the mission at home.
God is Love
Knowing
The World is Passing Away (part two)
three: compassion
Paint the World with Love
#9 Imitators of God
series: Love Incorruptible
title: #9 Imitators of God
date: June 25, 2017
teacher: Jacob Bender
scriptures: Ephesians 5:1-14, Genesis 6:5, Genesis 1-3, Genesis 4:6-7,
One thing Drew always says, and he says it about the most simple things, (it's hilarious) is he says: “This changes everything.” He said it on Thursday, I told him at Kids Club “we have a slip and slide today” and he said: “This changes everything.”
That is exactly the way that we should look at the gospel. This truly is the one thing, that changes everything.
and the thing that it should produce in you, probably more than anything else: is Thanksgiving. It is the word “eucharisteō” (you-har-estay-o) - bundled into this Greek word are the Greek words charis and chara which means “grace” and “joy” - when you understand how every finite detail of your life all the way down to your salvation is grace, it produces unspeakable joy, which equates to thankfulness.
and when that Thanksgiving is genuine, the behavior side of things begins to happen automatically.
Not because you aren’t trying to do the right thing… part of growing up in Christ means learning how to live your life with INTENTION… but the difference between the old and the new self is: the old self WANTS to give way to the flesh… the new self WANTS to resist it.
#3 Seeing Our Neighbor
series: Neighbor(ing)
title: Seeing Our Neighbor
teacher: Jacob Bender
date: March 5, 2017
scriptures: John 8:3-11, Genesis 2:9, Genesis 3:4-5, Genesis 3:17, Genesis 3:22-33, Psalm 106:23, Ezekiel 22:30, Revelation 22:1-4
#6 Indifference
series: Thawing
title: indifference
teacher: Jacob Bender
date: February 12, 2017
scriptures: Revelation 3:14-20, Ezekiel 16:49, Matthew 25:45-46, Luke 16, Deuteronomy 27:19, Ephesians 6, 1 John 3:18
Jesus says to the church in Laodicea - "would that you be hot or cold... but because you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth!" -Revelation 3:15-16.
Most of us growing up being taught: You should be one or the other… and we associate hot or cold as being GOOD or BAD… and the teaching is typically that being lukewarm means you are somewhere in the middle of good and bad... and with THAT framework we hear Jesus saying: you are lukewarm and because of that I will spit you out of my mouth! and That leaves people thinking that Jesus would rather a person flat out deny him… not serve him at all, than to serve him, we could say: “half heartedly” - but what does that even mean?
#5 After an Election
FEATURED CLIP:
teacher: Jacob Bender
date: November 13, 2016
series: Jonah
title: After an Election
scriptures: Psalm 11, Romans 13, Jonah 3, Jonah 4:1-3, Psalm 56:8, Isaiah 57:15 (mentioned), 1 Corinthians 9:22, Jon 13:35, 2 Peter 1:3-8
#9 Love Your Enemies
series: Red Letter City
title: Love Your Enemies
date: June 12, 2016
teacher: Jacob Bender
scriptures: Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 16, Matthew 18, Leviticus 19:18, Proverbs 24:17, Romans 12:21, Luke 22:36, Matthew 26:52-53, Luke 23:34, Luke 6:46, Matthew 22:34-40, Matthew 10:34-36, Revelation 19:15, Isaiah 49:2, Isaiah 11:4, Ephesians 6:17 (rhema), John 1:14, Hebrews 4:12 (logos), Romans 12, Psalm 23, Psalm 23:5
FEATURED VIDEOS:
#4 Anger
series: Red Letter City
title: Anger
teacher: Jacob Bender
date: May 1, 2016
scriptures: Matthew 5:21-26, Psalm 145:8-9, 1 John 4:8, Ephesians 4:25-27, Ecclesiastes 7:9, Hebrews 12:14-15, Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5, Ephesians 2, 1 John 4:19-21
This is an issue that a lot of people deal with… and for most of us, the way we deal with it is to stuff it. The problem is that the things you stuff tend to grow roots in the grounds of your heart… Hebrew calls it a “root of bitterness,” - what happens is, if you never process your feelings, you will get so used to having them that you will begin to justify them. Because they will feel natural to you. And what Jesus is saying here is that when that happens, things can get very ugly very very quickly.
and then there is this:
A lot of people have what I call an “Angry God syndrome.”
They have this idea in their head that God is mad at everybody all the time… and they paint this picture of a God who is upstairs waiting, rubbing his hands together in excitement, licking his lips in anticipation of the moment when he gets to finally bring judgment on our nation, and on this group of people, and on this type of person. and the bible does talk about God being angry with wickedness, and there is plenty of talk in the bible about God’s judgment…
But here is the issue.
and this is why the sermon on the mount is so incredibly crucial to our lives... Because people believed all sorts of things about God back then… things that were not right.
