The Church In The Center: Recent Episodes
Ben Hays
Psalm 6 and 38. Audio taken from our Facebook livestream while our regular church meetings are interrupted.
Made New #19 1 Corinthians 10:23-33 The chief end of man - Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever
1 Corinthians 6:9-20 Paul's reminders to the Corinthians about who we were, are, and will be
Made New #1 1 Corinthians 1:1-3 A Letter - The context of Paul's epistles to the Corinthian church
Genesis 16:1-16 Why we tend to do things our way instead of God's way, and what happens when we do.
Acts 18:18-28 Four things we learn about Apollos, and how to apply these ideas to our own lives.
Acts 17:16-34 Five steps to accurately contextualize the Gospel to a culture-specific audience
Acts 17:10-15 How the Berean Christians approached God's Word, and how their example applies to us today.
Acts 17:1-9 Actions that earned Paul and the team the label "those who turned the world upside down"
The Early Church and Authenticity Acts 5:1-16 The Justice of God, Authenticity in Church
What did the Apostles do immediately following the ascension? Waited, prayed and sought unity.
- God reigns supremely
- God reprimands justly
- God restores intimacy
- God rescues mercifully
- God redeems missionally
1) Pride deceives us to believe that our importance is immeasurable. 2) Pride deceives us to believe that our security is unshakable. 3) Pride deceives us to believe that our wealth is immovable. 4) Pride deceives us to believe that our relationships are unbreakable. 5) Pride deceives us to believe that our wisdom is irrevocable.
Matthew 2:1-12. Christmas is all about worship. One of the ways we worship is through serving. Another way we worship is through giving.
Exodus 20:12 The fifth commandment. God as the perfect heavenly parent, and the honorable calling to be earthly parents.
James 3:13-18 A discussion of two kinds of wisdom, earthly wisdom, and heavenly wisdom.
James 1:21-25 James describes two types of listeners, one who only hears, and one who listens, understands, and acts.
James 1:19-21 Three temperaments of the mature believer. James' description of what the mature believer looks like.
Psalm 127:1; 2 Corinthians 4:1-7 Looking back on where we've been, and where we hope to go as a church. Vision casting for Church in the Center.
James 1:9-11 In God's paradigm, the poor have been raised up, and the rich have been brought down. Also, the relation of these ideas to the cross.
James 6-8 There are two things that prevent us from experiencing God's work in our lives: doubt, and double-mindedness
James teaches us to pursue wisdom. Wisdom is seeing and submitting to God’s way. Wisdom is the prudent application of knowledge. Wisdom is the product of communicating with God.
James 1:1-4 James' call to find joy in hardship, and the maturation of faith through patience.
Matthew 12:1-8 Jesus' view of the Sabbath via his correction of the Pharisees' contention
Exodus 16:1-35 God gives us more than enough, enough to truly satisfy. Happiness is not found in more stuff, but in remembering who the Lord is.
How can we partner with believers and Gospel movements in faraway places? 1) Have an awareness of them. 2.) Have a heart level burden for them. 3.) Pray for them. 4.) Equip and instruct them. 5.) Encourage them. 6.) Send helpers to them.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 A discussion of the End of Days and what it means for us today.
Starting with the triumphal entry, and focusing on passion week, Jesus' mission of rescue.
The 8th topic in the "What we Believe" series. It discusses Baptism and its significance. Romans 6:1-11(NKJV)
What We Believe #4 Genesis 2-15-17 The Fall – We believe all mankind is affected by and guilty of sin.
God created all that is ex-nihilo. In relation to His creation, God is: Separate from, Superior to and Sovereign over. The pinnacle of God’s creation is mankind.
A sermon about how a multicultural mandate is evident in the Bible and how it should be applied to us today.
Main Scripture:Revelations 5:9,10
Jesus, the I AM --- The light of the world. When we come to the Light of Jesus, we will never walk in the darkness... 1) Of sin 2) of shame 3) of self-righteousness 4) of secret
Advent series on Jesus, The I AM. This is the first sermon on this series and talks about Jesus the bread of life.
His (God's) story. We are part of God's story. Courage and comfort do not co-exist in Christianity.
