Capital City Christian Church | Podcast

What if everything we do as followers of Jesus flows from one thing: love? In this message, part of our Uncomplicated series, we dig into 1 John 4:8 and the well-known words of John 3:16 to explore what agape love — God's unconditional, sacrificial love — really means, and why it's the "fastball" every Christian needs to master before anything else matters. We'll talk about: The difference between agape love and the other kinds of love we experience (family, friendship, romance) What it means that God loved us — and continues to love us — regardless of what we've done Why loving people is the practical, undeniable proof of whether we truly love God How understanding "love languages" can help us love God and others better If you only walk away with one thing today, let it be this: God loves you. And if you want to talk more about what that means, we'd love to connect with you. 📖 Uncomplicated is a 5-week series revisiting some of the foundational ideas of the Christian faith using the Core 52 resource. Pick up a copy in our Connections room!

"What if the answer to your prayer is… you? In this message from our Dangerous Prayers series, we look at Jesus’ words in Matthew 9: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Through story after story, we see Jesus looking at people with deep compassion—not judgment—and inviting His followers to do the same. The problem isn’t that people need to be more ready for Jesus. The problem is that we need to be more ready to be Jesus to the people around us. The fields are ripe. People in our neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, families, and everyday routines need to experience the love, mercy, and grace of Jesus. So when we pray for God to send workers into the harvest, we need to be prepared for His answer: “Send me.” Are you ready to pray this dangerous prayer? Lord of the harvest, send out workers—because Frankfort is ripe for harvest. Send me." Ben Webb, Lead Minister

Here’s the deal: there are just two roads, Jesus says … only two roads … and we are all on one or the other. And here it is, guys, they won’t both take you to the same place. They are moving toward opposite destinations. Do you understand how countercultural that is? Our culture prefers this idea of many roads climbing the same mountain toward one God. Jesus gives a radically different picture: two roads going in opposite directions. And every one of us is moving along one road or the other. There is no third road and there is no fence to sit on. And guys, if Jesus really is God, in a bod, then I’d listen to him … not them!

When we cast judgement on someone, declaring them in our hearts to be not worth our time, not worth our words, not worth our love, then we are alienating them from the knowledge that they have been saved. Our pride when we judge could be the reason that someone doesn’t know that God loves them. Don’t let your need to boost yourself up be the reason someone doesn’t know that. And don’t let your own ego be the reason you don’t know that. God has loved you. Loved you so much that he has hated your sin and offered you a way out of it. And he has loved the person next to you. It’s your job to make sure they know it. And you cannot love someone while believing you are better than them.

Guys, I still don’t know exactly where that line is between God-honoring worry and God-dishonoring anxiety. But I do know this … Life is going to throw a lot of stuff at you. But we’re Jesus followers. And we know there is a God … a big G God. And we that he flat-out cares … kind of like the perfect Dad. The cross proves that. And we know that no matter what happens he’ll be there. That’s his promise. And with his help, we’ll get through whatever comes … as long as we seek first his Kingdom, and his righteousness. Here’s how the apostle Paul puts it: “For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.” (2 Corinthians 4.16-18) One guy put it like this, “There’s nothing a good resurrection can’t fix.” (Don Carson) And it’s coming.

If you are not willing to honor God outside your prayer time, why would you expect God to honor what you say during your prayer time” If you are not trying to honor God on Monday, and Tuesday, and all of the rest of our “unholy days,” why would we expect God to honor what we ask him on Sunday. Wouldn’t that be kind of like … hypocrisy? Guys, God will not be “used.” God is no fool. God’s hypocrisy detector is unfailingly accurate. So … when we pray, it’s not about performance … it’s not about manipulation … it will be gutted by hypocrisy … it’s about seeing God as God, and seeing self as not God. That’s where we’re going to go in just a few minutes. But first, let’s get ourselves ready to see the real Lord’s Prayer … Guys, it’s probably the most prayed prayer ever … at least for Jesus followers. Most of you probably know it by heart. You’ve probably prayed it hundreds of times, maybe … thousands for some of you old guys. But I’d still call it the most unprayed prayer ever … at least for us Jesus followers.

