Commonway Church

In the third sermon in our series "Finding Hope," Pastor Tyler Crandall teaches this Idea: Jesus offers holistic healing and we are meant to seek him with others. The sermon focuses on the story found in Mark 2:1-12 of Jesus forgiving and healing a paralyzed man who was carried by four friends to a house, taken up to the roof, and lowered through the roof right in front of Jesus.

Mark 2:3-5: "Some men came, bringing to Him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

Questions for reflection and application:

Where do I need healing?

Who is carrying my mat?

Whose mat am I helping to carry?

In the second sermon in our series "Finding Hope," Pastor Steve Gill taught a short sermon on baptism.

“Why Baptism?”

1. I want to follow the example of Jesus.

2. I want to identify with Jesus.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. Matthew 3:13-15

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:16-17

Pastor Lisa Ashton kicks off a new series, Finding Hope, in which we'll be walking through several miracles of Jesus recorded in the Gospels.

This sermon focused on the story found in Luke 13:10- 17. In this story, Jesus heals a woman who had been crippled for 18 years. He does this on the Sabbath and in the synagogue, much to the chagrin of the synagogue leaders, who were indignant about such a thing.

Lisa challenged us to consider times when we can get so caught up in doing the "Right Thing" that we can miss doing the "Good Thing."

We were challenged to pray this prayer, "God to help me to see see with Kingdom vision, that I may learn to value 'goodness' over 'rightness.' Form me to be more like you."

*Note: we experienced some technical difficulties during church today. The video for today's sermon and the audio are badly out of sync by the end of the message and with the time and resources we have, we were unable to remedy this fully.

In today's final installment of "Open Hands," Pastor Steve spoke on giving.

Key Idea: Do I give Jesus the best of me?

Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine. Proverbs 3.9-10 (NLT)

How do I honor God with my finances?

1. I will give God my best.

2. I will trust God to take care of the rest.

The main idea for this series is: Living a life with open hands is how God works in us and through us.

Today’s key words: Grace and Truth.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

Today's Application:

How do I live with open hands when it comes to the grace and truth of Jesus?

1. Start by looking again at Jesus.

2. Where am I lacking in grace and truth?

3. Where can I live more fully with his grace and his truth?

The key idea behind our series is this;

Living a life with open hands is how God works in us and through us.

Today’s Key Idea:

How do I live with open hands when it comes to offense?

1. Be intentional with the process.

2. Meet privately with the other person.

“If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. Matthew 18:15-17

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4.15

Today’s personal application:

1. Who am I walking in offense with today?

2. How and when will I start the conversation with them?

The final sermon in our series "The Last Arrow."

Today’s Starting Question:

What does it look like to stand my ground?

2 Samuel 23:11-12, the story of Shammah is a story of standing one's ground.

What does it look like to stand my ground?

1. I will do what is right even when the odds are stacked against me.

2. I live for the audience of One rather than for the audience of many.

Pastor Steve Gill teaches part five in our series "The Last Arrow."

Today’s key idea:

What God wants to do through you is often more important than what God wants to do for you.

Today's key text comes from 2 Kings 7. It's a story about four lepers who find themselves in a dire, hopeless, and urgent situation.

What can I learn from this text?

1. Sometimes God’s “for you” is “for you.”

2. Many times God’s “for you” is more about his “through you.”

3. What you have been through is often how God works through you.

In the fourth sermon in our series "The Last Arrow," Pastor Tyler Crandall shares on the idea Find Your Tribe.

Today’s Key Ideas:

-We were not created to do life alone.

-If we want people to be there for us, we have to be there for people.

The Scripture Backdrop for today's sermon is The Story of Jonathan and David found in 1 Samuel chapters 14–23. In this story, we see that David and Jonathan were soul friends. 1 Samuel 18:1 (ESV) says, “As soon as David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.”

Reflection and Application

Who is with you?

Who are you with?

Where do you need people to be there with you?

Where can you be there with people?

In the third installment of our sermon series "The Last Arrow," Pastor Steve Gill taught on the key idea of Refusing To Be Left Behind.

In 2 Kings 2:1-14 we see how Elisha will not leave Elijah's side, despite being given permission to do so. As a result, he asks Elijah for a double portion of the Spirit that has been on Elijah, and it's granted to him.

How do we avoid being left behind? In a word: Faithfulness.

Today's application:

1. Where am I being faithful?

2. Where do I need to be more faithful?