Read Part 1

(2/12) Welcome to Christ’s Community Church. I’m so glad to have all of you with us here this morning because it was 10 years ago that CCC had its grand opening. And so, we are here today celebrating a decade of worshiping Jesus in Emmitsburg. As the psalmist said, "Our mouths are filled with laughter and our tongues with songs of joy…

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy" (Psalms 126:3).

And every year at this time we recommit to membership, refreshing the roster, remembering what that means to us, and celebrating the difference that Jesus is making in our lives together.

Now, last week, we began talking about Next Steps, about being in the right place, and listening to the word of the Lord. Two weeks ago, we talked about being planted, growing roots and being fruitful in God’s house. And that’s so important, because so many people go to church week after week without ever connecting, without engaging in ministry, and finding their place in the body of Christ.

But here in this place, our purpose here at Christ’s Community Church is that we are always reaching, connecting, and equipping people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. It’s more than just a saying, that phrase summarizes all that we do at CCC, because we believe that God’s highest calling for us as followers of Christ isn’t just to go to a destination, but to be conformed to the image of his Son Jesus Christ.

We do that by being on mission together as followers of Christ, gathering together for worship to be encouraged, built up in our faith as we hear the Word of God, and strengthened according to his purpose that we would bear fruit and reproduce ourselves. In fact, Jesus said it this way,

"Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19).

And so, our goal is not to go to church, going to a destination, but to go… because we are the church, called to go and make disciples of all peoples and nations.

We gather together as a spiritual family so that we can flourish and grow, belonging to something greater than ourselves, being committed to one another as members of the body of Christ, and making a difference in the world. That was God’s intention through the gospel, that we would be,

"Members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 3:6).

And he began that work in us by his Spirit as we received the gospel and put our faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are members of his body, each one of us is a part of it as the Word of God says,

"We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks (black or white), slave or free (male or female) — we were all given the one Spirit to drink" (1 Corinthians 12:13).

And that is God’s intention, that we would be one, that we would be the family of God, fellow citizens with all of God’s people, members of God’s household through faith in Jesus Christ.

And so, as we talk about membership it’s important because a successful organization can’t be all over the place, having all kinds of belief systems, and still have any form of unity. And so, we need to be focused, coming together around the object of our faith, because as we accept our mission what we believe is so important.

In the Gospels, the Lord Jesus had done ministry with his disciples for three years and yet they were still confused about who he was. In John’s Gospel he said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." But Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us." Jesus replied, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?"

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me" (John 14:1, ESV).

He said, "Believe in God; believe also in me." And so, what do we believe? What are we to believe? We know that it is more than head knowledge, that it’s got to come from your heart, because the Bible says,

"If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," (and believe in your what?) Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).

And so, what do we believe? Well, number one, we believe the Word of God. We believe that both the Old and the New Testament are verbally inspired by God. That the 66 books in the Holy Bible contain the only written revelation from God to man in the original writings. In other words, in the original Greek and Hebrew, the Scriptures have been tested and proven and are infallible and inerrant. And so, the Holy Bible is our authoritative rule of faith and conduct, the Spirit of God himself testifying to its authenticity declaring,

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Yes, we believe! We believe that there is one God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, the seen and the unseen, who is personal, infinite, perfect, and who exists forever without time. While God is One, he has revealed himself as the eternally self-existent "I Am," further revealed with many different names through the ages describing his character, but most commonly expressed as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And so, its within that context that he has revealed himself in three persons, with different names, embodying the mystery commonly referred to as the Trinity.

One of my favorite illustrations of this is found in Jesus’ baptism where the gospel tells us,

"As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water" (Matthew 3:16).

In other words, that means that Jesus was immersed, he was under the water, and he came up out of the water.

"At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him" (Matthew 3:16).

And so, the Spirit of God descended on Jesus like a dove, and then the voice of God the Father from heaven said,

"This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).

And so, it was Jesus’ baptism that was his anointing, it was the revelation of the fullness of the Godhead in him, and a shadow prophesying of his death, burial, and resurrection. The anointing of the Holy Spirit on the Lord Jesus, the one who is, "Immanuel"—which means, "God with us" now has been identified as the Christ (Matthew 1:23).

He is the anointed one, and so number three, we believe that Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God, became human without ever ceasing to be God. After having been conceived of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the virgin Mary, in order that he might come in perfection, revealing God the Father to us, and redeeming fallen humanity.

