At The Movies - Onward
Pastor Robbie continues our At The Movies Series by diving into the great biblical truths that the animated ‘Onward’ has to offer!
We are so excited to bring you a series that we absolutely love being able to be apart of each year - the ‘At the Movies’ series seeks to bring out biblical truths through looking at Hollywood movies and seeing what great principles we can find! The movies always have a wide range of appeals - some are classic and some are very new to the big screen! Unfortunately, due to copyright concerns, we are not able to stream the service for this series; we encourage those who are comfortable to join us in-person for the Gathering - otherwise, we hope these blog posts will give you the life and truth that you desire!
This is our third week of At The Movies, where we explore some of God’s truths as they are demonstrated and illustrated in some popular films. See, movies are really like an art form that gives us a glimpse into the world around us today. It’s kinda like a stained glass view of what’s happening in our culture. And so what we’re doing, much like Jesus did with his parables, is using these relevant stories from the big screen to then understand some of God’s truths and how they apply to you and me in our lives. We’ve gotten some great insights from Lord of the Rings in week 1 about avoiding temptation traps and the value of community, we jumped into the Live-Action Aladdin last week to learn that our self-worth and our significance is found in Christ, it’s really found in the understanding that we are a child of God, which carries with more significance than we could ever need in this life. Today, we are going to look at a fun, newer movie, our one and only animated feature of the series, the new Disney-Pixar film called Onward.
Onward is set in a suburban fantasy world with two teenage elf brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot. It’s kinda like Lord of the Rings meets Lion King, with elements of Indiana Jones tossed in there. These two brothers go out on a quest to find a mythical stone that will allow them to spend one day with their father who passed from sickness almost 16 years before. Like any good quest, theirs is filled with magical spells, cryptic maps, seemingly impossible obstacles, and unimaginable discoveries.
As the narrator says, the residents of this once magical realm found it easier and safer to rely on technology. So over time, magic disappeared from the world and was replaced by cutting-edge technology and modern amenities like lightbulbs, smartphones, and satellite TV. I mean why spend the time and effort to cast an illumination spell when you can just flip a light switch right? Now, the elves, ogres, and cyclopses who populate this imaginary planet only learn about magic in their high school history classes. But it isn't just magic that's missing. Many of the mythical creatures throughout the movie have lost their sense of identity.
During their quest, Ian and Barley come across a fire-breathing woman with the head of a lion, wings of a dragon, and a scorpion's tail - she’s called The Manticore. But Ian and Barley quickly realize that the manticore is no longer the fierce and fearless adventurer she once was, instead, she goes by the name Corey and she runs a Chuckie-Cheese knock-off restaurant. The inhabitants of this once magical realm have forgotten where they come from, and by extension who they are. And although we don't live in a world of magic and monsters, I think people are just as prone to forgetting who we are and where we come from.
When we forget what God has done in the past, we stop relying on him in the present. Jesus gave Christians a similar command when he introduced the Lord's Supper. He said very simply in Luke 22:19, And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Jesus gave us communion as a memorial so that we would never forget what he did for us on the cross! And by remembering what Jesus did for us, we're reminded of the lives that we are called to live for him. Like magic in the movie, a life of faith isn't easy to master, but it helps to have a good memory. I felt compelled to step outside of the outline I had put together to share this. Church, we need to stop forgetting.
Pastor Robbie continues digging into the plot of the movie saying, “Ok, back to the story and the real thread of where I aim to go today. Now, our two main characters, Ian and Barley, voiced by Andrew Garfield and Chris Pratt, could not be more different. Barley is the older brother, and he is loud and boisterous, just a big personality. He is who he is and he doesn’t care what others think. He’s an extrovert to the extreme and he loves magic or at least the idea of magic. Ian, on the other hand, is a quiet lonely dude, who seems very introverted and very afraid of the world. He never met his dad, remember I said the plot is a quest to spend one day with his father; his dad actually died before Ian was born, and we see that taking a toll on him throughout the movie. He doesn’t really have any friends, and in fact, he spends much of the movie in the conflict surrounding who he’s in community with. He tends to push his mom and brother away, while also not really making an effort for friends. He lives in isolation. Listen to me church—community is always intentional, isolation is easily accidental. We have to be intentional about community, or we’ll default to caring about nothing and nobody but ourselves.”
We see this in passages here in Acts 16, we bump into Paul getting ready to go on a second missionary journey around the Mediterranean Rim, even larger and further than the first - the quest was going to be epic! So Paul is on his journey and he meets a believer by the name of Timothy. Timothy happens to be born from a Jew and a Greek, but he is well spoken of in the community, his reputation is good and Paul sees him and decides he needs to be a part of the epic quest. you see, Paul knew something, he knew he needed people around him. He needed a community of people to accomplish what God had put in front of him. Paul had the same need that you and I have today, and that’s that we need to surround ourselves with positive people. We see in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 that Paul knew something, and Timothy learned something. Community will cost you; Community is built on sacrifice—If you’re going to be in community, it’s going to cost you something.
The community that Ian and Barley were in wasn’t perfect, but it was built on love and both benefitted and were built up. If you couldn’t tell, Ian had a list of things he wanted to do with his dad during the 24 hours, but since his dad was only legs the entire time, he couldn’t do them. But he discovered in that moment the importance of his community around him. He discovered that he had had somebody all along. I have found this to be absolutely true in my life, The most meaningful times in life are when you are meaningfully connected to God and others. Ian was lonely, he is an isolated kid, but he found meaning and a purpose in an adventure. Over the course of the adventure, he learned to value the community around him and take stock of just how good he had it and how great his people were.
Have you taken stock lately? Have you neglected your community? We’re not even talking about Missional Communities here, although you really should be in one, We’re talking about your circle. Your people. Are you connected?
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
At The Movies - Onward: This movie is an exciting and enchanting film that really gives us the motivation to understand the value of community, especially when we have lost our way.
Main Scripture Passages: Luke 22:19; Acts 16; 1 Cor. 9:19-23
Stop Forgetting: When we forget what God has done in the past, we stop relying on him in the present - We have to stop forgetting church!
Community is Everything: The most meaningful times in life are when you are meaningfully connected to God and others - being connected with other people isn’t an optional thing; the Kingdom is wide and diverse, seek out those who bring you into a closer relationship with God!
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes. (Sermons will not be posted from 10/4-11/1)
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we continue to meet at the Premiere Cinema 10 at 10 am!
We hope that you and your family are well—know that You Are Loved!
At The Movies - Aladdin
Pastor Robbie continues our At The Movies Series by diving into the great biblical truths that Aladdin has to offer!
We are so excited to bring you a series that we absolutely love being able to be apart of each year - the ‘At the Movies’ series seeks to bring out biblical truths through looking at Hollywood movies and seeing what great principles we can find! The movies always have a wide range of appeals - some are classic and some are very new to the big screen! Unfortunately, due to copyright concerns, we are not able to stream the service for this series; we encourage those who are comfortable to join us in-person for the Gathering - otherwise, we hope these blog posts will give you the life and truth that you desire!
