Christ Community Church - Leawood Campus - SUNDAY MESSAGES

If we were able to ask the Creator of the Universe where he would choose to live, where he would call home, it is not a place. It is you. He wants to live in you. The question is, do we want him to live in us? Because there is a cost. God’s grace is free, but it’s not cheap. If you want God to live in you, you have to love Jesus. This is not a condition or threat to us, it is simply a necessary condition if we truly want to accept his love for us. To be in a relationship with Jesus, we must love him. This is more than an emotional connection. Loving Jesus looks like obeying Jesus. We must want to obey him, trust him, and grow in our obedience to him. This is necessary for him to live in us. He doesn’t expect us to do the work alone, he tells us we will do it together.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49018549 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.02.05

Today we are looking at the moment Jesus is speaking to his closest followers and friends. His disciples. He is trying to prepare them for the worst night of their lives. They are going to witness humanity’s utter rejection of God’s grace in Jesus. Jesus tells them, and us, don’t be troubled; I know where you are going. Jesus, who knows he is about to die, be resurrected, and ascend to his Father, also knows where he is, we will also be. He is going to prepare a place for us. It is a place where none of the rules, the wisdom, of this age, this world, apply. It is a place that actually makes sense, for example, to love your enemy, which makes no worldly sense. Jesus says we must not be troubled because He knows He is enough for us and we will be with Him.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49014836Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.01.29

When we think about Jesus many things pop into our minds. Jesus was a brilliant teacher and a great healer, but Jesus was also the best friend a person could ever have. What John wants us to grasp today with both mind and heart is there is no greater happiness in life than a deepening relationship with Jesus. Jesus taught and embodied a servant posture as an essential power posture of His Kingdom. Jesus reminds his closest friends, Whoever would be great must be a servant…the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. Those who embrace humble foot-washing friendship, basin and towel servanthood are blessed and happy. Footwashing friendship requires both serving and being served. Jesus is a friend that can always be counted on. Jesus is a friend who humbly serves. Jesus is a friend no matter what. What a friend we have in Jesus!Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49014827 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.01.22

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49007529John tells us about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It’s a biography of the most influential and important person who ever lived. And John wrote this not because he thought it was interesting. But because he believed that trusting in Jesus, that Jesus’ offer to follow him in all that we do, was the most important invitation of all time. And that to miss out on that offer would be the most tragic, heartbreaking, but avoidable mistake any person could ever make. And this passage we just read is the warning. It’s the thing we wish we had AFTER we make a mistake. But we have it now. On the cross, Jesus proves that whatever the cost may be for following him, his cost to find you was higher. Don’t say no to him. Don’t. Even if you are here and you don’t yet know what to make of all of this. Don’t close yourself to it. Don’t walk away. Don’t say no to the one who does not say no to you. Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.01.15

Discipleship with Jesus involves a high cost that was not lost on first-century followers and it must not be lost on us as twenty-first-century followers. What is the cost of following Jesus? Is it worth everything we may be afraid of losing? Wherever we are in our spiritual journey, these are questions the Gospel writer John helps us thoughtfully and carefully consider. We must not miss that as apprentices of Jesus, we are called to take up our cross and follow him. Apprenticeship with Jesus involves losing one’s life, not keeping it. We are to love God first and foremost. That love for God must be so strong that other loves in our life, including love for self and others, are quite small in comparison. It is out of our love for him that we sacrifice our lifestyle for him and the advancement of his good news kingdom mission in the world.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49004672Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.01.08

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49002180Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.01.01

As we explore Psalm 22 together, it is my heart’s desire that we will see its profound connection to Christmas in our lives. Few texts give us a more compelling glimpse into the meaning of the Bethlehem manger than Psalm 22. This advent season may have you feeling very alone. Feeling alone is one of the most painful experiences of our lives. Loneliness can diminish our sense of worth, harms our bodies, robs our joy, an smothers our soul. The good news is that we have a promised king who will never, ever leave us. He gets our pain, goes to the cross for us, and gives us hope.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48992864Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new  22.12.18

The season of Advent is a season for asking questions like: is anyone coming to save me? Is the promised king we long for coming and can he save us from ourselves? Save us from this broken world? In Psalm 103, David wants to remind us of God’s great love and compassion in sending his son, who took on our frame, became dust, took on the form of a servant, was tempted and without sin, took our place, and died on a cross. Jesus shouts to us this Christmas season. Jesus is how high and wide and deep the love of God can go. None of us can look at a baby born in a manger and doubt if we are beyond rescue. Absolutely not! Part of this season, the reason we do this every year, is to remember God’s rescue.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48992858Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new22.12.11

We all need a king who is truly for us. Not just when we are strong or good, but when we are weak and anything but good. Not just when we know where we are going, but when we have lost our way. We need a king who is truly there for us, who will not abandon us, even when we ignore him, doubt him, blame him or turn our backs on him. The good news is that we have a kind like that! A king that knows our human vulnerability, sees us as precious, and is with us now and forever.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48991413Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new22.12.04

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48977463 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new22.11.27