Christ Church Fox Chapel Podcast

Having been made ready by Christ, we gain deep and powerful insight, seeing the world in a way that the dull cannot. In fact, Isaiah suggests we see it as he sees it. We thus find hope, even in hard times because we see the authority and the power of Christ now. Readings from this service: Isaiah 11: 1-4 Ephesians 1: 15-23 Psalm 119: 17-20 John 17: 24-26 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Vi...

We begin a new 14-week series this week, Ephesians: Reconciled in Christ & Ready for Life. Those in Christ are ready for the end because of his redemption, blood, forgiveness & grace. The language of inheritance, salvation and election amplifies the point. We need not fear the end as we are sealed and our inheritance is guaranteed. Readings from this service: Isaiah 45: 22-25 Ephesians 1:...

God promises to ransom and redeem us and thus our mourning turns to joy. Readings from this service: Jeremiah 31: 7-14 Psalm 84: 1-2, 4-5, 10-13 Matthew 2: 1-12 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our website Download our app!

In a criminal trial the accused at best might be declared not guilty. But in Christ we are declared positively as righteous and Isaiah promises even more:  a beautiful, elaborate new royal identity for us. Readings from this service: Isaiah 61: 10--62: 5 Psalm 147: 12-13, 19-20 John 1: 1-18 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our website Download our app!

The idea of something as vulnerable as a baby being our judge and bringing light to a gloomy world is uniquely Christian. Readings from this service: Isaiah 9: 2-7 Psalm 98: 1-3 Luke 2: 1-20 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our website Download our app!

Christ enters the world to be with us in our sins and to save us from judgment by presenting us as righteous before God, not through our works but by his grace alone. Readings from this service: Romans 1: 1-7 Psalm 24: 3-6 Matthew 1: 18-25 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our website Download our app!

We are promised both ransom and restoration. When we suffer or feel anxious, it can be comforting to know that the judge is near and will soon bring about our vindication. Readings from this service: Isaiah 35: 4-6 & 10 James 5: 7-12 Psalm 146: 5-9 Matthew 11: 2-6 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our website Download our app!

Jesus judges perfectly and with a prefect knowledge that no human can have. Readings from this service: Isaiah 11: 1-5 Romans 3: 8-13 Psalm 72: 1-5 Matthew 3: 1-12 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our website Download our app!

Advent is the beginning of a new church year, so a study of the end might seem odd. But the Christian faith offers a new start that prepares us for the end. Judgement Day is in fact good news for the people of God because they are ready for it. Readings from this service: Isaiah 2: 1-5 Psalm 122: 1, 5-9 Matthew 24: 29-44 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our websi...

We begin our Advent season series this week as we celebrate Christ the King Sunday. Christ the King Sunday is a time to remember that although Jesus looked like a criminal, he is now enthroned as judge & king. He will come to judge our eternal destiny and he will separate people as sheep and goats. Yet as we prepare for a new start, we should also know he offers to be our rescuer, shepherd and...

Have we reckoned with the scale of the seriousness of unforgiveness? The world is perishing, we have been given a message of forgiveness, but sometimes we act as though we'd rather they didn't hear it! Readings from this service: Jonah 4: 5-11 Psalm 103: 10-14 Matthew 20: 1-16 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our website Download our app!

Grace just outrages us sometimes. From a human perspective it seems unfair and we like (other) people to get what they deserve. Jonah echoes the psalm, knowing that God forgives, perhaps also, like the psalm, he was looking for some justice to. Readings from this service: Jonah 4: 1-4 Psalm 86: 15-17 Luke 15: 11-32 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our website Dow...

Grace just outrages us sometimes. From a human perspective it seems unfair and we like (other) people to get what they deserve. Jonah echoes the psalm, knowing that God forgives, perhaps also, like the psalm, he was looking for some justice too. Readings from this service: Jonah 3: 6-10 Psalm 103: 8-10 Matthew 3: 1-8 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our website D...