Our second week of our At The Movies Series addressed the live-action version of the classic Disney hit - Aladdin! Pastor Robbie introduces the film saying, “One of the things I really love about this movie is that you notice right away that there is this common theme, this woven thread that is going to happen throughout the entire film, and it started off right at the beginning with that first clip that we watched. And it’s this common thread of self-worth and significance. You saw it right at the beginning with the kids, they are sitting on their ship and what are they doing? They are looking at another ship, a bigger ship, and they are thinking “Oh our life would be better, or our life would have more value, we’d have more worth if we had a bigger ship, a bigger ship means a better life.” And quickly, you see it in the film that there is this lie, that if we have more, or we are more, then life is more, right?
We see this more at the core of the plot of the film, “Aladdin is our main character; he is a common thief in the Arabian city of Agrabah. So one day, he is out in the market doing what he does, stealing bread and apples and other things, when he runs into the princess, but of course, he doesn’t know it’s her because she’s keeping that a secret so that she blends into the crowd. She’s doing this because she constantly has to stay in the palace because her father, the sultan, is a bit overprotective. But our hero Aladdin suns into her, and naturally like in real life, they fall in love in like 30 seconds, right? Unfortunately for Aladdin, she can only marry a prince, and there you have the big tension and struggle of the story. On the backside, a secondary plot involves a villain, his name is Jafar and he is the advisor to the sultan. But he has this unbelievable desire to be all-powerful and to rule, so basically he’s like every villain, but the only way he can do it is by getting this magical lamp that’s hidden in a cave. And the only way that he can get into the cave is that someone who is worthy, someone pure has to go in, in other words - NOT Jafar. And so he has to find the “diamond in the rough” to go in for him, and that happens to be Aladdin. So Jafar is going to use Aladdin to try to get what he wants.” We see a rogue (Aladdin) going after a disgruntled princess (Jasmine), who eventually falls in love, having to deal with a power-hungry sorcerer (Jafar) and show that even in the face of difficulties, things will work out how they are supposed to.
The dynamics between these characters and the initial motivations for their actions are what we will be focusing on here. An author named Robert McGee in his book The Search for Significance actually sets up an equation for us that illustrates what we’re talking about. He gives us this equation that self-worth = performance + others’ opinions. Now, this is a perceived truth, which we’ve talked about before. But this is a perceived truth here. Aladdin believes that to be a better person, he needs to be wealthy so that people won’t look down on him for his station; Jasmine believes her father, the Sultan, is holding her back from her potential and without that restraint, she would find the value and worth that she desires; and of course, you heard Jafar, he said being #2 is just not enough, I have to be #1, and he is driven by this idea—this notion that his self-worth will not be complete until he’s at the very top by any means necessary.
Coming from Ecclesiastes 3:9-12 we see that the author is giving us an amazing truth here. He’s telling us something that most if not all of you already know, and that is that there is something more to this life. There is something more than the 9-5, something more than the routine of life, something more than the monotonous and the mundane. He’s telling us that there’s something more today, I want you to hear that church because maybe you have forgotten it, but there is something more to this life. The author tells you why right here, because you have eternity in your heart! Eternity has no bounds—it has no limits; of course, we search for significance because we have eternity in us! We were created with a desire to search for the significant One, but along the way, we started trying to BE the significant one or marry the significant one or buy significance. These are things that just try to take the place of the significance we have in Christ, they call out to our basic human needs to be more than we perceive ourselves to be.
As the audience, we can quickly feel this tension, because Aladdin wants to be significant, he wants to be important, he wants to be somebody, so much so - that he’s willing to be used. We know it, we see where the story is going and we just want to shout at him “how do you not see it?!” But he has this drive because of performance or people’s opinions so much so, that he’s willing to compromise wisdom. And I don’t know about you, but I’ve been there. I’ve compromised wisdom. I have made selfish decisions based solely on money, or advancement, or just for kudos of others. Again, we are Aladdin.
Moving forward in the film we see a segment where Aladdin did everything right and then the monkey had to go and grab the ruby. But what’s crazy about this, is that it’s kinda like life right? We’re on a journey, we have some goals, we’re trying to reach a destination, and then what? Life happens, right? Life keeps getting in the way, maybe many of us feel that way about 2020, like we had some stuff to get done, some goals and then 2020 came out of nowhere and messed it all up.
You start off good, and then you make one decision, or someone else makes a decision, or Covid shows up, and you find yourself doing a loopty-loop, and a spiral, and a corkscrew, and you don’t know what’s going on, and you’re exhausted by the time you get to B. This is what life looks like. We’re on this journey through life, and our decisions are not going to happen in the proper progression, they are going to carry us off the path from time to time, maybe more often than not. But, here’s what I believe, I think that God gives us grace in life, and that grace can sometimes be found in some unexpected characters.
The Genie then comes on the scene; Aladdin does get his wishes. For his first wish, he asks to be a prince so he can have a shot with Princess Jasmine. But quickly we see him start to compromise some wisdom and really compromising who he is. We start to see Aladdin change. And what Aladdin is learning, and what maybe you have learned on your journey, is that our compromises become our consequences. When we consider the prodigal son in Luke 15, Things did not go as he planned, things didn’t go as he expected, he compromised and was living a certain way, and he learned something that many of us have learned or are learning, and that’s How we navigate the journey shapes our destination. He had to realize that I am where I am today because of my decisions. And here’s what I can tell you, to escape that, to not let the false beliefs drive us, to not let this fake search of self-worth dictate our futures, there is a remedy.
Sometimes, repentance or an A-Ha moment will have us turn away from the thing that we’re pursuing. And that’s what we think will happen, so that’s why we avoid repentance. But really it has us turn from something that is trying to manipulate our thoughts, our actions, our destination. I love that we get to see this moment in Aladdin.
Where are you looking for your significance? Where are you finding your self-worth? Have you had an A-Ha moment of repentance, or are you still traveling down a road of false beliefs? Your significance is not found by what you create in this life but is given by the One who created your life.
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
At The Movies - Aladdin: The version we went over was the Live-Action version - if you have seen the animated but not this one, we’re sure you’ll enjoy it just as much!
Main Scripture Passages: Ecclesiastes 3:9-12; Luke 15:11-32
Our Desire for Significance: I believe that this is true because we were all created: We are created with a sense of self-worth and significance from our creator; our desire for it is natural, but often self-seeking.
Our Compromises become our Consequences: Like the old adage ‘Be careful what you wish for.’ the ways in which we compromise in our lives often point to the consequences from them.
Our Self-Worth—our Significance comes only from being a child of the most-high God: “I hope that you know that God loves you and I hope that you step into this idea of eternal self-worth because your worth in Christ comes from the fact that you are a son or daughter of God. Nothing on earth can compare to that and fill that” - Pastor Robbie
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes. (Sermons will not be posted from 10/4-11/1)
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we continue to meet at the Premiere Cinema 10 at 10 am!
We hope that you and your family are well—know that You Are Loved!
At The Movies - The Lord of the Rings
Pastor Robbie begins our ‘At The Movies’ Series by diving into the great biblical truths that The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring provides!
We are so excited to bring you a series that we absolutely love being able to be apart of each year - the ‘At the Movies’ series seeks to bring out biblical truths through looking at Hollywood movies and seeing what great principles we can find! The movies always have a wide range of appeals - some are classic and some are very new to the big screen! Unfortunately, due to copyright concerns, we are not able to stream the service for this series; we encourage those who are comfortable to join us in-person for the Gathering - otherwise, we hope these blog posts will give you the life and truth that you desire!
