Gulf Coast Community Church Podcast – St. Petersburg

Churches are much noisier than libraries, and for good reason. Libraries are filled with words but are absolutely silent. Churches have less words, to be sure, but are much noisier. And they should be.
Since the beginning, the Church has held the spoken, sung, and heard Word as an essential part of its liturgy (public worship). A lot has changed since then, but maybe nothing more significant than the invention of the Gutenberg press.
The transformation from a speaking and listening culture to a writing and reading culture has dramatically changed things. As Marshall McLuhan quipped, “The medium is the message.” If the medium is the voice, but it changes to a page, it affects the message.

Join us in worship as we explore the significance and necessity of speaking and hearing God’s word in community.

We, the Church (and the church), are a royal priesthood and holy people. To be a priestly people, a holy people, our first obligation is to the God we serve. As a priestly people, our first obligation is our worship of God together. As a holy people, we must keep that worship pure.

Worship of the Triune God is the primary difference between the church and any other organization (though there are surely many secondary and tertiary differences). Without this worship, the church would not be the church. To be the church is to be a worshipping community; who we are is defined by worship.

God forms His people into His image in worship by His Spirit through the means he has given us. There are 3 things we must consider in examining and exploring our worship: tradition, liturgy, and charismata.

Join us as we explore how our worship is central to our becoming a Spirit-formed community.

Text: 1 Cor. 13

Themes: Love vs. individualism and selfishness.

All I wanna do is go the distance … so I’ll know I’m not just another bum from the neighborhood.
Rocky

Is the church of the Lord Jesus “just another bum from the neighborhood”? If we listen to the world we might think so. If we listen to believers at times we might think so. But it’s a lie; a lie which can only be overcome by an amazing truth about the church.

Paul’s letter to Ephesians is a masterpiece concerning whom we, the church, are. I use church without the capital “C” because Paul wasn’t speaking about the church as some kind of universal, invisible community, he is speaking about the church that gathers. The one that has to bear with one another, forgive one another, and work hard to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

And what Paul says about the church would be outrageous if it weren’t true. In Ephesians he paints with royal brushstrokes. With seemingly every stroke of his brush, he points out our royal connections and calling.

Join us in worship as we continue to explore what it means to be a royal priesthood and holy people in the message titled Putting the Royal in the Priesthood.

Have you ever heard (or even said, like me) “Justice is the act of giving people what they deserve, while mercy is the act of not giving people what they deserve.” There is some truth in those words, but it is not a full, Biblically informed definition of either justice or mercy.

Since justice and mercy are at the heart of what God requires of us as human beings (Mic. 6:8), having a more Biblically informed understanding of these is vital. Most of us are very familiar with the notion of justice as what is due to someone, but less familiar with justice as what is due from someone.

This Sunday we will continue our series Becoming a Merciful Church as we explore what is at the very heart of God’s call to us as human beings, especially as the new humanity being formed in Christ.

Nearly anyone who has been the recipient of an inheritance (or should have been) can relate to the man who approached Jesus with the request, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Most people feel either slighted or justified in one way or another in such circumstances.

That there are disputes over inheritances is no surprise. Jesus’ response to this man, however, likely surprises most of us. After his terse response that amounts to “What business of mine is this?” He immediately begins talking about greed—evidently both on the part of the brother who stole the inheritance and on the part of the brother who wants things set right.

In truth, Jesus is talking about a much greater possession or inheritance which people are squandering in their pursuit of what they feel is right. He shows us all the way to this greater inheritance. And it is not just “going to heaven” when you die.

Join us in worship as we continue our series Becoming a Merciful Church: Radical Generosity, exploring Luke 12:13-34.

The book of Acts begins with Luke telling us that his first book (Luke) was about all that Jesus began to do and teach. The implication is clear: Acts is about what Jesus continued to do and teach through His Spirit empowered church.

But what is it, exactly, that they did? What did Jesus do? What did the early church do? We often focus 95% of our energy on what they taught (I made that statistic up!) The early chapters of Acts demonstrate the importance of what they did. And our text this Sunday, Acts 6:1-7, shows the impact of living out the radical generosity of Christ’s kingdom.

Join us in worship as we begin the 3rd component of our larger series A Royal Priesthood – A Holy People, Becoming a Merciful Church.

Text: Matthew 7:13-29

Themes: Spiritual formation, Holy Spirit, Community, Abiding with Jesus. Transformation. Following Jesus.

Summary: We learn from Jesus in the sermon on the mount how we are to live and we see this played out through the rest of Matthew’s gospel. Jesus reveals and leads us in the way of life, forming a new humanity and we must follow His ways to experience the good life he promises. There is a way to live your life that is countercultural but it leads to life and transformation.

What is the bedrock your building your life on?

Text: Acts 2:42-47; Exo. 20:3-6; 1 Pet. 2:8-10

Have you ever been in one of those moments when you wanted to have a spiritual conversation but the only way to bring it up was to awkwardly insert it in an abrupt fashion? Did you want to cringe and hide after that? What if there were a way to have those conversations without all that cringe? What if it left people feeling more loved and cared about?

There are no secrets for making everyone receptive to the Gospel. But there are ways we can learn to listen to people and discern where they are already seeking answers for something the Gospel addresses. While there is no magic button for “winning souls” it is a great way to learn how to love our neighbors while representing King Jesus!

Join us this Sunday as we gather for worship, exploring “Five Magnetic Points of Intersection” that everyone’s story has with the true story of the whole world.