Christ Community Ames Teaching: Recent Episodes
Christ Community Church
A podcast of teaching series from Christ Community Church in Ames, IA. Listen to messages from Lead Pastor David Staff, ministry leaders, and guest speakers.
There are three indicators of God's love in you: • Abiding in Christ • Confidence in Christ • Love of Christ for others
Too many of us walk around living with some level of perpetual dread of God when we should long for His appearing. And what gives us the confidence to long for His appearing? Our identity as children of God.
Coming out of the preceding passage, John pauses to speak an encouraging reminder over his audience. Verses 9-11 are a bit heavy. In those verses, John uses stark contrasts to highlight his point that selfless love for our neighbors is supposed to be a mark of a Christian. However, he doesn’t want those stark contrasts to unsettle the confidence and faith of his audience, so he reminds them of their great hope and confidence in Christ.
We’ve all been here recently; we have heard someone say one thing and then act in a different way. With the amount of cultural and political critique and conversations going on, this is an inescapable reality. And, honestly, all of the “evaluating” we’re doing is exhausting. It wears us out emotionally, mentally, and even physically. It can lead to fractured relationships or just a general sense of distrust. For those of us that claim to be Christians, we aren’t just misrepresenting ourselves or a political party; when we do this, we are tarnishing the name of Jesus. And as Christians, we don’t want that to be true of us because we want Jesus to be glorified.
In our passage today, we are going to hear the words of John. He was writing to a group of Christians that were confused and honestly exhausted by feeling as if they weren’t living an authentic life with God. John is going to point them to the life and example of Jesus. Ultimately, we will see that an authentic relationship with God means that we are obedient to God’s commands. To claim that and then live otherwise is to lie to ourselves. It is like pretending to be something that we’re not, and the only person we’re fooling is ourselves. Everyone else can see through it. As we walk in obedience to God’s commands, God fills us with joy and a sense of complete contentment that leaves us feeling complete.”
Authentically knowing God will be demonstrated through obedience to God’s commands, in which Jesus is the ultimate model.
When we hold fast to Jesus, we acknowledge that he is our only hope and that we are not enough in and of ourselves. In Jesus, we are free and without shame to admit our brokenness, and in that vulnerable confession, have our joy made complete in fellowship.
I kinda think just about everyone winds up wanting their life to be “right,” to be better than it is. Nobody I know wants to look back and say, “Wow...did I screw that up! What a waste.” I mean, it’s sad when you where someone say, “I never took the time to think How am I going to live this life?
I ran into a woman recently, got into a conversation. She asked what I did. I told her, “I’m a pastor; I help shepherd people in their life journey with Jesus.” She immediately began pouring our her last 20 years, wishing she had been a better person.
Here’s how she put it – “My f---ed up life.”
How about us? What about you? You have an instruction book that you’re following for not winding up there?
Quite honestly, I don’t know about all the books and podcasts and TED talks out there. What I know is that there is one Book that has the answers, the instruction, the truth about “the how.” It’s the Bible. Mike Shields said it last week. We are going to reading from the” greatest book ever written, and every part of it is true.”
This morning, one more listen to Paul discipling his spiritual son Timothy. Because when you look at the letters he wrote, Paul gives Timothy 5 trustworthy sayings—5 key truths he depended on, and WE, can count on...to shape a life worth living. to shape his heart and his living.
- Facing Your Fears • God’s PROMISES must be the FOCUS. • God's promises have INSTRUCTIONS and CONDITIONS. • Face the REALITY of your next STEPS.
- Life-Defining Courage • Gives us CONFIDENCE to PERSEVERE. • Gives us STRENGTH to take the NECESSARY path. • Gives us INSIGHT to FOLLOW God’s plan.
So as Paul finishes his letter to Timothy, he shines a huge spotlight on the importance of supporting relationships (4:9-22). I find this veteran apostle giving his son this coaching call—Life-giving discipling in the gospel takes relationship initiative a proactive stepping up to meet one another’s needs. Paul is asking his son to step up in their relationship, and in the relationships they have with others. He urges what I would call relationship initiative.
The word “essential” is powerfully clarifying. It means that which is “absolutely necessary, indispensable, fundamental, what must be done without exception.” The word “essential” is powerfully clarifying. It means that which is “absolutely necessary, indispensable, fundamental, what must be done without exception.”
As a Christian these days, as someone called into His church, onto His team, to defeat the gates of hell by making disciples...what’s your target? What few things are your focus? What’s your target, no matter what you regularly do, as a disciple-maker following Jesus? That’s what this letter we are reading and praying through is all about.
Many American Christians prefer to keep the good news about Jesus hidden. Some are not only reluctant but also opposed to the practice of trying to encourage other people to trust and follow Jesus. What in the world is going on here? Seems a whole lot of us have just decided that giving an excuse to Jesus someday at the judgment seat will be a lot easier than sharing the gospel of Jesus today with our neighbor. Or...or should we have the courage as Christians to put “first things first?” How does a serious, empowered disciple embrace/own the gospel?
