Fusion Christian Church

"The After Party" is our series at Fusion Christian Church on the book of Acts. Follow along as we explore what happened to the church after Jesus ascended to heaven. In this message, Pastor Zac teaches about how we can be a part of God's story through the Holy Spirit.

Don't doubt, believe.

What ought to strike us when we read through the opening of Acts is that Jesus presented many proofs to his followers that he was truly alive. The resurrection is at the core of Christianity, and it is important to know that it really happened. Jesus was not ambiguous with his followers, but he showed clearly that he had risen from the dead. He did this so that you and I would believe.

Don't do it alone - Rely on the power of the Holy Spirit

Before he ascended to heaven, Jesus promised that he would send the Holy Spirit to comfort, guide, and strengthen his followers. Christians who follow him today have access to this same Holy Spirit from the moment we place our belief in Christ. Don't struggle through issues on your own, but lean on the Holy Spirit.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

To lean on the Spirit, it is important to know about him. The Holy Spirit is God. He is not an impersonal force, but is the third person of the trinity. The Holy Spirit living inside us is how God's presence rests upon the life of a believer. The Spirit is also the change agent for godly living. Only through the Holy Spirit is the believer empowered to keep God's commands and live according to God's design. 

Become a bold witness for Jesus.

Through the Holy Spirit, the apostles became confident in the Lord Jesus and became witnesses of his resurrection throughout the world. We take part in that legacy by spreading the gospel through the same Holy Spirit that lived also in the apostles.

Live like he's coming back tomorrow.

Finally, the angels present at Jesus' ascension told the apostles that he would return in the same way. Knowing this, we should always be ready and live like he's coming back soon. Keeping that mindset will help us to live the way we should.

"Your Story Isn't Over" is our message to you at Fusion Christian Church this Easter. Have you ever felt that your life is over? Have you ever been lost and not known where to turn? In this message, Pastor Zac will teach us what the resurrection of Jesus means for us and how to live accordingly.

You have two lives: one mortal and one immortal.

Though many deny that there is anything beyond the grave, the bible teaches clearly that there is. Further, we not only have both mortal and immortal lives, but the two are intrinsically connected. What you do with your mortal life will impact your immortal life. As a result, you have two choices.

Choice One: Live your life rejecting Jesus.

With choice one you choose death for your immortal life. This may seem like a contradiction, but the bible is quite clear on this point. If you reject Jesus, then you must pay the penalty for your sins on your own. Jesus has offered to pay it for you, and indeed he did pay it on the cross, but if you reject him then his payment will not cover you. Since the penalty for sin is death, refusing Christ will result in death since we are all lost in sin. Sin is serious, and the consequences are dire. If you reject Jesus in this life, you will face death in the life to come.

Choice Two: Live your life accepting Jesus

With choice two you receive life everlasting. When you accept Jesus, his blood covers your sin and his death cancels your debt. This is the most important choice anyone can make. Choosing to accept Jesus will change your life both now and forever.

You end up on the wrong road when you start looking for life among the dead things. 

Just as the women at the tomb were looking for Jesus in the grave (though he was alive), we sometimes look for life in the wrong places. In order to make sure we end up on the right road, we must repent and turn to Jesus. This is what it means to accept Jesus: to turn from death to life and from sin to righteousness. Will you make that choice today?

This is part 5 of "Last Words," our sermon series at Fusion Christian Church where we examine the final seven sayings of Jesus before he died. What is the significance of Jesus' last words? As we look forward to Easter, it's time to reflect on our Savior's final moments on the cross. In this Good Friday sermon, Pastor Zac closes out the series by teaching on the last "last words" of Jesus and asks the question: when does a bad day turn into a good day?

When your debt is paid and your record wiped clean

If Jesus died on Good Friday, why do we call it good? Because by his death he completed the work he was sent to earth to do. By finishing his work on the cross, Christ bought us back from death and sin and made a way for us to be reconciled to God. He nailed our sins to the cross along with himself and took them to the grave. For those in Christ, we no longer face the penalty from God for our sins. Christians should remember that our sins were nailed to the cross and no longer seek to dig them back up. God has forgiven them, and it is time to let them stay dead.

