January 20, 2025 strive4theprize

Everyday Disciple: Through the Lens of Prayer

Matthew 6.1-18

In the middle of these three examples, giving to the poor, praying, and fasting, Jesus stops to give instruction on prayer. But why? If Jesus considers it so important, shouldn’t we?

I think if we’re honest, for most of us, prayer is an optional exercise with no real power. We pray because we feel like we should…or maybe we feel like praying will change God’s mind and get Him to see things our way. But that’s not real prayer. The prayer that Jesus talks about has the power of rending the veil between heaven and earth…the spiritual and the physical. It allows us to see more clearly the reality of the kingdom. In prayer we practice the presence of God.

Prayer brings heaven and earth together. When we pray, we bring our cares and worries to the One who infinitely cares about us. And He gives kingdom perspective to our day-to-day lives. The inner life of prayer nourishes our soul.

Watch out for the pretenders of righteousness…those who want others to see their good deeds. Hard to miss them. They tend to make it obvious. And again, if we’re honest, it’s all too easy for us to slip into a righteousness of show…attempting to impress others with how “good” we are, right? The praise and approval of men is very alluring. But as kingdom citizens/everyday disciples our job is to cultivate the inner life of the Spirit, learning the secret life that the Father calls us to. Seeking only His praise. Living only for Him. And as we cultivate the inner life, we begin to live in the true righteousness of the kingdom. Beautiful irony…the more we cultivate our inner life with the Father, the brighter our light shines. Prayer is certainly a big part of that.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

pro rege

This post is based on a sermon from our Everyday Disciple series: Songs of the Season. Download the podcast at: Central Christian Church Main Service, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X or Threads: @ccclancaster. You can also download our Central Christian app in the iTunes App Store.

January 13, 2025 strive4theprize

Everyday Disciple: Beyond the Rules

Matthew 5.17-48

Jesus quickly dismantles the rule-based system of the Pharisees. To be sure, He doesn’t abolish the Law, but He shows very clearly that keeping the rules, if not from a transformed character, will never accomplish kingdom righteousness. That is very freeing, and very scary. It’s a life of being first and foremost that then naturally leads to a life of doing.

It is pretty convicting that the five examples that Jesus uses to illustrate our need for a heart transplant all have to do with interpersonal relationships. That our failure in so many of these areas to “keep the Law/Torah”, to even do the externals, is a natural consequence of our failure to love. We expect it of the Pharisees, but what about those of us who claim to be kingdom citizens? If life in the kingdom is characterized by love…love for God and love for others, what causes the break-down in our love? Sobering thought.

Life in the kingdom can only be experienced fully as we learn to allow the character of the King to infect all of our lives…breaking down the walls…and asking Him to change us…to transform us…to make us into who He created and saved and called us to be. Focusing less on doing the right things and more on becoming everyday disciples and the right things will come. Because if we become who He wants us to be, then we’ll do what He wants us to do.

I said this last week, but remember this isn’t a how-to manual for getting into the kingdom. On your own, you don’t have what it takes. Your brand of “righteousness” won’t cut it. Let me say it as clearly as I can… If you are like the Pharisees and are counting on your good works or “law keeping”…rule following…to get into the kingdom, Jesus is telling you that you are out of luck. His standards are too high. You need a new heart. And you need the righteousness of the King. Only His will do.

The good news is…that righteousness…His righteousness…is available to you right now today. It starts with recognizing that you are a sinner in need of a Savior…being poor in Spirit. Believing that Jesus is the Savior that God promised. He lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death on your behalf, and was raised the third day conquering sin and death, so that by faith in Jesus you could have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The kingdom of heaven…yours.

pro rege

January 6, 2025 strive4theprize

Everyday Disciple: A Dangerous Idea of Blessedness

Matthew 5.1-16

Jesus’ idea of those who are blessed is not necessarily the folks we would have picked. It’s not the spiritually elite, the I’ve-got-it-all-together crowd, the my-universe-is-running-just-fine-thank-you crew. But the kingdom belongs to those who recognize their desperate need for Him and long for the reconciliation of heaven and earth.

As we track the beatitudes, there is a progression…poor in spirit, mourning for sin, gentle, hunger and thirst for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemaker…that leads inexorably to persecution. Aligning ourselves with the King is a dangerous proposition. It could even cost us our life. And why does the persecution come? Because of the undeniability of those who embody kingdom characteristics. The difference that being an everyday disciple makes in us is going to be obvious to the whole world. We won’t be tasteless salt or a hidden light. We will be noticeable. We are going to be a light on a hill. By doing that. By embodying those qualities and living that way, we are bearing the image of God brightly. Pointing people to Him and bringing Him glory. Said another way, if we embody the beatitudes, we will force a response from those around us. Some will persecute us and others will give glory to the Father. Both are good things!

