Gulf Coast Community Church - Sunday Sermons: Recent Episodes
Gulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
Churches are much noisier than libraries, and for good reason. Libraries are filled with words but are absolutely silent. Churches have less words, to be sure, but are much noisier. And they should be.
Since the beginning, the Church has held the spoken, sung, and heard Word as an essential part of its liturgy (public worship). A lot has changed since then, but maybe nothing more significant than the invention of the Gutenberg press.
The transformation from a speaking and listening culture to a writing and reading culture has dramatically changed things. As Marshall McLuhan quipped, “The medium is the message.” If the medium is the voice, but it changes to a page, it affects the message.
Join us in worship as we explore the significance and necessity of speaking and hearing God’s word in community.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240915.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
We, the Church (and the church), are a royal priesthood and holy people. To be a priestly people, a holy people, our first obligation is to the God we serve. As a priestly people, our first obligation is our worship of God together. As a holy people, we must keep that worship pure.
Worship of the Triune God is the primary difference between the church and any other organization (though there are surely many secondary and tertiary differences). Without this worship, the church would not be the church. To be the church is to be a worshipping community; who we are is defined by worship.
God forms His people into His image in worship by His Spirit through the means he has given us. There are 3 things we must consider in examining and exploring our worship: tradition, liturgy, and charismata.
Join us as we explore how our worship is central to our becoming a Spirit-formed community.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240908.pdf
Preacher: Ryan Carver
Text: 1 Cor. 13
Themes: Love vs. individualism and selfishness.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240901.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
All I wanna do is go the distance … so I’ll know I’m not just another bum from the neighborhood.Rocky
Is the church of the Lord Jesus “just another bum from the neighborhood”? If we listen to the world we might think so. If we listen to believers at times we might think so. But it’s a lie; a lie which can only be overcome by an amazing truth about the church.
Paul’s letter to Ephesians is a masterpiece concerning whom we, the church, are. I use church without the capital “C” because Paul wasn’t speaking about the church as some kind of universal, invisible community, he is speaking about the church that gathers. The one that has to bear with one another, forgive one another, and work hard to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
And what Paul says about the church would be outrageous if it weren’t true. In Ephesians he paints with royal brushstrokes. With seemingly every stroke of his brush, he points out our royal connections and calling.
Join us in worship as we continue to explore what it means to be a royal priesthood and holy people in the message titled Putting the Royal in the Priesthood.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240825.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
Have you ever heard (or even said, like me) “Justice is the act of giving people what they deserve, while mercy is the act of not giving people what they deserve.” There is some truth in those words, but it is not a full, Biblically informed definition of either justice or mercy.
Since justice and mercy are at the heart of what God requires of us as human beings (Mic. 6:8), having a more Biblically informed understanding of these is vital. Most of us are very familiar with the notion of justice as what is due to someone, but less familiar with justice as what is due from someone.
This Sunday we will continue our series Becoming a Merciful Church as we explore what is at the very heart of God’s call to us as human beings, especially as the new humanity being formed in Christ.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240818.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
Nearly anyone who has been the recipient of an inheritance (or should have been) can relate to the man who approached Jesus with the request, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Most people feel either slighted or justified in one way or another in such circumstances.
That there are disputes over inheritances is no surprise. Jesus’ response to this man, however, likely surprises most of us. After his terse response that amounts to “What business of mine is this?” He immediately begins talking about greed—evidently both on the part of the brother who stole the inheritance and on the part of the brother who wants things set right.
In truth, Jesus is talking about a much greater possession or inheritance which people are squandering in their pursuit of what they feel is right. He shows us all the way to this greater inheritance. And it is not just “going to heaven” when you die.
Join us in worship as we continue our series Becoming a Merciful Church: Radical Generosity, exploring Luke 12:13-34.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240811.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
The book of Acts begins with Luke telling us that his first book (Luke) was about all that Jesus began to do and teach. The implication is clear: Acts is about what Jesus continued to do and teach through His Spirit empowered church.
But what is it, exactly, that they did? What did Jesus do? What did the early church do? We often focus 95% of our energy on what they taught (I made that statistic up!) The early chapters of Acts demonstrate the importance of what they did. And our text this Sunday, Acts 6:1-7, shows the impact of living out the radical generosity of Christ’s kingdom.
Join us in worship as we begin the 3rd component of our larger series A Royal Priesthood – A Holy People, Becoming a Merciful Church.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240804.pdf
Preacher: Ryan Carver
Text: Matthew 7:13-29
Themes: Spiritual formation, Holy Spirit, Community, Abiding with Jesus. Transformation. Following Jesus.
Summary: We learn from Jesus in the sermon on the mount how we are to live and we see this played out through the rest of Matthew’s gospel. Jesus reveals and leads us in the way of life, forming a new humanity and we must follow His ways to experience the good life he promises. There is a way to live your life that is countercultural but it leads to life and transformation.
What is the bedrock your building your life on?
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240728.pdf
Preacher: Doug Hon
Text: Acts 2:42-47; Exo. 20:3-6; 1 Pet. 2:8-10
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240721.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
Have you ever been in one of those moments when you wanted to have a spiritual conversation but the only way to bring it up was to awkwardly insert it in an abrupt fashion? Did you want to cringe and hide after that? What if there were a way to have those conversations without all that cringe? What if it left people feeling more loved and cared about?
There are no secrets for making everyone receptive to the Gospel. But there are ways we can learn to listen to people and discern where they are already seeking answers for something the Gospel addresses. While there is no magic button for “winning souls” it is a great way to learn how to love our neighbors while representing King Jesus!
Join us this Sunday as we gather for worship, exploring “Five Magnetic Points of Intersection” that everyone’s story has with the true story of the whole world.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240714.pdf
Preacher: Samuel McNair
Themes: Evangelism
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240707.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
We live in a fractured world. What can we offer them? Does the church offer a compelling alternative to what the world offers? If so, how so? If not, what needs to change?
As Christians in America in 2024, how we live during this election year might say more about our faith than anything else. That might sound too strong (and maybe it is). However, if followers of Jesus cannot show a compelling alternative to the rancor and venom permeating America’s social conversation why should anyone listen to us?
The mission of God doesn’t stop for election years and we don’t get time-off to follow another king. As a community of disciples, we must demonstrate that we have a higher allegiance—an allegiance to a king who achieved His rule through suffering and laying down his life. What does allegiance to this king look like?
Join us as we explore the hope that we have and how that is relevant to being people of God’s mission.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240630.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
To become a people of God’s mission, we must be a prophetic people. To be clear, I do not mean by that a people who prophesy (though that might be a legitimate use of the phrase). I mean a church that first sees clearly (the prophets were known as seers—see-ers) the idols of our age and rid our own lives of those idols.
The hardest idols to root out of our lives are those we have reimagined as Christian. Just as the Israelites in the wilderness made a golden calf and named it Yahweh, declaring it had brought them out of Egypt, so believers through the ages have renamed various idols as God or Christian. We must see these for what they are.
The seductive nature of these idols combined with their ability to masquerade as Christian virtue require supernatural discernment. Join us as we explore the idols of our own making as well as the connection between idolatry and mission.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240623.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
There is often a grave inconsistency in the lives of those who profess faith in the Lord Jesus. This is not unique to the Christian faith. It was certainly a significant factor in Israel’s community in the Old Testament. People today might call it hypocrisy, which indeed it is.
Not hypocrisy in the traditional sense of the word— “professing to be one thing and living as another” —but a deeper hypocrisy. It might be described as “freely receiving an outrageous mercy and not proactively extending it to others.”
So far (and I am almost finished), the word “hypocrisy” has not made it into my sermon. It probably won’t. However, we will be speaking about how God’s redemptive acts toward us must inform our lives. Redemption must lead to redemptive living. We will see how this is a pattern both in the Exodus and in the Cross of the Lord Jesus.
Join us in worship as we continue discovering how we start becoming people of God’s mission.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240616.pdf
Preacher: Zach McNabb
Text: 1 Cor 10:23-33; Col 3:12-17
Headings:
1. Context Matters
2. Relationships Matter
3. Everything Matters
Preacher: Aron Osborne
Text: James 1:27
Themes: Gospel Mercy as an essential of Being a People of God’s Mission
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
The Bible tells us we are a kingdom of priests and a holy people. What does that mean?
Since the Reformation conversation about that has largely focused on the priesthood of all believers, but while that is a thing, it isn’t really what that phrase in Scripture (Exodus 19:6; 1 Pet. 2:9) is about. That phrase envisions a whole community of priests.
Why does God want a priesthood and what does that have to do with His mission? And why does He want a community to do it instead of a bunch of individuals? What does a community require that a collection of individuals doesn’t?
Join us this Sunday in worship as we seek answers to these questions in our continuing series: Becoming People of God’s Mission.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240526.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday which is sadly one of the more neglected days on the church calendar. For some “Pentecost” is merely a reference to one particular strain of Christians that emphasize emotionalism (as described pejoratively by their detractors). It can bring to mind debates about supernatural gifts of the Spirit. But Pentecost is so much bigger than this.
To grasp the significance of Pentecost we will explore the events of Acts 2 this Sunday setting out to answer 3 things. First, what was Pentecost before it was Pentecost? (I.e. what was Jewish Pentecost in the 1st century, before it became known as the Christian event on the church calendar?) Second, how does Pentecost help us understand Paul? And finally, how did Pentecost change everything?
Join us in worship as we celebrate this momentous day in the history of God’s people.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240519.pdf
Preacher: Pete Mishler
Themes: Life and abortion
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240512.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
Do you know that Abraham had a great commission? He succeeded in accomplishing his part in it too. Abraham’s great commission has everything to do with why Jesus died on the cross.
If our God is the one true God of all the world, then why did God single out Abraham and his descendants for a covenant? How would that lead to world-wide salvation? Is there a connection between Abraham’s election, his ethical living, and the mission to reach the world?
