BUT JESUS’ RESCUE PRECEDES OUR RENDERING

This week, we resumed our sermon series in the Gospel of Mark. We're back in the Temple with Jesus during Holy Week & the Sanhedrin have sent a new group of challengers to trap him. The Pharisees and the Herodians come to him with a question about taxes - "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?" (12:14). Jesus’ ingenious reply states, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (12:17). Caesar minted coins, so give those back to him. But God has made us in his image, so give yourselves wholly to him. But what Jesus knows about every person in His audience, including us, is that nobody has perfectly rendered their lives to God - we’re all in debt. He knows He’ll render His life for us. The cross looms large over this passage and any attempt on our part to render to God what belongs to God.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

“MAKE THE BEST USE OF THE TIME” - SPEND $1/ WEEK ON MISSION

The final week of our evangelism mini-series. In week two, we were reminded that the Risen Jesus continues his work in the world through us. On Sunday, we asked: practically, what does this mission look like in our church? How will we share the gospel with our neighbors, be on mission in our city, and spread the joy of Jesus in Santa Ana? Col 4:2-6 provides us with answers to these questions and provides us with 4 key aspects of ordinary evangelism: prayer, gospel partnership, speaking the language of grace, and loving our neighbors on purpose.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

This past Sunday, pastor Ricky Alcantar shared 5 helpful steps to practically live out the mission God has called us to.

1. Identify your mission field

Your mission field is where you live and do life with those who don’t know Jesus. So the question is not “am I called to a mission field” but “how do I engage the mission field God has already given me?” Below are some examples of mission fields in our lives:

• Your workplace

• Your neighborhood,

• Kid’s activity groups

• The gym, and many more

2. Be known as a Christian  

We want to relate who we are to why we are. There are plenty of nice people in our world, but we want to connect the way we love and care for people to the love of Jesus. Below are some examples of how we can be known as Christians: 

• When asked about your week or weekend tell people about church or community group, befriending the friendless, not participating in gossip, speaking well of others behind their backs, comforting others in distress

3. Form friendships with people who don’t know Jesus

Pray and ask God to reveal these people to you. What are some ways we can do this? 

• Get to know people, remember details about their lives and bring them up in future conversations, invite people to lunch and outings, and have longer conversations that are beyond news, weather, sports.

4. Be equipped for the mission 

Notice this is not at the beginning of the list! Many times Christians delay in telling others about Jesus, but if we form relationships with people we can learn how to care and love them better. Below are ways this might play out:

• Study the Bible: you never know how what you’ve read in your quiet time can impact someone. We need to know how to apply God’s word to others' need for the gospel.

• Listen and learn to ask questions! This will help shape your care, prayers, and love towards others in a meaningful way. 

5. Apply biblical truth to people’s needs

As you form relationships, sin, and crisis will create a need in people’s lives that as a Christian friend you will be able to help them see their need for the gospel. People will turn to those who have shown an interest in them as a person. We want to be those Christians people turn to. You may see this in times of sickness, relationships/marriage/parenting, or personal crisis. 

There are opportunities all around you every day to be a witness to the gospel. Let’s lean into what Jesus is doing in our city and join him on his mission to bring our neighbors from death to life through the message of the gospel.

HE CONTINUES HIS WORK THROUGH OUR CHURCH

Two Sundays ago, we laid out the theological principles for mission and evangelism. Filling ourselves with the God of the gospel so that his gospel would overflow from us. This past Sunday, guest preacher, Ricky Alcantar from our sister church, Cross of Grace El Paso, turned our attention to the Book of Acts to look at the progress of the gospel in God's history of redemption. The story of the gospel going forth: from Jesus himself, to that early church, and onto us today. Let’s see our church in this great story God is writing and lean into what Jesus is continuing to do in and through his people. 

