Chestnut Mountain Church

There are tough times in life, and there are times when those times keep getting tougher and more difficult. In the same way that way we go through difficult times, we look to Jesus’ words to His disciples at the Last Supper about not letting their hearts be troubled. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, there are many examples in the Bible of the disciples’ hearts being troubled despite already witnes...

How would you spend the last hours of your life? In Jesus’ final hours, He lived with urgency to give His disciples final instructions, and He exemplified what those instructions were. During the Last Supper, Jesus exemplified to His disciples what it meant to be a servant by washing His disciples’ feet. Through this act of service, love was exemplified. Moreover, love was exemplified when He told...

We all have influence and we are also being influenced. Just as Joshua did with the children of Israel in his life, we each have a limited amount of time that we will have an influence on earth. In Joshua’s time as the leader of the children of Israel, we see how he influenced others and how his influence carried over into the next generation. Similarly, we will influence people to live for the Lo...

Joshua wants the children of Israel to succeed. He wants them to accomplish what God has promised to them and he establishes a covenant for the children of Israel. In this covenant that was going to be established, it was going to be established so that they could remember their commitment to God. It was also setting the state to where they could hold each other accountable, where they could hold...

As the children of Israel declare that they will serve the Lord, Joshua reminds them that in order to be devoted to the Lord they must remove all idols and incline their hearts to God. With this reminder from Joshua, what are we elevating in our lives above God? What are we loving, trusting, and serving more than God? We are devoted to so many things today. We cannot make a transaction step of fai...

We all have choices to make every day. What we eat, what we wear, whom we marry, where we’ll go to college, etc. Joshua is discussing choices that the children of Israel will have to face. Joshua is challenging the children of Israel of what they are going to do next. He is wanting them to remember where they had been so they could step in faith for where they were going. He is telling them when t...

In looking ahead to 2023, before we move forward, we are going to take some time to look back. The same God who is calling you in 2023 is the same God who was faithful in 2022. God is always faithful from start to finish. In looking to Joshua 24, we see that this is Joshua’s farewell letter to the children of Israel. He reminds In the beginning, he gathers them to Schecham, their holy ground. Josh...

As we enter into a new year, our prayer for us, as a church, in this upcoming year is that God will throw things at us that make us very uncomfortable. If God is calling us, as a church, to be uncomfortable, then God will call you as an individual to be uncomfortable and do extreme things because you are part of the team. In looking at Elijah and Elisha, we see how God called Elisha out of his pla...

As we celebrate the birth of our Savior on Christmas Day, we focus on the wise men and how God prepared them to meet the Savior. Through their knowledge of astronomy and Old Testament prophecies, God used the very things the wise men loved to show them the birth of the Savior that would change their lives. Upon meeting Jesus, they worshiped Him and offered Him gifts. Looking to the wise men’s resp...

When the angels appeared to the shepherds, something changed that turned their world upside down as their response prompted the angels to tell the shepherds to not fear. God could have chosen the religious elite to be the messengers of this great news of Jesus’ arrival, but instead, He chose shepherds whom we don’t even know their name. We can relate to the shepherds’ response. God's pursuit o...

In looking at how Mary prepared to be used by God, we also look at how Joseph prepared to be used by God. Upon Joseph first learning about Mary’s condition, he didn’t know the full story. Joseph experienced hurt because this was Mary, whom he was engaged to be married to. However, Joseph responded in love and then in obedience to what he was called to do as the earthly father of Jesus, which was t...

As we talk about Christmas, it's almost like it's just a constant season of preparation. As we prepare for Christmas and look at the story of Christmas, we see the story of Mary. Looking to the story of Mary and how God used her to be the mother of the Savior of the World. As a young teenager engaged to be married from Nazareth, how did Mary prepare to be the mother of Jesus? How did the L...