Our first week into the series we dived into The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - a grand tale of adventure and moral dilemma surrounding the fate of the land and the temptation of great power. If you have not seen this work, we encourage you to watch it; it is quite long, however, especially if you want the full experience of all the associated movies. Regardless, over the years, there have been several debates about whether or not the series is an allegory for Christianity. Do the characters of Middle-Earth represent different Biblical people? Did Tolkien set out to captivate people with the message of salvation through a story about a Hobbit? According to Tolkien himself, the answer is no. That wasn’t what he was trying to do. Tolkien repeatedly denied that actually. He eventually relented and was quoted as saying “The Lord of the Rings is, of course, a fundamentally religious and Christian work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.”
There are four main themes that were explored in various clips - use these to follow along as you watch the film yourself!
The Trap of Temptation
The Value of Community
The Impact of the Ordinary
The Ultimate Triumph of Good
Pastor Robbie began saying, ‘There are so many Biblical themes to be found in this film, as well as the whole saga, but for time’s sake today, we’ll just focus on four. Each week, we’ll take a different approach to the films we’ll do by the way. Some might be a shotgun spray of different themes found in the movie (like today), some might a single consistent theme that is found throughout the film, some might even be focusing on a character in the movie and what Biblical teachings could come from their role. Today: themes.
The first of these themes is The Trap of Temptation:
In The Lord of the Rings, the Ring represents evil. And everyone in the story knows this. But throughout the entire epic, even the good characters struggle with the temptation to use the power of the ring for themselves. Not even Gandalf or the Elfish princess Galadriel is exempt from the temptation of the Ring. Victory over temptation becomes difficult when sin becomes precious.
Temptation promises what you crave most, but it takes what you can’t afford. In the Word of God, James describes it like this: “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15)
Temptation warns you that evil is nearby, in the case of Frodo, we see that he wields a sword that lets him know when Orcs (the dangerous ones) are nearby. But how often, church, do you and I ignore the warning signs that evil is nearby? How often do we feel tempted, but we ignore that feeling or even enjoy it? Temptation is not evil in and of itself, but it signals that we’re headed for evil.
The second of these themes is The Value of Community:
One of the biggest themes, not just in this movie, but in the movies after it and the Hobbit movies that precede it, is friendship, camaraderie, community. And I would argue that this is one of the key themes in the Bible and that’s meant for us as believers.
We see that as believers we can help share the load with others; We can hold each other accountable in the face of temptation; We can give each other hope in this fallen world.
While one of us alone may not be able to withstand the weight of life, together we can prevail. The Lord brings people together that would never have even crossed paths because they each bring different things to the table that can love and support the other, we are a part of a larger body, and church whether you are introverted or extroverted, whether you are an enneagram 9 or 4, we NEED each other. If we want to run the race well and cross the finish line, we need other people to pray for us, to come alongside us, to challenge us, ultimately, to share the load. (Ecclesiastes 4:12)
The third of these themes is The Impact of the Ordinary:
In this group we have a wise and powerful Wizard, we have a hard-fisted ax-wielding dwarf, we have the handsome, mysterious swashbuckling prince, we have the graceful, swift, and noble Elf, we have a rugged, brave warrior, and then we have four little hobbits. Who would you choose to bear the ring? Frodo wouldn’t have been my first choice. But this boyish little Hobbit is the hero in the story. In fact, it’s almost a joke. I mean, how ridiculous given all the available options to give the ring to Frodo! And as the saga goes on, the heroics continue to come from the most unlikely of sources. The ‘ordinary’ are still able to do the extraordinary.
Somebody needs to hear this today, your potential does not rest in who you are, it rests in who God is. He can do incredibly more than you could ever ask or think. He’s the God who makes the impossible possible. (1 John 4:4; Phil. 4:13)
The fourth and last of these themes is The Ultimate Triumph of Good:
See, we were only meant to use the first movie today, but I had to throw this in because it’s too good not to. But in the last movie, Frodo and his companions are successful in destroying the ring. In the end, they will win; Good will triumph over evil. You know what? That’s a theme I find in my own life, too. Regardless of what difficulties I may encounter, regardless of how hopeless things may seem, I know that I’m on the winning side. I know that in the end God will prevail over all the darkness and I have an unshakable hope in an eternity spent with Him.
That is the hope for me and every other believer who has placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. In the end, we win; Good, will ultimately triumph. So no matter what junk we have to endure for this present age, there is a time coming when all of that will be swept away and we will be left standing in the presence of Almighty God. And what a day, glorious day that will be! (1 Cor. 15:16-22)
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
At The Movies - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - A timeless tale of uncommon triumph and companionship; if you haven’t seen this excellent work (and all the other surrounding films, we highly recommend taking the time to watch them!
Main Scripture Passages: James 1:14-15; Ecclesiastes 4:12; 1 John 4:4; Phil. 4:13; 1 Cor. 15:16-22
The Trap of Temptation: Temptation is apart of our world, and it has some nasty consequences when given-in to; it claims to be good but is only in disguise!
The Value of Community: In light of the difficulties of temptation and the desire to do Good, being in community with other believers is incredibly important - we are to look out for one another as we seek a closer relationship with God.
The Impact of the Ordinary: We all have a part to play in this world; the role of the average person is quite literally unique—to come together in community, to seek the Good of the Kingdom of God!
The Ultimate Triumph of Good: ‘Good’ will ultimately triumph. So no matter what junk we have to endure for this present age, there is a time coming when all of that will be swept away and we will be left standing in the presence of Almighty God.
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes. (Sermons will not be posted from 10/4-11/1)
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we continue to meet at the Premiere Cinema 10 at 10 am!
We hope that you and your family are well—know that You Are Loved!
Summer Scripture Series: A Better Priest
Pastor Robbie continues our Summer Scripture Series - moving through the book of Hebrews, speaking out of 7:11-28!
This week, we continued our Summer Scripture series, where Pastor Robbie and others are going through the Book of Hebrews, verse by verse, to bring out their immediate meaning. This process of ‘exegesis’ is important to bring out the originally intended meaning of the author to their original audience!
If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we have recorded all of our recent sermons and they are available on our Facebook page; every Sunday evening they are live-streamed and archived starting at 7 pm! You can now go to legacycity.church/live to watch the stream!
Our text is a look at the changing of the priestly guard that Jesus has brought—basically the theological version of the transition of power.
The peaceful transition of power is actually one of the most difficult problems in the world of politics. Whether you’re in a monarchy of kings and queens, a democracy of elected representatives, or even a tribal system with chiefs and chieftains, it’s almost always a tense moment when power has to be transferred. There are always questions: Will the people follow the new leader? Will there be a split or a revolt?
Pastor Robbie speaks out of Hebrews 7:11-28 diving deeper into the office of the Old Covenant priesthood and the role that Jesus played in transforming the office from what it was to the New Priesthood we understand today. Referring to verses 11-12 saying, “Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.”
