Sermon Recaps for Gulf Coast Community Church

Sermon: The Game of Cosmic Hide and Seek

Series: Revealing Christ: Beauty, Goodness, and Truth for a Disenchanted World

🙂 Sermon Recap

This message helped us learn how to listen and how to engage unbelieving neighbors, coworkers, friends, and family with wisdom, patience, and clarity. The goal was not to get everything at once, but to let the sermon expand our vision over time for what is happening in the human heart and how the gospel connects.

The core claim from Romans 1 was that people are not blank slates. God has made himself known, and yet humans often respond with a complicated mixture. As the sermon put it, “all people are in some ways seekers and in other ways suppressors of the truth.” We seek and we hide. We reach for God, and we also cover him up. This creates both challenge and opportunity when we talk with people about Jesus.

🧩 A framework for listening

Instead of treating people as simple categories, the sermon urged us to listen for both the yes and the no in what people believe. Like Paul in Athens, we learn to affirm what is true, and we also learn to name what is distorted. As the sermon said, “we must learn to do as Paul did when he was in Athens to say yes and no to the things that the world believes.” We look for common ground that can become a gateway to the gospel, while recognizing there will also be places where the gospel confronts falsehood.

From there, the sermon introduced J H Bavinck’s “magnetic points” as universal human longings that pull people toward God, even when they suppress him. These are not merely cultural trends. They are deeper echoes in the human soul that can help us understand what is going on in people and how to speak the gospel with care.

🧲 The six magnetic points

A longing for a whole story

Beneath people’s searching is a hunger for reality itself to make sense. We long for a meta narrative, a story big enough to explain who we are and why we are here. Even the claim that there is no meaning becomes its own kind of story. As the sermon put it, “We live in a world that has no story except the story that it has no story.”

An internal moral voice

People everywhere have a sense of right and wrong, a deep awareness of what ought to be. We find ourselves saying, “I shouldn’t have done that,” or “That’s not right,” because we know there is a norm beyond our desires. This moral witness both accuses and excuses, and it reveals a universal tension in the human heart.

A hunger for the divine

Even in a secular age, the longing for something beyond mere matter keeps leaking out. People may suppress God, but they still seek spirituality, power, meaning, and transcendence. The sermon captured it like this, “When people stop believing in God it’s not that they st believe in nothing They begin to believe in everything.” The hunger remains, even when it is redirected toward substitutes.

A cry for rescue

Every human heart senses that life is not as it was meant to be. We recognize loss, injustice, suffering, and the weight of a broken world. The sermon named it plainly, “We have a sense everybody does that life is not as it was meant to be Something is wrong.” We long for redemption, not mere revenge, because vengeance cannot restore what was lost.

A struggle with control and destiny

People wrestle with what they choose and what seems chosen for them. Even those who claim to reject providence still live with instincts about fate, luck, superstition, and destiny. The sermon summarized it as a universal wrestling with “what we choose and what seems chosen for us.” The truth beneath the distortion is that our lives are shaped by something beyond our control.

A desire for meaning and purpose

This final point was highlighted as especially urgent in a materialistic age. People want to know whether their lives matter. The sermon framed it with the question, “Does my life matter inside that reality?” Many substitutes promise meaning, but they cannot ultimately deliver. True purpose is recovered in Jesus, the true image of God, as we learn to give ourselves in love for the good of others.

✨ How the gospel connects

These longings are not accidents. They are signals. They reveal that people are made by the Creator and cannot fully escape the Creator. The sermon gathered the whole framework into a sweeping gospel claim: “These longings aren’t accidents of evolution They are echoes of the Creator And in Jesus Christ they converge.” In Jesus, the story becomes coherent, the moral law finds its fulfillment, the hunger for God meets its true object, rescue begins now, providence is personal, and purpose is restored.

🤝 What we do with this

The message ended with practical clarity. If we want to help the gospel make sense to others, we must do two things:

First, we study the gospel deeply, not as a reduced set of principles, but as the whole story revealed in Jesus. Second, we study our neighbors with real care, treating them as people, not projects. The sermon said it directly, “They aren't objects to be sold on a new religion They're people.” We listen for where they are seeking and where they are suppressing, not for a gotcha moment, but for wisdom and love.

