Journey through John: Honoring Jesus - 7.12.20

July 12, 2020

Sermon Series: Journey through John
Sermon Title: Honoring Jesus
Sermon Text: John 12:1-9

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Longing to Belong: The Joy of Invitation

July 8, 2020

by Rev. Matt Young

Scripture: “So [Jesus] told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” - Luke 15:3-7

If there is one thing that all this social distancing and the requirements to wear masks and what not has shown us is that we are communal in nature. We have the unquenchable appetite for human-to-human interaction. While mediators like the phone, Zoom, Facetime, and social media might help us in our quest for connecting with other people, the reality is that without the face-to-face connection we actually need, we won’t be able to kick our desire for connection.

In other words, Christians can affirm, “yes, we long to belong - but it’s only because God created us to belong.”

I know for myself, that recently, my own longing to belong has been met by being able to join with God’s people again in worship through our drive-in worship services here at WPC. I love getting to talk with folks, check in how their weeks were, see the smiling faces, pray with people, etc. I love it!

I know that many people who have attended our drive-in services have felt similarly. All the quarantining we have experienced has left us deeply longing to connect with our friends and family.

So how does any of this relate to the scripture passage above?

We are in a moment in history when the world is primed to hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ. And one of the greatest ways we can share that message is by inviting people to come and experience the joy of the Lord and the fellowship of his people in the church.

In other words, our world is primed for evangelism.

Usually, when we think about evangelism or inviting people to church with us, joy is not one of the things we experience. For many of us we are worried we won’t have the right words to say and we are fearful of rejection. Those are normal fears we need to deal with by the gospel and the power of the Spirit.

But we have to remember that we have the greatest message of hope to offer a world that is splitting at the seams. And better yet, we get to invite people not to just hear and receive the news about Jesus but we also invite them to come and belong to the joyful fellowship of his people.

We all long to belong, and we have the joyous opportunity to invite folks into belonging to the One who alone can quench our thirst for belonging.

I’ve been challenged in the past few weeks to remember what great grace we have received from God when we come and worship together at our drive-in services. So I’m praying as I invite people to service that they will experience the love of God in Jesus Christ through our service and that they will also experience that same love through his people who fellowship together.

We have the opportunity to offer someone infinite joy - joy that only comes through belonging to Jesus Christ. And we also have the opportunity to experience the joy of the Lord when people meet him for the first time or come back to him again. Let’s run after that during this season. Let’s invite people to hear about the good news of Jesus this summer as we are in our drive-in worship setting.

If you haven’t had a chance to join us on Sunday mornings at 10am, let me also invite you to come as well. It’s social-distancing safe place, it’s family friendly, and most importantly the gospel is preached every week. Hope to see you all there!

Pastor Matt

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Journey through John: Good News about Communion - 7.5.20

July 5, 2020

Sermon Series: Journey through John
Sermon Title: Good News about Communion
Sermon Text: John 6:51-58

Description: This sermon answers the question: Why is Communion good news for us today?

Reminder: No Sunday School this week. However, please join us for the rest of the summer on Sundays at 8pm for Sunday School!

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Journey through John: Gospel Wholeness - 6.28.20

June 28, 2020

Sermon Series: Journey through John
Sermon Title: Gospel Wholeness
Sermon Text: John 5:1-18

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Don’t forget to join us for Sunday School tonight at 8pm on Zoom! Check your all church email for the Zoom ID or Contact Pastor Matt (806)-507-0742

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Journey through John: Gospel Sharing - 6.21.20

June 21, 2020

Sermon Series: Journey through John
Sermon Title: Gospel Sharing
Sermon Text: John 4:3-42

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Reminder: There is no Sunday School tonight. Normally you can connect with our combined Sunday School class at 8pm on Sunday nights!. Check out https://www.wpclubbock.org/online-connect for more information.

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Journey through John: The First of His Signs - 6.14.20

June 14, 2020

Sermon Series: Journey through John
Sermon Title: The First of His Signs
Sermon Text: John 2:1-11

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The Church: A Gathered Reality - thoughts on coming back together this Sunday

June 10, 2020

By Rev. Matt Young

I’m really excited to have the opportunity this coming Sunday to physically gather together again with our Drive-In Worship Service at 10am.

During this time of quarantine and COVID-19 we have all had to adapt to some new lifestyle changes. From work, to family, to schooling, to participating as the church, we have all had to make necessary changes for a temporary time.

One of the ways we had to adapt was by “gathering” virtually Sunday mornings.

I have personally taken away a lot of good experiences from this. In particular, the biggest thing I took away was a greater understanding of how absolutely necessary the physically gathered church really is.

It’s not that I didn’t think the physical gathering of the church wasn’t necessary. Certainly I did. Rather it’s that I had not experienced, in my Christian life, what it was like to be separated from the physically gathered church.

In Acts 2:41-42, Luke records this just after the Apostle Peter (one of Jesus’ inner circle followers) preached a sermon to a city filled with a diversity of people who didn’t know about the good news of Jesus.

“So those who received his word (concerning the life, death and resurrection of Jesus) were baptized (that is they became Christians) and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

So these three thousand people who come to faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior all devote their lives to several essential things. But for the purpose of this devotional, I’ll just mention the second one.

They devoted themselves to the fellowship, that is the physically gathered church.

The church saw their physical gathering as essential to them being the church. Remember, the church isn’t a building, the church is the people of Jesus Christ. Therefore, they saw their act of gathering together as essential to who they are.

But why?

The Apostle Paul writes, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do no all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

Why do we need to gather together? It’s because we were made to worship God with one another. We were made to complement one another as the body of Christ. So we are members of the body and the body is made up of each of us and each of us as individuals are accountable to one another. That’s a lot of focus on us as a collective worshiping church!

So let us devote ourselves to the fellowship as we have the ability to safely gather together this Sunday. Let us give our lives to worshiping God together, give praise to him and encouraging one another.

I can’t express this enough: I’m really excited to physically gather together in our Drive-In Worship Service this Sunday at 10am. I invite you to join us as we worship our God and gather together as his church!

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