Your words matter. Tell the truth. A Jesus Follower will live differently. And it’s going to stand out like salt and light in this world. JESUS’ FOLLOWERS ARE CALLED TO RADICAL TRUTHFULNESS AND INTEGRITY. We are called to be honest people. Be honest with the oaths that you make. Be honest with the contracts and the promises you make. Be honest with all your words. Because any failure to keep your word is a sin before God. And your reputation may take a hit, but Jesus’ reputation will take a hit as well. And when people see Jesus wrong, people go to hell. Jesus kind of says that. If Jesus followers choose not to be radical with their truthfulness, if we choose lies and we choose to break promises — Jesus says that we are submitting to the influence of the evil one, who is the father of lies.

So anger and contempt is a poison we willingly drink way too often. Here it is: What is the antidote?’ It’s an idea we talk about here a lot: “Grace.” And, when it comes to anger and contempt, grace looks like “magnanimity” and “forgiveness.”

Jesus doesn't condemn our sexual desires even when those desires are provoked by unexpected or unwelcome temptations. And, notice how Jesus doesn't blame women for causing lust, and he doesn’t blame the culture or any external force. We become guilty, even of adultery, when we fan those flickers into flame. It's when we deliberately engage our will in the pursuit of lust. Martin Luther said it this way: "You can't prevent the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair." I think that's a great picture of lust. We think sin happens at the end of a process that looks something like this: we think desire turns into intent, and then that turns into action. Religious people are obsessed with the action. The Pharisees during Jesus' day were obsessed with the outward, visible sin. We think sin is in the action. If we can modify behavior, then we can defeat sin. But Jesus says no. There's something happening before the action ever takes place. Jesus says to DESIRE NO EVIL. Jesus says sin can start all the way back at the beginning when a desire that may be good and holy from God gets twisted and partnered with an unrighteous intent.

So, AI says that if you recognize the world around you is messy, and if there is any part of you that is interested in helping bring that change … then you need to start by working on yourself, build around reality, and then coordinate. That's how you can change the world. There you go. We all think the world's a mess. That's how you can fix it. Problem solved. There is … another way. 2000 years ago, a guy named Jesus felt the same way about the world that we do. He agrees – it’s a mess. He thought it was such a big deal that he went to some pretty extreme lengths to bring positive change to the world. He came up with a strategy, and it may surprise you. But you may decide you want to be a part of it.

Some Jesus followers are persecuted because they are jerks … obnoxious … abrasive … arrogant. Maybe they speak truth without grace … and when people push back, they think they are being persecuted for righteousness sake. Maybe not. Maybe they are being persecuted because they are jerks. Jesus is talking about doing the right thing when the right thing is hard. Jesus is talking about doing living by the standards of our rightful King when his standards are countercultural … which they are … a lot. Jesus is talking about doing the right thing when others don’t understand, when others don’t agree, when others push back, or push you away, of mock, or exclude, or penalize, or ridicule or otherwise mistreat you … … for the sake of righteousness. Have you ever been asked to do something you know is wrong, pushed to do something you know is wrong, and there was a part of you that wanted to do it … but you didn’t, because you are a Jesus follower … and because you didn’t someone came after you? Two big ideas, guys, about what qualifies. These are huge. These are at the heart of this beatitude, I think. #1: Is your “suffering” as result of your loyalty to Jesus? And #2: Is your suffering endured with the character of Jesus?

Blessed are the peacemakers.” Listen, guys, I want to look at these words a little differently this morning. This may challenge the way you have always understood these words. This may be an absolute paradigm shift. But hang with me. Listen, guys, your biggest war is not with any person … any person. Not your ex-wife, not your political enemies, not your parents, not your boss, not the people who betrayed you. Your biggest war is with God. Your other resentments, rivalries, feuds, hatreds, wars … they all pale by comparison. And any real peacemaking is going to have to start right there: Peace with God. In fact, even peacemaking between men, if it is going to last, has to start with peace with God.

In the New Testament Jesus seems to back David up. Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” It sounds like Jesus, like David, is saying there's a way to see God … and it can be a good thing for you … but no one is qualified. It feels like they are revealing the secret to access … but you can’t meet the terms. But what if you want it? What if you want to see God and you want it be good? I don't know if that's on the list of things that one day you hope to see. But if we are all going to see God, sooner or later, and if there is a way for that to be a good thing, then maybe we need to figure it out.

