Jesus in Darkness 5/1/16

There is great darkness in the world. I am talking about darkness as the bad, the wrong, the evil. No one would deny that. And yet Christians believe Jesus came as the light? I am talking about the light as the hope, peace, and end to evil. Do you hesitate when it comes to Christianity because of this obvious discrepancy?

So try this on: When Jesus hung on the cross, there was complete darkness for three hours (Google it). Why? The one Christians call the "light of the world" (because Jesus gave himself this name) is in the most critical three hours of his life... and there was complete darkness?

Yes. Because this is God's divine plot, with Light infiltrating darkness and taking on its supposedly most powerful weapon: suffering and death. 

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5). 

Even in the darkness that we know, it has not overcome the light. Jesus proved this by taking on the darkness head on, the suffering, including his death, and yet he stands now fully alive for eternity. 

Christians are those who believe that the light, specifically Jesus, has taken on the darkness in the world, and that the light has won. The gift of God for those who follow Jesus is the confidence that right is behind the wrong, the good has overcome the evil, that suffering's days are numbered, and that the grave has been swallowed up by eternal life. 

This gift is offered to all. We as CPPC gratefully unwrap this gift together, live in view of this gift together, and do all we can for others to join us that would be unwrapping this gift for the first time.

The video is the message that Pastor Daniel shared on this theme a few weeks ago.

Stop Being Lied To 4/24/16

A skeptical crowd once gathered around Jesus to ask for clarification because what they heard him say offended their sensibilities. But Jesus' words to this crowd didn't exactly help ease their sense of offense. He said, "You're offended because you prefer to listen to lies rather than the Truth: Me."

These lies come at us in what we read, watch, say to ourselves, talk about with others, etc... Simply stated, anything outside of listening to Jesus is fundamentally polluted and spoiled by being not-the-Truth (by being lie).

You live in the so-called "information age." See the danger lurking around every corner to infiltrate your life with lie? There is a plethora of content you can sink your mind into daily--all fundamentally polluted and spoiled. It's tough sailing in these technologically advanced waters.

In this time when most see decreasing value in the existence of churches, it is the time when churches are most needed as being the place where the Truth is actually sought, studied, and followed. This is the point of church.

In this message I, Jonathan, share on the need for churches to boldly exist in the name of Jesus. You and I both need church.

Eat Jesus 4/17/16

Would you identify yourself as a person of faith?

Do you control your sense of faith?

Faith is often understood as something we control and brew on our own accord. Jesus complicates this view by saying, "The work of God is this, to believe in the one he has sent." He similarly says on a number of occasions that our faith is God's work--it's a gift to us.

I can call myself a Christian, but I am only a Christian because God gifted to me belief in Jesus Christ.

On the one hand I'm filled with the same perplexing questions as many other people. On the other hand, that I would dare suggest that I could correctly control my faith, to the exclusion of needing God in this area of my life, is so prototypical of the error of sin that's described throughout Scripture! You and I need God in the most complete and profound way.

If you can question, "Do I need God here?" the answer is always simple: yes.

We need God to the extreme that Jesus asks us to eat him.

What does he mean by this? What is a church doing when they take "Communion?" These questions drive the message below.