Sermons Christ Community Church: Daytona Beach, FL

Psalm 73 is sometimes called a wisdom psalm because its purpose is to teach wisdom. One interesting feature of this psalm is that it begins with its conclusion. Verse 1 says; Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. This is going to be the conclusion, but Asaph is going to tell us how he had to come to that conclusion. It was quite a path he traveled.

We are designed to desire God's presence. Just as our bodies are designed for water, our souls are designed for God. But it easy to get distracted from the presence of God, which is why we need to deepen our dependence upon him as our true source of satisfaction.

There are a lot of times in life when it makes good sense to search for a better way, a better path to take. But how often do we ask if there is a better way to do life itself, a better path to take for all of life? The first Psalm offers us exactly that. It's the introduction to the whole book of Psalms, one of the greatest books of wisdom in the Scriptures and in all of literature. It presents all of life as a choice between two paths or ways.

The book of Psalms is famous for the way it speaks about two things: the pain of life and the praise of God. We often find it hard to put the two together. How can you be heartfelt about the praise of God if you are honest about the pain of life? What the psalms teach us is that it is not only possible to be thankful, it's important. When life is going well thankfulness reminds us that behind all of the good gifts of life there is a God who is good. When life seems filled with troubles, being thankful doesn't dissolve your troubles but it can transform your spirit. It can be an act of faith that gives you the strength to get through trouble without bitterness or foolishness.

God wants us to be confident. He has given us a whole group of Psalms that are called Psalms of Confidence. The 23rd Psalm is one of these. God intended that as we read, sing and meditate on these Psalms that they would instill within us confidence. In Psalm 23, this confidence comes from knowing that God is our shepherd and host, and as such, we will have everything that we need.

In this final message of our series on the Cross of Christ and the Life You Live, our guest speaker, Mr. Jude Hama, talks about the cross and Christian missions.

For Christians the cross is central. It's written somewhere that after a famous Chinese Christian leader died in prison this note was found under his bed: “Christ is the Son of God. He died to atone for men's sin, and after three days rose again. This is the most important fact in the universe. I die believing in Christ.” When we talk about the cross of Christ, that is what we mean, something real that happened in history: God in human flesh, Jesus, dying for our sins and rising again from the dead. Now of course, the cross is not only an important fact of history, it is also something that affects all of us today. That's what we see in Hebrews chapter 10. This passage shows us the relationship between the cross and what you might call four Christian essentials.

Our whole culture and society today seems to be creating a growing number of people who are filled with an unhealthy love for, and focus on, themselves. It creates a mindset and an attitude in which you live for yourself more than others. This leaves many people ill-equipped for anything other than a self-centered life in which their "quivering self" gives up on challenges very quickly and blames others because this self has to feel good about itself all the time. The irony is, this unbalanced love for one's self never actually leaves you feeling good about yourself. It is not only bad for your relationships, it's also bad for you. It creates unhealthy expectations and sets you up for continual disappointments. That's why it is so important that we grasp what Paul is saying in Philippians 2:1-11; how the cross calls us to a different approach to our relationships with each other.

We've been talking about the cross in recent sermons. What we mean by the cross is not just the physical symbol of a cross, but the truth of what happened when Christ died on the cross and what it means for us. The passage we're looking at in Ephesians speaks about this when it says Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a sacrifice for our sins. The cross is about Christ giving himself to pay for our sin so that we could be redeemed by His grace. Grace is undeserved love. You don't earn it, you receive it by placing your faith in Jesus, trusting Him as your Savior. That's the message of the cross.

The English word "hope" is often used for something that isn't much more than a wish. “I hope we get there on time”. “I hope we win the game”. “I hope the microphone works for church”. That's not what the Bible is talking about. In the Bible your hope is not just a wish. It is a conviction; a certainty. In the book of Hebrews hope is spoken of as an “anchor” for the soul. Hope is confidence that God will keep his promises even though it hasn't happened yet. One way hope is misunderstood is if it gets watered down into a wish when it is really a certainty.