Christ Community Church - Olathe Campus - SUNDAY MESSAGES

Just as the cross of Christ has two beams, vertical and horizontal, so is the nature of Christ’s reconciling work on the cross. Ethnic unity in the church isn’t merely an application of the gospel, it is a continuing extension of the gospel. When we settle for a gospel that only speaks to matters of vertical reconciliation without horizontal reconciliation we are settling for an impoverished, trun...

The story of God, and His work of reconstructing us and reconstructing our world, is so much bigger than just good works. But also good work.  The work you do. Whatever that is. Wherever you spend a majority of your time contributing. Whether you get paid for it or not. Whether you like it or not. That is also part of the good work God has prepared for you, to join Him in. Work is part of God’s go...

As we consider the cultural movement of “deconstructing” faith and turn to Ephesians with some hope that it might give us insight into how we can “reconstruct” faith, I wonder if deconstruction itself is not the problem, but instead, it is the quality of the thing we are deconstructing that has lead to disappointing outcomes. I wonder if, too often, we who have faith quickly plateau in our knowled...

The deconstructing of faith is a popular practice these days. But what is it exactly? For some, it is an opportunity to live their authentic life free of all moral and religious authority. For others, it is a sincere attempt to determine if their faith has been formed by the words of Christ or by cultural ideologies. Regardless of the motivation, it is clear that we are in serious need of Reconstr...

Death is something we despise not because it marks the end, but because it was never meant to be here at all from the beginning. Death was never meant to be part of God’s good world. Death is a pain that feels like no other. Because it’s a pain that not only produces hurt, it produces hate. We hate death. We hate what death does. We hate what death takes. We hate that death exists. And that’s beca...

Our Shepherd gives us eternal life, so we will never perish. And no one can snatch them out of His hand. Or the Father’s hand. Because it’s the same hand. And I pray that you would feel it right now if you’re one of His sheep. May you feel Him holding you. If you feel alone. If you feel lost, if you feel angry, if you feel disappointed or depressed. Do you see His hand encompassing you? If you fee...

There's a blindness that's worse than not seeing. There's a blindness that does more than make life hard, it makes finding life impossible. It's a blindness that won't find help, or love, or grace. Everyone in this passage is blind except for Jesus. And there’s only one other person who knows it. He’s the one who gets healed. He’s the one who responds in faith and worship. And others will get ther...

Is it possible that you have walked away from Jesus, not because you have tried him and want nothing to do with him, but because somewhere along the line you developed a view of Jesus that is contrary to the Jesus of the gospels? My fear as a pastor is not that someone would reject Jesus. But that they would reject Jesus for the wrong reasons. Is it possible that the Jesus you, or someone you love...

Jesus points to the one true path that will take us to the freedom our hearts long for.  It is not a path of religious legalism, it is the path of discipleship with Jesus. When we embrace Jesus and become his “abiding” disciple then we will know the truth and when we know the truth we will be set free to experience the true freedom our hearts long for. In our culture when we refer to knowing we of...

He’s not just claiming to be light generically. He’s claiming to be your Light. The One who defines your reality. The true, the good, the beautiful. Who drives you to repentance and change. And asks you to trust and obey.  Bring that light into your office, your family, your neighborhood, those hard decisions, those dark places of anxiety. He wants to show you the way. For without Him our lives ar...

One of the greatest indicators of whether or not you’ve drunk deeply of Jesus -- that you truly believe in Him -- is right here. Would the people around you look at you -- your attitudes, your words, your actions, the way you spend your time and money. The people closest to you. And the people who disagree with you. Or see the world very differently than you. Your coworkers and classmates. Would t...

Will we go with Jesus even when he challenges our sensibilities and our sin? Will we go with Jesus even when we are tempted to walk away? Will we go with Jesus even if it means enduring costs? Will we go with Jesus when others won’t?  The only way that we can answer in the affirmative is if Jesus is the Holy One of God who has the words of eternal life. I realize that it may be hard for some of us...

