Christ Community Sunday - Leawood Campus

There is no meaningful way to follow Jesus, no matter how compelling his example and his teaching, if you think he is dead and buried like every other human person from the beginning of time. If he is not raised, then we have no hope. But in fact, Paul says, and he bet his entire life on this: Jesus has been raised. And if he has been raised, then we have eternal hope in him. The only thing more wonderful, in fact, than worshiping this risen Jesus today, will be seeing him when he comes again, to make all things right, and when he utterly destroys our last enemy. And if you can begin to wrap your mind and heart around that, not only as something you hope is real, but something you know is real, you will begin to understand the power of the phrase we started this whole day with. He is risen. He is risen indeed.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4887441622.04.17

John recounts Jesus’ words to religious leaders who are hell-bent on rejecting and condemning him -–despite the evidence. These religious leaders are so motivated to condemn Jesus, they have already decided the verdict in their hearts. If we are honest with ourselves, some of us have made our verdict already, picking and choosing the things we “like” about Jesus. And rejecting anything that gets in the way of our desires or our comforts. We may like what Jesus says about heaven and love. But sexuality? Or money? Or caring for the marginalized? Or loving our enemies. Nah, I’m good. Our heart motivations may be different from the religious leaders in Jesus’ day. But the outcome is the same. We too reject Jesus. So the question we have to wrestle with today is this. Whether you consider yourself a Christian or not, When it comes to Jesus–what will your verdict be?Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4887074922.04.10

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48862957It is so easy for us to embrace a misguided religious faith founded in a religious consumer mentality. Christian faith is desirable to us as long as it is comfortable and helpful to us. When it helps us form friendships or our involvement in religious services provides a sense of connection or provides us with great business contacts, or helps our kids or teenagers make better choices and find better friends. Hear me carefully, making good friends and experiencing community are good things, often good things that are outworkings of authentic faith and authentic faith community. And asking our heavenly Father for the desires of our hearts and for things we need is often a very good thing, done with the right motives.  But sometimes our fair-weather faith becomes fickle and proves shallow when life is hard, when we confront suffering, rejection, loneliness, or when prayers seem to go unanswered. How does our faith hold up then? Ask yourself, what is my true hea

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4885927222.03.20

It is easy to miss, in our polarized world, that Jesus seems to have intentionally drawn together people from across ideologies and cultures of the world to be worshippers. Jesus is not after ideologies. He is after worship in spirit and truth. This is Jesus’ language for a new heart that only the Spirit can give, a new obedience to the truth that Jesus is Lord of all. Does Jesus have our worship? This is something, whether we have followed Jesus for a long time, or we are considering him for the first time, that we have to ask ourselves. Jesus’ offer of living water comes at a price: you have to worship him alone, even at the expense of the culture, politics, ideologies, that have shaped you.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4885568122.03.13

When Jesus is invited into every part of our daily lives. Jesus becomes more present to us in our Monday worlds of work, work,  school, recreation. He becomes more present in our homes, in our friendships and family.  When Jesus becomes more and more Holy Spirit fills and empowers us. He draws us to deeper intimacy with Jesus and He guides us, teaches us and reshapes our priorities and reorders our loves. Jesus becomes more in how we do our work, how we treat and speak to our boss or fellow employees. In how we love our neighbor. How we serve, follow and how we lead. In how we sacrificially serve our spouse or honor our parents. In how we speak about, how we love those who we may disagree with. Humility grows when Jesus becomes more and more in our lives.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4885174022.03.06

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48847927From a posture of glorious holiness and a motive of unfathomable love, God the Father, sent Jesus his Son on a divine rescue mission to save us his fallen image-bearers from eternal separation from himself. When we slow down and pause to reflect on it, the intensity and beauty of God’s love, its breadth, and width, its sacrificial nature, the lengths God went to make possible our rescue is simply breathtaking, completely overwhelming to our minds and senses. God’s love unveiled by John is a saving love, a rescuing love, a love that takes the initiative. Saving faith in Jesus saves us from perishing, that is being eternally separated from God, Saving faith in Jesus saves us for eternal life.22.02.27

If I were to ask you what you think is the greatest obstacle to faith, what would you say? Perhaps what blinds us more than anything else to true gospel faith is religion. Churches can be full of religious people, moral people, upstanding citizens, who do not really know Jesus or have forgotten what life with Jesus is all about. For God so loved the world, that He gave His son, not just to people we view as “messed up”, but also for the religious, self-sufficient, successful, and obedient. He knew we would need a MIRACLE to save us from ourselves. His Son was lifted up for us to see Him there and offer us an eternal life with God. Through Him, we have been born again.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4884399222.02.20

Jesus came to make God accessible to everyone. Jesus died so that people could have access to God. Are there places in our lives or in our church, or the Church, where we’re putting up barriers that make it more difficult for people on the outside to encounter God? Church is meant to be a place to practice dying to self, for the sake of others, even if that means you don’t get the song that you want, or the sermon (or preacher) that you want, or as many donut holes as you want. How can we make it easier for people to encounter God, either within our walls or outside of them?Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4884042522.02.13

