Journey Community Church

ADVENT WEEK 2: The Gospel of Salvation // Pastor Blaine Keene

In our world today, many false gospels are competing for our attention. The true Gospel is GREAT NEWS, because it is the only path to beauty, freedom, joy, and abundant life in Christ now and for all eternity.
The alluring invitations of false gospels:
The Religious Gospel: Trust Jesus to accept your efforts to do right and avoid wrong.
The Prosperity Gospel: Trust Jesus to make you healthy, wealthy, and prosperous.
The Consumer Gospel (The "Me, Me, Me" Gospel): Trust Jesus to meet all your needs (according to your wants and expectations).
The All-Inclusive, Progressive Gospel: Trust Jesus to accept you (and everyone else) just as you are no matter what.
The Do-Gooder (Social Action / "I'm a Good Person") Gospel: Trust Jesus to accept you because you are being nice and doing good.
The Smorgasbord (all religions are valid) Gospel: Trust in your spiritual truth and you will get to heaven as you understand it.
The Secular Gospel: You don't need Jesus. Trust yourself.
The "I've Got Plenty of Time" Gospel: I'm young. I don't need to think about eternity yet.
The twofold invitation of the Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Christ:
Trust in Jesus as Savior: Receive the gift of salvation by grace through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Follow Jesus as Lord: Receive the gift of sanctification by grace through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
"By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you." -1 Corinthians 15:2
 

ADVENT WEEK 1: The God of The Gospel // Pastor Blaine Keene

This Advent season, we are celebrating "good news of great joy" and exploring the Gospel through the lens of the Christmas story.
Week 1: The God of the Gospel
The Gospel begins with God.
The Gospel hinges on Jesus being fully man and fully God.
The Gospel requires a response from every person.
"The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." -Colossians 1:15-17
 

King Jesus: A Holy Servant // Pastor Blaine Keene

Jesus is a Holy Servant King who disrupts, defies and transcends the power structures of our world. Disciples of Jesus are called to be Holy Servants who disrupt, defy and transcend the power structures of our world.
“'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.' Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, 'See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.' Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" -Isaiah 6:5-8

King Jesus: Sovereign & Powerful // Pastor Blaine Keene

Jesus is the pre-existent Creator God and King over everything.
Jesus is first/supreme in everything.
Jesus is reconciling and making peace with everything and everyone.
We are Peacemakers and Ambassadors of reconciliation, joining King Jesus in his work to bring everything and everyone together.
"He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body.He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything." -Colossians 1:17-18 NLT

Journey Group Panel // Love One Another

We're shouting a huge "thank you" to our Discipleship Directors, Scott Haskins and Chuck Feay, for sharing about the importance of community. We're also shouting "thank you" to Mark, Leanne, Kendra, & Jeff for being part of the Journey Group panel. 
If you're interested in being part of a Journey Group, email disciple@discoverjourneycc.com.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these." -Mark 12:30-31

One Model, Jesus Christ // Guest Speaker Jared Chase

This Sunday, Guest Speaker Jared Chase reminded us that "we mirror what it is that we most closely represent." Is your doppleganger Jesus, or the world? In the ways we resemble the world, there is more work to be done.
"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." -Ephesians 4:22-24

One Prayer // Pastor Blaine Keene

Join us in praying this ONE PRAYER together: I FALL ON MY KNEES BEFORE THE GOD of HEAVEN and EARTH because of THE BEAUTY OF THE GOSPEL. I pray for CHRIST IN YOU and YOU IN LOVE so that YOU WILL BE MADE COMPLETE IN GOD, so that GOD’S GLORY IS REVEALED IN AND THROUGH YOU NOW, and so that GOD’S GLORY IS REVEALED IN THE CHURCH AND IN CHRIST FOREVER.
"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." -Ephesians 3:17-19

One Mission, Many Gifts // Pastor Blaine Keene

You are God's gift!
God's GRACE for the Church: Everything flows from grace given through Jesus Christ. (v. 7)
God's GIFTS for the Church: Jesus has given the gifts of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds/Pastors and Teachers (APEST) to the church.
God's GOAL for the Church: To equip, build up and mature the body of Christ so we can embody the presence of Christ to the world.
"There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it." -Ephesians 4:5-7 NIV
 

One Lord, One Church // Pastor Blaine Keene

We are called to be a people defined by ONE HOPE in Jesus Christ. Our ONE HOPE makes us ONE CHURCH united by ONE SPIRIT.
"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." -Ephesians 4:3-6

The Beauty of New Creation // Pastor Blaine Keene + Testimony by Bob Hostetler

God works through the messiness of our lives to display the beauty of the Gospel.
Reflection Questions:
Will you trust in Jesus to make you a new creation in the midst of the messiness of your life?
Will you surrender the mess of your story to reveal the beauty of the Gospel?
Will you become an intentional ambassador of good news and beauty in a world filled with bad news and ugliness?
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." -2 Corinthians 4:7-9