Gulf Coast Community Church - Sunday Sermons

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

In this week’s text, Jesus is saying, “All your thinking about how things work and what is important is upside down. To enter the kingdom heaven which has drawn near and remains so, you will have to be reeducated regarding how things work and what is important!”

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are lowly, blessed are those who long for justice (because they get none).” We don’t naturally believe this. We naturally think: “Blessed are the rich and powerful for have access to everything this world offers. Blessed are those who have nothing to mourn, for they are quite comfortable. Blessed are the takers in this world, for they finish with the most toys. Blessed are those who have connections, for justice is about who you know and not about what you did.”

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 – 7) is one of the most popular pieces of scripture world-wide. But it is not often taken seriously as something we need to apply in our own lives. It is in the opening verse that disciple is used for the first time in our New Testaments. Here we will find significant meaning to what it means.

Join us in worship as we explore the opening section of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:1-16).

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2019/02/20190217.pdf

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

F.D. Bruner suggests a translation of Matthew 4:17 that captures well the meaning, “Turn your lives around, for here comes the kingdom of heaven.” What follows in Jesus’ ministry reveals how this announcement calls us to respond; what it means to turn our lives around.

This announcement, “Here comes the kingdom of heaven,” is a bit like one might say, back in the day that trains were the primary means of getting from place to place, “the train is coming.” Suppose you planned to go to NY on the train and someone said, “here comes the train.” They are telling you 2 things: 1) An opportunity exists right now for you! 2) If you don’t act, you will miss your opportunity! Why? Because the train is not parking! Likewise the kingdom of heaven is not standing still. When it comes, we must act!

This Sunday’s text (Matthew 4:18-25), helps us understand what this announcement is like and what it really means to “repent” and to “follow Jesus.” In doing so, it also reveals a foundation for what Matthew, the model disciple, thinks it means to be a disciple.

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2019/02/20190210.pdf

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? A quick Amazon search on “discipleship” reveals that a lot has been written on the topic recently, and one would have to multiply that to figure many times to estimate what has been written in the last 2,000 years. However, with so much having been said on the topic, it seems that instead of greater clarity, a great fog has set in!

This Sunday we begin our new series, DISCIPLE 1.0: Examining the Original Release through Matthew’s Eyes. Matthew’s gospel, though it may not have been the first gospel written, is in some sense the first manual written on what it means to be a disciple. Very early it took the position of prominence at the front of our New Testaments because it gets to the core of what it means to be a disciple, including teaching us the very purpose for which disciples live.

If we want clarity about what it means to be a disciple, we must examine this first manual—the original release. The “20.19 release” consists of hundreds of books. All of these must be evaluated in light of the original release—1.0. Whatever else we consider important to being a disciple, Matthew’s gospel lays out for us what is essential.

Join us in worship as we begin this series exploring Matthew 3:1—4:17 under the heading, “There’s Another Kind of Kingdom Coming.” We will learn what the kingdom of heaven coming near (3:1 and 4:17) has to do with being a disciple.

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2019/02/20190203.pdf

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

January is that time of year that pastors often communicate what the church is doing during the year ahead. They lay out either their one, three, or five-year plan. I confess, I am not much for that sort of thing as it often turns into motivational speeches about the pastor’s favorite project. This Sunday I want to speak about what God has called us to do in 2019… 2020… 2025… well, every year!

Why do we do what we do? Or to ask it another way: What is the goal of our community groups? What are we hoping to see happen because of our Friday AM prayer meetings @ 6:30? Why do we offer biblical counseling free to our members and, as much as possible, to the community? Why do we have classes, yard sales, children’s ministry, re:generation (youth), and premarital counseling? Why do we help one another when in need with meals and share our resources as if they are not our own?

We are striving for something! We are striving for full restoration (2 Cor. 13:11). What does this mean? How do we do it?

