Why did Jesus perform His first miracle at a wedding? And why was that miracle the turning of water into wine? Was He simply demonstrating His power, helping His mother and friends out, or was something greater going on here? Could this seemingly insignificant miracle set the stage for His life and ministry? Listen and find out!
Here’s my notes from this talk:
Today we launched a new discipleship group on my back porch at 6:45am. In our first meeting together, we carefully explained and studied the core message of the gospel. We began with God and His character, considered man’s need because of his sin, Christ’s righteous life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection, and the need for responding in repentance and faith. We discussed our individual experiences hearing, believing, and living the gospel. Though it may seem basic, starting any disciple-making effort must start with the gospel. Here’s why:
1. The gospel is the entry-point into life with God.
A disciple is someone who is following Jesus. Someone who is walking with God. The gospel is the message that brings us to God. The content of the gospel- Christ’s life, death, and resurrection- is the power of God to save (Romans 1:16). By believing it, we become sons and daughters of God, and begin a new life with God. We must start disciple-making with the gospel because it is quite literally the starting point of our lives with God.
2. The gospel is the foundation of walking with God.
Not only is the gospel the starting point of life with God, it is also the foundation of the believer’s future walk with God. We never outgrow our need for the gospel. Every day we are sinners in need of God’s grace. Every day we are recipients of God’s grace in Christ. Every day God sees us, not in our sin, but in the perfect righteousness of the Son.
Continue reading “Why Disciple-Making Must Begin with the Gospel”What if our children saw church,
not as a place where their parents went out of mundane routine, but a place where they delighted to go?
What if our children saw church as the place where their parents expected to meet with God, worship Him, and learn to walk with Him?
What if our children saw church as the place where their parents looked for opportunities to speak to, encourage, and pray for other members?
What if our children saw church as the place where their parents cheerfully gave their money, time, and resources to the mission of God?
What if our children saw the church as the place where their parents were constantly inviting their friends, family, and even strangers to go?
What if our children saw the church as the place where their parents were refreshed and invigorated for the week ahead?
What if our children saw the church as the place that their parents valued so highly that almost nothing came in the way of their attending?
How might all of this affect the child’s, and future adult’s, view of church?
The next generation is watching us, parents! By the grace of God, may we demonstrate through our attitudes and actions the incredible value, beauty, and privilege of being a part of God’s church
Church life is messy. There are no perfect churches because they are no perfect people. The church at Corinth demonstrated the possibility of imperfection better than any other church in the New Testament. Their disarrayed congregation fell prey to the cult of personality (1:10-17), sexual immorality (5:1-13; 6:12-20), confusion about marriage (7:1-40), misuse of Christian liberty (8:1-11:1), dishonorable practices surrounding the Lord’s Supper (11:17-34), unhealthy practices concerning spiritual gifts (chs 12-14), and incorrect views on the resurrection (ch. 15).[1] A mess indeed.
Nevertheless, they remained God’s church. And the beginning of Paul’s letter to them tells us just how God builds, strengthens, and sustains His church, despite the mess they may create. He helps us clean up our mess by re-directing our attention to His work and to the ways that He builds, strengthens, and sustains His people.
1. God calls leaders to shepherd His people (1 Cor. 1:1).
1Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes (1:1)
God does not desire for His church to function as an anarchic democracy. He raises up leaders to shepherd His people. Paul identifies Himself as one of these leaders in the opening verse of the chapter-as an “apostle” who was “called” to His assignment according to “God’s will.” It is the same with all church leaders- God appoints shepherds to lead His flock. “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,[2] to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). The church should pray for, support, and follow the leadership of her shepherds, as they follow the Chief Shepherd.
2. God saves sinners and sanctifies saints (1:2-3).
2To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:2-3).
God’s church is the place where sinners become sanctified saints. It is where the gospel is preached, where sin is repented of, and where Christ is believed (i.e. “called upon”). Those in Christ are sanctified- a word that is in the perfect tense in Greek, emphasizing the resultant state. In other words, members of Christ’s church have been made holy in Christ, and are currently holy in Him. As such, the Scriptures call us saints.
