Denver Community Church

June 1, 2014: Rebels and Saints – Landon Lynch

Few people like prophets when they are alive. It’s not until decades later that the establishment can make a sinner into a saint and use that person for their purposes. This has been true of many who have spoke up in the strength of the Spirit of God. They are killed, because people don’t always like hearing what God might be saying to them.

Stephen, in a small way, prophesies his own death. He is speaking prophetically to those in power about what happened to the prophets – and in the end meets the same fate. Death at the hands of the powers.

May 25, 2014: What Shall We Do? – Landon Lynch

When Peter stands up and preaches, he is doing far more than just preaching a sermon about some familiar Old Testament passages. In fact, the response of the people tells us all we need to know. They don’t say, “Thanks for the reminder.” No, they say, “What shall we do?” Why would they say such a thing when all they have heard is information?

Because it was not information – it was the proclamation of a whole new reality. It was, for them, a gospel. A message that proclaimed an entirely new reality. And so we ask, “How does the gospel continue to be told and retold?” When we see beyond the gospel only being salvation, we are able to wake up to a brand new world, and ask “What shall we do?”

May 18, 2014: Can I Get a Witness? – Dave Neuhausel

The story of Acts is contained in the first few verses. Jesus tells the disciples “you will be my witnesses …” This is the story. It is the witness of the church, and we learn what it looks like to be the witnesses of Jesus through all the trials, joys and tribulations that are there.

Jesus is not interested in them knowing the times when the Kingdom will come, he is interested in them being faithful to proclaim the kingdom’s coming in the world and being willing to testify as to who Jesus was and is. If this is the mission he sent them on, then what does it mean for us to be witnesses today?

May 11, 2014: That's a Long Fall – Landon Lynch

Two times in this story of Eutychus falling from the window we are told about “breaking bread.” It is a celebration, on a Sunday, of the resurrection of Jesus. And on this night, a young man (maybe even as young as 9 years old) falls asleep and falls out of a window and dies. In the midst of this meeting, Paul runs outside and raises this boy from the dead. It’s story of resurrection on the day the church would celebrate the resurrection.

May 4, 2014: Lame and Dead – Michael Hidalgo

Jesus told his disciples they would do greater things than him. Let’s be honest, that’s hard to imagine, isn’t it? But Luke wants us to know that the power of Jesus is still alive and well and at work in his followers. This is why we hear echoes of stories about Jesus when he was “traveling about” and healing people.

Peter’s words to the Aeneas “Get up and roll up your mat” and his words to Dorcas “Tabitha Koum” are eerily similar to Jesus’ words spoken in the healing of a lame man and raising a girl from the dead. Even the details come close to one another. It goes to show that we can do great things, and greater things. Which raises the question, “What are we waiting for?”

April 27, 2014: Everything Changes – Landon Lynch

The Gate called Beautiful separated the court of the Gentiles from the court of the Jews in the temple. It was massive – so large in fact that it took twenty men to close it. It was a busy place, with people walking in and out all day long, and there in the midst of the busyness sat a man who was lame. One who was cut off from the very people who walked in and out of the gate everyday. It was this man that Peter healed. 

His response? Jumping, dancing and praising God … only because he could walk? No, because he “went into the temple courts.” He was given a new life. He could join with his people and be one of them. Because this is what healing does. It is not just about the physical healing. It is a holistic reality.

April 13, 2014: Forced Labor (Jerusalem) Babylon – Landon Lynch

There is another kind of slavery that comes when you enslave others. In a way it’s becoming the very person that you hate. When we consider the way the Hebrew people were brutalized by their slave drivers, it’s safe to say they hated them. Now, under the reign of Solomon, they became the slave drivers. 

It’s like a kid who was abused by his father who then grows up to abuse his son. Sometimes slavery is becoming the very thing that enslaved you, because you’ve never truly been freed from it. Of course, this leads to one place – more slavery. This is where the story of Israel ends in the Old Testament. There, by the Kebar River we hung our harps on the polar trees as our tormentors said, ‘Sing us songs of Zion.’ How can I sing of Zion while in a foreign land?

April 6, 2014: The Exodus and New Freedom – Michael Hidalgo

When the people of Israel were brought of Egypt, the land of slavery, it was just the beginning. And what they were about to learn was a new kind of freedom. It was a freedom that was not just for them, but for everybody. God’s vision for his people was that they would bless the entire world. In other words, that they would bring freedom to all people. This is why he reminds them again and again, “you were slaves.”

If they could remember this, and what it was like then they would seek to bring freedom to all people. One of the greatest dangers for the people of Israel would be for them to forget what God had done in liberating them. Because if they did, they may lose sight of what true freedom is and become enslaved once again. 

March 30, 2014: An Egyptian Workforce – Michael Hidalgo

How is it that God was willing to call Abraham to a new life – one that would be a blessing to all people, but in only a few generations he led them into slavery? It makes the story of Joseph seem a less wonderful. Unless … this is a story about a story. Maybe the people of Israel are a visible reality of the human story. 

Like Israel, humanity was given life and a deep connection with God, but they ended up in slavery. And now, Israel is a picture of what we as humans walk into all the time. Day after day they lived as slaves crying out. Because this is what slaves do. Perhaps you are crying out. Wondering how you got back here. Maybe you are wondering if God will ever show up.

March 23, 2014: God Calls Abraham/Isaac/Jacob – Landon Lynch

God was not going to sit back and allow humanity to remain in slavery. So he called Abraham and invited him and his descendants into a new life, to be the new humanity. One that learned once again what it meant to live a free life. God gave this promise not just to Abraham, but also to his son and grandson. This promise was one that would change the course of history. It was a new creation, a new day. Because God is not in the business of enslaving, but in the business of liberating.