🙏 Response

The sermon closed by calling us to name specific people in our orbit and pray for them, asking God to make our lives a visible witness of Jesus. The heartbeat of the ending was that our neighbors might see something real in us: the goodness, beauty, and truth found in Christ. And then we keep praying and keep listening, so that in time we can help them hear the whole story.

Sermon: Is Christianity True?

Series: Revealing Christ: Beauty, Goodness, and Truth for a Disenchanted World

✨ A Disenchanted World, A Timely Question

We are living in a moment where faith is often met with suspicion, doubt, or outright rejection. As this series has reminded us, “our focus is beauty goodness and truth for a disenchanted world In other words how do we make Christ known to a world that is really oriented toward disbelief.”

The question before us is not abstract or academic. It is deeply personal. As the sermon made clear, “This isn't merely a philosophical question but an existential one.” What we believe shapes how we live, what we love, and who we become.

🎨 Beauty as a Doorway to Truth

Not everyone comes to faith through arguments or debates. Some are drawn first by wonder, goodness, and beauty. As we heard, “There are people that can actually find truth by first connecting with the beauty of something.”

Truth and beauty are not competitors. They belong together, and when they do, they reveal something compelling about God.

🧭 Truth Is Not About Winning Arguments

This message intentionally resisted turning truth into a debate tactic. As the preacher said plainly, “you might be surprised at how I approach that because I'm not trying to equip us to have debates over what's true and what's not true.”

Why? Because “That isn't the goal Rather the goal is if we are true then what does that mean.” The real question is not can we defend Christianity, but are we living it?

⚔️ Competing Truths, Forming Our Lives

We are constantly being shaped by stories about what matters, what works, and what leads to life. “These truths are actively competing for preeminence in our lives How we live where we live what how we think about life.”

Discernment is not about mastering every worldview. Instead, we were reminded that “Discernment must work like counterfeit training The foundational task in counterfeit training is not memorizing every fake but becoming deeply familiar with the real thing.”

✝️ Truth Has a Name

Christian truth is not an idea or a theory. It is a person. “The real thing in our case is Jesus He is the truth.”

And this truth is not distant or abstract. “Jesus is not merely the truth in that abstract sense In Jesus the abstract truth puts on flesh It's no longer abstract.”

👣 Truth Lived, Not Just Believed

The sermon reached its climax with a call to embodiment. Jesus did not simply come to tell us what is true. “Jesus never intended to merely tell us the truth but to teach us to live in the truth He intended that we his followers the Church incarnate the truth before a watching world.”

Truth becomes visible when it is practiced. When the church lives the way of Jesus, the world can see that Christianity is not only true, but good and beautiful as well.

Sermon: Is Christianity Beautiful?

Main Scripture: Psalm 19:1-14

Series: Revealing Christ: Beauty, Goodness, and Truth for a Disenchanted World

🌅 Day 1: Beauty That Awakens Longing

Sermon Quote

“Beauty causes us to long for something and it’s not that we’re longing for what we’re seeing we’re longing for something more even than what we’re seeing.”

Scripture

Psalm 19:1–4 NIV

Reflection

Beauty has a way of waking something up inside us. A sunrise or a storm does not argue or persuade. It invites. Scripture tells us that creation declares God’s glory without words, yet its message reaches every corner of the earth. That quiet declaration stirs longing. Not just for what we see, but for something beyond it. This longing is not accidental. It is a signpost pointing us toward God Himself.

Prayer Prompt

Lord, awaken my sense of wonder again. Help me notice the beauty around me and let it draw my heart toward You rather than stopping with the thing itself.

Action Step

Today, pause with something beautiful. Step outside, notice the sky, or observe something living. Do not rush past it. Let it turn your attention toward God in gratitude.

🌍 Day 2: The Beauty of God’s Character

Sermon Quote

“God’s law is beautiful because God is beautiful.”

Scripture

Psalm 19:7–11 NIV

Reflection

God’s commands are not cold rules imposed from a distance. They flow from who He is. Psalm 19 describes God’s law as perfect, trustworthy, radiant, and pure. These are not merely moral qualities. They are beautiful qualities. God’s character is reliable, life giving, and good. His ways refresh the soul because they reflect His heart.

Prayer Prompt

God, help me see Your commands not as burdens but as gifts. Shape my heart to trust that Your ways are beautiful even when they challenge me.

Action Step

Read Psalm 19 slowly today. Write down one phrase that stands out and reflect on how it reveals something beautiful about God’s character.