We are sanctified BY the Holy Spirit. We are sanctified IN Christ. We are sanctified FOR the Father (master)
Tim Pieplow brings practical application from the book of Philemon in Pastor Ben's absence
The second week of Pastor Ben's look at Luke 21, and Jesus' teaching on the end of the world
Listen in to Pastor Ben's experience with genuine truth and love during his encounter with the Maasai - a nomadic people group in rural Kenya who walk for miles to gather, read, and study the Bible, as they have just recently heard the message of the Gospel.
In today’s message, we see how Jesus responds to a trick question regarding paying taxes to the government. Jesus amazes the crowd with his answer, revealing God's truth while avoiding a trick to be condemned from both the Romans and the Jews.
In our text today, here we see Jesus, the Messiah, God in the flesh weeps over his city. Our human emotions are stirred and we become more attentive when we are near someone crying, and from this passage, we learn the four things that makes Jesus cry.
Jesus shares a story about a certain nobleman who goes on a trip to be crowned King and while he is away, he asks his servants to be faithful stewards of his resources while he is away and to continue to bring about growth for his estate. We learn how the servants give an account to what they did and how they are rewarded (and not rewarded) by the King on his return.
Today we lift up and celebrate the proclamation that Peter has delivered to us in the Bible: That because of the resurrection of Jesus, God has given us a "living hope."
In this short series, we look to develop, equip, and mobilize leaders in our church. God has blessed our church with growth and is increasing our work for His glory. To continue the work for His kingdom, we look to see what the Bible says for us to establish our next level at becoming a well-established, sustainable, and well-led congregation, with Biblical Church Governance.
Missionary Mike Brister shares about work done in Douin, Haiti. The Sell Stuff Movement culminates with a big offering Sunday
Jesus heals 10 lepers and only one returns to show his gratefulness. See how Jesus reveals God's desire for our attention and gratefulness.
Do you accept Jesus, or reject Him? A thing done in poverty or in wealth. The only thing that matters.
The true message of Christianity summarized by the amazing example found in the prodigal son story...
Jesus did not come to cause disunity, he did not call for violence, nor did he desire for unkindness for unbelievers. But Jesus did make it very clear that one must decide to believe or not to believe his absolute truth claim that He is the way to the Father. And he gave this message and this truth in love for all mankind.
Speakers Carmelle Tsai and Adam Sallee share their experiences and mission as they were each serving the people in the African nation of Zambia.
The Lord's Prayer from the Luke Series, as we see from Jesus' example how we should ask for God's provisions day by day. Like an earthly parent doesn't give everything a child desires for their own benefit, likewise, our Heavenly Father wishes to teach us wisdom and patience, as He desires for us to have a continual relationship with Him in faith, and for us to trust in the provisional promises of God.
The Lord's Prayer from the Luke Series, as we see from Jesus' example how we should be submissive to God as the One who knows all things from beginning to end, and it is His Kingdom and His will that we pray to become revealed as we live our lives for His glory.
The Lord's Prayer from the Luke Series, as we see from Jesus' example how we should first recognize who God is when we pray. He is Father. He reigns in Heaven. And His name is hallowed.
In Lukes chronology of the story of Jesus, these are the first public words that Jesus preaches with. He goes to his hometown and visits the synagogue and is given a scroll to read from… He selects a passage from Is. 61 where it was prophesied that a great messenger would come to bring good news to hurting people. And so for Jesus to intentionally read this passage and then say, ‘this is being fulfilled today" he was saying, I am that messenger. I am the Messiah sent from God to fulfill these words. “the spirit is upon me, has anointed me”
This is the first Sunday in Lent, a period of 40 days of fasting and prayer and focusing upon Christ. Of course, this is the passage where Lent finds its background and is meant to echo. To prepare for his teaching ministry, Jesus fasted 40 days and endured the temptation and distractions from the devil.
Today, we are going to look at a very short passage that records for us what kind of feels like a quite unusual event, Jesus
The passage we are going to look at today is the one snapshot we have of the life of Jesus while he was growing up. It�"s a picture of what Jesus was like as a 12 year old adolescent, and we learn some lessons from it about how we view the season of adolescence as Christ followers.