WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.480 You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama. 00:00:06.980 --> 00:00:09.560 Our passion is to experience and express grace. 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:10.620 Join us. 00:00:12.040 --> 00:00:13.200 Love that song. 00:00:13.339 --> 00:00:19.219 I just can't stop thinking about what we got to celebrate together this morning. 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:26.640 We get to have steps full of kids who love running up to the steps. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:35.020 And then we get to talk and pray about people who coming all the way up here to these steps is the furthest thing from their mind. 00:00:35.100 --> 00:00:40.000 Many of them can't even come and be with us and long and miss being here with us. 00:00:40.140 --> 00:00:41.960 And we're a part of a community together. 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:45.260 That's a special thing, y'all. 00:00:46.019 --> 00:00:53.359 What a great gift that we get to have a community where I can learn from people who are trusting Jesus like a little child because they are. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:01:03.859 And people who are, again, have learned for 80 plus years what it looks like to trust Jesus and are walking with him like a little child at 80 something years old. 00:01:04.219 --> 00:01:05.620 I'm so thankful for that. 00:01:05.980 --> 00:01:09.700 It's such a neat part of being a church family together. 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:17.180 And that's a lot of what we're going to talk about for these next few weeks as we're starting a new school year. 00:01:17.180 --> 00:01:21.080 We're going to be here to consider what God has called us to be as a church. 00:01:22.100 --> 00:01:23.720 What are we to be about? 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:26.820 How are we different from any other gathering of people? 00:01:27.620 --> 00:01:33.580 What does God's Word tell us about the kind of community we're to be as His people together? 00:01:35.340 --> 00:01:39.980 We're going to do that through the lens of our core commitments as a church. 00:01:39.980 --> 00:01:55.880 Five things that we as a church have committed to as we've searched God's Word on what He's called His church to be and to do and how that looks uniquely at Southwood, this particular community. 00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:05.560 While we worship and disciple and fellowship and reach out, how do we do everything we do? 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:10.659 What shapes how we are in everything that we're doing? 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:12.840 Those are core commitments. 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:28.259 Fundamental things that we're shaped by, hopefully increasingly characterized by, no matter how big or small we are, no matter what else might change, these things remain the same. 00:02:29.860 --> 00:02:34.680 I've had the chance to do some study in the past few months on revival. 00:02:35.560 --> 00:02:45.539 On what happens when God, by His Spirit, works in powerful ways to bring renewal to a community, to a city, even a country. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:53.719 And all the way back to the biblical record, as you read through the Scriptures, and then through the last couple thousand years of church history, 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:57.259 there are distinct markers of revival. 00:02:57.259 --> 00:03:04.620 Things that happen repeatedly during seasons when God's hand is visibly active and at work. 00:03:04.620 --> 00:03:15.180 It's been really encouraging as I've studied to see that many of those markers line up remarkably well with our core commitments as a church. 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:21.439 That churches God has used in bringing revival are marked by these things. 00:03:22.480 --> 00:03:31.460 And maybe that shouldn't surprise us too much because they came from, indeed, God's Word that He will use and work in these ways. 00:03:31.460 --> 00:03:34.080 But it's exciting, isn't it? 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:35.760 Because that's what we long for. 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:36.879 Don't we long for that? 00:03:37.219 --> 00:03:38.260 To be a part of revival? 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:42.780 I don't mean just a silly, unusual event that happens once upon a time, 00:03:42.780 --> 00:03:55.680 but to be a part of God transforming a city, a community, a country, of seeing the good news of Jesus change us and others. 00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:59.800 Droves of people coming to know Him. 00:04:00.780 --> 00:04:08.259 Our lives and many others reoriented around the glory of our Savior instead of being lived for much less. 00:04:08.259 --> 00:04:16.339 We've talked about it in recent weeks and months in terms of wanting to storm the gates of hell, right? 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:21.699 To storm the gates of hell with and for King Jesus. 00:04:21.699 --> 00:04:30.599 Seeing destructive sin patterns and cultures of death and lies of Satan defeated in our hearts and in our community. 00:04:31.719 --> 00:04:32.399 Revival. 00:04:33.079 --> 00:04:34.659 That's what revival is, right? 