Ccf Sunday Messages

While Pastor Steve is away this Sunday, one of our elders, Todd Giszack, continues the study through the book of Ephesians, covering chapter 5.

While Pastor Steve is away this week, Associate Pastor and Elder Dave Vollmer continues the study through the book of Ephesians titled "Every Spiritual Blessing." In this installment, Dave covers Ephesians chapter 3

Continuing our study in Romans, Paul, having finished the section in chapters 9-11 dealing with Israel, now turns his attention to the church, and so do we! After eleven chapters spilling over with the discussion of, and argument for, being saved by grace and not religious performance, Paul will not neglect to bring it home to our practical lives!  What we believe will always impact how we behave. These final chapters of Romans are intensely practical, and in chapter twelve Paul wastes no time getting to the heart of the matter within the life of the church: what do we mean when we talk about “worship”?  For some, including the religious Jews, worship involves carefully planned and performed ceremonies, meticulously conducted by only the select few while others participate with fear that they might make a mistake or misstep and bring down the wrath of God! For others worship is the emotional feeing of letting loose altogether and raising hands and singing and

As we finish up Romans chapter 11 today, we close out this section of Romans we've entitled the "Synagogue of Israel." If you do a quick breeze through the book of Acts, you will see that Paul the apostle would first visit the local synagogue and give them first “dibs” on the good news.  When the Jews would reject it, Paul would reach out to then Gentiles!  See Acts 13:46 and 18:6 for particularly strong examples. Given his experiences we can see why Paul, seeing this pattern of rejection over and over again, would have been so troubled by it. Here are the very people of God with all of their heritage and privileges, and they have rejected Jesus! Paul was so heartbroken over this.  But, Paul saw the brilliance of a bigger plan at work!  That plan is laid out in the rest of Romans chapter 11.  Listen in and understand the plan God has for the Jewish people and how that plan is unfolding. May God give us a love and appreciation for the Jewish heritage

While Paul is specifically burdened for the salvation of his own people, the Jews, this section of Romans has broad application, even to us today! Romans 10:14-17 has lit the fire under the “missionary movement” of the church for centuries. However, at times the fire for missions has been burning hotter than others. What is the status of that fire in our time? How about in your heart? As we talk about Paul’s hope for the religious Jews to know and believe God’s unconditional love for them, we can imagine people all over the world who have no Bible teaching church, no missionary, no understanding of the true and living God, no word of God. Its hard to imagine! The truth about Jesus is not just about where people spend eternity. It changes how they live now, how they think about family, children, God and themselves. If God’s word is for everyone, and whoever calls on the name of God will be saved, and God has chosen to use human messengers—like Paul himself

After Christ was crucified on Friday, He was buried before sundown so the Jews could observe their sabbath, Saturday.  There is only one reference to any events that happened on Saturday, and it is a mention of the Pharisees going to Pilate to ask for a guard at the tomb.  Other than that, the Scriptures are silent. But Holy Saturday yields to Resurrection Sunday!  It starts with women, including Mary Magdalene, coming to the tomb early to bring spices, and, well, you know the rest of the story! Now, I think we all have no problem agreeing that Jesus rose from the dead 2000 years ago.  Instead of arguing the proof points of the resurrection this Easter I will simply refer you to the Book of Acts, chapter 1, where Luke the author of that book tells us that Jesus presented Himself ALIVE by many infallible proofs!  So the question we deal with on this Easter, we know that Jesus is alive, but what about you? Are you alive?  Now of course you are

In many ways Christians over the centuries have been guilty of making salvation a complex matter. In this continuing study through Romans 9-11, as Paul speaks directly to his fellow countrymen, the Jews, to beg them to be reconciled to God, he breaks down salvation as simply as it possibly can be represented. Specifically, verse 9 states: "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." This simple truth is so important to understand, and more importantly, to internalize and believe on the one who died for us. Listen in as Pastor Steve unpacks this short section of Romans chapter 10.

