In a world marked with suffering and brokenness, how are we to live? What’s the path forward for a Christian, when that path is fraught with pain and persecution? Peter answers those questions with resounding confidence in the Gospel. Each part of that Gospel serves to sustain and empower us, even when we are collapsing and powerless. In his opening words, a simple greeting, he shows us the work of the Trinity and the hope of our election.
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We’ve spent the summer talking about the things we do when we gather as a church. We finish this series by asking the question, “To what end?” What’s the purpose of all of these things? Why are we gathered together in the first place? It is the glory of God and the worship of the only one worthy that draws us together. It is why we sing, study, pray, and gather.
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Ten years ago Providence Church gathered in the middle school auditorium and we asked this question, “Can These Bones Live?” Our answer then was the same as Ezekiel’s: “God, you know.” Ten years later we are celebrating Providence’s 10th birthday. We look back on the questions we asked on that Sunday ten years ago and find that while much has changed, much is still the same.
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Do you have something in your life that you’re just not good at, but you know you should probably be better? You can’t explain why you’re so bad, you just know that it probably shouldn’t be that way? That feeling is almost universally shared by Christians when it comes to the topic of prayer. Why aren’t we better at something that is so amazing? Why aren’t we experts at this incredible gift we’ve been given? Why isn’t something so extraordinary a higher priority for us? That’s true of many Christians, and unfortunately, that’s true of the church too.
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Sometimes the church world can overcomplicate things. We create theories, argue about semantics, and obsess over the wrong things. I think that this is especially true when we talk about the idea of spiritual gifts. We approach the idea of spiritual gifts around a central idea- what “thing” do I have that God has given me? But when Paul talks about spiritual gifts, his question is what “thing” can you do to serve others? It’s more about what we give than what we have. It’s about ministry, not talent. It’s about asking a very simple question, “How can I help?”
Note: There is a regrettable gap in the audio of about 3 minutes due to a technical difficulty.
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Christians have long made bold statements about God. Perhaps the most audacious claim Christians make is not only that there IS a God, but that we can know him. Through the person of Jesus Christ, the testimony of Scripture, and revelation from the Holy Spirit we believe that we can know God. Not only that we can know him, but we can have a personal, intimate relationship with him. That is indeed a bold claim, but it’s at the heart of all we do at Providence.
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Flour. Water. Juice. Ordinary objects found all over the world throughout all of history. How is it that these simple, ordinary objects come to share an extraordinary story? In God’s economy, this is how he works. It’s how he’s always worked. He takes the simple, ordinary things- like us- and uses them to put His grace and glory on display.
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It seems strange to make people do something when they want to be a part of the church. Why require something that is so foreign to our culture’s way of doing things? While baptism may be an “odd” practice to many outside observers. It’s a powerful reminder to those of us that have placed our faith in Christ- we were once in grave danger, buried and without hope, until Christ rescued us. It is that story that we rehearse every time someone gets baptized.
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Why do we have church anyway? What are we doing gathering together on a Sunday morning for a church service in the first place? If we’re going to explore the “why” behind what we do, the answer to this question is fundamental to everything else that follows. Why “have church?” Or is that even the right way to ask that question?
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Church is a funny thing. What we do when we gather is an odd thing to those unfamiliar or uninitiated. Even though our practices may be unfamiliar to an outside world, that doesn’t mean they aren’t right, necessary, and helpful. Unfortunately, many Christians, even those that have grown up in the church, don’t really understand why we do the things we do. As we launch a new series, we seek to ask the question: “What are the roots of the practices of the church?” As we answer those questions, we will become even more “rooted” in our faith. As we begin, we discuss the root of all that we do- the why behind all of it- Jesus Christ.
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We all love a good story. We especially love the story of the underdog, the triumph of the human spirit, and the satisfaction of overcoming odds stacked against the hero. Nehemiah is set up to tell just that story. However, the story doesn’t end at the moment of triumph and celebration. It keeps going one more chapter and that chapter is a remarkable collapse from the heights of the nation’s return from exile. Why not stop at the high point? Why keep telling the story? It’s because the story was never about Israel or Nehemiah. It’s a story about God, His faithfulness, and our need for something that is better than our failures.
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Our culture is built for distraction. The more effective you are at distraction, the more successful your business will be. Yet the pattern set forward by Nehemiah and Jesus is one of laser focus on the task at hand. How does Nehemiah fight against distraction? What does it look like for us to pick our “wall” and then determine that we are doing “a great work and cannot come down?”
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Sometimes things we take for granted to be true aren’t quite what we were led to believe. We can repeat things we’ve always assumed or that our culture has deemed to be true, but that doesn’t mean the Bible agrees with those assumptions. Leadership is one of those things. Authority, power, money, position, title- these are all things we associate with leadership, but if we are to follow the Biblical model, we must reset our assumptions. According to the Bible, leadership looks more like death than power, suffering than ruling, and serving than authority.
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At some point, we will all deal with it. Some feel the weight of it daily. For some it comes from others, for some it comes from themselves. How do we respond when we feel the weight of discouragement and hear the mockery of our enemies? What do we do when we feel overwhelmed and overmatched? When we are tempted to believe that the task is too big or our abilities to meager, we can look at Nehemiah’s response as a pattern to follow. What does Nehemiah do? He prays, commits it all to God, and then simply gets back to work.
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Has God ever called you out of your comfort zone to do something “crazy?” Nehemiah would say so. And what we do in those moments says a lot about our trust in God. Often it feels like the gap between calling and going can be a million miles wide. Are we being unfaithful if we don’t immediately jump into action? Maybe. Maybe not. There’s often more behind obeying God’s call than just the first steps.
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