Faith Community Church - Sunday Sermons

What controls you? Your cravings, your temper, your need to be right, or your pursuit of wealth? In this study of 1 Timothy 3:3, we explore four qualities God calls every believer to, not just church leaders: freedom from enslaving influences, sweet reasonableness instead of aggression, self-control instead of quarrels, and freedom from the love of money. These are facets of spiritual maturity we are to strive after. May God’s grace changes our hearts, reorder our affections, and teach us to serve one Master, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The two qualities of hospitality and teaching ability have great relevance to spiritual maturity. Biblical hospitality is a heart that welcomes and meets the needs of strangers. The phrase “able to teach” is fundamentally about helping others understand and live out God’s truth. These two qualities are marks of spiritual maturity that reach beyond church leadership to every believer. As for overseers, they are to be men who set an example of these traits to urge the congregation along toward biblical maturity.

Leaders of the church must be spiritually mature. In this portion of the overseer’s qualifications, Paul highlights moral purity, a sober mind, a sound mind, and an ordered mind. These traits reveal that godliness involves more than fleeing certain vices; it requires earnestly pursuing Christ, who alone can transform our character and conduct. May the Lord not only raise up leaders who exemplify these qualities but also grow all of us into greater likeness to Jesus.

Who shepherds the church of God? The answer begins with Jesus Himself. The church belongs to Him. He is its head, its foundation, and its life source (the vine). He has placed elders as stewards and overseers to shepherd His people according to His Word. Biblical eldership is a high calling. Men who serve in this capacity must be above reproach, with nothing to hinder or compromise their faithfulness to Christ. In this introductory study, we explore five biblical principles of eldership: the office, the work, the qualification, the appointment, and the aspiration.

This passage of Scripture presents Christ in the stunning reality that He is truly God and truly man. He is the Savior God who took on human flesh and soul and truly obeyed the Father for our salvation. His obedience took Him to the depths, even unto death, even death on a cross. But this is not where the story ends. The Father then gave to Him supreme exaltation, supreme name, and supreme worship. All of this came about not only to secure salvation for sinners, but also to becomes the pattern for every believer’s life. The pathway to glory is the pathway of the cross.

The key to humble service to one another is to have the mind of Christ. But what is the mind of Christ? In this study of Philippians 2 and Christology, we consider His humility in light of these four truths: His preexistence before all creation, His equality with the Father, His self-emptying, and His willingness to take the form of a slave. Together, these truths reveal the astonishing humility of the One who is truly God yet became truly man to redeem us from our plight of sin. May the Holy Spirit teach us to have the mind of Christ and make us more like Him in humility and service.

The eternal Son of God became truly human, but what does this mean? Hebrews 2:5-18 reveals that in the incarnation, Christ became like us in all things (both body and soul), endured temptation, and tasted death for His people. The incarnation was heaven’s answer to our call for divine intervention. God in flesh did come down from heaven to provide not mere temporary relief, but true eternal salvation.This passage reveals six features of Christ’s humanity: His debasement, death, body, brotherhood, fullness, and exaltation. In His humanity, Christ became one of us, even calling us brethren. He became human to become all that we were supposed to be, to save us from our plight, to empower us in our fight against sin, and to bring many sons to glory.

In this opening message of our Christology series, we turn to the person and nature of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1 presents a breathtaking vision of the deity of Christ: He is the heir of all things, the agent of creation, the radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of God’s nature, the sustainer of the universe, the co-regent with God, and the one far superior to angels. These seven truths call us to behold Christ as truly God. As we consider His divine nature, we also reflect on what it means to know Him, worship Him, and listen to Him.

Paul anchors the church’s practice of male leadership in three doctrines: creation (Adam first, then Eve), the fall (Eve deceived, not Adam), and salvation (“the childbirth” that points to Christ). See why the church upholds male leadership, how Jesus the second Adam fulfills the role Adam failed to play, and why “a woman will be saved through the childbirth” is good news for all who abide in faith, love, holiness with a sound mind.