As we continue studying Paul's concern for his Jewish countryman in Romans chapter 9 you might say, “I'm not a Jew, so who cares!?” Well, given that the mistake the Jews were making is one that people today can make it's important for us to listen in and understand. Have you heard the saying, “So close, yet so far away?” That doesn’t just explain Israel’s predicament, but also many churchgoing people. After all, Israel, in their self-established traditions and formalities and religious routines, completely missed God! They had religion in their heads but God was absent from their hearts. God offers a complete and close relationship with Him as a gift to be received and not a right to be earned. Our relationship with Him is based on His mercy and sustained by His unconditional love. We come to him by trusting that He wants us to come and those that respond to His invitation are richly rewarded! These truths that Paul shares through the end of ch

Having reached the summit of God’s grace at the end of Romans chapter eight we concluded that "nothing can separate us from the love of God." Chapter nine moves us into the next section — comprising chapters 9-11— a section we're calling the "Synagogue of Israel." Now we will see how God’s grace includes His plan for Israel! Chapter nine is the first step along the path, looking at God’s dealings with the Jewish people. As he rejoices over being so secure in Christ, Paul remembers his Jewish friends and family that have rejected Jesus and blamed Paul for rejecting Moses and his own heritage. The main theme of Romans chapter nine is God’s sovereignty; the big question that comes from this chapter is, “Does God create some people just to destroy them?” If some are chosen to be saved, does that (by association) mean that some are not chosen and won’t be saved? If you have heard of “Calvinism” or “predestin

We bring Romans chapter 8 to a close this week with some concluding thoughts from Paul. Not only does this passage wrap up the chapter, but it ties up the entirety of the first eight chapters of Romans!  This passage is as “dense” as they come! Dense?  Yes! Packed with incredible, life changing truth on every line! In a world where people are filled with internal pain and turmoil — meaninglessness, unfulfilled desires, fleeting glory, confused about purpose — most people have found relief from painful emotions by pursuing entertainment, recreation, drugs and alcohol, or relationships with people.  This next section of Romans addresses these issues, but so much more! Listen in as Pastor Steve closes out this pivotal chapter as we continue our study through Romans.

Paul continues to lay out the amazing grace of God in Romans chapter 8; the grace by which His Spirit lives in us, changes us, and makes us a child of God. These are things that “rule keeping” can never do. Two more things we learn in the next section: the Spirit gives us hope and the Spirit helps us pray. Both of these are in the context of hardships. Why doesn’t God protect His children from suffering? Why is the world so messed up? If God is good, why does He allow hardship and sickness and broken relationships and school shootings and tsunamis and all the rest? Why are relationships so hard? Why is addiction so tough to conquer? When will the battle be over? The main words used in this next section are “hope” and “eagerly wait”. A hope for something that we don’t have now but can be confident is coming. What are we hoping for? Will it ever come? Can we be sure? Listen in as Pastor Steve takes us through this next section of the

As we continue our Romans study in chapter 8, we continue to see Paul talking about living life “in the Spirit”. This is in contrast to another kind of life that Paul says is “according to the flesh”. Living a life pleasing to God is not about following a rigid set of moral laws and performing spiritual rituals. It is about the very life of God (the Spirit) being infused into our lives by faith and the power of God! Would you rather have a book about swimming, complete with pictures and diagrams and explanations of all the different strokes and even the history of swimming, or would you rather have the Spirit of Michael Phelps come into your life? Which would make you a better swimmer?! The first option gives me knowledge but no power, and the second gives me knowledge and power. In this next section, Paul uses some pretty clear illustrations to tell us that life with God - life in the Spirit - is not about rules but about a relationship! Now he uses the relationship bet

We are now entering Romans 8, which is just a continuation of what the apostle Paul has been discussing in Chapter 7: we are in the “Power Plant” — where we discover the power source for living the Christian life! We know it is in not in our own power to live a life pleasing to God — that was the topic of chapter 7 that ends with Paul declaring what a wretched man he was! As the song states, it was amazing grace that saved a wretch like me. So do you want to know how to live this new life pleasing to God? Listen in as Pastor Steve opens Romans 8 and we find out how to be exempt from the law of sin and death. No condemnation, no punishment, no death! That sounds pretty important, so how it work? Not by religious rules and rituals! Listen in as Paul tells us how in Romans chapter 8.