00:04:34.660 --> 00:04:48.500 If that's going to happen, history tells us that it likely will be accompanied by the kind of community we're going to be talking about in the next few weeks with these core commitments. 00:04:49.800 --> 00:04:57.200 To be clear, I'm not talking about manipulating God to force Him to send revival. 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:09.759 But rather to have our hearts turned toward God's heart for His people, which He has often used in bringing revival and transforming people and communities. 00:05:09.879 --> 00:05:12.459 Don't you want to be a part of something like that? 00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:18.219 This morning, we're going to focus on the first of our core commitments. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:20.899 We've got several weeks to talk about this together. 00:05:20.899 --> 00:05:28.579 This first core commitment also happens to be the primary foundational marker of revival. 00:05:28.799 --> 00:05:32.199 We're committed to being Christ-centered. 00:05:32.899 --> 00:05:37.459 There are a lot of passages we could read to talk about a Christ-centered community. 00:05:37.899 --> 00:05:40.599 But I want us to start in Matthew chapter 16. 00:05:40.600 --> 00:05:52.620 It's a profound interaction that Jesus has with His disciples as He tells them what's fundamentally important in a church that will storm the gates of hell. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:55.980 Matthew 16 at verse 13. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:05:58.580 This is God's holy word. 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:04.879 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, 00:06:05.820 --> 00:06:07.900 Who do people say that the Son of Man is? 00:06:07.899 --> 00:06:10.679 And they said, Some say John the Baptist. 00:06:10.919 --> 00:06:11.919 Others say Elijah. 00:06:12.199 --> 00:06:14.399 Others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. 00:06:15.699 --> 00:06:16.500 He said to them, 00:06:17.139 --> 00:06:19.339 But who do you say that I am? 00:06:20.599 --> 00:06:21.779 Simon Peter replied, 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:24.719 You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 00:06:25.459 --> 00:06:26.519 And Jesus answered him, 00:06:26.759 --> 00:06:28.379 Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, 00:06:28.579 --> 00:06:31.079 for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, 00:06:31.139 --> 00:06:32.979 but my Father who is in heaven. 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:35.099 And I tell you, you are Peter, 00:06:35.099 --> 00:06:37.859 and on this rock I will build my church. 00:06:37.899 --> 00:06:42.620 And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 00:06:43.060 --> 00:06:43.939 This is God's word. 00:06:44.019 --> 00:06:45.500 Let's pray and ask for His help. 00:06:48.359 --> 00:06:51.000 Father, that promise is exciting. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:55.959 You're going to build something and hell and nothing will stand against it. 00:06:58.099 --> 00:06:59.239 We want that. 00:06:59.399 --> 00:07:01.000 We long for that. 00:07:01.139 --> 00:07:02.979 We don't always feel that. 00:07:02.980 --> 00:07:09.319 But we pray, Father, that this morning you would show us our Savior, our King, 00:07:10.180 --> 00:07:11.160 so clearly. 00:07:12.060 --> 00:07:15.020 We would love Him more, follow Him more. 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:18.980 That you would make us individually and corporately different. 00:07:18.980 --> 00:07:21.600 We know you can do that. 00:07:21.660 --> 00:07:22.540 Delight to do that. 00:07:22.640 --> 00:07:23.680 We ask you for it. 00:07:24.140 --> 00:07:25.240 In Jesus' name. 00:07:25.939 --> 00:07:26.300 Amen. 00:07:26.300 --> 00:07:26.460 Amen. 00:07:30.460 --> 00:07:35.580 The religious and moral state of the country was so painfully unsatisfactory 00:07:35.580 --> 00:07:39.180 that it is difficult to convey any adequate idea of it. 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:42.819 Morality was thoroughly trampled underfoot in the streets. 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:45.319 Darkness prevailed and could be felt. 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:48.759 The country seemed barren of all that is really good. 00:07:49.699 --> 00:07:54.759 Dueling, adultery, fornication, gambling, swearing, Sabbath-breaking, and drunkenness 00:07:54.759 --> 00:07:56.620 were hardly regarded as vices at all. 00:07:57.259 --> 00:08:01.079 They were fashionable practices of people in the highest ranks of society. 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:04.800 And no one was thought the worse for indulging in them. 00:08:06.579 --> 00:08:09.079 Except for the dueling, perhaps. 00:08:09.219 --> 00:08:11.980 You might have thought I was reading about modern America. 00:08:11.980 --> 00:08:16.960 But these are actually words of famed Anglican Bishop J.C. Ryle 00:08:16.960 --> 00:08:21.860 writing about England in the early 1700s. 00:08:23.180 --> 00:08:28.420 What's worse, as he keeps writing, is that that same darkness that you could feel that 00:08:28.420 --> 00:08:33.659 he describes was not only in the culture but also in the churches of England. 00:08:34.300 --> 00:08:34.659 He says, 00:08:34.659 --> 00:08:38.339 They existed, but they could hardly be said to have lived. 