Now, what's interesting to me is the promise part of this beatitude: “Blessed are the merciful,” the ones who show mercy, “FOR THEY WILL BE SHOWN MERCY.” Jesus kind of gives us a mathematical equation of sorts where mercy received will be equal to mercy given. Essentially Jesus is saying that God is merciful and we should be like that. People who show mercy are acting like God. But also … the people who show mercy to others are the ones who get mercy from God. That's scary to me. And I think if you can be honest with yourself and your ability to be merciful, this should also scare you. You may even join me in hoping that this one isn’t true. Because it also feels like Jesus is saying those who aren't merciful won't experience mercy. If there's any part of you that has come to the right conclusion that you need mercy from God … but you also look at your own life and recognize your lack of mercy … then this verse should terrify you. Because it feels like there is a direct correlation. Mercy received is equal to mercy given. The penalties that you withhold from the people in your life become the measure of penalties that are withheld for you from God. Does Jesus really mean that? Is this how God works?

These first three Beatitudes feel like being emptied out, don’t they? It feels like an emptying of the self. Which means … you may be feeling hungry for something that can fill you back up. So, are you feeling hungry? Because if so, according to Jesus, then righteousness is yours. You will be filled. Do you want a Savior? If so, you will be filled. And if you’ve received that first righteousness – the righteousness you can only get from a Savior – then you should be responding with that second righteousness. Do you want to live a righteous life? Is there any part of you that wants to do what is right and to not do what is wrong? Are you … hungry?

"Blessed are the meek … I don’t like that word. It’s a great word, actually, if you understand it properly. But too often we think it means “weak,” or “feeble,” or “timid,” or “passive,” or “cowardly,” even. The gentle Jesus, meek and mild … the cosmic doormat. What the word does not evoke, often enough, is power under God-honoring control. With Jesus … infinite power, under this stunning love-driven control. Matthew was written in Greek, not English. And the Greek word is “praeis” … blessed are the “praeis.” And if you were to look “praies” up in a dictionary of New Testament Greek, you would find definitions like this: “gentle,” “humble,” “considerate,” … or “meek in the older favorable sense” … not the newer “wussy sense.” Gentle: Blessed by God, favored by God are the gentle. Humble: Blessed by God are the humble, because they won’t treat others God loves with disrespect. Considerate: Favored by God are the considerate, because they won’t use or abuse people because they can. So, some Bibles still translate it, “Blessed are the meek.” Others, “Blessed are those who are humble.” Others, “Blessed are the gentle.” That’s my favorite, because I think it captures what Jesus meant the most clearly." Stephen "Doc" Pattison, Teaching Pastor

Blessed are those who mourn. Mourning is defined as the outward social expression of grief, and that's consistent with the idea behind the word that Jesus uses in this text. Usually when we think of grieving and mourning, we tend to think of death. We think of losing someone. But this text isn’t about death or loss. This type of mourning is about sin. We know this because of the context of the Beatitudes. Last week we talked about spiritual poverty – spiritual bankruptcy. It’s not about what’s in your bank account, it’s about what’s in your heart. Same with mourning. Sin is a really big deal to God – if we can mourn our sin we’ll agree with God. And that’s a good place to be.

"So, what does it mean to be poor in spirit? I think we could say it this way: BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO RECOGNIZE THEIR OWN SPIRITUAL BANKRUPTCY. Some people are qualified for citizenship in this new Kingdom with this new King. If you can recognize your own spiritual bankruptcy, if you can recognize how much you need a savior, then you are qualified for citizenship in this new Kingdom that Jesus is building. Now, recognizing your own spiritual bankruptcy doesn't mean that you hate yourself. It doesn't mean that you feel like you have no value. It doesn't mean that you have weak faith or a false humility. It's none of those things. What it does mean is that you recognize you are broke spiritually. Recognize you are brokenhearted. That you are captive. Recognize that you are in the darkness as a prisoner spiritually. No one can participate in this new Kingdom who has not recognized their desperate need for God and their own inability to meet that need." Ben Webb, Lead Minister

"Good Friday and Easter Sunday are no accident. They’re not folklore to make an ugly moment in history look better. They are not twists on history controlled by those in power. They’re not even the backup plans of God, as if God’s plans were hijacked by man. I mean, can you imagine God watching all of this play out in real time, surprised that man was able to kill Jesus? As if God just sits there for two days, and He’s angry and He’s grieving and all the different emotions because they’ve killed Jesus. They’ve ruined it. And He’s pouty and mopey, and then He realizes, “Oh yeah, I’m God. I can just bring Him back to life.” Do you think that’s what happened? It doesn’t make sense. This was the plan all along — from Genesis 3 to the psalms to the gospels and Jesus’s very own words. It was always Jerusalem. It was always the religious leaders. It was always the cross, and it was always the tomb. Because He came to conquer our sin problem, and He came to conquer the separation that our sin caused. He came to conquer death." Ben Webb, Lead Minister