Continue reading “How God Builds, Sustains, and Strengthens His Church (1 Corinthians 1:1-9)”Are you looking for a good Easter resource to use with your kids? I highly recommend to you a new free resource below from my friend Mark Shideler. It is a seven day study that reveals the storyline of Scripture and the meaning of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. It contains helpful summaries, discussion questions, and activities that reinforce each day’s theme.
I want to share an excerpt with you. Consider how Mark describes the purpose of God’s Law (how often do you see that in a kid’s devotional?) in Week 2:
Have you ever done something wrong? If we’re honest, we all have. But who decides whether something is “right” or “wrong”? God does! A long time ago, God gave the Israelites rules to keep if they wanted to show that they loved God. He called these rules His law. The law was for us, too (not just the Israelites). When we break God’s law today, we feel bad about it, and that feeling is called “guilt.” God’s law has A LOT of rules in it that are VERY hard to keep. In fact, it’s completely impossible for any person to keep all of God’s rules. That sounds pretty hopeless doesn’t it? But actually, that’s the whole point! See, God didn’t give the law so we would try to keep it and be perfect. He gave the law to show that we are all sinners who need a Savior. We have ALL broken God’s law, and our sin has to be punished. Breaking God’s law has consequences (just like breaking our government’s law does), and God has to judge sin because He always does what is right. One of sin’s consequences is that it keeps us from being friends with God because God is perfect. In fact, the Bible says our sin makes us God’s ENEMY! In order to be friends with God, we have to have our sins forgiven. Every time we sin or feel guilty, it should remind us that we need a Savior.
Mark proceeds to show how Jesus is the Savior we need, who lives a perfect life on our behalf (thus fulfilling the law), yet dies to pay the debt of our sin (another lesson in which Mark helpfully describes what a debt is), and defeats our greatest enemies of sin, death, and Satan. This is how Jesus has enabled us to be friends with God (the way Mark describes redemption in kid-lingo!).
This is an excellent resource that will not only bless children, but also their parents as they walk their kids through it! I will be using it with my kids, and I hope you do too!
Click the link below to download the free resource:
Our focus as a church this week was on the preeminence of Christ. Preeminence refers to the exclusive right of being first, supreme, or surpassing all others. The Son of God in the person of Christ is preeminent (Colossians 1:18). He is before all things (1:16) because He created all things (1:15-16) and holds all things together (1:17b).
Christ is also preeminent over the church (1:18). The church is made up of those whom Christ created; they are part of the “all things” He created in 1:16, who rebelled against Him (1:21) but have been reconciled back to Him (1:22). But how did this reconciliation occur? By the preeminent One “making peace through the blood of His cross” (1:20).
The beauty of the gospel captured my heart this Sunday. Colossians 1 presents the Son as the One who created all things and currently holds all things together. But it also presents Him as the One who reconciles all things by His own death. Only the One who created all things can reconcile all things back to Himself- and there was only one way for Him to do that- “by the blood of His cross” (1:20).
Here is the prominent reminder for us: everything that we need, from the greatest need of salvation to the smallest need of our next breath: Christ provides. He created all things. He sustains all things. He reconciles all things. By the blood of His cross.
Too often I walk away from corporate worship without giving thought to what God has taught me and how I should apply it. Yes, even pastors can be guilty of going through the motions. I am not disengaged; I will note an interesting point in a sermon, re-listen to a worship song, or pray for someone that I had a conversation with, but rarely do I give sustained thought and prayer to what God has taught me and what He wants me to do with it.
Therefore, I am starting a new blog series on Monday mornings where I will think and write about what God taught me on Sunday. Lessons may come from messages, songs, conversations, or Scripture readings. Not only will this give me an avenue to think, pray, and write, I hope it will also encourage you to think and pray through what God taught you as well!
This Sunday, we considered Matthew 7:24-27 and Jesus’ instruction to build our house on the rock. “House” is a metaphor for our lives and the “rock” is a metaphor for Christ. We can build our lives on Christ, the rock, or on the shifting sands of the world. Storms will come and beat against our houses, but only those whose house is built on the rock will stand.