00:08:38.500 --> 00:08:39.360 They did nothing. 00:08:39.860 --> 00:08:41.480 They were sound asleep. 00:08:42.459 --> 00:08:46.679 Most of the pastors were men of the world, unfit for their position. 00:08:47.319 --> 00:08:52.039 They seemed determined to know everything except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 00:08:52.039 --> 00:08:54.079 In fact, he says, 00:08:54.079 --> 00:08:59.719 One observer went to every church in London and said it was impossible for him to discover 00:08:59.719 --> 00:09:04.240 whether the preacher were a follower of Confucius, of Muhammad, or of Christ. 00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:09.319 When they did preach, their sermons were so unspeakably and indescribably bad 00:09:09.319 --> 00:09:13.219 that it is comforting to reflect they were generally preached to empty benches. 00:09:14.299 --> 00:09:14.799 That hurts. 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:18.379 The spirit of slumber was over the land. 00:09:18.539 --> 00:09:23.859 In a religious and moral point of view, England was sound asleep. 00:09:25.559 --> 00:09:26.139 Yikes. 00:09:27.259 --> 00:09:28.240 That's rough. 00:09:29.959 --> 00:09:37.979 But Ryle is actually writing in the 1800s, looking back at a vast change for the better 00:09:37.979 --> 00:09:44.459 that he says has come over England that no well-informed person would ever attempt to deny. 00:09:44.460 --> 00:09:49.360 It would later come to be known as the evangelical revival in England. 00:09:50.400 --> 00:09:56.460 How did God bring that revival, that change throughout an entire country 00:09:56.460 --> 00:09:58.900 that everyone could feel the difference? 00:09:59.280 --> 00:10:00.139 Well, Ryle writes, 00:10:00.660 --> 00:10:05.420 God touched the hearts of common men about the same time in various parts of the country 00:10:05.420 --> 00:10:10.480 so that they taught one set of truths with fire, reality, and earnestness. 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:15.300 They sought sinners passionately, speaking from the heart to the heart, 00:10:15.680 --> 00:10:20.120 proclaiming words of faith with faith, and the story of life with life. 00:10:20.620 --> 00:10:28.240 That set of truths that they taught from the Holy Scripture featured Jesus and His death upon the cross. 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:30.600 He writes, 00:10:30.600 --> 00:10:32.980 They loved Christ's person. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:35.399 They rejoiced in Christ's promises. 00:10:36.039 --> 00:10:38.860 They urged men to walk after Christ's example. 00:10:39.259 --> 00:10:44.120 But the one subject above all others concerning Christ, which they delighted to dwell on, 00:10:44.440 --> 00:10:47.879 was the atoning blood which Christ shed for us on the cross. 00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:51.899 This, in fact, was the cardinal point in almost all their sermons. 00:10:51.899 --> 00:10:55.799 And a nation was transformed. 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:03.720 It's the same thing He's writing about that Jesus says here in Matthew 16. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:07.699 The foundation on which He will build His church, 00:11:08.019 --> 00:11:13.059 that the gates of hell will not prevail against, is His identity. 00:11:13.959 --> 00:11:18.100 You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 00:11:18.100 --> 00:11:25.700 You're the utterly unique God, man, promised Savior, and King. 00:11:26.740 --> 00:11:31.000 Jesus says in John 15 that He's divine and we are the branches, 00:11:31.259 --> 00:11:34.139 so we either stay apart from Him and can do nothing, 00:11:34.600 --> 00:11:37.580 or we abide in Him and bear much fruit. 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:38.300 He's the key. 00:11:38.379 --> 00:11:39.940 He's the one who makes all the difference. 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:43.340 Christ we proclaim. 00:11:44.300 --> 00:11:45.139 Colossians 1. 00:11:45.139 --> 00:11:50.539 I resolve to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 00:11:51.100 --> 00:11:52.919 1 Corinthians 2. 00:11:53.819 --> 00:12:00.120 The church must remain focused on the person of Jesus. 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:06.939 Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it this way in his book on Christian community, Life Together. 00:12:07.720 --> 00:12:13.439 Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:17.460 No Christian community is more or less than this. 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:19.980 That's still true for us. 00:12:20.220 --> 00:12:23.820 Community through Jesus and in Jesus. 00:12:25.920 --> 00:12:28.300 Now maybe you think, wow, that's so profound. 00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:29.340 I mean, come on, Will. 00:12:29.800 --> 00:12:30.520 It's a church. 00:12:31.280 --> 00:12:32.320 Isn't that part of the definition? 00:12:33.300 --> 00:12:34.300 Christ-centered? 00:12:34.460 --> 00:12:36.100 I mean, of course, He's talking about Jesus. 00:12:36.460 --> 00:12:37.540 Tell me something I don't know. 00:12:37.860 --> 00:12:40.580 Can't we take that for granted at church? 00:12:40.580 --> 00:12:43.700 I wish we could. 00:12:44.820 --> 00:12:47.780 But think about it in terms of a marriage. 