Fountain City KC

Perhaps one of the more impressive and intimidating things we see in others is when they share their faith in Jesus. We might think, 'how do they do that', or 'where do they get the courage?' As we conclude our sermon series on Gospel Renewal from the inside out, we'll see that the secret in sharing our faith is not guilt or goals or fear, but joy. It's joy that comes from a heart changed by grace. Experiencing deep, transformative grace leads to joyful witness to the giver of that grace.

One of the most stark contrasts in our Christian faith is between self-righteousness and grace. Nothing causes us to miss Jesus more than self-righteousness, and nothing brings us deeper into the rest Jesus gives than receiving his grace. Through this amazing parable we will see that core to the work Jesus wants to do in our lives is uproot self-righteousness from our heart and fill it in with grace, so that we can rest in the gospel.

One of the most challenging questions of the Christian life is: how does our behavior fit in? It's so easy to begin to wonder one of two things: is God's love for me dependent on what I do, or, is what I do irrelevant and makes no difference in my life with God? Through this familiar and amazing passage, we'll see that the key is grace. Grace is free: it comes to us in spite of what we do. But to be God's grace, it also has a powerful effect. So we'll see that a saved life is a changed life. 

One of the most difficult actions of the Christian faith is forgiveness. In our culture, forgiveness can be spoken of as a mistake. In our personal lives, the thought of forgiving those who have hurt us can feel impossible and unjust. As we continue looking into the renewing work that Jesus does in those who trust and follow him, we'll see that forgiveness is in the center. In fact, what Jesus wants us to understand is that he is changing our hearts so we can forgive others as He has forgiven us.

The Good Samaritan is a parable that is familiar to nearly everyone, at least by name. Because of that familiarity, it's easy to lose sight of the revolutionary message Jesus intends it to have.  As we continue to look at how, through the gospel, Jesus renews us and our hearts, we'll see that He also brings His renewing grace to those around us as we begin to love others as He has loved us.

Last week, as we dove into gospel renewal, we saw that Jesus renews us from the inside out by first changing what we treasure in life, to be him. This Sunday, we are going to press WHY this is so hard. Jesus is going to place his finger on the main thing that keeps us from putting him first so that he can uproot it and give us what is infinitely better. 

One of Jesus' favorite questions to ask was "What do you want me to do for you?" If we could hear Jesus ask us that question, how would we answer? Through Jesus, God is moving this broken, fallen world to a glorious new creation: gospel renewal. A second question to consider is, how does this gospel reality go from the academic to something personally meaningful? It happens when we see that this renewal is something Jesus is doing in us right now and he begins by focusing on what we love.

One of the great metaphors for life is a journey and part of any journey, definitely part of our lives, is the reality that there are many struggles we must endure. Peter has made clear that sometimes we encounter these struggles because we are Christians. As we finish this letter, Peter's final word is a word of encouragement that we can and will endure all struggles by standing in grace. 

Next week, the Kansas City Chiefs will play in their third straight Super Bowl, a remarkable achievement. It makes you wonder what makes some teams or businesses so successful? What is it that makes them able to push through adversity and be a place where people want to be? What about a church? What makes one healthy and vibrant? The key Peter will show us is that a healthy church is full of people asking, "what can I give," not, "what can I get."

In our culture anything that feels like suffering is typically seen as detracting from the life that will allow "you to be you". The Apostle Peter shows us that as a Christian, suffering is likely, expected even. If I suffer as a Christian, is our culture's assessment right? Am I wasting my life? Have I been duped? Peter's answer to these questions will not only help us rightly understand suffering, but help us see it as a blessing that leads us closer to God.