✝️ Day 3: The Unexpected Beauty of Jesus

Sermon Quote

“The beauty of Christ is not found in his physical appearance as a man but in his very nature.”

Scripture

Philippians 2:5–11 NIV

Reflection

Jesus does not fit the world’s expectations of beauty or power. He did not grasp status or protect Himself from suffering. Instead, He humbled Himself. The cross itself is not beautiful. But what it reveals is. In Jesus, we see humility, self giving love, and obedience to the Father. This is a beauty that does not dominate but restores.

Prayer Prompt

Jesus, reshape my understanding of beauty. Teach me to admire humility, love, and faithfulness more than power or success.

Action Step

Consider one relationship today where you can reflect Christ’s humility. Choose to serve, listen, or forgive without seeking recognition.

🏺 Day 4: Beauty in Broken People

Sermon Quote

“We have this treasure of God’s glory in jars of clay.”

Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:7–12 NIV

Reflection

The church is not beautiful because it is flawless. It is beautiful because God places His glory in ordinary and fragile people. Like jars of clay, we are marked by weakness, cracks, and limitations. Yet through those cracks, God’s beauty shines. What matters is not the perfection of the vessel but the treasure it carries.

Prayer Prompt

Lord, help me stop hiding my weakness. Use even my broken places to reflect Your beauty and grace to others.

Action Step

Encourage someone today who feels inadequate or overlooked. Speak truth that God’s power is revealed through weakness, not perfection.

🌿 Day 5: A Beautiful Church

Sermon Quote

“Redemption is beautiful and it is the story of the church.”

Scripture

Matthew 5:14–16 NIV

Reflection

The beauty of Christianity becomes visible when God’s people live out redemption together. The church is called to be light in the darkness. Not by perfection, but by obedience, love, and faithfulness. When the beauty of Christ shapes how we live with one another, the world sees something compelling. A community being redeemed becomes a witness to a beautiful God.

Prayer Prompt

Father, make our church a place where Your beauty is visible. Form us into a people whose lives point others toward You.

Action Step

This week, practice one visible act of goodness or mercy in your community. Let your light shine in a way that directs attention to God, not yourself.

🌍 The Question Beneath the Question

The sermon began with a question many in our culture are already asking, sometimes openly and sometimes beneath the surface: Is Christianity good?

Not simply true.

Not merely meaningful.

But good.

In a world shaped by skepticism, disillusionment, and cultural memory of Christian failures, the goodness of Christianity is often questioned or outright rejected. Yet, as the message unfolded, it became clear that while Christianity has often been distorted, caricatured, or compromised, the hunger for goodness itself has not gone away.

🧱 Point 1: Goodness Unadorned

The first reality we must face honestly is this: the charge that Christians are not always adorned with Christ’s goodness is not baseless.

History bears witness to moments where Christianity became entangled with power, empire, coercion, abuse, and hypocrisy. These distortions have given critics intellectual ammunition and emotional reason to dismiss Christianity as harmful or even evil.

But acknowledging this history does not mean conceding that Christianity itself is evil. Instead, it forces a deeper question:

Is the problem Christianity itself, or Christianity severed from Jesus?

The sermon pressed this distinction clearly. The failures of Christians do not negate the goodness of Christ. They reveal how badly we need Him.

And here the reminder was clear and grounding:

Good works don’t merit, but they do matter.

Not as a way to earn God’s favor, but as the visible witness of lives shaped by mercy.

🔥 Point 2: Goodness Unshakable

Even in a culture that claims to have moved beyond God, goodness refuses to disappear.

The sermon traced how many of the moral instincts we now assume to be self evident, human dignity, equality, compassion for the poor, the protection of children, and the rejection of violence, are not universal across history. They are not inevitable. They were formed by Christianity.

The modern world still believes in goodness, justice, and human rights, yet often without acknowledging the foundation that gave them meaning. When goodness is detached from God, it lingers for a time, like borrowed light, but eventually begins to flicker.

This explains a tension many feel but cannot articulate:

Goodness feels real.

Necessary.

Binding.

Yet without God, it becomes little more than preference, sentiment, or social agreement.

And still, people are drawn to goodness. They weep at forgiveness. They ache for justice. They are moved by sacrificial love. These longings make sense only if goodness is real and if it has a source beyond ourselves.

✝️ Point 3: Goodness Undeniable

The sermon then turned to the person at the center of the entire question: Jesus Christ.