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:49.379 Okay? 00:12:49.560 --> 00:12:54.460 The church is the bride of Christ in this intimate relationship with Him. 00:12:54.520 --> 00:12:59.060 But that doesn't mean we always remain focused on our bridegroom, does it? 00:12:59.059 --> 00:13:06.459 I bet you can imagine a marriage when you lose focus on your spouse. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:13.799 When your time, your priority, your love for them seems to wane. 00:13:15.899 --> 00:13:20.039 Have you seen or experienced a marriage where work begins to take the focus? 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:25.339 Where the kids become the only connection that a couple has left? 00:13:26.740 --> 00:13:32.139 Where a spouse, perhaps in response to hurt or frustration from the other one, begins to 00:13:32.139 --> 00:13:40.299 care a lot more about his own success or comfort or appearance than that of his spouse? 00:13:40.299 --> 00:13:49.500 And the relationship, perhaps even while remaining technically married, becomes much less than 00:13:49.500 --> 00:13:50.740 it was intended for, right? 00:13:50.759 --> 00:13:52.939 And a vital, intimate union. 00:13:54.959 --> 00:13:56.519 We all can imagine that. 00:13:56.579 --> 00:14:02.519 That happens with Christians and churches and Jesus, too. 00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:05.659 We don't leave Jesus entirely, perhaps. 00:14:05.659 --> 00:14:11.639 I mean, his name's on the sign and out there on the door, but we can get focused on ourselves, 00:14:12.360 --> 00:14:19.719 our own comfort, our preferences, perhaps our glowing morality that we're so wonderful. 00:14:21.339 --> 00:14:28.139 We can get focused on issues, political platforms, social transformation, even theological hobby 00:14:28.139 --> 00:14:28.539 horses. 00:14:30.019 --> 00:14:31.639 We get focused on numbers. 00:14:32.419 --> 00:14:33.059 How's the budget? 00:14:33.059 --> 00:14:36.079 How many people feel good being here? 00:14:36.299 --> 00:14:40.179 Did we create the right attractive experience that everybody enjoys? 00:14:41.199 --> 00:14:43.399 And many of these are good things. 00:14:43.819 --> 00:14:51.159 But when they displace Jesus at the center of the relationship, of the marriage, that relationship 00:14:51.159 --> 00:14:53.219 loses its vitality, doesn't it? 00:14:53.799 --> 00:14:55.979 The community loses its purpose. 00:14:56.539 --> 00:14:59.739 The church loses its way. 00:14:59.740 --> 00:15:08.480 So it's important for us to ask, what does it mean to remain Christ-centered? 00:15:09.399 --> 00:15:13.279 In some ways, we're going to be talking about this for the next few weeks, about what it 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:14.940 looks like to be a Christ-centered community. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:17.060 In some ways, we'll continue talking about it forever. 00:15:18.500 --> 00:15:23.340 But fundamentally, this morning, where we start, three brief things that it looks like 00:15:23.340 --> 00:15:26.740 for a church to remain focused on the person of Jesus. 00:15:26.740 --> 00:15:32.139 Things we never lose sight of, but instead shape our lives around. 00:15:33.040 --> 00:15:35.700 And the first is His cross. 00:15:37.500 --> 00:15:43.660 We see this priority here in our passage this morning, where as we keep reading, Jesus, as 00:15:43.660 --> 00:15:48.720 we've seen Him do in the Gospel of Luke over and over, He sets His face toward Jerusalem 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:51.160 to go to the cross, right? 00:15:52.060 --> 00:15:55.920 And He tells His disciples that He must, that He must what? 00:15:56.700 --> 00:15:57.220 Suffer. 00:15:57.639 --> 00:15:59.540 That He must die. 00:16:02.379 --> 00:16:05.480 Peter doesn't like that too much, does he? 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:11.680 Peter, who has just made this great confession of faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:18.139 the living God, now shows us perhaps the most convincing evidence in addition to the literary 00:16:18.139 --> 00:16:25.139 argument that the rock on which Jesus will build His church is not Peter Himself, but rather 00:16:25.139 --> 00:16:29.000 His confession of who Jesus is. 00:16:29.339 --> 00:16:32.019 That's the rock on which Jesus is building His church. 00:16:32.319 --> 00:16:37.240 In verse 22, when Jesus says, I must go to the cross, Peter rebukes Him. 00:16:37.240 --> 00:16:42.379 He says, far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. 00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:44.440 Don't rebuke Jesus. 00:16:44.940 --> 00:16:48.200 Good, good practical takeaway, don't rebuke Jesus. 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:53.659 Jesus, who has just called Peter the rock and given him that name, turns and says to him 00:16:53.659 --> 00:16:57.399 in this moment, not rock, get behind me, Satan. 00:16:59.139 --> 00:17:00.399 Right, next conversation. 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:05.299 You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on 00:17:05.299 --> 00:17:06.759 the things of man. 00:17:06.759 --> 00:17:11.539 Again, don't dare try to distract Jesus from the cross. 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:19.299 If you keep reading, in fact, the cross is so vital that any who would follow Jesus must 00:17:19.299 --> 00:17:23.500 live self-sacrificing, cross-centered lives themselves. 