Following Jesus Together | Abide | 2022

We have a few catchphrases to narrate who we are, what we do, and what we’re about as a church. One of those is that we’re a people who are “Following Jesus Together.”

One of the primary tools we use to help us follow Jesus is our Covenant Practices - seven practices we believe are crucial for your spiritual health - one of which is abiding with Jesus.

So for this sermon we’ll be answering questions like, “What is the Bible?” “Why does it matter?” And, “Who are we becoming when we commit to this practice?"

Fruit of the Spirit

Do you ever feel like there are two competing forces waging war within you as you try to follow Jesus? Do you ever feel a gap between what you want your discipleship to look like and the actual lived reality of your day-to-day life? 

Galatians 5 gives weight to this battle within us, telling us about these two competing forces with competing desires - the Spirit and the flesh. And the invitation for all of us as followers of Jesus is to crucify the flesh and cultivate the fruit.

This series will take nine weeks to walk through the Fruit of the Spirit we are called to cultivate, as we examine the life and teachings of Jesus and how the Fruit of the Spirit was evident in His life.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Love in a Time of Self-Interest

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Patience in a Time of Irritability

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Peace in a Time of Anxiety

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Kindness in a Time of Polarization

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: Faithfulness in a Time of Compromise

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: Goodness in a Time of Brokenness

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: Gentleness in a Time of Harshness

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 8: Joy in a Time of Cynicism

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 9: Self-Control in a time of Self-Fulfillment

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

In Christ

SERMONS | PRACTICES | RESOURCES

The terms “in Christ,” “in Him,” and “in the Lord”  are used in the New Testament over 150 times to describe what it means to be a Christian. For the biblical authors and the early church, this concept was foundational in understanding who we are with God and with others. So, what does it actually mean to be “in Christ”? 

For seven weeks, we will unpack this theological concept and its practical implications for our lives. As a church family, it’s our hope that as we do, we can further meditate on what Jesus has done for us and enjoy Him more.

SERMONS

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Enjoying Our Union with Him

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: From In Adam to In Christ

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Adoption

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Imputed Righteousness

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: Sanctification

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: New Creation

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: Restored Honor

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

PRACTICES

For this series, we want to focus on a particular tool to help us learn to follow Jesus more closely. Given that this series is helping us further meditate on what it means to be in Christ, our corporate practice is Gospel Fluency.

RESOURCES

For those looking for additional reading to go along with our series we recommend checking out the following:

• Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God by Rankin Wilbourne

Stand-Alone | Easter 2022

Sermon by Adam Gibson on April 17.

Our church family spent Easter Sunday together celebrating our Risen Savior! Baptism videos from the Easter Gathering and this weeks LifeGroup Guide can be found below.

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The Suffering Servant

Jesus comes to Earth as a king, unlike any other. He ushers in the rule and reign of God not by political power or might but servant-hearted love. Culminating on the cross, the servant-heart of Jesus is one of the defining features of His ministry. In the same way, those he calls to follow Him are to embody the same servant-minded way of living - full of compassion and self-sacrificial love - that signals God's coming kingdom far and wide.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: An Unexpected King

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Unexpected Compassion

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: An Unexpected Table

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Acts

SERMONS | NIGHTS OF PRAYER & WORSHIP | PRAYER GUIDE | RELATED RESOURCES

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses.”

These were some of Jesus' very last words on Earth. And yet, a little over a week later, something happened. Jesus released His Spirit on the disciples who went out proclaiming everything Jesus did. This was the day The Church began.

You cannot tell the story of the early church without also telling the story of the person, work, and power of the Spirit of God. He's everywhere and on almost every page of Acts.

So as we start a new year, when many of us are slowly regathering and relearning exactly how and what it means to be and do church together, let's begin it the same way as it started with the early church. Together, let's embrace and get to know the unlimited power of the Holy Spirit that dwells with us to be with Jesus and do what Jesus did.

We hope that during this series, we experience afresh who the Spirit is and experience all the potential He can unleash in and through us when it comes to walking more closely with Jesus, including prayer, worship, and being on mission.