Join us as we continue our series, “Becoming People of God’s Mission.” We will be exploring Abraham’s great commission and how it informs our own great commission.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240505.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
As a pastor, it’s not uncommon to be asked the question, “What is the church’s mission?” It’s a fair question but I am not sure if it is the right question. At least, I don’t think it is the right question for the church to be asking itself.
The right question for the church to ask itself is, “What is God’s mission?” Once we find out what that is, we certainly ought to do everything we can by His grace to join right in. In fact, Genesis 1–2 tell us that we were made to be God’s representatives in His mission in the world.
What is God’s original mission? What is God’s redemptive and restorative mission? How do the two relate? What is our role in them?
Join us this Sunday as we begin a new series “Becoming People of God’s Mission” and explore the answers to those questions right from the start.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240428.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
What does it mean to be a praying church? How do we become one? What would a praying church pray for?
We’ve spent 4 weeks focused on Becoming a Praying Church as an essential part of what it means to fulfill our calling as a royal priesthood and holy people. This Sunday we will explore what has been given to us as an essential tool for formation into a church becoming a praying church.
Join us this Sunday as we explore 3 key ways the Lord’s Prayer shapes us into a people that are becoming a praying church that knows what it ought to be praying for.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240421.pdf
Preacher: Ryan Carver
Themes: God’s people are blessed. What does this mean and look like? We are to bless others. What does this mean and look like?
The blessing of God as He involves us in His mission as we bless others we too are blessed.
What does this look like over history and for us now?
Texts: Gal 3:8-9. Gen 1:22, Gen 12:1-3, Ex 19:5-6, Acts 1:8
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
The church is called to be a royal priesthood and holy people. Core to that calling is our calling to pray for one another, for the world, and for our enemies. In a word, intercession.
This week, in our series Becoming a Praying Church, we are exploring intercession. We will look at what it is and why it is needed, we will see how Israel failed in her calling but also see excellent examples in our rich heritage of intercessors in both the Old and New Testaments. Finally, we will consider the church’s calling to intercede on behalf of the world.
Join us in worship this Sunday as we explore what it means to be an interceding people, making all kinds of requests to God on behalf of all people (1 Tim. 2:1-6a).
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240407.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
What is the meaning of the Resurrection? Each of the Gospel writers shares details that make us curious. It is not uncommon for people to talk about how the Resurrection means we will not die but go to heaven. However, it is interesting that none of the Gospel writers, seem to draw that meaning when the events happened.
What was the significance of the Resurrection? Why can the first “Easter” rightly be called, “The Day the New Creation Began”? What does that mean for our worship? What does that mean for our lives? Why should it change everything?
Join us this Easter in worship of the risen Lord as we explore John’s account of the Resurrection and how it answers those questions.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240331.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
Palm Sunday opens what is traditionally called Holy Week. It shouldn’t be missed that there was not much “holy” going on that first “Holy Week.” The events we remember on Palm Sunday start that week, and the trial and crucifixion of Jesus complete it. These accounts challenge us to examine the idols in our own hearts and rid ourselves of them.
We in the modern world have demystified the world so we no longer have any idols, right? Wrong! Idols are any human construct (“made by human hands”) that we trust in rather than God. By that definition, they are as numerous today as at any time.
Join us as we examine our worship of Jesus our King to see if our outpost of the kingdom constitutes a house of prayer or an insurrectionists’ lair.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240324.pdf
Preacher: Zach McNabb
Text: Hebrews 11 & 12
Themes:
The endurance of faith comes from having the proper vision of glory. Jesus endured the cross because of the joy set before Him. The people of Heb. 11 had the vision of the new Kingdom which was their hope, which empowered their faithful endurance.
Selling all to buy the field joyfully because of the treasure.
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
In his book, Reversed Thunder, Eugene Peterson wrote:
“While conflicts raged between good and evil, prayers went up from devout bands of first century Christians all over the Roman empire. Massive engines of persecution and scorn were ranged against them. They had neither weapons nor votes. They had little money and no prestige. Why didn’t they have mental breakdowns? Why didn’t they cut and run? They prayed.
“It was in order to hear those prayers that there was silence in heaven [Rev. 8:1-3]. He mixed the prayers of the Christians with incense (which cleansed them from impurities) and combined them with fire (God’s Spirit) from the altar. Then he put it all in the censor and threw it over heaven’s ramparts. The censor, plummeting through the air, landed on earth. On impact there were ‘peals of thunder, voices, flashes of lighting, and an earthquake’ (Rev. 8:5). The prayers which had ascended, unremarked by the journalists of the day, returned with immense force—in George’s Herbert’s phrase, as ‘reversed thunder.’ Prayer reenters history with incalculable effects. Our earth is shaken daily by it.”
Oh that we would see clearly the power unleashed through prayer in the world. May we become a praying church crying out, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Join us as we continue our series: A Royal Priesthood – A Holy People: Becoming a Praying Church.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240310.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
If what we have considered in our series Gospel Clarity is true (and, of course, I think it is), then it affects everything. Since everything the church does should grow out of the Gospel, then even slight adjustments to our understanding of the Gospel will affect everything from our mission to how we achieve it. How much more significant adjustments.
We begin a new series this week. It grows out of the previous one. In fact, it will be a large series that will encompass a number of smaller series. The large series is “A Royal Priesthood – A Holy People.” The first miniseries within it is: “Becoming a Praying Church.”
Just wait until you see how greater Gospel clarity transforms the meaning and motivation of prayer. We will begin this series on Becoming a Praying Church in the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8).
Join us in worship as we see the vital connection between the Gospel, our mission, and prayer.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240303.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
It’s not hard to find Christians today who might bemoan the fact that the church has lost a significant amount of its influence in culture today. We no longer have prayer in schools, people have to work on Sundays, and we no longer get to define marriage by Biblical standards. I cannot deny that there were benefits to such cultural dominance that is now long gone.
What if I were to suggest to you, however, that this may be the best thing that has happened to the church. I know, many might screw up their faces looking at me in response, but there is actually a wonderful benefit to all of the above for the church. [If you have a hard time conceiving of that being the case, I need only remind you that the church often flourishes in times of persecution. If that can be true of persecution, certainly it can be true of a mere loss of cultural power.]
You might wonder what any of this has to do with Gospel clarity. As we finish our series: Gospel Clarity: What is the Gospel? Why do we need it?, we are going to look at what might be Paul’s clearest Gospel summary (Rom. 1:1-7). Understanding the Gospel with clarity may help us understand why the church may well be in a great place for Gospel advance.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240218.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
Most sharks have to move to breath and therefore cannot stop moving forward. This is how they force water through their gills so they can get the oxygen they need. Humans are much the same way when it comes to glory. We were created to bear glory, God’s glory.
In our rebellion against God, we’ve substituted our own glory, a weak substitute that is actually killing us slowly (like carbon monoxide seeping into a home). But we know we must keep moving toward glory. We need to be redirected to true glory. That is what the Gospel is all about, for the human problem is that because of sin, we lack the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).
This week in our series, Gospel Clarity: What is the Gospel? Why do we need it? we will learn why the Gospel is all about glory. In fact, why Paul even calls it “the Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.” Indeed it’s not just about the glory of Christ (kept only for Him), but about how Christ’s glory increases as He shares it with us.
Join us in worshiping our risen and reigning King.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240211.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
“Our passion is to know that we are fulfilling the purpose for which we are here on earth.” — Os GuinnessDeep down, I believe Guinness is right and the Gospel calls us to that very purpose and equips us so we are able to fulfill it. (All good Evangelicals will say, “Amen!” here. But if pressed to explain how, we may well be stuck.)
Last week we began a series, Gospel Clarity: What is the Gospel? Why do we Need It? If we have a truncated Gospel we will likely not understand how it calls us to “the purpose for which we are here on earth” or equips us to fulfill it. Sadly, for many Christians, the Gospel is about the next life and has little or nothing to do with this life. If that is true of our Gospel, then it is, at best, a truncated Gospel, or Gospel-lite with half the spiritual calories.
We began this series in Isaiah 52:7 exploring what the Gospel is and why that matters. We will pick up this week in what may be Paul’s earliest letter, 1 Thessalonians, and explore the Gospel that calls us “to walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (1 Thess. 2:12). Does your Gospel call you to walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory? If not, it should. If so, how so?
Join us in worship as we explore Gospel Clarity.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240204.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
The message of the Gospel is the most important message in all the world. Yet for most of us, if someone asks us, “What is the Gospel?” we have to pause, minimally, and often struggle to articulate it. When we finally do articulate it, we wonder if we got it right. Or worse, we think we have it right but wonder what relevance it has to the person we told.
Have you ever read the sermons in the book of Acts and noticed how different the emphasis of those sermons seems compared to what might be emphasized in a Gospel sermon today? I have. Early in my preaching ministry it bothered me. It bothered me enough to really think about it.
We’ve all heard that “gospel” means good news, but is it any good news? Is allgood news the Gospel? Certainly not. For that matter, does gospel actually mean good news? I.e. Is etymology (the study of how a word was formed) meaning?
This Sunday we begin a new series, Gospel Clarity: What is the Gospel and Why Do We Need It? We will begin this study looking at Isaiah 52:7, one of the most gospel saturated verses in the Bible.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240128.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
The book of Revelation describes beasts, dragons, plagues, wrath, persecutions, and rewards. It is filled with visual stimuli such as blood, fire and even meteors as well as threats and promises. It finally comes to a glorious, surprising, and transforming end.
Revelation 21-22 is not only about the future, it has a lot to do with the present, a present which is anchored in a sure future. The visions of John call us out of the earthly city, Babylon, the capitol city of the Beast, and call us to the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, the capital city of the Lamb.