When your spirit is safe in the Father's hands.

When Jesus died, he committed his spirit to the Father. The best decision anyone could make is to follow this example. Trust God with your life and your spirit. With God alone are we truly secure. Jesus knew that, and he not only showed us the way to the Father, but he made a way when there was none. When we look at the cross of Christ, we should remember his sacrifice so that we could have peace with God. Rest in the Father's hands today.

This is part 4 of "Last Words," our sermon series at Fusion Christian Church where we examine the final seven sayings of Jesus before he died. What is the significance of Jesus' last words? As we look forward to Easter, it's time to reflect on our Savior's final moments on the cross. In this sermon, Pastor Zac teaches about Jesus saying "I am thirsty." Beyond the physical, what spiritual drink did Jesus desire from the cross?

What is the right kind of thirsty?

-You thirst for God's word to be fulfilled

When Jesus said he was thirsty on the cross, he fulfilled scripture. His desire was that God's word would come to pass through what he did, and he willed it to be so. Like Christ, we should also desire to see God's word fulfilled both in the world broadly and in our lives specifically. God's word does not return void, and we should act in a way that helps bring it to pass. This means we should bear fruit and, especially, that we should preach the gospel. 

-You thirst for God's righteousness.

As Christians, we should desire to be right with God. We should desire goodness, and the only way to be good is through Jesus. If we are to satisfy our desire for righteousness, we must find the source of living water, which is Jesus. When we are in Christ, he renews us through the power of the Holy Spirit and gives us the ability to do good works. Without Jesus, nothing good that we do has any value for us spiritually. We must be made alive together with Christ before we can drink from the water he gives us. Will you choose Christ? Will you desire his righteousness?

This is part 3 of "Last Words," our sermon series at Fusion Christian Church where we examine the final seven sayings of Jesus before he died. What is the significance of Jesus' last words? As we look forward to Easter, it's time to reflect on our Savior's final moments on the cross. In this message, Pastor Zac doubles up and covers two statements of Jesus from the cross. In the first are words of love, in the second are words of anguish.

Words of Love.

Jesus entrusted care of his mother to John, the beloved disciple. By doing this, he demonstrates two biblical principles. The first is that we should honor our Father and Mother. This is a principle so important that God included it in the Ten Commandments. Even though it is difficult to get along with our parents sometimes, it is still imperative that we honor them. By choosing to honor our parents we honor God as well. God placed you with your parents, and by honoring them you respect the sovereign will of God.

The second principle Christ demonstrated by ensuring the care of his mother, Mary, is to care for others. Jesus is especially demonstrating the scriptural command to care for the poor, the orphan, and the widow (since Mary was a widow at this point). By caring for those around us who need it the most, we demonstrate the love of Christ.

Words of Anguish.

In the next statement of Jesus on the cross, he cries out to God the Father. In his statement, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me," he references Psalm 22, which is a prophetic passage written almost a thousand years before his birth. Jesus makes this cry not only to fulfill scripture, but to show the anguish he felt at the wrath of God being poured out on him. He underwent this punishment so that we would not have to suffer it ourselves, for we could not endure it.

Jesus, being perfectly righteous, died a sinners death in order that we, being sinners, might be considered perfectly righteous. When we put our faith in Jesus, God looks at us and sees Christ's perfection rather than our sin. This is the beauty of the cross. 

This is part 2 of "Last Words," our sermon series at Fusion Christian Church where we examine the final seven sayings of Jesus before he died. What is the significance of Jesus' last words? As we look forward to Easter, it's time to reflect on our Savior's final moments on the cross. In this Sermon, Pastor Matt takes a deep dive into the thief on the cross next to Jesus and his last interaction with Christ.

