Gulf Coast Community Church - Sunday Sermons

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

Commenting on the well-known verse in John 13:35, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another,” Francis Schaeffer says, “If an individual Christian does not show love toward other true Christians, the world has a right to judge that he or she is not a Christian.” Then, referencing John 17:21 where Jesus prays that we would “all be one… so that the world may believe that” the Father sent the Son, he says, “We cannot expect the world to believe that the Father sent the Son, that Jesus’s claims are true, that Christianity is true, unless the world sees some reality of the oneness of true Christians.”

Randy Alcorn, in the November issue of Eternal Perspectives, writes,

“Churches are experiencing a pandemic of tribalism, blame, and unforgiveness—all fatal to the love and unity Jesus spoke of. Rampant either/or thinking leaves no room for subtlety and nuance. Acknowledging occasional truth in other viewpoints is seen as compromise rather than fairness and charitability.

We’ve all been affected by this. The particulars of our church nuance the discussion in directions that the particulars of another church would not, but that is true anywhere. Some blame each other (“If only they would _____.”), some blame the elders or me, and I blame someone else.

Regardless, one thing the last two years has taught me, and a costly lesson it is, we have not equipped this church well on how to handle disagreements, sinful or otherwise, how to approach each other, or how to communicate with the elders in a way that is other than frustrating. By “we,” I really mean me, since I do the bulk of the teaching here and have the most input into what that diet should look like.

For us to be a church that advances the Gospel of King Jesus, we must learn how to how to handle disagreements, sinful or otherwise, how to approach each other, and how to communicate with the elders, in a way that is other than frustrating.

There are plenty of places we could begin looking for a solution. We are going to begin with something that gets as close to the center of the culture that must permeate any church—a culture of gentleness or meekness.

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2022/02/20220206.pdf

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

After citing Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-35, with their snapshots of the church at its ideal best, Mark Buchanan writes,

“It’s funny, but the older I get and the longer I’m in ministry, the more naive and idealistic I become, at least in some areas…. I more and more believe that the church can look and sound and believe and act like the church did two thousand years ago, when the Spirit first fell like fire and came like a hurricane, and everyone liked everyone else, and shared as anyone had need, and bystanders rushed to become participants. I not only believe that this is possible; I believe it’s normative. It’s the way it’s supposed to be.” (Your Church is Too Safe, 144-5)

I share his sentiment. In other words, this isn’t in the Bible just so we can know how bad we are as churches in comparison; it is in the Bible because we are supposed to strive for it, believing it is in some large measure possible.

But there is a problem, and one that exists not just in churches today but in virtually every church mentioned in the New Testament. What is it? That this glorious vision for the church waxes and wanes in the hearts of God’s people in the long marathon of faith. Jesus warned about this waning, and the author of Hebrews faced it head on.

Handout: https://media.gccc.net/2022/01/20220130.pdf

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

There are movie remakes, the obvious ones with the same title, and then there are remakes, the not so obvious ones. Not only has The Magnificent Seven been remade, but the original was itself a remake of Seven Samurai. Just take out the Samurais and substitute cowboys. Flubber, with Robin Williams, is a direct remake of The Absent-Minded Professor; You’ve Got Mail a remake of The Shop Around the Corner.

The Bible is full of remakes because history is full of remakes. There are more obvious ones. Like Abram telling Pharaoh that Sarah was his sister, and then both Abraham and Isaac doing the same thing to Abimelech. For that matter, the life of Jesus himself is cast in the Gospels as a remake of the story of Israel (e.g. going through the water into 40 days/years in the wilderness with testing).

I offer that the story of the so-called demoniac at Gerasenes or Gadarenes is a remake of David and Goliath. That this story is commonly called “The Gadarene Demoniac,” might illustrate one problem we have in spiritual warfare, namely that we join the man and the demon in our minds. The citizens of Gerasenes did not realize that the problem was not flesh and blood (Eph. 6:12). Just ask them. They chained the man. They kept the man under watch. They continually tried to subdue him. All to no avail.

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2022/01/20220123.pdf

Speaker: Bruce Reynolds

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

How would you answer the question, “What is the Gospel?” Have you ever wondered, “Is the Gospel of the Kingdom which Jesus proclaimed the same as the Gospel we are to proclaim?” Gospel is a word Christians throw around a lot, and churches even split over whether one remains true to it or not, though what they are splitting over might not be quite as clear.

Of course, one might say, the Gospel is the “good news.” And yes, at one level that is the meaning of the word. But that is a little like saying that aboveboard means something is over a board, which of course misses the point. When the NT writers introduced the word “gospel” it was not a new term but had a usage and meaning in their world.

What is the Gospel? Why is it frequently modified with “of the Kingdom” in the Scripture. What does the Gospel have to do with what we call the four gospels in our NT? We will explore the answer to these questions this Sunday as we discuss the kingdom message.

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2022/01/20220109.pdf

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

Happy New Year! As we start the year, in a new series, we are going to be highlighting different ways that we are to be participants in advancing the Gospel of the Kingdom. This Sunday we will focus on kingdom praying. By kingdom praying, I simply mean praying with the purposes, the values, the mission of God’s Kingdom, or rule in the earth. This is important for your personal prayer life, and essential for our corporate prayer life (how we pray together).

Do you ever read those descriptions in Acts about how the believers lifted their voices in one accord to God and wondered how that could be accomplished? Or read about Jesus’ times of prayers and wondered what kinds of things he prayed about? Is there any connecting theme to the various kinds of things we should pray for when we gather?

Of course, learning to pray together is not merely an academic endeavor any more than learning soccer is. One must put it into practice before any of this will matter. Much praying that is only slightly focused on God’s kingdom purposes is better than very kingdom focused prayers that are never uttered. All the learning about prayer and the importance of praying together, without the actual coming together to pray, will make no difference in the world. There are no armchair quarterbacks in kingdom praying.

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2022/01/20220102.pdf

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

Incarnation. The word gets thrown around this time of year. Rick Serdynski mentioned at the Friday morning prayer meeting this week that he noticed on a list of college basketball scores the name of a school: Incarnate Word. By the looks of it, they are not having a good year. What does Incarnation mean? What relevance does it have for us today? Does it matter?

This sermon did not begin with me thinking about the Incarnation. It began with a question: What are we hoping for? I realize we are hoping for the fulness of the kingdom of God, but what would it look like if it came? I began in Isaiah 9, with the promise of a child given as an answer to the darkness of this world, whose governance would bring about shalom and justice and would never end. My thoughts went shortly to Matthew where Isaiah 9:2 is quoted at the onset of Jesus’ earthly ministry. If one wants a picture of what the kingdom of God in fulness would look like, one needs to look no further than the earthly ministry of Jesus… up until his final experience in Jerusalem.

After a couple of weeks of thinking about that, I heard a reading of the opening verses from John’s Gospel (1:1-14). And that very last phrase caught my attention. “Full of grace and truth.” I realized that this is another way of answering the question: What would it look like if the kingdom of God came in its fulness? It would look like a king and his people full of grace and truth. I was immediately pricked in my heart that “full of grace and truth” would far too often not describe me.

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2021/12/20211226.pdf

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

Speaker: Ryan Carver

Speaker: Peter Stonecipher