As believers we are called to live as citizens of the New Jerusalem now. We may live here, but we are to live here as if we are from there.
Join us in worship as we finish our series in Revelation, seeking to understand the what and when of the New Jerusalem, and how John’s vision calls us to live today.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240121.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
Are you premillennial, postmillennial, or amillennial? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’ve gotten into chapter 19 of the book of Revelation and haven’t answered that question. Why? Because it is largely irrelevant in determining how we read the rest of the book. A whole lot of ink has been spilled on something that doesn’t really come into play until chapter 20.
That said, we will have arrived at Revelation 20 tomorrow morning, and it will be necessary to explain the chapter. For that matter to explain what those terms in the first line of the email even mean. We will do this by exploring the text itself and the rest of the NT.
We have 2 more messages, including this one, in our series in Revelation. And they surprisingly have more to do with “today” than you might suspect for texts about the millennium and the new heaven and the new earth.
Join us in worship as we continue our exploration in Revelation.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240114.pdf
Preacher: Steven Brunson
For quite some time, we have been hit with a barrage of unsettling news reports of the uncertainties with Israel, Gaza, Hamas and various warring factions. The interpretation of these events seem to abound including numerous conversations surrounding Jesus’ second coming.
In looking for more complete understanding of these troubling events, we can seem to get fixated on the signs of His return and also on when His return will occur.
Yet if we look at the teaching of Jesus in his end times teaching in Matthew 24 and 25, we see that Jesus focused His disciples on HOW to wait for his return rather than answering their question of when he will return.
There is much to be gained here. Join us in worship as we explore what He told his disciples about how to wait in the parable of the bags of gold.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240107.pdf
Preacher: Ryan Carver
Transitions and trials are some of the hardest times of life. How do we, as followers of Jesus, have hopeful endurance through such seemingly relentless difficulties and unknowns? By pursuing patience.
Patience, which is a fruit of the Spirit, is something that is formed in us by God as He molds and shapes us to become more like Jesus. When we express patience, rooted in the love of God, we show off God for the world to see.
Join us in worship as we look at Romans 8:18-39.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20231231.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
Imagine you were in Bethlehem at the time of Christ’s birth. Maybe you were one of Joseph’s relatives that had also traveled to Bethlehem, or maybe one of the small number of residents. What did Christ’s coming impact you? In an immediate sense, it disturbed you.
Whether you were ignorant of the events, a relative of Joseph and Mary’s, or Joseph or Mary, your life was upended. It is true that Jesus is the hope of the world, but that hope came more like a pregnancy than a beautiful baby set in a basket on one’s doorstep. Like pregnancy, it was fraught with difficulty and would bring pain before it brought great joy! (For those new parents, I realize that all is not paradise once the baby is born!)
When God reveals Himself, it disrupts our lives and the coming of Jesus is God revealing Himself more clearly than at any other time. The coming of Jesus disturbs everyone in the birth narrative of Matthew.
Join us in worship as we celebrate the coming of Christ.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20231224.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
The book of Proverbs personifies wisdom as a noble woman and folly as a seductive woman (Prov. 9, 31). The book of Revelation is also about two women: a harlot and a bride. One represents the human city in all it’s luxurious grandeur (despite most its residents living in a box the size of a closet). The other, a bride who represents the New Jerusalem which is 1,400 miles square… plenty of room for everyone! One rides the beast that comes up from the earth. The other comes down out of heaven from God. Living in one appears to be wise but is foolish. Living in the other appears to be foolish but is wise.
We often think that these cities live in chronological sequence: the earthly city and then the heavenly city. So that the call to come out of the earthly city is a call to isolate and wait. But Scripture doesn’t present it that way. Rather the citizens of each city bump shoulders on the streets of Ephesus, Smyrna, and Laodicea, as well as Tampa Bay and London. How we live reveals whether we live in the New Jerusalem or Babylon.
Revelation 17-19 are not a message about how things will be one day when the stars (or current events) align, but are a call to those in the church today; a call to come out of one city and live in another.
Join us in worship as we continue our series in Revelation.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20231217.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
Psychologist Barry Schwartz concludes his TED talk on the paradox of choice with the image of a fish in a fishbowl, and he asks: How free is that fish? Yes, of course the fish is confined, but shattering the fishbowl, removing all constraints, would not improve the fish’s situation. In fact, it would destroy him.
The world and the rulers of this age rage against God and His righteous ways. The consequences are devastating. That little fish was not made to live in a fishbowl, but it was made to live in water. We are all made to live, to flourish within certain confines. And a key confine relates to worship. There is only one God who made all things so to worship and follow any other leads to destruction.
This week we look at the final series of 7 “disasters” (the seven bowls of wrath) which come upon those who refuse to repent of their idolatry. Honestly this section raises a lot of questions for most which we will explore.
Join us in worship as we explore Revelation 15-16.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20231210.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
Revelation is a bloody book, to be sure. In fact, we are told in 14:19-20 that in the process of harvesting the earth, the blood flow will rise so high that it will spread the distance of 1,600 stadia (it doesn’t really matter what a stadia is… primarily that it is 1,600 of them), and up to the level of a horse’s bridle! That’s a lot of blood!
Is this a declaration that the Lamb slain is now slaying a bunch of others in order to harvest the earth? Has he finally become the Lion we really wanted after all and given up on this silly lamb-like behavior? How are we to read this harvest of the earth and all this blood?
This Sunday we will slow down a little in our series, our text overlapping with last week’s text, and explore other themes that have to do with how the Lamb intends to harvest the earth and our own role in it. We will learn,
“Revelation’s visions of judgment do not ultimately conflict with the central and centering vision of God and the Lamb in chapters 4 and 5.” (Michael J. Gorman. Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation. 185)
Join us in worship as we explore afresh Revelation 13:9—14:20.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20231126.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
In 1937, referring to the increasing tensions in Europe with Germany, Winston Churchill used near biblical language when he said, “Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.”
In our study of Revelation, this Sunday we arrive at the account of the Beasts out of the Sea and the Land. Who are these beasts? What is this meaning of 666? How do we the church do battle in the ways of the Lamb rather than succumbing to the ways of the Beasts?
The beasts of imperial worship in John’s day have morphed into new disguises today, but that is exactly what Babylon has done throughout history. It is important that we, the church, don’t get distracted by trying to figure out who the beast is, or when he will arrive, all the while he is present among us and we may well be bowing in worship without even thinking about it.
Join us in worship as we explore the two beasts of Revelation and our call to patient endurance and faithfulness.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20231119.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
Lampstands, fire-breathing witnesses, a pregnant cosmic woman, and a water-spewing dragon. It’s no wonder Revelation isn’t the easiest book to understand. Yet, since it is God’s Word, we have to persist in it because it reveals something about how God is at work in the world that, though consistent with what is revealed elsewhere, presents its own unique facet.
Revelation takes off the sheet from the masterpiece of history, and shows us what is really going on. That Jesus Christ as the center of history and the transformer of history. The Lamb slain and risen, murdered yet alive, reveals not only the truth about God but constitutes the truth about all of humanity and creation. Jesus is not one of many ways to God; He is the center of history and the sum of its meaning.
In a world which is in idolatrous pursuit of freedom, personal kingdoms, and (most importantly) self-realization, Revelation calls us to come out from among them. We must witness in word and by our lives that Jesus is the only true King of the world, the promised good king for all.
Join us in worship as we continue our study of Revelation in chapters 11-12.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20231112.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
“Are you pre-trib(ulation), mid-trib, or post-trib?” or, more generously, “Are you premillennial, amillenial, or postmillennial?” The 1st question more or less assumes an answer to the 2nd. The latter question focuses on only one chapter in Revelation (20) and doesn’t say much of anything about how one reads the rest. They are largely unhelpful questions.
A more helpful approach might be to ask, as we would about any other book of the Bible, what its purpose is. Why it was written to the churches of Asia minor? What would it have meant to them? I find that when I approach the book with this in mind, I find a lot less to argue about and a lot more to agree on. It doesn’t solve everything but it’s a step.
This Sunday we begin with a half hour of silence (no we aren’t leaving out the singing… I’m talking about the half hour of silence in the text), work through one of the noisiest sections in the Bible with trumpets blaring, and will think about one seriously massive angel and his tiny little book-snack.
Join us in worship as we explore Revelation 8—10 paying attention to the silence, the sound, and the sweet-n-sour scroll.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20231105.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
Our text begins with the Lamb, looking as if he had been slain, opening the seals which will allow the scroll to be opened. It ends with the sealed people of God who suffered through the events of the seals standing on the side of the sea, before God’s throne, giving praise for their victory.
What are these “seals” and how are God’s people “sealed”? Who are these four horsemen? What’s the meaning of the 144,000? Who is this great multitude? We will explore the answers to these questions and God’s promise to His suffering people.
Why do God’s people need to be sealed? Why do they need a promise? Because of what it looks like to follow the Lamb. Because as Dana Harris writes:
“The power and strength (political, military, or other) of a lion is not what is needed to defeat evil kings or kingdoms. Instead, it is the surprising vulnerability and weakness of a Lamb, who was slaughtered and resurrected, that vanquishes evil and ushers in the new creation.”
Join us in worship as we explore Revelation 6—7 in our series Worship and Witness in a Winner-takes-all World.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20231029.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
What is the purpose of the book of Revelation? If, as we discussed last week, it is not to provide a timeline for when Jesus is coming back, then what is it? To understand this, we need to think about what a suffering church needs. What would a church tempted into the idolatry of the empire need? What would a church following a suffering Lamb need in a world in which power and wealth hold sway?
They would need the book of Revelation, which takes the cover off what we see to show us what is really going on in the world. In it we discover, as it were, that the emperor has no clothes! We learn to worship day and night in a chaotic world. We learn that the ways of the Lamb who was slain, though they require patient endurance, will win in the end.
