Community Christian Church: Recent Episodes
Community Christian Church
Community Christian Church desires to be a church centred on Jesus. We want to introduce people to the adventure that a life with Christ can bring, and then challenge and encourage them to live a life of significance. Our identity is rooted in Jesus, and we desire to reflect His life and love through our worship, teaching, and service.
KAPOL (Kontakt Apologetics) is International Apologetics with an Individual Touch. We seek to provide quality Christian Apologetics, robust enough to engage the sharpest of skeptics, and in as many languages as possible, as Christian Apologetics has largely been reserved to the English-speaking world. To read more from KAPOL founder Brett Seybold, check out his articles at www.Renew.org or watch their videos at www.youtube.com/@KAPOLvideo
Because Jesus has made the way for us to live with him and the father forever through the Spirit we, unlike the fig tree, and unlike the temple, bear fruit. It is the fruit of the Spirit that overflows out of us and into the world, Through the Spirit we cultivate a fruit in our life that has the potential to grow a garden, a Edenic garden that teems with life and peace, because it is filled with the presence of God.
"He cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross." - Colossians 2:14-15
God will not tolerate the alienation and disorder that sin brings. The declaration in the final courtroom, ‘Not guilty!’ is ours only because Jesus has suffered in our place for the sins we have committed. We are found not guilty because we receive Christ’s righteousness and are thereby reconciled to God.
When we consider how great the weight of sin really is we begin to see how dire the human circumstance actually is. Only then do we begin to see the need for an extraordinary intervention to rescue us from sin. Because our sin is so great, redemption is not cheap.
Christ’s blood is a metaphor that stands primarily for the suffering love of God. It suggests that there is no sorrow God has not known, no grief he has not borne, no price he was unwilling to pay, in order to reconcile the world to himself in Christ . . . it is a love that has endured the bitterest realities of suffering and death in order that its purposes might prevail . . . the motif of Christ’s blood signifies primarily the depth of the divine commitment to rescue, protect, and sustain those who would otherwise be lost.” – Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion
Jesus has brought us from bondage into freedom, from sin into righteousness, and from death into life.
This is an interview Stephen did with Dr AJ Culp, the author of, Invited to Know God. In it, they discuss the importance of developing good habits, how prayer is the key to knowing God, and how the sabbath is an incredible gift of resistance in a world of constant work.
Songs allow us to experience not only God’s past actions but also God’s current and future reality. Songs powerfully get stuck in our heads and can stay with us throughout the day. Songs are, therefore, a powerful tool in the war against sin and the reformation of lives. Never underestimate the power of song in the formation of our lives.
Deuteronomy 32 is a song, written by God, to teach and remind the people of Israel of who God is—the faithful rock and covenant father. And to remind them who they are—a people prone to wander and rebel. It paints them a picture of a bleak future if they rebel, but does not leave them without hope.
For people who struggle and fail this passage offers hope. We find hope in God’s covenant commitment and his great compassion, which, we see most fully in Christ. Judgment will not be the last word for the follower of Jesus. And, one day, the entire universe will be transformed into a new creation where rebellion, heartbreak, and pain are no more. Through the work of Christ, God has judged and been victorious over all the forces of evil and made a way of reconciliation for his people. This is the hope offered in Christ.
This is the ultimate vision of this song of Moses, it is one we will sing in the new creation, and it is a truth worth singing in/over our lives constantly.
Whether intentional or not, you are being formed/trained into a person who loves. The only real questions will be: What am I being trained to love? And, how do I love rightly?
How do we become people who love rightly? We centre our whole selves on Jesus (with all of our heart and soul). We fix our eyes on Jesus and develop new habits that lead us to know him and be like him. But, this is only possible because he first loved us. (1 Jn. 4:19) “We love because he first loved us.”
Deuteronomy and the New Testament ground the hope of humanity in the very same thing: God’s grace. We are invited to know God through his grace.
In Jesus, we are invited into the story of God’s redemptive work. We are invited to worship God as the promise-keeping, saving God. We are invited to experience the new life God desires through the Law of Christ written on our hearts and empowered by the Spirit. And into relational covenant with God through Jesus’ sacrifice. We are invited to know God through his grace and mercy towards us in Christ.