"You see, sometimes we want to respect Jesus as a “great teacher,” but that’s all. Or, we want to use him as a helper when we need him … when we need him. Sometimes we want a Jesus who will sign on to our agenda. But we resist calling him “Lord,” or “Master.” We want his strength, and his comfort … but resist surrender. We want him to be kind of like this benevolent spiritual force we can tap into when we want … instead of an intensely personal God. But Jesus will not be the Messiah you want. He is the Messiah you need. He’s God, guys. He’s King. And being a Jesus follower means being a Jesus “follower” … He leads. He leads when you get it, and when you don’t. He leads when you agree with him, and when you don’t. He leads when you like it, and when you don’t. Because he is king … the divine–human king. None of this, “It’s my life, who made you the boss of me” nonsense. None of this, “Follow your own path, live your own truth, you choose what’s right for you,” nonsense. He’s … Lord. Do you get that? Psalm 110 is about divine-human messiah, a divine-human king." Stephen "Doc" Pattison, Growth Pastor

"And bottom line, I need the Good Shepherd, and you need the Good Shepherd. • Because, the reality is, we wander off, and sometimes we get flat out lost. • In fact, sometimes the paths we take lead directly into degradation and danger. • And we follow the wrong leaders, sometimes … we follow other sheep! • Or we just blaze our own paths … how is that working out for you? • And we come against barriers we can’t scale, enemies we can’t defeat, dangers we can’t escape … on our own. • And when we fall, which we do, repeatedly, we can’t fix ourselves. We need our souls “restored,” … a lot. Guys, here it is … listen: All of us follow someone, all of us follow something … So choose well!" Stephen "Doc" Pattison, Teaching Pastor

We said it this way in passing last week: Prophecy is a miraculous spiritual gift where people receive revelation from God. God gives them something that they wouldn't know or wouldn't understand other than God miraculously giving it to them. And then the one who receives the message is expected to speak that message. The message is for the community. It’s for God’s people. And when they speak the message, it’s under divine inspiration. Prophecy is an act of truth-telling. And most of the time truth doesn’t feel nice. Usually when God authors a prophecy, it serves as a warning to shape up or he's going to show up. So, most of the time, prophecy reveals truth.

"I want to start with this picture from 2nd Corinthians to lay a foundation of what giving and generosity should look like. Because on top of that foundation, I want to get to one last really big idea for this series. And it may catch you off guard. For all Jesus Followers, giving is a command. But for some Jesus Followers – for some of you in this room – giving is more than a command. For some, giving is an act of giftedness. For some, God has given you the ability to excel in giving. For some Jesus Followers, giving is more than an act of faithfulness or obedience. It’s a giftedness."

So, we may not be able to point at this specific time and place where Jesus said, "It's more blessed to give than to receive." But those words, I think, perfectly sum up Jesus' ethic. Jesus was all about generosity. Giving and being generous aligns us with God's generous nature. It's who God is. It's what God does. Giving and being generous is being like God. Giving and being generous is being like Jesus. And Jesus says that it's better to be a giver than to be a receiver. It's better to be a conduit of blessing to the people around us than to be a consumer of blessings. Do you believe that? It's kind of a hard thing to believe. It's not what our intuition says. It's not what we would assume. Why is it more blessed to give than to receive? Why is giving more blessed?

Bottom line, don’t test God … don’t test God … unless … unless … God says, “Test me.” Which God does … only once in the Bible. It’s wrong to test God, but it’s equally wrong to disobey God if he tells us, explicitly, “Test me.” … Let me show you.

Our heart is connected to wherever we put our treasure. We FEED whatever is most important to us. So, if your heart is in two children while ignoring five other children, that means that your treasure is going to go to those two children, right? If your heart is in your career and not in your family, then your time is going to go to your career. Or maybe your heart is in your stuff — the accumulation of things. If that's where your heart is, then your money's going to go there too. Which means that your money isn’t going to God. Because we subsidize what we love. Where our heart is, where our passion is, where our love is … will be where we put our attention, our time, and our money. The Bible challenges us to put God first. And the Bible challenges us to prove it with our money. It's one thing to say that you've made God the priority in your life — your money will rat you out. Your money will reveal whether or not God is first.

