Preacher: Jerry Cisar “The church is not just a club of Christians who gather to express their praise and worship of God. Rather, the church is a called people, gathered to encounter and be shaped by God into a ‘peculiar people.’” (James K. A. Smith) This term “peculiar people” is often joked about and certainly far too often applies in the way the…

Preacher: Aron OsborneGulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL

Preacher: Jerry Cisar These last 3 weeks have been wearying for most of us. Houses flooded, roofs damaged, fences down, power out, food lost, waiting for gas for hours if you can find it. And then there’s the help you need and others need. The sense that you aren’t doing enough and can’t do anymore. For the believer, this can pile onto plenty of ot…

Preacher: Ryan Carver Ephesians 4:1-6Gulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL

Preacher: Jerry Cisar I am a fan of impressionist paintings. Author Malcolm Gladwell explains how the impressionist painters became a movement. It “didn’t begin because one genius took up painting impressionistically and, like the Pied Piper, attracted a trail of followers. Instead, Pissarro and Degas enrolled in the École des Beaux-Arts at the sam…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar A lot of the focus in modern discipleship is on the individual. There are exceptions, of course, but rarely is discipleship taught primarily as a community project. It’s a team sport, not like an aerobics class or a zoom class, but like a baseball team or a football team. In an aerobics class, it may serve me to be in a class …

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Churches are much noisier than libraries, and for good reason. Libraries are filled with words but are absolutely silent. Churches have less words, to be sure, but are much noisier. And they should be. Since the beginning, the Church has held the spoken, sung, and heard Word as an essential part of its liturgy (public worship)…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar We, the Church (and the church), are a royal priesthood and holy people. To be a priestly people, a holy people, our first obligation is to the God we serve. As a priestly people, our first obligation is our worship of God together. As a holy people, we must keep that worship pure. Worship of the Triune God is the primary diff…

Preacher: Ryan Carver Text: 1 Cor. 13 Themes: Love vs. individualism and selfishness. Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240901.pdfGulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL

Preacher: Jerry Cisar All I wanna do is go the distance … so I’ll know I’m not just another bum from the neighborhood. Rocky Is the church of the Lord Jesus “just another bum from the neighborhood”? If we listen to the world we might think so. If we listen to believers at times we might think so. But it’s a lie; a lie which can only be overcome by …

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Have you ever heard (or even said, like me) “Justice is the act of giving people what they deserve, while mercy is the act of not giving people what they deserve.” There is some truth in those words, but it is not a full, Biblically informed definition of either justice or mercy. Since justice and mercy are at the heart of wha…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Nearly anyone who has been the recipient of an inheritance (or should have been) can relate to the man who approached Jesus with the request, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Most people feel either slighted or justified in one way or another in such circumstances. That there are disputes over inhe…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar The book of Acts begins with Luke telling us that his first book (Luke) was about all that Jesus began to do and teach. The implication is clear: Acts is about what Jesus continued to do and teach through His Spirit empowered church. But what is it, exactly, that they did? What did Jesus do? What did the early church do? We of…

Preacher: Ryan Carver Text: Matthew 7:13-29 Themes: Spiritual formation, Holy Spirit, Community, Abiding with Jesus. Transformation. Following Jesus. Summary: We learn from Jesus in the sermon on the mount how we are to live and we see this played out through the rest of Matthew’s gospel. Jesus reveals and leads us in the way of life, forming a new…

Preacher: Doug Hon Text: Acts 2:42-47; Exo. 20:3-6; 1 Pet. 2:8-10Gulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Have you ever been in one of those moments when you wanted to have a spiritual conversation but the only way to bring it up was to awkwardly insert it in an abrupt fashion? Did you want to cringe and hide after that? What if there were a way to have those conversations without all that cringe? What if it left people feeling mo…

Preacher: Samuel McNair Themes: Evangelism Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240707.pdfGulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL

Preacher: Jerry Cisar We live in a fractured world. What can we offer them? Does the church offer a compelling alternative to what the world offers? If so, how so? If not, what needs to change? As Christians in America in 2024, how we live during this election year might say more about our faith than anything else. That might sound too strong (and …