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SERMONS

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: The Mission of Acts

(Sermon) (Transcript) (Scripture Guide)

Week 2: The Spirit of Acts

(Sermon) (Transcript) (Scripture Guide)

Week 3: How to Start a Fire

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide) (Scripture Guide)

Week 4: The First Fruit of the Spirit

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide) (Scripture Guide)

Week 5: The Meaning of the Miracles

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide) (Scripture Guide)

Week 6: Spirit-Filled Witnesses

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide) (Scripture Guide)

Week 7: The Spirit and the Flesh

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide) (Scripture Guide)

Week 8: You’re Only as Healthy as Your Secrets

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide) (Scripture Guide)

Week 9: Condemned on Earth, Applauded in Heaven

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide) (Scripture Guide)

Week 10: Following the Work of the Spirit

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide) (Scripture Guide)

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GRAB THE GUIDE

What does it mean to be The Church? Simply put, it means that we are a people who are following Jesus together, making His name known. But before we can make known His name, we must first be empowered by His Spirit. So for the next 21 days, our church will be working through the 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting Guide as we abide with Jesus, fast together, and seek deeper dependency on Him so that we might make Him known more in our lives and in our city.

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RELATED RESOURCES

To accompany our book and further expand on the topics covered in this series we’d recommend the following books and videos to you.

Advent 2021

SERMONS | THE BOOK

Since the early church, God’s people have celebrated the Christmas season every year through celebrating, giving, and singing about the birth of Jesus. But how often do we actually notice the words we’re singing? This year for Advent, we’re taking a look at some of the most popular songs during the holiday season and how they point to the ultimate hope this world’s needs: the good news of Jesus.

SERMONS

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Silent Night

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Joy to the World

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

GRAB THE BOOK

To help us grow in our understanding of God’s goodness, we decided to write a book for this series. You can download the digital version here and donate to our book fund if you want to support the cost of this book.

Stand-Alone | Psalm 42 & 43

Sermon by Ryan Rike on November 21, 2021.

This week we’re doing what some of what you might call house-keeping. We are handling some family business together. On our annual member check-up reports, we noticed that 1/3 of our church family struggles with anxiety depression. So this morning we’re going to look at how the Psalmist deals with depression in Psalms 42-43.

For Our Good Always

SERMONS | THE BOOK | PRACTICES | READING PLAN | INTERLUDE 2 VIDEO |
RESOURCES | QUESTIONS?

Throughout history many people have rejected God because they wanted to act immorally...why does it seem like those walking away from God today believe God is the immoral one?

For Our Good Always argues that our thinking about morality can be profoundly reductionistic, lacking necessary categories that different cultures and times might help us see more clearly. It offers a truly important claim to consider:
God's boundaries and rules for us are—clearly and unmistakably—for our good.

SERMONS

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: For Our Good Always

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: God’s Morals are Different than Yours

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Do Not Harden Your Heart

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: You Shall Not Make Idols

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: You Shall Not Take the Name of the Lord Your God in Vain

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: Observe the Sabbath and Keep it Holy

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 8: Honor Your Father & Mother

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 9: You Shall Not Murder

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 10: You Shall Not Commit Adultery

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 11: You Shall Not Steal

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 12: You Shall Not Bear False Witness Against Your Neighbor

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 13: You Shall Not Covet

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

GRAB THE BOOK

To help us grow in our understanding of God’s goodness, we decided to write a book for this series. You can buy the book at one of our Gatherings for a suggested donation of $7, or you can purchase through Amazon, Kindle, or Audible.

PRACTICES

For this series, we want to focus on a particular tool to help us learn to follow Jesus more closely. And given that we’re studying the Ten Commandments, our corporate practice is focusing on the fourth commandment - observing the Sabbath.

READING PLAN

As God’s people, we want to be guided by His Word and empowered by His Spirit to fuel us to be a Jesus-centered family on mission. This reading plan is designed to ground you in God’s Word to better prepare your heart for the teaching you’ll hear on Sundays.

Interlude 2 Video

Related Resources

To accompany our book and further expand on the topics covered in this series we’d recommend the following books and podcast to you.

Questions?

Have questions about our series, the Ten Commandments, or morality in general? We’d love for you to send them to us so we can talk through them on our Midweek Podcast.

You can send in your questions by texting DOWNTOWN followed by your question to 91011.