Things that were not love.
“God is love.”
AND people today believe all sorts of things about God that are not right. Things that are not love.
and whatever you think that God is like, if you truly believe you are a follower of him then you are going to try and be that… Isn’t that what Jesus says in Luke? A disciple is not better than his teacher, but he will be like him.
So we have this nation of “Christians” who want to be like God…
but they think God is angry all the time!
and this leads to all sorts of problems. Because if God hates this type of person, then you can hate this type of person.
Because we are just trying to be like God.
So… as people who have Jesus in our lives… who are disciples of Jesus and who want to be more like the God that we serve… I think that it is incredibly important that we understand what God is like.
Does God ever get angry? Yes.
Is God living in a constant disposition of anger toward the world? No.
the rest is in the sermon.
#1 Why are we afraid?
series: Cultivate the Romance
title: Why are we afraid?
date: January 3, 2016
teacher: Jacob Bender
scriptures: 1 John 4:18-19, Psalm 2:7-8, Psalm 27:1, Philippians 2:3-4, Luke 1:28, Isaiah 9:2
Fear is an incredibly motivating factor in our world right now, and I have watched over the last several months especially, how fear has actually dictated the way that people treat one another. The way that they accept one another and welcome one another.
The bible has a lot to say about fear, because the reality is, nothing can possibly keep you from being what you are supposed to be in Christ, and nothing can possibly keep you from loving people the way you are supposed to love them in Christ, and nothing can possibly keep you from doing the thing which God has put on your heart to accomplish, more than fear. It has infected my brain in the deepest ways, has already caused some of my vision to flutter, it has gotten in the way of my love.
And if there is one thing that I am determined to do differently as your Pastor here at Courage Church this year, it is this, I am not going to let fear have a voice at the table. I am not going to let fear stop me from trying anything. I would rather strike out swinging, than by watching a home run pitch fly by me while I stand idle, knowing that was the one that had the potential to go over the fence. That had the potential to be the home run.
And I would encourage you to join me this year as you set your goals and you pray about your dreams and the God sized vision for your life, to believe that in Christ, we can do anything.
#1 Beginning with Grace
Series: The Narrative of Grace
Title: Beginning with Grace
Date: November 15, 2015
Teacher: Jacob Bender
scriptures: Matthew 1:1-17, Genesis 12, Genesis 38, Joshua 2, Hosea 6:6, 1 John 3:18
Do you ever find yourself keeping score of failures? Or do you tend to assign a guilt you have to some current life circumstance?
I am alone because __________
I can’t go home because __________
I’ll never do that because __________
I don’t deserve grace because __________
But what if I were to tell you that the because doesn’t matter?
In fact, the only BECAUSE that does matter is That Jesus loves you BECAUSE you are his child. I try to tell my daughters that, as often as I can… Milly I love you…
“I know” she’ll say.
And I don’t do this every time, but sometimes, when I am at the top of my parenting game, I will ask her “Do you know why I love you?
“No”
Because you are my daughter. You are my daughter…
I love her because she is my child.
Well you are children of God. And nothing can change that. The bible says that nothing separates us from the love of God. Not death nor life..
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39 NIV)
The because does not matter. Because nothing can not separate us from the love of God any more than anything else.
You think you are jacked up? That God can’t use you anymore?
Look no further than the first of names on the list we read at the beginning… the names of those in JESUS’ family line…
Mathew one… The lineage… A genealogy was something that told people who you were… There was a sense of pride in where you came from, and the fact that God chose this particular family to be the one to birth Jesus into has great significance.
These people weren’t just jacked up like sometimes I think I am jacked up. These people were JACKED UP.
We invite you to join us as we explore this jacked up family for the six weeks leading up to Christmas.
#2 gods and murder
Title: gods & murder
Series: Realities
Teacher: Jacob Bender
Date: September 20, 2015
scriptures: Mark 12:28-34, Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Psalm 82:4, Ezekiel 33:6, Luke 22:36, John 18:10-11, Matthew 5:22, James 1:22, Matthew 3:16, John 10:30, Genesis 2:24, John 17:6, John 17:21, Colossians 1:15-17, Luke 23:21, 1 Peter 2:24, Hebrew 12:3,
Observing Jews wake up every single morning, and they quote this verse.
“Hear Oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” They say it at everything. Of course, they aren’t quoting Jesus, they are quoting the verse that Jesus is quoting, which is Deuteronomy 6:4-5.