For just a few moments, think with me about this question: Why do people go where they go and do the things they do? Yeah. I get it. Broad question, perhaps countless answers. But it’s worth a bit of thought. Where are we going? Why do we go where we go...and let me narrow it...why do we go to Church? Why in the world would anyone these days go to church? What’s the point? As far as I can tell, when I open this book, Jesus Christ began His church and invites us into His body/church for one reason.
On a morning like this, where was the body? How in the world could it have been taken? God the Father did what God the Holy Spirit said He would do through the Psalms & Prophets centuries before. In this short Easter Sunday message, we explore the only logical explanation for the tomb being rolled away from the resting place of Christ.
Who is this God who hung on the cross? Why did He do this…voluntarily? And, why does He invite me to join Him? In this sermon, Pastor David Staff walks us through Jesus' final journey to Jerusalem.
Jesus has the authority to rewrite my life’s story and give me a new identity. There is nothing with greater authority than Jesus. Is Jesus at the top of your organization chart? Is He the authority in your life?
In this sermon, Pastor Mark discusses the important distinction between being a servant leader and a self-serving leader. What we find is that leadership takes humility, and we learn from the ultimate example of Christ. We can live a life defined in Christ by brave humility.
Reach Sundays are times for the family at Christ Community Church to gather and be reminded that God has called us to be on mission locally, regionally, and globally. Christ's Great Commission is the heartbeat for his Church, so we use focused worship, testimonies, messages from the Scripture, and specific calls to action to mobilize the saints to faithfully and joyfully obey. Come be a part of Reach Sunday in person or on-line and hear what his next step might be for you in caring for those in physical and spiritual need here in Ames and around the world!
Have you ever asked yourself, seriously, whether or not you’ve been taught the truth about stewardship, about money, and about where your treasure (and thus your heart) really is? Where did you get your thoughts, your habits, the principles you consciously (or perhaps unconsciously) use to get money and spend money, the truth from God about stewardship?
The reality is that in this confused world – and it is greatly confused – the likelihood is that we may be handling what God puts in our hands NOT with the truth (of the word of God)...but simply the way that most everybody else does. That likelihood is quite high. We may well be simply floating down-stream with everyone else instead of swimming purposefully against the current. Listening to the world more when it comes to money, possessions & eternity, than listening to the Lord.
The prosperity gospel lie has been around a long time. So what is the truth about stewardship, about money and spending, about our hearts and our treasure?
In the first weeks of 2021, we have been listening to the Holy Spirit about our investments. Our gracious God, who owns everything, graciously puts so much treasure into our hands. The treasure of time. The treasure of talents and abilities. The treasure of money and assets. And where—Jesus reminds us—we put that treasure, we shall also find our heart.
We cannot, Jesus insists, serve both God and money, but we can serve God with our treasure. Someday, we shall give an account to our Lord about our investment of what belonged to Him.
But we will also give an account on how we discipled our children and our teenagers in this critical area. Where is their heart, as a result of where they have placed their treasure. This sermon will challenge us to consider how we are leading our children.
Because our Most High Father is mercifully generous, you will see His generous love in His sons and daughters. In this sermon, you'll here that sons of the Most High respond with love, act with generosity, refuse to judge, refuse to condemn, readily forgive, and generously give.
When money gets tight, how easy is it to nervously and crankily say, “Well, Lord…I’m going to put you on hold for a few weeks or so…so I can get myself out of this mess. I’m sorry, God…$$ is too tight; I’m too nervous; I’ve got to compromise on what really belongs to you.”
Tight money leads to nervous crankiness…and nervous crankiness over tight money can lead to compromise.
Is that how God defines generosity…that only really wealthy people can afford to be generous?
In this sermon, Pastor Staff explores a stunning encounter that Jesus and his men had one afternoon in the middle of a busy day, documented in Mark 12.
Jesus sets the Example of Baptism. Matthew 3:13-17
Baptism is a Biblical Instruction. Matthew 28:19 NIV 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Acts 2:38 NIV 38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Work of Jesus is a Picture of Baptism. Romans 6:3-4 NIV 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
1 Peter 3:20-22 NIV 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.[a] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
Baptism is an action that Identifies a person as a Jesus Follower. Acts 22:15-16 NIV 15 You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
A meaningful life is impossible if you don't understand your identity. If you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, it seems very clear that your Heavenly Father, and Jesus His Son, and the Holy Spirit want you and me to know exactly who we are in Christ. Of the many ways we identify with and follow Jesus, one question we must be sure to be reminded of: Am I a first-fruits steward of the entrusted resources of the Father?
A Christian is someone whose trust in the good news about Jesus the Savior, who died for sins and was raised from the dead, has changed her/his life today and destiny tomorrow.
Trusting in the Gospel, a Christian is someone born into God’s family by grace through faith.
The result: a Christian lives to please God the Father by obeying God the Son in the power of God the Holy Spirit.
In this message, we will use the prayer which the Lord Jesus taught his disciples as a template for beginning 2021 in prayer which seeks the Lord’s presence and power for the year ahead.
Christ is expected to return. We do not know the time at which He will return, but we know He will. Since the day of Christ is coming, how should we be actively seeking the Lord?