Maybe you would ask: do I have to give money to be a Jesus Follower or to be a part of the church? Again, all good questions. Maybe you want to know why I would care what you give. Well, I don’t know what you give. But that question does get closer to the bigger, more important question. Which is, why does God care what we do with our money? That’s the big question. Why does God even care? What’s the big deal? Of all the things that Jesus tells us to pay attention to … of all the things that God commands us to do — why money? That’s a great question. I think it deserves more than just a quick answer.

A story of hardship is interesting. But a story of hardship that intersects with Jesus and creates transformation has power to it. A story like that has the ability to move someone. YOUR STORY MAY BE THE STIMULUS THAT SOMEONE ELSE NEEDS TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT JESUS.

But when we think about commitment to serving, just remember Jesus who didn't stop after washing the disciples feet that night. He continued to serve all the way to the cross where his body and his blood were broken for you and me. And today his words that Luke records for us ring loud and true to those of us who call ourselves his followers. Take up your cross daily and follow me. And if you can't, you're not worthy of being one of mine. He's calling each of us to a radically different lifestyle than this world calls us to. Not a lifestyle of status, but of service. Not a lifestyle of happiness, but one of blessedness that comes from serving others. You know, Jesus said, you call me teacher and Lord. And you're right, because that's what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. I've given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. What do you say?"

"We’re saying food fills our stomachs and it fills our souls. Eating meets a physical need, and eating together can meet a spiritual need. And we’ve said it’s not really about the food itself. It’s about what you intend to do with that opportunity. All of this is about reaching the “ones” in your life. JUST 1 PLUS 5. Sharing a meal will give you opportunities to prove love while also reaching a new depth of relationship with one another. Because eating together has that potential to grow relationship with one another, to create a deeper trust, to create a deeper bond, to create a deeper experience that you can have with one another. And that opens the door to bigger conversations. It opens the door to a deeper spiritual depth. I think sharing a meal makes us real. I think it breaks down barriers. It helps us find common ground. Especially when combined with listening. Last week we talked about the power of listening. We said it this way: “Being heard is so close to being loved that it’s almost indistinguishable.”

“Being heard is so close to being loved that, for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.” This quote comes from a guy named David Augsburger. He was a preacher, writer, and counselor. Do you agree with this quote? Do you feel this? Is there something in this that resonates deeply within you? If you made a short list of the people you like the most, you’ll probably find a common theme that each of them will … listen to you. Doesn’t something awaken within you when someone stops what they’re doing to give you their attention? When you’re having a conversation with someone and they can communicate back to you that they understand you, or that they can relate to you, doesn’t that do something to your heart? Doesn’t it feel like … being loved?

We have some momentum. We’re consistently seeing life change happening in this church. So, I think it's the perfect time to double down. And I'm going to challenge you to participate. I’m not concerned with the 64 different people who baptized someone last year. I'm not worried about the people in the room who have five people they are working on. You're excited about what God has been doing in your life, and you're motivated to share that into the lives of the people that you know and the relationships that you have. Keep going. Keep doing what you’re doing. “Just one” is to encourage the rest of us to get in the game. This is for those who haven’t intentionally identified someone who needs to know Jesus. This is for those who haven’t developed a strategy of how you could bring someone to Jesus. Can you find your one? Maybe you don't recognize the opportunities. Maybe you don't have the courage to step into those opportunities. Maybe you don't think you have the wisdom to know how to lead someone to Jesus. Your invited to be a part of something big. I want you to come and be a part of something big. Maybe you’ve been sitting back and cheering us on this past year. It's great that you're happy about what's happening here in this church. Even better is if you would participate. Come be a part of what we’re doing.

