CCF Sunday Messages

Have you ever heard the expression, “Can a leopard change its spots?” Did you know that comes from the book of Jeremiah chapter 13? Basically, the idea is that a leopard has spotted skin and that is what identifies it as a leopard. No matter how hard the leopard tries, it is stuck with spotty skin! The idiom means that people generally don’t change. I would imagine you can think of a time where someone you knew seemed to really have changed, only to revert back to the old ways, dashing hopes and leaving everyone in their lives disappointed and discouraged. Change doesn’t come easily.

Now, enter the Apostle Paul, and the living God: Paul makes an earth shattering statement in 2 Corinthians 5. “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creature!” What? Did you get that? A leopard may not be able to change its spots, but if it dies it can become something new; maybe a tiger, or elephant—that doesn’t have spots! No, this is not some reincarnation thing; the leopard is just an example. Elephants have different looks and behaviors than leopards. If the leopard can become an elephant his life changes—and no more spots!

The offer on the table from God is this: you can try as hard as you like to change your character. You can huff and puff and try to blow the old ways away, but it just doesn’t work. God offers you a new life and more importantly a new identity!! The only way to change a life is to have a change in identity. One thing we can say about the transgender community is that they understand the power of identity, and who a person believes they are changes everything! Gender transformation is radical and their lives are different. But the identity we get is from a miraculous new birth and changed heart. I am not comfortable in the old spotted skin of my “leopard days” because I am no longer that creature! Ask the butterfly how it works to eat leaves. No can do!

Don’t miss this super-duper important section on identity. Learn about new values and motives and even a new purpose! If you know someone who is struggling with their life call them up and share a link with them; ask them to listen in to this powerful set of truths from 2 Corinthians chapter 5!

Have you ever heard the expression, “Can a leopard change its spots?” Did you know that comes from the book of Jeremiah chapter 13? Basically, the idea is that a leopard has spotted skin and that is what identifies it as a leopard. No matter how hard the leopard tries, it is stuck with spotty skin! The idiom means that people generally don’t change. I would imagine you can think of a time where someone you knew seemed to really have changed, only to revert back to the old ways, dashing hopes and leaving everyone in their lives disappointed and discouraged. Change doesn’t come easily.

Now, enter the Apostle Paul, and the living God: Paul makes an earth shattering statement in 2 Corinthians 5. “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creature!” What? Did you get that? A leopard may not be able to change its spots, but if it dies it can become something new; maybe a tiger, or elephant—that doesn’t have spots! No, this is not some reincarnation thing; the leopard is just an example. Elephants have different looks and behaviors than leopards. If the leopard can become an elephant his life changes—and no more spots!

The offer on the table from God is this: you can try as hard as you like to change your character. You can huff and puff and try to blow the old ways away, but it just doesn’t work. God offers you a new life and more importantly a new identity!! The only way to change a life is to have a change in identity. One thing we can say about the transgender community is that they understand the power of identity, and who a person believes they are changes everything! Gender transformation is radical and their lives are different. But the identity we get is from a miraculous new birth and changed heart. I am not comfortable in the old spotted skin of my “leopard days” because I am no longer that creature! Ask the butterfly how it works to eat leaves. No can do!

Don’t miss this super-duper important section on identity. Learn about new values and motives and even a new purpose! If you know someone who is struggling with their life call them up and share a link with them; ask them to listen in to this powerful set of truths from 2 Corinthians chapter 5!

If you have been around CCF for any length of time, you know that I often engage people in conversation by asking, “What do you think happens when you die?” Now most people will want to talk about almost anything else—largely because people spend most of their waking hours trying not to think about their inevitable death. Some are simply trying put the whole thing off as long as possible with the latest “life extension” plan or even having their bodies frozen! (It’s called “cryonics”.) Interestingly, although more people are religiously unaffiliated or atheists, the belief in an afterlife has increased!

With no chapter break in the original letter, Paul has just given us the key to his unconquerable spirit! No depression would linger and no temptation to give up on life or ministry would take root. Why not? Because he had determined to make eternal things his focus, and not temporary things. It turns out that this is the strategy of every courageous Christian! There is a whole list of such people in Hebrews chapter 11!

This thought continues in chapter five as Paul gives us some of the most tremendous insight into “life after death”. Not only does Paul give us a great illustration to help our imagination, but he also clearly demonstrates why he is so unafraid to die! In fact, he rather welcomes the prospect! Following the challenging reality of his life in ministry—cast down, persecuted, perplexed, hard pressed—he is quite aware that his body had a lot of mileage on it and could likely be destroyed as a result of opposition to his ministry.

