, Paul paints a picture of marriage that reflects the beauty of Christ’s relationship with the church. It is a picture that Christians need to recover and reclaim. This weekend we discover that Christian marriage is meant to be a submission competition, a race to the back of the line.
Followers of Jesus can live every day “filled with the Spirit.” But what does that mean? What might it look like to live that way? What if our relationship with the Holy Spirit is the key to walking in wisdom? This weekend we talk very practically about how to be “filled with the Spirit” on a moment-by-moment basis.
In Ephesians 5:1, Paul tells us to be “imitators of God”, and then offers three ways to walk that out. We are to walk in love, light, and walk in wisdom. A failure to walk worthy in one of these three areas can cause the foundation of your entire life to crumble and give way. In the same way that a stool must have at least three legs to support any weight, it is vital that we walk worthy in all three areas to support the weighted expectations of our lives.
Baptism is a picture of a new life! This weekend we had the amazing opportunity to celebrate what God is doing here at SCC through the ancient practice of baptism. Baptism is a celebration and picture of Christ’s loving work of salvation on the cross. It points us to His grace and power in our lives.
The resurrection reminds us that the early writers of Scripture weren’t telling what they believed, but instead were telling us what they saw! They speak as eyewitnesses, not out of wishful thinking. The resurrection also reminds us that Christianity was founded on a historical event, not a creed or a belief system.
The Holy Spirit is a person. But when we call Him a person, we don't mean that He has a body. We mean that He has a personality, feelings, a will, and desires. This is why we are told in Ephesians 4 not to "grieve" the Holy Spirit. To grieve someone is to cause them sorrow, pain, or distress. This means it is possible for you and me to cause the Holy Spirit within us to suffer. But how does that happen?
Ephesians 4 tells you that when you became a follower of Jesus, He gave you a new identity and a new life. This transformation means that the choices of your old life no longer own you. It means that your old failures no longer define you. It means your old mindsets no longer need to control you. Jesus has given you a new identity and a new life, but you must put that lifestyle on.
We have so much potential to grow and develop in our walk with Jesus, but we need to understand just who it is that we’re becoming. Fortunately for us, after spending Ephesians chapters 1-3 showing his readers what God has done for them in Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul turns his attention to helping them understand who they are and how they can participate in Jesus’ victory.
This passage is going to finish the first half of the book of Ephesians and lead is into the second half, how we live out what Paul has already taught us. He’s finishing this part by reminding us how much God loves us and wants to work through us and in us. As we grow in intimacy with Jesus, we come to understand His unfathomable love and power in our lives. It is a beautiful thing when someone comes to learn this, understand it, and live it out.
In the early church, there was a huge “us” and “them” problem. There were Jews, and then there were gentiles. There was great hostility between these two groups of people. But this weekend we’ll discover that not only does the gospel tear down the dividing wall of hostility between people and God, but it also tears down the walls that divide people from one another.
If you’ve ever purchased or played a game of checkers, you may have noticed that each checker has the insignia of a crown. That is because each checker was created to eventually become a King. When you became a follower of Jesus, He gave you a crown. In Ephesians 2, Paul says it this way: “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms.” This crown allows each of us to approach God confidently and securely, and in doing so, to walk with and receive from God in a way that others cannot.
Baptism is a picture of a new life! This weekend we have the amazing opportunity to celebrate what God is doing here at SCC through the ancient practice of baptism.
We’re used to thinking that baptism day is about us or the other people who made their declaration of faith alongside of us, but nothing could be further from the truth. Baptism is a celebration and picture of Christ’s loving work of salvation on the cross. It points us to His grace and power in our lives.
It’s one thing to know information about Jesus with your head, but it’s another thing entirely to know Jesus with your heart. It’s the difference between information about Jesus and intimacy with Jesus.
Ephesians 1 tells us that when God looks at people, regardless of their ethnicity, the color of their skin, he whispers in their ears, “I wish you were my little girl. I wish you were my little boy.” It doesn’t matter whether they are black, white, yellow, or brown. God is offering a salvation that is way bigger and more important than ethnicity.
The Bible was written for us, but it wasn't written to us. Ephesians was a letter written to a particular church at a particular point in history for a particular reason. Before we jump into chapter 1 we must learn the context that this letter was written in. What we'll see is that the gospel has the power to completely alter a city.
