Church at the Center

Listen! What to Do When God Is Talking

James 1:1-18

"There’s pattern that James has built into these verses which we can see if we look closely, which we might describe like this: When thisseemingly bad thing happens, God will give you thisgood thing out of it if you’re “listening” with trust. This is more than “everything happens for a reason” philosophy. This is a kind of crazy trust in God that leads to an attentiveness to Him withinespecially our most challenging situations. It’s a trust that says, 'Whether God caused this situation or just allowed it, I know He is here with me and loves me and I am going to listen for the blessing He is speaking to me through it.' This kind of listening to God through our circumstances almost never has anything to do with attaining 'your best life now' and almost always has something to do with becoming your best self over time—which is 'a kind of first fruits of all He created.'"

Rev. Jennifer A G Layte

Listen! and Other Forms of Communication

James 1:19-27

"When it comes to loving, one of the best ways is to communicate well. When it comes to communication, one of the best ways to start is to listen."

Rev Jennifer A G Layte

Grace Anatomy: The Best Thing

1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13

Rev Jennifer A G Layte

"One day, Church, we will see Jesus face to face with nothing between us, and ironically that’s when we’ll be fully transformed into His mirror image. That’s when we will know Him and love Him with the complete and fulfilled love that He has always had for us."

Grace Anatomy: All In This Together

1 Corinthians 12:1-31

Rev Jennifer A G Layte

NOTE:

This is a "family meeting" sort of sermon, and unfortunately our usual sound recorder was not available this Sunday. This left Pastor Jenn with the quandary of whether to leave this sermon off the podcast altogether, due to its congregation-specific nature, to upload a very echo-y and not always easy to understand recording from an iPhone which was positioned behind the speakers, or to re-record herself simply reading the sermon at a later date.

Although the sound quality is terrible, the option to share the live recording has been chosen, because the sermon itself is important to the life of our church, and something of the message will be lost in an after-the-fact read-through. That said, while as usual anyone is welcome to listen (or try to listen) to this message, if Central Baptist Church is not your home congregation, this one may be less apropos to you, and as it's kind of a lot of work to understand what's being said in some spots, you may quite understandably wish to excuse yourself from this "episode"! On the other hand, if Central Baptist is your home church, a listen is probably worth the effort.

Grace Anatomy: Hands, Feet and Mouth

Acts 3:1-21

Rev Jennifer A G Layte

"A truly 'saved soul' will look different—not only by telling people they’re sinners who need Jesus to escape Hell, but by reflecting a different way of viewing and responding to the world—a restorative, reconciling, life-giving way. The gospel is not summed up by the Four Spiritual Laws, helpful as those may sometimes be, but was summed up by Jesus Himself to the crowds: 'Repent [turn from your old life and trust in Jesus], for the Kingdom of God is at hand [live like you have a different King]!'"

Grace Anatomy: Out of the Fullness of the Heart

First it should be noted (and this is pretty ironic in context) that Pastor Jenn is aware of the literary misattribution she made at the beginning of this sermon. She realized it herself, but not until after she preached it...

 

Acts 2:42; 17:1-15

Rev Jennifer A G Layte

"The non-believing Thessalonian Jews didn’t actually care if the Bible and Paul’s teaching lined up with each other. They just didn’t want their own private gig, whatever that was exactly, to be threatened. And this same kind of thing is still happening today...The people opposing Paul in this passage (and in many other passages in Acts) were not, first and foremost, the surrounding pagan culture, but his own people."

Grace Anatomy: Free Hugs

Acts 2:42-47

Rev Jennifer A G Layte

"It seems like fellowship is something we all instinctively want, but what is less instinctive is knowing quite what it is."

Grace Anatomy: Blood Is Thicker Than Water

Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29

Rev Jennifer A G Layte

"This week I’ve been reminded of Jesus’ words to His disciples that everyone would know they were His because of how they love each other. Usually when I think about that verse, I roll my eyes and say to myself, 'Yeah, right. We’re so great at that.' I think about this a lot in connection with that verse about everyone knowing who Jesus’ people are because they love each other. But this week that verse was presented to me a little differently—not as a description of what is but of what mustbe, almost like a command. Like, You will love each other, so the world will know the only possible way that could happen is because you’re My disciples.'"

Grace Anatomy: Getting on Jesus' Nerves

Acts 2:42; 4:23-31

Rev Jennifer A G Layte

"It is prayer that makes the Church supernatural. Real prayer makes the people of God do things."

 

Grace Anatomy: Hark the Heralds

Acts 1:6-14

Rev Jennifer A G Layte

"We actually get to help Jesus prepare the rooms."

A whole bunch of metaphors get mixed in this sermon, but it all works out in the end.