Jesus answered the scribes question here in Mark, by quoting an old testament passage known as the SHEMA.
They ask him, “What is the most important thing?”
and he quotes Deuteronomy. He says, what is most important? Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ But Jesus adds the second part: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
and the scribe responds to Jesus, and says, “you are right. He is one. God is one. And there is no-one else besides him. You know the scriptures. We can move on now.
It seems this would sum it up. If we could just grasp this concept fully, with all of our hearts, it would solve just about all of our problems. God comes first. People come second, and you are included in the second, but you are not above it. You treat people just like you would treat yourself… If you believed this, and we lived this, we wouldn’t need the Ten Commandments. We would already be doing them.
But the problem is that we don’t grasp this. And that is why we are still hurting each other. We are still talking bad about each other, we are still gossiping and slandering, and belittling each other.
We can’t even get our mind around “love your neighbor as yourself” – and if you can’t love your neighbor as yourself, could you possibly love God with all of your heart?
Moses wrote the SHEMA in Deuteronomy six…. its the chapter right after he gives us the Ten Commandments… Its almost like he was doing the same thing that Jesus does… he is saying, “Here are Ten words to live by.” But if ten is too many, here is one.
If we understand the principles behind the SHEMA, we would automatically do the Ten Commandments.
We hope you will join as we explore the SHEMA, and why that is the way that he responded the the scribe.
#1 ... you will know them by their fruits
Series: The Fruit of the Spirit
Title: … and you will know them by their fruits
Teacher: Jacob Bender
Date: July 5, 2015
Key Scriptures: Jeremiah 17:5-8, Matthew 7:17-18, Ezekiel 16:49, Jeremiah 22:16, Galatians 5:16-21, John 7:37-39
“And you will know them by their fruits.”
More and more, things in our culture are moving away from God.
But it seems to me that more often than not, when I see the way that Christians respond to the changes taking place in society, they put more effort into condemning other peoples actions than they do producing fruit of their own. And that is what this whole series is about. “What should my life look like, in this world?” What should the fruit of a person be like, knowing that their kingdom is not of this world?
Christians need to stop expecting non-Christians to act like Christians, and use that effort to produce fruit that leads none Christians to become Christians. And those things are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control.
#5 The Layered Heart
DATE: June 14, 2015
TEACHING: Jacob Bender
SERIES: Intentions
TITLE: The Layered Heart
SCRIPTURES: Philippians 2:1-13, Philippians 1:27, Ephesians 5:22-23, Galatians 6:2, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, Genesis 2:18, James 5:17, Isaiah 53:3, Luke 5:16, John 14:12-13, 1 John 3:16-17, John 13:35
We have come to the end of our first series. I have been so encouraged by all of the feedback everyone has been giving us through this series, and the reports of the healing it has been for peoples lives. I know it has impacted me greatly to study it and to put it together.
Last week, Dawn talked about transparency, which could not have been a better lead-in to the Layered Heart. As we go through life, tragedy, heartbreak, disappointment, etc. we tend to put layers around our hearts… because nobody wants to be hurt over and over and over again so we put up a layer against a person… “They will never get through again… They will never hurt me again…”
but before long, somebody else, or something else, will let you down. And you put up another layer.
And soon enough, you decide to block everyone out from that part of your life, from that part of your heart, and transparency gets thrown out the window and your whole life becomes about the appearance of strength. Nobody can hurt a strong person, right?
The layered heart (or whatever you want to call it) is the number one killer of community. It stops community dead in its tracks. But Paul tells us that we should bare one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2)… how are we suppose to bare each others burdens, if we don’t know what they are.
He tells us that we should not only look out for our interests but also for the interests of others (Philippians 2:4), and he tells the Philippian church that he hopes to hear reports of them “standing firm in ONE spirit, with one mind, STRIVING SIDE BY SIDE for the faith of the gospel (Philippians 1:27).
I love this quote by Paul David Tripp, he says “Autonomous Christianity never works, because our spiritual life was designed by God to be a community project.”
This whole series has been about working out our minds, so we can be effective in our world. Well the church is the hope of the world. Discipleship happens in community. Life transformation happens in the context of healthy relationships… and as we work out the Intentions of our hearts, lets do it standing side by side together, striving for the faith of the gospel. Lets do it understanding that two are better than one, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).
Why do we do what we do?
We do it because we are the bride of Christ.
We are his representation here on Earth.
We are his ambassadors to the city of Detroit.
We do it because Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient, to the point of death (Phil. 2:8).
We do it because the local church is the hope of the world. And that is us.
