The Perfecting Church

So many of the people we once looked to have gone and we're all looking for those who will fill the void. Kobe Bryant, Steve Jobs, Queen Elizabeth, Maya Angelou, Nelson Mandela and Charles Stanley are just a few of the patriarchs, matriarchs, and icons that have gone in the last decade. We’re living in a time of massive transition and change. Times like these, even more than others, demand courage. We are living in the midst of a great transition — a changing of the guard. 

In order to see the Kingdom of Jesus come in our lives and in the lives of those around us, we must live out our faith in such a way that it causes others to have a reaction toward Jesus. When our walk and our talk show Jesus to others we live lives that impact and influence those around us for the sake of the Kingdom.

Who is my Neighbor? This seemingly innocent question carries so many assumptions and attitudes. The way Jesus responded to this question is profoundly challenging in a world full of bigotry, racism and segregation. What does the Christian call to love our neighbor as ourselves mean in our world today? How do we, as Jesus’ followers, honor this call and commitment in a world shaped by division and tribalism?

What do we do after our biggest failures, disappointments and pains? Peter knew what it was to be flawed and to fail. “You won’t be crucified.” “You’ll never wash my feet.” “I tell you, I don’t know the man.” Are just a few of his big blunders. But his flaws and failures didn’t disqualify him. In fact they uniquely qualified him to live a resurrected life, realizing he wasn’t fit for any other kind. The resurrection is the very thing that makes it possible for us to be failed Christians but not finished Christians. 

Jesus endured the brutal, inhumane torture and humiliation of the cross because He saw something beyond the cross. He had a joy in sight that we must learn to see and grab a hold of too. God’s answer to the suffering, adversity and hardships of this world is found in the joy Jesus saw and the power He has given. Pick up your cross. 

Holy Week begins with Jesus’ triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem for the Passover feast. Three million people fill the city; some have heard rumors that Jesus is the Messiah, fulfilling Zechariah’s prophesy nearly 600 years before. This moment marks the first time Jesus doesn’t resist the title of King. His time has come! Untie em’.Scripture(s):Matthew 21:1-94.2.2023 Message TakeawaysThe living God is a promise keeping, prophesy fulfilling God.Jesus keeps some things tied until He has need of them.There are places God has chosen not to go without us. 

The Kingdom of God is a never ending source of life for those who find it and are found by it. It is the will and way of God. It is the eternal rule and reign of God. It is the peace and goodness of God. Of all the things in this life to be pursued, discovered and realized, none can compare to the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is a well, well, well.

The destruction and chaos of this world is rooted in the rejection of God and the loss of ourselves in the pursuit of peace and goodness on our own terms.  When we reject God and choose our own way to peace and goodness it has a destructive ripple effect.  The coming Kingdom restores us to God, our true selves in Him and our call to be peacemakers and keepers of one another.  Scripture (s): NLT • Genesis 4:1-123.19.2022 Message TakeawaysWe fall every time we choose a way other than God’s to pursue peace and goodness.When we reject God and choose our own way to peace and goodness it has a destructive ripple effect. The human family’s connectedness to God and one another roots us in God’s peace and goodness.  

So few of us live in a place of consistent peace with ourselves. Many of our emotional, psychological and physiological challenges are rooted in the fact we lack peace. But the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings has come to restore us to His Kingdom and to give us His peace and peace with ourselves.  Scripture(s): NKJVGenesis 1:31Genesis 2:25Genesis 3:6-113.12.2023 Message TakeawaysIn the beginning all of creation was very good. Separation from God, also separates us from ourselves — locking us into sin and shame. Jesus came to deliver us from sin and shame, restoring us to the peace of His Kingdom.  

The Coming Kingdom is God’s divine reordering of the world as we know it, reconciling all things to Himself. Though it begins in personal encounter, the expression of His forceful goodness is intended to impact all of His creation through our surrendered lives. 

We live in a world of people longing and fighting for meaning, identity and belonging. We may have a family name, but it often isn’t enough to embody all we are and desire to be. When we are baptized into Christ, we are baptized into a new name and family. We don’t lose our earthly ones, but we are baptized into the source and purpose for them. In the new birth and baptism, we connect to a past that predates our birth and a future that goes beyond this temporal world. We enter into the name given for God’s entire earthly family — now and forever. 

It was in Antioch where they first called the followers of Jesus — Christians. Never before and no where else in society had Jews, Gentiles, Men, Women, Poor and Rich gathered as one together. There were rigid social boundaries and distinctions drawn around these groups but the Church changed all of that. It became a unique expression of humanity, known for its worship of Jesus and for it’s unity with one another. They Called Us Christians.  Galatians 2:11-16Acts 13:1Acts 11:262.19.2023 Message TakeawaysOur identity “in Christ” must inform all of our other identities.  When ethnicity is supreme in our lives, we struggle with Jesus being Lord of our lives.  We will be justified by faith in Christ then and we will be justified by faith in Christ now. 

Race and class have entrenched us in a false identity never intended by God. This defining and devaluing of ourselves and fellow image bearers has disfigured and dehumanized humanity. The Church was established to be an outpost of God’s Kingdom in the earth, redeeming us from defining and devaluing, by ushering in a Beloved Community marked by its loving esteem of one another and fellow image bearers. God has made us all greater than the way we’ve defined and devalued one another.  

The business of building the Church is Jesus’ business; and from the very beginning until the very end, the Church Jesus builds comprises every nation, tribe, people and language. This isn’t to say a mono-ethnic Church is out of His will, it’s to say a decidedly mono-ethnic one is. May His Church be the barrier-breaking, bridge-building, peace-making witness described and prescribed in His word and so desperately needed in this world

We live in a day and time where we address nearly every issue in some natural way. We are more likely to pursue counseling, therapy or medication than we are prayer, fasting and repentance. While natural remedies are important and they have their place. There are some things in our lives that are above natural remedies. They are a different kind of opposition.