But what does it mean to build our life on the rock that is Jesus? Two things. First, to build our life on Jesus means to have Him as the foundation of our life with God. We must recognize that there is no foundation other than Him that can reconcile us to God and keep us in intimate relationship with Him. Nothing and no one other than Christ can deal with our sin debt or provide us with the perfect righteousness that we need to stand before God.
Continue reading “How to Build Your Life on Christ”Once again, I have been tasked with teaching on a passage and topic that I have neither mastered nor have begun to gain proficiency in: humility. Some of you may have just breathed a sigh of relief. You’re already pretty humble- so you think- and so you’re poised for a nice pat on the back! But once you think you have humility, you’ve lost it. So I am here to help you regain it. For others, you may have groaned, because you struggle with pride, and now find yourself blessed to sit through a sermon on humility.
Most are somewhere in between, wondering what in the world I am about to say, but here’s what I can promise you: we all have something to learn today. Not because of what I say but because of what God says. We all have the opportunity to sit before God’s Word and to hear Him speak to us about a virtue that is absolutely necessary for His people.
So what is humility? It is an attitude of mind that realizes that we have no reason to be distinct, special, or important in God’s eyes. It is the recognition that without God, we are nothing. Even in comparison to others, in the grand scheme of things, we are all the same- creatures that are completely dependent upon God for life, breath, andevery good thing.
1 Peter 5:5 commands us to put on humility, “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’.” After exhorting the elders in verses 1-4, Peter encourages the entire church, “all of you,” to clothe themselves with humility. Why? Because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Thus we see the necessity of our subject this morning. God opposes those without it. The word oppose conveys the imagery of being set in battle array. God opposes the proud as if He is a battling army. Thus we are commanded to clothe ourselves with humility, a rare verb that refers to a slave putting on an apron before serving, as Jesus did before washing the disciples’ feet.
So, what do you want this morning? Do you want God to oppose you? To set His face and His power against you? Or do you want God to be gracious towards you? What determines whether we receive God’s opposition or His grace in our lives? Humility.
Continue reading “Grace for the Humble- 1 Peter 5:5-11”“The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom ” (Proverbs 4:7a). If you want to be wise, get wisdom. Pretty simple, isn’t it? The entire book of Proverbs is filled with wisdom. So get the book, there you go- wisdom! But if you’ve ever read the book of Proverbs, you know it doesn’t come that easily.
Proverbs is a part of the rich wisdom literature of the Old Testament. Such literature is not conducive to interpreting at face value and immediately applying it to our lives. We have to slow down and understand the individual proverbs in their original context. We have to read them through the lens of biblical theology, and then apply them to the current context of our lives as New Testament believers.
In this message I want to help us “get wisdom” by studying a passage of Proverbs in the ways I just mentioned. Our text will be Proverbs 4:20-27,
Continue reading “Old Testament Wisdom for New Testament Believers (Proverbs 4:23-27)”What should our attitude be towards Sunday worship? I’ve been pondering this question as I prayer walk around our church campus this morning. Unfortunately, one of the attitudes I sense the most is one of reluctance. People don’t really want to be there, but they know other people expect them to be. They believe that good Christians should go to church, and so they go, doing the bare minimum while they’re there. This attitude often leads people to be there physically without being engaged spiritually.
Others may not have an attitude towards Sunday worship at all. They just go. It’s a habit. Like robots carrying out a programmed task, they wake up, go to church, shake some hands, maybe even give an offering, and return home. No negative attitude, but not necessarily a positive one, either. Status quo. Go with the flow. Whatever it may be, wrong attitudes (or lack of right ones) do not glorify God, lead to spiritual growth, or bless fellow believers. Therefore, we need to fight for the right attitude towards Sunday worship. I believe one of those attitudes to be an attitude of expectancy.
Continue reading “The Necessary Attitude of Sunday Expectancy”
JARRETT FLETCHER 