Some of you have not yet trusted in Jesus, you don’t know what it means to be a son or daughter of the King. The beatitudes are not a how to manual for kingdom membership. They reflect the internal qualities that characterize those in the kingdom. It starts with the recognition of your need for Jesus.

For the rest of us, we are all in process…trekking down Torah Road…striving to follow after Jesus. Not easy, especially when we create boxes (work, school, recreation, weekend, church, etc.) that neatly divide our lives and keep us from experiencing the kingdom life that Jesus has for us…that keep us from being everyday disciples. The solution? Blow up the boxes and allow the character of the kingdom to permeate all aspects of our lives so that we can truly begin to experience the abundant life…complete with persecution.

Jesus’ definition of blessedness is dangerous…but it is true blessedness. It’ living life in the kingdom now. It’s being an image-bearer of the King…being an everyday disciple.

pro rege

December 23, 2024 strive4theprize

O Holy Night (Peace)

Isaiah 9.2-7

Isaiah pictures a time of good news for a group of people who desperately needed it. They were under oppression by the enemy. They were defeated. They were without hope. They knew no peace. But God hadn’t forgotten them. Light was coming. God Himself would rend the veil of time and space and come down to the earth He had created in the Person of Jesus. He would rescue them. He would save them from sin and death by sacrificing Himself in their place. He would die that they might live. He would reconcile them with their heavenly Father. He would establish a kingdom where they could live and reign with Him forever. Where they would know true and lasting peace.

And so Jesus has come…

I like the way Paul talks about it in Romans 5…“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Romans 5.1-11)

If you have not yet trusted in Jesus, make today the day. It starts with acknowledging that you are a sinner in need of a Savior and believing that Jesus is the Savior that God promised would come. He lived a perfect life. He died a sacrificial death on your behalf. He was raised the third day showing that He had conquered both sin and death, so that by believing in Him you could have forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

May you experience the peace that Jesus came to bring this Christmas season.

pro rege

This post is based on a sermon from our Advent series: Songs of the Season. Download the podcast at: Central Christian Church Main Service, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X or Threads: @ccclancaster. You can also download our Central Christian app in the iTunes App Store.

December 16, 2024 strive4theprize

O Come, All Ye Faithful (Love)

Matthew 2.1-12

A tale of two kings…a tale of two loves. Herod, an earthly king, living in Jerusalem, seeks to build a name and a kingdom for himself. Jesus, the true King, has already been given a Name and a kingdom.

Herod’s love is a very worldly love…love for his own kingdom, love of power, prestige, position, pleasure. A love that was very selfish and self-serving. A love that did not save him because it could not. Jesus was a real threat to Herod because he knew what was at stake. If Herod didn’t think Jesus might indeed be a king…the King…if he didn’t think Jesus, though now just a Child, could in fact dethrone him, rule over him, take allegiance from him, he would not have felt threatened. But Jesus is a real threat to anyone who thinks seriously about Him. If Jesus is King…you’re not. It means your dethronement. It means your submission. It means you can’t lead your life any longer, as Herod did, according to your worldly loves. If Jesus is who He says He is, you either love Him or you hate Him! Herod represents King Me…his response to the true King, to King Jesus is hatred and rejection.

The Magi’s love is other-worldly…it’s clear where their loyalties lie. The Magi give their allegiance to Someone far greater than any earthly king…their King’s arrival was announced by the heavens. A star pointed the way. The Magi’s love led them to go to incredible lengths to see Jesus, and seeing Him, they couldn’t help but worship Him, expressing their love for Him for what He would do and God’s love already demonstrated in sending Him. They brought costly gifts…another natural expression of their love. In Him, they found an Object worthy of great pursuit…chasing after Him with all they had…their love for Jesus is clear…Jesus, the long-awaited Jewish Messiah, the Warrior-King from the line of David, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Hero of the Story and the only One who could rescue them, the Savior of the nations. The Magi recognize Jesus as King, and their response to Him is worship and adoration.

Where are your affections this Christmas? Who or what do you love? Is it causing you to be selfish and self-serving? Is it causing you to want to protect your stuff? If so, you may be giving your affections to people or things that are destined to disappoint. Or are you loving Jesus, the only One who can save and deliver and rescue…not just in an eternal sense, but also here and now? Is He the Object of your affections…your devotion every day? Do you live that way…going to great lengths to be in His presence, to worship Him, to serve Him with the same passion and diligence that the Magi did? Are you living as one who has realized their hope in Jesus, who’s experienced God’s amazing love? Are we as God’s people making much of Jesus this Christmas, or are we caught up in the hustle and bustle of building our own little kingdoms?

