First Christian Church of Brazil Indiana Sermons

What’s your preference?

A dad who tells you how important you are or a dad who actually shows up for the important stuff in your life?

Friends who keep reminding you how “tight” you are or friends who are there when you need them most, never stabbing you in the back?

A “Significant other” who makes you really cool homemade cards telling you you’re the best thing that has ever happened to them or one who respects you, keeps your trust, and doesn’t cheat on you?

Do you want someone in your life who tells you how special you are or someone who shows you?

If you’re like me, the answer is both.... I want words and actions.

God is no different, the worship God is after is a both kind of worship.

We see this in the two primary words that are used for worship in the New Testament.

John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

“Worship” attitude of honor and reverence. It literally means “To bow before” or “to kiss the hand of the king”’.

Romans 12:1-2

“Worship” in verse 1 means “to serve”

In this verse, our spiritual act of service.

Paul is saying if you’ve experienced God’s mercy, if you’ve seen the cross...then offer all of who you are to God in response to all that He has done.

In God’s economy:

worship = serving

worship = life

What God has revealed to us about Himself is beyond our words of gratitude.

What He has done on our behalf makes it impossible for us to repay Him.

What we can do in return? Give Him everything we have through a life of service to Him and to those around us.

Matthew 15:8 “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

Where is your heart?

God isn’t honored by words alone.

God is moved by words that are authenticated by actions.

God knows how easy it is for us to say one thing and do another.

How can we offer less?

How do we respond to the cross of Christ?

The only response to His mercy and grace is our everything.

Somewhere in our modern culture we’ve become confused, thinking that worship and songs are the same thing.

Worship ≠ only singing songs

Singing songs alone is not enough.

The cross demands more.

Grace requires that we bring ourselves, laying our lives before this merciful God.

This wholehearted, full-on, life encompassing response to God’s amazing grace is the “reasonable” thing to do.

Romans 12:1 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

Worship is life.

How do I become the kind of person Jesus calls a “true worshiper”?

True Worshiper - someone who worships the Father from the heart with all they are...all they have

Worship - The Thing You Do/ have done all of your life.

Maybe you’re a passionate lover of God, but frustrated by the presence of little idols you kept around far too long.

For all of us, the time for true worship is now.

God is inviting us to join the ranks of true worshipers.

True Worshipers discover the connection between His infinite worth and their own inner longing to love something supremely.

Worship is our response to what we value most.

Worship = “extreme devotion or intense love or admiration of any kind.”

Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God -- for who He is! and what He has done!

Worship is expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.

Worship is a verb.

It is something that you do, not something you watch.

Worship isn’t something that you attend.

Worship is something that you enter into with all your might.

Worship is a participative sport in a spectator culture.

Psalms - Shout, sing, dance, clap, bow, lift your heads, tell of His might, stand in awe, meditate on His truth, Walk in His ways. Still your heart. Lift your hands. Make a loud noise, Seek His face. Tell the nations.

Psalm 95:1-7

True worship is a whole life response to God’s greatness and glory.

Worship doesn’t start with us.

Worship is our response to God.

We don’t initiate worship, God does.

He reveals; we respond.

He discloses; we respond.

He unveils, we respond.

Our relationship with God works the same way:

He loves. We love in return.

He calls. We answer.

He leads. We follow.

Worship is what spontaneously flows out of us when we come face-to-face with Him.

Psalm 150:1-6

True worship is simply catching sight of the greatness, majesty, glory and grace of an infinite God.

When our worship is small, it’s because our concept of God is small.

When we offer God little itty-bitty sacrifices, it’s because we’ve somehow reduced Him in our hearts to a little-itty-bitty God.

When our worship is small our lives shrivel into insignificance and meaninglessness.

When our worship is small, we bump along with the mass of humanity, having no real clue of what life is all about, we fret, we worry, we get depressed, we try to accomplish things all by ourselves.

We don’t have the vision for the reality of realities, There is an infinite, limitless God high and exalted on His throne ruling with all power and authority over the heavens and the earth.

