The Town

The average faithful church attender will hear 3500 sermons in their lifetime. It is important that we have a game-plan for coming to church. We should come expecting to hear from God in the sermon and ready to be changed as His Word is proclaimed in the local body.

Christians are a citizen of the Kingdom of Christ. We are foreigners in every other kingdom. This gives us every reason to have great joy even when the world has every reason to panic. The joy of citizens of this world rests in fellow citizens hands. But our joy is found in the sovereign rule of God.

Jesus has redefined the definition of success. The greatest moment in human history was when Jesus died on a Cross in our place to satisfy God's divine and righteous judgment against His people. When all others thought he had failed, Jesus had accomplished victory. It is in this victory that our own failures are redefined.

Who is in control of this world? When we look around it seems that a purposeful God has missed the mark. But the Bible teaches us that God has decreed all things that come to pass and that God's decree is good. Jesus tells us that this same God knows how many hairs we have on our head and that he will provide for all of our needs if we would just seek His kingdom first.

In the past 10-15 years we have been witnesses to an historic age of communication development. But along with instantaneous news and video the heart of the world has been laid bare and it's not a pretty picture. We live in an age of unending digital tragedy on an international, a national, and a local level. We have access to the tragic world in which we live. But how are we to live in such a time? Do we ignore the news? Do we try to come up with answers? Or perhaps there is something greater and more eternal that we can learn from the bad news. Jesus offers something better in a broken world of unending bad news.

The pleasure that God the Father has in Christ the Son is reason enough for us to rise and have no fear. The King of kings has squelched any power that death might have over those who have put their faith in Jesus.

Who do you believe Jesus is? This is an unavoidable question that we all must answer. Do you believe he was a great moral teacher and nothing more? Does Jesus himself give us the option to believe he is anything other than the Son of God? In this sermon we discuss who Jesus is and how the power of his identity should inform our faith in our day to day lives.

Most parents at some point in their life wonder if they have what it takes to raise their children right. Most kids at some point in their life wonder why God gave them the parents that he did. We often seem so mismatched from one another. Paul has some simple instructions for the Christian home. Our families are to be distinctively Christian. Children who love Jesus will look for ways to honor and obey their parents even when it's hard. Parents who love Jesus will reflect Jesus to their children in the home.

Paul's message to the Ephesians has implications for all people in all stages of life. In this text, he turns his attention to slaves and masters, those in authority and under authority in the workplace. He gives us the commands us to obey and use our authority in a way that honors our God. He also gives us some future promises that motivate us to use our calling to bring God glory with our vocation.

The idea of the biblical submission of a wife to her husband is not popular in our cultural, but it is often misunderstood. God has designed husbands and wives to complement one another. The Bible teaches the complete equality of men and women as God's image bearers, yet they each fulfill distinct roles in the context of marriage. As husbands are called to lead with a self-sacrificial love, women are called to trust in them to do so. This relationship, while marred by the curse, is of God's good design for humanity. We have to look no further than the relationship within the Godhead to see this beautiful communion of equality and subordinate distinction. And it is in Jesus, our teacher and example, that we see both of these realities lived out in our world.

Husbands have a high calling. We aren't satisfied with a happy wife so that we can have a happy life. We want much more than the status quo. Husbands are called to lead, love and glorify their wives just as Jesus leads, loves and glorifies the church.

There is a war. There is strength to fight the war. That strength is found in the power of the Lord and the armor Jesus has fashioned from his person and work. Christians are called to do battle with the spiritual forces of this world. Behind every human battle there is a cosmic battle. But where the Gospel is the Kingdom of God moves forward in this world. God has given us the and dressed us in an armor and strength that can only come from him so that we might not only survive these battles but become more like Jesus in them.

The Christian life is inherently hard, as we are called to continually put off our old nature and put on the new nature we have in Christ. But we shouldn't despair that we are consigned to a miserable existence. Christian people should be those filled with thankfulness for what God has done, is doing, and will do in the future. Paul understood this as a man who faced both blessing and hardship. If we truly believe that God has given us all things in Christ, it should leave no room for complaint. Thanksgiving is an antidote against the temptation to sin and the fatigue of sanctification, and it is a marker for those who claim to be "children of light."

God has given us ordinary means to encounter him and be changed in an extraordinary way. His Word, Our Prayer, and His Church are all gracious gifts given to the people of God by God Himself. God graciously speaks to us, listens to us, and relates to us through these means. The church, though imperfect, is one of the most important means God has given us to experience him and be changed.

God has given us ordinary means to have an extraordinary encounter with Him. He has given us His Word, Prayer, and His Church so that we might become more like Jesus every day. When we read the Scriptures, when we spend time in prayer, and when we spend time in fellowship with other believers we put ourselves in the pathway of God's grace and will experience spiritual growth as the God makes us more like Jesus in those encounters.

God has given us ordinary means to know his extraordinary grace more and more every day. The mains means God has given us to know Him is His Word. If we want to be more like Jesus we must encounter Jesus. If we want to encounter Jesus we must encounter his word.

One cannot encounter Jesus and remain the same. Jesus changes us and we have a new identity where we find our purpose and place in his person and work. Paul tells the church that they must not only pursue unity but that they must also pursue holiness. God's grace is not a cheap grace. The grace we have in Jesus leads to a pursuit of Jesus where we will not remain unchanged.

God gifts the church so that they might transform the culture. It is good that w meet together to worship, but our worship must continue throughout the week. We are called to use the gifts that God has given us so that He might transform the community through us. As the church grows in depth and number the community of which they are a part will be transformed.