Sermons Christ Community Church: Daytona Beach, FL

Psalm 51 shows us no matter how badly you have blown it, no matter how broken your life seems because you have blown it, you can find strength to recover and to live strong in God.

We often need practical help with our tendency to over commit. We have to be reminded to slow down and enjoy the most important things in life. But it's important to know what the Bible says about rest also. Jesus talks about a deeper rest in Matthew 11:28-29 when he said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.” This idea of rest for our souls is what is often missing from a lot of popular advice for dealing with the stresses of life.

Some of us are facing situations right now that don't seem very funny. Maybe one day you will look back on them and chuckle but right now the dangers and fears seem very real and you need strength. The economy isn't the only issue people are struggling with; relationships, crazy emotions and temptations, through the changes of life there are a lot of things for which we need strength. Psalm 27 is about the strength we need and how to find it. Verse 1 says The LORD is the strength of my life. Then the last verse of the Psalm, verse 14, says Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. Here's the confidence this psalm gives you. It tells you WHEN YOU FEEL ALONE, YOU CAN FIND THE STRENGTH YOU NEED IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD.

Ephesians 4 talks about how the body of Christ grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. There's a great old song from 1967 by the Youngbloods; “Get Together”. There are so many ideas in that song in this Scripture. The songs says, “Come on people, now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, try to love one another right now.” Here in Ephesians 4:16 the Scripture says, as the body of Christ we are held together and the church grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. Of course what we have here in Ephesians is not just a sweet song from the sixties but a clear word from God. And it gives us a vision for our lives and for the Christian church that is very different than the way many people think of it.

Who are the people that you would think of today as being the people who are the farthest away from God? Who would be the people that you think God would really be angry with and you would be very uncomfortable with? Think about this. Whoever those people would be for you today, that's who the tax-gathers were in Jesus' day.

This story is about the prophet Jonah. He was sent by God to a city named Nineveh, but he didn't want to go. We'll examine what was going on in the heart of this man, Jonah, when he was sent by God in light of the fact that we are all sent in some way to restore others to a relationship with God.

The message that we are sent to proclaim is “the mystery of Christ”. What that means is that there is a mystery, or a secret, about Christ that most people don't understand or haven't grasped. What we are sent to do is to make it clear. That mystery is not only our message but also our motivation. What is it? It is that Jesus Christ was not just a man, but God in human flesh who came to reconcile us to himself.

Part of living as a Christian is realizing that God sends us, not just in the sense of moving us emotionally but literally sending us on a mission that defines who we are and why we are here so that we live our lives looking to God and saying, in that sense, “You send me. Jesus, you send me.”

There is a kind of life that God designed for us and Jesus modeled for us and yet few people live. This kind of life is a life in which you are linked to God in deep relationship. This was your legacy as those created in the image and likeness of God. It is a legacy lost through man's fall into sin and regained through the victory Christ won for us on the cross when he paid for our sins and rose again from the dead.

We all need endurance. We cannot build the things that endure unless we endure the battle to build. There are a lot of things we need to build into our lives, our family and our community but we need endurance to do those things. The fourth chapter of the book of Nehemiah tells about a time when God's people needed and found this quality of endurance.