Even among critics, skeptics, atheists, and agnostics, there is often an unwillingness to dismiss Jesus outright. He is widely acknowledged as a great moral teacher. And rather than rushing to correct that claim, the sermon invited believers to start there.

Why does Jesus still resonate?

What is it about His teaching that continues to move hearts?

The Sermon on the Mount, His refusal of violence, His love of enemies, and His embrace of the poor and the powerless have shaped the moral imagination of the world more profoundly than force or empire ever has.

The goodness of Jesus is not abstract. It is embodied. And it finds its climax at the cross, where He absorbed violence rather than returning it, where He loved enemies rather than destroying them, and where He obeyed God’s ways even unto death.

🌱 Our Calling: A Credible Witness

Returning to 1 Peter 2, the sermon grounded everything in a final, sobering truth:

The credibility of our witness does not rest first on our arguments, but on our lives.

We are called out of darkness into light so that our lives might declare God’s praises. We are urged to live such good lives among those who do not yet believe that even when accused they may see our good deeds and glorify God.

The world may reject Christianity.

It may accuse Christians of doing wrong.

But it cannot escape its hunger for goodness.

Which leads to the closing question that lingers beyond the sermon:

Not simply, “Is Christianity good?”

But, “Will we adorn our lives with the goodness of Christ?”

Not perfectly.

But faithfully.

Not to earn God’s favor.

But because we already have it.

And as we do, God will be glorified through our lives and beyond them.

When Meaning Takes Flesh

(Part 3 of "Revealing Christ" Series)

(John 1:1-14, 20:21)

🌍 A World of Meaning Seeking

“We live in a world of meaning seeking.”

People are exhausted from trying to construct a life that satisfies.

“Meaning making collapses under the weight of our expectations.”

The issue is not desire but direction.

“Our confusion about where life comes from is.”

✨ Life Revealed in Jesus

John does not begin with commands or advice.

He begins with reality.

“In him was life and that life was the light of all mankind.”

Jesus is not a tool for fulfillment.

“To encounter Jesus is to encounter life itself.”

🔥 Meaning Takes Flesh

Christianity is not an escape from the world.

“The Word became flesh.”

God enters reality.

“The universe is personal at its core.”

Meaning is received.

“Meaning is not invented from below it is given from above.”

🌱 Re Enchantment and Desire

“Longing is evidence of design.”

Jesus does not deny desire.

“Jesus shows us what desire was always reaching for.”

Re enchantment is not fantasy.

“Re enchantment is the recovery of reality.”

👪 A People of Life

“Re enchantment begins by receiving life not proving worth.”

The result is a community shaped by grace and truth.

“The church exists to make life with God imaginable again.”

🌍 Revealing Christ in a Disenchanted World

Great News in an Age of Doubt and Meaninglessness

Text: 2 Corinthians 4:3–7 NIV

🕯️ Introduction: When the Socket Feels Dead

The gospel has not lost its power, but many people today no longer expect it to work. What once felt like “plugging a lamp into a live socket” now feels like “plugging that same lamp into a dead socket.” The issue is not that the light is weak, but that the current is missing.

“The solution isn’t to shout louder into the darkness—but to bear faithful witness until God says again, ‘Let light shine out of darkness.’”

We cannot change the world, but we are responsible for how faithfully we display Christ. God still places His treasure in jars of clay so that His power, not ours, is seen.

🧠 I. Meaning Makers

Romans 1:18–25

People are not neutral toward God. Scripture tells us they actively suppress the truth. But suppressing truth does not eliminate the need for meaning. It only redirects it.

“Meaning making is a spiritual defense mechanism—a way to protect oneself from the hopelessness inherent in a world without God.”

When truth is exchanged for a lie, meaning must be manufactured. Our neighbors infuse meaning into careers, relationships, sexuality, experiences, or moments. These are not random pursuits. They reveal what is being worshiped.

“If you want to identify what your neighbor worships, look for what they infuse with meaning.”

This generation is not merely unbelieving. It is disenchanted. Faith in Christ is often no longer considered a viable option. Yet this is not new. Humanity has always been prone to idolatry. What is unique is how deeply authenticity has become sacred.

“To be authentic means you refuse to conform your life to any vision from outside yourself.”

Christ offers a radically different vision. True meaning is not found by looking inward, but by being conformed to the image of Christ.