Following Jesus Together: Gathering

We have a few catchphrases to narrate who we are, what we do, and what we’re about as a church. One of those is that we’re a people who are “Following Jesus Together.”

One of the primary tools we use to help us follow Jesus is our Covenant Practices - seven practices we believe are crucial for your spiritual health - one of which is gathering weekly on Sundays.

So for three weeks we’ll be answering questions like, “Why do we gather every week?” “Why does it matter?” “What happens to me when I show up?” “Who am I becoming when I commit myself to this practice?”

It’s our hope that as we work through these teachings we’ll see all the beauty and goodness of what God can do in us when we gather together.

To help facilitate time with your LifeGroup, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Embodying a Better Way

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: People of the Word

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: People of the Table

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Philippians

SERMONS | READING PLAN | PRACTICES | RESOURCES

In 62AD, we find the apostle Paul bound in prison and disconnected from his friends and church family. Yet during his imprisonment, he’s able to pen what is considered to be the most joyful book of the Bible - the letter to the Philippians.

In this 12-week series, we'll take a look at how our church family can become people of joy as we slowly transition back into “normal” life, and how our joy can be a witness to our city that Jesus is alive.

SERMONS

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: The Unstoppable God

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: The Unstoppable Kingdom

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Joy in Life or Death

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Live as Citizens of the Gospel

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: The Way of Jesus vs. The Way of Caesar

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: Joy in Our Perseverance

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: Gospel Friendships and Gospel Goodbyes

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 8: Delighting In The Surpassing Worth Of Christ

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 9: You Got to Hold On

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 10: An Unsinkable Joy

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 11: The Skillful Management of Attention

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 12: How To Be Content

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

READING PLAN

As God’s people, we want to be guided by His Word and empowered by His Spirit to fuel us to be a Jesus-centered family on mission. This reading plan is designed to ground you in God’s Word to better prepare your heart for the teaching you’ll hear on Sundays.

PRACTICES

As we launch new teaching series, we want to introduce new tools and practices that help you learn to be with Jesus and look more like Him.

For this series, we want to focus on a particular tool to help us learn to follow Jesus more closely. Given that the book of Philippians is one of the most joy-filled books in the Scriptures, our spiritual practice for this series is gratitude.

RESOURCES

For those wanting to dive further into Philippians, we’d recommend the following videos, books, and commentaries:

Philippians: The NIV Application Commentary

Paul’s Letter to the Philippians by Gordon Fee

Paul's Letter to the Philippians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary

The Other Half of Church by Jim Wilder and Michel Hendricks

The World, the Flesh, & the Devil

Because of the resurrected Jesus, we now have a resurrection hope. Through Jesus, we are called to live in light of His victory - but that means knowing what we are victorious over. In this series, we’ll take a look at the three enemies that wage war on our soul that Jesus has defeated on our behalf - the world, the flesh, and the devil. 

Our hope is that this series will drive us to a deeper love for Jesus as we learn to fight together as a church family and to see the victory that Jesus has made available for us.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: The Three Enemies

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Not Today Satan

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: The Flesh

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: The World

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

As God’s people, we want to be guided by His Word and empowered by His Spirit to fuel us to be a Jesus-centered family on mission. This reading plan is designed to ground you in God’s Word to better prepare your heart for the teaching you’ll hear on Sundays.

Stand-Alone | Easter 2021

Greater Than

How we view ourselves, others, and the world around us is so closely connected to how large (or small) our view of God really is. So for this series, we want to spend some time focusing on how God changes everything and what that means for us on a day-to-day basis.

To help you worship at home, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: God Is Not Small

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: God Is Greater Than Your View of Him

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: God is Greater Than Your Shortcomings

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

For those wanting to dive further, we’d recommend the following books:

None Like Him by Jen Wilkin

God Has a Name by John Mark Comer

Not God Enough by J.D. Greear

The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer

The Family of God

Jesus says the two greatest commandments in our formation are to love God and to love our neighbor. How we love our neighbor reflects our love for God, and how we love God manifests itself in how we love our neighbor. And the reality is, while our “neighbor” encompasses everyone, it most immediately applies to who we share a home with and see every day. So for this series, we want to train ourselves to look more like Jesus by learning to grow in our love for our closest neighbors - whether that means our spouse, kids, roommates, or friends.

