Central City Podcast: Recent Episodes
Central City Church
Central City Church is a church in Columbus, OH. We hope to provide a safe place for people to find and follow Jesus. We have two basic episodes: 1. recordings from live events that we want to share (like worship and vision talks) and 2. podcast episodes recorded and edited for the podcast exclusively. With each episode, we will differentiate between the two by adding the word “message” to the beginning of recordings that are taken from live events and “podcast” to the recordings that are edited episodes for the podcast.
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Below is the clip referenced in the sermon. Due to copywriters, it can’t be included in the podcast. This is the entire clip—in the sermon, the first half is played near the beginning of the sermon and the second half is played near the end.
Here are a few of the slides mentioned in the sermon:
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Joe continues our series on what it means to be unique and use our God-given gifts for the common good.
Joe continues our series on what it means to be unique and use our God-given gifts for the common good.
Joe continues our series on what it means to be unique and use our God-given gifts for the common good.
Please note, Joe’s use of explicit language has been edited out of this podcast. His apologies go out to everyone for the use of strong language without warning.
Joe kicks off a new series on what it means to be unique and use our God-given gifts for the common good.
Racism & the Church will take place on the following Sunday mornings during our normal worship service: January 9th, January 30th, February 20th, and March 13th.
You can join us in-person at St Luke's on 5th (1150 W. 5th Ave) or online at http://live.centralcity.co
Joe shares church update and continues Like a Child series. Find Impact Report at centracity.co/impact
Julie Moore shares her story and Pastor Joe preaches on what it means to be “like a child.”
We have a very special testimony and Joe preaches on the Passover and how it helps us understand the Gospel.
Joe walks through the food laws of Leviticus 11 and Andi Wilkins shares her faith story.
Heidi Weaver-Smith shares her story and hosts a conversation regarding domestic violence.
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We talk faith, climate change, what we can do about it, and why we should care as Christians.
Join us in-person Wednesday, February 17th, between 8am-1pm at St Luke’s on 5th - 1150 W. 5th Ave. You can use the audio track (bring headphones!) and the liturgy below.
OPENING PRAYER: God,
You are the Maker of all things and judge of all that you have made. From the dust of the earth you have formed us and from the dust of death you will raise us up. By the redemptive power of the cross, create in us clean hearts, and put within us a new spirit -- that we may repent of our sins and lead lives worthy of your calling; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
SilenceScripture"Even now," declares the LORD,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and
mourning."
Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and
compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
Who knows? He may turn and have pity
and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the LORD your God.
Excerpts from Psalm 51
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
SilenceLet’s pray together.
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have failed to do.
We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have to loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name, Amen.
SilenceBe Thou My Vision Verse 1
Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best thought, by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Verse 2
Be Thou my wisdom, and Thou my true word
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord
Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Verse 3
Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise
Thou mine inheritance now and always
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart
High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.
Verse 4
High King of heaven, my victory won
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O Ruler of all
Except from Introduction to The Alchemist by Paulo CoelhoThe only honest response is: I don't know. All I know is that, like Santiago the shepherd boy, we all need to be aware of our personal calling. What is a personal calling? It is God's blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on Earth. Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend. However, we don’t all have the courage to confront our own dream.
Why?
There are four obstacles.
First: we are told from childhood that everything we want to do is impossible. We grow up with this idea, and as the years accumulate, so too do the layers of prejudice, fear, and guilt. There comes a time when our personal calling is so deeply buried in our soul as to be invisible. But it’s still there.
If we have the courage to dream, we are then faced by the second obstacle: love. We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream. We do not realize that love is just a further impetus, not something that will prevent us going forward. We do not realize that those who genuinely wish us well want us to be happy and are prepared to accompany us on that journey.
Once we have accepted that love is a stimulus, we come up against the third obstacle: fear of the defeats we will meet on the path. We who fight for our dream suffer far more when it doesn’t work out, because we cannot fall back on the old excuse: “Oh, well, I didn’t really want it anyway.” We do want it and know that we have staked everything on it and that the path of the personal calling is no easier than any other path, except that our whole heart is in this journey. Then, we warriors of light must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know that the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand how.
I ask myself: are defeats necessary?
Well, necessary or not, they happen. When we first begin fighting for our dream, we have no experience and make many mistakes. The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and get up eight times.
So, why is it so important to live our personal calling if we are only going to suffer more than other people?
Because, once we have overcome the defeats—and we always do—we are filled by a greater sense of euphoria and confidence. In the silence of our hearts, we know that we are proving ourselves worthy of the miracle of life. Each day, each hour, is part of the good fight. We start to live with enthusiasm and pleasure. Intense, unexpected suffering passes more quickly than suffering that is apparently bearable; the latter goes on for years and, without our noticing, eats away at our soul, until, one day, we are no longer able to free ourselves from the bitterness and it stays with us for the rest of our lives.
Having disinterred our dream, having used the power of love to nurture it and spent many years living with the scars, we suddenly notice that what we always wanted is there, waiting for us, perhaps the very next day. Then comes the fourth obstacle: the fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives.
Oscar Wilde said: “Each man kills the thing he loves.”
And it’s true. The mere possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of the ordinary person with guilt. We look around at all those who have failed to get what they want and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either. We forget about all the obstacles we overcame, all the suffering we endured, all the things we had to give up in order to get this far. I have known a lot of people who, when their personal calling was within their grasp, went on to commit a series of stupid mistakes and never reached their goal—when it was only a step away.
This is the most dangerous of the obstacles because it has a kind of saintly aura about it: renouncing joy and conquest. But if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of God, you help the Soul of the World, and you understand why you are here.
Joe sat down with Professor Jeff McKee to talk about faith, science, and evolution.
Watch: https://youtu.be/XNmFdUAdVEA
Joe continues this series by talking about a time when Jesus brought Peter, James, and John to a healing.
Joe looks at the story of James and John and discusses how the world tends to measure each other.
NOTE: at one point, Joe put the handheld mic down, to hold and eventually break a yard stick as a sermon illustration. During this time, the audio sounds different.
Pastor Allyssa shares what she has been up to over the last 6 months and her own struggle with lost connections.
Joe opens up about his struggles with anxiety and announces a new initiative on Mental Health.