00:17:24.180 --> 00:17:28.799 If anyone would come after me, Jesus says, let him deny himself, take up his cross and 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:29.359 follow me. 00:17:29.579 --> 00:17:31.819 Whoever would save his life will lose it. 00:17:31.819 --> 00:17:33.659 This is what it means. 00:17:33.659 --> 00:17:36.659 This is what it means, Jesus says, to follow me. 00:17:37.539 --> 00:17:43.859 Being Christ-centered means that we anchor ourselves in the death of Jesus in our place. 00:17:43.859 --> 00:17:53.299 Proclaiming the essential nature, the utter sufficiency of his substitutionary atonement that he died for 00:17:53.299 --> 00:17:54.879 sins in our place. 00:17:54.880 --> 00:18:05.280 Because the primary problem that we face personally and corporately is that we are great sinners in need of a great Savior. 00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:05.339 Savior. 00:18:06.220 --> 00:18:07.819 Not merely an example. 00:18:08.819 --> 00:18:11.680 Not merely a good teacher, but a Savior. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:15.600 We never escape our need of a Savior. 00:18:15.960 --> 00:18:18.019 Never get past Jesus. 00:18:19.720 --> 00:18:22.180 Our core commitment puts it this way. 00:18:22.279 --> 00:18:24.920 It's at the bottom of your bulletin if you want to see the whole thing. 00:18:25.539 --> 00:18:31.140 It says, giving glory to Jesus, proclaiming the good news of his finished work, 00:18:31.900 --> 00:18:37.720 is the goal of our corporate worship, all of our ministries, and our life in community together. 00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:43.839 Since every page of the Bible points to Jesus, every sermon, Sunday school lesson, and conversation 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:49.519 should point us back to Jesus so that we live each day in his strength rather than our own, 00:18:49.819 --> 00:18:53.140 and for his glory rather than our own. 00:18:54.960 --> 00:19:01.259 Paul would say, we resolve to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 00:19:02.380 --> 00:19:06.480 The foolish message of the cross is the only one we preach. 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:09.500 And I don't mean merely from this pulpit. 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:13.140 I mean in friendly conversation with each other and others. 00:19:13.500 --> 00:19:15.160 What are we pointing people to? 00:19:15.819 --> 00:19:21.319 I sat down for lunch this week with a friend and we're talking about life. 00:19:21.960 --> 00:19:27.299 Talking about a new season of challenge and struggle and his marriage, just normal everyday life, right? 00:19:27.900 --> 00:19:30.319 And the conversation turned quickly to Jesus. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:30.559 Jesus. 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:38.460 And how he has loved us and laid down his life for us in particularly similar difficult situations. 00:19:38.980 --> 00:19:42.480 And that my friend was seeing new ways that he was called to that. 00:19:42.599 --> 00:19:46.379 And that he was empowered to that by the love of Jesus. 00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:49.439 To love as he had been loved. 00:19:50.419 --> 00:19:55.799 Jesus is always, in every situation, all that we need. 00:19:55.799 --> 00:19:59.379 Why is that all we talk about? 00:20:00.460 --> 00:20:02.940 Because it's all we have. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:07.379 We talk about Jesus because we need Jesus. 00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:11.859 Actively, still, today, need Jesus. 00:20:12.399 --> 00:20:12.599 Right? 00:20:13.740 --> 00:20:19.659 He by his cross not only rescues us from sin and adopts us into his family once upon a time, 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:23.299 but he also assures us of his ongoing presence. 00:20:23.299 --> 00:20:26.240 He empowers us to love others. 00:20:26.639 --> 00:20:28.259 There's never a new solution. 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:31.200 We never stop needing him. 00:20:32.279 --> 00:20:37.299 We're not the coolest or most successful people in town who've gotten life together 00:20:37.299 --> 00:20:39.259 and then gathered together to celebrate it. 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:47.619 We are needy, messy people with a glorious Savior who is rescuing and renovating us. 00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:47.919 Amen? 00:20:48.779 --> 00:20:49.960 That's who we are. 00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:57.039 We speak of sin when it's not popular and grace when it's counter-cultural 00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:03.539 because sin is the root of our problem and grace is the source of our hope. 00:21:04.759 --> 00:21:10.140 Clinging tightly to the cross of Jesus allows us to be honest about our sin. 00:21:10.980 --> 00:21:12.259 That we really do. 00:21:12.360 --> 00:21:16.220 We're broken and the world around us is because of sin. 00:21:16.220 --> 00:21:20.319 And we can be honest about that and come because so are you. 00:21:21.299 --> 00:21:27.960 So is everybody I run into struggling, hurting, in that same world, fighting similar battles, 00:21:28.339 --> 00:21:35.559 and we can come together and remind each other of hope, not in each other merely, but in our Savior. 