Who Is Jesus?

This answer must be known in order to find true fulfillment and satisfaction in life. So who is Jesus? Colossians 1:15-20 tells us who He is.

• He is the IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD (v.15). He is the exact representation of God, of which Hebrews 1:1-4 echoes.  In all things, Jesus Christ represents the divine nature and perfection of God.
• He is the FIRSTBORN OF ALL CREATION  (v. 15). This phrase is often misunderstood as saying that Jesus is a created being (as taught erroneously by some groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses), but that’s not what it means.  Firstborn is a word of position, not time.  It’s a word that means someone (something) is in an elevated position, the highest ranking.  That’s the place of Jesus– higher than all of creation!  More valuable than anything we’ve ever known!
• ALL THINGS WERE CREATED THROUGH HIM AND FOR HIM  (v.16).  Jesus created all, and all things find purpose in Him alone (because they are for Him).  When we step aside of His design and order, things fall apart and are often lack peace.

Monday Morning Rewind: Romans 12:1-2 As A "Hinge"

I like to think of Romans 12:1-2 as a hinge.  Here’s why:

Romans 1-11 is Paul’s discourse on doctrine; on the grace of God shown through His Son, Jesus Christ.  In 12:1, the tone changes.  Paul no longer is teaching doctrine, but shifts at this point to give practical application of the teaching.  But I think the whole book of Romans “hinges” on 12:1-2.

After Romans 11:36, we know for certain that the Roman believers Paul is writing to know 3 things: Christ, this teaching they’ve just received, and the ways of the world (because they’ve seen the ways of the people around them and were once themselves part of worldly ways).  In my illustration of a hinge– I most commonly think of a door when I think of a hinge.  If 12:1-2 is the hinge, then the Romans are standing at a door with knowledge of at least these 3 things.

Here’s why I call it a hinge- if we don’t practice 12:1-2, we’ll never be able to open the door to God’s purpose in our lives.

Monday Morning Rewind: What Is Truth? (John 18:33-38)

What are Monday Morning Rewinds?  Click here to see my original post explaining them.

Yesterday I started my new sermon series that coincides with the Truth Project material that our church’s community groups will be working through.  This first sermon answered the question what is truth? The main text was John 18:33-38.  You can listen to the sermon and download PP materials at our church’s online audio page.

I started by outlining 5 sources of authority that usually dictate what we choose to do:

1. Reason- I do what I do because I think it is right.
2. Experience- I do what I do because I feel it is right.
3. Tradition- I do what I do because it is the way it has always been done.
4. Peer Pressure- I do what I do because others are doing it.
5. Revelation- I do what I do, think the way I think, and live the way I live, because God says so in His revealed Word.

Our society is undecided in what truth is.  Some churches are undecided on what truth is.  Some claim there is no absolute truth.  But the denial of truth never extinguishes truth.

No Monday Morning Rewind

There will be no Monday Morning Rewind today because Rev. Chas Carlisle preached yesterday.  Pastor Chas is the founding pastor of Living Stone Community Church in Shelby, OH, and is the leader behind the Jericho Journey, a vision to start 10 church in the next five years throughout communities near Shelby.  Coming to Central as part of our Live Intentionally focus, his challenge to us came from Jonah: we choose every day to go to Ninevah or Tarshish.  Meaning, we decide every day if we are going to make God known or flee from doing that, as Jonah tried to do.

It was a great message that was timely for our church, and you can listen to it on our online audio page.

Monday Morning Rewind: Engaging Our Culture with Truth (Acts 17:16-31)

What are Monday Morning Rewinds?  Click here to see my original post explaining them.

Yesterday’s sermon was the fifth sermon for our 2010 focus for the church: Live Intentionally.  This sermon dealt with the scripture text of Acts 17:16-31.  You can listen to this sermon here.

In yesterday’s sermon, I sought to answer this question:  how can we stand firmly on God’s Word in the midst of the ungodliness around us? With that, the question stands: How can we engage our culture with truth?

