Christ Community Church - Olathe Campus - SUNDAY MESSAGES

Psalm 13:1-6; Mark 15:33-39 // Jonathan Neef “I used to go to church and pray, and then my best friend got sick and died… How can I believe in God when that happened?” My friend told me this in 7th grade, and it would be the first but not last time I would hear what I would later learn that theologians and philosophers call “the problem of evil”. Why does an all good and all powerful God permit ev...

Matthew 22:15-22 // Brooks Nesse Wherever you find yourself in this matter of faith and politics, whatever your political leanings, right, left, or somewhere in the middle, the question we need to thoughtfully ask is (Slide) How Should Followers of Jesus Navigate Politics? And let’s be honest, we as followers of Jesus can and do at times fall into some political potholes. This is a big challenge i...

God cares about what we do with our bodies, including how we handle sex. Because of this Christians have a sex ethic which is often ridiculed by our culture. Culture says that sex is both absolutely everything (our identity factor) and that it means nothing (because it's just physical) all at the same time. Which is it? And how should we approach thinking about sex, beauty, desire, and identity? T...

Genesis 1:26-28; Luke 10:38-42 // Nathan Miller Regardless of your theological position, or where you land on gender responsibilities within the home and in the church. Regardless, all of us should seek to avoid the mistreatment of women. All of us should seek to empower, develop, and learn from women and protect them from abuse. And if there are distortions of Christianity that have led to harm,...

2 Timothy 3:12-17 // Jonathan Neef My hope this morning is to help you see that the Bible is God’s word to you. That the claims of scripture are bold and beautiful and that what God says we must trust and obey. To do that we are going to ask and try to answer three questions: What are the Claims of Scripture? How can I Trust Scripture? Why should I Obey Scripture? There is life in these pages beca...

Matthew 16:17-19, Ephesians 3:20-21 // Nathan Miller Disagreement, hurt, frustration, and abuse. There are a lot of reasons to dismiss the church, but there may very well be more reasons to give her a second look. What if there is a more enchanting story of the church and Jesus? Join us as we begin a new series exploring some of the sincere questions and frustrations we have with the Christian fai...

Matthew 2:1-12 // Brooks Nesse It’s all too easy to skim through the Christmas narrative and miss out on key aspects of that story. The three Wise Men are some of the most misremembered and misunderstood characters of Christmas, and yet their story teaches us a crucial lesson about Christmas and its relevance for life today. Join us as we look at Christmas through the eyes of the Wise Men, and see...

Matthew 1:18-25 // Nathan Miller Christmas wasn’t welcome news to even the faithful…at first. Christmas in many ways disrupts our best laid plans. The question is NOT whether Christmas messes with our lives. The question IS how we show up when Christmas comes into our tidy lives.  Join us as we look over the shoulders of someone who experienced the utter disruption of Christmas and still leaned in...

Luke 1:26-45 // Jonathan Neef Why has the Christmas story lasted so long? Mary was a nobody from nowhere with nothing to offer. Her claim of being the mother of God was offensive to others and dangerous to her. Her story of an angel and virgin birth were as unbelievable and even laughable 2000 years ago as they are today. So why has the Christmas story lasted so long?  Sermon Notes: https://www.bi...

Luke 1:5-25, 55-67 // Jonathan Neef What happens when Christmas is NOT what you thought it would be? You experience pain, loss, and sadness in ways you didn’t want or expect. Today we are going to look at how we see Christmas through the eyes of faith even when Christmas is hard. Specifically, we are going to look at Christmas through the eyes of faith even when we have been disappointed and have...

Ruth 1: 1-22, Matthew 1:5 // Nathan Miller So what’s it about? It’s about a God who so loves outsiders. Who so pursues the people who don’t belong. Who has such a big heart for losers and outcasts, for sinners. For the people we tend to ignore or despise. A God who has so much love. That even a Moabitess from Moab can find a home. A place to belong. And Jesus was also an outsider! He left His home...

Romans 5:18-21 // Jonathan Neef It’s not something we like to think about or talk about but the greatest certainty in life is that everybody dies. Sure, modern medicine and skin products help us live longer and look young but the death rate is still 100%. Everybody dies. But today we are going to look at what is more certain than death. Today we are going to see what is greater than sin. Sermon No...

