Downtown Community Church

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Besides just the cheesiness of doing a relationship sermon on Valentine’s Day, this sermon was originally scheduled on another day so as not to rain on the parade of everyone. Yet, here it is. Because all humans are made in the image of God, it makes sense that it is easy for us to idolize another human. To start with the bottom line, relationships were never meant to be used for the fulfillment of our needs, they were always meant to compliment us.  However, when we look to the compliment to become our fulfillment it will always le...

Many of us care deeply about what others think about us. Almost all (if not all) of us seek approval from at least one person. We live in an approval-seeking culture, we just call it by the inverse: “cancel culture”. Whether it be in seeking out attention and likes on social media or in simply hating to feel like we’ve let someone down, the idol of approval has the ability to crush us. As is true with almost every idol, the idol of approval is indicative of a real need. When Jesus was baptized at the beginning of his pu...

We all have something that stands at the center of our life. Whether it be family, career, success, or comfort, there is inevitably something in our lives that is of ultimate importance to us.

 And we have placed it at the center of our lives for a reason. Whether we think about it or not, we believe that whatever we center our lives around can meet the main need we have. However, we never revisit the thing that our lives revolve around and ask, “Can this fulfill me?”

The thing at the center of our...

The story of the Exodus from Egypt is one of God raising up a leader, Moses,  to lead his people out of slavery. However, as things get difficult throughout the trek between Egypt and the Promised Land, the people of Israel cry out in complaint to Moses: “You should have left us in Egypt! It was better for us in Egypt!” The reality is that there were very few things that were good about the 430 year subjugation of Israel under Egypt. So, why did Israel look back so favorably on their time in Egypt as they wandered through the...

When Jesus walked on planet earth, his kingdom was open to everyone. With a diverse population of believers come diverse sets of beliefs and opinions. This is the tension we feel as Christians. The truth is that every political position claims a part of Jesus. Yet, we should be united as a body of believers, and, as Jesus prayed, our oneness will be our witness. Yet, where does our unity end and disagreement begin? In a diverse and polarizing world how do we actually live this out?

In the early church, the differences between Jews and Gentiles...

Voting season is the most polarizing time of the year in our country. While common sentiment would lead you to think that religion and politics are the two things that  you should never bring up in conversation, the reality is that either the world will teach us how to think about politics or the Word of God will teach us. Politics are so divisive because we all have skin in the game. For many of us, there is a real fear of the impact that will be made based on who wins an election. When we fear loss...

Nehemiah 13

Most of us would agree that we as Christians are largely not as influential as we are called to be. As we have been working through the book of Nehemiah, we find that when we add value to those around us by meeting practical needs, it causes spiritual renewal. We know that we are called to be “in the world and not of it,” but we all lean more heavily to one side. Either we are so set apart that we are unhelpful to the world, or we are so worldly that there is no differentiation between us and thos...

We often take for granted the faithfulness of God throughout the entirety of our lives. Yet, when we remember the faithfulness of God, it restores our faith in God. The Lord has shown us covenant faithfulness that is based not on our own faithfulness, but on His faithfulness. Nehemiah 9 shows a glimpse into the history of Israel, focusing particularly on God’s faithfulness standing in juxtaposition to Israel’s unfaithfulness.  The root of our unfaithfulness is that we don’t listen to and we don’t remember the Lord our God. In Deuteronomy 8, Moses warns the people that they wil...

Nehemiah 8

On a winding mountain road, guard rails serve to create margin between where we are and the present danger that lies over the edge. While most of us would agree that such guardrails are important on the roads, we so often  live in relationships, marriages, and in our financial dealings  without any guardrails in place. Worldly wisdom proves to be completely insufficient for speaking into these areas. In Nehemiah 7:1-4, Nehemiah takes proactive steps to close the gates of the city to protect it at times of the day when it is most vulnerable. For Christians, our...

Everyone who wants to live a Godly life will experience pressure. In fact, every personal failure of ours comes about by succumbing to the pressures of life. We all come to situations that seem like they are lose-lose. Nehemiah 6 gives us an extraordinary example of how to stand under pressure. Nehemiah connects who he is to what he does. His answer to temptation is “Should a man like me do this?” This is the correct response to pressure. Pressure tests our identity, not our ability. When we give into pressure, we identify as people who crumble under pressure. When you...

