Seven Signs of Life (4 of 7) /  by

Sermon Series: Seven Signs of Life
Sermon Title: Growth: The Inevitable Result of Healthy Life
Scripture Reading: John 15:1-8; Hebrews 6:1-3; 1 Corinthians 3:6-9; Colossians 2:6-7

In biology we learn that there are seven processes of life that identify all living organisms. We could also view these as “signposts” to a healthy living organism. Here at CMF, we're using these seven signs as a diagnostic tool for assessing individual spiritual health as a disciple, as well as the overall health of our church.

This series looks at the seven signs of life in the Kingdom of God.

  1. Movement: Prove You’re Not Dead
  2. Respiration: Breathing God’s Breath
  3. Sensitivity: Our Spiritual Awareness
  4. Growth: The Inevitable Result of Healthy Life
  5. Reproduction: Multiplying Life, Creating the Future
  6. Excretion: Getting Rid of the Junk
  7. Nutrition: A Diet That Makes a Difference

Growth is the natural process of living things. It is an expression of life. Are you growing? Is our church growing? Sometimes it is hard to tell. We don’t see growth every day. It comes through the natural rhythms of life. But growth must always be occurring in a living being.

When you stop growing, you die. It’s that simple. So, we also need to be aware of signs of decay and death as well. In the fourth message of our series, pastor David will address how God is the one who causes us to grow. Our part is to create a growing environment, both individually and corporately. Growth then happens as an inevitable result of healthy life.

Listen to David and view the slides here.

Seven Signs of Life (3 of 7) /  by

Sermon Series: Seven Signs of Life
Sermon Title: Sensitivity: Our Spiritual Awareness
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:1-16; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; Colossians 3:12-17

In biology we learn that there are seven processes of life that identify all living organisms. We could also view these as “signposts” to a healthy living organism. Here at CMF, we're using these seven signs as a diagnostic tool for assessing individual spiritual health as a disciple, as well as the overall health of our church.

This series looks at the seven signs of life in the Kingdom of God.

  1. Movement: Prove You’re Not Dead
  2. Respiration: Breathing God’s Breath
  3. Sensitivity: Our Spiritual Awareness
  4. Growth: The Inevitable Result of Healthy Life
  5. Reproduction: Multiplying Life, Creating the Future
  6. Excretion: Getting Rid of the Junk
  7. Nutrition: A Diet That Makes a Difference

Sensitivity is vitally important to the life of any Christian community. There is sensitivity to sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste and these are reflected through the five-fold gifts that Paul mentions in Ephesians 4---apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. 

A healthy living community needs disciples who are sensitive in each area of human need and equipped to lovingly minister to those inside and outside the church.

In the third message of our series, pastor David addresses how the Spirit has given specific gifts to the Body of Christ that are intended to edify us and create a spiritual awareness that leads to healthy growth. How is your personal spiritual awareness? Are you using your gifts in the church?

Listen to David and view the slides here.

Seven Signs of Life (2 of 7) /  by

Sermon Series: Seven Signs of Life
Sermon Title: Breathing God's Breath
Scripture Reading: Genesis 1:1-2; 2:7; Ezekiel 37:1-6; John 20:19-22

In biology we learn that there are seven processes of life that identify all living organisms. We could also view these as “signposts” to a healthy living organism. Here at CMF, we're using these seven signs as a diagnostic tool for assessing individual spiritual health as a disciple, as well as the overall health of our church.

This series looks at the seven signs of life in the Kingdom of God.

  1. Movement: Prove You’re Not Dead
  2. Respiration: Breathing God’s Breath
  3. Sensitivity: Our Spiritual Awareness
  4. Growth: The Inevitable Result of Healthy Life
  5. Reproduction: Multiplying Life, Creating the Future
  6. Excretion: Getting Rid of the Junk
  7. Nutrition: A Diet That Makes a Difference

Respiration is not synonymous with breathing. Every cell in your body has a powerhouse called the mitochondrion that releases energy. This is respiration.