To help you worship at home, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Trinity Love

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: The Family You Were Made For

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Dealing With Your Past

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Dating in the Family of God

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: Marriage in the Family of God

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: Passive Men & the Women Who Resent Them

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: Kids Have Imaginary Friends, Adults Have Imaginary Enemies

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 8: The Power to Heal the World

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 9: Parenting Part 1: Proactive Discipline

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 10: Parenting Part 2: Reactive Discipline

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

|giv| 2020

For most of the Bible, God’s people were seen as an exiled people. Life was far from how they imagined or hoped, as they were constantly reminded of the brokenness and sin around them. And yet, amidst their exile, God reminded them that good news was on the way.

This year has been far from how anyone of us would have imagined or hoped either. We’re reminded in the headlines and in our daily lives that we are still a people in exile. So during this Christmas season, we want to once again remember that good news has come through Jesus, and one day He is coming back.

So every year, we take 3-4 weeks to intentionally focus on our hope in Jesus through growing in generosity. We take this time to think about how God has given us undeserved grace while we were still sinners and continues to grow us as his people.

Listen to sermons & download LifeGroup resources.

Week 1: Jesus, God With Us - (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Transcript)

Week 2: Jesus, Our Shepherd King - (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Transcript)

Week 3: Jesus, Our Comforter - (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Transcript)

1. Sign up to Tithe

We consider tithing a spiritual practice that helps develop a lifestyle of sacrificial generosity. We are encouraging members of our church to set up a recurring tithe because the gospel transforms us not just to be generous around the holidays, but throughout the entire year. It’s also specifically how we fund and fuel all that we do as a church in our city.

SET UP RECURRING GIVING HERE

2. Attend the Personal Finance Class

We want to equip our church family to be spiritually healthy by stewarding the financial resources that God has entrusted to us. On Sunday, January 24, January 31, and February 7, we’re hosting a class that consists of practical training to manage your finances, pay off debt, invest well, and practice biblical generosity. The class will be hosted virtually from 2:00-3:30pm.

SIGN UP FOR THE CLASS

3. LifeGroups partner with a Serve the City Organization

Due to the pandemic we’re postponing our annual Serve the City Weekend to a later date; however, we want every LifeGroup to select a Serve the City organization to partner with over the next year to serve. Through LifeGroups regularly serving alongside our STC organizations year-round, we’re able to sustainably love and serve the most vulnerable and marginalized in our city.

PARTNER WITH STC

4. Give to Agape Children's Ministry

Give to Agape Children’s Ministry - Agape Children's Ministry is an orphan reunification ministry that seeks to reunite street children in Kenya with their biological families when possible through family rehabilitation. The executive director of Agape is the father of a Missionary Member at Lexington, and their efforts in Kenya have been very successful in a much-needed and often-neglected area of orphan care. Their ministry serves approximately 1500 families and they are seeking to establish a new arm of their ministry in the city of Nakuru. We are seeking to raise $20,000 for Agape, and those funds will serve approximately 56 additional children from rescue to reintegration (including follow up care for 5 years).

FIND OUT MORE

GIVE HERE

To help us prepare our hearts for the Christmas season, we wrote a brand new five-week-long Advent devotional guide for you and your LifeGroup to work through during this season. Iif you haven’t received a hard copy yet, you can pick up a copy at any of our on-campus events. The guides are first come first serve and the suggested donation is $6 per copy.

DONATE HERE

The Way of Jesus: A Study of the Sermon on the Mount

SERMONS | PRACTICES | READING PLAN | COMMENTARIES

The gospel according to Matthew was one of the earliest accounts of Jesus’ life that circulated among the church. These early believers were first called, “Followers of the Way”. They weren’t marked by merely believing in a few theological truths, rather they were marked by being with Him, becoming like Him, and doing what He did. 

For this series, we’ll focus on the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7. It’s here King Jesus gives us a radical picture of what life in the Kingdom looks like. It’s our hope that as we meditate on Jesus’ words that we might more closely follow His Way.

