The point of the Redemption Stories video series is to narrate how the gospel is changing the lives of actual people within the Coram Deo Church Community. Randi’s is one of my favorite stories yet: a great tale of God’s providence with an interesting back-story involving a sermon I preached in the Douglas County Jail. (To one of the most intimidating audiences I’ve ever faced… and they were all women).
Thanks, Randi, for sharing your story on video. And thank you Jesus for your amazing grace that transforms felons into followers and friends.
The goal of the ‘Redemption Stories’ video series is to show how the gospel is at work in the lives of actual people so that we can celebrate together, church-wide, the ways God is moving around us.
In this video, Micah talks about his slide into depression and how the gospel, spoken and lived out by a community of friends, was essential in pulling him out.
Thanks again to Coram Deo’s own Jon Kayser for his incredible camera and production work that makes these videos possible.
This is the third installment in the Redemption Stories video series. The goal of these videos is to tell stories of how the gospel is at work in the lives of actual people so that we can celebrate together, church-wide, the ways God is moving around us.
Kelli tells the story of how brokenness in her family led her to search in vain for acceptance through beauty and achievement – and how she ultimately found what she was looking for in Jesus.
This is the second installment in the Redemption Stories video series. The goal is of these videos is to tell stories of how the gospel is at work in the lives of actual people so that we can celebrate together, church-wide, the ways God is moving around us.
Nathan tells the story of how he fell into a pattern of compulsive gambling – and how the message of the gospel (and a community centered on the gospel) were crucial in getting him out.
This is the first in a new series of videos called Redemption Stories that we’ll be showing at Coram Deo’s Sunday gathering. The goal is to tell stories of how the gospel is at work in the lives of actual people. God’s grace is transforming people throughout our church, but too often the stories of what He’s doing only get told within missional communities or smaller sub-sets of our church family. These videos exist to help us celebrate together, church-wide, the ways God is moving around us.
Special thanks to Jon Kayser, who is serving the mission of God by lending his considerable production skills to this project. (Also to Ben Lueders, who is the official “key grip” of the Redemption Stories video team.) And most of all, to Barb and the others who will follow: thanks for being willing to share your story on camera.
This past week marked Coram Deo’s 4-year anniversary as a church (we launched the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2005). To celebrate, we took some time to reflect on the evidences of God’s grace toward us in the past four years:
We started with 60 people in 6 Missional Communities in 2005; now we have 306 people in 19 MC’s
We’ve added 88 new members since 2006
We have baptized 45 people
We have performed 21 weddings
We have dedicated 22 babies
We have preached 208 sermons
We have had 192 Wed night prayer meetings
We have given away over $150,000 to church planting and missions
We have sent two of our founding members to plant a church in Cape Town, South Africa
We have produced a missional community curriculum that is now being used by churches all over the globe to help people understand the gospel
Even as we celebrate God’s grace to us in the past, we are looking forward to what He is calling us to in the future. In 2010 we will send a team to Austin, Texas, to plant a church. And to facilitate that effort, we are taking a special year-end offering during the month of December. We’re trusting God to help us raise:
$30k in startup funds for Austin church plant
$12k for staffing overlap (allowing us to hire new staff before current leaders transition out)
$18k for office space transition and buildout (our lease is up in June and we have outgrown our current office space, requiring us to move at the same time that we are launching our church planting team)
TOTAL NEED = $60k
All funds received in December, over and above our existing budget needs, will go toward this goal.
Will you help?
Pray for God to provide these funds
Be generous as God has been generous with you
Choose to live simply this Christmas so that you can give over and above what you normally give
Invite family and friends to consider giving toward this goal for their joy and God’s glory
Praising God for what He’s done in 4 short years… excited about what He has yet to do!
Yesterday I preached on “Gospel-Growth” from Colossians 1:6-8. At the end of the sermon I worked through four questions that help us apply the gospel in various life situations (see list below). This is not the only way to think about gospel application, but it is a good start. Your ability to answer these questions depends on your understanding of the gospel and your expectations about what the gospel can accomplish. You will gain more insight if you ask and answer these questions in community.