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2019/01/20190127.pdf

Speaker: Zac McNabb

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

Last month in Louisville, KY, Mark Espinosa, an armored car driver disappeared with his truck and $850,000. A week later, in Rutherford, NJ, just over half a million fell out the back door of an armored car because the rear door had a mechanical issue. Cash went flying everywhere. Almost $300,000 remains missing.

Armored cars (trucks) are intended to protect and deliver. In order to deliver what was entrusted to them, first, they have to protect it. If a truck shows up to make a delivery, but the entrusted deposit flew out the back door on the way, it doesn’t matter. If the driver runs off with it, it won’t get there. Paul’s instruction to Timothy is much like that. Paul focuses protecting and delivering the gospel which has been entrusted to us.

Why is the gospel so valuable to protect and so central to the ministry of the church? How do we protect and deliver it? What practices do we have that are intended to ensure that we fulfill this obligation faithfully? How do we form our church life around this vital mission of the church to protect and deliver the gospel?

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2019/01/20190113.pdf

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

This Sunday we are birthing a church, so to speak, as we send out a church plant right here in St. Petersburg. We are also saying so long to friends, family, and a pastor. What is this thing we call “church”? Why do we make so much of it?

Stanley Hauerwas, speaking at the funeral of his pastor, recalled a comment this pastor had frequently made: “I could not have thought the church up. I could not have imagined church.” What did this pastor mean? The church is something that God thought up. In fact, the church, whether it is Gulf Coast Community Church or any other local church around the globe, is a miracle.

It takes a miracle for people of different backgrounds, ways of speaking, economic standing, political philosophies, and likes and dislikes to come together in order to do life together in a common cause. It takes a miracle for young people to care about the needs of the older and for older to care about the needs of the younger (rather than just complain about each other!). It takes a miracle for the rich to care about the poor, and the poor to care about those with wealth.

The church birthed on Pentecost was a miracle. It was a miraculous creation… a miraculous new creation.

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2019/01/20190106.pdf

Speaker: Aron Osborne

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

I’ve seen a lot of church and school Christmas plays which involve the magi, or as they are commonly called, the wisemen. As a child I was a shepherd, but never one of the wisemen, I’m not sure if they were telling me something. However, I’ve never seen the whole scene, massacre of the children included, included in a play.

Wrestling through this tragedy, which really happened, and happened as a result of the birth of Christ, or even, in order that Christ would be spared, is not easy, and certainly not pleasant to think about. And though the bible doesn’t always answer such questions, it demonstrates that God transforms even the worst tragedies into redemptive realities, into places where the kingdom of heaven has truly come near.

Tomorrow, once again, I will not be dressed as a wiseman but only as one who practices the foolishness of preaching. As we explore Matthew 2, we will do so under three headings: The Fools; The Kings; and The Children. In the end, we must recognize that we are fools and not kings, in order that we may become one of the children.

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2018/12/20181223.pdf

Speaker: Jerry Cisar

Whether we are talking about Charlottesville, VA, Las Vegas, or the shooting at Majorie Stoneman Douglas HS in Parkland, FL, conflicts at the border with caravans, wildfires in Paradise, CA, it is clear that the world needs peace. Therefore, we need to pause and consider the coming of Christ, Advent.

Advent, another word for “the coming of the Lord,” has been celebrated in our family, the church, for millennia during that season in which we remember the Lord’s coming. Why celebrate Advent? What are we celebrating? What has the coming of Christ changed?

We don’t celebrate Advent because the world was transformed by it to look like a Currier & Ives print. Jesus came because the world we live in is not filled with peace, but violence, conflict, and brokenness. We celebrate Advent because there is only One who leads to the restoration of peace.

Jesus came into a broken world to bring peace, but in order to bring peace he had to bring a sword, but not the same kind of sword that Rome used. Jesus is God with us, but He did not come triumphantly, to conquer by sword. His coming may cause many to experience human swords or division, but His coming brings peace through completely other means!

Join us as we celebrate Advent in a look at Matthew 1 in worship of our Savior.

Handout: http://media.gccc.net/2018/12/20181216.pdf