Prophecies Fulfilled:

One of the most significant aspects of Christ's time on earth is that he fulfilled prophecies from hundreds or even thousands of years before. Two that are fulfilled in the story of Jesus and the Thief on the cross are that Jesus would be "numbered with the transgressors" despite being innocent, and that his enemies would surround him and mock him. Isaiah and David both looked forward to Jesus' coming and made predictions about it through the Holy Spirit.

We should identify with the criminals.

We should fight our tendency to view ourselves as the hero and recognize that we belong on the cross next to Jesus. The thieves on either side of Christ deserved their punishment, but Jesus did not. We, too, like the thieves, deserve punishment. Let us remember that we are not the hero, Christ is.

Jesus took our place on the cross.

God loves us so much that he provided his own Son to take the punishment we deserve. In the heroic climax of history, Christ died the death we deserved so that we could be saved.

We are Justified by Faith.

Since God has offered us salvation as a free gift, how do we access this gift? The scriptures make clear, and this story demonstrates, that we access the free gift of God through faith. When we believe in God who sent his Son for us, God grants us salvation. He makes it "just as if I'd" never sinned. This is what it means to be "justified by faith."

Propitiation

This is one of those words that you will only ever hear in church. Propitiation means that God's wrath was diverted from us and onto Christ. For this reason, we no longer pay the penalty ourselves, but rely on Christ who paid it for us.

The criminals' last words sealed their eternal destination

While the one criminal mocked Jesus, the other repented and expressed faith in him. In these final moments, each thief sealed his own fate. One sealed his eternity in heaven by putting faith in Jesus. The other condemned himself by refusing to put his faith in the only one who can save.

Ultimately it is Jesus who removes our condemnation

The most important point is that Jesus is the one who saves us. He is the only one who can. When you put your faith in him, you move from death to life, and from condemnation to reconciliation. 

This is part 1 of "Last Words," our sermon series at Fusion Christian Church where we examine the final seven sayings of Jesus before he died. What is the significance of Jesus' last words? As we look forward to Easter, it's time to reflect on our Savior's final moments on the cross. In this sermon we examine his prayer, "Father, forgive them," and ask: why did Jesus pray this?

To show you that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

The most important question you must wrestle with is whether or not Jesus Christ is the Son of God. To help you find that answer, Jesus fulfilled prophecy on the cross to show that he was from God. Demonstrating the divine character of his mission on earth, Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies. Several of these prophecies indicate that he was not just a human man, but also the Son of God. By praying for those who had wronged him, he demonstrated the intercession he would make for sinners.

To show you the power of prayer.

In praying for the very people who had put Jesus on the cross, Jesus demonstrated how powerful prayer can be. While he was still on the cross, the thief beside him came to believe that Jesus was the messiah, and a Roman soldier who crucified him exlaimed, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" Jesus' prayer produced immediate effects, and from that we learn to never stop praying for others. Though Jesus was beaten down and exhausted, he still prayed for others. Though the thief on his side seemed hopeless, it was not too late for him to be saved.

To show you your need for a mediator.

Finally, Jesus came and died so that he could act as mediator between God and men. Without Jesus, we would be hopeless in our efforts to reach God. Through Jesus and him only can we be reconciled to God.

Decide for yourself: Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?

This is part 5 of our sermon series, "Relationships on Lock," at Fusion Christian Church. In this series, we discuss the importance of relationships and how to create and maintain healthy ones. Here, Pastor Zac teaches us five steps to connect better with other people, and all are focused on in-person relationship.

Put Down the Phone.

Too many of us are addicted to our phones. We allow them to keep us from personal connection and it is destroying our relationships. Put down the phone when you're with other people and pay attention to them.

Look at and Listen to People.

When you are interacting with others, look them in the eye and listen to what they say. As Christians, we should desire that others know we are genuinely interested in them and that we care about their lives. Maintain eye contact and listen to other people to demonstrate your care for them.

Speak Words of Life.

It is overwhelmingly easy to be negative, especially because we are surrounded by it all the time. Because of this, choose to speak positively to people so that you stand out and shine a light in this dark world. Choose to lift up others rather than bring them down. If we can do this it will stand as a strong testimony of the light of Christ.