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:41.559 The cross of Jesus is essential to being a Christ-centered church. 00:21:41.559 --> 00:21:47.379 It calls us time and time again to sacrifice our comforts and preferences for the good of others. 00:21:48.059 --> 00:21:52.980 It roots our identity firmly in our Savior so we can offer Him to others. 00:21:53.339 --> 00:21:57.659 It's the message that exploded in the early church in the New Testament. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:05.220 And it's the foolish, glorious message that has brought revival time and again through church history. 00:22:05.220 --> 00:22:10.579 We must never lose sight of the cross. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:17.920 But secondly, being Christ-centered means we must also shape our lives around His Word. 00:22:19.380 --> 00:22:21.660 Lots of books say good things. 00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:25.220 Lots of preachers claim to give wise advice. 00:22:25.220 --> 00:22:35.600 Only the Bible unfailingly points to Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 00:22:36.220 --> 00:22:38.740 See, it's the story of all of Scripture. 00:22:39.299 --> 00:22:43.240 So every time you open it, that's the story that you're reading. 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:47.579 It's why when we preach for a summer from Old Testament stories, 00:22:47.579 --> 00:22:53.539 you actually end up hearing over and over all the time about Jesus, 00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:58.460 His life, death, and resurrection every Sunday in the Old Testament. 00:22:58.839 --> 00:23:05.899 Because the Bible tells us this story of a great God who is on a rescue mission to redeem people. 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:11.000 People He created for relationship with Himself who ran away from Him. 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:16.480 And the strategy of that rescue mission that you begin reading about on the very first pages 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:21.180 is the perfect Son of God and His sacrificial death. 00:23:22.360 --> 00:23:24.980 The Bible tells that story. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:29.799 So the resurrected Jesus tells two men in Luke 24, 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:34.519 didn't you know from reading the Old Testament that the Christ had to go to the cross? 00:23:35.099 --> 00:23:36.279 Didn't you know that was going to happen? 00:23:36.380 --> 00:23:37.960 And they said, no, we missed that. 00:23:38.680 --> 00:23:41.319 And so what Jesus did, Luke 24, 27, 00:23:41.319 --> 00:23:43.640 beginning with Moses and all the prophets, 00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:47.740 He interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself. 00:23:48.080 --> 00:23:53.060 In context, meaning the things that showed how He was the one who was promised to come 00:23:53.060 --> 00:23:55.620 and how that one had to die for them. 00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:00.600 Jesus says it's the story that you get everywhere. 00:24:00.780 --> 00:24:04.200 All the Bible pointing us to our only hope. 00:24:04.620 --> 00:24:07.860 Jesus sets our agenda for His church in His Word. 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:09.220 We don't pick that. 00:24:09.220 --> 00:24:13.539 It's why clinging to the authority and supremacy of God's Word 00:24:13.539 --> 00:24:16.259 marks revival time and again 00:24:16.259 --> 00:24:20.579 because we see and share Jesus there. 00:24:22.339 --> 00:24:26.640 It's not just in sermons you should expect us to open the Word of God. 00:24:26.779 --> 00:24:28.700 When you show up in a Connect community, 00:24:28.839 --> 00:24:30.539 when those begin here in a few weeks, 00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:33.839 it should be no surprise to you that you will find the discussion there 00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:36.519 centered around the Word of God. 00:24:36.519 --> 00:24:39.539 Not merely theoretically just learning information, 00:24:39.799 --> 00:24:41.420 but stuff that's life-giving, 00:24:41.779 --> 00:24:45.740 practically transforming and shaping our lives. 00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:51.480 Your small group isn't a community of pooled ignorance 00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:53.200 giving you life advice. 00:24:53.339 --> 00:24:54.960 It may have felt that way that one night, 00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:56.639 but that's not what it is. 00:24:56.799 --> 00:24:59.539 You can get that at a self-help section of your local bookstore. 00:25:00.900 --> 00:25:03.279 Your small group is fellow strugglers 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:05.779 who empathize with your weakness 00:25:05.779 --> 00:25:09.220 and who find wisdom and hope together 00:25:09.220 --> 00:25:11.779 in the Scripture that shows us our Savior. 00:25:13.160 --> 00:25:15.119 We look outside of ourselves 00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:17.539 for our help and our hope. 00:25:18.279 --> 00:25:19.579 And we do that together. 00:25:21.660 --> 00:25:23.220 Finally, being Christ-centered 00:25:23.220 --> 00:25:26.660 means we shape our lives around His body, 00:25:27.940 --> 00:25:28.420 the church. 