Preacher: Jerry Cisar To become a people of God’s mission, we must be a prophetic people. To be clear, I do not mean by that a people who prophesy (though that might be a legitimate use of the phrase). I mean a church that first sees clearly (the prophets were known as seers—see-ers) the idols of our age and rid our own lives of those idols. The ha…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar There is often a grave inconsistency in the lives of those who profess faith in the Lord Jesus. This is not unique to the Christian faith. It was certainly a significant factor in Israel’s community in the Old Testament. People today might call it hypocrisy, which indeed it is. Not hypocrisy in the traditional sense of the wor…

Preacher: Zach McNabb Text: 1 Cor 10:23-33; Col 3:12-17 Headings: 1. Context Matters 2. Relationships Matter 3. Everything MattersGulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL

Preacher: Aron Osborne Text: James 1:27 Themes: Gospel Mercy as an essential of Being a People of God’s MissionGulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL

Preacher: Jerry Cisar The Bible tells us we are a kingdom of priests and a holy people. What does that mean? Since the Reformation conversation about that has largely focused on the priesthood of all believers, but while that is a thing, it isn’t really what that phrase in Scripture (Exodus 19:6; 1 Pet. 2:9) is about. That phrase envisions a whole …

Preacher: Jerry Cisar This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday which is sadly one of the more neglected days on the church calendar. For some “Pentecost” is merely a reference to one particular strain of Christians that emphasize emotionalism (as described pejoratively by their detractors). It can bring to mind debates about supernatural gifts of the Spirit…

Preacher: Pete Mishler Themes: Life and abortion Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20240512.pdfGulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Do you know that Abraham had a great commission? He succeeded in accomplishing his part in it too. Abraham’s great commission has everything to do with why Jesus died on the cross. If our God is the one true God of all the world, then why did God single out Abraham and his descendants for a covenant? How would that lead to wor…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar As a pastor, it’s not uncommon to be asked the question, “What is the church’s mission?” It’s a fair question but I am not sure if it is the right question. At least, I don’t think it is the right question for the church to be asking itself. The right question for the church to ask itself is, “What is God’s mission?” Once we f…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar What does it mean to be a praying church? How do we become one? What would a praying church pray for? We’ve spent 4 weeks focused on Becoming a Praying Church as an essential part of what it means to fulfill our calling as a royal priesthood and holy people. This Sunday we will explore what has been given to us as an essential…

Preacher: Ryan Carver Themes: God’s people are blessed. What does this mean and look like? We are to bless others. What does this mean and look like? The blessing of God as He involves us in His mission as we bless others we too are blessed. What does this look like over history and for us now? Texts: Gal 3:8-9. Gen 1:22, Gen 12:1-3, Ex 19:5-6, Act…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar The church is called to be a royal priesthood and holy people. Core to that calling is our calling to pray for one another, for the world, and for our enemies. In a word, intercession. This week, in our series Becoming a Praying Church, we are exploring intercession. We will look at what it is and why it is needed, we will see…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar What is the meaning of the Resurrection? Each of the Gospel writers shares details that make us curious. It is not uncommon for people to talk about how the Resurrection means we will not die but go to heaven. However, it is interesting that none of the Gospel writers, seem to draw that meaning when the events happened. What w…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Palm Sunday opens what is traditionally called Holy Week. It shouldn’t be missed that there was not much “holy” going on that first “Holy Week.” The events we remember on Palm Sunday start that week, and the trial and crucifixion of Jesus complete it. These accounts challenge us to examine the idols in our own hearts and rid o…

Preacher: Zach McNabb Text: Hebrews 11 & 12 Themes: The endurance of faith comes from having the proper vision of glory. Jesus endured the cross because of the joy set before Him. The people of Heb. 11 had the vision of the new Kingdom which was their hope, which empowered their faithful endurance. Selling all to buy the field joyfully because of t…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar In his book, Reversed Thunder, Eugene Peterson wrote: “While conflicts raged between good and evil, prayers went up from devout bands of first century Christians all over the Roman empire. Massive engines of persecution and scorn were ranged against them. They had neither weapons nor votes. They had little money and no prestig…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar If what we have considered in our series Gospel Clarity is true (and, of course, I think it is), then it affects everything. Since everything the church does should grow out of the Gospel, then even slight adjustments to our understanding of the Gospel will affect everything from our mission to how we achieve it. How much more…

