Christ Community Sunday - Olathe Campus

Like all things created by God, our desires for pleasure possess the capabilities to lead us to the goodness of God AND to the evils of death, decay, and destruction. What the Holy Spirit is whispering to us through the words of Qoheleth is that pleasure can destroy us if it doesn’t direct us to our creator God and our redeeming king!But in order to hear this and see the goodness and wisdom within these words, we need to respond and take proper action. Pleasure can destroy us if it doesn’t direct us to the creator of pleasure itself. Our pleasures are pointing us all toward something. Either to the dead-end of pleasure as an end in itself or to the true chief end of humanity’s pleasure which is Christ.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4888253722.05.01

If we are to hear the wisdom behind the woes in the book of Ecclesiastes, we need to understand the structure, nature, and purpose of the book. The reason why this is a deeply hopeful book is because it is one act in the entire play of God’s story of redemption and salvation. This is the power and beauty of reading the bible with the full story in mind.If life under the sun is all there is then all we have is smoke. But there is a subtle whisper of hope in Ecclesiastes which turns into the saving shout in the gospels is that there is life beyond the sun. Amen!Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4887831022.04.24

The resurrection of Jesus is the proof of purchase for our sins. It proves that what Christ did on the cross actually accomplished our forgiveness. But it also illustrates the new kind of life that Jesus’ followers now live. A life that brings about healing, hope, and wholeness to our broken world.This is what we remember and celebrate! This is our hope! It is the hope that our sin and shame does not have to define us because it was put to death with Jesus. It is the hope that death will not have the final word. Because our hope is in Jesus who entered death for us in order to forever keep death from us. It is the hope that countless others have found throughout the ages. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4887441922.04.17

The irony of this trial is that Jesus has already said, He’s the judge. Not us. Even with all our efforts to put Jesus on trial. The real trial is you and me. And we are so guilty. Look at the evidence. Call in the witnesses. Every thought you’ve ever had, every word you’ve ever spoken, every broken desire you’ve ever felt.How long do you really think it’s going to take this Judge?The only One who is truly innocent. Was found guilty for you. He stood in your place. So that if you’re with Him, His verdict over you is once and forever decidedThis Judge has died for you. He rose again for you. And if we’re with Him, the verdict is in. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4887075222.04.10

The reason we take the words of Jesus seriously and ask the question “Who does Jesus say that he is?” is because we believe he holds the power of life and death. For there is no other power or authority that we know who has faced death, entered death, and defeated death than the Lord Jesus. As we gather this day, to submit the fullness of our lives to the fullness of who Jesus says he is, my invitation to you is to consider his claims, listen to his word, and enter the life he offers you in his kingdom now and forever.   I pray that you would declare who he says he is. The son of God, the judge of the earth, and the giver of life.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4886684122.04.03

Jesus came to this man at the pool of Bethesda and offered him the opportunity to be made whole. Don’t settle for comfort when wholeness is what we want. Don’t settle for a clear conscience when forgiveness is what we need. And don’t settle for what Jesus offers when Jesus is what our hearts long for.This man claimed that he wanted to be healed, made whole. But he wasn’t willing to receive everything that being made whole entailed. Namely repenting and following Jesus.This man thought that his worst problem was his inability to walk. And while not making light of that ailment, Jesus lovingly draws near to him to tenderly tell him that there is a greater healing and wholeness that he is in need of.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4886296222.03.27

You’ve taken your unfulfilled longings -- your grief and your desire. Whatever it is. And you’ve brought them to Jesus. You’ve asked Him to intervene. And whether or not He’s answered you in the way you wanted Him to. You’ve met Him. Now here we are. Every one of us. Somewhere between meeting Jesus. And the fulfillment of all of His promises to us. Every Christian is on that path. Between saying yes to Jesus. And our long way home.And you don’t know if your marriage will ever be better. Or your depression will ever be gone. Or your body will ever be healed. But you are trusting Jesus -- taking Him at His word. That by the time you get home, it’ll somehow be ok. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4885927522.03.20

Just like the Samaritan woman, you may feel overwhelmed by the weight of your sin. And just like her, while you might think that Jesus is holding your past over you he is tenderly saying that even this will not keep him from holding you. He is saying “I know everything you have ever done. I have seen you at your worst. And I am not leaving.” Why did Jesus have to pass through Samaria? Because his beloved was on the other side. Jesus went to Samaria so that this woman would meet him and proclaim he is the Messiah. And this would begin the wildfire spreading of this gospel that eventually made its way to this time and place to reach you and me. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4885568722.03.13

The only true and lasting way to wage war against the sins of comparing and complaining is to delight in and declare the truth of Jesus. The road sign on the path of repentance is not a Stop Sign but a U-Turn. It is not simply about ceasing from sin, but also seeking a better joy. I believe that so much of our despair, discontent, and disdain in life stems from a failure to delight in and declare the beauties of the better joys of Jesus. This is why the habits of encountering Jesus through the scriptures, prayer, service, evangelism, and gathered worship are so vital. For they cultivate in our hearts greater capacities to delight in Jesus who must be greater. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4885174422.03.06