God calls us to love Him with ALL we are. We’ll see that in Deuteronomy 6:1-9. But He doesn’t just leave us hanging. He shows us HOW to live that out. And in HOW we live that out is through the family. The beauty is we each have a family, but even bigger we have each other as the family of God. No matter what you call family, you are a part of THE family and can help each other live out HOW to love God with all we are.
We live in a broken world. The book of Malachi was written in such a world. And the people of Malachi’s day, well, they noticed. As a result, they aired some very serious complaints against God, which He answered in no uncertain terms.
When someone robs you, you never forget it, and in Malachi 3, God actually says that his people are guilty of robbing him. The word “rob” in Malachi is a rare and violent word. It literally means to “plunder of pillage.” How can human beings “pillage” God?
To break faith with someone is to fail to support them. In fact, when Jesus came to bring a new covenant, he brought a new command. He said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Jesus didn’t ask us to love others as we would want to be loved, but as He loved us.
The beginning of Malachi will set the pace for the rest of the book. At the beginning, the first topic is God’s love for His people. If that comes into question, that affects the rest of who we are and how we respond to Him. We’ll see that He does love us, and we can see that throughout the Bible. We’ll also see how others were responding and how that affected them and their relationship to God.
When God created in Genesis we're introduced to Adam and Eve in the garden. God gives them a command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Through their disobedience, sin enters the world. When Jesus is crucified He is nailed to a tree for the forgiveness for our disobedience. Today we live between the trees.
Without Jesus, who is the light of the world, our world would simply be a dark and dangerous place. But because His light shines in the darkness, the world is a far brighter and more colorful place. Make no mistake friends, the darker the darkness, the brighter the light.
Most of us have things or memories in our past that are so humiliating, so painful, things of which we are so ashamed, that not only do we never laugh about it, we never speak of it. We don’t even like to think about it. Because when we do, we are just overwhelmed with feelings of intense shame and regret. The good news is the power of the gospel can cancel out shame and regret. It’s good news indeed!
When people try to approach God out of a contract or their performance, it becomes toxic to their soul, resulting in things like pride, superiority, complaint, and resentment. But Jesus has come to offer a new and better way to approach God. This approach is not based on a contract or performance, but grace, and grace makes all the difference.
Jesus has made a habit of embracing people who face rejection. The invitation to follow Him is quickly extended to the weak, wounded, and marginalized who easily get overlooked by the broader swath of society. The healing that He offers paves the way for us to recognize Him as the healer who’s in the business of rescuing the world from sin one life at a time.
Excuses can be toxic for anyone who would follow Jesus. The unfortunate reality is that we can be very good at explaining to God why we can’t live in His presence, or why we can’t do the thing that He is asking us to do. Excuses are toxic to the spiritual life because they keep us from life with God, the joy of obedience, the freedom of forgiveness, the blessing of generosity, and the deeper journey into the presence of Jesus.
In His most famous sermon, Jesus said “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven...” in other words, treasures that actually matter and will last. Notice that He doesn’t say ‘stop desiring’ ‘stop seeking,’ ‘stop planning’ or ‘stop investing’. Quite the contrary, He is encouraging us to invest more wisely, to seek safer and better returns. Jesus is not calling us to settle for less but rather to seek more. The reason is simple. Any treasure we amass in this world is temporary because we don’t get to keep any of it.
In John 5, before Jesus heals an invalid of 38 years, He asks him an odd question: “Do you want to get well?” In essence, when Jesus asks this man if he wants to be made well, He is asking him if he is willing to change. Sometimes people desperately want their situation to change, but they don’t want to change. As we engage our community, not everyone will want hope and healing, but we must continually point people to Jesus.
The message of Christianity is unique among the religions of the world. You won’t hear it anywhere else. It is also counterintuitive. Why Fish? Because God wants everyone to be saved, and because we must love others enough to want for them the same grace, mercy, and love that we’ve already found in Jesus.
In Matthew 14:22-33, we’ll see the disciples in a tough situation. Some will decide to stay in the boat, and one will decide to get out. For many of us, we want to be Peter and truly trust Jesus and follow Him. Yet, circumstances happen which distract us from Him. Many times, these distractions can cause fear.
