Freedom

Dominican Republic Update

What an amazing first day! We were able to enjoy an authentic Dominican breakfast as a team before heading to Pastor Pive's.  Once we arrived, he was able to tell his story, give updates and explain the way the feeding program works. It was an amazing experience for us as a team to be able to walk the neighborhood, meet families and feed over 200 children. A couple hours later we were blessed to see children sitting in on their own children's service at Casa Belen. The children are amazing.  Tomorrow we start VBS with the kids . We are ending the night with worship as a team. We have grown so much as a family already.
 
You can follow (some of) our photos at #2ndcityDR2017 

John 8:31-38
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

The Importance of Abiding

Abiding in God's Word helps you remember the reality of His meta-narrative. It centers you in worship, the gospel and the purpose of God expressed through Jesus and His cross.  Without this, we drift quite naturally into worship of some other kind. 

"Man, so long as he remains free, has no more constant and agonizing anxiety than find as quickly as possible someone to worship."
- Fyodor Dostoevsky

True Freedom

The truth about relationships, pleasures, happiness and life purpose, satisfaction and peace are all in Christ through His word.  It is your very plain roadmap to achieving what stands at the heart of all mankind as most desirable.  It is because we were made that way, designed by God and for Him.  True freedom is being able to walk in your ultimate design and life calling. 

"Free will is not the liberty to do whatever one likes, but the power of doing whatever one sees ought to be done, even in the very face of otherwise overwhelming impulse. There lies freedom, indeed."
- George Macdonald

Real Slavery

"He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king."
- Augustine

They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.  - Jesus

Who's Your Daddy?

Unbeknownst to us, we can be shaped by the pattern of the world around us if we are not being shaped by Christ.  This is when someone other than God begins fathering you.

 "If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having."
- C.S. Lewis

Jesus fought the penultimate battle for us, voluntarily laying down His life for our sins at the cross.  He became sin so that He might not only take the punishment for our sin, but redeem us/buy us back from its power having paid the price of our servitude.  

"Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want."
- Martin Luther

We are no longer slaves, but free to live as children of God in His resurrection power as we choose to love Him as He has loved us. 

"In almost everything that touches our everyday life on earth, God is pleased when we're pleased. He wills that we be as free as birds to soar and sing our maker's praise without anxiety."
- A. W. Tozer

Second City Church: Freedom Sermon 2017

Easter - 2017

Thank you for a great Easter Egg hunt and for all of those who volunteered to make it happen!

What Would You Do?  What Will You Do?

Today we are going to review the familiar narrative of the events leading to Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.  Good Friday involved the sobriety of Christ's sacrificial, substitutionary death on the cross.  Today celebrates the glorious reality of His resurrection.  During this time we will interact with Judas, Peter, Pilate and Jesus Himself.  

What drove them to the events leading to the crucifixion?

What would you have done in their place?  

What can we learn from these things that drive us today?

What will you do in the light of the resurrection?

Isaiah 25:8-9
He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

Judas

Judas was driven by his secret sin - in his case, the love of money.

Matthew 26:6-16
Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

John 12:4-6
But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples he who was about to betray him, said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.

Jesus was simply a means to an end.

Peter

Peter was driven by a fear of man.

He needed the power of the Holy Spirit to change him into a different man whose ultimate end was not comfort.

Mark 14:54
And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire.

Matthew 26:69-75
Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

"Jesus Christ did not come into this world to make bad people good; He came into this world to make dead people live."
- Lee Strobel

Pilate

Pilate was driven by a sense of self-preservation.

This manifested itself in a desire to please people in an attempt to maintain his power.  Pilate was unwilling to allow the truth of who Jesus was to cost him anything.

Matthew 27:15-26
Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.” Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves.” And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

"The cross is the lightning rod of grace that short-circuits God’s wrath to Christ so that only the light of His love remains for believers."
- AW Tozer

Jesus

Jesus was driven by the love of the Father.

The love of the Father pushed Christ to perfect obedience resulting in His death on the cross for the sins of humanity.  His love of the world drove Him to voluntarily lay down His life with the promise of a triumphant resurrection.  

Matthew 28:1-10
Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Regardless of whether you've been a Judas, a Peter or a Pilate, you can follow Jesus to the cross today and experience the power of His resurrection!

"Our old history ends with the cross; our new history begins with the resurrection."
- Watchman Nee

In the light of Christ's sacrifice for you and triumphant resurrection, what will you do now?

Second City Church: Easter Sermon 2017