Christ Covenant Community Church

This parable, the first in Mark, is often seen as an exhortation to make our hearts "good soil" for God's word - the Gospel. Grace helps us see as well the promise that the Gospel is a seed - that it is life that brings change even through steps of powerlessness.

Grace changes everything! Including how we read and understand the biblical passages regarding judgment. This is a brief look at two passages regarding the "Who" and the "What" of judgment.

In this passage, people try to "make sense" of exactly who this man Jesus is. His family, sadly, has concluded he is "out of his mind." The teachers of the law concluded he is evil and is "possessed by an evil spirit." These are the lunatic and liar of C.S. Lewis' renowned "trilema" from the book Mere Christianity. Add the modern dodge that sees Jesus as a legend, invented by the church that followed, and we have three views of who Jesus might be. For good reasons, we see that Jesus is Lord - just as He claimed to be - and that because of that, the gospel message of His death and resurrection brings hope and life.

Jesus called the Twelve together and sent them out to serve. Our life together is part of the invitation and message, our service is an expression of His love and care for those beyond the walls of the church. Most importantly, we go and serve together because we are with Him.

Jesus takes twelve men and makes each of them, and all of them into something new. Only God can create in this way. With that "New Thing," Jesus also gives them a new name as the Twelve and as men like Peter. In the same manner, the grace of Jesus creates in us a new heart, and He names us as His.

What does it mean to keep the Sabbath? That appears to be the flashpoint for the controversy in each of these encounters with Jesus. As different as the Herodians and the Pharisees were, they were united in this: their trust in their own performance and self-righteousness with regard to the Sabbath. In that, they became enemies of the Gospel of Grace and of Jesus. Jesus challenges them both and gives us not a new way to "do" the Sabbath, but a call to look at the heart motivations of our Sabbath-keeping. Film clips from the movie Chariots of Fire were used in the sermon, but deleted from this audio recording.

Jesus invites the Levi the uninvited to follow him, and in a real life enactment of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the teachers of the law took offense. Jesus extends that invitation to each of us - an invitation to follow Him, and not simply a philosophy of life.

Four friends are willing to do whatever it takes to get their friend to Jesus - even break through the roof and lower him down. In the midst of this striking moment, Jesus gives the paralyzed man healing and more even as He challenges the self-righteousness of the religious establishment.

Jesus promises in this passage to build his church on the foundation of the gospel of grace: the recognition that He is the Messiah. Pastor Bill explores what that church would look like using illustrations and insights on the missional church from the EPC General Assembly.

Jesus was moved by compassion and freely expressed that by reaching out to touch the man with leprosy. The holiness of Jesus - Gospel Holiness - was not made unclean by the man, instead, the man was made clean by Jesus. This is the power of Gospel Holiness: holiness that has it's source in God and renovates our hearts by grace. Like the Father in the Parable of the Two Sons who would embrace his prodigal son, so Jesus would reach out to touch the man with leprosy, and so we too are called to be holy by grace, and free to touch a hurting world around us. Gospel Holiness makes us "holier FOR thou," not "holier THAN thou."

A man with leprosy finds the power and compassion of God when he throws his life in trust onto Jesus.

The Gospel of Grace helps undercut the roots of anxiety by connecting our hearts to God's love.

After calling His first disciples, Jesus takes them to Capernaum, where His Gospel message stands in stark contrast to the traditions of the teachers of the law. As a demonstration of His authority, a man is set free from an unclean spirit, and a woman is healed, but even as the people see this and bring all their sick to Him, He refuses to be simply a means to their desired end. Jesus will only be a savior and LORD, One Who calls us to place our complete trust in. A brief video clip from Fiddler on the Roof was used in the course of this sermon.

The idea of a Triune God expresses the experience of God's people over the years of Scripture as they encounter the God Who pursues them in loved. For example, here in Mark, as the Spirit descends upon the Son, the Father speaks. Because the God of Scripture is triune in nature, we discover that self-giving love in relationship is at the very core of all reality. The Gospel frees us to live in that life-giving hope.

Jesus begins his ministry having received the affirmation and love of His identity: "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well p[leased." This affirmation has been part of the Godhead since before creation and is now extended to every believer through the adoption that the Father extends to us in Jesus.

John the Baptist was the messenger sent to prepare the way for the arrival of Jesus - God Incarnate. As people heard the message of good news they responded to the promise by being baptized by John. Amazingly though, it was a work of God Himself that made Jesus known to John, and even that encounter would fade away when John was imprisoned at the end of his life. Only the strong grace of the One he had prepared the way for could hold John through those dark times.

The Gospel of Mark opens with a surprising announcement from the wilderness: The LORD who spoke to Moses in Exodus 3 has now come to us in the person of Jesus. Because Jesus is the LORD Himself, and more than a prophet, teacher or example, He offers hope for us in our own deserts.

The Gospels present us a reliable message in "surround sound" of the announcement of Good News. Not instruction on what to do, but announcement of what God has done through His Son Jesus, and that has the power to change our hearts to give us new life and motivations.

Paul looks back on Easter and speaks to three important assurances that we have from the resurrection of Jesus: 1) Assurance that the price has been paid, 2) Assurance that the Last Enemy is conquered, and 3) Assurance of the hope of Shalom.

Various people gathered around or departed from Jesus on Palm Sunday and the days that followed -- all based on their self-interest. Jesus moves forward to the cross with focus - He endures the cross for the joy set before Him - because He acts in the best interest of the people He loves.

Jesus responds to Caiaphas the High Priest and Pilate the governor in ways that give us insight into how we see the world of political power through Gospel Eyes.

The Gospel of Grace sets our hearts free to: 1) Be Productive, 2) Be Generous, and 3) Be Content.

