Sermons Christ Community Church: Daytona Beach, FL

Because we often have a hard time grasping the complexities of who God is and what he is like, he sometimes uses the mothering image in scripture in addition to his fathering image. We see in God the strong and the tender, the just and the merciful, the masculine and the feminine.

A lot of people first open their hearts up to spiritual life, and to Christ in particular, because something happens or something comes alive within them that creates a longing, a desire for spiritual life. People turn to Christ because they want forgiveness or fulfillment or help with some struggle. And Christ invites us to come with all of those issues and find life and friendship with God through Him. But what we discover when we come to him is that he wants us not only to receive forgiveness but to begin to follow him in our lives. He calls us to join him on a mission that is a big part of our purpose for life.

It is clear from Luke 15 that religious people sometimes fail to understand what Christ is really about. Verses 1 & 2 say: Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. (that is, Jesus) 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." They didn't get it. They didn't understand that God wants people who are far from him to be found and restored to Him. That's what Jesus was all about and we need to be like him.

In the Gospel of John Jesus teaches us a great deal about His Mission. He also teaches us a great deal about what we can expect when we commit to being faithful followers of His mission.

The message of Easter is that something profound happened in human history, something that is so dramatic and important that the implications affect all of our lives. God exists and he came to earth and became one of us for our redemption. In Jesus Christ God was incarnate, he became one of us, lived a perfect life, then died on the cross to pay for our sins. Then as Christians throughout the centuries have confessed in the Apostles' Creed: “On the third day He rose again from the dead.”

The lessons we learn from scripture such as Mark 10:23-45 call us to see our own hearts more clearly. If we are going to follow Jesus we need a radical change of heart and a clear vision of his sacrifice for us. When the gospels tell the story of the first Palm Sunday they quote the prophet Zechariah who foretold the coming of Christ and said, “Behold your king comes to you gentle…” Make him the true king of your heart, and follow him.

Did you know that Jesus had a problem with religion? In Jesus day there were some religious leaders who,if you entrusted the care of your soul to them, you would end up with something lifeless on the inside. That approach to religion is still very much with us. Jesus is still very much against it. It doesn't glorify God and it isn't good for people.

When Jesus called people to follow him he spoke very clearly about what that means. In Luke 9:23 He said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me". This is Jesus' call to discipleship. Where did we ever get the idea that it is okay for some people to call themselves Christians and yet not obey this call to follow Christ as a disciple? One of the most common questions people wrestle with is this: “What should I do with my life?“ Jesus actually gives us the answer with just two words: follow me.

Devotion to Jesus comes from the experience of grace. What is grace? The problem is it is easy to define it with a few words, you can say correctly: “Grace is amazing love that you don't deserve”. What it comes down to is that Jesus wants our devotion and devotion for Jesus comes from an experience of grace. In verse 47 of Luke 7, Jesus says, "He who has been forgiven little loves little". Throughout this story he is teaching us also that he or she who has been forgiven a lot loves a lot. That's the dynamic; the forces of change at work in grace.

It seems some of the biggest temptations we face are not related to things like stealing, murder or embezzling large sums of money but more the small things like saying a harsh word to our spouse or thinking only of ourselves before we think of someone else. We need to see clearly how Jesus deals with temptation and in this series we are looking at the stories of Jesus to see what we can understand about ourselves, our lives, our faith and our hope.