The Centre Community Church

Tag: Jesus

  • Who is the Lord of your life?

    Who is the Lord of your life?

    Every person faces difficult decisions throughout their lives: who to marry, what line of work to pursue, where to live, how many kids to have, when to quit, when to say goodbye to a loved one. We face decisions everyday, but the one that impacts us the most — or should, at least — is who we call “lord”. For whomever we call the lord of our life, that is the one who affects every decision we make. If we put ourselves at the centre, then all our decisions will revolve around what is best for us. If we put our spouse, or family, at the centre of our life, then each decision will be based on what is best for them. If money, or power, or stuff, or hobbies are the focal point of our life, then those things will affect the choices we make.

    If Jesus is the centre of our lives, however, that will change everything. We will no longer live for ourselves, but for Christ, who is in us. The decisions we make will not be determined by what is good for us, but what is good for God and His kingdom. And when we order our lives around honouring and serving God, we will find that those things we once held dear — our stuff, our pastimes, even our families and our own lives — will pale in comparison to the satisfaction of knowing Jesus as our Saviour and King.

    This Sunday we’re starting a new three-week series on Jesus’ final days. This week we will look at Luke 9:51-62 – Jesus sets outs for Jerusalem. Week 2 we will see Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Luke 19:28-44). And on Easter Sunday we will celebrate Jesus’ victory over sin and death, and the new life we can have in and through Him (Luke 24). I hope you’ll be able to make it out and worship our Saviour together.

    Blessings,

    Pastor Mike

  • Philippians: The Mindset of Christ

    Philippians: The Mindset of Christ

    “Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” This was the challenge that Paul gave to the Philippian church as he called them to be unified. He then goes on to describe what Christ’s mindset really was all about — sacrificial love. Jesus put others before Himself, and didn’t use His power to force His way into anything. He put God first and humbly served others, not thinking about His own comfort or needs. God first, others second, Himself third.

    And He did all of this willingly. He wasn’t forced or coerced. He wasn’t bribed. He did this knowing full well what it would cost Him, even giving up His rights and eventually His life. This is the mindset of Jesus, and it’s what we’re called to strive for, and how we’re to act towards each other each and every day.

    It’s not easy. And we will never do it perfectly. But we’re called to try. Each one of us, those who call themselves followers of Jesus, we are all called to have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. Some days will be better than others, and we will often fall short, but we are called to never give up trying and striving to follow Him.

    So as you see other Christians trying to imperfectly follow our perfect Saviour, don’t belittle them or put them down when they mess up, instead you should encourage and support them, and strive alongside them. In this way we will share the same mindset as Christ Jesus.

    If you want to prepare for this coming Sunday’s message, read through the whole letter to the Philippians — it won’t take that long, I promise! And make sure you pay close attention to Phil 2:1-11.

     

    Pastor Mike

  • The Trinity: Jesus, the Son of God

    The Trinity: Jesus, the Son of God

    This week we continue our look at the Trinity as we focus on Jesus, the son of God.  Just like last week when we looked at God the Father we will likely come away with just as many questions as we do answers — these are big topics, and things that we need to continually wrestle with in order for us to grow and mature as followers of Christ.  I’d encourage each of you to write down questions that you might have as you read through Scripture or other books, and as you listen to sermons and other teachings.  Do not passively take things in.  Instead, ask questions and seek out understanding, for the more we know about all three persons of the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) the better prepared for all areas of life we will be.

    One question that many have is why did Jesus have to die?  It seems cruel — some have even called Jesus’ death cosmic child-abuse.  It also seems like if God were really all-powerful then another way could have been found.  These are good questions, and good things to wrestle with.  My hope and prayer is that as we look at Jesus this coming Sunday that we will understand the motivation behind why He came, lived a perfect life, and chose to die in agreement with and obedience to God the Father.  In order to help you prepare for this Sunday please read through John 1, Philippians 2:1-11, and Hebrews 8-10 (all of Hebrews would be best, but that’s a lot of reading!  But if you’re up to it, go for it!).

    Once again I’ll put the challenge out that if you know of someone who has questions about God, by all means invite them out!  We will stick around after the service for as late as we need to continue the conversation, and continue wrestling for answers.  Our gathering starts at 6pm.

    Pastor Mike

  • Living In the Kingdom/Living Out the Kingdom: Bringing Wholeness

    Living In the Kingdom/Living Out the Kingdom: Bringing Wholeness

    We live in a throw away culture.  If something’s broken, we pitch it and get a new one.  Very rarely will we take the time, effort and money to fix something because it simply isn’t cost effective.  A few years ago the battery on our portable phone died and so we looked into getting a replacement battery — the battery alone cost more than it would to buy a whole new phone!  We live in a crazy generation!

    Even people can sometimes be seen as too far gone, too broken, too much work, not worth the effort.  I thank God that He doesn’t view us this way!  That even when we were His enemies Jesus came to rescue us, and Jesus gave His life as a sacrifice for us while we were still sinners, completely opposed to Him!  Just take a look at Romans 5:1-11.

    On Sunday we’re going to be looking at John 5:1-14 — the healing at the pool.  Jesus saves us not because we earn it, or deserve it, but because of His great love for us.  However, we still need to respond, and there is a warning in this passage about failing to respond.  There’s much contained in these few verses and we’ll only be able to scratch the surface!