Revelation comes at the end of a collection (the 65 others books of Scripture) that is about a cosmic war. The rulers of the world rage against God and His messiah and God laughs (Psa. 2). The rulers of this world conquer while God’s ruler is slain. Yet, in the end, the last laugh is God’s.
Join us in worship as we continue our exploration of Revelation focusing on chapters 4-5.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20231022.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
A couple of weeks ago I was wrestling with what our next sermon series should be at Gulf Coast Community Church. A thematic study of patience and the need for it as God’s strategy for mission and witness, or to finish our series in Revelation (recall that we left off last year after the 7 messages to the churches). Of course, the two themes aren’t unrelated. The events of last week made the decisions easy.
I don’t say that because the attack in the Gaza Strip is somehow predicted in Revelation, but because it isn’t. In fact, while all the frenzy is being stirred up about these events and how they (supposedly) relate to Bible prophecy, the church needs a good dose of sobriety. There is never a better time to focus on what Revelation is really about.
Let me be clear: there is no timeline in Scripture to tell us when Jesus is coming back. Unless you think telling us repeatedly “it will be a long time in coming” is a timeline. So if the book of Revelation isn’t a timeline of end time events, then what is it? Now that is an important question.
Join us in worship as we begin again our series: The Revelation of Jesus Christ: Worship and Witness in a Winner-takes-all World.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20231015.pdf
Preacher: Ryan Carver
Text: 1 Corinthians 1:1-21
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20231008.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
I thought we finished the series, Imagining the Kingdom, last week. However, I was encouraged by one of our members last week to consider covering these final verses on prayer (I won’t mention any names, Reggie). I immediately knew I would.
In fact, prayer is essential for a genuine kingdom imagination, and it is essential to experiencing the culture of the Gospel of peace. There’s no wonder that Paul’s message to the Ephesians has prayer woven throughout. It ends encouraging us to pray for one another and that the secret will be fearlessly be made known. That will require fearless words and fearless lives.
Join us for worship as we hear from Ephesians 6:18-20 and about an essential for Gospel culture—prayer. We will also hear from the book of nature, from ants in fact (thanks to An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Reality Around Us, by Ed Yong), about how essential prayer is for Gospel community.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20231001.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
One of the most well-known passages in the New Testament letters is that which calls us to “put on the full armor of God” (Eph. 6:10-18). One can even obtain plastic armor like that of a Roman soldier for their children to put on, though I’m pretty sure this does more to mask the text than help them understand it.
Paul has been building a theme that climaxes here in this final chapter. As the adopted children of God we are no longer children of rage but children of light. How proper then for us to wear the armor that God’s divine warrior-king, Jesus the Promised King, would wear. It will be necessary in order that we might wage a war that matches our message of peace—as if it were a war on war itself.
How any one of us ever fit into God’s armor? That’s where the secret lies. You can’t fit into God’s armor and were never meant to. Paul had something else in mind.
Join us in worship this Sunday as we freshly explore Ephesians 6 and the armor of God, learning how to imagine the kingdom of our King, Jesus!
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20230924.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
During and following the 2016 presidential election, both sides claimed Russian interference in favor of their opponent’s campaign. It turns out, they were both right. In 2017 it was shown that both were correct (I dare not say “right”). In fact, it appears that the only goal the Russians have is to get our society to fight in order to tear itself apart. They may have succeeded.
The church hasn’t needed much help to accomplish the same thing, especially when it comes to verses like those in our text this Sunday: Ephesians 5:20—6:9. Wives submit. Children obey. Slaves obey. Or at least that’s what our minds are often drawn to.
Debates over these words from Paul are usually framed around modern questions and rarely helpful for the change of heart which Paul desires in the church. Was Paul a misogynist? Did he endorse slavery? Was Paul teaching mutual submission between husbands and wives, parents and children, slaves and masters? If so, how realistic is that?
Join us in worship as we seek to get to the heart of Paul’s instructions and hopefully, growing out of this, we will find answers to such questions. More importantly, we will hopefully be transformed into Christ’s likeness.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20230917.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Cisar
“Ships do not sink because of water around them, ships sink because of water that gets into them,” said the Pracin Jain in The Times of India (I’m not kidding!) In a day when it is not uncommon to hear Christians in a panic because of immorality of the world around us, this is a good reminder. The church isn’t going to sink because our culture (or any culture where the church is) slides into a pit of darkness.
The church isn’t threatened by sin in the world. It is only threatened by sin in the church. Our text this Sunday, Ephesians 5:3-20, reminds us of the importance for us, the church, to live as children of light. It is only as children of light that we can shine light that will expose deeds of darkness such that people might turn to the light and be saved.
Join us in worship as we continue in our series, Imagining the Kingdom.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20230910.pdf
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Preacher: Jerry Cisar How well do you walk? According to at least one fitness guru, “almost...
Preacher: Jerry Cisar Paul makes some audacious claims in his letter to the Ephesians. Not only...
Preacher: Jerry Cisar I’d like to suggest that Paul’s goal in Ephesians 2, is for God’s...
Preacher: Jerry Cisar In the first half of Ephesians 1, Paul praises God our Father for...
Preacher: Jerry Cisar Paul’s opening praise of God for what he has done in the glorious...
Preacher: Jerry Cisar Adoption is one of the greatest pictures given to us to understand our...
Did you know that this Sunday is the anniversary of Christ’s kingdom inauguration? On this day...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The story about Simon Peter getting Jesus’ tax money from the fish’s mouth...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks, after making a case for the power of patience, suggests that to harness the power of patience the first thing we must do is “develop a taste for having problems.” That may sound familiar (James 1:2-4; Rom. 5:3-4). And it may make you think, “Yuck!” None of us like problems.
However, it may well be that the essence of our existence is to square-off with difficulties—either in persons or circumstances. And what we imagine to be happening in those relationships and circumstances may well have everything to do with how we live.
Join us as we continue our exploration of Hebrews 11 in our series: Imagining the Kingdom. Enlist yourself in the effort to harness the power of a sanctified imagination through faith.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20230514.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
The metaverse has taken imagination to a whole new level. In it imaginary real estate is created, deeded, bought, sold, and rented out for real $$. If you need a board room for a meeting, you’ll pay more for one with a view. The Nomadx Foundation notes on its website,
“Even though a metaverse is a place that exists only on a computer, it’s just as real as any other place you’ve been to before. You could say that the metaverse is like a vacation from reality: you can create an avatar for yourself and pretend to be someone else for a while, or you can use your imagination and explore new places that aren’t real at all—but still feel real!”
Of course, I would argue that it is not just as real, but that, for them, is beside the point. I have some friends who, a few months ago, were trying to explain the metaverse to me. When they got to the part about people holding real estate and renting it out to other people who want to use it, I knew right then I wasn’t getting on that train. However, it does reveal the power which can be harnessed by the human imagination.
Believers have a sure hope. The Bible commits a significant amount of space to stirring our imaginations about that hope. The OT Prophets speak of God’s coming kingdom. The book of Revelation uses vivid imaginative pictures to help us understand how things really are.
God wants His people to harness the power of sanctified imagination. Join us as we begin a new series, Imagining the Kingdom.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20230507.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
Text: Heb. 6:10-12
Themes: Faith and Patience to Inherit the Promise
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20230430.pdf
Speaker: Ryan Carver
Text: Colossians 3:1-17
Themes: Centrality of Jesus, Gospel Culture, Gospel Formation
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
A few weeks ago, I told a little of the story from a classic Russian film called, “Stalker.” The plot centers around the journey to a room where you will receive exactly what you want. You will not necessarily receive what you might ask for. Rather, the room knows your deepest desires and grants what you truly want.
Imagine a similar room that granted what you needed. It would certainly be safer, but how surprised would we be? We don’t often think in terms of what we need. In fact, we usually think that we need whatever it is that we want. At least that is how children think, and growing up is supposed to change that. What do we truly need? It may be more than you think. It may be less than you think. But knowing what it is should certainly impact how we live.
Just as the three requests of the Lord’s Prayer help form of our desires (the message from a few weeks ago), the last three requests form in us an understanding of our needs—our true needs. Give us today what is necessary, forgive us even as we forgive others, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
Join us in worship as explore the essential formative prayer for the Christian life, the Lord’s Prayer.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20230416.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
We often talk about the Resurrection of Jesus from the tomb as proof of Christianity. To be sure, if Christ was not raised, our faith is in vain (1 Cor. 15:14). However, that the Resurrection of Christ is proof of Christianity doesn’t mean we can argue people into the faith by offering proofs of the Resurrection. Faith is a gift from God and has to come from Christ Jesus Himself.
The New Testament presents the Resurrection of Jesus as the basis of our hope—the basis of all hope! Arguably, the Resurrection is the only basis for true hope available to humanity, yet how many of us could explain what our hope is and why it makes a difference both in this life and the life to come?
Does the Resurrection merely provide hope for an unending life, as if time was our only problem? What if that life was as broken as this? How does the Resurrection change that? How does this hope shape our lives in such a way that Christ’s resurrection makes a difference in the world today?
Every Sunday is Resurrection Day (which is why we meet on Sunday), but this week we gather to remember specifically the Resurrection of Jesus from the grave. Join us as we worship our Risen King and explore this under the title, The Resurrection and Real Hope.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20230409.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
A Mountain of Crumbs, by novelist Elena Gorokhova, is her memoir of life growing up in Soviet Russia, life in a world so different from our own experience growing up here. Having become a proficient student and then teacher of English, “Lena” taught summer students from the United States who came to Leningrad (now, St. Petersburg) to study Russian. One young man, Robert, pursued getting to know her outside the classroom, against all the rules of course.