It’s amazing what we’ll do when we see the true value of something. When we see that something is priceless, we're willing to sacrifice for it. And the Kingdom of God is no exception to this. When we follow Jesus, we’re called to surrender absolutely everything to him.
The last person in the room to know he or she is greedy is the one consumed by it. This is why Jesus warns against greed like nothing else. Greed, by its very nature, blinds us to its presence. Greed almost never exists for itself, but exists instead to feed our idols.
In John 6, many of Jesus’ followers decide to unfollow Jesus. The reason? Jesus was saying some things that were hard to hear. There will be seasons for all of us when we, like them, will be tempted to unfollow Jesus.
In Matthew 7, at the end of his most famous sermon, Jesus told a story about two kinds of builders. One was wise and one was foolish. Both faced a storm, but only one of them built their home on the right foundation, which was obedience to Jesus. What is most striking, is that Jesus didn’t call one “good” and the other “evil.” The call to follow Jesus is not simply a moral decision, but a smart one.
When Jesus spoke in parables, He challenged His listeners to really hear what He was communicating to them. He wanted His followers to ponder His deeper meaning, to reflect on the condition of their hearts, and to respond accordingly.
The idea is that we are to be so convinced of God’s goodness, so certain of His love, that no matter what life throws at us, He and I can handle it together. We are to be so sure that He is with us, that we know that there is nothing in all of creation that can separate from His love.
Jesus' call to his disciples was a call to become fishers of men. That was it. But, how often do we follow Jesus with our agenda of what Jesus should do for us when we follow Him.
The call to follow Jesus is a call to community. It’s never been a solitary deal. Matthew the Tax Collector was called to follow Jesus alongside other disciples. They disagreed. They argued. They couldn’t get along, and that was the point. Through all that friction, they learned how to forgive. They learned how to really love one another.
Have you ever wondered how you fit into God’s story? We all fit in God’s story! And…He has given each of us talents and gifts to live out who we are in His story. Together we'll learn more about how God can use you to reach our Nineveh through how He has created you and gifted you.
When we read stories in the Bible it's pretty easy to read them through our eyes. We read stories through our culture, our experiences, and our circumstances. But what happens when we read these same stories through the eyes of the characters involved?
What happens when we read this story from the perspective of Nineveh? How does that change things?
After Jonah preaches a message of doom, the people of Nineveh respond in an overwhelming fashion. Jonah is so angry that God would save these people He again claims he'd rather be dead than see Nineveh saved. Jonah's unrighteous anger continues to expose his heart and God's heart for lost people.
"Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time..." Praise God for second chances, right?! Such a simple statement loaded with so much for us. How often do we find God coming to us a second time, a third time, a 50th time? His desire to pursue us and His desire to use us is pretty mind-boggling. This second time around things go very different for Jonah.
At the end of chapter one, we see Jonah get thrown into the sea where God appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah up. This is where most of us tend to end the story. Jonah and the fish... But way more happens in the story. Throughout the first chapter, Jonah doesn't speak to God. Not one word... but in chapter two that all changes. This Sunday we're going to look at what Jonah had to say, and what our response should be when we run from God.
Through Jonah's disobedience, a boat full of sailors find themselves stuck in the craziest storm they've ever experienced. When they ask Jonah who he is, Jonah reveals himself to be a follower of the God of Heaven. This leads these sailors to turn their lives over to Yahweh. In their obedience, they throw Jonah overboard where God rescues Jonah with a big fish.
At the beginning of the book of Jonah, we're introduced to the two main characters in this story: God and Jonah. God calls Jonah, his prophet, to go to Nineveh and call the people to repent. Instead of going in obedience, Jonah flees in the opposite direction. Jonah's hard heart towards the people of Ninevah drove him to not only flee from his call but to flee from God himself.
As we close out our study in Hebrews, the author gives their readers directions on how to engage with each other and how to sit under the leadership of their church. The author then ends their letter with a beautiful benediction, or prayer, that declares their absolute confidence in God.
Most of us have survived the experience of shopping for a church home. People look for new churches for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, when looking for a church we tend to ask questions like "Is the church catering to me? Do I like the Music? Is the teaching inspiring me? Are my needs being met?"
But when Jesus speaks about what to look for in a church, He asks a completely different set of questions: Are the leaders of the church living lives worthy of imitation? Is the message of the church centered on the gospel? Is the church going outside the camp to win the lost? Does the worship and lifestyles of the members magnify or repel others from Jesus?