We are invited to know God through His covenant. God’s covenant is rooted in His unchanging, unfailing, and perfect love. It’s not a question of whether God will keep His part of the covenant, but whether we will keep ours. God desires to be our God and for us to be His people.
We know and remember through the body, not just our brains.
Chapters 12-26 invite us to know how we should live in the light of God’s revealed character and past faithfulness. One of the primary ways we know and learn things is through our bodies. The instructions of 12-26 are meant to be lived, to become habits—ways of life. This would give the people of Israel a lens for understanding the world they were not even aware they were wearing.
We are no longer under the burden of the law; In other words, Jesus has freed us from the necessity of the ceremonies and sacrifices as a way to keep the covenant. We are now free, but we are free to live under the grace of Christ and to live for him instead of sin.
We must continually remember what we have been saved from and what we have been saved into. Remembering what we were saved from reminds us of God’s incredible grace and motivates us to be just and graceful people. As we remember we more and more come to the knowledge of God and our place in his Kingdom. As dearly loved children, rescued by his grace and called to life with him. A life to the full—full of the joy of his presence where we enjoy him forevermore.
You and I were created to worship; therefore, It is never a matter of if we will worship, rather it is always a matter of what we will worship. Worshipping God rightly is important; worship is a way to give God his deserved glory, but more than that, it is also the place we encounter God and are invited to know him more deeply.
One of the primary purposes of Scripture, A.J. Culp says, is “to produce a ‘world’ for the faithful to 'live in.'” Scripture is not simply a mine of information nor is it merely a thought for the day. Rather, it is the foundational story that one builds their life upon and imagines themselves in.
Chapters 1-4 of Deuteronomy are a deliberate travelogue that brings us to key events in Israels history from the Exodus until the present sermon. In particular it brings us to key moments of decision that demonstrate God’s character and also the character of Israel.
We remember in order to see ourselves in the story: Deuteronomy is our story too and finds its greatest fulfilment in Christ. In it we see God’s faithfulness to us and our welcome into God’s covenant people. We remember God’s New Covenant through the incarnation, death, and resurrection, of Jesus and our entrance into that covenant as we identify with Christ in baptism. We see our failure to trust God’s faithfulness and love and yet we remember God’s continued faithfulness. Finally, we see How Christ bids us to come and die to our own selfish ways and to come and find life in him. To live with him now and someday in the land he has promised.
Mark has been showing us that his statement in 1:1 is not hyperbole, but fact. Jesus may be like Moses and Elijah, but he is far greater than either of them. Only God has the power to order and tame the chaos. As the Spirit hovered over the waters and brought order out of chaos so too does Jesus.
Mark shows us that Jesus is the rightful king and the true leader of Israel, not evil Herod. The main motivations of the kingdoms of this world are pride and selfish gain but Jesus’ motivation was compassion. Jesus is the one who shows genuine hospitality to his guests. He rules with compassions and gives in abundance.
The message of the Kingdom is good news that followers of Jesus should share with a sense of urgency. However, we see that this message will not always be seen as good news because it stands in opposition to the kingdoms we build on our own power.
None of us want to be people with whom Jesus is amazed by our unbelief. A good step in following Jesus is to ask the question, "in what ways is Jesus amazed by my faith?"
Desperation is often a catalyst for faith. In our story Jesus takes that which is unclean and makes it clean; that which was dead now lives.
In the calming of the fierce storm, the disciples move from asking “Do you even care?” to “Who is this man?” Fearing the right thing is an essential part of maturing in faith. “Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom (Prov. 9:10).”
Jesus is Lord over all creation, he is with us, and he is on his throne. When things are difficult it is important to remind ourselves who Jesus is and where Jesus is.
Jesus doesn’t want to keep us in the dark, rather He desires to illuminate us. Especially our understanding of the Kingdom.
"But…the rocky soul can in time turn into rich soil. Among souls, the wayside may come no longer to be trampled by all that pass, and may become a fertile field. The thorns may be destroyed and the seed enjoy full growth. For had this not been impossible, this sower would not have sown." - John Chrysostom
There is no such thing as "Jesus and;" it’s always "Jesus or." Jesus requires full and complete allegiance.