This time Jonah seems more prepared to do as he is told. But, just as he knew, his message is well-received. When God calls us to seek forgiveness, we can be angry at being called on our sin, or fatalistic and ignore the offer of grace, or we can respond. Readings from this service: Jonah 2: 10–3:5 Psalm 65: 5-8 Mark 1: 14-15 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our...

Often prayer becomes more fervent when our life is in danger. The more we have lost, the easier it becomes to put our hope in God. Jesus clearly sees parallels with the fish and his resurrection. He, his experience, his message and his call are greater than Jonah's yet we still resist forgiveness. Readings from this service: Jonah 1: 17–2:10 Psalm 139: 9-12 Matthew 12: 38-41 Thanks for listen...

The Psalm imagines the believer reaching their desired haven. Ironically, in some ways, this will be the last place Jonah wanted to be. The calming of the storm reveals to the men that Jonah's god is in fact The God and is to be feared more even than the storm. Readings from this service: Jonah 1: 11-16 Psalm 107: 28-30 Matthew 8: 23-27 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Fac...

We now find out that Jonah is not only fleeing from the task God gave him, but indeed from God himself. We cannot escape God, who does exactly as he wants and indeed sometimes even calls us to preach forgiveness. Readings from this service: Jonah 1: 3-10 Psalm 135: 5-7 John 3: 8 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our website Download our app!

We're not told why Jonah flees, we're only told what he flees from—the job that God gave him. Later he claims he was fleeing from the job because he knew it would succeed. Like us, Jonah struggles with many aspects of the forgiveness of God. Readings from this service: Jonah 1: 1-3 Psalm 139: 6-9 Matthew 28: 6-9 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our webs...

Though Paul had it all, when he realized the surpassing value of Christ, everything else became devalued. What do we value and how much are we prepared to stretch to get it? Why should we value the Ggospel more than all other things? And what difference does it make now to receive the Gospel? Readings from this week's service: Philippians 3: 4b-11 Psalm 4: 6-8 Matthew 6: 25-34 Thanks for list...

When Simon encounters the power of God, he is amazed but seeks to buy the Holy Spirit with money. Like us, he needs to understand that salvation can only ever be received as a gift. Perhaps our question is similar: what is the fee/buy-in/dues for this "club" and what is the least we can get away with? Readings from this service: Isaiah 55: 1-3 Acts 8: 9-25 Psalm 22: 26 & 29-31 Matthe...

Whatever we think of giving to God, we must know first how much God prizes us. God so greatly values our lives that he gave his only son to purchase our freedom. We are therefore invaluable to Him. Readings from this service: 1 Peter 1: 18b-25 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 Psalm 49: 7-8 John 3: 16-21 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our website Download our app!

The language of Matthew 27 (imposter, fraud) only serves to highlight the purpose of this final miracle—it reveals irrefutably who Jesus is. Jesus is the miracle. Readings from this week's service: Isaiah 45: 21-23 Psalm 2: 10-12 Matthew 27: 62–28: 10 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our website Download our app!

Even as Jesus dies, there is a miraculous reveal of who Jesus is. As he is revealed, the people are filled with awe and even the centurion testifies that he is the son of God. The ripping of the curtain is a sign of that which is complete (atonement) and the resurrection of the saints is perhaps a glimpse of the general resurrection to come as well as a glimpse of the resurrection of Christ himsel...

Technically, Christ's conception is the first miracle. The first miracle, like the last, is one that humanly Christ could never have orchestrated. His conception and birth, death, and resurrection reveal that he has power over more than nature and people but over the universe, over even life and death. Readings from this service: Isaiah 7: 10-14 Psalm 130: 7-8 Matthew 1: 18-25 Thanks for list...

Here a miraculous curse reveals both the reality of judgement and leads to Jesus promising his disciples that they too can participate in miracles. Readings from this service: Hosea 9: 7-10 Psalm 1: 1-6 Matthew 21: 18-22 Thanks for listening! CONNECT with CCFC: Visit us on Facebook Visit our website Download our app!