The author of Hebrews tells us that true contentment can only come through Christ, not our stuff. His message is simple: we love people, not our things. We trust God for our security, not our money.
At the beginning of Hebrews 13, the author gives us a laundry list of practical ways to relate to other believers and how we are to interact with individuals outside of our faith.
The heart that learns to say “As you wish” to God opens itself to the power of the universe. The man or woman that would say “As you wish” to their Heavenly Father on a daily basis is really saying, “I love You, Papa.”
Beginning in Hebrews 12:14, he warns us about avoiding some things that are toxic to faith. At first glance, they seem like pretty mundane things. And I think that’s significant. Because for most of us, the danger to our faith is not some big, cataclysmic event where we just dump it. Rather, it’s the slow, gradual dulling of our heart toward God; the slow rotting of our faith from the inside out.
Most of us can remember getting into trouble as children and being disciplined by our parents. While few of us would ever say it was enjoyable, we also understand that it necessary and good for us. By the same token, the author of Hebrews tells us that God also disciplines us in a way that is necessary and good for us, though we will never enjoy it.
The start of any race is enjoyable. It is easy. Finishing is hard work. In the Bible, the ability to finish is called perseverance. In Hebrews 12, the Christian life is likened to a marathon, and we’re told very clearly how to make sure we finish well without “growing weary and losing heart.”
Throughout the book of Hebrews, the author repeatedly challenges his readers to stay faithful to Jesus no matter what. By the world’s standards, many of them had good reason to bail on their faith in Jesus. Being a disciple often put their families, their resources, their homes, and even their lives in jeopardy. But these early believers had a hope that far surpassed any of those earthly things. They drew purpose and courage from their faith… even when they couldn’t see how circumstances were going to play out.
One of the central problems that the gospel overcomes is guilt and shame. At the center of the gospel (the good news of Jesus) is this premise: We were guilty: Christ took that away. In Hebrews 8-10, the main argument the author is making is that Jesus brings a better approach to guilt and shame because He offers a new and better agreement between God and men than the one contained in the Old Testament.
In Scripture, you have both warnings and assurances. In Hebrews 6, you find one of the most somber warnings in all of the Bible. It’s clear from the context that he is talking to believers, whom He is concerned could “fall away” from Jesus. But what does that mean, and how do you avoid it? Join us this weekend as we do a deep dive into, not just the teaching of this passage, but the broader teaching of Scripture related to the importance of assurance and security in our relationships with Jesus.
Too often, doubt is seen as a bad thing. It’s easy to view doubt as a weakness. But what if doubt isn't an indictment of your faith, but an acknowledgment of your faith? Join us as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and how doubt plays an important role in our walk with Him.
For most of us it's easy to feel stagnant in our faith. But, the author of Hebrews makes a very strong point in chapter 6: if you follow Jesus you're either taking a step forward or taking a step back. There is no in-between.
The author of Hebrews wrestles with the Old Testament in a way no other New Testament letter does. The initial readers of Hebrews looked back on the Old Testament with newfound clarity in light of Jesus. Today we read Hebrews and it can be a little confusing.
This week we're going to look at the fact that Jesus is a better high priest and what that means for us today.
Today when we purchase things like phones and computers or even cars, we often do so based on one primary factor: speed. In our culture, fast is king, and we try to cram more and more things into less and less time. How do you find rest in that kind of culture? How do you stop when everyone else is trying to cram in more?
The natural bent of the human heart is towards unbelief. The reason is simple: Unbelief requires nothing from you. It makes no demands and allows you to navigate life as the captain of your fate and the master of your soul. But while unbelief demands nothing, it costs you everything.
Over the years, lots of pictures of Jesus have been produced. But the only one that is accurate is found in Scripture. This weekend we looked at four pictures of Jesus contained in Hebrews 2.
The book of Hebrews is birthed in a concern: the writer is urging God’s people to go all the way with Jesus. He was concerned that the hardships of their lives might cause them to leave Jesus behind. Life was hard. In truth, things aren't much different today. What hardships are causing you to leave Jesus behind?
