The Transformed Life

At Midtown Presbyterian Church, our mission is to invite people into a transformative relationship with Jesus Christ. We borrow this language of transformation from the scriptures, where we are encouraged as Christians to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:1-2). Being a Christian isn’t simply about information - it is about transformation, becoming people whose entire beings embody the way and work of Jesus in every part of our lives. With this goal in mind, we at Midtown have developed an introductory curriculum, alongside a library of resources, events, sermons, and podcasts, designed to help transform our community into Christlikeness.

Listen as Pastor Clint introduces the first two parts of this new series--the Story of God and Scripture--by examining the tale of two disciples walking the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus after the resurrection of Christ and their encounter with Jesus on the road, through the scripture, and in the bread.

Sermon Resources:
1. "Head of Christ," painting by Warner Sallman, 1941
2. Digital reconstruction of first century Jewish man: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3359548/Is-real-face-JESUS-Experts-use-forensics-reveal-Christ-looked-like.html&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1673215179086216&usg=AOvVaw3v8O_Smn9ZzJDAmd_wj7gS
3. Hopelessness in American teenagers: https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/04/american-teens-sadness-depression-anxiety/629524/
4. Hopelessness in American 20-somethings: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/10/51percent-of-young-americans-say-they-feel-down-depressed-or-hopeless.html
4. Antidepressant usage spike: https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/news/antidepressant-prescribing-increases-by-35-in-six-years#:~:text=Prescriptions%20of%20antidepressants%20rose%20by,the%20sixth%20consecutive%20annual%20increase.
5. Access the full Transformed Life curriculum here: https://www.midtownpres.org/transformed-life

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Sunday Services: www.midtownpres.org

The Transformed Life | Week 1: The Story of God and Scripture | Luke 24:13 35 - Clint Leavitt

At Midtown Presbyterian Church, our mission is to invite people into a transformative relationship with Jesus Christ. We borrow this language of transformation from the scriptures, where we are encouraged as Christians to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:1-2). Being a Christian isn’t simply about information - it is about transformation, becoming people whose entire beings embody the way and work of Jesus in every part of our lives. With this goal in mind, we at Midtown have developed an introductory curriculum, alongside a library of resources, events, sermons, and podcasts, designed to help transform our community into Christlikeness.

Listen as Pastor Clint explores the subject of prayer, something that was foundational for Jesus but so often difficult for us. How do we restore our prayer lives? As it turns out, we're not the first ones to ask the question: Jesus' disciples similarly asked Him, "Lord, teach us to pray." Jesus' response is found the famous Lord's Prayer, a template the illuminates the transformative significance of prayer in our own lives and gives us a structure in our own prayer lives.

Sermon Resources:
1. “We, for every kind of reason, good and bad, are distracting ourselves into spiritual oblivion. It is not that we have anything against God, depth, and spirit, we would like these, it is just that we are habitually too preoccupied to have any of these show up on our radar screens. We are more busy than bad, more distracted than nonspiritual, and more interested in the movie theater, the sports stadium, and the shopping mall and the fantasy life they produce in us than we are in church. Pathological busyness, distraction, and restlessness are major blocks today within our spiritual lives." -Ronald Rolheiser, The Holy Longing: The Search For A Christian Spirituality
2. Interview with Justin Rosenstein on our distracted culture: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphone-addiction-silicon-valley-dystopia
3. “The whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of God to whom we pray.” -Julian of Norwich
4. "How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings From A Leading Neuroscientist," by Andrew Newberg

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Community Groups: www.midtownpres.org/community-groups
Sunday Services: www.midtownpres.org

The Transformed Life| Week 2: Prayer | Matthew 6:7-23 - Clint Leavitt

At Midtown Presbyterian Church, our mission is to invite people into a transformative relationship with Jesus Christ. We borrow this language of transformation from the scriptures, where we are encouraged as Christians to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:1-2). Being a Christian isn’t simply about information - it is about transformation, becoming people whose entire beings embody the way and work of Jesus in every part of our lives. With this goal in mind, we at Midtown have developed an introductory curriculum, alongside a library of resources, events, sermons, and podcasts, designed to help transform our community into Christlikeness.

Listen as Pastor Clint explores the subject of disciplines, the ancient practices Christians have embraced to abide in the love and character of Jesus and embody it to the world. While they may sound intimidating at first, a deeper understanding of their history and application reveals how important they are to our own spiritual journey, and how they can actually shape us into the people we are made to be.