1. How does the gospel confront the way you think and feel about a particular situation in your actual life?
The gospel is a body of truth, a revelation from God that sets forth the good news about what God has done in His Son Jesus. In a nutshell, this is “the grace of God in truth” declared in the gospel: A holy God created the world and everything in it. The first people had perfect fellowship with God, but they rebelled against God and fell into sin. And everyone after them has done the same. We are all under sin. We are separated from God and we deserve His eternal wrath. But God, because of His great love, offered up His own Son as a sacrifice for sin. God poured out His wrath against our sin on Jesus, who bore it on our behalf so that God could accept us. Jesus got what we deserve (shame, loneliness, beating, wrath, death), and we get what He deserves (favor and life eternal). God forgives sin and reconciles sinners to Himself so that we can worship and enjoy Him forever, as we were made to do. We did nothing to earn this immeasurable act of love. It is from beginning to end a work of God’s grace. So what truths about our salvation in Jesus confront the way we think and feel about our identity, worth, rights, expectations, performance, fears, needs, etc.?
2. How does the gospel convict me of sin with regard to that situation?
In every circumstance, even when we are wronged, we still bring something to the table. The gospel forces us to humbly consider our own thoughts and actions and attitudes. So how do you need to repent of the ways in which your sin has come to light in this situation?
3. How does the gospel comfort me in this situation?
The grace of God is not to overlook sin, but rather to forgive sin and empower us to turn from sin and trust in the hope of the gospel. So what realities set forth in the gospel enable us to rest in God’s provision, hope in Jesus’ coming, trust God’s character, experience His love and mercy, etc.?
4. How does the gospel challenge me in this situation?
The gospel is not only a body of truth, but also a power let loose in the world that transforms people and communities. It prevails upon your very identity to change you from the inside out. The gospel doesn’t merely instruct you about how to obey God. Rather, it changes you and makes you the kind of person who obeys God. It challenges you to expect supernatural change in your life and in those around you, the kind of fruit that cannot be accounted for apart from God’s divine activity. And this vision compels you to action. So what does the gospel challenge you to expect and do in this situation?
Situations addressed in the sermon: Job loss, Unforgiveness, “Mom Identity”, Frustration that things aren’t going your way, You don’t want to confess sin, You’re in great need, You’re a perfectionist.
I also mentioned five questions that indicate what John Ortberg calls pseudo-transformation in his book The Life You’ve Always Wanted. I have attached some excerpts from that book with the questions here.
Yesterday I had to confess my sin to the librarian. I lied to her. And not even for a good reason, either.
In our city the only decent theological library is at Grace University, which also happens to be where Coram Deo leases space for our Sunday gatherings. I often spend a half-day each week in said library doing research for my sermons and trying to avoid the Bible-school kids who want to talk about church planting. I often check books out and take them with me. I often forget to return said books on time. I often get fined. But those fines are so minimal that they’re really more annoyances than penalties.
So last week I was checking out a book and the very kind woman who helps to run the library paused after she scanned my library card. “Looks like you have a fine of $1.60.”
“Yeah, can you just put that on my tab?” I said wryly.
“Do you have $1.60?” she asked.
“No,” I answered. Even though I had a $20 in my wallet.
She kindly handed me my books and allowed me to delay payment until another day.
But as I left, the Holy Spirit was working on me. I could have been honest and told her that I just didn’t want to break a $20 for my $1.60 library fine. I could have told her I’d clean out my couch cushions and bring the fine in next week. But instead, I lied.
In my sermon last week, I asked, “What sin do you need to confess or confront?” As I was asking myself that question in prayerful preparation, it was clear that I needed to confess to the librarian.
But I didn’t really want to. Mainly because it was going to be embarrassing. I mean, who ever confesses that sort of thing? It would just make for a real awkward conversation. She wouldn’t quite know what to do with it. It would be easier just to pay the $1.60 and be done with it. Which is exactly why I needed to have the conversation. Because part of repentance is humility – dying to the awkwardness and being willing to be known as a sinner who needs to repent. Even if that repentance seems silly and trivial to the observer.
So yesterday I said to her, “Hey, I need to confess for lying to you.” Her eyes got real big. I went on to explain. I think it was a little out of the ordinary for a library patron to confess sin to the librarian. Usually people just ask how to find books. The only thing she really said was: “Really, you just didn’t want to pay $1.60?” (read with emphasis on “1.60,” emphasizing the trivialness of the amount)
“Be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing” (1 Peter 3:8-9).
Penn and Teller insult the Bible and Christians regularly as part of their in-your-face comedy gig (you may recall the clip we watched during the “Objections” series where they “debunked” the Bible). But Penn, a self-proclaimed atheist, recently had an encounter with a Christian who gave a blessing instead of returning evil for evil. Penn’s response is a beautiful and surprising illustration of how living in the rhythm of the gospel disarms our detractors and sows seeds of redemption.
This past week marked Coram Deo’s 4-year anniversary as a church (we 