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)由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 26:16-23由Gulf 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…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Lampstands, fire-breathing witnesses, a pregnant cosmic woman, and a water-spewing dragon. It’s no wonder Revelation isn’t the easiest book to understand. Yet, since it is God’s Word, we have to persist in it because it reveals something about how God is at work in the world that, though consistent with what is revealed elsewh…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar “Are you pre-trib(ulation), mid-trib, or post-trib?” or, more generously, “Are you premillennial, amillenial, or postmillennial?” The 1st question more or less assumes an answer to the 2nd. The latter question focuses on only one chapter in Revelation (20) and doesn’t say much of anything about how one reads the rest. They are…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Our text begins with the Lamb, looking as if he had been slain, opening the seals which will allow the scroll to be opened. It ends with the sealed people of God who suffered through the events of the seals standing on the side of the sea, before God’s throne, giving praise for their victory. What are these “seals” and how are…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar What is the purpose of the book of Revelation? If, as we discussed last week, it is not to provide a timeline for when Jesus is coming back, then what is it? To understand this, we need to think about what a suffering church needs. What would a church tempted into the idolatry of the empire need? What would a church following …

Preacher: Jerry Cisar A couple of weeks ago I was wrestling with what our next sermon series should be at Gulf Coast Community Church. A thematic study of patience and the need for it as God’s strategy for mission and witness, or to finish our series in Revelation (recall that we left off last year after the 7 messages to the churches). Of course, …

Preacher: Ryan Carver Text: 1 Corinthians 1:1-21 Handout: https://gccc-recordings.s3.amazonaws.com/handouts/20231008.pdf由Gulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL

Preacher: Jerry Cisar I thought we finished the series, Imagining the Kingdom, last week. However, I was encouraged by one of our members last week to consider covering these final verses on prayer (I won’t mention any names, Reggie). I immediately knew I would. In fact, prayer is essential for a genuine kingdom imagination, and it is essential to …

Preacher: Jerry Cisar One of the most well-known passages in the New Testament letters is that which calls us to “put on the full armor of God” (Eph. 6:10-18). One can even obtain plastic armor like that of a Roman soldier for their children to put on, though I’m pretty sure this does more to mask the text than help them understand it. Paul has bee…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar During and following the 2016 presidential election, both sides claimed Russian interference in favor of their opponent’s campaign. It turns out, they were both right. In 2017 it was shown that both were correct (I dare not say “right”). In fact, it appears that the only goal the Russians have is to get our society to fight in…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar “Ships do not sink because of water around them, ships sink because of water that gets into them,” said the Pracin Jain in The Times of India (I’m not kidding!) In a day when it is not uncommon to hear Christians in a panic because of immorality of the world around us, this is a good reminder. The church isn’t going to sink be…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is a living human.” I believe this truth is central to the purpose of the Gospel. James K. A. Smith writes, “The gospel is the way we learn to be human…. To be human is to be for something, directed toward something, oriented toward something…. We are like existential sharks: we have to move to…

Preacher: Ryan Carver Text: 2nd Peter 1:3-11由Gulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL

Preacher: Jerry Cisar After a 12-year relationship with Mia Farrow, Woody Allen (then 57) trying to explain his controversial relationship with his lover, Mia Farrow’s 19-20 year old adoptive daughter, said “The heart wants what it wants?” I’ve heard similar reasoning as a spouse explains why their new love relationship must be God’s will because i…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar How well do you walk? According to at least one fitness guru, “almost nobody is good at walking: not you, not me and not all the other people in the park….” This may seem odd considering most of us have been doing it since we were one, and that without much instruction. Do we really need to learn all over? Yes. At least I am p…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Paul makes some audacious claims in his letter to the Ephesians. Not only has God, before the foundations of the world, chosen to adopt the Gentile Ephesians, but also Jews like Paul, in Jesus Christ, he has also made them one people. Despite their natural orientation toward rage and hostility toward one another, He has made p…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar I’d like to suggest that Paul’s goal in Ephesians 2, is for God’s newly adopted children to reimagine warfare, to reimagine the basis of our hostility. In His great mercy, God has rescued us out of our rage and disobedience, He has broken down the walls of hostility, and He has designed us to be his agents of good works—world …

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Do you have a bucket list? What’s on yours? What’s important to have on it? Does it help you focus on what’s important? These days, everyone seems to have a bucket list, but as believers, do we have those things on it which Jesus said would be important? Last week I was prepared to give a short message around 1 of 4 parables J…

由Gulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL

Preacher: Bruce Reynolds由Gulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL

Preacher: Jerry Cisar In the first half of Ephesians 1, Paul praises God our Father for how He gloriously adopted us in Jesus Christ, a plan He had from before the foundation of the world, and a plan rooted in His love for us. A plan which made us heirs of God through Jesus Christ. As heirs of God, we have been called to live a certain way. In the …

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Paul’s opening praise of God for what he has done in the glorious gospel in Ephesians (1:3-14) is amazing. It speaks of our adoption and says much about how it came about. It all revolves around our being “in Christ,” our union with Christ. Yet Paul assumes we understand what this phrase means. What does it mean to be in Chris…

Preacher: Jerry Cisar Adoption is one of the greatest pictures given to us to understand our relationship to God as the church. Unfortunately, it is also veiled because adoption in the ancient world was quite different than adoption in the 21stcentury. If we are going to imagine the kingdom, a kingdom headed by a Father whose Son is King, we must a…

Preacher: Ryan Carver Text: Mark 1:15 (CSB Version) Themes: Gospel, King Jesus由Gulf Coast Community Church of St. Petersburg, FL

Speaker: Jerry Cisar Donna and I spent our first 10 years of married life in Salt Lake City, Utah living with the majestic Wasatch mountains to the east (pictured below), wrapping around a bit to the North and south and feeling as if they were watching over us, and the less towering, arid Oquirrh (oaker) range to the west. Having moved there from t…

Speaker: Jerry Cisar Did you know that this Sunday is the anniversary of Christ’s kingdom inauguration? On this day nearly 2,000 years ago the inaugural ball was thrown and the first citizens of the restored kingdom of God were welcomed in with fanfare. The festivities began with wind and fire filling the place. People speaking in languages they di…

Speaker: Jerry Cisar The story about Simon Peter getting Jesus’ tax money from the fish’s mouth (Matt. 17:24-27) came to mind this morning in prayer (feel free to join us every Friday morning from 6:30-7:30 for prayer at the church office). That story demonstrates this importance of imagining the Kingdom. Jesus and the disciples arrive in Capernaum…

Speaker: Jerry Cisar Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks, after making a case for the power of patience, suggests that to harness the power of patience the first thing we must do is “develop a taste for having problems.” That may sound familiar (James 1:2-4; Rom. 5:3-4). And it may make you think, “Yuck!” None of us like problems. Howeve…