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

IS GOD’S POWER TO SAVE

On Sunday, we started a 3 week mini-series on evangelism and mission. We began by laying out the foundational principle for all our evangelistic activity: Why should we be eager to share the gospel with our neighbors? Because the gospel and the gospel alone is God’s power for salvation. This is why Paul was so eager to share it in Rom 1:15. But being honest, why aren’t we as eager as him? There are many reasons we could suggest, but the heart of the matter is that we don’t share the gospel because we don’t see the God of the gospel as we should. Before passing “Go” to practical strategies, we need to examine our personal communion with him. Listen to Sunday’s sermon on Rom 1:15-17 in order to drink deeply of the goodness, glory, and generous grace of God so that his gospel will be overflowing from you.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

THE MATTER OF FIRST IMPORTANCE

On Easter Sunday we celebrated the same gospel we celebrate every Sunday. That gospel of which the resurrection is a central fact. That gospel which is the message this church is built on. That gospel which is the greatest news we could ever hear: that God has done all it took to accomplish our salvation through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the gospel we receive, rest in, and rejoice in each and every week.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

IF GOD IS GOD, THERE WILL BE A RESURRECTION

On Sunday, we moved from a focus upon Jesus' resurrection to our own. In Mark 12:18-27, Jesus comes into conflict with a group known as the Sadducees, "who say there is no resurrection" (12:18). They deny that the dead will be raised and teach that this life is all there is. What about you? Do you say there is a resurrection from the dead? Do you have hope in life beyond the grave? If it exists, do you have confidence that you'll enter into it? These are very important questions, but an even more important question is, "What does Jesus say?" What does the soon-to-be Risen Christ have to say about what is in store for us? In his response to the Sadducees trick question regarding the nature of marriage "in the resurrection," (12:23) Jesus argues from the OT Scriptures and the very nature of God that the dead will in fact be raised (12:24-27). He says that those who trust in the living God will not be abandoned to death but will be raised to life as he always intended it. All those who trust in the Crucified & Risen Christ will be raised in a resurrection like his to live with him forevermore. 

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

BY HIS RESURRECTION

Mark 12:1 begins with Jesus still locked in the same scene of conflict with the religious authorities of Israel who have questioned and challenged his own authority. They've feigned ignorance and failed to answer Jesus' question about John's baptism, but Jesus won't let them off the hook so easily. He advances the conversation by speaking a parable to them. One that provides an answer to the question, "By what authority?" In the story of the wicked tenant-farmers, Jesus warns the temple authorities of the fate that awaits all those who reject the Son - the tenant farmers will be destroyed (12:9). It further interprets the impending death and resurrection of the Son as his rejection at the hands of men but vindication by the hand of God (12:10-11, Ps 118:22-23). In other words, Jesus says His resurrection will prove the authority He’s been so audaciously claiming. His resurrection will be the decisive moment in which God's "Yes" would overturn man's "No" and the authority of Jesus' opponents would be decisively overruled. 

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

A FIG TREE, UNCHARACTERISTIC ANGER AND A (SEEMINGLY) UNANSWERED QUESTION

Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem, and after his quiet entrance on the heels of the triumphal entry, what happens next cannot go unnoticed. The center of Sunday’s passage was the cleansing of the temple (11:15-19). An action which is anticipated and explained by the judgment sandwich of the fig tree scenes which occur before & after it (11:12-14, 11:20-26). This series of stories is confusing, at best, when taken out of context, leading to, at worst, harmful interpretations. But taken together in context, Jesus the Christ enters into the heart of the religious system of the day and indicts it and its leaders as corrupt and declares the people of Israel to be faithless - which is what the scenes with the fig tree symbolize. Jesus has come not to reform but to replace this defunct worship with a pure temple, faithful priesthood, and ultimate sacrifice. His shocking actions in the temple naturally raise the question amongst the Jewish authorities of the day, "By what authority does he do these things? Who does he think he is coming into the temple like that?" (11:28).

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE FOR THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION

MARK 11:1-11

During our annual Communion Service, we remembered that the King who’s come to us, established his Kingdom through his cross. Even as King Jesus arrived in Jerusalem and entered the temple made with hands, he’d also, as our Great High Priest enter into the true Temple not made with hands (11:11). He’d cleanse that former temple & offer a perfect sacrifice to cleanse his people. We rejoice in the presence of the King because he’s paid the price for sinners like us to enter into his holy presence.

LISTEN TO THE COMMUNION HOMILY HERE

LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW COMMUNION BRINGS US INTO THE PRESENCE OF THE KING HERE & HERE