Matt Reynolds :: Ecclesiastes : The Search for Meaning : Defining New :: 08.29.10
“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! That which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.”
We are starting a new study in the book of Ecclesiastes, arguably the most controversial book in the Bible. My only question is, was Solomon correct in his assumption?
Jamie Winship :: Releasing the Captives :: 08.22.10
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because God has anointed Me (the Anointed One, the
Messiah) to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release
to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are
oppressed, who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity, to proclaim
the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord; the day when salvation and the free favors of God
profusely abound.”
As Jesus moves out into His ministry, He warns of the need to “bind the strongman” (Mark 3:27) in order that those held captive might be liberated. While Jesus teaches that prayer is a key element in this process, He also demonstrates actions we can emulate as we move forward in reaching our communities for Christ.
Matt Reynolds :: Binding the Strong Man and Plundering his House :: 08.15.10
I’ve heard from many of you that last week’s message was incredibly timely as we unpacted Ephesians chapter 6. Now that we understand that we are fighting a spiritual battle, how do we make sure we are victorious? How can our names not only be written in heaven, but feared in hell? Mark chapter 5 verses 22-27 gives us Jesus strategy for bringing down the Kingdom of darkness which allows us to never live in fear again. What’s more than that, once the “strong man is bound, we are able to plunder his house” and lead many to freedom! We want to learn to live lives of plunder. This week will serve as a part 2 in many ways, so catch up on last week if you missed.
http://media.gfc.tv/iTunes/iTunes_Midtown/081510Reynolds815.mp3
spiritual warfare, boldness, truth, identity, darkness, light, kingdom of God
Matt Reynolds :: Ephesians Ch 6 Pt 1 What Have I Gotten Myself Into? :: 08.08.10
As our study in Ephesians is coming to a close, I can’t help but to compare the end of this letter with how other stories often finish. Some movies, for example, come together slowly and neatly, with everyone knowing exactly how the story will end. My favorite movies however, are those that having a massive finish. They end with a bang, a twist, or a complete reorientation of what everyone was expecting, and that’s just the way the letter to Ephesus ends! After Paul has described what our practical relationships should look like in the Kingdom of God, the letter could have wrapped up nicely with a few parting good-byes and a prayer. Instead, we are left with an intense command to “wake up” to the spiritual battle that we all find ourselves in because the forces of darkness will not go down without a fight. This Sunday we will talk about what spiritual warfare is all about and how we are to respond when under attack.
Buddy Hoffman :: Redemption :: 08.01.10
Imagine with me for a moment we are watching a movie. In the opening few sequences we are shown the famous star along side people he loves, who moments later are slaughtered by a cold-hearted, evil, contemptible, powerful, and seemingly untouchable people. What comes next as soon as the mourning, the grieving, and the inconsolable anger rises? You know right up front the theme for the rest of the movie; it is spelled revenge! The hero will hunt down the villain. The hero will exact his reprisal: justifiable, understandable, humanly reasonable revenge.
But what happens to the hero in the pursuit of vengeance?
Normally, the revenge is anything but sweet. Something happens in the heart of the man in pursuit of the monster; somehow something dies. It has been well said, “In our efforts to kill monsters we must take care not to become one.” Last week I stood outside the crumbing remains of the Coliseum in Rome, the place where more people were slaughtered for following Jesus–thousands upon thousands–than any other place on the planet. This was the epicenter of Roman power and Christian persecution.This was the city where Paul was beheaded, where Peter was crucified upside down and where the blood of believers ran like water. I stood there with a friend whose wife had been slaughtered just a few years ago by a Muslim, deceived by a false faith, believed he was doing God’s will. I stood there with a lady who was the granddaughter of one of the men killed by the Indians in Equador. These two are now married with three children. Why were we there? Mobilizing an army! But not for revenge, but to announce the Kingdom of God!
This Sunday we are headed into 1 Corinthians 10 and we are reminded how and why we are different! We live a different story and the story line is not revenge, it is redemption.
