Christ Community Church Podcast

In this summer series, we will look at the “culture wars” and how to find the conviction and courage to truly be the people God intends us to be in the midst of it all – people who shine the truth and love of His kingdom in our world, in a way that draws people to Him for salvation, healing and life.

Each of Jesus’ followers is a temple for the Holy Spirit and is thus commanded to honor the Lord with his or her body. Here Pastor Derrick discusses how to keep this holy temple cleansed from things that would rob us of life, joy and fruitfulness.

In a crisis of belief, our tendency is to focus on the crisis more than the belief. God, however, wants us to focus on Him – His presence, love and goodness, no matter what our circumstances.

This week’s message focuses on the reference to Jesus as a “high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrew 6:20). Here we see how the Lord is both like and superior to this curious Old Testament character.

This week we look into Hebrews chapter 6, in which the pastor continues his loving charge to his distant flock to grow up and mature in the faith, lest they slip into the danger of falling away from Jesus and His gospel.

God desires us to know Him ever more deeply, and He wants to lead us into greater fullness of His kingdom and purpose … but He can only give such as we have capacity to receive it. Continuing our study of Hebrews, this week we look at the writer/pastor’s challenge to move toward spiritual maturity.

This week we looked at Hebrews 4:14-5:10, in which the writer/pastor encourages his audience – including us today – that Jesus is trustworthy because He is the great and perfect high priest who intercedes on His people’s behalf.

This week we look at Hebrews 4:1-13, in which the writer now turns to the idea of God’s “rest,” representative of our eternal destiny in heaven. He draws on two analogies as he discusses this gift worth persevering for: The rest of the Promised Land (referring back to 3:16-19) and the Sabbath rest that God modeled for us in creation.

The writer of Hebrews emphasized to his audience the importance of responding to God’s call without delay - an urgency that is just as relevant in our own lives today.

The words of the Hebrews writer/pastor give us a profound summary of the glorious (mysterious) dual nature of Jesus. He was both fully God and fully man. Chapter 1 accented His divinity; now chapter 2 emphasizes His humanity.

On Resurrection Sunday, we focused in joyous worship on Jesus, our glorious Savior and King, and continued our study of Hebrews, which reminds us of Jesus’ superiority over all created beings.

Jesus Christ: Creator, sustainer and heir of all things … radiance of God’s glory … the exact representation of God … and so much more – this is the picture of our Lord painted by the writer of Hebrews in the opening verses of Hebrews. What beautiful words to ponder on Palm Sunday, the day in which we celebrate His humble but triumphant entry into God’s Holy City.

This week Pastor Keith introduces a new series on the book of Hebrews with a look at how God has made Himself known to us through His Son, and how we are called to make Christ known to those around us in word and dee

As we conclude our study of Esther, we focus on Purim, a feast of remembrance, and consider how we can remember and celebrate the faithfulness of God in our own lives

All of the seeming coincidences that lead to the deliverance of the Hebrew people in Esther reveal the hand of God quietly at work behind what we can see. Through God’s prevenient grace, in times of suffering and even in the ordinary, we too can experience “God behind the seen.”

On this day, our study of Esther merged with “Freedom Sunday,” a focused look at God’s heart to end modern-day slavery. Guest speaker Kevin Austin of the Free Methodist Church’s Set Free Movement pointed us to ways that we, like Esther in her time, can work to bring justice to our world.

This week we look at Mordecai’s request to Esther, and the difficult question she must face: What would be worth dying for? As Christians, it’s a question, we should consider as well.

A pervasive element in the story of Esther is the influences of others. Many offer advice about courses of action – some good, but most not so good. Similarly, many voices speak to us today, and we must be discerning about which ones we should heed.

As we walk through the book of Esther, we are focusing on broad themes revealed in this story. Today’s focus is on the “back story” behind the immediate events, not only of this story, but of any story – including yours.

This message focuses on the dramatic change depicted in the book of Esther, and encourages us to consider how we can deal with the rapid changes we see in culture, as well as change in our personal lives.