That is significant because we believe that in the beginning, in Adam’s rebellion, the entire human race fell with him and inherited a sinful nature. And because of Adam’s transgression we have become alienated from God and can only be reconciled by God’s grace through faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ and by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

It was there on that old rugged cross that Jesus Christ purchased our redemption as a substitutionary sacrifice, voluntarily offering his own sinless life, and dying on the cross in our place. Through his literal bodily resurrection from the dead our redemption is confirmed, and he has now been…

"Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear" (Acts 2:33).

And so, Jesus Christ is exalted in heaven, acting as our High Priest, fulfilling the ministry of mediator, representative, intercessor, and advocate for us. He as the firstborn from the dead, the preeminent one, has received and poured out the Holy Spirit.

Next, we believe that the Holy Spirit is equally God with the Father and with the Son. He is ever present in the world, making people aware of their need for salvation, and drawing them to the Lord Jesus. And he comes to live inside of every believer the moment of salvation, making them new creations, being born of the Spirit, and able to live a life of obedience that glorifies God. The Bible testifies to the fact that,

"If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ" (Romans 8:9).

The Holy Spirit manifests himself in the life of a believer as fruit of the Spirit, giving evidence of spiritual maturity, and the Bible encourages us…

"Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25).

Number five, we believe every follower of Jesus is entitled to and should earnestly seek the promise of the Father, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the normative experience of all in the early Christian church and the Bible says,

"The disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it" (Mark 16:20).

And so, decade after decade, the New Testament records the Holy Spirit empowering believers to fulfill God’s purposes through the giving of spiritual gifts that are used to build up the body of Christ.

This experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit continues today and is distinct from and subsequent to the experience of the new birth; giving the believer power to live an intensified consecration to God, dedication to his work, and a more active love for Christ, for his word, and for the lost.

We believe in two ordinances of the church commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ. The first is water baptism which is all about death, burial, and resurrection. The Bible teaches that all who repent and believe in Christ are to be baptized by immersion following Jesus’ example, because when you get baptized it is saying that your old person is dead. The Bible says…

"Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection" (Romans 6:4-5).

And so, it’s like him, like Jesus, identifying with him. Water baptism is an outward sign of what the Holy Spirit has performed in the heart of the believer.

The second ordinance we are commanded to observe is Communion, otherwise known as the Lord’s Supper. It is a memorial, a symbolic remembrance of Christ’s suffering and death for us and for our salvation. In fact, Jesus made it very clear that it wasn’t about his literal flesh, he said,

"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life" (John 6:63).

And so, we believe that the Lord’s table consists of the bread and the cup, two elements symbolic of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus, intended to be a memorial and a prophecy of his second coming because the Bible says

"Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26).

And so, Communion is an opportunity for us as believers to examine ourselves, experiencing forgiveness, so that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. It’s in these two ordinances that we express our sharing of the divine nature of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Number 7, we believe that the Church is the body of Christ and each believer is an integral part of it. Together we have been commissioned as God’s ambassadors, ministers of reconciliation, to seek and save those who are lost in sin, to worship God with other believers, and to build a body of believers being perfected in the image of Jesus Christ. The Bible says it this way,

"Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12-13).

And so, the Church is an agency of God for evangelizing the world, a corporate body of worshipers, and the channel of God’s purpose to build up a body of believers being perfected and meeting the needs of others with love and compassion in Christ Jesus.

Now, it didn’t used to have to be this way, but there’s so much confusion in the world today let me add this. I have already stated that we believe the Bible, that we are the body of Christ, but as the apostle Paul wrote to the pastor of the church in Ephesus,

"I am writing you these instructions so that… you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household" (1 Timothy 3:14).

Now, apparently, there was some urgency to this, and it must have been needed if Paul took time to write in the Bible how you ought to behave yourself in the house of God. Which he adds, is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15).

In other words, it’s not a country club, it’s a holy place, it’s the church of the living God. It’s not a sports bar, it’s not a public arena, it’s so much bigger than a building, it’s the church of the living God. And so, when God sees the house of God, he doesn’t just see a building, he sees believers as living stones, being built up into a spiritual house, so that together we make up the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

In other words, he says, the church is the pillar, it’s a massive column, a loadbearing support, the foundation of the truth. The Bible says the church is

"Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone" (Ephesians 2:20).

That’s important, we need to know that, because if you don’t have the pillar, you don’t have the truth, and you don’t have any foundation. And Ephesians says,

"In (Christ) the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord" (Ephesians 2:21).