SERMONS

To help you worship at home, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: The Kingdom of Jesus

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: The Beatitudes

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Salt and Light

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Jesus and the Bible

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: From Murderers to Reconcilers

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: On Lust & Objectification

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: On Integrity and Becoming Truth-Tellers

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 8: On Retaliation and Becoming People of Peace

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 9: On Enemy Love

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 10: The Right Kind of Notice

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 11: The Practice of Prayer

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 12: The Age of Anxiety - Pt.1

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 13: The Age of Anxiety - Pt.2

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 14: Dogs, Pigs, Specks, and Planks

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 15: A Call to Decide

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

PRACTICES

For this series, we want to focus on a particular tool to help us learn to follow Jesus more closely. It’s our hope that as we do new teaching series, we would be introduced to new practices that help us learn to be with Jesus and look more like Him.

In order for us to meditate more fully on Jesus’ words - our practice for this series will be journaling.

READING PLAN

As God’s people, we want to be guided by His Word and empowered by His Spirit to fuel us to be a Jesus-centered family on mission. This reading plan is designed to ground you in God’s Word to better prepare your heart for the teaching you’ll hear on Sundays.

COMMENTARIES

The commentaries below are some of the resources used in preparation for our series. For those wanting a more in-depth study of the text, we’d recommend the following to you.

Greetings From 2020

A worldwide pandemic. Protests all-over our country in a cry for justice. Months on end with stay-at-home orders. A presidential election just around the corner.

Occasionally, things happen in our world that are so turbulent and so divisive, that as a church, we feel it helpful to step in and address those issues head-on.

In this series, we will look at some of the volatile issues consuming our newsfeeds, and equip ourselves to think about these issues biblically. We hope that as a church family, rather than getting swept up in the chaos, we would fix our eyes on Jesus and become a people of peace, hope, and love as we follow Jesus together.

To help you worship at home, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Hardship & Glory

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Following Jesus in a Polarizing Political Climate

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Following Jesus in the Midst of Injustice

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Following Jesus in a Cancel Culture

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: Following Jesus in Pain & Chaos

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

For this series, we want to focus on a particular tool to help us learn to follow Jesus more closely. It’s our hope that as we do new teaching series, we would introduce to you new tools and practices to help us learn to be with Jesus and look more like Him.

Considering how chaotic things are right now - we can easily get anxious or numb ourselves to the world around us - so our practice for this series will be breath prayer.

As God’s people, we want to be guided by His Word and empowered by His Spirit to fuel us to be a Jesus-centered family on mission. This reading plan is designed to ground you in God’s Word to better prepare your heart for the teaching you’ll hear on Sundays.

1 Timothy

Jesus’ kingdom-sized vision is to go and make disciples - to teach others how to follow the way of Jesus in teaching and practice. As disciples are made and gathered together, the Church is formed. And that’s exactly what His followers did. Through making disciples and planting churches, the kingdom of God has been on the move for millennia and shows no signs of stopping. In the book of 1 Timothy, we zoom in on one of Jesus’ disciples equipping a new pastor on what the church is called to be and how to lead accordingly. In this series, we’ll take 12 weeks unpacking what is the church as we seek to be the called out people of God together.

To help you worship at home, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Defend the Truth (Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide) (Podcast)

Week 2: The Gospel vs. The Law (Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Prayer and the Church (Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Men, Women, and the Church (Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: Teaching, Authority, and the Church (Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: Leadership and the Church (Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: Some Will Fall Away (Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 8: Guard Your Life and Doctrine (Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 9: Care for the Widows (Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 10: Godly Elders and Spiritual Authority (Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 11: Warnings to the Rich (Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 12: Fight the Good Fight (Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

As a church, we want to be people marked by God’s Word. For only in His Word do we find the death-defying, hope-giving good news of Jesus. In His Word, we see an invitation to a way of life that is overflowing with joy, peace, and love not only in the life to come but in the here and now.

Because of this, we want to put every effort into making us into Word-marked people. We do this by preaching the Bible on Sundays, bringing it into our lives throughout the week in our LifeGroups, and creating resources to help you abide with Jesus regularly.  

One of those resources is this 1 Timothy Bible Study Reading Plan. In this e-book, you’ll find the book broken down into smaller passages to help you slowly take in what we’re going through on Sundays. Along with that, we’ll be studying other passages in the Bible that connect with the bigger ideas in 1 Timothy throughout the week.