In John 2, by turning water into wine,  Jesus draws his disciples to a greater faith. They learned about the kind of king Jesus is and the kind of kingdom he means to bring. It is easy to forget when the wine is flowing, that it can’t flow forever. What do we do when the wine runs out? When life’s circumstances let us down? John tells us in that moment to trust Jesus. When our wine runs out, we are often tempted to scramble and resort to all kinds of self-preservation that never works. But Jesus’ rescue plan never fails. Do whatever he tells you to do. Not because it stops the fun, but because it leads to real joy. Simple obedience to him, is not some esoteric, mystical thing. He is here and available to help us with real, everyday problems. He is not an insurance plan for your soul; He is a master of ceremonies who cares about every last detail of your life, who wants the best for you and knows how to get it. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4883671122.02.06

In our text this morning, in John 1, there are five men. Andrew, probably John himself, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael. All different with different motivations, questions and jobs. But all of them come and see Jesus for the first time. And it changes them forever. If you are here and you are a christian, or exploring what it means to be a Christian, you are a link in the chain, that goes way back to this story, right here. Somebody pointed you to Jesus. And whether it was years and years of conversation, or one blurted out, whatever it was, it beckoned you to come and see for yourself. And even if you aren’t sure if you are interested, keep coming, because Jesus is interested in you and he wants to build something on your life that you can hardly imagine. Put yourself in the story, maybe for the first time. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4883308122.1.30

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48829523First-century Christians waiting for the Messiah were expecting a King, a strong leader, a warrior who could take on their oppressors from Rome. They wanted the Lion of Judah and a judge who was on their side. They were not prepared to see the Lamb. Israel’s minds and hearts were stubbornly set on only accepting someone who fit the picture in Her mind. No one was looking for a lamb and if we are honest, neither are we. We can be so quick to dismiss the Lamb if we forget His power. He is THE LAMB! He is so much more! He IS the strength and power of true light, and He IS the sovereign authority of God. If we are going to take Jesus seriously, worship him rightly, obey him fully; we need to see the Lamb.22.01.23

As humans, we have always had an interesting relationship with darkness. On one hand, we can be afraid of the dark, but we love it when we need it. To hide. To retreat. To sin or commit evil. John wants to reveal to us that Jesus is the Light. He is not a light, but the one true light, who gives life to humanity. Satan opposes Jesus and His light everywhere he can, but Jesus came into the world to drive out the darkness. John wants us to see that the light came into the darkness and everybody closed their eyes, and fumbled for the light switch. Because as much as we may hate the darkness, we need it to cover the reality of who we are. When we live in obedience to the light, we not only walk in the light ourselves, but we can shine the light for others. Shine the light.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4882572222.01.16

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4881575722.01.02

I believe we live in a time of great skepticism and growing mistrust and yet skepticism of truth claims and the challenge of discerning what is true and what is not- is not restricted to our modern time. Through John’s witness, we see that from the opening verses of the bible through the very end, the story of God we encounter is one who greatly loves this broken material world. Let’s remember that in the original creation, God declared the material world good! That includes the stuff of this world, our bodies of flesh and blood.  And even after humankind rebelled against God with broken lives and a broken world being the tragic result, God refused to give up on his world and has chosen to redeem and restore it. In Jesus God came to rescue and redeem our world. The very act of Jesus assuming human flesh, the Word sanctified and hallowed our material bodies and our material world. Jesus is history's greatest miracle and Jesus is our greatest hope.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4882101822.01.09

Sermon notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4881569021.12.26

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4881210721.12.19

We are in a sermon series this Advent season on the names of God. How does the Bible talk about God?  What names does He have, the Son given to us on Christmas, who has come to us and will come again?  He is the Lord of hosts which is a reminder that we do not fight alone. He is an invisible general, fighting for us. He isn’t afraid of a human army, and swords and shields and chariots. He’s the lord of hosts! He doesn’t see our battles the way we do. He sees beyond the physical and material. Beyond the human solutions and strategies. And He asks His people to trust Him, that He can do it, even when it looks impossible. Someone fights for us. Do you know that? When you feel overwhelmed by your life. When it feels impossible. Like nobody can make this okay. Do you know God is fighting with you? Do you feel the difference that makes? Someone wins for us. There will be no end to justice and peace when God sends this king. And His victory. Is our victory. The Lord of Hosts becomes human. Jesus. Born in a manger. T

We all long to be seen, noticed, known, valued by others, not just around or tolerated, but really seen. This time of year lots of people are around, but many feel more invisible than ever. This morning, our story in Genesis is giving us a window into the life of one of the most invisible people ever, until God met her. This overlooked woman is actually the only person in the whole bible to give God a name. She calls him the God of seeing because she felt seen for the first time by Him. We are seen by Him as well. We know this because of Jesus, God’s answer to our deepest longings. We know because God came to another young girl named Mary. He promised her she would bear a son, a divine son, whom God Himself would name Jesus, who is more than a God who sees. But a God who suffers, dies, rises again. A God who saves.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4880836921.12.12

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4880149221.11.28