As Christians, we have to make sure that we’re not just checking a bunch of boxes. We’ve got to understand why we are doing what we’ve been called to do. There is a field that is ready for harvest in this world, yet many of us do nothing and sit on the side maybe because of inconvenience, insecurity, or a lack of urgency. God has empowered the saved though to go to those who are not yet saved. We...

How is our generosity affected by the gospel? We can be generous with our time, our hospitality, our talents, our friendships, and also our possessions. Generosity has nothing to do with the amount that someone gives, but it has everything to do with the heart that’s behind what is given. When we truly understand the Gospel, we become excited to be generous. Giving is an opportunity to say thank y...

How does the gospel affect our relationship? The answer is that the gospel empowers us to love one another. We have been loved with the greatest of loves. Our only response is to love one another. However, the greatest obstacle to us being held together by love is forgiveness. There’s no limit to the forgiveness of God, so there should be no limit to your forgiveness of one another. Listen to this...

Why do we do what we do as believers? We do not have the ability to earn God’s love through what we do. You being a follower of Jesus is not based on anything we have done but because of what Jesus has done. In looking at the story of Zacchaeus and the invitation that Jesus gave him, we see that Jesus is calling you by name and is inviting you down out of the tree into a relationship with Him. Wha...

In our prayer life, we must keep persisting. In looking through Scripture, we see examples from Paul, David in the Psalms, James, Jesus Himself, and more of why we should persist in prayer. Even when it seems like God is delaying in answering or prayer or not answering in the way we want Him to, our prayers are not wasted. God is working all the time. How can we be persistent in prayer though? We...

Have you ever prayed and simply acknowledged who God is? Even before the Son of God attempted to do the work of His Father, He asked for the power of His Father. God will allow circumstances in our life so that we will turn to Him. Sometimes God will take us to places where He is all we have so that we will realize He is all we need. In looking at David’s desperation in Psalm 51, we see the postur...

We all struggle with prayer. One of the biggest reasons prayer is underutilized is because we have complicated it. We have complicated the purpose of prayer. God created us in His image to have common ground with one another and Him. God has a desire to fellowship with His creation. The purpose of prayer is to fellowship with God. Prayer is all about desiring to be in the presence of the One you k...

Today’s young people get a bad rap about what they are like and what they prefer. We believe that our children and students are our responsibility to stand with and fight for. We are called together to this place to do life together. This is part of belonging. Our children are a blessing from God, and God has called us to sharpen them as arrows to be used to change the world. It's time that we...

Belong. Become. Build. These are not just three words. These are our three strategies. Everything we do is filtered through these three words because we believe that this is what God has called us to do. We all have a part in what God is doing here at CMC. In looking to the heart of Isaiah, we can take on this same heart of obedience in saying, “God, here I am; send me.” As a follower of Christ, h...

God has called us all to build. He has invited us into His ministry to be builders of the Kingdom of God. If you are a part of the family of God, we have all been called to build the Kingdom of God. No one is left out of this calling. It’s not going to be easy though; it will require us to take steps of faith. While it will be difficult and uncomfortable to be obedient to what God has called us to...

At Chestnut Mountain, we want every person to belong to God and also we every believer to become a mature disciple of Christ. What does being a disciple mean? What does the process look like of becoming a mature disciple in Christ? We look to the Great Commission that Jesus gave His disciples before ascending back to Heaven. In this, Jesus tells His disciples to make disciples. The process of disc...

Our story is to saturate the world with the Good News by making disciples. This is the mission God has called us to you and God wants you to be a part of what He is accomplishing. The strategy that God has given us to accomplish this mission at CMC is to belong, become, and build. In the first part of this new Experience Chestnut Mountain series, we look at the first part of the strategy, belong....

As Paul concludes his letter to the Philippians, he speaks to them about contentment. No matter how much money or things we have, there will always be the desire to have more, but how can we be content in this Christian life? The secret is that we can have joy-filled contentment because Christ is enough. Contentment starts with peace that only God can provide. Listen to this sermon about the six k...