When he returned to the U.S. he began writing her and discussing ways to get together again. At one point she writes, “So it was at this point that I realized the futility of my argument, the futility of every argument, present or future, Robert and I might have. The problem we face is that under his un-Russian curly hair presides an American brain, which is fundamentally different from my Russian brain…. The fact that we can speak each other’s language is… irrelevant to our mutual understanding….”
Jesus came to earth from heaven. His vision of life, under His Jewish hair, inside His heaven-infected brain, is so fundamentally different than our brains that “the fact that we can speak each other’s language is irrelevant to our mutual understanding.”
Join us in worship this Sunday, Palm Sunday, and we will explore a story in which Jesus acted out an “absurd” little play, as it were, in order to change our imaginations so that we could understand what He is talking about.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20230402.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
“I don’t want to!” is a phrase every parent of a talking child is familiar with. Of course, the goal of the parent is that sometime between then and when they are adults they begin to want to do the things they ought to do. The process that gets them there is called formation.
When we are born into Christ’s kingdom, we are much like that child whose desires need to be reshaped. We know what we ought to want, but we don’t always want it (at least, deep down), so we find ourselves doing not what we want to do, but what we really want to do. Is this what Paul is describing in Romans 7:15?
Jesus has a solution for us and it is found in answer to the disciple’s request that He teach them how to pray. This Sunday we are going to continue our brief series, Your Kingdom Come, as we explore the urgency of this prayer, the requests we are called to make, and why we must allow this prayer to shape our very desires—why this is a key to successful discipleship!
Join us in worship as we take a fresh look at the Lord’s prayer and its use for the making of disciples.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20230326.pdf
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:9-10)
The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer for what we desire in two senses. First, the coming of God’s kingdom is the longing of the human heart (whether we realize it or not). So it is a prayer for the very thing we desire. But in truth, while we long for what only God’s kingdom can bring, we often long to receive it by our own power, or through other means than God. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it is the ways of death.” (Prov. 14:12; 16:25)
Secondly, it is a prayer for shaping our desires. Jesus said, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7) Of course, if you remain in Him and His words remain in you, your desires will be formed into longing for the kingdom of God to come.
Join us as we take a step back, before our missional priorities, and explore the answers to questions such as: What is the Kingdom of God? Why do we long for it? Why do we pray about it? What difference will it make?
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20230319.pdf
We’ve been in a series discussing our missional priorities, the things which are central to our Gospel witness: Gospel culture, Gospel formation, Gospel mercy, Gospel outreach, and Gospel unity. However, we cannot assume the Gospel.
What is the Gospel? Why is it called the Gospel of the kingdom? And what does this have to do with making a disciple? For that matter, what is a disciple?
This Sunday we will explore these things in a parable I would title, “The Parable of Speculating on the Kingdom”. The essence of our discipleship is in whether and how we speculate on the kingdom of God. This, then, must define our methods of making disciples since this is ultimately what defines a disciple.
If you are a believer in St. Petersburg, FL and not established in a church community, join us in worship at 10:00 a.m. as we gather to celebrate our coming King, to embrace our new family, and to consider the culture of this new kingdom of which we are a part.
Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20230305.pdf
Preacher: Eduardo Ferguson
Text: Matt 28:18-20
Themes: Christ’s authority; the nations; His commands; His presence.
“I am always turning my ears to the music of streams. There is indeed a music in streams, but it is not for the hurried. It has to be loitered by and imagined. Or imagined toward, for it is hardly for men at all. Nature has a patient ear. To her the slowest funeral march sounds like a jig.… The ear must imagine an impossible patience in order to grasp… such music.” (Wendell Berry)
For the believer, much like nature’s music, we are called to march to the beat of a different drummer, a slow beat, a patient rhythm. In order to hear it, to perceive it, we must pray. As we pray, and purposefully march in rhythm with this patience, God works. Learning this rhythm is key to understanding how we are going to fulfill our missional priorities as a church.
How will we accomplish these grand goals of Gospel culture, Gospel formation, Gospel mercy, Gospel outreach, and Gospel unity? Simply put, it requires prayer, purpose, and patience. Prayerful pursuit of these priorities, purposeful living toward them, and much, much patience.
Join us in worship as we begin to answer the “how” question of our missional priorities.
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2023/02/20230219.pdf
Yesterday as I was leaving Publix, I paused because a lady was exiting at the same time with two very large balloons making it unlikely that we could make it through the double doors at the same time without colliding. So, I paused. As she passed, I noticed that she had one large Kansas City Chiefs balloon and another large Philadelphia Eagles balloon.
“It looks like a divided household,” I said as I got in step behind her, to which she responded, “I don’t have a dog in this fight.” I wish that were the sentiment that most Christians had over things that are of little or no consequence in the kingdom of God. Sadly, far too often we not only have a dog in the fight, we have a few dogs in the fight.
Jesus said that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand (Matt. 12:25). On the other hand, He said our complete unity would enable the world to know that Christ was sent by the Father and that the Father loved his people. Could we be so worried that the people inside the church know that the Father loves them, that we’ve neglected the unity that would allow the outside world to know?
Join us in worship as we explore our fifth missional priority: Gospel Unity. (And be ready to call out the first four.)
Eugene Peterson’s excellent book on the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134) is titled, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. Playing only on his title, might I suggest that when it comes to reaching the world for Christ, the modern church may already have a long obedience in the same direction, but it might not be the right direction. Regarding our mission, we need a long obedience in the right direction.
If our trajectory is off, we can keep going and arrive in the wrong place. To correct course, we need to go back to the starting point: What is the mission? Whose mission is it anyway? How did we get involved? What is our role? Once we get the trajectory right, then we truly do need a long game mentality… a long obedience in the right direction.
This Sunday we are exploring Gospel Outreach as a missional priority. What is Gospel Outreach and why is it essential? How do we set about doing it? Lest this be just another message guilting us into trying a little harder, burdening us with tactics that won’t accomplish God’s purposes, this Sunday we will start at the beginning and explore our mission afresh.
Join us in worship as we contemplate the nature of our missional God and His invitation to join Him in His mission.
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2023/02/20230205.pdf
What are the non-negotiables of a church? Paul tells the Galatian churches that circumcision, abstaining from certain meats, and special days were not essential. They were, so to speak, negotiated right out. And that even though they were prescribed in the Law. What, then, if anything, is non-negotiable?
Gospel mercy, having a heart and actions that help the poor in their distress, is a non-negotiable in the mission of a true church. James called it true religion. Paul explains to the Galatian churches what he and the leaders of the church in Jerusalem agreed on: although circumcision, dietary restrictions, and special days were not an essential part of a church’s community life, we must “remember the poor” (Gal. 2:10).
Gospel mercy is placed as a priority by King Jesus himself both in the arrangement of the Gospels and in the teaching they contain. The early church testifies to its priority in their life. God himself places the poor in high priority and comes alongside those who do the same to help them.
Join us in worshipping our God and King as we explore the 3rd in our series on our missional priorities: Gospel culture, Gospel formation, Gospel mercy, Gospel outreach, and Gospel unity. It’s placement in the center, at the heart of our priorities, was not intentional (by us), but it sure could have been!
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2023/01/20230122.pdf
Dallas Willard asks, “If we have gathered people into congregations by appeasing their appetites and desires, how can we help them deal with the fact that their problems in life and character— even ‘in church’— are primarily caused by living to get what they want?”[1]
How we do what we do is formative—it forms us into who we are becoming. Some things form us into conformity with Christ, other things form us further into the conformity with the world. Biblical disciple-making is not successful until new behavior, obedience to the commands of Jesus, has been learned (Matt. 28:18-20). Such behavior is not incorporated until we’ve changed at the level of our desires.
But how do you change what you want? What practices did the early church apply which brought about the transformation behind their unlikely growth, even transformation of the world? An exploration of that history might be surprising, but what it points to are practices of Gospel formation (often called spiritual formation).
This Sunday in worship, as part of our series on Gospel Witness: the Reason for Our Existence, exploring our missional priorities, we are going to talk about Gospel formation and why it is vital to accomplishing the mission of the Gospel.
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2023/01/20230115.pdf
[1] Carlson and Lueken, Renovation of the Church, forward by Dallas Willard, 2011..
Why do we exist? Not, “Why do you exist as a person?” but “Why do we exist as a church?” What is our purpose? What is essential to our existence, without which our witness, our lampstand would be removed? I think there is more than one answer to that question, but one of those is certainly that we display a Gospel culture here on earth as it is in heaven.
In a day when culture wars have replaced the cold war, when animosity between activists on either side are rampant and raging, what is it that we, the church, a church, are called to strive for? What kind of culture can we strive to exhibit that, when eternity comes, will remain?
While there are many things which are passing away that are ordained by God (such as marriage and government), there are eternal things which shall remain. The temporal things are worthy of our time and care as believers, but the eternal things are central to the mission of the church. What are these which we must pursue as the mission of the church?
This Sunday we will begin a series Gospel Witness: the Reason for Our Existence, beginning with a look at Gospel culture and why it is essential to our purpose.
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2023/01/20230108.pdf
What might we need to talk about on the 1st day of the year? Or maybe a better question, what might we need to talk about on the 1st Lord’s Day of the year? In a day when faith is on the decline and new life is the only hope one can have, I think we need Easter. The Resurrection.
Any Easter account could do, but I suggest Mark’s account of the Resurrection. Why? Because of everything “missing.” Last week someone commented to me on Christmas that you’d never want to use Mark for your Christmas message. True enough. It’s almost (though not quite) as true that you wouldn’t use Mark’s account of the Resurrection on Easter. Why? Because it is so scant.
Mark’s Gospel calls disciples to the only source of faith in the Resurrection. And such faith is necessary for us to live into the new creation. This is essential for our mission to be accomplished.
Join us in worship as we begin the year celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and discuss its implications for our lives.