Practice Hospitality.

When is the last time you invited people to your home? Hospitality was perhaps the foremost characteristic of the early church, and it should be one of our strongest attributes in the modern church as well. Being inviting and kind to others should never go out of style, and God has told us in his word that he desires his people to be hospitable.

Be Fast to Forgive.

Bitterness will kill your relationships faster than almost anything else. Remember that all people are broken, and so if you have a relationship with anyone, you are likely to be hurt at some point. Choosing to forgive rather than resent the one who has wronged you will preserve your relationships. Christians must be forgiving people, because God first forgave us.

This is part 4 of our sermon series, "Relationships on Lock," at Fusion Christian Church. In this series, we discuss the importance of relationships and how to create and maintain healthy ones. Here, Pastor Zac teaches about the dangers of isolation and how to stay connected instead.

We need relationships! Those who are isolated face not just loneliness, but have increased health risks. It is time for us to choose to ditch the disconnection and build our relationships. Let's examine some ways that we disconnect:

If you want to be disconnected, be a backstabber.

One of the quickest ways to become disconnected from your relationships is to be a backstabber. If you talk behind others' backs and betray their confidence, you will soon find yourself alone. Even the people you have not betrayed will find that they do not want to be friends with a backstabber! You must keep the confidence of others if you want to stay connected.

If you want to be disconnected, be a taker.

Nobody likes the person who takes and never gives back. Become a generous person to create a generous spirit in others, and this will drastically improve all your relationships.

If you want to be disconnected, hate everyone who's different than you.

While it can be difficult to get along with people who differ from us, Paul the Apostle had a different perspective. Paul chose to adjust his own behavior so that he could get along with others and win them to Christ. If we are not willing to look past our differences, then we will be hindered in spreading the gospel. What should we do to ditch the disconnection?

Live your life with your hands lifted to the Lord.

Lifting your hands to God is a sign that we are surrendered to him. Choosing to put God first is the key to getting your life in order. Put him in the number 1 spot and it will be much easier to make your other relationships fall into place.

Live your life lifting others up.

Just as you desire to be lifted up and encouraged by others, you also should lift up others. Don't become so focused on your own problems that you neglect to help others.

Live your life standing with others.

In a similar way, standing by others when they need you will help you to maintain relationships. Don't stand alone and be left vulnerable, but instead stand with others and add your strength to theirs.

Live your life with your banner high.

Jehovah Nissi means "God is my Banner," and choosing to make God a banner over your life will inspire you to fight for what is right. It gives all of us a common cause as Christians. Choose to fight for the Lord's cause.

This is part 3 of our sermon series, "Relationships on Lock," at Fusion Christian Church. In this series, we discuss the importance of relationships and how to create and maintain healthy ones. Here, Elder Todd teaches about the importance of perseverance and determination.

As a church family, we must persevere together. While some Christians like to think of their faith as only personal, it is essential that we do not forget the value of the community around us. This is why being planted in a church is key to a healthy Christian walk. That said, it is equally important that each church member has an active relationship with the Lord. If we want to be part of a spiritually healthy church, we must engage in the habits that make us spiritually healthy individuals. Both communal and personal devotion to God are necessary for a strong Christian community.

To persevere we must understand it will get better.

Being a Christian means we trust God to deliver us in times of trouble. Christians should know that even if it never seems to get better in this life, God is a good God and he wins in the end. For those of us who are in Christ, that means we win in the end! 

To persevere we must understand it won't get better.

What this means is that it won't truly get better in this life. Sin pervades the world and only when God finishes redeeming the world will things truly be fixed. Our hope is in the next life, not in this one alone. 

We must persevere together!

One of the purposes of the church community is to provide support for each and every Christian as they seek to follow God. A good church encourages and assists other believers through persecution and when we stumble. We are stronger together, so we should bear the burdens  of others and lift each other up that we might all persevere to the end.

How can you help others to persevere?