Remember Your Creator [Life Up in Smoke 06]

Romans 6: 15-23 // Ben Beasley

Life is full of paradoxes that make our life either run or crash, depending on how you look at it. Humans are full of contradictions and God knows it! He has chosen many paradoxes to reveal who he is and to show us what it looks like to follow him. Would you join us as we study one of the biblical paradoxes? Dive deep with us into the paradox of grace

SERMON NOTES (YouVersion):https://bible.com/events/49221839
PRAYER REQUESTS: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new

24.10.03

Romans 6:11-14 // Tom Nelson

One of the greatest battles of history is not “out there,” but rather, is “in here.” Herein lies a crucial insight as to why following Jesus can be so hard. There is a battle being waged not just with our bodies but in our bodies. In Christ we now live and breathe in a new realm, not of mere religious obligation or moral conformity, but to the realm of grace which is an intimate relationship with God. Being under grace means we are now part of Jesus’ new kingdom. 

SERMON NOTES (YouVersion): https://bible.com/events/49214771
PRAYER REQUESTS: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new

24.03.03

The question of “who am I?” Is the result of living in an age where expressivism as an individual and embodied endeavor is seen as the highest good. Anything that doesn’t allow me to express myself, either is itself a sin or it’s dogmatic. And this is a tension with our age that we feel as Christians. Why? Because Jesus has something to say about who we are. Jesus gives you an identity. And even more, Jesus sets boundaries to our sexual self-expression. Why? Because throughout the Christian tradition, Chrsitians have understood that following Jesus is an embodied experience. We don’t just follow Jesus in our minds, or in our souls, there is a synthesis between our heart and our bodies. And what does that mean: well it means, that as Christians, we don’t just have a hope that we assent to in our minds. But equally, as Christians, our bodies too can preach our hope. Our bodies can preach our hope. 

Ben Beasley

Matthew 5:27-30 & Hebrews 10:22-23 

24.01.28

SERMON NOTES (YouVersion): https://www.bible.com/events/49198317
PRAYER REQUESTS: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new

Romans 6:1-11 // Brent Nelsen

When we think of rescue, it’s natural to ask: “Rescue from what?” But with Jesus, rescue is more! When God sought to rescue creation from brokenness, injustice, sin and death, he always planned to save us “for” a more beautiful, good, and true way of being. 

Jesus didn’t just save us from sin but for life—with him—now and forever. But how is life with God different from life without God? And why would anyone actually want that kind of life? Join us as we continue walking through the Letter of Romans to explore what God has in store for your life and mine today.  

SERMON NOTES (YouVersion): https://bible.com/events/49214772
PRAYER REQUESTS: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new

24.02.25

Matthew 25:31-46 // Ben Beasley

Hell, in the Bible, is not some underground torture chamber. Hell is a place outside the city of the New Jerusalem, that God excludes because he wants to cast out the darkness for the light, to protect from the destruction of the fires of sin, and so the fullness of restoration will remain over destruction. God excludes sin and the powers of hell from his kingdom because of his goodness, and not in spite of his goodness. This ultimate reconciliation with God, this is the dream that we dream for our world. This is also God’s heavenly dream for the world coming to earth. A real hell means there is real news to be shared. There is good news, and that good news is real: Jesus is here to reconcile you back to God. Take him up on it. Reach out, he won’t let you go. 

SERMON NOTES (YouVersion): https://www.bible.com/events/49209492
PRAYER REQUESTS: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new

24.02.18

Psalm 13 // Ben Beasley

“I used to go to church and pray, and then my best friend got sick and died… How can I believe in God when that happened?” My friend told me this in 7th grade, and it would be the first but not last time I would hear what I would later learn that theologians and philosophers call “the problem of evil”. Why does an all good and all powerful God permit evil and suffering?

While God does not give us an answer to our “why” question, he does show us “how” to find meaning through suffering and experience that we are not alone. Join us as we learn how to lament our suffering with God through Psalm 13.

SERMON NOTES (YouVersion):https://www.bible.com/events/49211028
PRAYER REQUESTS: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new

24.02.11

 Matthew 22:15-22 // Tom Nelson

Wherever you find yourself in this matter of faith and politics, whatever your political leanings, right, left, or somewhere in the middle, the question we need to thoughtfully ask is (Slide) How Should Followers of Jesus Navigate Politics? And let’s be honest, we as followers of Jesus can and do at times fall into some political potholes. This is a big challenge in our contemporary moment, but has also been true throughout the 2000 year history of the church. The relationship of God and government has always been a difficult navigation for followers of Jesus and the church. Throughout history, there have been various kinds of governments and both good and bad governing officials and a wide range of views among Christians. The topic of politics and faith is a vast and multi-facet subject and I cannot begin to cover all the terrain or address many of the questions or concerns you may have.

SERMON NOTES (YouVersion): https://bible.com/events/49205732

PRAYER REQUESTS: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new

24.02.04

Genesis 1:26-28 & Luke 10:38-42 // Ben Beasley

Following in the footsteps of the design of our Creator, and the dignity made known by our Savior, the church is called to uphold and declare the dignity of women. Even with our failings and distortions, this has always been the calling of the church, and we see it even in the early church. How do we do that? Or maybe a better question is, how do we grow in doing that? Deeper than you or me, deeper than male or female, the beauty of God and the witness of Jesus and his church is at stake. I long for the beauty of God to be displayed more powerfully in our day, and in the church, and by God’s people. May God lead us through His word in this effort. May God encourage us and correct us by His Spirit. And may God give us the courage to live this out, even and especially when it is costly. 

WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/live/Omh_bHuXycg

SERMON NOTES (YouVersion): https://www.bible.com/events/49198307
PRAYER REQUESTS: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new

24.01.21

2 Tim 3:16-17 // Ben Beasley

Holy Scripture - the Old Testament and the New Testament together - for Christians, the Bible is the foundation of our faith. Why? Through Holy Scripture, through the Bible, we come to know who God is. Through it, we discover who God has made us to be. Through it we are able to remember what God has done, how he has acted. And through it, we are able to see where this is all going, and why we are actually here, and what really is wrong with the world. Through it, we find out about Jesus. 

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49193353

Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new

24.01.14

Matthew 16: 13-18 // Tom Nelson

The church is a messy place with messy broken people. The church is also a healing community for the broken. A faith community where the power of the Gospel transforms lost causes into beloved children of God! Never are we a lost cause, never are we so broken we can not be made whole by Jesus. The church falls short and fails because she faces spiritual warfare. The church lives in the context of an invisible war.  Satan’s greatest fury is directed toward the church. I am not offering the church an excuse or giving the church a pass on its past and present failures. But I do want to ask a crucial question. Should we give up on the church because the church sometimes falls short and fails? Jesus declares an emphatic No!

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49189836

Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new

24.01.07