The big question of the series: What am I making Better than Jesus? Our hope is that each of us will come to a place where we can name those struggles and walk towards putting Jesus first in our lives. As we learn to be ALL IN, we’ll learn that Jesus is Better, and He deserves our Time, Talents and Treasure.
If every year for the rest of your life played out the way 2020 did, would your life be worth living? Another way of asking that is where is your hope? Peter writes some incredibly encouraging words in 1 Peter that have a lot to say about where we can find our hope.
In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul says, “Love is kind….” The word “kind” can be translated as “useful or beneficial to someone else” or even “love expressed in action.” Not only does this observation change how we parent, but it must also change the goal of our parenting. The goal of a parent who is a follower of Jesus must be to raise children who are beneficial to others in all of their relationships.
Jesus never talked directly about parenting, but he did provide the command that would provide the foundation, not just for parenting, but for all relationships. It was a command that focused on behavior. He said, “A new command I give you: Love one another as I have loved you.”
This is a command that challenges the why and the who of parenting, because it asks parents to put the needs of their children ahead of their own. It forces parents to ask an important question: “Am I more concerned about my reputation or my children?” “Am I wrapped up in how my children make me look or how they look, how they are doing?”
If we look at the families in the Bible, most of them are pretty screwed up. The Bible talks about its families this way because all families can be dysfunctional. The good news is that Jesus always meets us in what is real and then points us to what is ideal.
At the last supper, Jesus performs one of the great acts of service his disciples had ever experienced. He washed their feet… Their master, teacher, lord. He took on the role of lowest rank and served them. By doing so He gave his disciples an example of how they are to be his representative in the world.
Our human tendency is to project our experience with our earthly fathers, allowing it to shape how we perceive and interact with our heavenly father. But the truth is that God is not just a heavenly version of our earthly fathers. In fact, we’ve got it completely backwards! Our earthly fathers are flawed representatives of our heavenly father.
The idolatry of King Ahaz is front and center in the book of Isaiah. He looked for salvation and success in places other than God. If he had believed even for a moment that Yahweh was mighty God, he would never have done any of those things.
But the scariest part is that we can be guilty of the same thing. Our gods don’t have names like Baal or Zeus, but instead names like money and power, status and control, or sex and relationships.
What is the importance of the name “Wonderful Counselor” to believers today? Because the Wonderful Counselor is also our Creator and Savior, and because He is the fulfillment of all that both Old and New Testaments teach, His counsel is found wherever we can find the words and provisions of God.
It’s easy to go about our lives as if our story is all about us – whoever we want to be and whatever we want to do. But it doesn’t have to be that way! In fact, there’s a much better way to live. Embracing God’s story reframes our stories so that we can live with the purpose He created us to experience.
Everything we have is given to us by God. The problem is, we can begin to assume that everything God has given us belongs to us and not him. We confuse ownership with stewardship, which means that one day God will ask us how we used the resources that he gave us. Not only does generosity safeguard us from trusting in wealth instead of God, but it also fulfills the heart and desire of our God, who has been so generous with each of us.
Jesus didn’t ask His followers to love like they would want to be loved. He asked them to love “as He had loved them.” This kind of love raises the bar. It means that love must lay down its life for the sake of others. It means that love gives and sacrifices because that is the kind of love that Jesus brings.
Our vision is to be a disciple-making church that brings hope and healing to our community.
This week we look at Jesus healing a man that has been paralyzed for 38 years. But he goes further than healing him, he challenges him to holiness. Jesus is after far more than physical healing, He wants spiritual healing as well.
When we magnify Jesus, we are doing the very thing that we were created for. We are each meant to become less so that Jesus can become more, and there is great joy in doing so. What if our problem isn’t that we desire too much, but that we actually desire too little?
Colossians 1 calls us out by reminding us that Jesus has submitted everything under His feet so that He might come to have first place in everything. How about you? Are you offering Jesus the very best of your time, talents, and treasures? Are you ALL IN on your relationship with Him?
When my great grandfather immigrated from Sweden in 1911, He signed a declaration of intention that he was renouncing his allegiance and loyalty to the King of Sweden.
In a similar fashion, when Christians accept Jesus as king of their lives, they too lay down allegiance and loyalty to the things that once ruled their life. Scripture goes so far as to call us “citizens of heaven.” But what does it look like to be a citizen of heaven while still residing on earth?