The entire purpose of this sermon is to show you the importance of getting connected into groups. The importance of community is a principle that applies to you whether you believe it or not. In Ecclesiastes 4, King Solomon teaches why it is important to be surrounded in community. Two people can work better than one can by themselves. When one person falls, it is good to have another to help them up. In a world that is exceedingly filled with projecting an idealized version of ourselves, it is exceedingly important to be deeply known by others. If our struggles...

If you’ve ever tried to accomplish anything of significance, you are aware of our tendency to be distracted from important work. For almost everything in life, it’s easy to get distracted. If we could ever truly accomplish the most important things before anything else, it would change our lives. Nehemiah stands as an extraordinary example of refusing to be distracted, as he says, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down,” (Neh. 6:3). We all have a great work to prioritize. The reality is that we are going to say no to something. So, why wouldn’t...

When we hear a call to justice, we are often stirred up in emotion, as we all believe that service to the marginalized and vulnerable is important. Yet, we don’t often have a sustained sense of immediacy towards such passions; we have difficulty having obedience in the same direction over a long period of time. What we find when it comes to having the right actions towards justice is that what we do is the outcome of why we do it. For Nehemiah, his reason for working toward justice was simple: it was because of the fear of Go...

God’s people are called to apply pressure to places that are devoid of His justice. We are commissioned to be God’s representatives for justice on Earth.We can often use politics and other guises to hide behind the call we have to administer justice. The injustice we see in the world should bother us. In Nehemiah chapter 5, Nehemiah fights injustice by applying pressure emotionally, mentally and physically. This response changes the injustice around him. We should allow ourselves to be burdened emotionally to the point that we treat our lives as “no longer our own”, the same way Jesu...

Most of us see other people’s needs to gain more resiliency, but can be blind to our own. We have a tendency to quit on tasks in the “messy middle” once we’ve gotten tired from the work we’ve already done, but the end is not yet in sight. In Nehemiah 4, Nehemiah models obedience in the process of building the wall while trusting God with the finished product. When we focus on the product, we gain a false sense that we are the ones in control rather than God. We are able to fully engage in obedience while reme...

Influence, by definition, creates resistance. We expect resistance in order to grow in the physical realm, but are often surprised or stifled when we face spiritual opposition. In order to be successful in the face of opposition, we must be resilient. According to a 2019 Barna Research study, only 10% of 20-29 year-old confessing Christians in the U.S. are resilient disciples of Christ. The reality is that most of the resistance we face as believers is not functional opposition, but an accusation against what we are doing. When we reframe opposition, it gives us an opportunity to build resiliency. The...

Nehemiah Chapter 3 is a chapter that is all too often glossed over.  It is mostly a list of names, gates, and sections of the wall that were repaired.  However, it’s hard to overstate the significance that the people of God actually began to do the work that God called them to. We have, for far too long, lacked meaningful engagement in the work of God.  In this sermon, we unearthed the reason why we often don’t engage in the work that God has called us to.  In Nehemiah 3:11, there is a man named Malc...

We often believe that influence is based on position or opinion. The person with the highest position of authority or with the most extreme opinion are often seen as the most influential. However, we gain true influence through our actions that add value to others. Nehemiah models how to influence others by acting in a way that adds value to others. 

There’s a dichotomy that every influencer has to face, we must be patient and prayerful, but not passive.  People who excel at patience also tend to be passive.  Conversely, people who aren’t passive also tend to not be patient.  In scripture God often gives a burden or calling in a way that requires patience before action.  Yet, when the patient person is called to action or the action person is called to patience, they both feel the same thing…tension.  We want to resolve the tension, but the tension is good. When we res...

We are, as Christians, called to be influencers in our culture and our world. But how do we define influence? If society's influence is defined by the impressiveness of who is influencing, how does Jesus define it?

With this series, Uncommon Influencers, we will break down the book of Nehemiah to learn what Scripture tells us influence looks like.

James 2:1-14

Luke 16:1-11

Phil 2:1-11

In week two of our “Broke” series, we dismantle the “when I get _____, then I’ll _____” assumption, and learn what Jesus taught us about how we should manage what we’re given right NOW.