Message: “A Body on the Move” from Jared Jenkins
A message from the series “2025 – The Church.” This Sunday as we think more about the church we will consider how God has uniquely called and gifted believers, that make up the body of Christ, to serve in the church. As we use our gifts the church grows in maturity and advances the kingdom of God. It is imperative that each one of us find our place in the church to use our giftings. Some giftings are very practical and others are more miraculous, but the Bible teaches us that each gift is equally important for the body of Christ to function properly as God designed. This begs the question, “How has God gifted you to serve in the church? Are you serving?” If you haven’t found your place yet, “We need you!” We will consider service as part of the Christian’s life from 1 Corinthians 12:4-1, 27-31 & Romans 12:3-8. Take a moment to read these passages. Kelsey Conroy and others will share with us some new things we are doing to better help you find a place to serve at Risen Life.
Message: “For Growth in Christ” from Jared Jenkins
A message from the series “2025 – The Church.” This Sunday we will be diving deeper into our look at the Church and talk about one of the primary purposes it serves in the life of believers. God places us as believers in the church so that we can grow up into maturity in Christ. Ephesians 4:10-16 tells us how God has designed the church to be an incubator for Christian growth. God has given the good gift of leadership to the church to help train the church to do ministry together. Under the authority of Christ the church leadership and members work to help one another grow in Christ. We also see in this passage that the members grow in their understanding of doctrine, how they are gifted to serve, and in love for God and man. Take a few minutes today to read through these verses and think about how the church has been a place for you to grow in Christ. Being a part of a local church is an indispensable part of God’s plan to continue to transform your life and heart into the image of Christ.
Message: “A New Society” from Jared Jenkins
A message from the series “2025 – The Church.” This Sunday we will be continuing in our Church Series looking at – The Church: A New Society. What Jesus is doing in the church is recreating a new society of people that are in relationship with God the Father. They come out of the world and begin to grown into a gathering where God’s Spirit dwells. The Bible gives us several metaphors for the new society of the Church. It calls it a household, a living temple, and a body. Each one of these metaphors are meant to speak to the nature of the church being made up of individuals, and yet together making an important whole. Every member of the church is important in God’s eyes, and it would be a strange situation to be a Christian and not be connected to the body of Christ – the Church. As we consider this new society, we hope that the Spirit will show us all the beauty of what the gathering of the saints in the New Society of the Church.
Message: “A Pillar and Declaration of Truth” from Jared Jenkins
A message from the series “2025 – The Church.” This Sunday we will begin a new series on the Church. The Church is God’s best plan to declare the truth of the Gospel to the whole world so that salvation can be found in Christ. It is easy today to misunderstand the purpose of the Church, its mission, and our place it in, but it has been and is essential to God’s plan to advance his kingdom on Earth. Over the next six weeks we will look at and clarify what the Bible has to say about the church and how we as believers in Jesus are called to participate in it.
This week we will look at what the church is and is called to do at its core in 1 Timothy 3:14-16 and Ephesians 3:7-12. In these passages Paul tells us that the church is meant to be the pillar of truth in the world and it mission is to declare the truth of the Gospel to the world. These affirmations of what the church is at its core will challenge us to believe if the church’s message is ultimate truth for all people. It will also challenge us as those that claim to members of the church to declare the Gospel to those God has put in our lives. Here is the Bottom Line: We as the church are called to stand for and declare the truth of the Gospel to the World.
Message: “Thomas” from Sean Patrick
A message from the series “2025 – Experiencing the Cross.” Join us as Pastor Sean teaches us about Thomas the Disciple and how God uses his doubt in order to bring about his proclomation of Jesus as Lord.
Message: “Mary Magdalene” from Jared Jenkins
A message from the series “2025 – Experiencing the Cross.” This Sunday we will continue in our sermon series “Experiencing the Cross” and consider Mary Magdalene’s experience of the resurrection in John 20:1-18. Mary experiences the sorrow, confusion, and pain of losing the one that healed her of seven demons, the one she walked with for years, and her mentor and teacher that had given her hope. Her sorrow and confusion will be replaced with great Joy as Jesus appears and reveals himself to her first. Jesus wants us to remember the events of the resurrection, hear him call us by name, and believe. Our response to the resurrection should be to put our faith in him, that he is who he said he is, the Son of God our Savior, proven by the resurrection. He is Risen!
Message: “The Centurion” from Jared Jenkins
A message from the series “2025 – Experiencing the Cross.” This week we will consider the Roman Centurion and his Experience of the Cross this week out of Matthew 27:45-54. This unnamed Centurion likely witnessed much of Jesus’ sham trial, may have participated in mocking him, and seems to be entrusted with overseeing Christ’s crucifixion all the way to the end. But another surprising event occurs. This Roman soldier, after witnessing the events of the day, watching the way Jesus died, and the miraculous events like an earthquake that coincided with Christ’s death, is struck with awe and makes an important confession about Jesus. He says, “Truly this was the Son of God!” The guy that wasn’t supposed to get it right, the guy that shouldn’t buy into this Jesus thing does! In fact, his confession along with similar confessions from the disciples are meant to be a model for us. Matthew wants his readers to look at Jesus and the things surrounding his life and confess that Jesus is the Son of God. Now there is a lot packed into a confession of Jesus as the Son of God, not the least of which is a claim that Jesus is divine, that we will explore tomorrow. But for now the text confronts us and asks this Holy Week, Do you believe Jesus is truly the Son of God? This is a necessary part of our confession to be saved by Christ.
Message: “Peter” from Jon Perkins
A message from the series “2025 – Experiencing the Cross.” Join us as Jon Perkins shares with us as we look at how the Apostle Peter experienced the cross. Peter is all in with Jesus, but when things get difficult, he quickly denies he ever knew Jesus. Jesus ultimately in his grace and mercy will forgive, restore, and commission Peter. Peter’s story and experience of the cross is one we can all relate to and teaches us a lot about the Gospel.
Message: “Pilate” from Jared Jenkins
A message from the series “2025 – Experiencing the Cross.” Pilate is an interesting character in the Gospels. Pilate gets a couple first hand interviews with Jesus, but unfortunately is too concerned with his own life, career, and managing the “Jesus Situation” to truly see the king of the universe standing before him. Jesus reveals himself to Pilate in so many ways, and yet Pilate misses Jesus.
Pilate is a great example for us as we live our modern lives. We can get very caught up with the things of life that clamor for our time and attention and tend to squeeze any thoughts of Jesus out of our mind. Furthermore, it is often hard to get around the worldview we have grown up with to understand and believe the out-of-this-world truth that Jesus proclaims. Often we find ourselves dismissing the claims of the Gospel, its hope and promise of real life, to make ends meet, manage a crisis in our lives, or just get through the day. As we clamor Jesus stands in front of us with a ready invitation and open arms to embrace us and give us peace. Will we stop to consider his revelation of truth?
Message: “Barabbas” from Ben Sutton
A message from the series “2025 – Experiencing the Cross.” Join us as our College and Young Adults Minister Ben Sutton brings us a message on Barabbas and his view of the crucifiction of Jesus.