And so, we can’t base our faith on our feelings, our emotions, or our circumstances, we’ve got to base our faith on something that will not shake. Jesus is the chief cornerstone, and the Bible says,

"In him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22).

In other words, we are the Church, the body of Christ, a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. And therefore, it needs to be stated that we believe in the literal historicity of Genesis chapter one through eleven, because it’s the Holy Scriptures that help us to understand how we are to conduct ourselves as God’s house, the temple of the Holy Spirit.

And so, according to God’s own word, we believe that people, both male and female, are created in the image and likeness of God, and that marriage was intended to be the holy union of one man and one woman. In fact, Jesus taught the people saying,

"Haven't you read that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So, they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate" (Matthew 19:4-6).

And so, we believe that marriage was intended by God to be a lifelong covenant relationship between one man and one woman. This definition is stated in Genesis, confirmed by our Lord Jesus Christ, reiterated by the apostles, and affirmed throughout history by leaders of the Christian faith.

Therefore, we stand on the historicity of Genesis as the foundation of the truth because God said,

"My servant Moses is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles…" (Numbers 12:7-8).

In other words, we read Genesis as a straightforward account of human history because God spoke clearly to Moses. We don’t need to be looking for any mysterious meanings or interpretations or expect to have difficulty understanding what Moses wrote. Instead, we accept Genesis chapter one through eleven as literal history, just as Jesus did, just as the apostles did, and just as the prophets did, because if you don’t have that firm foundation, a strong pillar, when the storms of life come, they will blow you over.

And so, we believe the pillar of truth, the word of God, and…

"We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him" (1 Thessalonians 4:14).

We believe in the rapture of the church, the resurrection of those believer’s bodies who have died, and their translation together with those of us who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord.

"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

And we believe in the second coming of Christ to reign on earth for 1000 years. This millennial reign will bring about the salvation of national Israel and the establishment of universal peace.

"When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations" (Revelation 20:7-8).

Then we believe there will be a final judgment in which the dead will be resurrected and judged according to their works. Everyone whose name is not found written in the book of life, along with the devil and his angels, the beast and the false prophet, will be consigned to everlasting punishment in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).

On the other hand, those whose names are found written in the book of life will be resurrected in glory to stand before the judgment seat of Christ to be rewarded for their good deeds. And so, we wait till the Lord comes, trusting that he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God" (1 Corinthians 4:5).

We believe and we look forward to the perfect new Heaven and new Earth that Christ is preparing for people of all time who have trusted him. For we will live and dwell with him there forever and so we shall forever be with the Lord.

We believe this is the God who was chosen to reveal himself to us throughout the Old Testament in shadows, and types, and in all kinds of ways. He is the voice of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day. He is the fourth man in the fiery furnace, our kinsman redeemer, the lover of my soul, and all of these are just quick glimpses, glances at him, just giving us shadows of who he is. It wasn’t until John the Baptist was baptizing in the Jordan River, when he saw Jesus coming toward him that he said,

"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

That was the great unveiling, something that in times past had been hidden, but now is being revealed to God’s people. He began revealing the mystery of the kingdom to his disciples, not to everybody, but to those who believe because,

"The Lord confides in those who fear him" (Psalms 25:14).

You see, there are some things that God will only show people that honor him, that reverence him, that know how to conduct themselves in God’s household. You are here because God revealed himself to you, he made himself known to you, he has confided in you, because you honor him, you reverence him, and you know that it is because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed" (Lamentations 3:22).

Some of you, you’re the only one in your family who believes, but God revealed himself to you. Your brother and sister don’t see what you see, they don’t understand what you understand, and you’ve got to be okay with that because the Bible says,

"You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God" (1 Peter 2:9).

And so, you’ve got to be okay with being different, you can’t be his disciple if you feel the need to fit in with everybody. You’ve got to be good with being strange, standing out in the crowd, just trying to be the best version of what God created you to be.

We are members together of one body, created in the image of God, and called to reflect him in holiness. And even now, the more he reveals himself, the better we see ourselves. The more he reveals himself, the smaller our problems get, the stronger our faith gets, and the more confident we become. Because you believe, you are building your life on the pillar and the foundation of truth. And you can declare with David,

"I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken" (Psalms 16:8).

Read Part 3

Read past sermons by Pastor John Talcott