Sermon Reflection::2Thess1:3-12

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Last Sunday David lead us through 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12 focusing on this text during a time of prayer and fasting for our community of believers (listen online). 

We focused on three points of why we must ask for his power to fulfill his good resolve (found in 2 Thess. 1:11-12)

1.  This is how God will make us worthy of his calling: Are we worthy of God's calling? No, but God is sufficient and He is Sanctifying us to His Calling. Verse 11 says "...that our God may make you worthy of his calling…" we cannot make ourselves worthy for the calling. We cannot live morally upright lives to live up to God's calling, Morality DOES NOT EQUAL Christianity. The end goal is giving Christ the glory not living a socially acceptable/philanthropic life - though that may be a fruit of Christianity, it is not the end goal. 

2. We Glorify Him by asking for His power to fulfill His good resolve. For many of us, if we really step back and are honest with ourselves, when we put ourselves in the balance with God, He outweighs us in importance only by a small amount in our mind. David gave a good analogy that we are like the moon, we think we are so bright and shine down over all of the earth, but in reality we are only a small speck of dirt in the sky that only can reflect light from the sun or in this case God's Glory. 

3. He will Glorify us in Jesus' name when we ask for His power to fulfill His good resolve. In Romans 8:30 it says "…those whom He called, He also justified; those whom He justified, He also glorified." When He calls us he will make us worthy of His calling, by justifying, then sanctifying, and when we go home to Him we will be glorified in His name. I look forward to this day that I can go home and share with Christ in Glory. 

-- Phillip Slaughter

Sermon Reflection::James1:5-8

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Last week we learned that trials are a part of God’s design to produce steadfastness and endurance (James 1:2-4). This week we learned the response that God desires from us when we face those trials (James 1:5-8). When you approach the Lord, do so with the understanding of his character. He is the creator, the author, the beginning, and the end. He is full of love and of wrath. He created you with a single purpose: to glorify Him. Pray with a pure heart and the single intent of receiving wisdom in this trial. If your heart is not in the right place, return to your knees and plead for a faith that is consistent and pleasing to Him.

While I am no stranger to trials, my responses have not always been glorifying to Him. There are so many other ways I have addressed and dealt with these hard times. I recently read something that convicted me, and screams this text: “Have you prayed about it as much as you’ve talked about it.” Wow. While seeking the counsel of friends, elders, and mentors is not bad – It should not take the place of wrestling over the issue with the Lord.

My friends, pray for a consistent and pleasing faith that only the Lord can provide. The Lord gives generously and without reproach – face your trials, do not run from them, and see them as opportunities to show God’s glory!

--C3 Member - Rachel Evans

Sermon Reflection::James 1:2-8

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Count it joy, brothers and sisters.
Count it all, the meadows and the bogs,
the jogs through sun, rain, and pollen,
the laughter, and then the frogs

stuck in your throat because of the pain.

Count it joy, brothers and sisters.
Why? Because you're a Christian.
You hail from a legacy of martyrs,
and the glory of God is your mission,

the mission of the ages, nothing to be taken lightly.

Because when you're tried,
when you're placed very carefully into the crucible
of trial, the heat burns intensely, and the walls expand,
and you are purified, strengthened, made durable

under the pain, under the joy of a broken body redeemed.

This is the calling, that affliction
introduces a man to himself, and that for His purpose
of sanctity (though some call it insanity)
we find our strength outside of ourselves, in the poise

of the One who drew the boundaries of the Earth.

When you bruise a flower,
it rewards you with its perfume.
This is the joy of the saints, an unshakeable gift
we need only to ask for, to only presume

that the God of love is giving, and is working all for good.

What an idea, that the most evil of powers
is even unable to design the trials of steadfastness!
That such tests, designed by the perfect designer,
are the means of SANCTIFICATION, REDEMPTION, and MADNESS

for the GLORY OF OUR SAVIOR, our BRIDEGROOM of ETERNITY!

This is love; this is glory; this is perfect;
created by our Father in heaven.
Run well the race of your life,
run it with endurance, straight into the haven

of our Father's steady arms.

Run through the meadows, through the dark forests,
across the snow-capped peaks, and across the valley of dry bones.
Run it with the confidence in a Savior who is so capable
to catch you when you stumble over the stones

who will never forsake you

because you are His child.
And even those stones shout in exultation
for the GLORY of He who is redeeming them,
redeeming us, this broken nation.

We must only ask for Christ, Christ, Christ.

Messiah, Immanuel, Counselor, King.

--Chris Ramos - C3 Member

Sermon Reflection::2Cor 5:14-17

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Praise God for a new beginning, a new identity and a new way of life in His Son Jesus Christ. This past Sunday Justin focused on that through the passage 2 Cor. 5:14-17.  

A new beginning- we are a new creation because we are in Christ. Christ died and rose again to bring death to our old selves and death to lives that were bound to hell. In His resurrection, we get to truly experience a new beginning by having a new life in hope.  
A new identity- because we are in Christ we are a new creation therefore we have a new identity. We were once enemies of God, but now we are children of God through Christ.  
A new way of life- Christ died so we can live for Him. May the love that was displayed on the cross control our lifestyles and the way we love our brothers and sisters in Christ. To love Christ is to love His people.  

I am so thankful that God used Justin in bringing a message that I needed to hear. This past season has been a hard one for me in the fact that I couldn't be joyful in my circumstances. I wanted to live a self-glorying lifestyle, a lifestyle that was all about me and my wants, my needs and my desires. But praise God it's not about me and it's all about His Son and the love that was displayed on the cross.  

My prayer for myself and this church body this year is not to pursue ourselves but to love Christ and His people. May our desires die daily and may we fully live in Him as if it's our last year to live.  


--Mary Calderilla::God is love - C3 Member