Christ Community Church - Leawood Campus - SUNDAY MESSAGES

Storms can be frightening. Storms and fear usually go hand in hand. This is not only true of weather-related storms, but also of life-related storms. We all face fearful storms and are living in a very fearful culture. Jesus is not only the creator of the omnipotent God of the universe, Jesus is the loving and attentive omnipresent God who is always there with us even in the midst of chaos. He is here with us and for us. Just before ascending into heaven, Jesus’ last recorded words are, I am with you, even to the end of time. Jesus' uninterrupted and attentive presence in our lives is why we should not be paralyzed by fear. As apprentices of Jesus even in the midst of our greatest fears, our fiercest storms, in the deepest valleys of pain, grief, and doubt, we are never, ever alone.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4890674222.06.19

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4890341222.06.12

Life is like smoke. It looks real and solid but when you try to grasp it, it slips through your fingers. And this observation leads Qohelet to the brink of despair at times, because there seems to be nothing that can be counted on in this life “under the sun.” Rather than try to grasp the smoke, the hevel, and watch it slip through your fingers, live life with an open hand. The simple pleasures of life - those are a gift from God. Enjoy them. The relationships you have are a gift from God. These are ways that God is providing for us - enjoy them while you have them. So for Qohelet, the whole duty of man is to enjoy your life such as it is, and to die. But actually there’s something more. The whole duty of man is not just to enjoy life and die. The whole duty of man is to fear God and keep his commandments.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4889982822.06.05

Jesus is not only the only Son of the Father, but His father has given him all authority under heaven and on earth. Literally, everything hangs on every word that comes from His mouth. If you want to honor God, you must honor the Son. Honoring the Son means taking his words, not just the words we like, but especially the words we don’t like, seriously. He is the Son of the Father, the Judge of all, the final word over every life, or he is nothing. We should honor him by crying out to him for eternal life that only the Son of the Father can give. He promises us, in his timing, just as he has been doing from the very beginning, that he will bring life to dead things, even dead things like you and me.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4886683822.04.03

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4889156522.05.22

Human beings, for most of human history, have a really unhealthy relationship to money. It’s one of those through lines of every age, culture, ethnicity, doesn’t matter: people love money. Qoheleth puts his finger right on the problem. Pleasure and work, and other good things that we can love too much, are like the carrot at the end of the stick that, when you finally get it, leaves you disappointed. It promises rest, but only leads to restlessness. The Bible shows us that we can’t rest from the love of money until we find the rest it promises elsewhere. Which is why Jesus is so adamant that he and he alone can give you rest. Our joy. Our security. Our happiness. He is our ultimate investment and retirement plan. It’s all him. He’s the only thing in life and death that cannot be taken away. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4888549922.05.15

Explore the search for meaning through work and the disillusionment it often brings. Discover how our toil can become idolatrous, overshadowing its potential as a God-honoring endeavor. Delve into the universal stress and exhaustion many feel, drawing parallels with corporate challenges like Netflix's subscriber loss. Finally, find hope amidst the burdens of work, emphasizing the priority of nurturing our relationship with God over relentless striving. This journey beautifully intertwines purpose with faith.

Pleasure also has no answer to pain. This is perhaps pleasure’s greatest weakness as a purpose to life. Qoheleth will point this out later, but life is so hard, even under the best of circumstances, and you can’t simply distract your way through that. No matter how much pleasure you can have, all it takes is one devastating diagnosis, or loss, or divorce, or death, to completely undo you. And you can’t throw pleasure at that pain, can you? It doesn’t work. The spell that pleasure casts is easily and immediately broken by pain. The human capacity for pleasure pales in comparison to God’s capacity for it. There is beauty, and delight, and music, and light, and colors, we can’t even experience. They only exist for God’s delight. Qoheleth’s lesson is not that he wanted too much, and it let him down. It’s that he wanted too little, when Eden was there all along. And God intends to make everything into Eden one day, and invite you in, if you are willing to follow him there. Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4888253622.05.01

Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/48878305The paradox of human knowledge is the more we know…there is so much more we do not know…like climbing a mountain, when you get to the top, you see other mountains you have never seen before. This is life under the sun. Gospel life under the sun is smoke, but there is life over the sun and it is found in the Son! The vivid contrast between a life lived without God and a life lived in the face of God. John 10:10 reads…I have come to give you life and abundantly, a life of purpose…of deep joy and satisfaction that only ultimately comes in a deepening intimacy with God. The meaning we long for is found in a relationship. Our creator and redeemer, before the face of God. 22.04.24

There is no meaningful way to follow Jesus, no matter how compelling his example and his teaching, if you think he is dead and buried like every other human person from the beginning of time. If he is not raised, then we have no hope. But in fact, Paul says, and he bet his entire life on this: Jesus has been raised. And if he has been raised, then we have eternal hope in him. The only thing more wonderful, in fact, than worshiping this risen Jesus today, will be seeing him when he comes again, to make all things right, and when he utterly destroys our last enemy. And if you can begin to wrap your mind and heart around that, not only as something you hope is real, but something you know is real, you will begin to understand the power of the phrase we started this whole day with. He is risen. He is risen indeed.Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/4887441622.04.17