One of our elders, Dave Vollmer, brings a timely reminder from 1 Peter: we are meant to be pilgrims and aliens here; this place is not our home. When we get too comfortable, we forget that our hope should be in Christ alone, who has given us an inheritance that will not fade away, "reserved in heaven for you!" Peter is reminding these early church "pilgrims" that when sufferings and trials come, they are part of that reminder that this is not the place we will find our hope, and it purifies our faith and brings glory to God, the very thing we were created to do. Give praise to Jesus for being our "living hope" and dedicate yourself to getting in His word and knowing Him so that you can bring him glory no matter the circumstances on this earth.

This next section in Romans chapter 7 is for every Christian that feels liken they are failing to be a "good Christian". Is your experience unique? Is there something wrong with you? You are coming to church and learning about God and agreeing with truth and trying really hard to do better. But you just keep falling back into old patterns and making the same mistakes. Paul’s experience is so familiar and highlights the "double nature" of people! Yes, God’s people. By the end of this section, Paul is forced to admit failure and cry out for help. He is torn by the inner conflict of wanting to please God and to please self. He is face to face with the monster of sin and law has failed to tame it. What next? How do we get free from sin? Listen in as Pastor Steve finishes out this important section of Romans. And then come back because the crescendo of Paul's message is coming as we move into chapter 8!

Romans chapter 7 is all about the law.  Verses 1 through 6 actually follows up from chapter 6, verse 15, with another “Don’t you know….”. Paul now calls on marriage as an illustration to prove his next point.  Have you ever seen how powerful love can be?  I have seen people quit smoking, change hobbies, stay up all hours of the night, and do other crazy things for love, or for the one they love and want to please.   What does that have to do with Romans 7?  Listen in as we cover some of the most important truths in the whole Bible. It may just change your life.

Wisdom may be the world's greatest need and yet is probably the only thing one cannot order on Amazon! An Amazon search reveals that out of 184,000 results, the best we can do is a best-selling book by Oprah which details "life-changing" conversations with various "spiritual people". Trust me, there is nothing meaningful these experts say that has not already been said in the Bible! If Solomon is right, and wisdom if the principal thing, and other non-biblical sources agree with him even saying that "practical wisdom is the key to happiness” (Barry Schwartz - TED Talk), then we should figure out where to get it and how to know if we have it. Enter James, the half-brother of Jesus who wrote a nuts and bolts letter to the church. This guy means business and has no time for talk; he is all about action! In chapter 3 he challenges his readers to show they are wise and gives a test to know if you are using earthly or heavenly wisdom.

This Christmas Eve, we will look at one of the most well-known passages regarding Jesus connected with Christmas. “For unto us a Child is born, and unto us a Son is given.” This familiar quote from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah is never quoted in the New Testament! Is that surprising? How do we know it refers to Jesus? What was happening when Isaiah was preaching? What does it tell us about Jesus? Listen in as Pastor Steve unpacks Isaiah 9 as we discuss the Child that is born and the Son that is given!

Have you ever felt like your life is out of control? Have you ever felt the frustration of doing something even though you really don’t want to do it? As we step into the second half of Romans chapter 6, Paul deals with control issues. You will no doubt determine to control yourself in the “dessert department” over the holidays. But then there will be yummy desserts and you will feel compelled to eat them against your will! But what about when these conflicts are emotional, moral, or spiritual? Come and hear some super-duper “not so secret” insight from God about control and conflict, folly and freedom in the passage from Romans 6!

Leaving the courtroom, we are now entering the "power plant" at the beginning of Romans chapter six. Paul starts by answering a question that might immediately surface after we learn God's grace overflows where sin abounds: well then, why not sin so that grace might "super-abound!?" But, the truth is that we are in a war with sin, and the "weapons" of this war are the members of our body that Paul talks about. We have a choice--to offer these to God for service, or to use them as "instruments" of unrighteousness. Listen in as we enter the "power plant" in the next few chapters of our study in Romans.