If you don’t know Jesus as Savior today…if He is not the King you adore, make today the day. To do so starts with acknowledging that you are a sinner in need of a Savior and then believing that Jesus is the Savior that God promised would come. He lived a perfect life. He died a sacrificial death on your behalf. He was raised the third day showing that He had conquered both sin and death, so that by believing in Him you could have forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

O Come All Ye Faithful…Christmas is a busy season, and we have a thousand things on our minds and a thousand things to do. But through it all, let us remember to come and adore Jesus who loves us and proved that love by coming into the world to bring us light for our darkness…and joy…and life eternal.

pro rege

December 9, 2024 strive4theprize

Joy to the World (Joy)

Genesis 3.1-19

The LORD God created a perfect world. All that He had made was good, including the man and his wife. It’s paradise…heaven on earth. What happened? It’s hard to describe the catastrophic results of one single awful decision. Welcome to life as we know it. Every act of violence, every natural disaster, every terrible thing that has happened since is a direct result.

What was the sin of the garden? It was rebellion. It was pride in its purest form. The Image-bearers were not satisfied with merely bearing the Image…they wanted to be the Image. Instead of trusting their loving Creator who had so “fearfully and wonderfully” made them, who had entrusted them with representing Him to His creation, who had made them king and queen over planet earth, they rejected Him and spurned His love. They sought to oust Him from His throne and take His place. They wanted a shot at the title.

But lest we too quickly fault our first parents, don’t we see that same act of rebellion repeated legion in our own lives? If man and woman in a perfect environment fail to follow God on their own, what hope do we have? Our only hope is Jesus.

That’s why the angel’s pronouncement in Luke 2.8-15 is such joyous news…“good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” God’s not done yet. The Hero has come to save the day. Joy has returned. Unimaginable, unspeakable, incomprehensible joy. Not the counterfeit, sugary-sweet, fleeting, unsatisfying joy that the world offers. But the real deal…the true joy that only Jesus can bring.

May you experience such a joy this Christmas season.

pro rege

November 18, 2024 strive4theprize

IMPACT Promise Week 7: Commitment

2 Corinthians 8-9

The series has focused on 2 Corinthians 8-9 and Paul’s encouragement to the church at Corinth concerning generosity.

The city of Corinth was about 40 miles west of Athens in what was ancient Achaia. It was a thriving, cosmopolitan city known for its many gods, diverse culture and great wealth. The church of Corinth was planted by Paul during his second missionary journey (Acts 18). You can imagine that folks coming out of that lifestyle might carry some baggage with them, especially since the world around them didn’t change even though they had. They passed the same temples they once worshiped in on their way to work everyday. They interacted with the same folks who shared a totally different worldview everyday. They were surrounded with the same affluence and allure that it brought everyday. The same temptations… So Paul writes both of his letters to the Corinthians to encourage, equip, provoke, instruct, admonish and challenge them to live lives that reflect the truth that they (and we) are new creations in Christ. The old is gone, the new has come.

Two things that drove Paul…first, the gospel. His heartbeat. Only way to stop him was to kill him. Even through all the persecution that he faced (stoned, beaten, mocked, thrown in jail, run out of town…) he still couldn’t wait to share the good news that the Jewish Messiah was the Savior of the world. To his final breath… oh that we had such a passion for the gospel. To reach the lost and to build up the saints! That’s what IMPACT Promise is all about.

Paul had a desire to take up a collection for the church in Jerusalem. Both because of famine and because of persecution, believers there had fallen on hard times. Many had lost jobs, friends and family had abandoned them, and the religious leaders were actively pursuing them. As a former persecutor of the church, Paul knew what kind of suffering and persecution they had faced and were facing. So now he wants to help them out…motivated by the hope of greater unity within the church (Jew/Gentile) and by the desire to meet the needs of his brothers and sisters in the LORD living in Jerusalem.

A few of my takeaways from this series…the example of the churches of Macedonia. Crazy generous. Despite the desperate circumstances they were facing…“in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their generosity.” How is that possible? Suffering to joy, poverty to generosity. Because of the grace of God they had received. It overwhelmed them. And they really wanted to share that grace with others. Because of God’s grace.