Speaker: Ryan Carver Text: CSB Version. Hebrews 11:1-12:3 (also 10:35-39 as an intro)Gulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL

Preacher: Jerry Cisar It’s not hard to find Christians today who might bemoan the fact that the church has lost a significant amount of its influence in culture today. We no longer have prayer in schools, people have to work on Sundays, and we no longer get to define marriage by Biblical standards. I cannot deny that there were benefits to such cul…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Most sharks have to move to breath and therefore cannot stop moving forward. This is how they force water through their gills so they can get the oxygen they need. Humans are much the same way when it comes to glory. We were created to bear glory, God’s glory. In our rebellion against God, we’ve substituted our own glory, a we…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar “Our passion is to know that we are fulfilling the purpose for which we are here on earth.” — Os Guinness Deep down, I believe Guinness is right and the Gospel calls us to that very purpose and equips us so we are able to fulfill it. (All good Evangelicals will say, “Amen!” here. But if pressed to explain how, we may well be s…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar The message of the Gospel is the most important message in all the world. Yet for most of us, if someone asks us, “What is the Gospel?” we have to pause, minimally, and often struggle to articulate it. When we finally do articulate it, we wonder if we got it right. Or worse, we think we have it right but wonder what relevance …

Preacher: Jerry Cisar The book of Revelation describes beasts, dragons, plagues, wrath, persecutions, and rewards. It is filled with visual stimuli such as blood, fire and even meteors as well as threats and promises. It finally comes to a glorious, surprising, and transforming end. Revelation 21-22 is not only about the future, it has a lot to do …

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Are you premillennial, postmillennial, or amillennial? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’ve gotten into chapter 19 of the book of Revelation and haven’t answered that question. Why? Because it is largely irrelevant in determining how we read the rest of the book. A whole lot of ink has been spilled on something that doesn…

Preacher: Steven Brunson For quite some time, we have been hit with a barrage of unsettling news reports of the uncertainties with Israel, Gaza, Hamas and various warring factions. The interpretation of these events seem to abound including numerous conversations surrounding Jesus’ second coming. In looking for more complete understanding of these …

Preacher: Ryan Carver Transitions and trials are some of the hardest times of life. How do we, as followers of Jesus, have hopeful endurance through such seemingly relentless difficulties and unknowns? By pursuing patience. Patience, which is a fruit of the Spirit, is something that is formed in us by God as He molds and shapes us to become more li…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Imagine you were in Bethlehem at the time of Christ’s birth. Maybe you were one of Joseph’s relatives that had also traveled to Bethlehem, or maybe one of the small number of residents. What did Christ’s coming impact you? In an immediate sense, it disturbed you. Whether you were ignorant of the events, a relative of Joseph an…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar The book of Proverbs personifies wisdom as a noble woman and folly as a seductive woman (Prov. 9, 31). The book of Revelation is also about two women: a harlot and a bride. One represents the human city in all it’s luxurious grandeur (despite most its residents living in a box the size of a closet). The other, a bride who repr…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Psychologist Barry Schwartz concludes his TED talk on the paradox of choice with the image of a fish in a fishbowl, and he asks: How free is that fish? Yes, of course the fish is confined, but shattering the fishbowl, removing all constraints, would not improve the fish’s situation. In fact, it would destroy him. The world and…

Preacher: Samuel McNair Text: Acts 26:16-23Gulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Revelation is a bloody book, to be sure. In fact, we are told in 14:19-20 that in the process of harvesting the earth, the blood flow will rise so high that it will spread the distance of 1,600 stadia (it doesn’t really matter what a stadia is… primarily that it is 1,600 of them), and up to the level of a horse’s bridle! That’…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar In 1937, referring to the increasing tensions in Europe with Germany, Winston Churchill used near biblical language when he said, “Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.” In our study of Revelation, this Sunday we arrive at the account of the Beasts out of the Sea…