ARCC Sermons

The creation account is nothing short of a masterpiece. It is worthy of study that many have put into. God reveals Himself through His Word, through His delight, and through His ordering. In creation we have reason to trust our God as He sets forth His wonderful purposes which beautifully come into the light. In this text, there is so much to celebrate. Within the account of creation we can see God hinting at His plan for redemption. May we delight in every one of His good gifts as His creation and may we never miss an opportunity to gaze up His glory which shines in the face of our Lord Jesus!

The second verse in Genesis seems to be often overlooked in the excitement to get to verse three. After all, who can wait to get to the part where God speaks and brings light out of darkness? But what if verse two was meant to enhance the whole experience? It’s possible that verse two could help us enjoy the rest of the creation narrative all the more! The implications of the reality that God started with formlessness and a wasteland covered in darkness are far reaching. There are none greater than the reality that God would take such amazing pains to paint a vivid life-sized picture to help us gain perspective on the true and better creation story that has taken place in the hearts of God’s people! Oh may we learn to rejoice in the dessert and in the darkness as God sets the stage for the glory of His workmanship!

For the one seeking to live from a biblical world view the beginning is of utmost importance. Therefore it is of utmost importance that we begin with God. Most who will listen to this series will have no problem with this sentiment. However, scripture itself seems to point to a reality that we as humans have a tendency to forget, deviate from, and even willfully suppress this truth. If we are honest with ourselves there are some places in our life where we struggle to perceive and understand and respond out of the truth that it was indeed God in the beginning. At some point down the line God’s sovereign intentions will not line up with our minds and will and heart. Therefore, it will always be crucial that we are reminded that it is only by faith that we will not only please God, but understand as well.

Right now. Could you go “be” with Jesus? Jesus’ mission was to reconcile us to God. Christ put on flesh and came to us that we might be His people and He would be our God. As a part of making disciples at ARCC we desire to equip the saints with a yearning to take advantage of the welcome we have in Christ to come into the presence of God and simply be still and KNOW Him. We believe that Discipleship must come forth out of this regular “being” with the Lord.

Outside of Jesus and His twelve disciples the relationship between Paul and Timothy might be regarded as the most explicit example of mentor discipleship that we have. In essence, young Timothy was invited to join Paul on his missionary journey. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul reminds Timothy of the primary purpose for getting to be with Paul for all these years. By the power of the grace that is in Christ Jesus Timothy was to join Paul in the lineage of training up faithful men who could then turn and train up more faithful men. We will see that being a part of this mission of making disciples who make disciples is, in itself, one of the great ways that we ourselves are discipled. Understanding comes after faithfulness. Once again, discipleship happens as we walk in spaces that require us to be both the mission and the missionary.

Jesus, the Son of God, has been in community from all eternity. We believe that He has been satisfied completely by and in and through the eternal presence of the Father and the Holy Spirit. When Jesus came to earth He did His ministry alongside others. He knew them and they knew Him. There is an important aspect of Christian discipleship that cannot happen outside of community. Living life in community is a large part of the process of “growing up into Christ” as Paul would put it to the Ephesian church. Jesus told His disciples that the world would know them by their love for one another. In Christ, we have a new identity bought and paid for by His blood. He calls us a priesthood unto the Lord. This being the case, we have the privilege of doing life with people uniquely gifted to present Jesus to us over and over again. The Apostle Paul gives wonderful vision for what this life with “one another” looks like and what it was meant to accomplish for God’s glory and our sanctification as those being conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus.

What would you do if you believe you were going to meet with God? Certainly what you believe about who God is and where you are in relation to Him would make a difference. At ARCC we desire to reclaim the meaning and depth and value of the privilege that it is for the people of God to gather together for worship on Sundays. Not only are we experiencing a foretaste of what it will be like when Jesus returns and we get to actually stand around the throne, but we are also being formed by and in and through this experience for a life that pleases God. Indeed, a life that seeks to see to it that the earth is filled with the glory of God. In meeting with the Lord together our identities are solidified in who God is and what He has done for us that we might be holy and blameless. In meeting with the Lord together our purpose becomes clear as we are sent out as holy ones to declare to the world who the truly Holy, holy, holy One is.

Sometimes the warrior can lose sight of the point of being a warrior. Sometimes in weariness and exhaustion and wounded-ness the warrior can believe that it is safer and easier to find sure footing by simply viewing everyone and everything as the enemy. To be sure, life impacts the way your flesh is conditioned to view, perceive, and respond to every situation you walk into. The Psalmist seems to outline some of the ways we would be tempted to hide ourselves and make ourselves feel “safe” and “secure” as ones who set their minds on the flesh. What would it look like to respond, in those same situations, as ones who set their minds on the Spirit? In this Psalm we really can find life from dread.

Longing is an emotion that most of us are pretty uncomfortable with. We don’t like the feeling that it creates in us. This uneasiness that there is something out there that my heart deeply wants, and I don’t have it. We deal with this in many different ways. Most often, when we do experience a deep longing in our heart, we try to satisfy it as fast as we can or at least distract ourselves from it. But most of the time, in our immediacy to put the longing to rest, we settle for things that only curb it and do not leave us deeply satisfied. Others of us have tried that enough, and now we just seek not to long for anything. We settle into lives that fall well short of our desires and mask our sorrows with the outward appearance of contentment. “I should be grateful for what I have,” we tell ourselves as we put our desire for joy to rest. But what do we do when we can’t curb the craving when we can’t find a distraction that can block out the urgency of our need? What do we do when our sorrow won’t be hidden behind a veil of contentment. This is where we find King David in Psalm 63. With a longing that must be satisfied and a clarity that only the wilderness can provide, calling out to a God that He believes not only has the ability but the desire to give him the joy he so desperately seeks.

Hebrews tells us that God shakes things so that we will know what belongs to His Kingdom and what belongs to the kingdom of this world. We live in a time where it seems like everything is being shaken and it truly seems difficult to know where to find firm footing. The writer of Ecclesiastes looked in many places and in many directions only to come to the conclusion that all was vanity. In Psalm 52 we are given a picture of what it looks like to see God as truly our rock and salvation as well as a picture of what it looks like to react was one who is “shaken”. One of the great dangers of our time is that in our culture it seems perfectly acceptable to be shaken all the time and still believe that you are a Christian. When the Lord calls us to speak the truth, may we we be living the lives to go along with it. It would seem that as believers, if this was ever going to be the case, we must take up the discipline of silence and grow in the ability to pour out our hearts before Him. It will be in those spaces where we can come to know Him, in the midst of all things shaking, as the true and powerful One Who is working out His steadfast love. This becomes our firm foundation as the things and people around us continue to be blown and tossed. May we, the people of God serve as a non-shaken presence pointing others to the Mighty One who saves.