Let’s put ourselves in Mary’s shoes. She has just traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem, a two- week journey. This is not a journey she was unaccustomed to; it is the route she has traveled many times when they would come to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple. But, this time, she is nine months pregnant! When they arrived in Bethlehem, there were so many people that all of Joseph’s relatives had run out of space, and she had to give birth to Jesus in the sheep pen where the animals were kept. Some nine months ago, an angel came to her and to Joseph telling them all about God’s plans.
Honestly, those plans were overwhelming and scary. But, the joy she has felt along the way, and now he’s finally here. But, here isn’t what or where she expected. And to top it all off, they showed up. She must have thought there was some But And the shepherds returned, confusion at first, had they come to get the sheep from the pen? There were no sheep to be had. See, these shepherds weren’t exactly known to be upright citizens, and they aren’t who you would expect to show up first for the birth of the Savior. But, then they began telling her what had happened in the field that night, the angel, his instructions, and now here they are, and they have found the child! It should surprise her, but with everything she’s been through and how she has watched God work, it doesn’t. Instead, it fills her with joy.
God sent His son into humanity miraculously as a stunning invitation for us to seek Him. This miracle—this entrance through a young virgin woman—is stunning invitation. It should arrest our attention. Bring us up short in our tracks; to get off the treadmill of Christmas chaos and listen to the Holy Spirit.
Here’s an amazing thing. God longs for you to seek Him. He wants to be known even as He knows us. For us as a habit of life to engage in a humble, hungry pursuit of a greater relationship with God...which He knows will be life changing.
On this Reach Sunday, we sit down with some of our local and global Reach Partners as they share about their work. Kip offers great resources for a great commission as he discusses Acts 1:8 and our call to serve our family, church, community, and the world.
The world is broken, let’s fix it.
What a great motto for a company. Better yet, what a great motto for Jesus’ church! What a great motto for the gospel of Mark, the essence of Jesus’ life. The world is broken; let’s fix it!
So what did Jesus do to fix this broken world...and now that we are disciples in this generation, awaiting his momentary return...what does he call us to do in a broken world?
The answer of Mark’s gospel...and especially the final 6 chapters, is simple.
SERVE: POUR OUT YOUR LIFE TO SAVE SOMEONE ELSE.
As Jesus enters God’s chosen city (Jerusalem) amidst God’s chosen people, what is He looking for? What is his passion, his hunger? In this manual on servanthood, what is Jesus showing his disciples (in these chapters of Mark) about being a servant of God? I think Mark is moved by the Spirit of God to give us a vivid portrait in Jesus of this:
God’s servants (like Jesus aligned with God’s heart) are passionate for righteousness. They hunger for it. A hunger that is obvious. A hunger that is expressed in their impact, influence.
One of the most important things that a new Christian—or any Christian for that matter—must realize is simply this. If you are going to seriously follow Jesus Christ, what you think and the way that you think will have to change. Your habits of thought, what you think to be the way to do things in your life, what you regard to be really important, or valuable…all of that will need renovation. Quite frankly, a complete overhaul.
This sermon will bring the difficult truth that to follow Jesus means to deny yourself.
Ever been in a position when you just didn’t think you had any more to give?
Ever been there? “Lord...I’m tapped out.” I can hear your heart’s inaudible response already. “Sure I have.” You know what I mean. You kinda hit a personal dead end.
It could be with that difficult person to love.
It could be with the stress of your job.
It could be with that child, or teenager, who has managed to drain your tank down to the last drop...and if you could, you’d wash your hands of it and simply walk away. But you can’t and you won’t; still you’re spent.
Shucks...it could be financially.
Of all the people I’ve ever known well, I don’t know of anybody who hasn’t at some time reached that point with someone or some thing important in their lives. When you do, you feel it down deep. “Lord, honestly, I just don’t have anything more to give.”
Which is why I love the Bible. Why you love the Bible. It is so real to life, full of people who’ve arrived at the very same place.
We see our modern decorations. Ghosts dancing around trees, carved pumpkins (some happy, some frightful), witches and goblins suspended in mid-air, skeletons hanging from trees, zombies with ghoulish, gashed faces stalking the living. A fascination—perhaps playful—with the aura of death and graves and spirits.
It’s a time when we are supposed to be afraid. In the movie Halloween Sheriff Leigh Bracket tells Laurie Strode, “It’s Halloween; everyone’s entitled to one good scare.”
Fear is an interesting experience; on most days we avoid it like the plague. We are told
Fear is a natural, powerful, and primitive human emotion. It involves a universal biochemical response as well as a high individual emotional response. Fear alerts us to the presence of danger or the threat of harm, whether that danger is physical or psychological. Sometimes fear stems from real threats, but it can also originate from imagined dangers.
But when we are afraid, our heart races, adrenalin spikes exponentially increasing our alertness. Whether it’s a snake, or thinking about the future, or boarding a plane, or the presence of a crowd, fear quickly shouts, “You can’t handle this…run (if you can) to safety.”
So why would God ever allow any of us to be in a frightening, fearful situation?
In this sermon, Pastor Kyle Bartholic takes a look at a story of four men who were convinced of the life-changing power of Jesus, moved by compassion for someone in their life that couldn’t get the help he needed, and along the way, they will hear truth that is deeper than they could have hoped for.
Key Truth: In fishing for people, servants encounter those who need timely help and timeless truth.