Pastor Robbie comments, “This verse lets us know that the law was given to support the priesthood and not the other way around. The priesthood and the tabernacle with its sacrifices were the means God used to render the sinful people acceptable to Himself. Then, the Law was given with its impossible demands to awaken the people to their true condition, their sinfulness, their hopelessness outside of God, so that they might adhere to the sacrifices. As it says in Galatians 3:24, The Law was simply a guardian or a tutor to lead us to Christ. Now understand that this all must have been shocking to the Jews listening, which is why they would say to Stephen and Paul in Acts 6:14, “for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” Jesus changed the game. Everything that the Jews knew to be true and help as sacred was intended to point to the most Sacred one: Jesus. Without the New Testament and its Messiah, without the New Covenant, the Old Testament is like reading The Lord of the Rings without The Return of the King — it’s absolutely incomplete.
Referring to verses 13-14, “For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.” we see that the change in the priesthood was complete, it was an absolute change from the top down.
Then, in verses 15–17, we learn that there is also a different authority for this priesthood.
“This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”
“In verse 19, there’s the parenthetical reference, (for the law made nothing perfect). I don’t want to confuse anyone here today, so let me help your theology a little church, The Law is perfect, but it's perfection isn’t like the Coronavirus: You can’t catch it by coming in contact with it! That’s just not what the Law was for. It was made, not to create perfection, but to reveal the absence of it. The law, as Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans, came to actually increase the trespass of humanity, to bring everything into its custody like a prison warden.”
Jesus brings us into the throne room of God and simply says, “Abba, Father, this is someone who needs to talk to You.” He came to fulfill the Law, to bridge the gap between man and God, to be a mediator for us all, to give us unprecedented access to God most High. He is our new Priest, the best and final forever priest.
Speaking to verses 26-28, “For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.”
We’ve already seen today how Jesus is a superior priest because of God’s sworn oath, God promised - and we saw that he is better because of Christ’s eternality, his priesthood is permanent, everlasting. Now we see his superiority because of his person.
He is holy, uniquely God’s Holy One. He is set apart to God. He stands accepted before God. He is innocent - literally without evil. Whereas we are intrinsically evil in our motives and actions, there is nothing but good in him. He is unstained. The OT High Priests had to be externally without imperfection, but Jesus is unstained within. He walked through the muck and the mire of this world for 33 years but was never stained by sin.
He is part of humanity because he took it on for our sake, but he is separate from sinners because he is separate in his character from human sin nature. And he is exalted above the heavens - resurrected, ascended, and glorified at the right hand of God. If this were a job application for the job of forever High Priest, Jesus just blew the competition out of the water. He is more than worthy and the only one who is so.
What is a priest and what is a priest for? A priest is your mediator between the self and the transcendent. Every human being is filled with a longing for the transcendent, the glorious, the spiritual, the divine. Who is your god, and who gets you access to him?
That is the question we need to consider because there is only one true and living High Priest and only one God. And if we trust in any other, no matter how passionately or authentically, our trust will be a false trust, and we will perish.
Jesus Christ - he is the One who saves to the uttermost. Rest in him today.
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Summer Scripture Series: A Better Priest - From the times of Melchizedek moving forward, the role of the priesthood held a vital role in Israel’s covenant relationship with Yahweh - while different in scope, the Royal Priesthood of Jesus expands and magnifies the availability of relationship with Yahweh!
Main Scripture Passages: Hebrews 7:11-28.
Length and Content: Considering this section going through 17 verses this past week, we were not able to cover everything discussed - watch either the video recording or the podcats to get the full extent of the content covered.
A Necessary Transition: “The death and resurrection of Jesus introduced a new and permanent priesthood that brings the Levitical priesthood to an end, along with its Law. You see, church, the Levitical Priesthood was provisional, the Melchizedek Priesthood is permanent.”
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we continue to meet at the Premiere Cinema 10 at 10 am!
We hope that you and your family are well, and know that You Are Loved!
Summer Scripture Series: Melchize-Who?
Pastor Robbie continues our Summer Scripture Series - moving through the book of Hebrews, speaking out of 7:1-10!
This week, we continued our Summer Scripture series, where Pastor Robbie and others are going through the Book of Hebrews, verse by verse, to bring out their immediate meaning. This process of ‘exegesis’ is important to bring out the originally intended meaning of the author to their original audience!
If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we have recorded all of our recent sermons and they are available on our Facebook page; every Sunday evening they are live-streamed and archived starting at 7 pm! You can now go to legacycity.church/live to watch the stream!
Pastor Robbie spoke out of Hebrews 7:1-10 saying, 'For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him, Abraham apportioned a tenth of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother in genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.’
Continuing in verse 4, ‘See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior, In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.’
Pastor Robbie began by going over who Melchizedek was, as mentioned in Genesis - he references Genesis 14:17-20 saying, “After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was the priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”
Now, some see Melchizedek as what is called a “Christophany,” meaning an appearance of the Lord Jesus prior to his incarnation. You can see why right? Here’s a King of Salem, which later becomes Jerusalem. King of Salem literally means King of Peace. His name, Melchizedek, is a compound Hebrew word, from the words melek (king) and zedek/zadok (righteousness). And that is a key point: The text isn’t saying that Jesus is like Melchizedek, but that Melchizedek is like Jesus—that Jesus is the true and better Melchizedek, just as he is the true and better Temple, Lamb, Passover, Adam, Moses, David, and so on. This is a case of something we call typology, that this in the OT is about that in the NT, Melchizedek is a type, or a shadow of Christ, he’s not Christ. God wrote the story of Melchizedek in living history, to later teach us something of the Person and work of Jesus. So that is the origin of this designation, High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek.
There are 3 aspects of this living type that God wrote into the character of Melchizedek in Genesis 14 that establish the qualifications for Jesus to stand as High Priest in this order:
1) Jesus must be the King of Righteousness - referencing passages such as Jeremiah 23:5-6 and Psalm 132:11, the Kingship of Jesus was to be established through the Davidic line. This is where the Jewish categories for Messiah got a little messed up. See, they were waiting for a King. But, church, they were thinking too small. Jesus would be the true and final and perfect Prophet, Priest, and King! To the Jews, this would be the same idea as us claiming someone to be the President, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and Speaker of the House, all in one—it just isn’t done! Where is the separation of powers? Well, you need that with sinful people. But God is righteous. This King is King of Righteousness, and so he exercises all power with perfect justice.
2) Jesus must be the King of Peace - Jesus is the true King of Salem, not just the King who sits on the throne of David, of the New Jerusalem, but also by translation, the King of Peace. As the Priest-King, he makes peace in two directions: vertical and horizontal. Referencing passage such as Colossians 1:19-20; Romans 5:1; and Ephesians 2:13-17 we see that Jesus came with a Kingdom, and his Kingdom makes men free, and his Kingdom makes peace among those free men. Jesus has given us new hearts, hearts filled with humility and meekness rather than pride and arrogance. And guess what? Jesus promised, Matthew 5:5, that the meek will inherit the earth. He is the King of Righteousness, the King or Prince of Peace - but you know, church, the trouble for many people is that they want the Peace, without the Prince. They want the warm and cozy peace in their life, without submitting to King Jesus. And I can tell you, friends, that’s simply not how it works. When we submit to King Jesus, we submit everything. If you want the peace and the righteousness that he freely provides, then you need to embrace him as king and lord over your life. He wants to be your King and your High Priest - but with that comes acceptance and submission.
