Mosaic Church, Cadyville NY

As Jesus enters his final hours with his closest followers, he does something shocking as he leaves them with a critical lesson that he would soon demonstrate on the cross: that service and sacrifice, not power and prestige, were the marks of the Kingdom of Heaven. As Jesus shares his final meal with the disciples, Jesus took what was considered a position of weakness, a position of humiliation and used it to demonstrate that from here on out, everything would change.

Part 2 of our Lent series that invites us to discover (or re-discover) why Jesus' story matters, how this story impacts us, and how to make his story our story.

We may not realize, but we are pitted in the midst of an unseen war for our soul. This covert battle is one that we cannot afford to lose. Idolatry is not just an ancient concern, but a real and present danger. In this series, Game of Thrones, we embrace the call to exchange counterfeit gods for the genuine article, to trade all challengers for the only one who has rightfully earned the right to take the throne of our lives. In the war for your soul, only one can wear the crown.

In week 3 of #cwcGameOfThrones, we discover the deceptive nature of the Kingdom of Money and are challenged to embrace God's perspective on money and stuff.

Lent is such a significant time because it draws our attention back to the earth-shattering, paradigm-shifting, world-changing act of sacrifice and victory that Jesus set in motion over the final week of his life, through his betrayal, wrongful conviction, death, and resurrection.

Lent is a glimmer of hope in a dark world.

Hope changes everything. When you experience hope, it changes how you look at the world. It changes how you look at others. It changes how you look at yourself.

Over the next several weeks, we are going to zero in on the sources of our hope as seen in the story of Jesus. We will discover- or rediscover- the why this story matters, how this story impacts us, and how to make Jesus’ story our story.

 

It's easy to buy the lie that we are less than, less valuable, less worthy, less lovable. The world operates on a system of winners and losers, but Jesus operates on a completely different scale. Throughout his story in the Scriptures, Jesus chooses the also-rans. He intentionally embraces the seemingly less valuable precisely to prove that these people are highly valued and dearly loved. It wasn't just Jesus in his earthly ministry. God is still in the business of reinforcing the value of those who see themselves are worthless. He sees you and chooses you, declaring that you are worth it. 

Join Pastor Jordon as he continues to dig into unpacking what it means to follow Jesus in our #Abide series. Focusing in on #John15, we discover the true life that Jesus has for us on the #TrueNorthNY Podcast!

** We had some technical difficulties with our microphone's battery pack. This audio was picked up by our pulpit mic. We apologize for the inconvenience! **

We may not realize, but we are pitted in the midst of an unseen war for our soul. This covert battle is one that we cannot afford to lose. Idolatry is not just an ancient concern, but a real and present danger. In this series, Game of Thrones, we embrace the call to exchange counterfeit gods for the genuine article, to trade all challengers for the only one who has rightfully earned the right to take the throne of our lives. In the war for your soul, only one can wear the crown.

Have you ever had a friend mistreat somebody you love? How well has that relationship developed? If you're at all like me, it's hard to grow a relationship with somebody who does not love those whom you love, much less with those who mistreat your beloved. It's unsurprising, then, to find that God feels the same way. When you mistreat his beloved when you hate those whom he dearly loves, it not only fractures your relationship with that person, but it splinters your relationship with God.

As we discover in this episode, the key characteristic of a follower of Jesus is loving those whom God loves. Those who love God develop a greater and greater capacity to love God's beloved. 

Join Pastor Jordon as he continues to dig into unpacking what it means to follow Jesus in our #Abide series. Focusing in on #John15, we discover the true life that Jesus has for us on the #TrueNorthNY Podcast!

It's so easy to look around and feel a sense of discontentment in your life. In an age of social media, there's not end to the ways to see people who appear to be more skilled than you, have more photogenic families than yours, and have experienced far more life than you. But as we'll find in our teaching time together, a life of comparing yourself to others robs you of your contentment, but even worse, it robs you of your effectiveness. Don't run somebody else's race. Run your race!

Jesus tells his followers, if you want to bear fruit, if you want to receive the nourishment that only God can give, then abide in my love, forcefully reorient your life around receiving my blessings. He invites us into a relationship with him, not as servants, but as friends. But confusingly, he then turns around and says, "Do what I tell you." How does a friend do that? Isn't that the opposite of what friendship is all about? 

Or is there something else going on here? Something more? Something beautiful? 

Join Pastor Jordon as he continues to dig into unpacking what it means to follow Jesus in our #Abide series. Focusing in on #John15, we discover the true life that Jesus has for us on the #TrueNorthNY Podcast!

Considerable time has been given reinforcing the need for God's church to commit to becoming  a sacrificial, cohesive, sacrificial, interdependent people. We've tracked through Scripture how God has designed us for community, to serve with abandon, and to celebrate our differences while remaining committed to our mission. 

But the Scriptures remind us that though service is a critical, crucial dimension of what it means to follow Jesus, it could all fall apart if its not built on a foundation of love. We consider why Jesus and his disciples place such a high price on love and how it impacts our service. 

Pastor Jordon also challenged us to consider our ministry passion as the final part of our Servant Profile. This assessment can be found here: https://cadyville.church/s/ministry-passion-assessment.pdf