In other words: What others need matters to me.
Every time I see that segment from The Bible, something stirs within me. Every time.
Especially now. Don’t you wish you could change the world? Maybe not by yourself...but be a part of something where you could do your part—along with others—that would really make a difference? I just turned 67 this past week, and I can’t remember a time in my lifetime when I’ve felt that so keenly. Sometimes, we hear all the political and cultural noise, and want simply to withdraw.
But we follow Jesus, And that’s what He came to do. That’s why God sent John the Baptizer out in front of him, crying in the wilderness that Someone truly great was coming, Someone who required I clear out my sin clutter, Someone who would plunge me into the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. Someone was coming, John insisted, who wanted to thoroughly change my life, my world, was coming.
So what was his plan? After his own baptism and his own time of rigorous testing in the desert. What was his plan to change the world?
To change the world, Jesus develops followers into fishermen.
In my following of Jesus, will I choose the greatness of being a servant?
So let’s take any blinders off and start our look at God’s great servant.. Mark’s first sentence:
1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Mark says this account will be about “the gospel (good, hopeful news) about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” There is good news about God’s Son, Jesus. And you discover it when you look carefully at his life – when you listen to him teach and watch him operate. Rather than guessing blindly, we can clearly know who He is.
We want to belong to something great. So what’s the greatest group anyone could belong to? By far and away the greatest. No group comes even close. Maybe you’ve guessed it.
It’s THE CHURCH.
And I’ll bet some of you, hearing that, immediately said in your head, “Yeah...right” maybe with just the slightest mental sneer. The Church? Are you kidding me? In the United States, people can’t leave the church fast enough.
For every 10 people I know who even go to church, I can name you 100 that find any and every excuse to stay away. Why would anyone in their right mind dare to suggest that belonging to the Church is the greatest opportunity in the world?
In this sermon, Pastor Staff shares 5 reasons why there is no greater group to be a part of than the church.
Social exclusion. Marginalization. Segregation Racial injustice Alienation Disenfranchisement Outcasts
What do all these terms mean?
They all describe something that happens when some people (who have more access and power) identify other people (with less access and power) as different, and therefore because they are different, they are to be sectioned off, segregated, and excluded in some way.
In Jesus’ day, if you were a Samaritan, if you were a Gentile, if you were a leper, you were avoided, ignored, excluded. They didn’t visit where you lived. They wouldn’t drink from your cup or eat food from your plates. They had no interest in any kind of a relationship with you.
In India, if you are one of the Dalits, an Untouchable, you are considered someone a polluter of society. The same with the Burakumin of Japan, or the Baekjeong of Korea or the Ragyabpa of Tibet or the Al-akhdam in Yemen.
For too long in the United States, if your skin was dark brown or black, you were often excluded in thousands of ways, and by hundreds of laws. In sections of our country, even in major cities, you were told where you could live or not live, what schools you could and could not attend, whom you could marry or not marry, what motels were off-limits, what cafes you could not frequent, what drinking fountains you could or could not use, what restrooms were not yours and which ones were. If you took public transportation, you had to sit in the back. Depending on your skin color, you were either pulled over and given a warning…or you were pulled over and jailed.
Even churches claiming to love God and follow Jesus followed suit. Some welcomed everyone, while others made sure social and racial dividing walls were not only erected, but maintained.
To deny these realities is to deny the truth. But not just here and not too long ago. The history of humanity – in virtually any society in every country -- is covered over with discrimination, inclusion and exclusion. Our world has always had its “insiders” and “outsiders.”
Does God care about these things?
Someone has said that no one really lives until you’ve had to face death. Even more remarkably, Jesus insisted (Mark 8:33-36):
If you seek to save your own life, you will lose it. But whoever willingly loses his/her life for My sake and the gospel’s will find it.
In One New Man #1, the opening lines of Ephesians 2 what revealed what God has to do because the entire human race—every human being—begins and lives their lives (at least for a time) spiritually dead toward God. Dead in chosen transgressions of God’s holiness, dead in our following the course of this world, the prince of the power of the air, following the spirit that gives marching orders to the sons of disobedience. We are very much alive to sin but dead to God. By nature deserving God’s wrath.
Having no personal power to reverse our deadness before God, WHAT God had to do was simply this. Rich in mercy, great in love, full of grace WHAT God does is what He alone can do. To raise us from the dead, to make us alive together with Christ, to seat us right now with Him in the highest of heavenly places.
By grace you/I have been rescued. Jonah said it from the slime of a whale’s stomach in the depths of the sea – “Salvation belongs to the Lord” (Jonah 2:9., cf. Psalm 3:8). Our broken world, the lost, often frustrated if not angry, persons of the human race desperately need this FIRST from the Lord. They need His life, His resurrecting power, His reversing our walking-in-sin deadness.
But all of that begs a 2nd question. WHY does God do this life-infusing raising? WHY does He save us the way he does, and to what important purpose?
That's what we'll explore in today's message.
What is the right question to be asking these days, especially about the problem of our brokenness and hostility, our anger and relentless polarization? About our inability to live as if we are made in God’s image and treat each other accordingly?