3) Jesus must be uncreated and eternal, as the Son of God - I’m going to sit on this for a second because this (Heb. 7:3) is the main verse that some would use to point to the Christophany of Melchizedek. This is not saying, again, that Melchizedek was immortal and uncreated, but that he is without father or mother or genealogy or beginning or end in the text. Without father and mother simply means they were unknown for Melchizedek. In some of the rabbinical writings we have access to, expressions like this often mean that the father and mother had simply died and the child was an orphan. One theologian puts it like this: “Melchizedek was not an angel or some superhuman creature; nor was he an OT appearance of Jesus Christ. He was a real man, a real king, and a real priest in a real city. But as far as the record is concerned, he was not born, nor did he die.” Essentially, it’s fair to assume that he obtained his position not by genealogy, like most kings, but by divine appointment. He didn’t have the earthly credentials, but God saw something there in him. Something that would make him a precursor to Jesus.
You are not. I am not. And so we are unqualified for this office. So we have the origin of this order, the qualifications for it, and finally, in verses 4–10, we unfold the supremacy of the order of Melchizedek.
The point of Jesus’ cosmic High Priesthood is the steady anchoring of our souls in the very presence of God. The point is that, by identifying with us fully and coming down to truly dwell with us where we are, he could bring us to identify with him fully and bring us up to truly dwell with him where he goes. Jesus is our great, immortal High Priest after the order of Melchizedek—and he is so in order that we might be seated with him in the heavenly places.
So listen: I know this is high theology, talking about Christophany and typology, but this is good news, church! You have a Priest, the God-Man Jesus, interceding for you. He is the King of Righteousness and of Peace. His body is like bread, given to satisfy. His blood is like wine, poured out in covenant. And he has set a table for us now, even in the presence of the enemies the Father is putting under his feet and calls us to come and eat and drink—he has paid for this feast, and he welcomes us now!
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Summer Scripture Series: Melchize-Who? - In these first ten verses of Hebrews 7, the author of the book teaches us the origins, the qualifications, and the supremacy of the Melchizedek Priesthood; The point of Jesus’ cosmic High Priesthood is the steady anchoring of our souls in the very presence of God.
Main Scripture Passages: Hebrews 7:1-10; Jer. 23:5-6; Psalm 132:11; Col. 1:19-20; Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:13-17
The High Priest is the King Of Righteousness - ‘But Jesus is God. And he is Christ. And Christ is Prophet, Priest, and King. He is not a priest from the Levitical order, the Aaronic Priesthood, but the High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek. He is the King of Righteousness.’
The High Priest is the King Of Peace - ‘Jesus makes a vertical peace between God and men by the blood of his cross. He removes our sin from us, gives us his righteousness, raises us from death to life, and mediates peace with God on our behalf; He makes peace horizontally, peace between men who by their sin were at war with one another.’
The High Priest is the King Of Life - ‘The point of the author of Hebrews is that, while Melchizedek is like all of this in the text, Jesus is like this in reality. It’s a typological relationship, one that points from Melchizadek in the Old Testament to Jesus in the New Testament.’
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we continue to meet at the Premiere Cinema 10 at 10 am!
We hope that you and your family are well, and know that You Are Loved!
Summer Scripture Series: Trust God's Promises
This week we heard from Pastor Robbie, continuing in our Summer Scripture Series - moving through the book of Hebrews, speaking out of 6:4-20!
This week, we continued our Summer Scripture series, where Pastor Robbie and others are going through the Book of Hebrews, verse by verse, to bring out their immediate meaning. This process of ‘exegesis’ is important to bring out the originally intended meaning of the author to their original audience!
If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we have recorded all of our recent sermons and they are available on our Facebook page; every Sunday evening they are live-streamed and archived starting at 7 pm!
Pastor Robbie spoke out of Hebrews 6:4-20 (ESV) saying, ‘For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit. and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls upon it, and produces a crop useful to those whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned’
Continuing in verse 9, ‘Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.’
Continuing in verse 13, ‘For when God made a promise to Abraham since he had no one greater by who to swear, he swore by himself, saying, Surely I will bless you and multiply you. And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure ad steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’
He begins by stating, ‘Now, this section of Scripture has been debated, fought over, and argued for 2000 years. I am going to do my best to guide us step by step through essentially a theological minefield. This whole passage really touches on one of the most difficult and complex issues to understand—this issue of salvation and the security of the believer.
It is a difficult issue, on the one hand, because we read this text which seems ominous, seems scary - BUT on the other hand, if there is one thing clear about salvation in the New Testament, it’s that it is nothing like your car keys, your sunglasses, or my kid’s stuffed monkey every single night at bedtime—you can’t lose it. Our salvation isn’t our own church, because we are not our own, but instead, we belong to God. ‘Jesus’ isn’t property that we can misplace; we don’t own him, he owns us.’
Let’s read verses 4-6 again, and then lets walk through three ways we can potentially understand those verses. I want to be fair and present the three arguments, and then I’m going to share the rest of the message from one of these options based on my understanding, based on my studies, and based on my conviction and discernment as I believe the Lord has led me.
Option 1) True Believers Who Fall Away - There are some who see this group as actual genuine Christians. They would hold that God supplies grace to those who are trusting Him, but the ultimate perseverance of any believer depends on the cooperation of his own free will. Therefore, any Christian whatever his state, is capable of falling away and the condemnation that we read about.
Option 2) True Believers Who Fall Away but as a Hypothetical Situation - Some might argue that the author is taking the “what if” line of thinking. If salvation is through Jesus alone, and one “tries” Christianity, then walks away, what else is there for them?...there is no hope! Hypothetically speaking.
Option 3) Professing Believers Who Fall Away - The argument here is that the people the author is speaking about are not true believers, only ones who “appear” so. They have seen that the Lord is good, they have been around other believers, and may have even seemingly demonstrated some of the fruits of the Spirit - but they were never Spirit-filled, and thus never true believers. They were visitors, not permanent residents.
Now before you freak out on me, church, there is a big difference from falling away and falling into sin. Judas fell away (that’s apostasy); Peter fell into sin (he backslid). Categorically different things. We’ll come back to that before we’re through today.
Through my study of this passage and many other passages in Bible, because how many of you know that to study a topic in the Bible, you don’t just look at a single verse out of context, you look at everything the Bible has to say about a particular topic - and in this case, the Bible has a lot to say about our security in salvation, which is why I could not lean into Option 1. I don’t believe the author is intending to mean here that true believers are falling away from God and that their hearts are being hardened so as to never return. Here’s some of what the Bible says on the topic - consider verses such as Romans 8:29-31; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 1 Thess. 5:23-24; Phil. 1:6; John 6:37-39; Eph. 4:30.
I don’t believe it could be the second option either. There are other reasons that include the language of the passage, the tense of words used, and so on, but I’ll give you logical reasons. If it were hypothetical and both the author and the audience knew it, the power of the argument would be lost. When I tell my daughter IF you do that one more time, THEN I’m going to spank you - but both she and I know that I have no intention of spanking her because I’m a big pushover, that warning is useless. Furthermore, if the author knew it was hypothetical but the readers thought it was real, then the author’s integrity would be in question. So that leads us to the last option. Option 3.
