The Perfecting Church

So few of us live in a place of consistent peace with ourselves. Many of our emotional, psychological and physiological challenges are rooted in the fact we lack peace. But the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings has come to restore us to His Kingdom and to give us His peace and peace with ourselves.  

Scripture(s): NKJV

Genesis 1:31

Genesis 2:25

Genesis 3:6-11

3.12.2023 Message Takeaways

In the beginning all of creation was very good. 

Separation from God, also separates us from ourselves — locking us into sin and shame. 

Jesus came to deliver us from sin and shame, restoring us to the peace of His Kingdom.  

The Coming Kingdom is God’s divine reordering of the world as we know it, reconciling all things to Himself. Though it begins in personal encounter, the expression of His forceful goodness is intended to impact all of His creation through our surrendered lives. 

We live in a world of people longing and fighting for meaning, identity and belonging. We may have a family name, but it often isn’t enough to embody all we are and desire to be. When we are baptized into Christ, we are baptized into a new name and family. We don’t lose our earthly ones, but we are baptized into the source and purpose for them. In the new birth and baptism, we connect to a past that predates our birth and a future that goes beyond this temporal world. We enter into the name given for God’s entire earthly family — now and forever. 

It was in Antioch where they first called the followers of Jesus — Christians. Never before and no where else in society had Jews, Gentiles, Men, Women, Poor and Rich gathered as one together. There were rigid social boundaries and distinctions drawn around these groups but the Church changed all of that. It became a unique expression of humanity, known for its worship of Jesus and for it’s unity with one another. They Called Us Christians.  

Galatians 2:11-16

Acts 13:1

Acts 11:26

2.19.2023 Message Takeaways

Our identity “in Christ” must inform all of our other identities.  

When ethnicity is supreme in our lives, we struggle with Jesus being Lord of our lives.  

We will be justified by faith in Christ then and we will be justified by faith in Christ now. 

Race and class have entrenched us in a false identity never intended by God. This defining and devaluing of ourselves and fellow image bearers has disfigured and dehumanized humanity. The Church was established to be an outpost of God’s Kingdom in the earth, redeeming us from defining and devaluing, by ushering in a Beloved Community marked by its loving esteem of one another and fellow image bearers. God has made us all greater than the way we’ve defined and devalued one another.  

The business of building the Church is Jesus’ business; and from the very beginning until the very end, the Church Jesus builds comprises every nation, tribe, people and language. This isn’t to say a mono-ethnic Church is out of His will, it’s to say a decidedly mono-ethnic one is. May His Church be the barrier-breaking, bridge-building, peace-making witness described and prescribed in His word and so desperately needed in this world

We live in a day and time where we address nearly every issue in some natural way. We are more likely to pursue counseling, therapy or medication than we are prayer, fasting and repentance. While natural remedies are important and they have their place. There are some things in our lives that are above natural remedies. They are a different kind of opposition.

As we fast, there must be a focus, there must be an expectation. As a woman who has just been told that she is pregnant, there is preparation for what is to come. Expectation is the womb of manifestation.

God is a gentleman, is a common refrain among clergy and followers of Jesus. It captures the meekness that’s a part of God’s character. He has all power; He is present in all places; and He knows all things — but He doesn’t use His power, presence and knowledge to bully His will into our lives. But there are times, both in the Bible and our personal experience, when God uses His power, presence and knowledge to force His goodness on us. And when we find ourselves in those moments, it’s dangerous and possibly fatal to resist. When God wants, what He wants, for His creation and our lives, it’s best for us to bow and shout - All Hail the King!

If we could take all of the decisions we’ve ever made and form a person with them, it would be exactly who we are right now. Our lives are the cumulative effect of decisions — the ones we’ve made and the ones that’ve been made for us. Fasting and prayer is one of those decisions. Fasting and Prayer is a decision to consecrate, dedicate — setting our lives apart to choose God over and over again.