What do you think happens when you die? What is your source of information that drives your belief system? How certain are you?

Come and see the three things Paul knows, and how they affected his thoughts about the future and the way he lived!

If you have been around CCF for any length of time, you know that I often engage people in conversation by asking, “What do you think happens when you die?” Now most people will want to talk about almost anything else—largely because people spend most of their waking hours trying not to think about their inevitable death. Some are simply trying put the whole thing off as long as possible with the latest “life extension” plan or even having their bodies frozen! (It’s called “cryonics”.) Interestingly, although more people are religiously unaffiliated or atheists, the belief in an afterlife has increased!

With no chapter break in the original letter, Paul has just given us the key to his unconquerable spirit! No depression would linger and no temptation to give up on life or ministry would take root. Why not? Because he had determined to make eternal things his focus, and not temporary things. It turns out that this is the strategy of every courageous Christian! There is a whole list of such people in Hebrews chapter 11!

This thought continues in chapter five as Paul gives us some of the most tremendous insight into “life after death”. Not only does Paul give us a great illustration to help our imagination, but he also clearly demonstrates why he is so unafraid to die! In fact, he rather welcomes the prospect! Following the challenging reality of his life in ministry—cast down, persecuted, perplexed, hard pressed—he is quite aware that his body had a lot of mileage on it and could likely be destroyed as a result of opposition to his ministry.

What do you think happens when you die? What is your source of information that drives your belief system? How certain are you?

Come and see the three things Paul knows, and how they affected his thoughts about the future and the way he lived!

After making a start into chapter 4 last week, we will finish the chapter this week. Twice in this chapter, Paul has said, “Therefore…we do not lose heart.” We will look at the second occurrence the week (verse 16), and how it relates to our own way of thinking and where our focus is.

I think you will discover why chapter 4 has encouraged and strengthened so many people for so many years. Sure, it is easy to be encouraged and strong when things are going well. But when you are being bombarded you need a mental framework that keeps you from giving up and becoming hopeless. Do you have one? Paul did!

Even though our culture tells us that money and success and technology and material goods will give us the life we always wanted, we all know that is not true. If it were, then Robin Williams would not have ended his addiction-riddled life in suicide! So why do people keep making the same choices to order their lives around the acquisition and enjoyment of temporary things, hoping it will fulfill? Of course it is not wrong to have things, but to live for them? That’s another story!

People that live for temporary pleasures become “temporary-minded”. The existence is superficial, fickle, and unstable because the life is built on shifting sand. But “eternal life” is not a statement of length, but a statement about a certain “quality” of life. People that live for eternal things become “eternally minded”. The first try to find life in the temporary and lose it altogether, because it is based in the temporary. This group easily becomes discouraged by the pains and pressures of that life.

How do you know what kind of life you are living? How do you know the difference between the temporary and the eternal? How was Paul able to avoid giving up or becoming discouraged?

Listen in as we plunge into the rest of chapter four and see how each of these questions are handled by Pau through the work of the Holy Spirit in this next section.

After making a start into chapter 4 last week, we will finish the chapter this week. Twice in this chapter, Paul has said, “Therefore…we do not lose heart.” We will look at the second occurrence the week (verse 16), and how it relates to our own way of thinking and where our focus is.

I think you will discover why chapter 4 has encouraged and strengthened so many people for so many years. Sure, it is easy to be encouraged and strong when things are going well. But when you are being bombarded you need a mental framework that keeps you from giving up and becoming hopeless. Do you have one? Paul did!

Even though our culture tells us that money and success and technology and material goods will give us the life we always wanted, we all know that is not true. If it were, then Robin Williams would not have ended his addiction-riddled life in suicide! So why do people keep making the same choices to order their lives around the acquisition and enjoyment of temporary things, hoping it will fulfill? Of course it is not wrong to have things, but to live for them? That’s another story!

People that live for temporary pleasures become “temporary-minded”. The existence is superficial, fickle, and unstable because the life is built on shifting sand. But “eternal life” is not a statement of length, but a statement about a certain “quality” of life. People that live for eternal things become “eternally minded”. The first try to find life in the temporary and lose it altogether, because it is based in the temporary. This group easily becomes discouraged by the pains and pressures of that life.