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2023/01/20230101.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
Advent. Joy. Two ideas that might not naturally fit together. Advent involves waiting. Joy is what comes at the end of the waiting. We live in between. Christ has come. Christ will come again. For us in between, Jesus is the guarantee of our hope, so even though we have longing that remains unfulfilled, we have joy in the waiting. Jesus’ guarantee sustains joy in our waiting.
Advent is how the church starts its year. We begin by reminding ourselves that instead of charting our course, we are dependent on the gift of God. Our joy isn’t the result of a big party or rooted in our dedication to doing it right this year. Our joy is rooted in a gift from God.
As we gather to worship this 3rd Sunday of Advent, we will explore the promised joy which Christ brought, the surprising joy which we can experience, and the waiting joy which we are called to live in today.
Join us in worship this Sunday as we sing joyfully to the Lord and explore the truths of joy Isaiah 35, Matthew 11:2-6, and James 5:7-9.
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2022/12/20221211.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
What is peace? Often, we think of peace as the absence of certain things: war, conflict, hostility, bitterness, etc. Is that a good definition? Certainly, there is no peace in war, or in hearts filled with hostility or bitterness. However, if peace is merely the word for the vacuum created by removing other things, then peace is not really a thing at all.
Take light, for instance. Light is not the absence of darkness. Darkness is the absence of light. God created light. Light is the thing; darkness is not. Peace is what existed before war, conflict, hostility, or bitterness. Peace existed because God created it.
Peter describes the Gospel itself in reference to peace: “You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news (gospel) of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all” (Acts 10:36). What is this announcement of peace and how does it relate to our calling as disciples?
Join us this second Sunday of Advent as we seek to understand peace, its significance to the Gospel itself, and our calling to be peacemakers in the message Peace and the Peacemaking Mission of Jesus.
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2022/12/20221204.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
The Laodiceans were living a lie because they believed those lies. They believed they were rich because they had wealth. They believed they were dressed for success because their closets were filled with the finest clothes. They believed they could truly see as evidenced by the way their lives were going. But, according to Jesus, they were poor, shamefully naked, and blind.
It is striking that Jesus finds nothing good to commend in the church at Laodicea, making his expressed love for them all the more surprising. As we enter the Advent season, our first theme is hope. Hope is what the Laodiceans need—a true hope to replace the false hope for which they’ve been living. When they begin living for the true hope of Christ’s kingdom, their deeds will become healing for the nations.
What about us? Are we prone to live according to lies? More concerning still, are we prone to believe such lies to be true, hence not knowing that we are living according to lies. In what ways might we be blind and need healing salve from Jesus?
Join us in worship as we explore Jesus’ message to the church in Laodicea and to us (Revelation 3:14-22).
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2022/11/20221127.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Sibling rivalry is an age-old story in Scripture: Cain and Abel, Esau and...
Preacher: Jerry Cisar If one were to go church shopping for a few months, Sardis would...
Preacher: Jerry Cisar Idolatry can take on many forms. It may come overtly, in the form...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar No community would be comfortable with someone coming to rebuke them with a...
Preacher: Steven Brunson Text: Psalm 139:1 – 24 Themes: Awe of God; Marvel; Wonderment; Proper Fear...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Christ has a prophetic message for the believers who gather in Smyrna for...
Cultural critic Wendell Berry pointed out that “A crowd whose discontent has risen no higher than...
Preacher: Jerry Cisar Text: Revelation 1:9-20 (NIV) The church needs to awake from its slumber and...
Preacher: Jerry Cisar Text: Revelation 1:1-8 (NIV) Themes: Grace, blessing, worship. Hidden Reality. G.K. Chesterton explained...
Speaker: Steven Brunson Text: Psalm 23:1-6 (NIV) Themes: Shepherd, covenant promises, goodness and mercy
Speaker: Jerry Cisar America was founded on a dream: one in which all men were created...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In 1704, Prominent Scottish politician Andrew Fletcher wrote, “I knew a very wise...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Why should we pray the Psalms? Some may frame that question variously: “Why...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Text: Jonah 4:5-11 Themes: A Mysterious Tree and God’s Way of Salvation. God’s...
Speaker: Ryan Carver The Story of God’s Mission – Part 6 Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2022/07/20220703.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Text: Jonah 4:1-5 Themes: Entrusting Vengeance to the Lord… no matter what! Handout:...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Text: Jonah 3 Themes: True Faith; True Repentance; God’s Compassion Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2022/06/20220619.pdf
Preacher: Jerry Text: 2 Cor. 1:21-22 Themes: Fulfillment, Identity, Calling as a prophetic people, priesthood, and...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Text: Jonah 2 Themes: Spiritual Formation; preparation of faith, sufficiency of faith, performance...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Themes: death and resurrection, safe in Christ, identity as a people, identity in...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Many a biblical prophet has been reluctant to accept their call. Jonah takes...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Pastors wanting to motivate their church to evangelize or go on mission often...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The Great Plains of the U.S. were struck with two great disasters in...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The earliest known image of Jesus on the cross was graffiti etched into...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar We’ve been exploring various aspects of Christ’s kingdom since the beginning of the...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Jesus came proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was near, which is the...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Matthew 18 is the so-called chapter on “church discipline,” though that may be...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Alfred Poirier, in The Peacemaking Pastor, suggests that unresolved conflicts between Christians have...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Commenting on the well-known verse in John 13:35, “By this all people will...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar After citing Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-35, with their snapshots of the church at...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar There are movie remakes, the obvious ones with the same title, and then...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar How would you answer the question, “What is the Gospel?” Have you ever...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Incarnation. The word gets thrown around this time of year. Rick Serdynski mentioned...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar According to Bible dictionaries, Jerusalem either means “foundation of peace,” “city of peace.”...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar One headline reporting on the collapse of the condo tower in Miami on...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Why preach a sermon on closing remarks in a New Testament letter? Maybe...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Like many parents, Donna and I have worked to teach our children and...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar We live in a culture that is great at wedding planning, but terrible...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar “Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy cows, and cows make milk,...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In his book Your Church is Too Safe, Mark Buchanan points out the...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar If given a choice between suffering or sinning, most people would choose sinning....
Speaker: Jerry Cisar It’s ironic that Peter commented on Paul’s letters that they were hard to...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar A few decades ago, a synagogue and a church building sat right next...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar As noted in the last sermon, 1 Peter 3:18—3:7 is filled with landmines....
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In this Sunday’s text, Peter makes us aware of a problem. We are...
Speaker: Ryan Carver What can God do about the brokenness of humanity, the earth, and the...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In the hit Disney Pixar animation Inside Out, the 11-year-old Riley moves with...
Speaker: Peter Stonecipher One of the colorful aspects of human language is the creation of phrases...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In his commentary on 1 Peter, Douglas Harink writes: “At the very heart...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Gary Haugen of IJM, in his book, The Locust Effect, writes about the...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Do we live redemptively? Or as Paul might put it, Are we living...
Speaker: Peter Stonecipher Ruth 3 is tantalizing in the details which it chooses to include, and...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Our series title, “Ruth: Resurrection, Righteousness, and Redemption,” might seem a bit misleading...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Naomi and Ruth have returned to Bethlehem of Judah. The town seems excited,...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Dietrich Bonhoeffer begins his discourse about cheap grace vs costly grace: “Cheap grace...
Speaker: Peter Stonecipher Often in Christian circles we talk about God’s Upside-Down Kingdom. By this we...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In classical music, in particular in the sonata form, there is this final...
Speaker: Peter Stonecipher I can still vividly remember my professor in Bible College proclaiming, “Prayer is...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Kavin Rowe writes that the goal of biblical leadership is “to cultivate thriving...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed...
Speaker: Ryan Carver Our world is broken and we all experience the effects of sin. Broken...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar How does Christmas call us to live? Our King was born; light has...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Psalm 113 calls us to praise Yahweh (the Hebrew name for God)! In...
Speaker: Peter Stonecipher We’ve all seen images from the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of England...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Advent, a Church season designed to recall the anticipation and waiting for God’s...
Speaker: Peter Stonecipher There are many “ingredients” which could make an ordinary meal into an extraordinary...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In a recent poll conducted by Lifeway Research and Ligoneer, 51% of Americans...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The Economist published an article asking, “Why shouldn’t parents be treated as badly...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Orthodoxy, often talked about by students of the faith, refers to soundness of...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar There are several superpower tests you can take on the internet to determine...
Speaker: Peter Stonecipher Many of us have wondered how we might spend our time if we...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Julia Buckley writes about one of the greatest disappointments in her life: “They’re...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar During the Kosovo war (1998-1999), commenting on the rage experienced by victims of...
Speaker: Rob Mastry Some 500 or so years ago, a law school dropout and young philosopher...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Christian community (fellowship, koinonia) is predicated on forgiveness—the forgiveness of God for our...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar When most believers answer the question, “What is the Gospel?” we default to...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Zack Eswine offers the following illustration. “You hear a crash in the living...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Morgan Lee, Miss Goth Massachusetts, when asked how she would describe Goth, responded:...
Speaker: Peter Stonecipher In some comments on Psalm 42 (especially verses 5 and 11), Pastor Martyn...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Karl Malden, playing Reverend Ford in Pollyanna, preaches a memorable sermon. Pollyanna is...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar MLK Jr. captured the heart of the problem expressed by another preacher in...
Speaker: Ryan Carver Resting amidst a world of restlessness is not easy and yet this is...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Exasperated, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes exclaims, “I’ve seen it all in the days...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In the modern Christian context, the most well-known verses regarding government are Romans...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar For quite different reasons, both Job and the Preacher of Ecclesiastes are not...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Victor Frankl, a holocaust survivor and psychiatrist, tells of his experiences in the...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar It might often seem that the earth is the epitome of unchanging stability;...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Functional MRI technology has allowed neuroscientist to measure brain activity during magic tricks....