00:25:28.420 --> 00:25:34.500 I feel this morning like I'm stating a lot of very obvious things. 00:25:35.480 --> 00:25:39.380 But a Christ-centered community is committed to the church. 00:25:40.900 --> 00:25:43.920 If we want to be about storming the gates of hell, 00:25:44.300 --> 00:25:45.720 raiding Satan's fortress, 00:25:46.039 --> 00:25:47.700 pushing back the darkness, 00:25:48.039 --> 00:25:51.500 what one thing in all the world do we need to be a part of? 00:25:51.500 --> 00:25:54.940 Jesus says, 00:25:55.420 --> 00:25:56.299 I tell you you are Peter, 00:25:56.519 --> 00:25:59.660 and on this rock I will build My church, 00:26:00.279 --> 00:26:04.359 and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:06.160 My church, 00:26:06.279 --> 00:26:09.500 My gathering of those I have called out 00:26:09.500 --> 00:26:14.240 for My name to be in relationship with Me, 00:26:14.539 --> 00:26:15.859 I will build that. 00:26:16.099 --> 00:26:18.579 Hell will not stand against that. 00:26:19.579 --> 00:26:21.359 It's fairly simple. 00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:21.759 I know. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:24.559 Jesus is the head of the church, 00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:25.759 which is His body. 00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:27.559 We read that together earlier. 00:26:27.919 --> 00:26:30.099 He is the chief cornerstone of the church, 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:34.159 so nowhere else does His power reside as it does here. 00:26:34.939 --> 00:26:39.079 Nowhere else should the focus on Him be as clear as it is here. 00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:43.919 The church is a community that is unlike most others. 00:26:45.439 --> 00:26:49.679 Most other groups gather out of mutual admiration. 00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:53.160 They like something about each other, right? 00:26:53.240 --> 00:26:54.799 So they get together in a group. 00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:56.200 The church, 00:26:56.560 --> 00:26:57.940 this group, 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:01.539 gathers out of shared admiration. 00:27:01.539 --> 00:27:08.379 We like and love and need and depend on Jesus. 00:27:08.380 --> 00:27:14.240 That may not always be the way you experience the church, 00:27:14.540 --> 00:27:15.980 because we are broken people. 00:27:17.120 --> 00:27:18.500 But you need to know this. 00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:23.580 It is absolutely what Jesus is making His church, 00:27:23.580 --> 00:27:25.700 as His beautiful bride. 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:27.500 So hang in there with the church, 00:27:27.500 --> 00:27:30.180 because the future is glorious. 00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:33.240 It's conquering the gates of hell 00:27:33.240 --> 00:27:35.660 by the power of His Spirit within us 00:27:35.660 --> 00:27:38.279 and living together with Him forever. 00:27:38.660 --> 00:27:39.299 That's the future, 00:27:39.400 --> 00:27:40.839 and He promises it will happen. 00:27:40.839 --> 00:27:44.059 Pastor Ray Ortlund says, 00:27:44.119 --> 00:27:46.740 God is building a new kind of community in His church. 00:27:47.720 --> 00:27:49.319 One that can't be ignored. 00:27:49.439 --> 00:27:51.359 It's so different and distinctive. 00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:54.199 That the power of the good news of the gospel, 00:27:54.639 --> 00:27:56.859 Jesus Christ and Him crucified, 00:27:57.099 --> 00:27:58.139 is creating churches 00:27:58.139 --> 00:28:00.139 that in the words of John Piper, 00:28:00.140 --> 00:28:02.380 are God-exalting, 00:28:03.040 --> 00:28:04.060 Christ-admiring, 00:28:04.700 --> 00:28:05.880 Spirit-filled, 00:28:06.300 --> 00:28:07.360 Bible-enjoying, 00:28:07.640 --> 00:28:08.680 grace-preaching, 00:28:09.040 --> 00:28:10.460 convenience-defying, 00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:12.020 cross-embracing, 00:28:12.600 --> 00:28:13.500 risk-taking, 00:28:13.940 --> 00:28:15.520 selfishness-crucifying, 00:28:16.120 --> 00:28:17.360 gossip-silencing, 00:28:17.640 --> 00:28:18.820 prayer-saturated, 00:28:19.220 --> 00:28:20.020 future-thinking, 00:28:20.280 --> 00:28:21.320 outward-reaching, 00:28:21.580 --> 00:28:24.340 and beautifully human congregations 00:28:24.340 --> 00:28:27.100 where the undeserving can thrive. 00:28:27.800 --> 00:28:28.540 I love that. 00:28:28.539 --> 00:28:31.180 That's the kind of community 00:28:31.180 --> 00:28:36.759 God promises He's making Southwood. 00:28:38.759 --> 00:28:41.119 A multi-generational, praise the Lord, 00:28:41.420 --> 00:28:43.559 multi-ethnic, may it be, 00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:46.799 multi-class, ever more so community 00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:49.680 where many very different people 00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:52.420 have only Jesus in common. 00:28:53.639 --> 00:28:55.000 A place you're valued, 00:28:55.240 --> 00:28:56.619 not for what you offer, 00:28:56.619 --> 00:28:58.899 but who you're created to be. 00:28:59.259 --> 00:29:01.579 A family that eagerly welcomes, 00:29:01.719 --> 00:29:05.099 especially those who are not welcomed elsewhere. 00:29:06.839 --> 00:29:08.459 That's what we're going to unpack 00:29:08.459 --> 00:29:09.759 in the next few weeks. 