How do you know what kind of life you are living? How do you know the difference between the temporary and the eternal? How was Paul able to avoid giving up or becoming discouraged?

Listen in as we plunge into the rest of chapter four and see how each of these questions are handled by Pau through the work of the Holy Spirit in this next section.

After a three week break, we are back in 2 Corinthians tomorrow, picking up in chapter 4, verses 1-6. We are getting into some real “meaty” stuff here in the next two chapters!

I don’t want your brain to overheat, so I will keep this simple and brief. Paul talks twice in the next section about “not losing heart” — 4:1 and 4:16. Evidently, this is really on his mind! It is easy to think that Paul is just a ministry machine or robot. He just goes and goes and never struggles with being discouraged. Did Paul ever feel like giving up on life or ministry? Did he ever feel like packing it in? Wouldn’t you like to know what kept him going? With such opposition, difficulty, and pain, why didn’t he just give up?

Have you ever felt like the passion for life has just gone? You have no more wind in your sails, nor passion in your heart? Then I assure you that this next section may give some really crucial Biblical advice.

Paul was not a machine, but he knew how to look at his life. He knew how to think correctly about things. This is why chapter 4 begins with “Therefore…we do not lose heart.” There is a “therefore” that gives us the reason.

What is the reason? How can you find passion and purpose for life? Listen in as Pastor Steve shares these important truths over the next few chapters of 2 Corinthians.

After a three week break, we are back in 2 Corinthians tomorrow, picking up in chapter 4, verses 1-6. We are getting into some real “meaty” stuff here in the next two chapters!

I don’t want your brain to overheat, so I will keep this simple and brief. Paul talks twice in the next section about “not losing heart” — 4:1 and 4:16. Evidently, this is really on his mind! It is easy to think that Paul is just a ministry machine or robot. He just goes and goes and never struggles with being discouraged. Did Paul ever feel like giving up on life or ministry? Did he ever feel like packing it in? Wouldn’t you like to know what kept him going? With such opposition, difficulty, and pain, why didn’t he just give up?

Have you ever felt like the passion for life has just gone? You have no more wind in your sails, nor passion in your heart? Then I assure you that this next section may give some really crucial Biblical advice.

Paul was not a machine, but he knew how to look at his life. He knew how to think correctly about things. This is why chapter 4 begins with “Therefore…we do not lose heart.” There is a “therefore” that gives us the reason.

What is the reason? How can you find passion and purpose for life? Listen in as Pastor Steve shares these important truths over the next few chapters of 2 Corinthians.

As we continue in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3, and continue to be exposed to important truths we need to remember an important foundational fact about what we learn each week from God’s word. The Bible was authored by the creator of the universe and the creator of mankind. He just knows how things work because He designed things to work a certain way! For instance, “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble”. This is a consistent and trustworthy principle! Another well-known and clearly understandable truth is: “You reap what you sow.”

This passage in chapter three presents an absolutely phenomenal truth that I believe most Christians ignore completely. In fact, even our biology shows the reality of this principle, and neuroscientists are very excited about what they are discovering in this realm!

Friends of Calvary Chapel Fluvanna, our Christian lives are about so much more than a set of moral rules to memorize and observe. Rule-based living and church culture is far inferior to life in the Spirit that brings real change. How does that change happen? What is the principle? Why do some people come to church and see no real change and others see radical transformation of their lives?

Listen in as we understand this principle from the apostle Paul as he shares it with the Corinthian church.

As we continue in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3, and continue to be exposed to important truths we need to remember an important foundational fact about what we learn each week from God’s word. The Bible was authored by the creator of the universe and the creator of mankind. He just knows how things work because He designed things to work a certain way! For instance, “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble”. This is a consistent and trustworthy principle! Another well-known and clearly understandable truth is: “You reap what you sow.”

This passage in chapter three presents an absolutely phenomenal truth that I believe most Christians ignore completely. In fact, even our biology shows the reality of this principle, and neuroscientists are very excited about what they are discovering in this realm!

Friends of Calvary Chapel Fluvanna, our Christian lives are about so much more than a set of moral rules to memorize and observe. Rule-based living and church culture is far inferior to life in the Spirit that brings real change. How does that change happen? What is the principle? Why do some people come to church and see no real change and others see radical transformation of their lives?

Listen in as we understand this principle from the apostle Paul as he shares it with the Corinthian church.