On Wednesday this week, I made a driving mistake in the North Grand mall parking lot, and within 2 seconds the other driver shouted out his window, “You a---hole!!!” I didn’t even get a chance to apologize.
It’s on our streets; it’s in our homes; it’s in our hearts.. It’s in our politics, in our government, in our education, even in our churches. In us!
We want (we say) it to stop. We often think that more protesting, more press conferences, more laws, more calling out the others to shame them into agreeing and changing, more personal and national trying harder to have the right attitudes and act more righteously and justly—all of that and more is the solution. Let’s just demand even more forcefully that we all try harder.
Somehow, some way we just want all the wrongness to stop and all the rightness simply to kick in. And yet Bono I think is correct. We think we have the answers, but it may be the question we have wrong. So if I may, let me risk being thought a complete idiot and ask you what I think is the first right question. Here it is: Are you alive today?
Sure, I’ll repeat it. Are you alive today? You might be thinking, “What kind of question is that?” Of course I’m alive. I’m sitting here, listening to you. I’m breathing. In a few minutes, God willing I’ll walk out of here and get on with what’s next in my life. Why are you asking me if I’ve alive?”
Well, I’m asking you about this because when it comes to identifying a solution to the messes, the key question for anyone is whether or not they are alive. Truth be told, vast majority of people in our world trying to solve the problem are not. Not alive. Not really. Not actually. Not truly alive.
Here’s the truth—we cannot begin to solve the problem of our broken, self-centered mistreatment of one another without being truly alive. And if, on our own and in our natural state, we are not alive,” then a 2nd question becomes even more important. Since we, on our own, are not truly alive, then Has God done anything about the death that dominates all human beings?
When he allowed himself to think about it, he had to admit that his life had been difficult. It had been everything His Lord Jesus had predicted. Jesus had told Ananias —the man who first met with Paul after his being blinded on the road to Damascus—Jesus informed Ananias he would show Paul “how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:16). Being Jesus’ “chosen instrument” came with a price tag, and as he reflected back on his journey, it had been high.
Now, sitting in an underground stone pit at centuries old Mamertine prison, he was well aware his difficult life would end difficultly. Over 4 of the last 5 years, he’d been in various prisons – in Jerusalem, in Caesarea, on various ships, and in Rome…twice. Released for a short time after the first incarceration the Romans snatched him again in Asia, and this time his life was in hands of unpredictable Nero…or was it in God’s hands?
“It’s shameful,” many were saying. “If he were truly God’s servant, his life would not be so checkered with trouble!” they taunted. A good number of his former colleagues were now keeping their distance. They had no interest in being associated with--little desire to be identified with someone on death row. He was damaged goods. Anyway, he was about to die.
But he needed to write a letter to his son, Timothy, who himself was under load. Living in the Roman empire as a Christian – no matter where – was getting more and more difficult. And Timothy needed to hear, again, from his father.
Before we open Paul’s 2nd letter, might I ask you if your life – as a Christian – is difficult?
Oh I know this has been a difficult year. COVID pandemic, a volatile economy, social unrest, violence, angry finger-pointing. In Iowa a severe drought, and then a tree-busting, power-line snapping, truck-tossing, corn-flattening derecho. Some of you have COVID; some of you have cancer. Some of you have lost your job to the economy, or your spouse to death, or your health to the relentless aging process.
But what I’m wondering is if your life has been difficult as a Christian. Difficult because you believe in and follow Jesus Christ? Difficult because you dare to affirm the Bible is God’s Word, that Jesus is God’s Saving-Messiah, that our Creator (the Revealer of truth) calls on all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel and begin following Christ. And Christ alone! And that—being a Christian who is a following disciple– well it has made life (even more) difficult.
I’m wondering if your life as a Christian is getting harder.
From that prison, Paul would write his last letter. A letter which answers this question for his spiritual son – When navigating increasingly difficult days what’s the Lord’s call in the lives of His servants? Paul’s answer?
It is to unashamedly influence your generation with God’s truth, especially the gospel.
Even from his compromised, difficult position, Paul’s pen throbs with challenge. He gets it that his life is tough; he gets it that Timothy’s life is difficult. All right…it is what it is. Yep, the world wants to set us “back on our heels” with its trouble and its opposition. But back-on-our-heels is not where the Holy Spirit calls and equips God’s children and God’s servants to be. Our call is to unashamedly influence…with God’s truth…and especially the life-changing gospel about Jesus!
When did you first fall in love with the Word of God? When was the last time you were amazed to be reading God’s thoughts designed for you? When have you discovered something in the Bible and it changed the way you think and act? As a teenager, I remember having a discussion with my mom about some decision I was facing and my mom telling me that fortunately life came with an instruction book. Just like the car we were riding in had an owner’s manual, God had given us His Word, the Bible as our instruction book for life. Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth. It is the answer for every question. Everything you need to know about life can be found there, she told me. But, the thing is, it wasn’t the words that she was saying to me made that moment memorable. No, it was the way that she said it. She believed this down to the core of who she was. She had found it to be true and she was living her life as though it was true. I knew that from watching her. In that brief interaction I knew that my mom’s thinking and living were being shaped by what she was learning in God’s Word, not the other way around. If there was a discrepancy between her life and the way the Bible said to live life, she was going to default to what the Spirit revealed to her in Scripture.
Does God’s Word have that role in your life? Does it still have that role in my life? Am I willing to let it shape me? Do I bring the deepest desires of my life and submit them to God’s Word, revealed through the Spirit in a relationship made possible in Christ? Changing the way you think, changes the way you live.
Today, we look at Paul’s letter to Timothy as he was pastoring the church in Ephesus. Paul’s encouragement to Timothy is to STAY there in Ephesus and lead this church through a battle for the gospel. Paul knows and has known that this group of leaders in this church in this great city are being challenged and will continue to be challenged to hold onto sound, healthy beliefs about God and the Good News of Jesus. Paul wants to strengthen and embolden Timothy in the presence of these church leaders to understand again how what we think about God shapes how we live out our faith. In his letter, Paul writes to his son in the faith this truth, “Healthy doctrine is the foundation for a Jesus-infused godliness which provides the resilience that is necessary for faithfulness, and is crucial to the proclamation of the gospel to a lost world.”
Big Idea: Jesus-infused godliness provides the resilience that is necessary for faithfulness, and is crucial to the proclamation of the gospel to a lost world. In this letter, our coach Paul lays out three key ideas about godliness. Not a self-sustained, try harder, godliness, but a godliness that is modeled and sustained by Jesus. It is Jesus-infused! The first of these key ideas about godliness is that it grows from good gospel teaching.
As we look at and consider the apostle Paul’s letter to Titus today, I want you to walk away with this big idea:
God’s saved people should be zealous for truth and good works
Christians love Philippians chapter 1, verse 6 for good reasons. They love it because it reminds them that God has started a good work in their lives; that following Christ is not merely their own doing. They love it because there seems to be a promise that they will finish strong when Jesus finally appears. God is the major player. God began something with them and God will be faithful to finish what He started.
Do you like this verse? And if someone were to ask you, “What has God has started in your life that you’re hoping He will finish?” What would you say? You might say:
• Well, He made me a new creation and made me His child and put me in His family. God made me His child; God gave me my citizenship in the country of heaven. Someday, I’ll live in His presence and reside in that country. That’s what Philippians 1:6 means to me! • Some of you might also say, “Well, I know God gave me my spouse…my husband and my wife. God started our marriage; He made us ONE when we walked down that aisle. Our marriage hasn’t always been easy, but we are confident that God started it and God will also finish it. That’s what Philippians 1:6 means to us!” • Still others might say, “I know God gave me my children. God created our family…and though there have been bumps along the way, we’re confident that the family God started and the kids He gave us will also finish well. That’s what Philippians 1:6 means to us!”
This verse was originally written by the Apostle Paul to a bunch of new Christians in a new church, in the city of Philippi. It’s one of a number of life-coaching letters he would write to churches and to individuals from imprisonment in Rome. With this group, Paul states right at the beginning that he was confident about their future. God had begun something important with them and in them. But it is also true that Paul was very aware that a spiritual virus was infecting their fellowship and imperiling their future. His letter to them reveals the symptoms:
This important church, this lampstand of the Gospel was under attack by an enemy out to divide and conquer. Yet Paul declares his confidence. So what would it take? To protect and grow what God had started?
The city of Colossae was 80 miles east of Ephesus, in the Lycus River valley. There were Christians there as a result of Paul’s 2 year ministry in Ephesus where (Acts 19:10) the whole province of Asia heard the “Word of the Gospel.”
And there were 2 tremendous Christian leaders of that young church: Epaphras (Col.4:12) and Philemon (Phi 1:1-2,19). Colossae itself was a “great melting pot” of religions and philosophical chatter. A strong Jewish community urged following Moses and His Law. Greek philosophers/teachers urged worshipping the sun, the moon, the stars as gods.
Others promised that you could have “divine fullness” by worshipping a variety of angels and spiritual powers, or by withdrawing from the world. Even back then, this crazy mix of Jewish legalism and Greek cultic practices evidently did not deny Christ outright.
But the pressure if you lived in Colossae was all the more dangerous because while not denying Christ, it dethroned Him.
It said, “Take the spotlight off of Jesus. So...enter Paul, prompted by God the Holy Spirit, writes to a new bunch of young Christians who were being urged to stand up and applaud everybody. Any religious approach. Any object of worship. Any angel. Any power. Any star. It doesn’t matter...it’s all GOOD!
What would you say to these young Christians? Or, if you lived in Colossae— and had become a Christian—what would you need to hear from your coach?
A central truth: THERE’S NO ONE, THERE’S NOTHING LIKE JESUS CHRIST the LORD. He is not one among many; He’s the only One.
This Reach Sunday I want us to better understand poverty in its various forms, and to grow in our compassion for those who find themselves there. And this is my main point: Caring well for the poor is only possible when we recognize our own poverty.
Let me take a moment to define what I mean by “poor” this morning: we typically think of the materially poor, of people who struggle to make life work financially. Basics like food, clothing, and shelter are not givens. But poverty also includes a lack of other things, like a quality education, two-parent families, accessible health care, just laws and systems, job opportunities, safe neighborhoods, and hope.
A person can also be relationally and culturally poor—think of international students, newly-arrived immigrants, or minorities.
What does a newborn believer in Jesus need to become an excellent disciple of Jesus?
Thousands of Christian books about this. But, why is that important? Well, think about it. Are you a newborn in Christ, perhaps a younger Christian? Who’s caring for you? Are you getting the food you need? The help you need to take first steps? What about the baths you need? The encouragement you need when you fall down…which is, as far as I know, something that happens a lot to toddlers.
And what about us who are older Christians? Are we caring for anyone newer in faith in this family who could really use our presence, our encouragement, our watchful eye, our care? What does a newborn believer in Jesus need to grow up, to become an excellent disciple of Jesus?
ANSWER: They need establishing care which prepares for excelling in holiness.
Paul is convinced that the gospel has the power to transform our lives. And when we respond to the gospel by putting our faith in Jesus, that transformation takes place instantly and is ongoing for all our days. Simply said, our priorities will be reoriented to Jesus’ priorities more and more as we follow him in faith.
I am not ashamed of the gospel.
For Christians in the first century, following Jesus and the changes in priorities that came with that were not nuanced or abstract. They were visible for all to see. Is that true of us today?
If you were Greek, you went from worshipping a pantheon of gods to worship of one God. You went from the love and glorification of self to the love and prioritization of your neighbor. From saying Cesar is lord to Jesus is Lord… a claim that will put you in some hot water with the Roman government. If you were Jewish, you went from seeing Jesus as a traitor and false messiah to the Messiah and God incarnate. From Saturday as your day of worship to Sunday as your day of worship. From salvation by being in the right family and following the law to salvation by grace. Being a Christian in the first century meant your faith was on display for all to see. Often, we don’t have much to be “ashamed” of when it comes to being a Christian. For Paul and his first-century companions, it could cost them everything… what did Paul stand to lose?
"Hey Pastor David... why are you so talking so energetically about God's holy jealousy for us?"
Simply because you and I cannot understand the 2nd letter Paul the coach writes to the Christians in Corinth without realizing something of the jealousy of God for us.
In Letters #4, we heard in his first letter Paul calling out the Corinthian church. God had endowed them with everything they needed to be a winning church defeating the gates and power of hell in people's lives. But they were bringing into their church body the sinful stuff of the world: polarizing divisions over secondary matters, their moral disorders (especially the sexual misuse of their bodies), and their doctrinal doubt over the resurrection. Paul's coaching was forthright - You'll never be a winning church without dealing honestly and in repentance with the stuff and practices you've brought in from the world.
Now... months later, Paul writes a second letter, an open-hearted communication about this:
You can be a powerful, fruitful, winning church if you singularly love the God who is jealous over you.
In this sermon, Pastor David shares Paul's explanation for how we can singularly LOVE the God who is jealous for us, in at least 5 ways.
So what is THE CHURCH? When is it the greatest thing in the world…and what can happen to make it the worst. I know a coach who knows all about this, and he (i.e., Paul) wrote a letter to a church that could have been greatest thing in the world…but had become a pretty bad outfit”
Paul needed the church at CORINTH to listen to his coaching—or it would get even worse--and here’s why. Because the Bible teaches us that…
—UNLESS THE CHURCH IS WINNING (defeating the forces of hell in people’s lives)
—IT IS LIKELY THE CHURCH IS LOSING (and people like you and me are getting swallowed up in sin)
Look in your New Testament and find the letter entitled 1st Corinthians. With this letter, Paul is out to help a church that is losing become a winner again. Trying to coach Christians – just like you and me – back to spiritual health and power and joy and love. And maybe…if we listen to Paul’s coaching of the Corinthians, we might just find some timely coaching ourselves.
So what coaching does the Apostle Paul offer these Christians to start winning again?
A key take away from Ephesians is that when we embrace the love of Christ, we will also embrace the way of life that Christ loves.
John Mackey calls Ephesians the “distilled essence of the Christian religion”. The Henderson side of my family hails from the Shetland Islands north of Scotland, so I’m always drawn to the spiritual heritage of that region. John Mackey grew up in Scotland and became the third president of Princeton. He came to faith while reading Ephesians in a field in Scotland in his early teen years. He would later say that it is “Truth that sings” | “Doctrine set to music”. Paul wrote this letter to the church in Ephesus around 62 AD while sitting in prison in Rome. He also wrote Colossians and Philemon during this time.
Will you embrace the truth of Christ’s great love for you? Listen closely to Paul in this letter and be open to the Holy Spirit singing the truth of the good news about Jesus.
This morning, we are going to dig into a passage where Paul will remind us as Christians that we are not walking through this life on our own strength, but we have been given an advantage in the Holy Spirit. And when we walk in step with the Spirit, he cultivates attitudes and actions in us that bear out peace, patience, gentleness, and self-control for our neighbors. I have been sitting in that truth these last several weeks and been praying for God to root out anything that is opposite of that in me, just as King David asked the Lord to declare him innocent from hidden faults (Ps. 19:12).
This teaching will provide an introduction to the servant the Spirit of God will use to provide our spiritual coaching for this summer series. How did he become the key apostle in the 1st century church? Why did the Lord Jesus Christ choose him, and what can happen if we lean into both his Spirit-breathed letters, and Christ-shaped heart?