Sermon Resources:
1. Study on the average amount of advertisements Americans are exposed to per day: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/25/finding-brand-success-in-the-digital-world/?sh=388cf9f626e2
2. Study on the shrinking of human attention spans: https://time.com/3858309/attention-spans-goldfish/
3. "“Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.” -Richard Foster, "Celebration of the Disciplines"
4. Rich Villodas - Example of "dippers" vs. "dwellers"
5. "Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom." -Soren Kierkegaard
6. “In the conduct of one’s own life it is soon obvious, as many have learned the hard way, that empty freedom is a snare and a delusion. In following what comes naturally or easily, life simply ends in confusion, and in consequent disaster. Without discipline of time, we spoil the next day the night before, and without the discipline of prayer, we are likely to end by having practically no experience of the divine-human encounter...We have not advanced very far in our spiritual lives if we have not encountered the basic paradox of freedom, to the effect that we are most free when we are bound. But not just any way of being bound will suffice; what matters is the character of our binding." -Elton Trueblood

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Website: www.midtownpres.org
Community Groups: www.midtownpres.org/community-groups
Sunday Services: www.midtownpres.org

The Transformed Life | Week 3: Disciplines | John 15 1-11 - Clint Leavitt

At Midtown Presbyterian Church, our mission is to invite people into a transformative relationship with Jesus Christ. We borrow this language of transformation from the scriptures, where we are encouraged as Christians to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:1-2). Being a Christian isn’t simply about information - it is about transformation, becoming people whose entire beings embody the way and work of Jesus in every part of our lives. With this goal in mind, we at Midtown have developed an introductory curriculum, alongside a library of resources, events, sermons, and podcasts, designed to help transform our community into Christlikeness.

Listen as Gayle Parker explores the central topic of church, and what Peter's words on holiness can teach us about the essential nature of the church in the life of the Christian community.

Join us below:
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Website: www.midtownpres.org
Community Groups: www.midtownpres.org/community-groups
Sunday Services: www.midtownpres.org

The Transformed Life | Week 4: Church | 1 Peter 2:4-10 - Gayle Parker

At Midtown Presbyterian Church, our mission is to invite people into a transformative relationship with Jesus Christ. We borrow this language of transformation from the scriptures, where we are encouraged as Christians to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:1-2). Being a Christian isn’t simply about information - it is about transformation, becoming people whose entire beings embody the way and work of Jesus in every part of our lives. With this goal in mind, we at Midtown have developed an introductory curriculum, alongside a library of resources, events, sermons, and podcasts, designed to help transform our community into Christlikeness.

Listen as Pastor Clint explores the characteristics that made the early church so transformative in the world: their inclusive and diverse fellowship, and unselfish and sacrificial giving, and their connection to the ultimate source of such thing - Jesus. Learn how we can become that sort of transformative community in our own community today!

Sermon Resources:
1. Letter from Pliny to Trajan in 112 CE about the early Christians: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/pliny.html#:~:text=These%20letters%20concern%20an%20episode,the%20second%20and%20third%20centuries.
2. Journal article on the explosive growth of early Christianity: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-94222012000100076#:~:text=The%20calculation%20of%20Stark%20to,%3B%20Schor%202009%3A481).
3. “We slaughter a fierce ox; we strangle a mad dog; we plunge the knife into sickly cattle; children who are born weakly and deformed we drown.” -Seneca, early Greek stoic
4. Study on the divisiveness of American politics: https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/frenchpress/activism-and-apathy-are-poisoning-american-politics/
5. See redlining: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining
6. See John Brown University for prohibitions of interracial marriage until the 21st century: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGUwcs9qJXY&t=14s
7. “God’s vision for his people is not…to form a colorblind uniformity of sanctified blandness. Instead God sees the creation of a community of different cultures united by faith in his Son as a manifestation of the expansive nature of his grace. This expansiveness is unfulfilled unless the differences are seen and celebrated, not as ends unto themselves, but as particular manifestations of the power of the Spirit to bring forth the same holiness among different peoples and cultures for the glory of God.” -Esau McCaulley, "Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope"
8. “Their founder [Jesus] taught them that they should be like brothers to one another, and therefore they despise their own privacy and view their possessions as common property.” -Lucian of Samosata, early opponent of Christianity
9. “The impious Galileans support not only their poor, but ours as well.” -Emperor Julian of Rome
10. “This was an angelic commonwealth, not to call anything of theirs their own. Forthwith the root of evils was cut out.… None reproached, none envied, none grudged; no pride, no contempt was there.… The poor man knew no shame, the rich no haughtiness.” -John Chrysostom

The Transformed Life | Week 5: Fellowship + Giving | Acts 2:40-47 - Clint Leavitt

At Midtown Presbyterian Church, our mission is to invite people into a transformative relationship with Jesus Christ. We borrow this language of transformation from the scriptures, where we are encouraged as Christians to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:1-2). Being a Christian isn’t simply about information - it is about transformation, becoming people whose entire beings embody the way and work of Jesus in every part of our lives. With this goal in mind, we at Midtown have developed an introductory curriculum, alongside a library of resources, events, sermons, and podcasts, designed to help transform our community into Christlikeness.