The point of these texts is not that you can be born again and then un-born-again. It’s not that you can be regenerate, that is, spiritually raised from the dead, and then spiritually die again. Those who believe in losing one's salvation should also realize that this section of Hebrews is not talking about losing and regaining faith, but instead renouncing it so as to never be able to regain it. The point is that we will see people who seem to be part of God’s Kingdom, who prove by their leaving that they are not.
Can I help someone again that might be freaking out in their seats as I talk about this? For those who think that they’ve committed this sin of apostasy - If you’re concerned about it, that tells me that you have not committed it and that you are absolutely still capable of repentance. Can I also say this, God alone knows the point of no return. We as believers should never consider anyone beyond his reach and we should continue to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with all, sharing the love of Christ with all, even if someone seems to have apostatized. We don’t give up hope and we don’t assume what’s in someone’s heart no matter what their mouths and actions say.
So if there is this sin, this sin of apostasy, which is so bad, so heinous, so terrible that your heart will be hardened toward the Lord - then what do I do to ensure that doesn’t happen? How do I stand strong instead of falling away? You MOVE! You have to continue to move toward God. If you have never given your life to Christ, continue to move toward him. If you are a believer here, continue to move toward him. He says show earnestness, be convicted and act on that conviction; he says don’t be sluggish, what’s the opposite of sluggish - moving at a fast pace! Working! Serving! Loving! It is in love that we move away from apostasy, whether you agree with me on my understanding of this passage or not, sprinting the other way is a logical way to avoid this pitfall. I believe that you can’t sincerely love the saints and be moving towards apostasy or even complacency or spiritual sluggishness at the same time, any more than you can stand up and sit down at the same time.
Is he calling you to come today? Are you hearing this gospel message today with fresh ears and a willing soul? This gospel promise is the promise of God, sworn on God, to bring us to God. He doesn’t just want to fix us, he wants to change us into a new creation, one that is safe and secure in Him, our souls anchored to the Father.
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Summer Scripture Series: Trust God’s Promises - Even in the face of potential apostasy in a community, the promise is sure and steadfast! What promise? That we have a great and an immortal High Priest forever, who has passed into the holy of holies in heaven—behind the curtain, the Temple veil—to intercede on our behalf and to bring us there through union with himself.
Main Scripture Passages: Hebrews 6:4-20; Romans 8:29-31; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 1 Thess. 5:23-24; Phil. 1:6; John 6:37-39; Eph. 4:30
The Importance of the Promise: Those who are in Christ with a sense of concern surrounding their faithfulness necessarily suggests the presence of that which they desire to keep - trust in God’s Promise.
The Reality of the Uncomfortable: The reality is that there are people in every faith community that are not ‘true believers’, yet we are not the ones who necessarily determine who those people are - that’s God’s Job.
The Danger of the Warning: This is a firm, sobering warning. It’s a warning that probably leaves most, if not all, of us in a position of self-examination; if someone could fall away who has experienced all of those things, wow, this is a warning that we cannot ignore.
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we continue to meet at the Premiere Cinema 10 at 10 am!
We hope that you and your family are well, and know that You Are Loved!
Summer Scripture Series: Grow Up
This week we heard from Pastor Robbie, continuing in our Summer Scripture Series - moving through the book of Hebrews and speaking out of 5:11-6:3!
This week, we continued our Summer Scripture series, where Pastor Robbie and others are going through the Book of Hebrews, verse by verse, to bring out their immediate meaning. This process of ‘exegesis’ is important to bring out the originally intended meaning of the author to their original audience!
If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we have recorded all of our recent sermons and they are available on our Facebook page; every Sunday evening they are live-streamed and archived starting at 7 pm!
Pastor Robbie spoke out of Hebrews 5:11-6:3 saying, ‘About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.
The title of the message this morning is Grow Up. And look, I know what you’re thinking. Depending on how you say that phrase, it can be kinda offensive. It can hurt my feelings. It can rub you the wrong way. Like when your friend is whining about laws or restrictions or about having to wear a mask, and you hit them with a “just Grow Up.” Or when you’re younger and you want to do something outside of the rules, but your little sibling tries to convince you not to, you hit them with a “grow up,” So when I say that the title of the message today is Grow Up, do I mean for it to chastise you or remind you? Do I mean for it to be exhorting or encouraging? Am I trying to rebuke you or redirect you? And the answer to those questions is: Yes. Because that’s what the original author, the preacher that brought these words to the Hellenistic Jewish Christians, that’s how he approached this.
There is a doctrinal feast, ready to be laid out for the Hebrews and for us, but there is an obstacle, something that makes him pause right in the middle of this conversation. The obstacle is going to make it hard to get the food on the table the right way. The topic of Jesus’ high priesthood is apparently something of deep and transformative importance—something worth a few chapters of biblical meditation. But the doctrinal immaturity of the Hebrew Christians is making this rich feast a difficult one to serve. So his response is to issue a loving, pastoral rebuke. Hopefully, church, you have a capacity for that—for the correct, loving, shepherd-hearted rebuke of a faithful pastor.
There are four parts to his rebuke, four ways that they need to Grow Up in, that will help us understand the text and rightly respond to it:
1) They are Dull of Hearing (v5:11).
The dullness of hearing that he’s talking about is specifically, in this context, a dullness to hear the Scriptures. These are Hebrew Christians, Christians who not only have the apostolic teaching of the New Testament, which as they read this letter was still being written and circulated and read in churches—but also the Old Testament Scriptures. They knew the Bible—or they should have.
2) They are Doctrinal and Spiritual babies (v5:12-14).
Which implies, right, that the Bible is a thing that takes skill to use correctly. You have to grow up into this book. A child can open it and God will wonderfully, simply meet him there! He’s a good good Father and meets us where we are when we first come to him. My kids hear and understand as we read it together at home. But as you grow up, you will need to grow up in your understanding and work in this book.
3) They weren’t building on the Foundation (v6:1-3).
What that means is that there is not one particle of wisdom, truth, doctrine, or anything that is not to be found in Christ. Doctrinal maturity isn’t advancing past Christ, it’s building on Christ. The picture is of a house with a foundation. The foundational doctrines are those that hold up the structure above. Just as you don’t start building a house by putting the shingles on, you don’t start your theological discipleship by settling the dispute between Armenian and Calvinism. We start by getting the whole “Christian” thing right.
4) They have had plenty of time (v5:11-12).
The spiritual immaturity that we’re talking about in this text has nothing to do with time. There are many in the Church today who are the equivalent of a 29-year-old who can’t tie his shoes! The author says that they should have been teachers by now! That’s a strong statement since we know from elsewhere in the New Testament that not many should be teachers since teachers will be judged more strictly. Teachers are responsible to handle high theology with a clean conscience and a ready mind. That’s where the Hebrew Christians should have been; this wasn’t that they didn’t have enough time.
Do you see how all of these issues really find their connection in the knowledge and love of the Word of God? That’s it, right, that’s the needful thing. Do you want to be mature? Do you want to be able to discern good and evil? Do you want to be able to teach others and help others mature? Then love and live in this book! It’s all here, church. And can I qualify that I am not discrediting any other form of communication with the Lord in this sermon, but I felt the Lord teaching and stretching me in this week, so this is what I came to share with you today. Church, it’s time for many of us to Grow Up.