"So, we’re going to challenge our whole church family to go through the Bible this next year using a plan called Core 52. A really sharp Pastor and Bible Prof by the name of Mark Moore -- he is the guy you saw in the video this morning – Anyway, Mark Moore has identified 52 of the most power-packed passages in the Bible … one big idea a week. By the end of 2026 you will have thought through most all of the big ideas of the Bible. It’s really cool! One guy describes the plan like this: “Think of Core52 as your “FastPass” for knowing God’s Word, by-passing the lines of minutia, pushing you to the front of the biggest ideas of the Bible. It is the quickest route to move someone from curiosity to confidence in mastering the core message of Scripture and shaping a Christian worldview.” Guys, you want to know the Bible better because you know the Bible will make you better. You want that … life to the fullest, that rich and satisfying life, where the yoke is easy, and the burden is light, and you find rest for your souls. If you join us, you are going to be getting into the Word, and, we hope, we believe, the Word will be getting into you. God is really good at working on you through his Word." Stephen "Doc" Pattison, Teaching Pastor

I don't know your specific reason for why you need hope. But I do know hope is directly related to living in this broken world. Hope is something that you cling to when you can't have what you are waiting for. So, while you wait, you need some hope. And … you need some resurrection. That’s where hope is found. What's fascinating about Christian hope is that it's not rooted in something in the future. It's rooted in something that has already happened in the past. Our hope is in an event that’s already happened. The resurrection of Jesus is the catalyst. The resurrection changes things here and now. We don't sing "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" in the same kind of way, because He's here. He showed up. It's already done. And when He left, He left us the Holy Spirit so we wouldn't be alone. God is with us right now.

Here’s the real question: Do you think the sorrow diminished, or extinguished, the joy? Does your pain diminish, or extinguish, your joy? There’s always a boatload of pain in the middle of our Christmas stories. Families that are not at peace. Maybe there is someone who can’t come home, or won’t come home, or someone you lost. Maybe there is pain because you couldn’t give the gifts you wanted, or maybe the gifts you did give were unwanted. For many, the apparent joy of others only intensifies the loneliness and unhappiness they themselves feel. So, does your pain diminish, or extinguish, your joy? Joy is easy in the context of a manger. Joy is easy when our choreography comes true. But what about when our plans are shattered. What about in the context of brokenness? Or what about in the face of evil? Is joy still possible in the context of the slaughter?

Have you ever struggled because you can’t figure out what God is up to? Have you ever felt like you weren’t in the know, that there were secrets being kept from you? Have you ever wished that you could see and know and understand God’s plans? Have you ever felt like you weren’t important enough to be chosen by God? The Christmas story is one of the most ultimate “I know something you don’t know” moments in history. But there is an incredible twist to the story … something that you wouldn’t anticipate … something that might catch you completely off guard. God knows something you don’t know — and that probably is not breaking news. There ought to be a lot of things that God knows that I don’t know or that you don’t know. But the twist, the thing that catches you off guard, is that He wants you to know. There’s something God knows that He desperately wants you to know, and once you know, once you know what God knows that other people don’t know, He wants you to want others to know it.

If peace is something that you are missing, don’t be afraid of the wrong things. Put your fear in the Lord and find his mercy pour out in your life, and it will be peace to your heart. It starts by making peace with God. That is, after all, what this is all about. That’s why Jesus showed up in the first place — not because he simply just wanted to ease our fears, not to simply call us to follow him, not to simply even be with us. Jesus showed up to resolve the chaos that exists in the relationship that we have with God. Sin has damaged our relationship with God, and Jesus shows up to usher in peace. So, it starts with being at peace ourselves with God. But when that happens, it translates out into every edge of our lives. When we can accept our role as God’s servant just like Mary does, where she says, “I am the Lord’s servant,” if we can accept that; and when we choose to live with Immanuel — God with us — because God’s offered it and he’s available and he wants to; if we can be the Lord’s servant and we can let God live with us, then that phrase “do not be afraid” makes a whole lot more sense, and we can live with courage, and peace wins out.

"Paul says, “In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in…” Now I just want you to imagine how you would anticipate this verse ending. How do you think it ends? It welled up in … welts … beatings? That would make sense. Maybe it welled up in … gold stars and a thumbs-up from God? Maybe even better. Maybe welled up in … eternal rewards … heaven? Paul says, “In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in RICH GENEROSITY.” Rich generosity. God gives them something great — Paul calls it a grace. Then Paul says that their life is hard, but Paul says that they have overflowing joy … and they have extreme poverty. And then Paul says all of those things turn into … rich generosity. Rich generosity." Ben Webb, Lead Minister

You probably know that as people get older, they tend to lose their filters. They just say things that might not have said when they were younger. It just comes out. Sometimes old people think they have earned the right to let loose. But here’s the deal: If, when you look inside, you see you in you, then what comes out in those “unguarded moments” is probably going to be pretty ugly. If, on the other hand, you look inside and you see Christ in you … then I don’t care if you lose your filters, because what comes out is going to be God-honoring. And here it is guys, I can put up with babies who act like babies. But when old guys like me still act like babies, that’s intolerable. I know, I’ll be battling with my “self” till the day I die. And I suspect most all of you will be battling your “self” till the day you die. But I hope we spend most of our time at a level 3 maturity, with occasional forays into level 4, with very, very little time at levels 1 or 2. Do you get that? Life truth #3: Christian maturity is a choice we make, every day till the day we die, not a state we achieve. So where are you? How are you doing?