Question: Since God is the one who initiates worship, not us. What practical difference do you think this makes?

How can we get a better and higher view of God in our lives?

How can we become the true worshipers?

How do we become what we were designed to be?

How can we bring back into focus a sense of how awesome God is?

We can’t. Not on our own.

Unless God Himself shows us who He is, we can’t respond to Him with true worship from our hearts.

God reveals...so we can respond... in authentic, natural worship.

What is God showing us? What has God revealed about Himself?

1. God is infinitely awesome.
2. God is intimately approachable.

God loves you very much.

God also loves Himself.

God knows that He is God.

God knows how valuable He is.

As a result, God values Himself above all things.

God is not egotistical, thinking more highly of Himself than He should.

He’s the only God, so it is imperative that He thinks of Himself as He truly is.

God valuing Himself above all things, doesn’t stop Him from loving you with the greatest love known to man.

Through the death of His Son, God has made a way for you to return to His loving arms, washed clean and forgiven because of the price He paid at the cross of Jesus Christ.

God wants you to know Him intimately.

(This is what God wants for you.)

Your spirit was once dormant because of sin.

(Sin didn’t make us bad, Sin made us dead!)

God seeks to stir your soul to life again, giving you the capacity to walk in intimacy with Him.

Restoring your ability to worship Him with all your heart.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

God loves turning rebels into worshipers. For what could possibly bring Him more glory than that?

God is looking for spiritual and true worship.

Genuine. Authentic. Worship from the heart.

John 4:4-23

It's What We Do: Why Worship Matters

The Stakes are high. Why?

Because worship is what God is all about.

Worship should matter to you because it matters to God.

Because worship is what God is all about.

Worship doesn’t begin with us, it begins and ends with God.

God is the center of everything that exists.

He is above all the little gods of earth.

He alone is the Creator. Sustainer. Originator. Life Giver. Beauty Maker.

God’s Word affirms that God dwells in endless praise.

They were created to give God glory and praise!

What’s really crazy?

This God, who has never known any shortage of worship, wants to be worshiped by you.

God doesn’t need any more worship to be worthy. Why?

God knows who He is.

God knows what He’s worth.

God knows the best thing He can give us is Himself.

God is not an egotist seeking more than He deserves from us.

He is God, choosing, in worship, to reward us with Himself.

Don’t waste your worship.

Worship should matter to you because you are and always will be a worshiper.

We are created to worship, therefore we need to make sure the thing we declare to be of greatest value is really worthy in the long run.

You only have one life, and it’s imperative that you find an object worthy of your affection, worship.

Guard your worship.... and evaluate all potential takers.

Enjoying the things that God has made is not a sin, but when we elevate any of these to the highest place in our hearts, we’ve gone too far and cheated both God and ourselves.

Every day there is a battle for your worship.

Satan having been in God’s presence knows God is central and worthy of all praise.

Satan, because of pride, he couldn’t bow, and now leads a band of fallen angels spreading his mutiny to as many as he can.

How does Satan advance his rebellion against God today?

“to exchange the truth of God for a lie” to serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.

Paul at the Areopagus

“Areopagus” after Ares, the Greek god of war.

Where did God choose for Paul to give his address on the real meaning of life?

In the very arena where opinions battled, and war was waged daily to shape the philosophical foundation of man’s existence.

Satan, the very fallen angel who challenged God, will challenge what God is saying to you.

“I didn’t start this war of worship, and I don’t care to be in it. I just want to live my life, make my own choices, and do my own thing.” This is not an option.

The reason why this is not an option is because our very lives are on loan from God, a sacred trust of opportunities and decisions.

We bear the very likeness of the Worthy One, every one of our choices is made on a battlefield with heavenly ramifications.

Jesus faced the same battle.

Jesus’ wilderness challenge: 40 days and nights

Your worship matters to God.

Important: Whatever you worship, you imitate. Whatever you imitate, you become.

Why be careful what you choose to worship?

Whatever you worship, you become.

Whatever you worship, you become obsessed with.

Whatever you value most, will ultimately determine who you are.