Could it be that the Son of God also longed for those places where He could hear the Father whispering to Him: I am with you. I struggle to hear God's voice. But I regularly hear it most in 2 places. From His Word. And from His people. And if you feel like you’re drowning in the chaos. You are not alone. And you need it, too. His Word. And His people.  Imagine the chaos. Maybe it’s a relationship....

Jesus gives the crowd the sign of bread as a way to place himself in the grand story of God’s plan of redemption. Jesus is the awaited Messiah and fulfillment of everything promised, previewed, and pointed to in the Old Testament. The reassuring words of Jesus lovingly invite us to come to him to be satisfied. For Jesus has not only come to be the redeemer of our sin and the restorer of fallen cre...

Jesus our Messiah, the one whom Isaiah declared as delighting in the fear of the Lord, has come to deliver us from all fears by delivering us from our sin. The fear of God frees us from all fears. And the only way we can properly fear God is by giving the fullness of our lives to Jesus, body, mind, and spirit. For when we do his life of perfection is credited to us and frees us from all fear of co...

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48896338 22.05.29

We all want justice but without the judge. We all want wrongs to be righted but without surrendering to righteousness. And what we end up getting is an endless cycle of violence, oppression, and unforgiveness. And it leads only to the clamoring for power in order to defeat our enemies.  In a world where real meaningful justice work is stalled out and hijacked by polarizing conversations about just...

The Bible teaches that God made a world of abundance. That if we look at the Garden, you and I were created for a world without lack, where we had everything we needed and more. And even though our world is now broken, and our attachments are now broken, we can still enjoy God’s gift with gratitude. This is the theme of these final verses. Eat, drink, and be merry. Enjoy your work. And enjoy His g...

We know that our labor is not in vain because there is life beyond the sun. Because God has called a people unto himself from all peoples of the earth to establish the work of their hands no matter where they are or what they do. When our perspective and time horizon changes regarding our work, we are able to see that God is at work in and through our work. We are able to see that our work is not...

Like all things created by God, our desires for pleasure possess the capabilities to lead us to the goodness of God AND to the evils of death, decay, and destruction. What the Holy Spirit is whispering to us through the words of Qoheleth is that pleasure can destroy us if it doesn’t direct us to our creator God and our redeeming king! But in order to hear this and see the goodness and wisdom withi...

If we are to hear the wisdom behind the woes in the book of Ecclesiastes, we need to understand the structure, nature, and purpose of the book. The reason why this is a deeply hopeful book is because it is one act in the entire play of God’s story of redemption and salvation. This is the power and beauty of reading the bible with the full story in mind. If life under the sun is all there is then a...

The resurrection of Jesus is the proof of purchase for our sins. It proves that what Christ did on the cross actually accomplished our forgiveness. But it also illustrates the new kind of life that Jesus’ followers now live. A life that brings about healing, hope, and wholeness to our broken world. This is what we remember and celebrate! This is our hope! It is the hope that our sin and shame does...

The irony of this trial is that Jesus has already said, He’s the judge. Not us. Even with all our efforts to put Jesus on trial. The real trial is you and me. And we are so guilty. Look at the evidence. Call in the witnesses. Every thought you’ve ever had, every word you’ve ever spoken, every broken desire you’ve ever felt. How long do you really think it’s going to take this Judge? The only One w...

The reason we take the words of Jesus seriously and ask the question “Who does Jesus say that he is?” is because we believe he holds the power of life and death. For there is no other power or authority that we know who has faced death, entered death, and defeated death than the Lord Jesus.  As we gather this day, to submit the fullness of our lives to the fullness of who Jesus says he is, my invi...

Jesus came to this man at the pool of Bethesda and offered him the opportunity to be made whole.  Don’t settle for comfort when wholeness is what we want. Don’t settle for a clear conscience when forgiveness is what we need. And don’t settle for what Jesus offers when Jesus is what our hearts long for. This man claimed that he wanted to be healed, made whole. But he wasn’t willing to receive every...