We know the world is often a tragic and ugly place, but sometimes it’s hard for us to see because we don't know what to do with it and we don’t want to face it—in fact, we try to ignore or cover it up—but the world is often a dark place. A place that has so much potential for light and truth and goodness and beauty and life and joy—the world as it ought to be—but it has come to be characterized by darkness and lies and all sorts of evil and ugliness, death and tragedy. This is the world as it is. We might expect God to hate the world.But this is precisely why this verse is so wonderful: God loved the world.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4884793222.02.27

We all know and feel the dissonance in our bodies and souls between who we are and who we long to be. And that’s because we know and feel the need to be born again of water and Spirit. And we know and feel that we must be born again because we must be born again.With a wide-open heart, pledge your full allegiance to King Jesus above all else and surrender to his good, true, and beautiful reign over your life. With wide open hands pursue your vocation, relationships, time, and resources with his kingdom in mind. For you are not your own but you were bought with a price through the washing of your sins by the precious blood of King Jesus.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4884399422.02.20

When we see Jesus, who is meek and mild, entering the temple as Jesus mean and wild, we must see him acting as such because of his unstoppable love for you and for me. For the zeal he has for you and for me and for all to know, see, behold, delight, and enter the holy presence of his father now and forever is what moves him to be so lovingly angry. There is so much that keeps us from coming to God. Our sins that destroy us, our religiosity that deludes us, our greed that spoils us, our national and cultural identities that blind us, but hear this good news dear heart. There is NOTHING that will keep God from coming for us! Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4884043122.02.13

When the wine runs out we must turn to the one who brings the very best joy and the very best life. Instead of desperately scraping our fingers at the bottom of the wine barrel for more, we need to turn and see that the very best has arrived in Jesus. When we see that the very best joy and life has arrived in Jesus, then it is only natural and right and good for us to listen to the timeless words of his mother, “Do whatever he tells you!” Not from a place of religious obligation but from a place of joyful adoration for what he has done for us.Because it is no chore to do whatever we are told by the one who has come to bring us joy and life abundantly.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4883671822.02.06

So whether we are a skeptic with objections, or a Christian trying to respond to someone with objections, often the best thing we can do is take these words to heart: come and see. We need to enter in first, and then invite others to enter in, to see how Jesus makes sense of it all.This is who we encounter when we meet Jesus for ourselves. The Lord of all of heaven and earth, come to dwell among us. The Son of Man, lifted up high on a cross. Risen and ascended to heaven and ruling over all creation. Someone who knows everything about you, better than you know yourself. This is who we meet when we meet Jesus for ourselves.This is who people find when followers of Jesus invite others to come and see Jesus.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4883308322.01.30

Friends, you may not be asking the question “where is the lamb” in those words. But all of us are asking it in some way. “Where can I find hope? Where can I find meaning? Where can I find change? Where can I find rescue?”Without knowing it we are all asking “Where is the lamb” because we all know that we are not who we ought to be. That the world is not the way it ought to be. Is there anyone or anything that can be done to remedy our wounds, our shame, our guilt, and our pain? Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4882952622.01.23

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4882572922.01.16

When we behold and believe the fullness of the Word made flesh we come to find a way of living as his followers in this world.  For in it we find the power to emulate the sympathetic and compassionate nature of God who drew near to social outcasts and sinners. Who came not simply declaring the good news of the kingdom but displaying it through his compassion and care for the needs of others.What this means is that the embodied nature of Christ as the incarnate word of God communicates to us the wide scope of God’s mission in the world. God became a material being in part to show us that he cares about our material existence.   Jesus became a human body to suffer with us to model for us the way of his kingdom in suffering with others.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4882102422.01.09

If you are a follower of Jesus, my prayer is that you would more fully, faithfully, and fruitfully believe and behold Jesus as the Word of God. Be open to Jesus as the Word who speaks into every part of your life.If you are not a follower of Jesus yet, be open to the Word of God. Be open with your questions and doubts. But also be open to doubting your doubts and questioning your questions and the possibility that Jesus is the Word of God who has come to bring you out of darkness and into the light of his kingdom.Be open to the possibility that while there might be a leap ahead of you to follow Jesus, there is also a leap behind you toward disbelief.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4881575822.01.02

This abundant life that Jesus speaks of is the Psalm 23 kind of life. Feasting joy, free from danger. We can have a taste of this now, and will one day have it in full if we have Jesus as our Shepherd.This does not mean that we will never go through dark valleys or have Psalm 22-like experiences. But Psalm 23 shows us that on the other side of the valley of the shadow of death there is abundant life.Dark valleys will come. But right in the middle of our darkest valleys, our Shepherd is with us! He came to enter our darkest valleys, and went far deeper than any of us could ever go. We will fear no evil, for Christ is with us! Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4881570221.12.26

The promise of the name Immanuel is validated and confirmed in the power of the name Jesus! The reason we know God is with us and that we are never alone is because he has come to us. So close in fact that he became our very nature in order to identify with us, suffer alongside us, and be the atoning sacrifice for us.Immanuel puts to death our fear of loneliness because in Christ God has come to be with us. He has drawn near. But Immanuel also puts to death our fear of shame because God has come to rescue us. For not only has he drawn near to us, he draws us near by the power of his gospel.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4881211121.12.19