We see relationships on the edge of ending because of taking political sides. We see people hurting each other on social media by slandering. Jesus didn’t come to take sides. He calls us to more than that. He calls our church to be in unity with one another.
We’re so accustomed to labels. We use them to label people all the time. We even think of ourselves with different labels. But many followers of Jesus are unaware of the label that is meant to sift, filter, and impact every other label in their life.
Vince Bradburn shares what he's learned and how he's grown in his relationship with Jesus
In the last several chapters of the book of Daniel, God wants His people to have an understanding of the future. So God gives Daniel a series of dreams and visions about what will take place in the future that he writes down in Daniel chapters 7-12.
If you grew up in Sunday School, you probably heard about Daniel and the lion’s den. But what if this story is about more than a lion. What if it's about how to engage with the world we live in. Hundreds of years later Jesus taught his disciples to be salt and light, and Daniel lived this out well.
This weekend we discuss how Jesus has completely reinterpreted the Old Covenant (agreement) and the commands that flow from it. Jesus has taken what used to represent the judgment of God and made it a message of grace, hope, and healing. He has taken what was old and made it new.
Human beings have been striving for significance since the beginning of time. Over the centuries, there have been lots of different ways that cultures & individuals have pursued meaning & purpose for their lives. If we’re honest, each one of us longs for significance. And we often refuse to acknowledge the truth that one day we’ll die. But as followers of Jesus, we don’t have to chase significance and fear death like the world does. Because at the end of the day, we know that it’s God who makes us significant.
God says, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." And a really important word there is that little word all...everybody...Adolf Hitler, Mother Teresa, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, me, and you. But because God would never lower His standards, He lowered Himself in Jesus to pay for our sin. Join us this weekend as we see how far Nebuchadnezzar will have to go to encounter and meet the sovereign God of the universe.
Nobody ever goes into the furnace on purpose. We live in a culture of furnace avoiders, and for good reason. But what if someone is waiting for us in the furnace? What if the furnace is where we will actually experience God and His rescue?
You never know what life will throw at you, so you have to be prepared. Since people often make mistakes, how do you survive them? This message talks about the absolute worst mistake that any of us could ever make. Spiritual Compromise.
The desire to control is at the root of almost all anxiety, fear, and worry. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way. There are things that you and I can do to reduce or eliminate sleepless nights and stressful days.
We all have and make plans. We all do, but God does not say, "For I know the plans you have for you." He says, "I know the plans I have for you."
When it comes to living in a world where things can seem random, out of control, and people have to endure unfair and even evil things, sometimes we want to know, “Is anyone piloting this thing?” Is there someone in charge and in control? Is He good? Is He powerful? If He exists, does He love me or hate me? These are the kinds of questions that the book of Daniel answers definitively.
We have strong feelings at times about how we love or hate certain things. It can be easy to love... especially when we have others agreeing with us. We try to justify why we don’t like THOSE people, or THAT team, or THAT place. Hate does that. It turns people, places, and things into THEM. But Jesus has a call that jerks our hearts around quite a bit. It’s something I wish Jesus never said: To love those who hate you.
Jesus has a lot to say about waiting. In the last sermon Jesus gives before his crucifixion He tells his disciples that He’s going to return at some point. He then uses parables and lessons on watching, waiting, and being prepared for his second coming. In his parable about the sheep and the goats Jesus makes a statement I wish He never said.
Jesus tells a parable about someone building a tower and not completing the job. He goes on to tell about a king that underestimates his enemy. He then lays out a warning... what kingdoms are you investing in? Because those will fail and mine will come.
Jesus shared a lot of difficult teachings during his ministry here on earth. We kick off the series by looking at a statement that caused many of his disciples to completely walk away from following Him.
If you’ve ever been to more than one wedding, you’ve probably heard 1 Corinthians 13 read aloud. It’s often called “The Love Chapter.” While it sounds poetic and beautiful, it’s actually gritty and oh, so challenging to our culture’s view of love.
Sometimes when a couple files for divorce, they do on the grounds of something called “irreconcilable differences.” The idea is that no one, in particular, is at fault in the marriage, but there are fundamental compatibility issues that will prevent that marriage from being successful. Make no mistake, behind every divorce is a series of refusals on the part of at least one spouse to forgive.
