Christ Community Sunday - Leawood Campus

Our words matter to God. Words can lift up or tear down. They can unite or divide. They can make us laugh or make us cry. Words stick with us and cannot be taken back. They leave a lasting imprint. Our tongues reveal our human sinfulness and brokenness. It is like a barometer for our inner world, our character, and our spiritual formation. At the root of any tongue problem is a heart problem. We must pursue a wise lipstyle by training our tongues, being attentive to our words, and being reflective in what we say. Are we using words that are edifying, necessary, and grace-filled? Our words matter and need to be guided by grace in a broken world.21.10.17

The more we internalize, trust, and believe in Jesus’ mercy for us, the more mercy, compassion, and service will be evident in us toward others. There’s a direct relationship between how loved we know we are, to how much mercy we show those around us. This is why Jesus ALWAYS points out that the one who loves Him best are always the ones who have received the most mercy. It’s also why the poor and oppressed are almost always examples of faith. If we feel better about ourselves when we consider the poor, the broken, the immigrant, the single mom, the addict, the unemployed, the unpopular, it is that moment when we must reconsider ourselves in light of grace, as rebels, and outcasts, as exiles, now brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ.21.10.10

What difference does faith make in the lives of Christians? What difference should it make? I think today’s sermon is the one many of my non-Christian friends would like to preach to Christians. They want to see a faith that makes a difference not only in the lives of the individual believer, but also in our communities and in the world. They want to see a faith that works. We need to ask ourselves hard questions like, “whose life around me is different because of my faith in Jesus? Is my faith working in such a way that it’s making a difference for other people? How has my faith matured since I first trusted in Jesus?” We also need to recognize that real faith is a process. Don’t let today’s doubt, today’s failure, keep you from pressing back into the grace of God, trusting that he is good and he has not given up on you.21.10.03

When we allow the trials and sufferings of our lives to refine our faith, we get closer to wholeness, to perfection, even in a very broken world. When Jesus talks about you and me, those of us in the faith, that we are to be “perfect” as His heavenly Father is perfect. He is saying, whatever you are right now, if you let me, if you follow me, I will make you as flawless, as whole, as perfect, as my Father in heaven. James reminds us that God is an artist, He’s the sculptor of our lives, and when we submit to Him, he can use the hardships of life to shape us into something beautiful. Perfect. God won’t allow you to be as you are, right now, not because He doesn’t love you, but because He does. In fact, when God made you, when He conceived of you, when He thought of you, He saw you whole. Perfect. Exactly as you were meant to be.21.09.26

SERMON NOTES: https://bible.com/events/48763151Jesus took all His power, and all His freedom, and all His wisdom, and love, and goodness, and patience and kindness, and He leveraged it, used it, not for Himself. But for you. If you are in Christ, that is what you believe. And the Spirit sets you free, not the law, not the flesh, but the Spirit, produces fruit in you, to be like Him in how we serve one another. His freedom was not for Him. Our freedom is not for us. Imagine what God can do with a church, with a believer, growing in the fruit of the Spirit, using her freedom for her neighbor? Her coworker? Her enemy? I don’t care how much brokenness and concrete is poured over that kind of person, we know who is winning that war. May it be so of us.21.09.19

SERMON NOTES: https://bible.com/events/48755397Hitting the wall of faith has been described a dark night of the soul...the rigorous terrain of biblical faith...the struggles, the doubt, the difficulty…doubt, discouragement, heartache, ...As a child of God...why? Why is my transformation so painfully slow? Being a Christian for a long time, yet still struggling in my faith.. Groaning that I am often so far from where I long to be. Why does it feel sometimes like in my Christian life I am taking 1 step forward and two steps back? An seemingly unanswered prayer…when you feel like you can’t go on...when you feel abandoned by God and hopeless, you can trust that the spirit is interceding for you in the Dark Night of Souls.21.09.12

SERMON NOTES: https://bible.com/events/48755397While all of us like different amounts of alone time, none of us want to BE TRULY ALONE, Abandoned. Left Behind. Alone. This is how the disciples, too, are tempted to feel in our text this morning. It’s near the end of the book of John, and Jesus knows the crucifixion is coming, and he knows his time on earth is ending. He’s preparing his followers for the fact that He is leaving them. All they hear, in this moment, is Jesus is leaving them, and He keeps insisting that they will be ok. Why? Because He says, I’m leaving you a Friend. This is Jesus’ word for the Holy Spirit. A divine friend, counselor, comforter, a truth-teller. The idea here is that the Spirit will tell you the truth, even when you don’t want to hear it, because it will make you more like Jesus. That’s a true friend. Someone who wants to make you more like Jesus, because that is actually where happiness is found. It’s found on the other side of the truth and the other side of increasing obedience,

SERMON NOTES: https://bible.com/events/48755397If you have come to follow Jesus, you have been gifted by the Spirit for the common good, to use to serve others. We are all stewarding a gift he has given to us. We are uniquely gifted for a diverse unity. Having a right view of our gifts brings both humility and confidence to use them not only in our Christian community, but also to bless the world in our scattered places.  We are not left alone, we are empowered by the Spirit. Are we more interested in watching the world as a great show, or stepping into the cast where every person has a vital role to play. It is vital to the Christian faith to recognize we are one body with many parts and we have a unique part to play that no one else can fill.21.08.29

Ezekiel is one of the prophets of Israel. God has called him to speak to His people on His behalf, and the people of Judah are basically at their lowest point ever. The Israelite people are in a valley of dry, dead bones. But the Spirit is still working. And God is reminding us that there is still hope in Him in a valley of dry bones. In the midst of a valley of dry bones, God says, Ezekiel, these bones? They can live. But this time, God is not so much dealing with a physically dead body that needs life. He is dealing with a spiritually dead body. A sinful, disobedient, broken people, incapable of saving themselves. The answer is not to make bad people into good people. It’s to make dead people into living people. To take dead hearts of stone and make them living, Spirit-filled, hearts of flesh.https://bible.com/events/48749018

We are made in the image of this God. We are spiritual! And not just us, but our world. And if you take just one thing with you today I hope it’s this: Our world is bursting with Spirit. From the first page to the last. Our world is bursting with Spirit. Haunted with meaning, transcendence, wonder. Enchanted with that which we cannot see. And we are made to be like Him. And if you want to understand YOU. We have to understand HIM. The Spirit of God breathing life into us, made in the image of God. Such intimacy and tenderness. Yes, to serve God, but in partnership with Him, with joy and mutuality. There is intimacy and love and dignity in the Garden unlike any other creation story. And the same Spirit who breathed order out of chaos, who breathed life into dust, that same Spirit, when we give our lives to Jesus, the Son, gives NEW life to you and to me. He draws us closer to the Garden, deeper into the presence of God, every single day. That is the hope of the gospel, of our good news. And it can be yours, to

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https://www.bible.com/events/48740039

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This podcast features the Sunday morning messages from Christ Community Church's Leawood Campus.

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