What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? This is a question many of us have when it comes to following Jesus. Do we stay in the interested crowd or do we become an apprentice to the master. Jesus meets us where we are but is not content to leave us there. He wants us to experience life and life to the full, this is why he came.
The Sabbath was meant to be a liberating experience and a day of freedom but it had been turned into something different. By healing a man on the Sabbath Jesus shows that it is a day to be renewed and restored by God.
Jesus calls Levi, a man on the outside, to be his disciple. Levi drops everything to follow Jesus because what Jesus was offering was far better than the things he was chasing. This is the new way of God's Kingdom being brought by Jesus.
Jesus cannot be classified as only a good moral teacher or even simply a Rabbi, He has the power to forgive sin and only God can do that. Since Jesus is God, there is nothing not worth doing to get people to Him.
The ministry of Jesus is one that calls us away from ourselves and into a Kingdom life in which everything revolves around Him.
"What do you want?" is one of the primary questions of the gospels. The gospel (good news) we believe says a lot about what we think will give us the life we want. The Gospel of Mark is the gospel; it is the good news that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God who has come to bring peace on earth.
Jesus left us with the command to “go into all the world and preach the gospel.” A gospel that he himself brought in both word and deed. Often there is confusion as to what the gospel is. When properly understood, the gospel drives everything we do and makes possible genuine hospitality. Divine hospitality leads to gospel hospitality.
When God created humans, he set them in a Garden to “work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2). Built into our humanity is the call of God to make our world more like Eden. What we do with our resources– time, money, gifting and capacity–matters to God (and to others). At its best, work is an expression of love and justice. At its worst, of ambition and greed. Our work often generates money; how we steward those resources is key to our apprenticeship to Jesus. A life of simplicity and generosity is a core tenant in Jesus’ vision of life in the kingdom. What habits have you built into your work life and financial life to make stewarding your work and money part of your life before God?
In a culture that stresses work as the means to consuming and consuming as the key to happiness, rest does not make sense. Dallas Willard once quipped that work is the new cultural “drug of choice”, therefore rest, including practising sabbath, is a critical discipline in the reformation of our lives. Rest reminds the Christian that they are not defined by their ability to produce or consume, rather they are defined by their identity in Christ––the one who created and sustains all things.
We are relational beings, created by a relational God for relationship. What relationships form our community before God? Who do we walk the way of Jesus alongside? And what are we doing to create, nurture, and deepen relationships of vulnerability and accountability?
We are not just spirit or mind, but also body. The way to the heart is through the body and so habits and bodily action are vital in forming who we become. What we think and believe must be accompanied by action.
What we give our attention to is the person we become. The stories we believe profoundly shape who we are. What are the stories about life that you believe? How does internalising the gospel story form our hearts and minds into people who desire the Kingdom of God?
Jesus made it a habit of life to abide with the Father. If Jesus thought it was important, shouldn't we? We need to be people who can stop and rest in Christ. We need times of being with Jesus and not actively doing things for Jesus.
You already have a regular way of life you just may not realise what it is and it probably isn’t intentional. Everything you do is a spiritual discipline because it is forming your spirit. Do you know what your regular life is doing to you? Who are you becoming and is it who you want to be? Developing a regular way of life is a means to an end. The end is to be with Jesus and become like him more and more and year on year.
Exodus 34:6-7 is probably the most quoted Bible passage by the Bible. In these verses, God shares His name with Moses. What God reveals to Moses is much more than a name, God shares His character and identity which define Him to the core.
What God wants for us is not just to know about God, but to look and be like Him. We are created in His image and our everyday lives should show the world what He is like.
"Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished..."
There are many things in the Bible that are difficult to reconcile with our modern Western view of the world. Because of this, it can be tempting to stay away from these passages of Scripture. In this sermon, rather than shy away, we attempt to understand who God is on his own terms and what it means for you and me as we follow Jesus.
Exodus 34:6-7 is probably the most quoted Bible passage by the Bible. In these verses, God shares His name with Moses. What God reveals to Moses is much more than a name, God shares His character and identity which define Him to the core.