We all enter into marriage with hopes, dreams, and desires. The only way to keep them from becoming expectations is to decide that your spouse doesn’t owe you. As long as you think your spouse owes you, your marriage is transactional. It’s all about relational debt & keeping score. That destroys intimacy. It destroys love.
Simply put, Christian marriage is meant to be a submission competition. It is meant to be a race to the back of the line. Every single day. Healthy marriages aren’t built on keeping score, but instead on serving and loving one another by putting our partner's needs above our own.
This week we’ll note that when it comes to any relationship, we each bring a box, an invisible box of hopes, dreams, and desires that we carry into that relationship. This is usually healthy and normal. But what happens when those desires become demands?
The things that we speak aren’t so much a word problem but rather a heart problem. Jesus calls us to look beyond the symptoms of our words in order to focus on the source that causes our words to dishonor him.
The words we speak to our family members during this quarantine will stick. They will stay stuck in our relationships, whether it be with a spouse, a son, or a daughter. The good news is that you can make your words work FOR you and your family during a quarantine.
We will stay centered on God’s Word by holding the Bible above us as our authority as we help everyone understand and apply it.
The Christian life isn’t just difficult to live. It’s impossible to live. The Christian life is a supernatural life, which means you can’t live it alone. We must live the Christian life out of the power & guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Worry is what happens when you meditate on your problems. Anxiety is what happens when you meditate on the things that threaten peace. Worship is what happens when you meditate on God and enter into His presence and the residue of His glory. As God gets bigger in worship, our worries and anxiety get smaller and lose their hold on us.
“When you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).
In this value, we are saying that we will be a church that will serve with a reckless generosity that only makes sense in light of the generosity of God’s grace.
Spiritual growth is a partnership between us and God where He brings all the resources and I intentionally tap into and live out of those resources. It’s the difference between “Training” and “Trying.”
A disciple is a student, apprentice, or pupil. Because Jesus was known as a Rabbi (teacher), He had disciples. It was the goal of every disciple to become like their teacher. To become a disciple, we must accept Jesus as our teacher. We must believe that He is right, not just about heaven, but about everything.
The vision of Shelbyville Community Church is to be a disciple-making church that brings hope and healing to our community.
From the Trinity to the 10 commandments, to the fruit of the spirit, over and over again we see the importance of relationships throughout God’s story. Our prayer is that Jesus will use relational environments at SCC to set the stage for the Holy Spirit to do some of his best work in our lives.
Jesus has not given us a mission that we can accomplish alone or in our own strength. It takes a disciple to make another disciple, as programs alone will never be enough. It’s so vital that we each become people that radically love and lead like Jesus.
Everyone you know and love desperately needs Jesus. Even those you dislike and avoid have a deep need for your Savior. But for a variety of reasons, it’s possible to go through life blind and distracted from that need. This is one of the reasons everyone needs to be plugged into a church that reminds us often how vital it is to bring the people in our lives to Jesus.
Paul states that when we put our faith in Christ we become a new creation. He goes further in the book of Colossians by saying that Christ is in us, that we are in him, and that we are hidden with him in God. Far too many of us identify as sinners saved by grace. Paul challenges this thinking by saying you're a new creation! The old has passed the new has come.
Most of your friends think the message of Christianity is ‘Be good! Here’s the bar, now measure up to it.” They couldn’t be more wrong. The message of the Christian faith isn’t that we have done anything, but that we believe that someone ELSE has. This is what separates Christianity from every other world religion.
You reap what you sow. This is a spiritual law that is as real and measurable as the law of gravity. If we sow to the spiritual nature, we will reap the good fruit that comes from that nature. But if we sow to the flesh we will reap the whirlwind that comes from that nature.
It’s easy for us to compare ourselves to others in order to feel like we measure up. We feel the need to justify our weaknesses or to make ourselves appear to have it all together when we’re actually a train wreck inside. But when we’re willing to see ourselves as God sees us, that all starts to change. The need to compare ourselves to others in order to find our worth begins to fade, and we find purpose in bearing others’ burdens while inviting them to help bear ours.
The holidays typically mean time with family. And family has a way of driving us nuts in ways that no one else can. It’s so easy to look at everyone else and judge how they act, what they say, and what they believe. Jesus gives us a good reminder to worry about the plank in our own eye before looking at the speck of dust in someone else’s eyes.