📣 II. Messengers

1 Peter 3:8–16

The New Testament never separates the message from the messenger. Before people ask for a reason for our hope, they must first see it.

“The first apologetic or defense of the faith is the visible one of our lives, not the spoken one.”

Peter reminds us that Christlike character is not optional background material. It is the DNA of faithful witness. Gentleness, humility, compassion, and peace create space for questions to emerge.

The story of the Indonesian pastor illustrates this truth. Transformation began not through argument but through embodied hope.

“Our disenchanted neighbors have been immunized not just by bad arguments, but by bad witnesses.”

God restores current to dead sockets through faithful lives that reflect Jesus.

🕊️ III. Manner

How we witness matters as much as what we say.

“One surefire way of making sure people don’t listen to the Gospel is to present it arrogantly.”

In a polarized age, many assume Christian belief is oppressive or violent. Argumentative postures only confirm those fears. Scripture calls us to something better.

“When we give a reasoned response for our hope we must do it with gentleness and respect.”

Hope itself is part of our witness. To lose hope is to silence the very questions we long to answer.

“If we lose hope, no one will ask us to defend the hope we have.”

Faithful witness requires patience, humility, and trust that God works over time.

✝️ Conclusion: Treasure in Jars of Clay

Paul reminds us that the gospel is not always veiled. Darkness does not always win.

“Sometimes I think the Gospel is veiled because it isn’t being displayed by us.”

God has entrusted His treasure to ordinary people so that His power might be seen as unmistakably divine. The Spirit has been poured out. The New Covenant has arrived. God’s law is written on our hearts.

The invitation is simple and costly.

“We must trust that the Spirit will empower our living out the truth that is Jesus in our very lives if we but step out.”

Sermon Recap

Part 1 -Locating Ourselves in Christ’s Mission

Series: Revealing Christ’s Beauty, Goodness, and Truth for a Disenchanted World

This message serves as a theological and missional orientation for the series, grounding the church in the story of Acts and helping us discern where we actually stand within Christ’s mission today.

🌍 The Big Idea

The church does not invent its own mission. We are summoned into the mission of the risen King.

“We do not wanna be doing our own mission we wanna be doing your mission.”

Acts is not primarily a story about church growth or ministry techniques. It is the account of how King Jesus continues to reign and restore his kingdom through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Sermon Structure

🧭 1. The Mission Jesus Charts

Jesus spends forty days after his resurrection speaking about one thing.

“He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”

The mission of the church flows out of the reign of Christ. Jesus does not merely announce salvation. He announces a kingdom. This kingdom produces real fruit in the world.

“Peace justice righteousness all right there in those verses.”

The church is not called to create its own agenda but to locate itself within the mission Jesus has already set in motion.

🔥 2. The Means Jesus Appoints

The disciples ask about timing. Jesus redirects them to the means.

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses.”

The kingdom is restored not through force, politics, or control, but through Spirit empowered witness.

“The means that Jesus appointed for the restoration of the kingdom is that his followers by the power of the Holy Spirit will have opportunities to see his righteousness justice and peace established on the earth.”

The Book of Acts shows the kingdom breaking into the world through lives shaped by the Spirit.

🗺️ 3. The Map Luke Traces

Acts follows a deliberate trajectory.

“Luke draws a map of the mission of the church from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.”

The movement of the gospel is not random. It advances from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and finally to the nations.

“The Book of Acts is not a random collection of stories.”

This map reveals both the scope of Christ’s reign and the faithfulness of God to his promises.

🌊 4. Our Mark on the Map

The final movement of the sermon presses the question of location.

“We are not living in our own Jerusalems. We are living at the ends of the earth.”

The church today is not waiting to be sent. We are already sent.

Like Paul’s journey toward Rome, faithful gospel ministry often unfolds amid resistance, uncertainty, and hardship.

“Faithful Gospel ministry often happens when the winds are against us.”

Yet our very existence testifies to the success of Christ’s mission.

“Our very existence as a church as a people is the fulfillment of those promises.”

🙏 Where This Series Begins

We live in a disenchanted world marked by doubt about goodness, truth, and meaning. Into that world, Christ sends his people as Spirit empowered witnesses.

“We’re not waiting to be sent. We are living at the ends of the Earth called to bear faithful witness to Christ amid hardship uncertainty and hope.”

This sermon sets the stage for the journey ahead by realigning our compass, reminding us whose mission this is, and calling us to faithful presence where God has already placed us.