Another takeaway…the example of Jesus. Though He was rich, yet for our sake He became poor, so that we through His poverty might become rich. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. That’s God’s grace. That’s the gospel…the generosity of God. “For God so loved the world He gave…”

Our greatest IMPACT is the one we make together. Serving alongside one another with an earnestness…a diligence…an eagerness…a zeal to reach the lost, expand the kingdom, and make Jesus more famous.

We have enough to be generous. If we make giving a priority, God will supply enough for our needs…not necessarily our wants…but our needs. And not only that, He gives us an abundance so that we can be even more generous. How could the Macedonians give generously with joy? How could the widow give all that she had? Because they trusted that God was able to make all grace abound to them. They trusted that God would provide for their needs. And God who provides the resources in the beginning also multiplies those resources when they are generously given.

Everything we have comes from the LORD. Everything. He has entrusted us with His resources. He provides the seed…time, talent, experience, gifts, money/stuff…and He expects us to invest those resources until He returns. Not in our own little kingdoms, but in His. Easy to say, but hard to do. It requires us to let go, rather than hold on. To recognize that we are not the main character in our story. He is. Our job is simply to say “yes” to Him. Parable of the Mina’s in Luke 19.

pro rege

This post is based on a sermon from our IMPACT Promise series. Download the podcast at: Central Christian Church Main Service, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X or Threads: @ccclancaster. You can also download our Central Christian app in the iTunes App Store.

November 11, 2024 strive4theprize

IMPACT Promise Week 6: The Generosity of God

2 Corinthians 9.10-15

“Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all generosity, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.”

Last weekend Wendy and I were visiting our son’s church, and the pastor said something that stuck with me about giving. We will call it four views of “my stuff”: 1) all that I have is mine 2) the more is mine 3) some of what I have is mine or 4) all that I have belongs to the LORD (generous/kingdom IMPACT mindset). Helpful way of thinking about this idea of generosity.

Everything we have comes from the LORD. Everything. He has entrusted us with His resources. He provides the seed…time, talent, experience, gifts, money/stuff…and He expects us to invest those resources until He returns. Parable of the Mina’s in Luke 19. Guess what He wants us to invest in? Our kingdoms? Building bigger barns…seeing who can die with the most toys…having a YOLO attitude? And who gets all that stuff when you die? Eventually it all goes to the graveyard or the junkyard. What a foolish way to live! Or are we to invest in His kingdom? Yeah…His kingdom. Easy to say, but hard to do. It requires us to let go, rather than hold on. To recognize that we are not the main character in our story. He is. Our job is simply to say “yes” to Him.

Here’s the thing…our money/stuff and how we use it…is a good indication of our spiritual health (all mine vs. all His or somewhere in between). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus challenges His disciples not to worry…about food or clothing…the necessities of life…God will provide for us just as He does for the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. He says instead that we are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to us. For where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.

Now’s the time to make an IMPACT. Strive to become a generous giver, not a bigger barn builder. Then watch and see what the LORD does.

IMPACT Promise is a great place to start.

pro rege

October 28, 2024 strive4theprize

IMPACT Promise Week 4: Teamwork

2 Corinthians 8.16-24

Each of us is called to make an IMPACT. And all of us can have IMPACT in different ways. Sharing our story. Serving in a ministry. Investing our financial resources in kingdom purposes. Loving our neighbor. All of the above.

So what about you? What IMPACT are you having right now? What kind of IMPACT do you want to have around the block and around the world?

It starts today…sign up to be a part of our IMPACT Promise and say “yes” to the LORD.

pro rege

October 21, 2024 strive4theprize

IMPACT Promise Week 3: Finish What You Start

2 Corinthians 8.8-15

Why be generous? Because of Jesus. Though He was rich, yet for our sake He became poor, so that we through His poverty might become rich. That’s God’s grace. That’s the gospel.

Being generous is a heart attitude. Not really something that’s easy to teach. It starts with the recognition of God’s grace…His generosity towards us. Those forgiven much, love much. Those forgiven little, love little. Truth is…we’ve all been forgiven much. And when that sinks in, we will do a much better job of loving. Loving God and loving others. We will simply be more generous. We will have an IMPACT mindset.

Everything we have, we’ve been given. It’s been entrusted to us. It all belongs to God. We are managers of His resources. And one day we will have to give an account…have we been generous with His stuff? Have we been generous with the money, time, relationships, etc…with the life He’s entrusted to us?

Another way to ask that is…what kind of IMPACT are you having right now for the kingdom? What kind of IMPACT would you like to have?

Let’s start today…sign up to be a part of our IMPACT Promise and say “yes” to the LORD.

pro rege

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: