We are a forgetful people in a land of distractions. Our minds are easily captivated by trivial and temporary inducements. New things quickly become old. In our mind’s eye even glory tends to fade and warnings tend to wane. It is no wonder that we who are invisibly united to Christ and visibly in and not of this world live in constant need of renewal. And what is true for the Christian is true for the church. This is a series that seeks to renew the mind of the church. Not so much by reviewing what she is called to do as much as what she is called. As with the Christian so with church, her God-given identity defines her. We who are the church are a people for God and none other.
Before we return to the book of Romans, we will be looking at the what scripture says about the Church, in its nature, how she expresses herself in song, and how the church cares and equips for its members.
The messages from this series can be found here:
Manny Pereira - April 4, 2021
The Radical Gospel
“The last enemy is conquered! Our Captain has defeated death and the grip of the grave!” This is a revolutionary clarion of good news unique to Christianity. The reign of death and corruption was undone. The greatest evil was turned into the greatest good. Christ’s crucifixion gave birth to resurrection. Reality was now shifted. The darkness was broken by the dawn. Those who see the light can no longer be satisfied in the dark—their lives are reoriented by this gospel. In Christ, the radical certainty of a remodeled life in a perfect future is realized in the fractured present. This resurrection message proclaims Christ crucified and risen, and calls Christians to reconstruct their perspectives and pursuits on this all-changing reality. It is also a wakeup call to expose modern myths. The world lives in a drunken stupor, ignorant of Christ and disillusioned by death. Our culture only knows fight or flight when it comes to this hardest of realities. How then shall we live? Making much of Christ in the worldly risk and inexpressible joy of the radical gospel.
Scripture References: 1 Corinthians 15:19