Matt Reynolds :: Sowing Our Lives :: 08.01.10
Unless a grain of wheat fall into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24
Matt Reynolds :: Practical Relationships & the Kingdom of God :: 07.25.10
Our study through Ephesians has been absolutely life-changing for most of our congregation. I hear stories weekly of all that God as been teaching and training our body to know through this wonderful letter that was written to a church just like Grace-Midtown. The book of Ephesians answers the questions that we didn’t even know we were asking, and this week’s question is the most practical in our every day life: “What are relationships supposed to look like in the Kingdom of God?” Paul address 3 specific relationships at the close of chapter five and the beginning of chapter six; (husbands and wives), (children and parents), (employees and bosses). This is should be an interesting Sunday…
Matt Reynolds :: Worship and Praise :: 07.18.10
In response to last week’s message entitled “Living Lives of Praise”, we want to spend this Sunday in a time of extended praise and worship. In Acts 13:1-4 we see a peculiar passage in which the church at Antioch was spending time “ministering to the Lord”. I’ve always wondered what it really means to “minister to the Lord”, because we all know the Lord doesn’t really need anything, from anyone. But while this group did minister to the Lord, the Holy Spirit began to speak to the church and give specific direction to send Paul and Barnabas on a new adventure to expand the Kingdom of God. This Sunday we want to minister to our Lord and see what He might say to us…
Matt Reynolds :: Ephesians Ch. 5 pt. 3 :: 07.11.10
What does it mean to live a life of praise? Ephesians 5:18 tells us that we cannot live such a life if we are filled with anything other than the Holy Spirit of God. Everything other than the Spirit leads to a life that fades, but when filled by God we can live a lifestyle where we actually make “melody with our hearts to the Lord”. That sounds incredibly attractive to me and no one models this lifestyle of praise better than our worship Pastors Ben Smith and Patrick Barrett. This Sunday we will all be sharing from these verses and will spend time making melodies to the Lord with our lips along with our hearts.
Buddy Hoffman :: Free to love? :: 07.04.10
Does Freedom matter? Is it Biblical? Freedom has been called a “dangerous idea”. What about liberty could be considered dangerous?
The words at the base of the Statue of Liberty read…
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.”
What is freedom? Why should we care? Is freedom a “spiritual yearning” placed there by God or a “sinful lust” to be independent?
Is it evil to yearn for liberty? Should we care for those without liberty? Is political freedom and spiritual freedom related? Is it a universal desire, or just representative of our culture?
Sunday we are headed into 1 Corinthians 8, and we will see what God has to say about this desire to be free, and the responsibilities that go with it.
Matt Reynolds :: Ephesians 5 pt.2 Is there a better way to live? :: 07.04.10
Ephesians 5:8 “you were formely darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light”
Matt Reynolds :: Ephesians 5 pt. 1 Is there a better way to live? :: 06.27.10
Ephesians 5:1 says, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
This verse is exhilarating and incredibly haunting at the same time. Is it really possible to be an imitator of God? In our own strength, effort, and DNA, I think not. But a few verses earlier Ephesians 4:24 allows us to peer into a mystery of God; “put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” This verse begins to unpack that we now have the DNA of God in Christ, through the new self.
I think you will find there is a much better way to live when we begin to understand our new DNA and how we can live freely from that place of the new self in Christ.
Buddy Hoffman :: Fathers Day :: 06.20.10
Breathe in – do you feel that air moving past your lips, down your throat, filling your lungs? Without that breath, our brain begins to die within three minutes. When was the last time you used that exhaling, life-giving breath to just say “Thanks”? “Thanks for breath, the last one and the next one.” If it’s been a while, do it with that next breath.
One of those gifts is being a father; the flip-side of that gift is having a father. The heart of that truth is the teaching of Jesus to His followers, which pointed us to this amazing attribute of our Heavenly Father: “Ask, and it will be given, if you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
[podcast]http://media.gfc.tv/iTunes/iTunes_Midtown/062010Hoff815.mp3[/podcast]Brian Krawczyk :: The Heart of the Father :: 06.20.10
Throughout the Bible, the heart of God is revealed as the perfect father. Jesus came from the father (Jn 1:14). He came to reveal the father (Jn 14:7-9). He did only what He saw the father do (Jn 5:19). He tells of the father who ran and embraced his wayward son (Lk 15:20). The Holy Spirit is a gift of the father (Jn 14:16). We were commanded to pray for the father (Lk 11:2).
Until we understand who we are as sons and daughters of the king, we will not understand our role in the kingdom–who God calls us to be as fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters. If we miss the heart of the father, we miss the heart of the kingdom. Why? Because it is the father’s kingdom. It’s a kingdom built around the truth of a perfect father. And we must personally encounter the heart of the father.
Matt Reynolds :: Ephesians 4 Pt. 3 The Heart of Unity :: 06.13.10
This week we will continue our study of Ephesians focusing on the subject of unity. We can talk about it, we can study it, but we only truly experience the unity of the Holy Spirit when our hearts are all yearning for God as one. Someone who is visibly in love with God has the power to move your spirit toward God. A group of people in love with God has the power to overwhelm your spirit and set you on fire for God.
Buddy Hoffman :: Marriage is a Kingdom Thing :: 06.06.10
The passages we have been in the last few weeks are 1 Corinthians 7 and Genesis 1-3; this week I want to expand that to Revelation 19, where we see the Kingdom is coming into its fullness. We are told a vast crowd in heaven is shouting and it is a sound so loud that it is compared to “the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder!” The event is called “the wedding feast of the Lamb!”