Listen as Pastor Clint explores the topic of work, and how Christianity provides a transformative picture in contrast the the dehumanizing "workism" of our culture.

Sermon Resources:
1. “In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshiping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.” -David Foster Wallace, "This Is Water"
2. Article in The Atlantic on the danger of workism: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/02/religion-workism-making-americans-miserable/583441/
3. WHO release on "burnout:" https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases
4. Gallup study on work dissatisfaction: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://news.gallup.com/opinion/chairman/212045/world-broken-workplace.aspx?g_source%3Dposition1%26g_medium%3Drelated%26g_campaign%3Dtiles&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1676240261221924&usg=AOvVaw20mRPI12X-mCikBC6XuTWW
5. "Culture says, “I am what I do.” Scripture says, “I do what I am.” -John Mark Comer
6. Vocational Question: “At this point in your journey, how do you envision your call to God’s mission in the world?"

Join us below:
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Community Groups: www.midtownpres.org/community-groups
Sunday Services: www.midtownpres.org

The Transformed Life | Week 6: Service + Vocation | Genesis 1-2 - Clint Leavitt

At Midtown Presbyterian Church, our mission is to invite people into a transformative relationship with Jesus Christ. We borrow this language of transformation from the scriptures, where we are encouraged as Christians to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:1-2). Being a Christian isn’t simply about information - it is about transformation, becoming people whose entire beings embody the way and work of Jesus in every part of our lives. With this goal in mind, we at Midtown have developed an introductory curriculum, alongside a library of resources, events, sermons, and podcasts, designed to help transform our community into Christlikeness.

Listen as Pastor Clint explores Jesus' command to make disciples in Matthew 28, and how the language Jesus uses helps us recognize what witnessing is and isn't and guides us to do it well in our world.

Sermon Resources:
1. Resources on being covered by the "dust" of your rabbi: see Avot 1:4, from the Jewish Mishnah
2. “The governing assumption today, even among professing Christians, is that we can be ‘Christians’ forever and never really become disciples…The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples–students, apprentices, practitioners–of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom in every corner of human existence. Will they break out of the churches to be his Church–to be, without human force or violence, his mighty force for good on earth, drawing those around them toward the eternal purposes of God?” -Dallas Willard, The Great Omission
3. Lifeway resource on percentage of Christians who witness to their neighbors: https://research.lifeway.com/2019/04/23/evangelism-more-prayed-for-than-practiced-by-churchgoers/
4. Lifeway resource on openness to spiritual conversations: https://research.lifeway.com/2022/02/22/most-open-to-spiritual-conversations-few-christians-speaking/
5. See Barna's "Recapturing Evangelism" resource
6.  “Do you love your faith so little that you have never battled a single fear lest your faith should not be true? Where there are no doubts, no questions, no perplexities, there can be no growth.”--George MacDonald
7. “If we only had eyes to see and ears to hear and wits to understand, we would know that the Kingdom of God in the sense of holiness, goodness, beauty is as close as breathing and is crying out to be born both within ourselves and within the world; we would know that the Kingdom of God is what we all of us hunger for above all other things even when we don't know its name or realize that it's what we're starving to death for. The Kingdom of God is where our best dreams come from and our truest prayers. We glimpse it at those moments when we find ourselves being better than we are and wiser than we know. We catch sight of it when at some moment of crisis a strength seems to come to us that is greater than our own strength. The Kingdom of God is where we belong. It is home, and whether we realize it or not, I think we are all of us homesick for it.” -Frederick Buechner

Join us below:
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Website: www.midtownpres.org
Community Groups: www.midtownpres.org/community-groups
Sunday Services: www.midtownpres.org

The Transformed Life | Week 7: Witnessing | Matthew 28:16-20 - Clint Leavitt

At Midtown Presbyterian Church, we value honest questions and genuine community, working alongside one another as we discover more about what it means to follow Jesus in the modern world, and in Phoenix. You are welcome here.
Listen to our teachings in this podcast to follow us, and be sure to join us Sunday mornings; visit thespringmidtown.org to learn more.