Gulf Coast Community Church Podcast – St. Petersburg

Text: Mark 1:15 (CSB Version)

Themes: Gospel, King Jesus

Donna and I spent our first 10 years of married life in Salt Lake City, Utah living with the majestic Wasatch mountains to the east (pictured below), wrapping around a bit to the North and south and feeling as if they were watching over us, and the less towering, arid Oquirrh (oaker) range to the west. Having moved there from the Midwest, initially those mountains, especially the nearer and taller Wasatch range, made us feel hemmed in, a tad claustrophobic. Over time they made us feel safe and protected.

Living in the shadow of a mountain impacts how one thinks about life. As we saw last week, the preacher of Hebrews tells us that we are living before Mt. Zion (Sion) and not Mt. Sinai (Sina). This week we will explore the details of Mt. Zion and what it means to live in its shadow. This will require an exercise of our imaginations when we gather from the harvest fields and when we are scattered back into them.

Join us in worship as we explore what it means to live in the shadow of Mt. Zion from Hebrews 12:22—13:6. May the Lord teach us to imagine life as it really was intended to be in order that we might walk in it. This is the only way we will nurture a Gospel culture.

Photo of Wasatch range by Nic Y-C on Unsplash

Did you know that this Sunday is the anniversary of Christ’s kingdom inauguration? On this day nearly 2,000 years ago the inaugural ball was thrown and the first citizens of the restored kingdom of God were welcomed in with fanfare. The festivities began with wind and fire filling the place. People speaking in languages they did not know but others understood. This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday.

Did you know that Pentecost is relevant to your life as a believer in Jesus? It’s the origin story of the kingdom of which you are a citizen. The preacher of Hebrews says that you (plural), the church, have come to Mt. Zion. When did you get there? You arrived on Pentecost. And here we stand.

Join us in worship as we explore Hebrews 12:18-29 in our series, Imagining the Kingdom. Pentecost (Acts 2) provides the background for understanding the two mountains of Hebrews 12. Maybe you’ve never imagined you were standing at the foot of a mountain, and therefore haven’t considered which one. We will discover why this is important for who we are and how we live.

The story about Simon Peter getting Jesus’ tax money from the fish’s mouth (Matt. 17:24-27) came to mind this morning in prayer (feel free to join us every Friday morning from 6:30-7:30 for prayer at the church office). That story demonstrates this importance of imagining the Kingdom.

Jesus and the disciples arrive in Capernaum (where Jesus lived) and those who collect the temple tax ask Peter if Jesus pays the temple tax. Peter, keeping with his “I’ve got this under control personality,” answers without thinking, “Yes!”

When Peter gets back to the house, Jesus immediately asks Peter, “What do you think, Simon?” Peter’s thinking, his imagination, was exactly the problem. We know Jesus told Peter to go fishing to pay the tax both for Peter and himself, but first He needed to do something more important.

If this story was supposed to teach us, “Jesus paid his taxes,” or some variation thereof, all Jesus needed to do was tell Peter where to get the monies. Story over. Instead, He knows He needs to adjust why Peter imagines Jesus will pay this tax.

In Peter’s imagination, Jesus wasn’t much different than anyone else. Jesus begins with a question about who pays taxes: servants or sons? The answer is obvious to Peter as well as any of us: servants. The sons of kings do not pay taxes. Therefore, the Son of God does not pay a temple tax (the temple is God’s palace or throne). Jesus then instructs Peter that he will pay his tax in order not to offend them, but not because he owed it. Jesus corrected Peter’s imagination. The same action with the wrong imagination was an entirely different thing.

What I hope is becoming obvious in our series, in our discussion of Hebrews 11-12, is that the life of faith is not only about what we do but also about what story we think we are a part of.
Join us in worship as we continue our series, Imagining the Kingdom, beginning in Hebrews 12:1-17.

Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks, after making a case for the power of patience, suggests that to harness the power of patience the first thing we must do is “develop a taste for having problems.” That may sound familiar (James 1:2-4; Rom. 5:3-4). And it may make you think, “Yuck!” None of us like problems.

However, it may well be that the essence of our existence is to square-off with difficulties—either in persons or circumstances. And what we imagine to be happening in those relationships and circumstances may well have everything to do with how we live.

Join us as we continue our exploration of Hebrews 11 in our series: Imagining the Kingdom. Enlist yourself in the effort to harness the power of a sanctified imagination through faith.

The metaverse has taken imagination to a whole new level. In it imaginary real estate is created, deeded, bought, sold, and rented out for real $$. If you need a board room for a meeting, you’ll pay more for one with a view. The Nomadx Foundation notes on its website,

“Even though a metaverse is a place that exists only on a computer, it’s just as real as any other place you’ve been to before. You could say that the metaverse is like a vacation from reality: you can create an avatar for yourself and pretend to be someone else for a while, or you can use your imagination and explore new places that aren’t real at all—but still feel real!”

Of course, I would argue that it is not just as real, but that, for them, is beside the point. I have some friends who, a few months ago, were trying to explain the metaverse to me. When they got to the part about people holding real estate and renting it out to other people who want to use it, I knew right then I wasn’t getting on that train. However, it does reveal the power which can be harnessed by the human imagination.

Believers have a sure hope. The Bible commits a significant amount of space to stirring our imaginations about that hope. The OT Prophets speak of God’s coming kingdom. The book of Revelation uses vivid imaginative pictures to help us understand how things really are.

God wants His people to harness the power of sanctified imagination. Join us as we begin a new series, Imagining the Kingdom.

Text: Heb. 6:10-12

Themes: Faith and Patience to Inherit the Promise

Text: Colossians 3:1-17

Themes: Centrality of Jesus, Gospel Culture, Gospel Formation

A few weeks ago, I told a little of the story from a classic Russian film called, “Stalker.” The plot centers around the journey to a room where you will receive exactly what you want. You will not necessarily receive what you might ask for. Rather, the room knows your deepest desires and grants what you truly want.

Imagine a similar room that granted what you needed. It would certainly be safer, but how surprised would we be? We don’t often think in terms of what we need. In fact, we usually think that we need whatever it is that we want. At least that is how children think, and growing up is supposed to change that. What do we truly need? It may be more than you think. It may be less than you think. But knowing what it is should certainly impact how we live.

Just as the three requests of the Lord’s Prayer help form of our desires (the message from a few weeks ago), the last three requests form in us an understanding of our needs—our true needs. Give us today what is necessary, forgive us even as we forgive others, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

Join us in worship as explore the essential formative prayer for the Christian life, the Lord’s Prayer.

We often talk about the Resurrection of Jesus from the tomb as proof of Christianity. To be sure, if Christ was not raised, our faith is in vain (1 Cor. 15:14). However, that the Resurrection of Christ is proof of Christianity doesn’t mean we can argue people into the faith by offering proofs of the Resurrection. Faith is a gift from God and has to come from Christ Jesus Himself.

The New Testament presents the Resurrection of Jesus as the basis of our hope—the basis of all hope! Arguably, the Resurrection is the only basis for true hope available to humanity, yet how many of us could explain what our hope is and why it makes a difference both in this life and the life to come?

Does the Resurrection merely provide hope for an unending life, as if time was our only problem? What if that life was as broken as this? How does the Resurrection change that? How does this hope shape our lives in such a way that Christ’s resurrection makes a difference in the world today?

Every Sunday is Resurrection Day (which is why we meet on Sunday), but this week we gather to remember specifically the Resurrection of Jesus from the grave. Join us as we worship our Risen King and explore this under the title, The Resurrection and Real Hope.