That Thing We Do: Something More

I believe most people know there’s something more to life.

Acts 17:16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.

God is seeking you.

He blankets each new day with the invitation, “I am here.”

Acts 17:22-23 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

“To the unknown god.”

People everywhere are still searching....and still building idols.

The Ultimate Search

God is always seeking you.

Every sunset, every clear blue sky, every ocean wave, every starry night, God is saying, “I am here.”

God reveals Himself to everyone through the natural world.

We know He’s there.

There’s something more to this life than living and dying.

Nature alone wasn’t enough to tell His story, God couldn’t be clearly known...until His Son appeared.

Jesus came to “Seek and Save the lost.”

God wants you to know Him.

Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

God wants you to know Him.

Meet God

Acts 17:24-25 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

God isn’t stuck in church world.

God is near now!

God is really close to you in this very moment.

Every last one of us has been created with a searching soul.

Acts 17:27-28 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

We are designed by God so we would find no rest until we find our rest in Him.

We are reaching for someone we cannot see.

God is reaching for you too.

He’s seeking you because He is God.

Jesus willingly came to connect us to God and awaken us to the possibility of centering our worship on who and what matters most....forever.

Worship: It's What We Do is our Summer series on Worship and how worship is more than just singing a song. It's to be evident in our entire lives, and we are to be close to God through it all and focusing on serving Him.

Dan filled in to speak while Chris was gone on vacation.

In this inspiring sermon episode, we delve into Joshua 1:1-5, exploring God's guidance to Joshua as he embarks on a new journey. Discover how these ancient lessons resonate with our modern lives, offering timeless wisdom on embracing change, finding contentment, and claiming God's promises.

Drawing from Ecclesiastes 3:12-13, we reflect on God's desire for our happiness, the importance of helping others, and finding joy in our work. Learn how to turn the page on past burdens, as God instructs Joshua to move forward from Moses' leadership. Just as Joshua was called to stake his claim, we too are encouraged to claim our territories, with the assurance of God's unfailing presence.

Join us as we unpack these three vital steps to experiencing God's abundance:

Turn the Page: Let go of the past to embrace new beginnings (Joshua 1:2).

Stake Your Claim: Step confidently into your God-given territory (Joshua 1:3, Romans 8:37).

Claim Your Promise: Trust in God's eternal presence and strength (Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5, Matthew 28:20).

Through Philippians 4:11-13, we learn the secret to contentment in all circumstances, reminding us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Tune in to this episode to be empowered to move forward, thrive, and live out the full potential God has designed for you.

Remember is the sermon given by Chris Gregg on the Sunday before Memorial Day on May 26th, 2024.

In this powerful episode of our Christian sermon podcast, join CJ Muston as he shares an inspiring message on Graduation Sunday that speaks to everyone, regardless of age or stage in life. Whether you're a recent graduate or someone who graduated years ago, this sermon titled "Know Your True Value: God's Perspective on Graduation Sunday" is for you.

CJ, the youth minister at FCC, dives into the concept of true value and how understanding this can transform your life. He uses the analogy of a $20 bill to illustrate that our value is not determined by the labels the world places on us but by the intrinsic worth assigned by our Creator.

Drawing from Ephesians 2:4-9, CJ explains how God's rich mercy, grace, and love define our true value. He discusses the common labels we give ourselves—such as failure, unloveable, or worthless—and contrasts them with the life-giving labels God places on us. These divine labels elevate us, much like a valuable painting or trophy is raised up for all to see.

In this episode, you'll learn practical steps to live in the truth of your God-given value, including the powerful technique of "shrinking down" negative labels and expanding the positive ones placed by God. CJ challenges listeners to identify one negative label in their life this week and work on shrinking it, while simultaneously embracing the immense value God has placed on them.

Tune in to be reminded of your worth and to discover how living in the truth of your God-given value changes everything. Don’t miss this heartwarming and life-changing message that will encourage you to see yourself through God’s eyes.

Listen now to "Know Your True Value: God's Perspective on Graduation Sunday" and take a step closer to understanding your divine worth.