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Summer Scripture Series: Grow Up - Similar to how the author of the Book of Hebrews addressed their audience, there are many people in the church who have ceased in their maturation - we are called to do better for the sake of our relationships with Christ.
Main Scripture Passages: Hebrews 5:11-6:3
Ancient Errors for All People: They are Dull of Hearing (v5:11); They are Doctrinal and Spiritual babies (v5:12-14); They weren’t building on the Foundation (v6:1-3); They have had plenty of time (v5:11-12).
Some Practical Ways to Help: Be here every Sunday - or whenever you’re able; Get involved in a Missional Community - be in community with other believers seeking the same thing; Cultivate a mentality that loves reading and studying Scripture; Leave immature things behind.
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we continue to meet at the Premiere Cinema 10 at 10 am!
We hope that you and your family are well, and know that You Are Loved!
Summer Scripture Series: Jesus is Better
This week we heard from Pastor Robbie, continuing in our Summer Scripture Series - moving through the book of Hebrews!
This week, we began our Summer Scripture series, where Pastor Robbie and others will going through the Book of Hebrews verse by verse to bring out their immediate meaning. This process of ‘exegesis’ is important to bring out the originally intended meaning of the author to their original audience!
If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we have recorded all of our recent sermons and they are available on our Facebook page; every Sunday evening they are live-streamed and archived starting at 7 pm!
Pastor Robbie begins by introducing our series saying, ‘In both of our first two Summers, we did a book study where we took 12 weeks or so and walked verse by verse through a book of the Bible and we called it the Summer Scripture Series. The first year 1 Peter, last year was actually two books; Colossians and the short letter to Philemon. It is one of my favorite series that we do at Legacy City because I feel like I am a teacher at heart. I mean, sometimes you all bring the preacher out of me, but I really do just love teaching on the Word and principles of God. So, back by popular demand, we are going to spend the next 12-14 weeks walking straight through the book of Hebrews!’
I really do love to study straight through books of the Bible because they are God's direct and perfectly communicated truths, we’re reading this line by line and phrase by phrase, we have no choice but to be impacted by his Word. His text is so rich and it makes such an impact when we read it in its entirety. Expository teaching is what this is called, or some might call it exegetical teaching, it’s where I work through the text verse by verse - and this is truly my favorite way to teach, because, here’s the thing, it's a lot easier to pick one or two verses, it's a lot easier to pick a topic and talk about what we think about those various things, it's a lot more difficult but more fruitful I believe to study this way - and I say that having just led you through several topical teaching series. I believe, of course, there is a place for both, and both are beneficial. But I pray that it will be fruitful for you and for our church as we study the book of Hebrews together. Some weeks, we will simply read the text and stop to talk about it, some weeks, God may show me a few points to pull out of the text!
“1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”
He’s starting us off and taking us all the way back - long ago. You know church, the gospel narrative didn’t start during the age of the Roman Empire, it started long ago in the narratives of the Old Testament. In fact, the account of God’s saving work in Jesus Christ begins at the very beginning of creation. Likewise, Jesus and his work on the cross was not the first time that God intervened in our history. While that was clearly the most significant, God has been active in setting the stage for Christ’s incarnation since the beginning of time and he has specifically been active through speaking.
So now, let’s talk Jesus. Because in the next two verses, we see 7 things facets of Christ explode before us. These verses are so theologically rich. I’m going to give you the seven and then we’ll touch on them briefly. In these two verses, Jesus is noted as being an heir (or an inheritor), creator, sustainer, radiator, representor, Purifier, and Ruler.
This is our God, this is our Savior! Created all things, holds all things together, Rules over all, loves, pursues, prays for you and me. Jesus is better than anything else you can imagine. He is better than that bad relationship you’re still in. He’s better than that addiction that you say you want out of but you really don’t. He’s better than the retail therapy that’s putting you further and further into debt. Jesus is better!
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Summer Scripture Series: Jesus is Better - In the face of a world that embraced s culture contrary to the work of Jesus’ ministry, the author of Hebrews assures us that no matter what we have experienced, Jesus is Superior!
Main Scripture Passages - Hebrews 1:1-4; Eph. 1:18; Col. 1:17
Jesus was Apart of Creation - Jesus was not simply a man that was born of earth, but was with the Father, eternally existing and was apart of Creation in the beginning.
Jesus is the Radiance of the Glory of God - Jesus radiates who God is in the fullness of His Image - He is an exact imprint of His nature!
Jesus Sits At the Right Hand of the Father - Jesus is the Son of Man, the Suffering Servant who has purified the sins of mankind before the Father - no one matches His honor and glory, so much so that He dwells with the Father, interceding on our behalf!
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we continue to meet at the Premiere Cinema 10 at 10 am!
We hope that you and your family are well, and know that You Are Loved!
Words From the Cross - Compassion and Substitution
This week we heard from Pastor Robbie, continuing in our Words From the Cross series, speaking about some of the last moments and phrases that Jesus exhibited from the Cross!
Our staff and elders hope that all of you are doing well during these very uncertain times of the COVID-19 health crisis - we were so glad to be able to meet with you at the Drive-In Movie Theater this past week - we will be also having this upcoming service there also! More information will continue to roll out through our Social Media platforms to keep you up to date. You can continue to find information on this subject going forward here. If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we have recorded all of our recent sermons and they are available on our Facebook page; every Sunday evening they are live-streamed and archived starting at 7 pm!
This past week we ended up continuing our meetings at the Drive-In Theater! They were thrilled to be able to provide the space, so thankful in fact, that we will also be having services there until further notice! Again, this will be done specifically in-line with social distancing measures in places, from our cars but still gathered together!
We began our Words From the Cross series the week prior, to begin building up towards Good Friday and Easter - this recorded sermon is available at our Facebook page, details and a link to that is down below. Pastor Robbie continued this series in the last week approaching such an important and reflective time in our year. He began saying, ‘I'm excited about the message today because we started a new short series last week called Words From the Cross. These are the words that Jesus spoke when he was on the cross, the last words, his last phrases are what we’re going through, and I want you to understand that I believe that these words that Jesus spoke are very powerful. I believe that he wanted us to hear them and he wants us to apply them to our lives, because he went to such extremes to get to speak out and to let us hear them.’
This sermon series was planned months ago, it’s been scheduled long before any of us knew what COVID-19 was, long before anyone even considered we’d be in the midst of a quarantine fighting to wrestle down an invisible health threat. But it gives us great joy to know that God knew, and God’s got this! These words of Jesus this morning should speak directly to us in the midst of our current situation.
Our source material jumps around a little bit from the records of the different Gospels but surround similar events. You can find them all listed under our Key Take-Aways below.
Throughout all of these passages, we see specific things that point to much of Jesus’ purpose and intent with his actions on the cross. ‘Jesus showed compassion while on the cross. He didn’t think about himself, he thought about others. How are you showing compassion to others during this current storm? Are you spreading hope and joy, or fear and pessimism? Are you thinking of and reaching out to others, or just circling the wagons and fending for yourself? Church, there are so many ways to show love and compassion in the middle of this social distancing. We just have to have a heart to do it and a willingness to be creative. Here's the deal church, Christ was abandoned so that you could be adopted. Christ was abandoned on that cross, so that you didn't have to go through it! So now, you don't have to feel abandoned! Galatians 4:5 says that God sent him to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive adoption as sons and daughters. We can receive adoption! Thank you, Jesus, that you did that for us!
