FCC Etown Podcast

We long for you to experience God’s grace in your life and be free from something you’ve struggled with for a long, long time. We don’t want anyone living with guilt and shame. But that means acknowledging what David acknowledged. That we’re all people who have sinned. And while we’d rather hide it, minimize it, or rationalize it away, owning it is the beginning of real freedom in real life.

Our worries, concerns, and sleepless nights about parenting are greatly reduced when we are serious about fun, trust them with responsibility, discipline them with love, help them see the future, and point them to Jesus. That's what we do during the day, so it doesn't keep us up at night.

Jesus never promised an easy life, but He guaranteed that He would be with us no matter what. So, when the fear comes and we, like Peter, feel like we are drowning, all we need to do is look up and find His hand waiting to pull us up and onto firm footing.

There are numerous evangelism styles: In your face style, life story style, serving style, intellectual style, relational style, invitational style. Which style are you? Remember you don’t have to be who you are not. But he has made you who you are so that armed with the power of the Holy Spirit the you that you are will be a powerful witness for him in your Jerusalem.

“Go and do likewise.” Jesus didn’t say to sit and think about what I’ve explained. He said Go and do. From the story of the Good Samaritan, we can take away this reality: Unleashing compassion is almost always inconvenient; it’s almost always messy. See the need and serve. Go and do likewise.

The Person/sinner/Tax Collector Matthew was loved and connected to Jesus. Matthew was not an outsider by his own doing. His career path and actions had disconnected him from his own people. His nationality had disconnected him from a government that paid him. But Jesus made all the connections work in the life of the disconnected.

Timothy is part of the world changers. Paul’s fingerprints are all over the first century, the first years of the church, and the New Testament. Timothy and his generation of leaders are why we’re still talking about it all. Timothy imitated Paul, who imitated Jesus. But some people imitated Timothy, and people imitated them and imitated them. We get to continue this great tradition of the faith.

Maybe you’ve been following Jesus for a long time and you’re exhausted from your fight or you’re struggling with friends leaving you or what people have said about you or you’re dealing with something that is beyond what you can bare, remember that Jesus died so He may be with you in your suffering, and remember that He rose again and will redeem your suffering.

The ability to look like Jesus doesn't take a program or an organized event. We’re provided with moments, little moments, non-headline moments, to serve others. We are on mission when our lives reflect Jesus. When we serve others like Jesus served others in the little things and in the details of life, we are on mission. FCC seeks to be a place that serves others.

The aroma of love can brush by the senses of the people in the world, and we are drawn to it. Most of all, it is who God wants us to be. We love because he first loved us, and we honor him when we love. That fragrance is not just attractive to the world around us, but it's pleasing to God. This is who we should be.

Why do we love God, Why do we gather to sing songs, learn from his Word, pray to him and worship him in everything we do? From the moment we ever knew him he has been all of these roles for us. He is savior from the moment he is also creator and teacher. Most importantly he loved us first.