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Imagine a distant relative leaves you in her will a beautiful, very valuable...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar As one commentator puts it, “The appetite for prominence was a problem for...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar We are back in our series in Matthew! Peter has made the momentous...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Does America’s long history of racial injustice have any bearing today? Have we...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The church today is very worldly. Worldliness has invaded the church. I do...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar “Peace on earth…” the angels declared to the shepherds at the coming of...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Advent, that season leading up to Christmas, has not always been about the...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The editor of Time magazine—in a special edition that came out after 9/11—said...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar We were created for belonging. We were created to belong in a family,...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Over the past 2,000 years, people have considered that Jesus is either too...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar If you grew up hearing sermons about the “Parable of the Sower,” you...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar A professor of philosophy reportedly said he would believe in God if the...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar I have a confession: I don’t like texts like Matthew 12:22-37 on the...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar It’s hard for most Americans to feel the tension in the scenes described...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In an article titled The Grandeur of Delusion, Psychology Today describes a common...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar CNET asked the question, “Do you listen to music in stereo?” It’s not...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Most parents are familiar with an experience such as finding your child with...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In a book on pastoral ministry, Eugene Peterson writes, “American pastors are abandoning...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar At one mission’s conference, the conference theme emblazoned behind the podium read, “Just...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In our last episode, we saw that Jesus exercises his authority first for...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Matthew 8 – 9 are about Jesus’ authority; not merely an abstract idea...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Do you consider yourself an outsider? The one who says, “I’m always the...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Imagine a parent signs their 8-year-old up for music lessons. The lessons begin...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar What is the most popular verse in the Bible? Most surveys base their...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar A problem we have in prayer, according to Paul, is that we don’t...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Many books, articles, and blog posts have been written to inform people of...
Speaker: Steven Brunson We all have loved ones, family members and friends that we are praying...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting, it has been...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48) Surely Jesus...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees...
Speaker: Peter Stonecipher A recent ad campaign by a wireless provider wants to challenge the savvy...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In this week’s text, Jesus is saying, “All your thinking about how things...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar F.D. Bruner suggests a translation of Matthew 4:17 that captures well the meaning,...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar January is that time of year that pastors often communicate what the church...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Last month in Louisville, KY, Mark Espinosa, an armored car driver disappeared with...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar I’ve seen a lot of church and school Christmas plays which involve the...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Whether we are talking about Charlottesville, VA, Las Vegas, or the shooting at...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Jacques Ellul, a philosopher, spoke about how to destroy money’s controlling power over...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar “Beware of the dogs Beware of the evildoers. Beware of the mutilators.” So...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar How should we pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar “In one study, researchers found that happy people complain less” (Psychology Today). They...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Or so we are told by the...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar After meditating on Philippians 2:6-8, Charles Wesley wrote the hymn, “Amazing love! How...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The Philippian church had supported Paul’s gospel advancing ministry from the first day...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Philippians expresses most explicitly Paul’s view of how Christians are called to live....
Speaker: Daryn Kinney No one likes to be told to “pay attention” unless of course, it’s...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In the summer of 1961, Vince Lombardi walked into the Green Bay Packers...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Hopelessness is a common human experience in the face of death. Melanie Greenberg,...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio, a nation turns its lonely eyes to...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In this week’s text, Paul and Silas are truly frustrated. They have an...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Americans are familiar with smear campaigns in politics. Jeff Nilsson, in The Saturday...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Will Willimon tells a story from when he was a young pastor serving...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Critics of Christianity have often alleged that the Christianity of today has moved...
Speaker: Daryn Kinney This Sunday we’ll explore Daniel chapter three – an ancient story of faith...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar There is broad confusion in western culture about what happens when we die....
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Handouts: http://media.gccc.net/2018/05/20180513.pdf http://media.gccc.net/2018/05/20180513_commentary.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Some texts in the Bible are in our devotional “flyover country.” You know,...
Speaker: Daryn Kinney When Peter stepped out of the boat he found himself “between glory and...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The word blessed, or #blessed, in the words of NY Times columnist Jessica...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Imagine a “google” navigation system for the journey of life. Prior to Easter,...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar This Sunday, the church worldwide commemorates Palm Sunday—the day when Jesus rode into...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar We read Bible stories from a perspective. Our human nature often causes us...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar There will always be times when the world’s wisdom will fail them. If...
Speaker: Daryn Kinney If you’ve ever read the New Testament then you’ve come across the phrases...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar If you google, “sermons on Genesis 40,” the first one likely to pop...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The shooting this week at the Parkland, Florida high school will bring out...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Genesis 38: Judah and Tamar. This is one of those chapters we hope...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the story of redemption. Long...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar I admit that I don’t like reading genealogies. I don’t. What about you?...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Remember Jason Bourne from The Bourne Identity? He had amnesia and consequently lost...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The famous last words of “the King” (Elvis), were apparently, “I’m going to...
Speaker: Daryn Kinney Jesus told his disciples to make disciples but what does that look like...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar It has been said that John 11, the account of Jesus raising Lazarus,...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In John 10 Jesus declares, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Most of us are quite aware that Christ isn’t Jesus’ last name, as...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In the previous messages (John 7 & 8), we saw how Jesus refused...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar At its core definition, a disciple is a learner. That is what you...
Speaker: Ryan Carver This Sunday we see what it means to trust in an all-powerful God...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Jerusalem at the time of its feasts—the perfect place and time for worship....
Speaker: Jerry Cisar You’ve heard of missionaries, and have probably even heard of medical missionaries. But...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Why did the Lord put Israel in Canaan? Why was the Promised Land...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar I recently read about a college student who, having been raised on the...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar What do the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the Assyrian threat to Judah around...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar At Gulf Coast, we say that we are “Building a faithful Gospel witness...
Speaker: Yesupadam and Monika Yesupadam was born into India’s “untouchable” class. Embittered by his caste limitations...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Sheryl Sandberg tells the story of how she processed grief after her husband...
Speaker: Daryn Kinney Every disciple of Jesus has been given the privilege and responsibility to speak...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Last week we finished Micah 3, and that section of Micah called The...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In what do you trust? This coming Tuesday we celebrate the 241st birthday...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Thirty-six years ago this month, the day after our wedding, Donna and I...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar For those who are tired of vacation resorts and cruises where you simply...
Speaker: Daryn Kinney This Sunday we’ll explore Philippians 3 where two perspectives are laid out. One...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar What does this describe? Hostile enemies are bent on your nation’s downfall from...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Imagine driving by a church and the signboard out front reads, “Teaching people...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Immediately after Adam and Eve are removed from Eden where they had fellowship...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar So far we’ve examined the church through Peter’s letter (1 Peter), Paul’s letter...
Speaker: Daryn Kinney This Sunday we’ll explore Psalm 110 – one of the most quoted or...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In the Book of Acts, Luke gives meaning to the word spiritual in...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar What is the greatest obstacle to community in the church? The church is...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Gilbert Highet, renowned scholar and charismatic teacher, said, “Anyone who reads the Bible...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Until recently I was unaware that Pilgrim’s Progress had a Part 2. That...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In some circles, worldliness is often thought of in terms of things we...
Speaker: Daryn Kinney Jesus doesn’t urge or simply encourage his followers to love their enemies, he...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar John’s Gospel weaves together two different accounts of Jesus’ life in order to...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Pure worship is important to Jesus! The first murder in the Bible grew...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Most people who’ve been around a church know the story of Jesus turning...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ…. If...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Why does John the Baptist baptize? Why doesn’t he own up to being...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Allen Ross, discussing the glory of the Incarnation, writes, “For worship to rise...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar This week Donna and I went with our oldest daughter’s family to a...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…. (John 1:14) These...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The familiar words of the 23rd Psalm contain essential truths for the worshiper...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The blessing of Abraham leads to reconciliation in relationships. Jacob’s life demonstrates this....
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Legendary guitarist Jack White describes the most important requirement for writing a song:...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Isaac and Rebekah sent Jacob to Paddan Aram to get a wife because...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In Genesis 28:10, Jacob begins a journey. He is alone. Having left his...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Have you ever wrestled with thoughts like these? “How can I be a...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Birthrights and parental blessings are ideas that are culturally foreign to most of...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar What is our mission statement as a church? Building a faithful Gospel witness...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar If Genesis were written by modern Americans, the creation story would take 10...
Speaker: Daryn Kinney Everyone in town knew who she was; everyone knew she was a “sinner”...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar In 1950, using a pair of goggles, an Austrian professor turned his assistant’s...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar It is not uncommon for believers to think that troubles are the enemy...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar James 5:1-6 may seem like it was written in a world far removed...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Sometimes pride is obvious. Like the following ad from the “Strictly Personals” section...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Marriage is difficult. It is often said that the most difficult thing to...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Do you ever have questions like these: What is the biggest obstacle in...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar If you look up “Wisdom” on PsychologyToday.com, the first line reads, “It can...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar What if I were to tell you that your computer keyboard can change...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar This week’s text begins with one of the best known verses in the...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar The idea of self-deception is, seemingly, an oxymoron–a contradiction in terms. How can...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar G.K. Chesterton wrote that “…we often do not begin to question until the...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar RC Sproul described pragmatism as the philosophy with the “Made in America” label....
Speaker: Jerry Cisar James writes, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers/fellow believers, whenever you face trials...
Speaker: Daryn Kinney I’ve heard it said that King David was the “Elvis of the Bible.”...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Paul instructs us, “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar Most people begin life with hopes, desires, longings. Hopes and longings vary, but...