00:29:09.879 --> 00:29:12.479 The unique and remarkable things 00:29:12.479 --> 00:29:14.479 that begin to characterize a community 00:29:14.479 --> 00:29:16.179 when it's truly Christ-centered, 00:29:16.279 --> 00:29:17.359 not just in name only. 00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:21.079 But for today, 00:29:22.479 --> 00:29:22.899 remember, 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:25.379 it all starts with that uncommon, 00:29:26.819 --> 00:29:28.559 dogged commitment 00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:30.919 to being Christ-centered. 00:29:31.319 --> 00:29:33.139 The simple, foolish, 00:29:33.959 --> 00:29:36.939 glorious message of the cross. 00:29:36.940 --> 00:29:42.019 After describing that simple message of the cross, 00:29:42.019 --> 00:29:44.600 Bishop Ryle concludes his account 00:29:44.600 --> 00:29:47.580 of the revival in England this way. 00:29:47.579 --> 00:29:50.879 These were the principal doctrines 00:29:50.879 --> 00:29:53.000 that they were always proclaiming. 00:29:53.299 --> 00:29:56.039 The doctrines by which they turned England upside down, 00:29:56.319 --> 00:29:58.319 made plowmen and colliers weep 00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:01.000 till their dirty faces were seamed with tears, 00:30:01.439 --> 00:30:03.859 arrested the attention of peers and philosophers, 00:30:04.500 --> 00:30:06.500 stormed the strongholds of Satan, 00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:09.419 plucked thousands like brands from the burning, 00:30:09.819 --> 00:30:12.639 and altered the character of the age. 00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:15.659 Call them simple and elementary doctrines, 00:30:15.660 --> 00:30:16.320 if you will. 00:30:17.240 --> 00:30:18.080 Say, if you please, 00:30:18.120 --> 00:30:19.540 that you see nothing grand, 00:30:20.100 --> 00:30:22.360 striking, new, peculiar 00:30:22.360 --> 00:30:24.460 about this list of truths. 00:30:25.100 --> 00:30:26.860 But the fact is undeniable 00:30:26.860 --> 00:30:28.920 that God blessed these truths 00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:31.000 to the Reformation of England. 00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:32.580 What God has blessed, 00:30:32.860 --> 00:30:35.580 it ill becomes man to despise. 00:30:37.779 --> 00:30:38.920 I read that this week. 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:39.860 I thought to myself, 00:30:40.660 --> 00:30:41.420 what if someone, 00:30:42.900 --> 00:30:44.100 a hundred years from now, 00:30:44.099 --> 00:30:46.679 wrote about revival here, 00:30:48.279 --> 00:30:50.980 sparked by Christ-centered lives 00:30:50.980 --> 00:30:53.480 and life together. 00:30:54.719 --> 00:30:55.579 Something like this. 00:30:55.839 --> 00:30:57.679 These were the principal doctrines 00:30:57.679 --> 00:30:59.579 they were always proclaiming, 00:30:59.819 --> 00:31:03.240 the doctrines by which they turned Huntsville upside down, 00:31:03.500 --> 00:31:06.539 made engineers and soccer moms weep, 00:31:08.059 --> 00:31:10.740 arrested the attention of rocket scientists 00:31:10.740 --> 00:31:12.279 and college students, 00:31:12.599 --> 00:31:14.759 stormed the strongholds of Satan, 00:31:15.180 --> 00:31:18.259 plucked thousands like brands from the burning, 00:31:19.059 --> 00:31:22.240 and altered the character of the city. 00:31:25.079 --> 00:31:26.240 Oh God, would you, 00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:29.140 would you make us 00:31:29.140 --> 00:31:33.400 a Christ-centered community like that? 00:31:33.400 --> 00:31:37.480 transform us 00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:40.360 in this place 00:31:40.360 --> 00:31:42.480 and in these relationships 00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:43.940 and this particular family 00:31:43.940 --> 00:31:45.400 and use us, Father, 00:31:45.480 --> 00:31:46.100 as you do that 00:31:46.100 --> 00:31:47.519 to transform Huntsville 00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:48.940 and to keep moving 00:31:48.940 --> 00:31:50.480 wherever your spirit would go 00:31:50.480 --> 00:31:51.860 beyond here. 00:31:52.519 --> 00:31:53.920 We confess to you 00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:55.360 that revival like that 00:31:55.360 --> 00:31:57.720 seems foreign to us. 00:31:57.720 --> 00:32:01.299 too big to imagine 00:32:01.299 --> 00:32:03.759 seems silly even, 00:32:04.420 --> 00:32:05.519 but we serve 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:07.920 a really big God 00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:10.259 who loves rescuing people, 00:32:10.660 --> 00:32:13.240 whose heart is fixed on that 00:32:13.240 --> 00:32:14.220 when ours is distracted 00:32:14.220 --> 00:32:15.920 by so many other things. 00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:18.460 Father, keep us centered on our Savior 00:32:18.460 --> 00:32:20.480 and show yourself 00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:23.559 strong and glorious 00:32:23.559 --> 00:32:24.579 in our lives, 00:32:24.640 --> 00:32:25.339 in our community. 00:32:25.339 --> 00:32:27.779 We ask it for Jesus' sake. 00:32:28.619 --> 00:32:28.879 Amen. 00:32:32.500 --> 00:32:33.779 For more information, 00:32:34.159 --> 00:32:35.079 visit us online 00:32:35.079 --> 00:32:36.379 at southwood.org.