Gospel Community is an integral part of what God is doing, beginning at Pentecost. The same Holy Spirit that drew people to faith, led them to repentance and baptism also placed them in vibrant Gospel Community. We dare not separate community from that central work of the Father's grace as if it were merely an option or something to be considered later.

John begins his gospel by making clear that the Jesus he is writing about is Fully God, Fully human and Full of Grace and Truth. This is the Jesus that is at work transforming us, and reaching out through us to the community He has come to rescue.

"Be Metamorphosized" Paul says here. This verse is the hinge between the Gospel explained in chapters 1-11 and then applied in the chapters to follow. How does the gospel work the metamorphosizing change in our real lives.

Biblical vision is about "information from the outside" about "activity from the outside." We need to beware thinking about vision from a perspective of "moralistic, therapeutic deism" that makes us think vision is about us or implemented by us.

Research shows that the idea that Jesus is the only way to have a relationship with God is increasingly less affirmed, even by evangelical Christians. How important is this conviction, and what does it mean. Pastor Bill compares the Gospel of grace with performance based systems of religion - including "Churchianity."

Mary hears from God through His angel and trusts Him, even at great cost. Does God still speak? How can we more clearly hear His voice in our lives? What does He want to say to us today? The first 4 minutes of this audio were not recorded, so it begins abruptly with reflections on Psalm 126:5 as Pastor Bill tells the story of Horatio Spafford, author of the hymn "It Is Well With My Soul."

God's great story of salvation comes to a new chapter at the birth of Jesus. Here the angels declare: "Unto us is born a savior!" Jesus was born as a savior, not just a judge or sin or teacher of good behavior. Joseph's small life is remembered because it intersects with this great story of God's love and salvation.

The Pilgrims were motivated by an abiding desire to reform their lives in light of God's Word. Their journey to Plymouth and survival of their first New England winter against all odds set the backdrop for their own time of Thanksgiving - a celebration that we carry on even today. They are an inspiring example of life lived with eyes fixed on Jesus.

Job finds realistic hope in the midst of his suffering by pursuing God's presence and in his startling glimpse of the resurrection: "You will long for the creature Your hands have made."

Domestic violence is a pervasive problem in our society and churches. One out of four women will experience abuse from an intimate partner in the course of their life time. The heart-changing power of the Gospel can break this cycle. Women finding strength to step out of the cycle. Men finding freedom from the expression of anger. See how Paul was set free from legalistic heart that led him to persecute the church as a model for real freedom ni life.

In the midst of his suffering, Job has 4 friends who travel to be with him. For seven days they sit together in silent sympathy. Job speaks from his pain, and his friends begin to speak. That is when they become "miserable comforters." Learn how not to further hurt people in pain.

"Remove the benefits of his love for God, and Job will turn from God," says Job's cynical accuser. Suffering follows and puts this accusation to the test. While we cannot settle for simplistic answers to the question of why bad things happen to good people, we can find courage knowing that "Love Wins."

In the epic story of Job, we face the oldest question of humanity: Why do even the righteous suffer in this world?

What does the younger brother expect o find when he returns home to his Father? An angry Dad, and rightly so. But something has changed. The expected anger has been transformed into love and acceptance. The anger of God, while qualitatively different than human anger is both real and important, for it undergirds the reality of justice. At the cross though, Jesus met the demands of holy justice, paid the price for human sin, and the deserved anger of God is transformed into love and acceptance. God is fearsome, but not feared, for the perfect love of the cross casts out all fear and punishment.

Each son in the Parable of the Two Sons in Luke 15,shows us a different way to be alienated God: self-indulgence or self-righteousness. Understanding the self-righteousness of the Elder Brother helps us recognize the prevelance of those same attitudes in the church. Research compiled in the book "unChristian: What a New Generation Thinks About the Church and Why It Matters" further clarify the problem. The Father's love pursues Elder Brothers - even those in the church - and invites them into the Feast of Gospel Love.

Everyone is serving something, but the Gospel is the invitation to trust and obey One who is loving and trustworthy. Obedience flows from whatever our heart has placed it's trust in.

"There was a man with two sons. . ." begins Jesus as he tells this well-known and loved parable to a crowd of sinners and Pharisees. He then shows two sons who in their own way each only want their father for what he can give them. Jesus, Himself a Son, is our model of hope.

God makes wonderful and certain promises to His people, but these promises are pregnant with time, hardship and contradiction. They are meant to build Gospel-based trust into our hearts rather than serve as "holy credit cards" that get us what we want when we want it. God's promises don't keep us from hard times, they get us through hard times.

We make idols of the heart whenever we think that our performance means God will do for us whatever we want. While we no longer make wooden statues, we will tithe to get God's prosperity or attend church in hopes that God will give us family stability. Instead, the Living God challenges our sin like no idol would, but also reaches out to us with grace like no god of our own making could. Sermon included Rob Bell's Nooma video: Lump.

Many believers have an understanding and experience of God's forgiveness, but only a vague idea about the blessing of being "the righteousness of God in Christ" that comes through grace. We can be set free from the "Performance See-Saw" when we understand that maturity comes by grace, just as our forgiveness does

The Father has given us the Spirit of Adoption. Often we listen to the orphan voice in our hearts rather than the Spirit who cries out, "Daddy!."

There is something broken deep in our hearts. Pastor Bill uses an illustration of the hands: God's reaching hand, our withdrawn fist, our trembling hand, the Father's gripping hand of security - to show the reason for our fears - and the answer of the Gospel for them.

Get a Sample of Christ Covenant's ServantHeart Ministry. This message looks at Psalm 139 as the foundation of the idea of Personal Style or personality. The Father has uniquely made you and you will serve in His Kingdom best if you serve consistent with that.

Do we obey God out of a desire to earn his love or out of confidence that he already loves us?