We want to see God’s Spirit move, to push back spiritual darkness, and bring His Kingdom here in Columbia. In the Bible and in church history, we see the Spirit of God unleashed when God’s people wage war on their knees in prayer. To that end, as long as we physically can’t gather together, we’ll be gathering virtually to pray for our church, our city, and our world. We’ll pray Wednesdays at 8am for 30 minutes through the video conferencing platform Zoom.

These calls will be facilitated by Midtown leadership or prayer team members and will last for up to 30 minutes. To take part in this make sure to sign up below no later than 24 hours before the Zoom call that week. Once signed up, you will receive a link Tuesday evening to our call the next morning.  

In the meantime as we prepare our hearts to pray together, we invite you to do three things

1 - Get equipped. To help us see the power of regular intercessory prayer in our lives and the life of our church, read the article “Kingdom-centered Prayer” by Tim Keller.

2 - Abide. The more we are personally with Jesus through regular Bible reading and prayer, the more we can serve our family in prayer. If you don’t have regular time in the Bible or don’t know where to start, follow along in our 1 Timothy Bible Study Plan or go to our Abide page.

3 - Consider fasting. When we fast we are more empowered by God’s Spirit and our love for others increases (Luke 4:1, 14, Isaiah 58:6, John 4:34, Matt 4:4). So before coming together to pray, we ask you to consider what you might give up to get more of God. Examples can include forgoing food, alcohol, TV or anything else that “grips your soul” for 24 hours before meeting. To learn more about fasting, listen to our sermon, “Fighting with Fasting.”

If you have any questions, contact Jake Blair.

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people” - 1 Timothy 2:1

When followers of Jesus pray for God’s kingdom to come, the Spirit answers. So as a church family, we will be praying in specific ways for each day of the week, as we ask Jesus to work in and through this series:

Monday

Pray for our church to be a “pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). Pray that we would defend and cling to right doctrine which would lead to right hearts that produce in us right love for God and for others. 

Tuesday

Pray for needs within our church right now - those in your LifeGroup or others - who are struggling. Pray that they would draw near to God in this season. 

Wednesday 

Pray for our church family to fight for spiritual health and maturity. Pray that we would all “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching” (1 Tim 4:16) and “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Tim 6:12).

Thursday

Pray for the leadership in our church - for the elders/pastors, coaches, LifeGroup leaders, directors and others who serve in various ministries. Pray that they would draw near to God and that he would sustain them with wisdom and joy as they lead.

Friday 

Pray for Citizens Church Charlotte. For all of the logistical details - jobs, housing, etc. For them to experience unity as a new church plant. Pray that the core team members would grow in their walks with the Lord and that people in Charlotte would come to know and love Jesus through Citizens Church.

Saturday

Pray for tomorrow’s Gathering - that whether we are together or apart, we would experience unity as a church family. Pray that we would be engaged with worship and the teaching of God’s Word. Pray that God would speak to us through conviction or encouragement.

Sunday

Pray for you and our church family to Sabbath well today. Pray that we take the time to stop our work, get physical rest, delight in God’s good gifts, and worship Jesus together.

Recommended Reading

As a church, we’re committed to providing you with helpful resources to better understand who Jesus is and how to live in light of that. The following titles were used for our current series. For more recommendations go to our Bookstore.

• Sojourners and Strangers - Gregg Allison

• 1&2 Timothy, Titus - Christ-Centered Exposition Series - Platt, Akin, Merida

• 1 Timothy - Reformed Expository Commentary - Philip Ryken

• "Church" - Collected Insights from A.W. Tozer

Church In A Plague

If you take a quick scroll through Twitter or turn on the news for all of two minutes during this time, you might hear something like the phrase, “This is an unprecedented time in human history.” And in many ways what’s going on right now in our city, our country, and our world does feel that way. None of us have faced a global pandemic like this in our lifetime. Many of us are still trying to adjust to new normals and others of us are still trying to figure out what to think at all.

The reality is that we are not alone. During these and many other times throughout human history, the Church was faced with a decision that we as Christians face every day - How do we love God and love our neighbor in the place, time, and circumstance where we find ourselves? In light of the coronavirus, we continue to ask this question and see how we can still be the Church in a Plague.

Week 1: Churches & Plagues (Sermon) (Worship Guide)

Week 2: God’s People In A Pandemic (Sermon) (Worship Guide)

Week 3: You Are A Mist (Sermon) (Worship Guide)

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