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Reemerge: A Return to Faithfulness
Lead Pastor: Rollan Fisher
Focus: You will reemerge with Christ when you understand him as the God of all faithfulness.
A Cry for Faithfulness
Our Need
God’s Faithfulness
A Cry for Faithfulness
There is a desperate cry for faithful, Christ-centered relationships that will shape a generation for Jesus.
2 Timothy 1:1-18
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do.
But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me— may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.
Our Need
Our needs were exposed by our lack in this past year, yet Christ’s solution to that need remains the same.
Former surgeon general Vivek Murthy speaks of a social recession and the health impacts of loneliness.
Starbucks and the great human reconnection
As more and more people are getting vaccinated and returning to post-pandemic life, we are all in a sort of social rehab for life outside the home.
We are learning how to allow Christ to redefine the six basic needs that every human being has which are difficult to live without - meaning, satisfaction, hope, identity, freedom and justice.
Waiting for ideal circumstances to begin what you should is not God’s plan.
We must begin addressing those needs in God now.
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
- Chinese proverb
God’s Faithfulness
We are able to endure and reemerge after our trials because of God’s faithfulness to us.
Psalm 138:1-8
I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise; I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased. All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth, and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord . For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
God’s love and faithfulness were most clearly expressed at the cross of Jesus Christ.
Jesus faithfully lived the sinless life that we should have lived, and at the cross, died the sacrificial death that we should have died, in our place.
In his faithfulness, God the Father was true to his word to raise Christ from the dead to give forgiveness of sins and new life to those who would turn to Jesus in a reciprocal faithfulness.
God models faithfulness for us and expects us to emulate that faithfulness in relationship with others.
Acts 2:42-47
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Faithfulness is the foundation of all Christian devotion.
In essence, we have a pact with Jesus, made at the cross.
Yet any pact is a two way street.
The pact that we have with Jesus is the vehicle through which we put selfish, self-centered living to death and by which God’s Kingdom advances.
P.A.C.T.
*GOD’S COVENANT IS BASED ON:
THE PROMISES OF GOD TOWARDS HIS PEOPLE
THE ALLEGIANCE WE PLEDGE BACK TO JESUS
THE COMMITMENTS THAT WE MAKE TO ONE ANOTHER
THE TIME, Talent and Treasure you devote to the person and cause of Christ.
I am most unfulfilled when I put the idea of worldly success above God-ordained relationships.
At the end of the day, what remains will be those relationships - the one that I have with God and those to whom he unites me in Jesus.
Come to the cross today in repentance from sin and faith in Jesus’ substitutionary work to experience God’s faithfulness towards you.
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021