The Centre Community Church

Tag: John

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!

11/05/2016
Living In the Kingdom/Living Out the Kingdom: New Life

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul tells the people that as followers of Jesus they are to “take off” their old habits and ways of doing things, and instead “put on” their new self which is created to be like God (read all of Ephesians 4 to get the whole picture). I think too often we try to fit God into our life instead of the other way around. We add “Christian” things to our weekly routine, or change the radio station or what we watch on TV, but we retain much of the same attitude that we had before. And so what we are left with is a person who is divided, who is trying to live in two different kingdoms. Jesus called people like this “white-washed tombs” among other things (read Matthew 23).

Jesus says that we are to be born again. We are to be made new, a new creation in Him (2 Cor 5:17). This does mean that outwardly we will act differently than before we knew and followed Christ, but it also means that inwardly we will think differently as well. This is what Jesus was teaching Nicodemus in John 3:1-21, and it is what we’ll be looking at this Sunday. I hope that you’ll be able to join us.

20/04/2016
Living In the Kingdom/Living Out the Kingdom: Honouring God

Every person likely has something special that they hold dear. It might be a picture of a loved one, a family heirloom that’s been passed down from generation to generation, or perhaps something that reminds them of a special memory. Whatever it might be, if that item were broken or went missing there would likely be a sense of loss and profound sadness. The connection to the past, or a special person, would be damaged.

In John 2:13-25, we read of Jesus’ actions towards the money changers and those selling animals in the temple courtyard. His response is strong and direct, and makes it very clear how He feels about the temple, the place where all people were supposed to be able to worship and celebrate God. Jesus had a perfect connection with His heavenly Father, and He knew how the actions of those in the market place offended Him.

On Sunday we’re going to look at this passage and hopefully see how Jesus’ response in the temple should also be our response when it comes to issues that bring offence to God and His name.

April 13, 2016

15/04/2016
Living In the Kingdom/Living Out the Kingdom: Joy!

I came across a great quote that sums up well what it means to follow Jesus. It is a bit wordy, so you may want to read it out loud to yourself a few times! “As a disciple of Jesus I am with him, by choice and by grace, learning from him how to live in the kingdom of God. . . . I am learning from Jesus to live my life as he would live my life if he were I. I am not necessarily learning to do everything he did, but I am learning how to do everything I do in the manner that he did all that he did. . . . I need to be able to lead my life as he would lead it if he were I.” (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, p. 283-4).

We have just finished our look at The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ explanation of what it means to live in the Kingdom. Now we’re going to see what a Kingdom life lived out looks like, and what better way to look at a Kingdom life than to look at the life of Jesus. For the next few months we’re going to look at the gospel of John, learning about attributes of a Kingdom life, and how we are to live today.

This Sunday we’ll begin our journey looking at John 2:1-11, Jesus’ first recorded miracle. The life of a follower of Jesus is meant to be one punctuated by joy. We are to be a people who celebrate and rejoice! Come out this Sunday and celebrate with us the new life we have through Him.

April 6, 2016

06/04/2016