So, look at the people God picks. Each of them looks weak at some point in their life. Each of them looks unqualified. They aren’t the first choice. Each of them even have a great moment of failure. And yet … each of them have moments of great success — moments when you could potentially call them a … MIGHTY WARRIOR. What is it that makes them a mighty warrior? Is it something that they have within them? Is it something they are able to do on their own? Is it the potential that God sees in them? Or is it something else? Here’s the answer, and then I’ll show it to you. MIGHTY WARRIORS never set out to be hero’s. They only set out to do what God asks them to do … and then God puts them in over their head so the sufficiency comes from him.

God has made peace with you through Jesus. You didn't deserve it. You didn't earn it. But it’s true none-the-less. God made a two-way agreement with you where one side provided all of the collateral. And through it, he created reconciliation between you and God. But it comes with future expectations. If you are at peace with God, then you are to help other people come to peace with God. You are Christ's ambassadors and you carry the ministry of reconciliation. So don't go starting wars. Don't go picking fights. Don't go needling opposition. Jesus followers don't contribute to war — we contribute to peace. Your job is to help people get right with God just like Jesus worked to get people right with God.

So, where does God keep what is most valuable? It’s not in some sort of a safe that is in heaven. It’s not under lock and key. It’s not something that is hidden behind guard. It’s not something that He has security systems for to make sure that no one would come and mess with what’s most valuable to Him. God has placed what is most valuable to him — the truth of the gospel — in those who have accepted that truth. GOD LOVES TO USE THE ORDINARY. GOD LOVES TO GIVE UNCOMMON USE TO WHAT IS COMMON.

"Our perception, our expectation, says MORE JESUS EQUALS MORE RULES AND MORE CONDEMNATION AND LESS FREEDOM. That’s what we believe, so that’s what we expect. The gospel changes and reverses our perspective because the reality is: MORE JESUS EQUALS MORE FREEDOM AND LESS CONDEMNATION. Is it true? Is the gospel about freedom and not rules? Because some people think that the Bible is a really big book of rules. This is just one passage. I could be cherry-picking. I could be pulling one piece out that kind of slipped in somehow to the whole. Is that what’s happening here? Is it true that the gospel brings freedom, not rules?"

Guys, the gospel changes our perspective. Our perspective says avoid trouble at all cost. Our perspective says run from hardship, avoid struggles, pretend they don't happen, dodge negative energy. We see trouble, we see affliction as chaotic or some sort of a random piece of artwork that doesn't make any sense. But the gospel changes our perspective. If we can move a little and see the troubles and the afflictions of this life a little differently, then we begin to see a masterpiece of artwork. Look at God. He was willing to die for us to make all things right. When we see a God whose character is compassion and comfort, suddenly hardship and struggles and troubles and afflictions … don't seem so intimidating. Hardship and struggles and troubles and affliction, they become the things that cause us to experience a really good God. It’s an uncomfortable truth, but you need to hear it. You cannot know a God of comfort without a life of trouble.

Jesus teaches on prayer very specifically to the individual. But prayer, although an individual activity, also becomes a core community activity in the church. It’s directly linked to fellowship, which is really interesting to me. The pillar of fellowship is the piece that binds the rest of the foundation together. They listened to the apostles’ teachings … together, broke bread … together, and prayed … together. This group of guys who had lived with and learned from Jesus are now praying … together. Wouldn’t you love to know what the prayers of the early church sounded like? It would have been incredible, right? We don’t have to completely guess. The Book of Acts unpacks a lot of the things they prayed for. We won’t look at all, but here are the big ones.