This process happens by oxygen entering our body through breathing. So breathing is necessary for respiration, and the respiration process is essential for energy to be released toward healthy functioning of the body. A living organism doesn’t make energy, it only releases it! This is what God does through the power of his Holy Spirit in our lives and our church.

In this message, pastor David reveals how we receive the “breath of God” through prayer and he fills us with the Spirit—releasing energy for growing up into Christ and for being a church on passionate mission for the sake of the good news! This is how we are to be breathing God’s breath.

Listen to David and view the slides here.

Seven Signs of Life (1 of 7) /  by

Sermon Series: Seven Signs of Life
Sermon Title: Prove You're Not Dead
Scripture Reading: Genesis 12:1-5; Exodus 14; Hebrews 10:36-39

In biology we learn that there are seven processes of life that identify all living organisms. We could also view these as “signposts” to a healthy living organism. Here at CMF, we're using these seven signs as a diagnostic tool for assessing individual spiritual health as a disciple, as well as the overall health of our church.

This series looks at the seven signs of life in the Kingdom of God.

  1. Movement: Prove You’re Not Dead
  2. Respiration: Breathing God’s Breath
  3. Sensitivity: Our Spiritual Awareness
  4. Growth: The Inevitable Result of Healthy Life
  5. Reproduction: Multiplying Life, Creating the Future
  6. Excretion: Getting Rid of the Junk
  7. Nutrition: A Diet That Makes a Difference

Movement is an indication of life and usually occurs in response to stimuli. Animals move quickly when stimulated by an outer (danger) or inner (hunger) force. Plants exhibit movement through growth, so the effect is sometimes slow and hard to detect. Nevertheless, all living things move.

Like the children of Israel after leaving Egypt, we often want to stand still instead of move into the unknown. But the alive disciple is always on the move, and so is the organic church.

In this message, we begin our spiritual assessment by considering whether we’re moving with the Spirit or trying to stand still in our faith. Only in movement can we prove that we’re not dead.

Listen to David and view the slides here.

Sabbath, Silence & Solitude /  by

Sermon Title: Sabbath, Silence & Solitude
Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 5:12-15; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 10:38-42; Matthew 11:28-30

Why are we often so crazy busy? It's not just the miles per hour that makes our lives hurried, it's our anxious and driven hearts. Have you ever experienced that? We all have at some point.

We can be still but find that our soul is not. What is worse is that when we live in the fast and furious mode of existence, we can't hear from God and be recharged by his life-giving voice. We weren't meant to live this way.

In the following message, we see that God gave us "Sabbath-rest" as a blessing that we can enter into it on a regular basis (Heb 4:9-11). Jesus modeled this for us. He practiced it in a way that honored God and restored his soul. Christ left us an example to follow. We want to look at that together and learn from him. 

What is Sabbath? Why is silence and solitude important for us as human beings? And what does it look like for seasons of work to flow out of Sabbath-rest?

Listen to David and view the slides here.

Lent to Easter (7 of 7) /  by

Sermon Series: Lent to Easter 2015
Sermon Title: The God Who Raises The Dead
Scripture Reading: John 20:1-18; 1 Corinthians 15:1-22, 50-58; 2 Corinthians 4:16-17

What is God doing? What does he want to do? Whatever God is doing, it isn't "same old, same old." God wants to do a new thing! 

Our Lent to Easter 2015 series focuses our attention on our need to see how and where God is at work in our personal walk with him, and in the life of our church. Are we listening? Do we recognize the Holy Spirit at work?

Dead is dead. Whether it be in the ancient world or in modern times, when people die they stay dead. But as we’ve learned in this series, God turns the ways of the world upside down and inside out. Easter Sunday is the quintessential expression of God’s wisdom and power to do the unexpected and the impossible.

He is the God who raises the dead!

In this final message, pastor David will lead us through the discovery of the empty tomb, to seeing Jesus transformed and exalted, to hearing the apostle Paul insist that our faith is futile without the resurrection. This happy morning we’re all being invited to participate in the resurrection. What did it mean in the first century? And what difference does it make today?

Listen to pastor David and view the slides here.