Christ Community Church - Leawood Campus - SUNDAY MESSAGES

Tom Nelson // Romans 3:1-20Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49139444 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.10.01

Romans 2:17-29 // Ben BeasleyOne of the longest-running complaints by the modern world of the church is. It’s also one of the greatest barriers to our witness in the modern world: Saying one thing and being another. Fake. Two-faced. Saying one thing and being another. Fake. In one sense, all humans wrestle with being fake, but this is more vibrant/clear in religious communities. Partly because the more clear your convictions, the more clear being fake appears. The more religious you are, the easier it is to spot a fake. The more clear your claims, the easier it is to see when you don’t align. I actually don’t think it's because religious people are worse than other people, it's just that our hypocrisy is more vivid. And shouldn’t we be different? Isn’t that an appropriate hope? And yet, knowing all this…this is persistent in the church…from all the way back in the first century no less.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49139434 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.09.24

Romans 2: 1-11 // Ben BeasleySermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49135914 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.09.17

Romans 1:24-2:1 // Tom NelsonAs thoughtful readers of the text, let’s remember that rabbi Paul who wrote the book of Romans writes from a coherent biblical worldview.  A worldview is an attempt to make coherent sense of our lives and the world. All worldviews are built on faith assumptions that cannot be absolutely proven with certainty whether they are atheistic, (there is no god), pantheistic (everything is god or a force), or theistic (There is a God, distinct from us.) Worldviews, we all have them–whether they are carefully thought through or not, all of us wrestle with life’s biggest questions and the most challenging experiences of our lives. Questions like where did we come from, is there meaning to our lives, what is wrong with the world, what about suffering and evil, and where are we heading? For Paul, the heart of the problem is the problem of the human heart. Since that fateful day long ago in the Garden of Eden, humans have chosen to embrace a lie, worshiping created things rather than the Creator. The big problem built off the big lie is that while we were created to worship God, we became idol worshippers rather than God worshippers. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49132474 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.09.10

Romans 1:18-25 // Ben BeasleyOur passage gives us three reasons why we need to be rescued. And that we need to be rescued from the things that God’s wrath is directed against. When we refuse to acknowledge God for who He is, when our gratitude goes somewhere else when we show a lack of gratitude, or when we give our attention to false idols or counterfeit gods. Paul’s claim here is that if we refuse to acknowledge God as the creator…then our gratitude is inclined to go somewhere other than to God. Paul is essentially saying: that if you don’t start with God. If you don’t start with the reality that God made the world….Then you are doomed from the beginning. What Paul is alluding to, is that sin from the beginning of its entrance into the world continues on the path of self-deception.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49128953 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.09.03

Romans 1: 8-15 // Ben BeasleyEverywhere we look we see division in our world. We live in a divided world. The myth is that today we are more divided than ever before, but division has always been part of the human story. Paul’s letter to the Romans was written to a city, to a church, and to a world that was experiencing great division. Paul is clear in his message that our division is overcome and a new kind of family takes its place through faith in Jesus. Faith in Jesus gives us three things: an identity, a longing, and a binding. Faith in Jesus gives us an identity as beloved. Some of us need the simple reminder that God loves you. He knows all of you. He loves you. And when you place your faith in Jesus, he fully commits to you, gives you an identity, and welcomes you into his new family.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49122073 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.08.20

Romans 1: 13-17 // Tom NelsonChristianophobia is defined as a growing cultural phenomenon marked by an increasingly intense animosity against Christians and the Christian faith. Christians face increased discrimination and greater hostility in many sectors of society including media, the academy, business and government. How should we as followers of Jesus live in the context of a culture of growing hostility to what we believe and our moral commitments? Some today are choosing to separate from culture, more it seems are changing their beliefs and moral commitments in order to accommodate to culture. Yet I find an increasing number of Christians who are living in the shadows of a kind of fearful silence. Tragically separation from culture or accommodation to culture is not the answer to navigating an increasingly hostile culture, nor is a fearful silence. A better and more biblical way of navigating our contemporary culture is what Christian sociologist James Hunter has rightly called, a faithful presence witness.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49125555 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.08.27

Romans 1: 1-7 // Tom NelsonSermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49117558 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.08.13

2 Samuel 24 // Ben BeasleyThe question isn’t if we’ll fall. It’s when. Some can ignore it for a while, but eventually, we come to terms with our own proclivities, areas of brokenness, and destructive behaviors. If we’re honest with ourselves, everyone has moments and sometimes seasons when we’ve intentionally made destructive decisions toward ourselves, toward others, and God. Where do you fall, when you fall? One of the key dynamics throughout the whole Samuel scroll is comparing Saul and David. Fascinating: David and Saul both fall. David is — in many ways — recorded as falling harder and farther…but the difference is that David knows where to fall. When Saul was faced with his sin, he blamed others, and tried to just avoid consequences. When David was faced with his own sin, he owned it. All of it. And he fell into the Lord’s hands…because he trusted that God’s mercy would get the last word. When we fall on the LORD, his mercy gets the last word. What about you today? Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49115211 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.08.06

2 Samuel 16: 5-12 // Ben BeasleyI understand that there are people here who have lived more life than me. Who have experienced much more than me. I’m well aware of that fact. But in my years, I’ve lived enough life simply to say this. Losses change us. They make us different. We don’t come out the other end the same. If we are honest, the wounds are often there, lying underneath the surface. Losses, whether it’s the loss of a child, a relationship, a dream, or whatever it may be - losses are defining moments in our lives. I would like us to recognize three ways in which suffering changes us; suffering humbles us, suffering leads us to pray, and in suffering, we find compassion for others. We are not alone in our suffering. God enters into our suffering and is the only one who can redeem the mess to offer hope in our suffering.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49111478 Prayer Requests: https://ccefc.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/2509/responses/new23.07.30