Christ Community Sunday - Olathe Campus

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48977464Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2542/responses/new22.11.20

You’re NOT strong enough to withstand the storm. No one is. Not alone. And this armor metaphor was never meant to be taken alone. Paul is writing this in a Roman prison. He can look over and examine his guards' armor. He knows the strength of the Roman Empire. And that one of the things that made them so strong was their ability to stand together.Their armor was interlocking. So they could form a sort of wall. Their strength was their togetherness. That’s how they could stand. And if you want to stand firm against the lies, you need to surround yourself with the truth, and with a community of people who will help you keep believing the truth. We need to train for the real battle.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48977451Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2542/responses/new22.11.20

Paul doesn’t only address bondservants, he addresses those who are in power over them. And he says that the masters should “do the same” to the bondservants? That the masters should serve the bondservants and do good to them, not as people-pleasers, but with sincerity!  I am confident that none of you who hears this sermon is a “master”, but I think there are many of you to whom this text is quite relevant.  There are people here who are in positions of authority, who have the power to either exploit or enrich the lives of the people over whom you have authority. In our modern world and economy, I think it is likely that most people find themselves in something (very roughly) equivalent to one of these circumstances every day. Prayer Requests:https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2542/responses/newSermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4897744222.11.13

God’s goal for the family is that we’d learn the way of Jesus together. It’s meant to be like a little church. And just like the church, God’s goal for the family is that we’d learn the way of Jesus together.Parenting is a full-time job and then some, and while there are a ton of things on a parent’s job description, at the top of the list is this: learn the way of Jesus together. But is that at the top of our lists? We might say it is…but in the way we actually live, how we prioritize our time, the way we interact with one another. What do you hope most for our children? Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48977432Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2542/responses/new

Marriage is not about you. Aren’t you glad? The greatest things in life are the things that are NOT ABOUT YOU. This is about Jesus. The greatest love story of all time. God as our husband. And we run from Him. We hide from Him. We cheat on Him. But He pursues us. He wants to be with us. To cherish us. You are God’s beloved.And this is good news if you’re single. It’s good news if you’re in a bad marriage. It’s good news if you’re in a great marriage!Jesus is your Husband. We are His beloved bride. And our marriage will never end. And with our earthly marriages, we get to tell that story to our watching world.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4897395722.10.30

Chances are good the majority of people don’t think they are engaged in “dishonest” work on a daily basis, but are you so sure? What if the problem has less to do with what you consider “dishonest” and more about a robust framework of “honest” work? Join us as we continue our journey in Ephesians of reconstructing a faith that actually blossoms into honest work, and therefore generates a more meaningful life.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4897058722.10.23

Because loved people love people. And we need a community that reinforces that and reminds us. And we need it all the time.Because we forget how loved we are. We so quickly go back to thinking we need to take in order to feel, and so we settle for sex over love. Or lust over intimacy. Or we feel unsafe and afraid, so we keep hiding in our shame in the dark, and we settle for isolation over vulnerability and community. We forget.You are God’s beloved! So much so that He sent His Son to rescue us. He offers us forgiveness for when we fail. You are the object of His desire and affection and provision. And if that’s true! Then we are truly free to love others!Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4896701922.10.16

If you don’t know WHO you are. You won’t know what your life is for. You won’t know the best way to live. So we make it up as we go. And hope for the best. It’s exhausting and it’s isolating. Who are you? God, in His Word, is about to answer that question. If you are a Christian, you never have to wonder who you are or why you exist. Because God tells us. And maybe that sounds bossy. Like, what gives Him the right? But listen: would you rather muddle through, struggling to answer that question on your own? Or let the God who made you. Who sees you. And loves you fiercely. Who knows why He made you. Will you let Him tell you who you are?Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4896328922.10.09

The word saint simply means Christians. If you are a Christian, Paul calls you a saint. And ministry simply means service. So our job as church leaders is to equip you to help others. Let me tell you, one of the best pathways to your own growth. One of the best pathways towards greater oneness and teamwork within the church. Is when you help others grow. It’s when you serve.The church is not a spectator sport. It is not for consumers. And it is not for wimps. It is for those who actually want this Body to look like Jesus. Yes, the church is very flawed. We have a long way to go. But Jesus gave His life for her. What is He asking from us?Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4895964022.10.02

Whatever you expect from God. It’s not enough. He wants to give you more. And ultimately, He wants to give you more of Himself and more of His love.He will never walk out on you. He will not leave you. He’s never disappointed in you. He sees all of you, everything about you, and loves you far more abundantly than we can even ask or think…Yeah, that sounds great, but how do we experience it? Especially when things feel really hard right now.Mostly through one another. Church, we need one another to know and experience God’s love. We feel it at church when someone remembers our name. Or when their face lights up when they see you. We feel it when someone recognizes you’re hurting and encourages you or prays with you.Sermon Notes: https://bible.com/events/4895582622.09.25

22.09.18

Just as the cross of Christ has two beams, vertical and horizontal, so is the nature of Christ’s reconciling work on the cross. Ethnic unity in the church isn’t merely an application of the gospel, it is a continuing extension of the gospel. When we settle for a gospel that only speaks to matters of vertical reconciliation without horizontal reconciliation we are settling for an impoverished, truncated, and incomplete gospel. One of the more powerful ways we declare the gospel of Christ is in how we display the body of Christ as an ethnically unified and reconciled people. The work of ethnic unity and reconciliation in the church is an embodied testimony and witness to the power of the gospel. Because the gospel makes us and moves us to be family. But we risk losing the credibility of this testimony and witness to the gospel as the church when we at best see the work of ethnic unity and reconciliation as merely a fringe benefit of the gospel, and at worst see it as a distraction from the gospel.Sermon Notes:

The story of God, and His work of reconstructing us and reconstructing our world, is so much bigger than just good works. But also good work. The work you do. Whatever that is. Wherever you spend a majority of your time contributing. Whether you get paid for it or not. Whether you like it or not. That is also part of the good work God has prepared for you, to join Him in.Work is part of God’s good design. Adam and Eve, even before the fall, were commanded to join God in working the Garden. They were co-workers. Even in the New Creation, there will be work for us to do. Right now, in our broken world, we have the opportunity to join God in His work of reconstruction. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4894485722.09.04

As we consider the cultural movement of “deconstructing” faith and turn to Ephesians with some hope that it might give us insight into how we can “reconstruct” faith, I wonder if deconstruction itself is not the problem, but instead, it is the quality of the thing we are deconstructing that has lead to disappointing outcomes. I wonder if, too often, we who have faith quickly plateau in our knowledge of God. I wonder if we have not sufficiently experienced the power of God in our lives so that we are captivated and convinced by it.  Far be it from me to put myself in the place of Paul, but as I hear him pray that those who have faith might be given a spirit of wisdom and revelation of the knowledge of God, I feel compelled to pray the same thing for myself and for my brothers and sisters in Christ.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4894117722.08.28

The deconstructing of faith is a popular practice these days. But what is it exactly? For some, it is an opportunity to live their authentic life free of all moral and religious authority. For others, it is a sincere attempt to determine if their faith has been formed by the words of Christ or by cultural ideologies. Regardless of the motivation, it is clear that we are in serious need of Reconstructing Faith. But in order to do that we need a solid foundation upon which we can reconstruct our faith. This is precisely what we plan to do together as we explore the foundations of the Christian faith through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4893759322.08.21

Death is something we despise not because it marks the end, but because it was never meant to be here at all from the beginning. Death was never meant to be part of God’s good world. Death is a pain that feels like no other. Because it’s a pain that not only produces hurt, it produces hate. We hate death. We hate what death does. We hate what death takes. We hate that death exists. And that’s because we know deep down that death ought not to be. We tend to say that death is a part of life. That dying is what humans do. We have been dying ever since the beginning. The reality is that death is an abnormality. But even though the abnormality of death is now a reality in our world, the good news is that death will one day be defeated and wiped away forever. For the sign of life that Jesus gives in declaring himself to be the resurrection and the life is the basis of our hope. A hope that says while death is a reality, it is in fact an abnormality that will be defeated through the immortality of Jesus who victorio

Our Shepherd gives us eternal life, so we will never perish. And no one can snatch them out of His hand. Or the Father’s hand. Because it’s the same hand.And I pray that you would feel it right now if you’re one of His sheep. May you feel Him holding you. If you feel alone. If you feel lost, if you feel angry, if you feel disappointed or depressed. Do you see His hand encompassing you?If you feel afraid. Or maybe you feel like your faith is just so weak. Or your pile of mess-ups is just so big. And you imagine Jesus doing this -- wiping his hands of you. Not this Shepherd. Not our God. Nothing can snatch away His sheep.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4893026122.08.07

There's a blindness that's worse than not seeing. There's a blindness that does more than make life hard, it makes finding life impossible. It's a blindness that won't find help, or love, or grace.Everyone in this passage is blind except for Jesus. And there’s only one other person who knows it. He’s the one who gets healed. He’s the one who responds in faith and worship. And others will get there. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4892647722.07.31

Is it possible that you have walked away from Jesus, not because you have tried him and want nothing to do with him, but because somewhere along the line you developed a view of Jesus that is contrary to the Jesus of the gospels?My fear as a pastor is not that someone would reject Jesus. But that they would reject Jesus for the wrong reasons. Is it possible that the Jesus you, or someone you love, has walked away from is nothing more than a caricature of the real Jesus?Look again, listen closely, and let Jesus speak for himself. Because he has come to make you out to be his very own by loving you, forgiving you, redeeming you, and calling you. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4892302822.07.24

Jesus points to the one true path that will take us to the freedom our hearts long for.  It is not a path of religious legalism, it is the path of discipleship with Jesus. When we embrace Jesus and become his “abiding” disciple then we will know the truth and when we know the truth we will be set free to experience the true freedom our hearts long for. In our culture when we refer to knowing we often think of having lots of information in our brain we can comprehend and spit out when we need it. What Jesus means by “knowing” the truth is not merely knowing the facts or having lots of information crammed in our brains, but rather deeply knowing and being known by someone. Jesus is speaking about relational knowing!       Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4892008622.07.17