Proverbs 3:1-12 is a bite-sized package of supernaturally revealed wisdom to inform navigating the years of our walk with God and with one another. More comprehensively, over 31 chapters in some 916 verses, an abundance of both positive and negative guidelines – truths, principles and practices to eagerly embrace, other warnings to “avoid like the plague.” Finishing this smaller wisdom package, Solomon urges his sons/daughter to embed this reality: Because my Father (God) delights in me, with love my Father disciplines me.
One of the earliest chapters in the Bible deals dramatically with our worship of the God who provides everything we have. In Genesis 4, Cain brings to the Lord “some” of the fruit of the ground, while his younger brother Abel brings “of the first-born of the flock and their fat portions” (4:3-4). This week’s proverb (3:9-10) echoes the wisdom of what Abel brought to the Lord. Honor the Lord with your wealth, and from the first-fruits of all you produce. Then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats bursting with wine. Wisdom for first-fruit handling of one’s finances.
The 2nd Proverb in this mini-sermon-series is all about Generation 1 urging Generation 2 to not lose the non-replaceable. Something which, if you have it, if you guard it, if you imbed it inside so that it flows on the outside, brings reward without measure. Nothing can reward your life as a from-the-core expression of God’s kind of loving.
This week’s teaching challenges both parents and their kids. Because the stakes are high, both parents and kids need to fully appreciate the value of what is being handed off. Generation 1 (parents) have a responsibility before the Lord to intentionally prepare Generation 2 (kids, His gift to them) for a life of wise and eager walking-with-God.
This study is designed to help (1) identify those life-shaping commands you believe are important for which Generation 1 < > Generation 2 discipleship, and (2) foster sharpening sharing about best practices for an effective “hand off.”
Have you ever wished you were smarter? wiser? Most people have. “Hindsight is always 20/20” so goes the popular quip. “If only I’d have known” or “I should have seen that coming,” we say. Some things we “miss” are not that consequential. Other matters along life’s path are BIG. With such things, better to “measure twice and cut once” rather than “measure once and cut twice.”
The Father God who made us and knows us (cf. Psalm 139:1-6) offers us a “measure twice, cut once” resource. It’s called WISDOM, and true, timely wisdom comes from Him; specifically, His Son (His Incarnate Word) and His Word (His written word). Highlighted this week--God’s wisdom is abundantly available.
This Easter Sunday’s teaching from John 20 took us back to the confusing moments on resurrection morning. Yet Jesus’ resurrection was more than an (almost) unbelievable reversal of death. It was the basis for truly changed lives. The apostles, the broader band of disciples, and those who would soon become part of the Body of Christ were all changed, from the inside out, by the reality and power of Jesus’ resurrection.
On this 2nd Sunday of considering the momentous, heavenly scene of Revelation 4- 5, we considered the worthiness of the Lion (or is it a Lamb) to receive the scroll from the One who sits on the throne.
We belong to the God and follow Jesus Christ, do not read our Bibles through the lens of the newspaper. Rather, we read our newspapers through the lens of the revealed Word of God…and it always gives us what we need.
Beyond and behind all that happens in our chaotic world, there is a THRONE established (ultimate authority and rule), and the ONE who occupies the throne is uncompromisingly HOLY and incomparably WORTHY of the unbridled worship of all creation.
This series-completing teaching in WINSOME focused on our readiness to share the gospel: our eagerness, our Spirit dependence, and our clarity with those whom the Lord has prepared to hear the good news. It has been our prayer that these first 10 weeks in 2020 will lead all of us into a consistent lifestyle of loving to share the good news. Such a lifestyle will energize Christ Community’s mission to connect people to life-defining relationships in Christ.
This week’s teaching explored the power of loving. Sacrificial caring for those who are being beat-up by the inevitable assaults of life (cf. Luke 10:25-37, the man who fell among thieves and the Samaritan’s response) can prepare a closed heart for the good news of the gospel. This study will explore the ASPECTS OF CARING which are found in the Winsome: Loving To Share the Good News devotional “Section 3”, Caring For Others.
This week’s teaching explored the “alert for spiritually lost people” implications which came from Jesus’ encounter with a thirsty woman at Jacob’s well (cf. John 4:1-42). The KEY TRUTH: When following a seeking Savior, expect His challenge to alertly engage in the readied harvest.
This week’s teaching put the spotlight on how teamwork with fellow Christians can empower sharing the gospel and making disciples. The basic idea: Because together we unashamedly follow Jesus, we love in teamwork to share what God loves to do (bring others into His family as disciples). We are “better together” when we team up with others in a discipleship team or Connect Group to winsomely love to share the good news.
This week’s teaching focused on the opportunity every Christian has to live supernaturally. As described in our devotional Winsome: Loving to Share the Good News, Section 3, “You have new opportunity,” the Lord himself invites us into full access to God, the opportunity to become like Christ, to live in anticipation of future glory, to live with a fruitfulness in others’ lives, to overcome the devil’s schemes, to be rooted and built up in Christ, and to be daily filled with (i.e., controlled by) the Holy Spirit.
When God wanted to redeem Ninevah, He called a man to take first steps in their direction, and eventually verbalize an important, life-changing offer.