to get a better understanding of breaking bread, we're going to jump into Paul's letter to the first chapter to the Corinthians, his first letter to the Corinthians. So if you have a Bible and you want to follow along, or if you've got maybe an app on your phone and you want to follow along, I encourage you to pull that out. Take a look first Corinthians, chapter 11. Or you can just follow along. We'll have the verses on the screens here this morning. You see, breaking bread had a different meaning to those in the early church than it does to us today. Our practice of breaking bread took place as part of what I believe was the original potluck. Now, in the Bible, you're not going to see the word potluck. The new living translation, though, gives us a little bit better understanding of Luke's writing in Acts chapter 2. With its translation, where we read these words, all the believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to fellowship, and to sharing in meals, which included the Lord's Supper and to prayer. You also won't see this description in the Bible, but the belief is that in the early church, this, this idea of breaking bread was oftentimes referred to as an agape feast. The agape feast, or this love feast, was a communal meal that Christians shared as a way to foster fellowship among the believers of a local church. Many believe that it is in his letter to the church at Corinth where we first get this idea of, of an agape feast. And unfortunately, Paul wasn't happy about their treatment of each other at the feast, so he wrote to them about it. So let's jump into our text this morning.

John says that we can’t claim to have fellowship with Jesus if we don’t do the things Jesus did. Kind of like high school. You can’t be on the football team if you don’t show up for the workouts or practices or games. You can say you are part of the team, but you’re not doing anything that tells me you’re truly part of the team. And you can’t be in the band if you don’t practice, or if you don’t show up at the rehearsals, or if you don’t actually do anything in the performances. You’re not really part of the band. And it’s true of academics. You can’t excel in academics if you don’t go to class, and if you don’t turn in your work, and if you don’t study for tests. But that’s not all. John reveals another really big truth. If we have fellowship with God, then you’re going to have fellowship with other believers who have this same relationship to God. If you play football, you’ll know other football players. If you’re in a band, you’re going to know other band members. And even in something as isolated as academics, if you take academics seriously, you’re going to know other people who are taking academics seriously. Guys, if fellowship doesn’t exist between believers, then any claim to have fellowship with God is … invalid. If you don’t have fellowship with the church, if you don’t have fellowship with other Jesus followers, then you don’t have fellowship with God. That may scare you. But you can’t be a Jesus follower alone.

So, for most of the New Testament, that word "apostle" and "disciple" are kind of interchangeable terms. The twelve disciples become the twelve apostles with a little bit of change. When it comes to the apostles' teaching, we're talking specifically about men who were close followers of Jesus before His death and who saw him after His resurrection. The bigger question for us today is: What are the things that the first leaders of the church taught? Because they had sat with Jesus, they had lived with Jesus, they had devoted their lives to Jesus. What were the top things that they focused on when teaching the first generation of the church? What were those biggest, most important things that they were going to teach?

"Can you imagine the practical challenges the disciples faced? They’re out in the water, whatever body of water that they found to baptize people in, and they are staring at these long lines of people choosing Jesus. 12 guys baptizing 3000 people. Each guy baptizing 250 people. It’s going to take a while to baptize every single person. While they’re standing in the water, I wonder if they began to panic. I wonder if they started struggling with what to do next. They have to be just as shocked as everyone else. They’ve witnessed a resurrection, an ascension, and now they’ve witnessed thousands of people coming to faith after an unprecedented outpouring of the Holy Spirit. How do you follow that up? Now what are they supposed to do? What they need to do is build the church. I’m not talking about a physical building; I’m talking about the gathering of Jesus Followers. In the Greek it’s the word ekklesia. It means “the called-out ones.” This ekklesia is the gathering of the called-out ones. And the ekklesia now exists … but this is day one. And no one has ever built a church. What do you do with it? How do you build it appropriately? You have to start with the foundation, right? Anything that will stand the test of time will have a strong foundation. They have to figure everything out, and they have to figure everything out right now. There is no time to form a committee, there isn’t any time to write books or have debates. The people are here now … and we have a church now … this is a right-now kind of a problem to solve. They have to figure this thing out right now. So, what do they do? What is this foundation? We don’t know how long it took them to get to the answer, but they came up with one. They go back to what they were doing while they waited in between Acts 1 and Acts 2. Verse 42 says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." They built a foundation. And their foundation has four pillars. If you remove any one of these pillars, the church crumbles."

"At the end of Hebrews, the writer gives some very simple, practical teaching about what it looks like to be a Jesus follower. It's true for those anxiously waiting for the promises to be fulfilled, and it's true for those building rock monuments to remember the victories. It's true for all Jesus followers in all times and situations. This is what we remember in the meantime." Ben Webb, Lead Minister