Jesus was abandoned so that we could live! Jesus was abandoned so that he could be our substitute. Listen to his cry from the cross! It was for everyone who feels lonely, everyone who feels abandoned right now, for the orphan, for the widow, for the single parents struggling to make ends meet, for the mother standing at the bed looking at her dying child, a father who’s without work, a prisoner in his cell, women who've been abandoned by her husband, people that have hit rock bottom, people with coronavirus, people that are quarantined right now - the word from Jesus on the cross is for you! It's for you today! Are you gonna receive it? Are you gonna live in his peace? Are you gonna live in who he is?
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Words From the Cross - Compassion and Substitution: Jesus’ actions on the cross through the last moment of his life, and in the harsh conditions of death allowed us to be able to be in relationship with the Father, bringing life to all those who would accept it.
Main Scripture Passages - John 19:25-27; Matthew 17:45-46; Mark 15:34; Isaiah 53:5-6;
YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN! - Our Staff and Elders are praying for each and every one of you; reach out if you’re in need!
Main Points - 1) We must never minimize the awfulness of sin (Hab. 1:13); 2) Jesus can identify when you feel abandoned (Heb. 4:15); 3) Because Jesus knew abandonment we can experience life (2 Cor. 5:21).
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we return to the Drive-In Movie Theater for our Gathering; all Gathering, until further notice will be held here
We hope that you and your family are well, and know that You Are Loved!
Hope Has A Name
This week we heard Pastor Robbie speak about the need for us to lean into the Hope that we have in Christ during these uncertain and difficult times!
Our staff and elders hope that all of you are doing well during these very uncertain times of the COVID-19 health crisis - we were so glad to be able to meet with you at the Drive-In Movie Theater this past week - we will be also having this upcoming service there also! More information will continue to roll out through our Social Media platforms to keep you up to date. You can continue to find information on this subject going forward here. If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we missed you and we hope to be able to engage with you from our cars!
This past week we ended up trying something new, something that we didn’t know how everything would go - we decided to reach out to the Greenwood Drive-In theater and see if they would be willing to host our Gathering. They were thrilled to be able to provide the space, so thankful in fact, that we will also be having services there until further notice! Again, this will be done specifically in-line with social distancing measures in places, from our cars but still gathered together!
In light of everything going on, Pastor Robbie boldly proclaimed some very outright and powerful truths from Scripture - Hope Has A Name church! During all of the chaos and turmoil that is going on around us, we know that the God of our world has everything under control, that nothing escapes His view and mind! Ps. Robbie began by saying, ‘Listen, just because we're practicing social distancing doesn't mean that we're practicing spiritual distancing. Although we are not touching physically, how many of you know that today we're gonna connect spiritually because of the power of God's Word and presence?! And, hey church, here's the good news about our God - while we practice social distancing, the worse it gets for us - the closer God gets to us. The Bible says he's close to the brokenhearted, the psalmist David said if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. You cannot get away from God's love, he is close no matter what season you are in. And so maybe you’re here today and you’re afraid, you’re nervous, you’re anxious about this pandemic. I want you to hear me say this: God is near. Your hope should be in him, and with that hope comes a peace that passes all understanding. Hope is attainable, peace is attainable - not just attainable, but readily available.’
‘I am convinced that hope is something that we all need right now. But what does Hope mean, seems like a broad word that could mean different things to different people. It’s a word we throw around too casually, honestly, and the true essence of the word gets lost. So, let’s start with what we don’t mean. Hope is not “I hope my favorite restaurant doesn’t close down during all of this” or “I hope the MLB still gets to have a season.” Hope is not “Will the kids get to go back to school this semester? I hope so.” That is biting your nails waiting to see how things play out and anticipating a chance they will work out. That’s not hope church, that’s wishful thinking.
So what IS hope? Here’s my definition: hope is an expectation based on the truth and promises of God. Hope is, as one writer put it, not a “hope so” but a “know-so.” Hope is knowing there’s peace before you while circumstances currently wreck you. Hope is knowing deliverance is coming when your circumstances suggest it never will. Hope is knowing that although your tears are flowing, your laughter is coming. You see, Hope is always linked to faith. And true hope and real faith are always rooted in God. Hope, true hope, living/breathing hope, biblical hope, is always grounded in God—His ways, His promises—and trusting God and His ways and promises despite the circumstances we’re in. Despite the pandemic. Despite the uncertainty.’
Pastor Robbie speaks out of 1 Peter 1:1-7 (ESV) which has to do with some difficult things going on in the ancient world, particularly with the Christian communities! Read this portion of Scripture in light of the rest of this article.
‘Those of you that attend Legacy City know that I love teaching exegetically, and it takes every ounce of self-control to not go off target here, so I’ll skip some of the juicy bits in order to focus on our topic for today. Peter starts by telling us who he is, he defines his audience. But what’s really at the heart of Peter’s first words here?...I’ll answer, it’s this: YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN! Maybe this is a Truth you needed to hear!’
‘Verse 3 talks about not just hope, but a living hope the Word says. A hope that is full of life, a hope of immortality, a hope of eternity spent with God, a hope whose root is found in the grave of Christ, the empty grave from which he has risen and which is the assurance that because He has risen, you also shall rise. Because of Jesus, we have a past, present, and future hope.’
Living hope keeps our hearts in that world while our lives are in this one. Living hope that’s convinced that laughter is coming though tears are flowing. How do you keep your heart in that world and in that Truth? By keeping your heart’s eye on something we read earlier: 1 Peter 1:4-5 inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Focus on eternal things, church. Focus on the joy set before you. Focus on the God who is guarding you with his power through faith. Focus on HOPE. Why? Because we know-so. Salvation isn’t just wishful thinking, it’s truth. Deliverance isn’t just “I’d like this to happen”, it’s as if it already has happened, that’s how much we can count on God. That’s why we have Hope, because we know that Jesus Christ died for us as a fulfillment of God’s promises. Jesus became our hope! In the good times and the bad, our Hope has a name. In the midst of your trials, your hope has a name. During however long this coronavirus stuff lasts, our hope has a name and we shout it at the top of our lungs, Jesus!!!
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Hope Has A Name: ‘More precious than anything or anyone in this life, more precious than any experience in this life, any financial wealth, fame, and security in this life, is born-again faith that leads to living hope.’
‘Hope is knowing there’s peace before you while circumstances currently wreck you. Hope is knowing deliverance is coming when your circumstances suggest it never will. Hope is knowing that although your tears are flowing, your laughter is coming.’
YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN! - Our Staff and Elders are praying for each and every one of you; reach out if you’re in need!
‘Focus on eternal things, church. Focus on the joy set before you. Focus on the God who is guarding you with his power through faith. Focus on HOPE'.’
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we return to the Drive-In Movie Theater for our Gathering!
We hope that you and your family are well, and know that You Are Loved!