I gave some definitions of these words because when you start using these words, people wonder what you’re really talking about.  Engage means to occupy the efforts or attention; Culture is a very broad word that means the ways and makeup of a community- its people, customs, beliefs, possessions, activities, etc. Truth can be easily defined as Jesus did in John 14:6 by saying “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Truth is found in the person and teachings of Jesus Christ.

So, in other words, this message was about how to occupy the attention of people in our community with Jesus Christ.

We started by looking at 2 Corinthians 5:20, a supporting text to our Live Intentionally focus:  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

No Monday Morning Rewind Today

There won’t be a Monday Morning Rewind today because I didn’t preach yesterday.  Instead, Central was blessed by the preaching of Dr. Jack Kwok from the SCBO.  Our worship time also welcomed Dwayne Lee from the SCBO leading music for us in a different way than we were used to.  It was a great blessing to have these two men with us.

Dr. Kwok’s sermon can be found on our sermon page.  It was an excellent message on the reality of heaven from 2 Corinthians 5.

The blessing of this worship time was the experience of truly being in the Lord’s presence and feeling his Spirit among us.  We saw a young lady come to rededicate her life Jesus and submit to Him as He puts the pieces of her life back together! We saw hearts drawn together in prayer as a response to the Scripture that was preached.

This is the time for our church to live intentionally.  My prayer is that the message and excitement from today goes outside of our building!

Monday Morning Rewind- The Power of the Holy Spirit in Our Lives (Acts 2:1-13)

What are Monday Morning Rewinds?  Click here to see my original post explaining them.

Yesterday’s sermon was the third sermon for our 2010 focus for the church: Live Intentionally.  This sermon dealt with the scripture text of Acts 2:1-13.  You can listen to this sermon here.

In yesterday’s sermon, I sought to answer this question:  what does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit?

Christians have the Holy Spirit in our lives!  Yet many Christians live feeling defeated, without joy, or with anxiety.  This doesn’t make sense since these traits are contrary to the nature of the Holy Spirit.  So when we read in Scripture that people were filled with the Holy Spirit, what does it really mean?

I started answering this question by explaining the difference between the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Spirit.  On the screens, I showed a list of all the references in Scripture to each of these (you can download the PowerPoint presentation as a PDF file at our sermons page to see all of the information that was posted).

Paul refers to the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, where it seems he views the baptism of the Holy Spirit as happening at regeneration, or at the admission of one into the body of Christ.  Luke is the only other writer who refers to it (outside of the gospel records of John the Baptist’s words), and we see it in Acts 1:4-5 where he shows Jesus’ quoting of John the Baptist.  After Acts 1:4-5, Luke only refers to the baptism of the Holy Spirit once more, in Acts 11:15-17, where Peter is talking about the initial outpouring of the Spirit on the Gentiles, and likens it to the experience he had (which I believe points back to Pentecost).  Instead of referring to the baptism of the Spirit much more in his writing in Acts, Luke changes his language to say the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Monday Morning Rewind- What Is Our Priority?

What are Monday Morning Rewinds?  Click here to see my original post explaining them.

Yesterday’s sermon was the first of 2010, and I hope it set the tone for our 2010 focus for the church: Live Intentionally.  This sermon dealt with the scripture text of Matthew 28:18-20, dissecting the Great Commission and applying it to our lives and church.  You can listen to this sermon here.

People think of the future when a new year rolls around.  They set goals and think about what the year will bring.  As our church moves forward this year, we must always set before us the answer to this question- what is our priority?

Churches can do a lot of things; so its important to know which ones are worth focusing on.  The Great Commission gives us the foundation of our priority and the ending point of all of our efforts.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

This Scripture starts with Jesus claiming His deity by stating He has all authority in heaven and on earth. John Calvin describes this well when he writes: “on earth because by constraining men to preach His gospel, He is establishing His throne on earth.  In heaven because He regenerates people to a new life, invites them to the hope of salvation, and opens heaven to them.”