God's desire is for relationship (covenant) with us. Though we fail, He perfectly keeps His side of the covenant. It is who He is.
Exodus 34:6-7 is probably the most quoted Bible passage by the Bible. In these verses, God shares His name with Moses. What God reveals to Moses is much more than a name, God shares His character and identity which define Him to the core.
God is SLOW to anger, but he is still slow to ANGER. You can make God angry, but you have to work at it. His baseline character is one of patience. This is seen over and over in the Bible and made abundantly clear in Jesus.
Exodus 34:6-7 is probably the most quoted Bible passage by the Bible. In these verses, God shares His name with Moses. What God reveals to Moses is much more than a name, God shares His character and identity which define Him to the core.
When God reveals his character he starts by saying he is a God of compassion and mercy. God, within the context of relationship, acts to forgive the needy.
Exodus 34:6-7 is probably the most quoted Bible passage by the Bible. In these verses, God shares His name with Moses. What God reveals to Moses is much more than a name, God shares His character and identity which define Him to the core.
This week we discuss the fact that there are spiritual beings at work in this world. While powerful, they are nothing when compared to Yahweh. Jesus is Yahweh come down to us to both be and show the way to Him.
Exodus 34:6-7 is probably the most quoted Bible passage by the Bible. In these verses, God shares His name with Moses. What God reveals to Moses is much more than a name, God shares His character and identity which define Him to the core.
When God reveals His name, Yahweh, the question He answers isn’t necessarily what He should be called, but rather, what He is like. The answer: God is personal, relational, and approachable. God is a person. This changes how we relate to Him.
This week we walk through the significance of the term Immanuel. In Jesus, God becomes one of us and this changes everything!
Stephen discusses how it was predicted that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1, Luke 2:4-6). Through this, we can see that Jesus is the true and better Davidic King.
This week Luke speaks about the prophecies that Jesus would from the line of Abraham and the blessing to all the nations (Genesis 12:3, 22:18; Matthew 1:1, Romans 9:5).
We were privileged to have Adam Leadbetter from Galway City Baptist Church as a guest speaker. Adam spoke about the prophecies that Jesus would be born of a woman/virgin.
This is a series from November 2021 looking at the book of Habakkuk. Week 2 is unfortunately missing, nevertheless, we hope this series is helpful to you in your walk with Christ.
This is a series from November 2021 looking at the book of Habakkuk. Week 2 is unfortunately missing, nevertheless, we hope this series is helpful to you in your walk with Christ.
This is a series from November 2021 looking at the book of Habakkuk. Week 2 is unfortunately missing, nevertheless, we hope this series is helpful to you in your walk with Christ.
This series is from November 2020 and was a five-week series through the book of Jonah. The first week–an overview of the book–is missing but we hope the series will be helpful anyway.
This series is from November 2020 and was a five-week series through the book of Jonah. The first week–an overview of the book–is missing but we hope the series will be helpful anyway.
This series is from November 2020 and was a five-week series through the book of Jonah. The first week–an overview of the book–is missing but we hope the series will be helpful anyway.
This series is from November 2020 and was a five-week series through the book of Jonah. The first week–an overview of the book–is missing but we hope the series will be helpful anyway.
"As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one." - Eph. 5:31-32
"And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus." - Eph 3:6
"God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfil his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth." - Eph 1:9-10
"And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one." - Mt. 6:13
The Holy Spirit leads us through trials and temptations empowering us to begin reversing the curse of sin by succeeding where we once failed.
"forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us." - Mt. 6:12
Jesus’ Kingdom is marked by forgiveness. Since we have been loved and forgiven by the Father we too love and forgive much.
"Give us today the food we need" - Matthew 6:11 (NLT)
Everything we have is a gift from God. We must recognise our dependence on God in every area of our lives and live in gratitude. Gratitude comes from understanding our position as the receiver of a gift. Grace leads to gratitude and gratitude moves us to action.
“Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” - Matthew 6:9-10
As we learn to pray like Jesus, the first two ways He instructs us to pray is to worship and submit to “Our Father in heaven.” In doing so, we understand who God is and who we are, and that changes how we pray.