Marriage matters to God! Marriage is a Kingdom thing!
Brian Krawczyk :: Ephesians 4 pt. 2 Who Am I Connected to? :: 06.06.10
God did not create the human body to be dominated by one system. All the systems work together to keep us in good health. The same is true of the body of Christ. Unfortunately, too often, the church operates as a body with some of its systems out of sorts. Every person in the body of Christ has an equal role to play in the ministry Jesus gives to His church. There is no spiritual hierarchy.
The New Testament makes it absolutely clear that the church of Jesus Christ–the body of Jesus Christ–is to function in the world in the same way Jesus functioned. We are to be the Jesus they won’t see any other way. And Ephesians 4 tells us that within the body are five roles, five facets of ministry that Jesus conducted in the world and that He continues to conduct through us.
So how have YOU been created and designed to function?
What’s your role?
Matt Reynolds :: Ephesians 4 Pt. 1 Who Am I Connected To? :: 05.30.10
It’s been an amazing past couple of weeks as we’ve prayed and worshiped our God over the 10 Nights of Worship, then celebrated the day of Pentecost together last Sunday, and now we dive into responding to the things God has placed on our heart as His Body at Midtown. It’s so fitting that this Sunday we are faced with Ephesians chapter 4, in which Paul exhorts the church to live as a community in mission under God. This week, I shared some updates and also gave some vision as to where we believe God is calling us to grow in being a community with a specific mission.
Matt Reynolds :: Pentecost :: 05.23.10
In Acts 2, Jesus told the disciples to stay in Jerusalem, waiting for power from heaven. For 10 days they fasted and prayed, eagerly expecting this gift Jesus had promised. What happened on that 10th day, forever changed them and continues to change us today if we will allow it. The Holy Spirit came, filled the Apostles, and brought the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth eternally changing the lives of 0ver 3,000 people. Our prayer to see heaven come to earth is dependent on the same Holy Spirit power, given without measure to those who believe in Jesus. In humility, we set aside 10 days leading up to Pentecost, confessing Jeremiah 10:23 “I know, O Lord, our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course.” and asking God, once again, to pour out His spirit of wisdom and revelation so our next step would align with His grand plan for the Kingdom to come to Atlanta.
Matt Reynolds :: Ephesians 3 pt. 2 What Am I Made Of? ::05.16.10
Have you ever had a moment with God so powerful you were at a loss for the words to adequately describe it? Have you ever sensed God working deeply within you at a level you could only explain as being your inner man? The truths Paul is praying for the Ephesians to know and experience at the end of chapter 3 are beyond words and deeper than skin. It’s about people experiencing Christ’s Love down to there core…and it changes everything.3:16-19 “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Matt Reynolds :: Ephesians 3 Pt. 1 What Am I Made Of? :: 05.09.10
If you haven’t sensed it by now, we are in the middle of something BIG! God has performed so many amazing miracles in transforming people’s lives in Atlanta this year, and it is clear we are part of a Jesus movement. In chapter 3 of Ephesians Paul explains that God’s plan is to show the world His wisdom and power by pouring out His grace on people who are far from Him. We are seeing a fresh expression of God’s power this year as He transforms and empowers those who many thought would never follow Jesus.
Matt Reynolds :: Ephesians 2 Pt. 2 What’s Our Purpose :: 05.02.10
This Sunday as we continue our study in Ephesians chapter 2, we will be taking an in-depth look at what verse 10 has to say: “For we are His workmanship (masterpiece), created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” As you meditate on this verse, it begs the question, “What creative work is God calling me to complete?” A broader look at this verse also forces us to ask, “What works is God calling His universal Church to complete in our dat and time?”
Matt Reynolds :: Ephesians 2 Pt. 1 What’s My Purpose :: 04.25.10
In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. Ephesians 2:14-16
This idea of Christ uniting Jews and Gentiles would have come as an absolute shock to most people! But to truly apply the passage, we need to ask the question, “who is the Gentile of our day that Christ is uniting to the Christians?”
Buddy Hoffman :: Jesus Fruit :: 04.25.10
News so amazing that it caused you to question the credibility of the person telling you and wonder if such things were even in the realm of possibility. We are going to look at an episode from the prophet Elisha’s life in which he told one of the leaders what was going to happen and his response was, “That couldn’t happen even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven!” that man missed God’s miracle; it’s recorded in 2 Kings 7. We have been talking about fruitfulness. Perhaps you have bought the lie of Satan that it is God’s will that you live in the desert, fruitless and dry. You might have even embraced such thinking to the point you take pride in your dehydrated existence. I have really good news. God is going to do something big, massive, immense and intense…it’s harvest time!