Sermons

When we talk about Christianity or Jesus or the mission of the church, what should be our leading edge, our top priority, what we see as most important? Our passage is going to help us see there’s one thing that rises to the top: who do we say Jesus is?

Christian leaders and pastors from several denominations recently have gathered to discern answers to difficult questions about how we, as Christians, should navigate the time and culture in which we live; and they’ll all tell you: it’s hard. As a Christian, how do you faithfully and authentically be who you have been called to be in Christ, particularly in a time and place where you may not easily fit? This passage will help us see the two key elements to every answer: Truth & Grace.

As a Christian, negativity toward our faith can be intimidating and it can create confusion or doubt. That’s understandable, but through this passage God wants us to see the truth of the matter; to be reminded of the reason why we’re called to be a Christ centered church making and sending disciples in the generation and the next. That’s because the gospel is not a problem but the power of God for salvation for all who will believe.

All of us have difficult seasons in our lives and when we do, our natural reaction is to look to God and ask for his help. There are many reasons we do that, one of them is because God has made promises to us that we turn to in hard times. But what do we do when we feel like God has forgotten about us or his promises? How are we supposed to handle that? This passage will show us that we can wait on God with confidence because we know God will always fulfill his promises.

Whether at school or the workplace, we’ve probably experienced cliques, polarizing perspectives, and favoritism. But what happens when these are present within our faith community? Writing to a church crippled by divisions, open sin issues, and theological confusion, Paul addresses the heart of the matter while teaching important principles for our life together.

Guest speaker Adam Jones

When you take inventory of the world today, our nation today, maybe your family today, how confident are you in our leadership’s ability, your boss’s ability, or your ability to lead things to a good end? How confident are you that they or you will identify what is best, choose to pursue it, and have the capability to achieve it? The passage this week will remind us that when we ask these questions of God, everything changes. And that’s good news.

For many of us, a nightmare situation we dread is that we’ll wake up one day, when our life is coming to an end, and realize we’ve wasted our whole life. How can we have any confidence that our lives will have any real meaning or lasting impact? This week’s passage will show us that a life that follows Jesus is a life full of meaning. So, we can live confidently and with courage because we know that in Christ, none our life will be a waste.

When I ask people what’s the one thing they’d want to ask Jesus to do in and around their life, the most popular answer is make peace. This passage will ask us to consider if there is ever anything we should put ahead of peace and the answer will be, “Yes”. As much as we want peace, and as much as Jesus calls us to be peacemakers, Jesus also wants us to pursue truth; to be truth-tellers. That’s because it’s more loving to give people the truth of Jesus than a false peace.

A question I’ve been asking people for months is, “If you could ask Jesus to do one thing in your life, your family, your neighborhood, what would it be?” The one thing I’ve heard the most is the desire for peace; the desire for wholeness, rest, health, rightness. In a time like ours, that can feel pretty far-fetched, but it’s not. Our passage this week will affirm our desire for peace, show us where we can find it, and also show us we each are the ones Jesus might use to make it.

Fear is on the rise in our time. Report after report shows that people in the United States are far more afraid than they used to be. One of Fountain City’s core values is courageous faith; choosing to trust and follow God even when it’s risky. Why would we value that? How can we actually pursue it? We’ll see from the Apostle Paul’s life it has everything to do with resting in God’s will.