Burdens aren’t something that we’re called to carry alone. In the life of the Church, burdens aren’t so much a “you” or a “me” thing as they are an “us” thing. In fact, when we follow the Holy Spirit’s lead & bear each other’s burdens, those are some of the times where God is most honored.
When it comes to people, God is in the restoration business. It’s what He does. It’s who He is, and He invites us into that work. We are commanded in the name of love to “restore” one another.
Like an apple tree, we can't produce fruit unless we have outside help. Trees need good soil, water, and sunlight. Christians produce fruit because of the spirit, not their own efforts. In Galatians 5:16-26, Paul tells us to walk by the spirit, look at the obvious, and remember the good news.
The “one-anothers” of the New Testament are simply specific applications of Jesus’ command to love one another. In other words, it’s unloving to refuse to forgive someone. It’s unloving to refuse to submit to the needs of another. It’s unloving to refuse to carry someone else's burden.
Imagine a world where people were skeptical of what we believed but envious of how well we treated one another.
In Galatians 5:6, the Apostle Paul makes an astounding and clarifying statement. He says, “The ONLY thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love.” Why would Paul say that? Did He REALLY mean that faith and love were the ONLY things that count in this life? The short answer is: yes.
Up until this point, Paul has been a bit aggressive in his approach with the recipients of his letter. Paul admits it in 4:20, saying "I wish i could change my tone with you, but I'm perplexed by you." Paul then takes a different approach by looking at the ancestry fo the Jewish people. He uses it to remind them that they are people of promise and that they're people that are free through Jesus.
One of the many hopes held out by the gospel is that as God’s children, we are His heirs. But what exactly is it that we will inherit? Join us this weekend as we tease out some of what it means for us to be heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.
Our culture has lots of different barriers that threaten to divide different groups of people from one another. But when the gospel comes into the picture? Everything changes! The good news of Jesus doesn’t just maintain the status quo. It compels us to bring those barriers down.
For God’s people, the Old Covenant law functioned kind of like a set of training wheels, preparing them for the day when Jesus would come to set them free from the old way of life & give them a new way to live. It can be tempting to live as if we’re simply keeping to a set of rules rather than pursuing a relationship with a Lord & savior who created us to live freely. Join us on Sunday as we look at what Paul had to say to the Church in Galatia as they were learning to ditch their spiritual training wheels.
Jesus once likened life in the Spirit to the flow of a river, calling out…
“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flowing from within.’ By this, He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. (John 7:37-39).
In other words, let anybody who is dissatisfied, unhappy, discontent, who hasn’t had a real good life, let them come to me. I will give them the Holy Spirit, and He will satisfy their desires.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Hypocrisy = Wrong behavior + Right belief. But what if the "hypocrite" label isn't reserved for a specific group of people? What is hypocrisy is a struggle that's way more widespread than we might assume? This week, we'll be looking into how one of the leaders in the early Church started behaving hypocritically and how another leader decided to step up & call him on it.
Anytime we add to the Gospel, we rob it of the freedom it's meant to bring. Even adding great things can easily make the good news of Jesus about us and not Jesus. The gospel plus anything means we're still trying to earn God's love, favor, and forgiveness. In the book of Galatians, Paul is addressing this issue head-on and pleading with them to be a unified church that believes the gospel + nothing = everything.
The hope held out by the good news of Jesus is that you can have a former life. The offer of the gospel is that no matter what you are dealing with today that God will help you grow past that tomorrow. Often people will say, “If God loves me just the way I am, why would He ask me to change?” The call to change is actually rooted in and flows out of the Love of God.
Why did Jesus have to die? Why couldn’t God have just forgiven us? The answer is: Death is the engine of life. When Jesus died on the cross, He was acting in accordance with the way things are and with the way our world already works.
The Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, and the Sistine Chapel are all masterpieces, created with intentionality. They are intimate pieces refined by the artist until completion. Created with a plan and a purpose. God uses prayer in the same way! When we have an intentional prayer life with our heavenly Father He uses it to refine us into the Masterpieces that He planned long before we were born.
It's pretty easy to look at mountain range or a waterfall or a beautiful sunset and be in awe of God's creation. But what if God's greatest creation, his masterpiece, wasn't found in nature, but in you?
The video shown in the service can be seen here.