Romans 5:12-14 // Brooks Nesse Sin is not our bad habits that we don’t like about ourselves, it’s our master outside of Jesus and its rule is death. It's the reason I have the ability to do so much damage with my words. It is the reason I am so often quick to treat people with condescension, it's the reason for the shadow mission of our good deeds. We say things about our spouse in public to look...

Romans 5:5-11 // Nathan Miller  At the core of each one of us, is this longing to be loved. And this unmistakable sense that maybe no one does. Or maybe ever will. To be loved we have to be known. But how could anyone who knows me, really knows me, actually love me?  Or maybe it’s when you’re in a season in which it feels like everything's falling apart. You just can’t seem to catch a break. You’r...

Romans 5:1-5 // Nikki Dieker God’s love has been poured out into our hearts. I have often found that it’s when I am suffering that I feel the love of God the most. Like palpably feel it. It’s because, in suffering, everything is stripped away, all the things I look to tell me that I am okay apart from God, are found lacking…and I have to cling to God, nothing else works. And when I cling to him…I...

Romans 4:13-25 // Jonathan Neef If we are honest, there are many places where we feel the “weight of the world.” Things are not the way they are supposed to be and they are overwhelming, chaos is around us, anxiety and angst seem to be our best friends. What are we to do in such situations? Today we are going to look at the story of Abraham and learn how to TRUST God and His promises for a way for...

Romans 4:1-12 // Nathan Miller You cannot have a relationship with anyone without trust. Trust is the currency of intimacy. But what does that matter to God? It matters to God because God wants a relationship with you. This is the story of the Bible from beginning to end. God created our world -- and humans -- as an overflow of His love. God is love, and He chose to create a place to put some of t...

Romans 3:27-31 // Jonathan Neef When people talk about “having faith” it often revolves around do they want something bad enough? Or do they believe strongly enough that it can happen? So often the conversation revolves around their effort for faith rather than in the object of their faith. Today we are going to look at faith and examine what is true Christian faith. Sermon Notes: https://www.bibl...

Romans 3:21-26 // Nathan Miller Imagine if you woke up each morning knowing -- fully knowing -- that you are safe in God’s arms. That He delights in you. That His face lights up every time you walk into the room. That He’s just so excited to do life with you. You would live with nothing to fear, nothing to prove, and nothing to hide. And we can rest, that through God's grace, Jesus will make this...

Romans 3:1-20 // Jonathan Neef Paul has been writing to the church in Rome where Jews and Greeks are fighting over who is right. Both of them think they are okay but Paul spends the first two chapters saying here is the worst case scenario you have brought up. And not only is that scenario true but It's actually worse than you think.  He needs to continue to humble them and move them through grief...

Romans 2:17-29 // Jonathan Neef On November 21st, 1995, the DC Talk “Jesus Freak” album made this quote saying, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge God with their lips but deny Him with their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” Reports from Barna's research earlier this year confirm that almost thirty years la...

Romans 2:1-16 // Nathan Miller How many times have you committed the same sin? How many times have you judged the same person or people? How many times have you despised God’s rich mercy? Do you ever wonder why God hasn’t yet judged that person, handing them their sentence? Do you ever wonder why God hasn’t judged you? Handing you over to what your sins deserve? For we are without excuse. God, wha...

Romans 1:18-32 // Jonathan Neef As counterintuitive as it may seem sometimes the worst thing that can happen to us is for us to get what we want. Our desires are so strong it can be blinding but when we finally get it, it can lead to death. Today’s passage will reveal how God gave us over to what we want but now we are in desperate need of a rescue.   Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/491...

Romans 1:18-23 // Nathan Miller The gospel is God’s power to save us. What Jesus did for us. Not only are we rescued from God’s wrath. Which is amazing enough. When Jesus died, He suffered all the wrath I deserve. He took all that upon Himself. So that anyone who is with Jesus, is forever protected from the wrath of God.  But we are not just rescued from His wrath. We are also rescued from the thi...

Romans 1:16-17 // Nathan Miller What are your biggest regrets? Your biggest failures? How many times have you hurt -- deeply hurt -- the people you love most in the world? How often have you made a rule for yourself that you weren’t even able to keep? How many times have you stood before the mirror and thought: What is wrong with you? The good news -- the gospel -- reveals the righteousness of God...