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
In his book, The Theology of the Cross, Daniel Deutschlander writes, “…the day of Christ’s resurrection, is by far the most glorious day in all of time and in all of eternity.” Is that true? I believe it is. In our text this Sunday, Peter declares that God, in His great mercy, caused us to be born again into a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3). What does it mean to be born-again? What is the relationship between new-birth and Jesus’ resurrection?
It would be easier to understand had it said that through the resurrection Jesus was given new birth into an inheritance that can neither perish, spoil, nor fade. But Peter said that the resurrection of Jesus gives us new birth into that same inheritance. If a friend of yours had a heart attack and by all accounts should be dead, but since your friend was visiting another friend at the best cardiac hospital in the country when it happened, your friend was still very much alive; one might say your friend has a new lease on life, or a 2nd chance. But why would anyone say that you therefore have a new lease on life?
Peter makes a direct connection between our new birth and Jesus’ resurrection. He is not saying that by believing in the resurrection we are born again, but that the resurrection is the means by which this new birth and living hope come about. Jesus said that without new-birth, we cannot see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3). What do the resurrection and new-birth have to do with seeing the Kingdom of God? Have you been born-again and do you have a living hope? How can the resurrection of Jesus from the dead transform your life?
Join us as we explore the answer to these questions and discover the meaning of the most glorious day in all of time and in all of eternity.
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2016/03/20160327.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
What is a crisis of faith? It is that experience in which you feel like you are in danger of giving up on your faith; as if your faith is slipping. It is that experience when you feel like it would almost be easier to walk the other way, as if it is useless to keep believing. It may be accompanied by a sense of resentment for the sacrifices you have made in serving the Lord. Yet there is something, just something, that keeps you from taking that next step.
In Psalm 73, Asaph, the psalmist writes, “ (2) my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold… (13)Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence…. (21) my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered.” Have you ever felt like your faith was slipping …like feet slipping off the side of a mountain? What are you to do if you feel as if your faith is slipping? How do you recover?
The psalmist, in Psalm 73, walks us through his own crisis of faith. It is recorded for our benefit. He spares us none of the rancid thoughts he was having, but shares them all. The Psalmist faces his crisis of faith and it becomes an avenue through which his faith grows stronger in the end. All of us have or will experience faith battles, if we live by faith. The psalmist teaches us how to get through them by modeling. Join us as we follow the psalmist through a crisis of faith to a place of strength again.
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2016/03/20160320.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
“Has God abandoned me? Why does He ignore my prayers? Why does God allow me to be abused like that? Why has He allowed me to be treated like an animal? Does He not care?” Hopefully, you can’t relate to these questions. However, many can. Are these questions evidence of unbelief? Are they evidence of weak faith or misinformed theology? In Psalm 22, we discover that they are evidence of a rugged faith that can survive in a rotten world.
Questions like these can make us uncomfortable. Many want to change the questions, or instruct the questioner. These kinds of questions are not for every day kind of praying. They are questions born in experiences of great suffering and imminent doom. They are questions like the ones which the Psalmist of Psalm 22 asks.
It begins, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” As Christians we immediately recognize the relevance of this psalm to the cross. This may tempt us to view the whole psalm as merely prophetic of the crucifixion (since Jesus quoted it on the cross), rather seeing Jesus’ crucifixion as the ultimate fulfillment of it. In order to gain the benefit of Psalm 22 in our own walk of faith, we must first grapple with this psalm for what it originally meant before we an go to the cross and understand how the cross fulfills it.
As uncomfortable as we might be with questions like those in this psalm or at the beginning of this email, they are not questions that come from a fragile faith that is about to fail, but from a rugged faith that can survive in a rotten world. Join us as we explore the abandonment this psalm speaks of and discover how a rugged faith finds hope in the midst of it.
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2016/03/20160313.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
Psalm 7 is one of those psalms that is often passed over if we are doing a fly by through the psalms looking for something we can pray “today”. It is “imprecatory”… meaning it calls judgment down on the supplicant’s enemies. Does the NT command to love our enemies make psalms like this irrelevant? Some might even consider it sinful to pray some of these things. What are we to do with these psalms?
It is not uncommon to think that we can to come to God with our positive emotions (love, joy, gratitude, confidence, contentment), but that we should not go to Him with our negative emotions (anger, grief, anxiety, fear, jealousy). Or at least, if we have those emotions when going to God, that we should not express them. Thinking this way robs us of these psalms.
Psalm 7 is not only relevant for us today, it will help us see how God’s justice in judgment is a cornerstone of our salvation. As John Frame so aptly put it, “Righteousness in Scripture is not only a standard governing conduct, but also a means of salvation.” How is God’s justice a means of salvation? What role might it play in your salvation?
Join us as we examine the 7th Psalm and what it teaches us about how to be angry and not sin, and about God’s anger which in mercy saves us.
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2016/02/20160228.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
In America, and likely elsewhere, success trumps truth. If asked why they support the leading candidate for one party, most will respond with some version of, “Because he is successful,” as if that needs no further explanation. If asked why they support one of the candidates for the other party most respond with some version of, “Because he/she is going to make my life better.” Both can be boiled down to, “Because that is what I think will make my life more blessed,” or, “…more secure,” or, “…more prosperous.”
This week, we are going to examine Psalm 4. One line in this psalm might make a great # describing the question driving the lives of most Americans. #Whowillbringusprosperity?
Many, LORD, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?” (Psalm 4:6)
Whatever the answer to that question is, that is what most want and pursue! It is the outcome that matters. My happiness, my success, the respect I deserve. But this should not be the driving question of our lives, because without fail it will lead to idolatry.
Psalm 4 is given to God’s people to help us pray when we see this brand of idolatry in the church. It teaches us how to resist it and how to pray about it. Although Psalm 4 was written in a world that seems quite removed from our world of fast cars, technology, and bit-coin currency, the way people responded to difficulty was not much different than today.
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2016/02/20160221.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
This Sunday we begin a new series, Psalms: Living in the Presence of God. The Psalms give us ways and words which teach us how to dwell in God’s presence, how to pray and worship in a world that is “East of Eden” – often far from His presence and evident blessing. If we are going to bring the life-giving waters of God’s presence to the desperately needy and dying world around us, we need the psalms to help us drink from the river of the water of life daily!
We will begin this week with Psalm 1 and 2. You might wonder why I might take these two together. In terms of style, they are very different psalms. One is a Wisdom Psalm – reflecting on the Wisdom of God’s law, the other a Royal psalm – addressing issues surrounding kingship. One speaks mostly of the individual, the other of the nation. But many things unite them.
There is a fair amount of evidence that though they were written independently, they were once considered as one psalm – or two panels of one psalm. Not only are there a lot of verbal and thematic connections between them, as we will see, but they present contrasting ways to live and promise radically different outcomes. Do we join in the rule of Yahweh (the Lord) and meditate on His way of life which is a tree of life (Psalm 1)? Or, do we join in Adam’s rebellion, which in Psalm 2 has become the rebellion of the nations who plot new ways to rebel against God and His chosen ruler – Jesus Christ?
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2016/02/20160214.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
The Urban Dictionary defines the acronym W-I-I-F-M as “What’s in it for me?” Adding: A question that may be asked about a new idea or method where the benefits are not obvious. People naturally default to this question when faced with a decision, especially a difficult decision. Sadly it seems to guide our political decisions as well.
When we first came to Christ, it is likely that we reasoned through it, at least in part, with this WIIFM question. We may have answered, heaven, not going to hell, happiness, or fulfillment. For some it may have been blessings, help from God, having your best life now, or becoming a better you. But there comes a day when we must answer that question with: God! – A relationship with God!
I am not suggesting that many of the things I just mentioned might be in the mix for most of us. But I am suggesting that until we love God and have a relationship with God that is not based on those things, our faith has not yet matured, or been completed. In Genesis 15, God assured Abraham that He Himself would be Abraham’s defense and very great reward. In Genesis 22, it is as if the question is, “Is that enough?”
Join us for worship tomorrow as we examine Genesis 22 and finish our series, Genesis: Truth for Understanding the World. Worship is what we are really talking about here. True worship and WIIFM stand in opposition to one another. Let’s come asking the Lord to give us hearts of true worship.
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2016/02/20160207.pdf
Speaker: Daryn Kinney
Maybe you’ve heard someone say, “There are many ways to God; it doesn’t matter which path you choose,” “Nothing exists beyond what we can see,” “How can we know for sure God exists?” This Sunday we’ll walk through Acts 17 and discover how Paul spoke of Jesus to a city and culture much like our own, one that held many of the same questions and worldviews I just mentioned. Paul was simply waiting for his friends to show up but he couldn’t stay quiet. He was so provoked by what he saw around him he had to speak up. What did he say and what can we learn from it? How can we share The Story of God in a way that makes sense to our culture without compromising the message? These are the types of questions Acts 17 helps us to answer.
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2016/01/20160131.pdf
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
To say that the last few years have been historic in regard to the issues of “race relations” in America may be an understatement. Issues of justice and oppression have been brought back into the public conversation. The Bible has much to add to this conversation as the subjects of justice and the oppression of the poor receive significant space in it. Therefore we must also speak about these issues. Sunday morning we will examine foundational truths about racism from the book of Genesis; truths on which to build in the future.
However, I confess that I will speak from a position of weakness, a position of knowing I have much more to learn than to teach on this subject. I am also likely to offend some, both because of things I say poorly, and because of hard things that need to be said. In one sermon I can do little to effect a change and little to move us to action. But I don’t doubt the power of God’s word and truth to produce far beyond what could ever be measured inside the seed itself. The first time I preached on the abortion issue many years ago, two people were launched into ministries to effect that matter of injustice.
We must not be satisfied to say, “The Gospel is the answer,” without speaking to how the Gospel calls us to be a part of that answer. It isn’t enough to say, “The church is the only agency that can solve this crisis,” without actually being a church that helps solve the crisis.
Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2016/01/20160124.pdf