Christ is creative. He measures out grace to each of us to create something: the Church and each local church. He measures out grace for spiritual gifts for each Christian, then organizes them via his pastors into churches so that through them, he will fill the world with his grace! That we get to join this mission is grace added to grace!

Remedy City Church

Christ Creates the Church to Fill the World

"You should do better." "He shouldn't have done that." "I should pray more." Why should we? God is interested in motivating us properly and not just forcing conformity on us. Don't focus on being good. Focus on learning Jesus!

Why should I? Or, Don't be good! Learn Jesus! (Ephesians 4:17-21) 3-28-21 JeremiahKinney

"While we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly." Such grace to those undeserving is the theme running throughout the story of the Bible in both Testaments. We must never forget that if we have anything good at all, that we must use it for good, since it has come not by our own strength but by God's kindness toward those who are weak.

Thrive by Humility not Own Strength (Amos 2) 6-6-21 JeremiahKinney

God protected his hero David through four escapes in this chapter, 1 Samuel 19. This foreshadows the protection given to the greater Hero, Jesus Christ, who escaped the grave by rising from the dead. We, in union with him, can escape the grave as well. So how do we pursue escaping without him?

Protection and Escape with God's Hero (1 Samuel 19, Psalm 59) 9-26-21-JeremiahKinney

Convictions--being absolutely convinced of something--work as a compass to direct our decisions and aim. We need to hold all things loosely but one supreme conviction: that God has given us the best hope, best answer to all of our heart and life issues, and that is Jesus Christ his Son. The story of Jonathan, convinced that David was God's hero for the day, is an example to us of convictional hope.

Convictional Hope in God's Hero (1 Samuel 20) 10-03-21-JeremiahKinney

Sometimes we have to fight to maintain our faith and joy against doubts. Sometimes, in the exact same struggle, we will go back and forth, feeling hopeful one day and hopeless the next. This is the fight for faith and joy. David experienced it in two psalms that compare and contrast on this very topic. Jesus experienced the same fight as well. it's common, and with Jesus' help, we can continue the fight for faith and joy.

The Back and Forth Fight for Faith and Joy (1 Sam 22, Ps 57+142) 10-24-21-JeremiahKinney

God's love inspires joy, endurance, courage, integrity, and greatness. David knew how much God loved him, and that inspired him to great things. Jesus knew, and so he was inspired to greatness as well. The personal nature of God and his desire to relate to us thrills us far more than information about commandments ever could. Do you have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ?

Welcome + Sermon: God's Love Inspires Greatness (1 Samuel 26) 11-21-21 JeremiahKinney

What happens to babies when they die? What happens when a powerful person hurts a weak person? What happens when we do something shocking that we can't take back? We want justice. We want mercy. God planned for both so that the universe would be right and the people saved who look to his Son.

Mercy Married to Justice (2 Samuel 12, Psalm 51) 2-20-22-JeremiahKinney

When we pause our progress long enough to celebrate with God the things he has done for us, to give him thanks and praise, we bond with him. God has been doing his part to bond with you. Jesus drew attention to the one who gave thanks to him to get your attention, so that he could bond with you.

Saying Thank You Strengthens Your Bond with God (Luke 17:11-19)6-19-22-JeremiahKinney

Hang on to Christ. He is the best there is. In the face of doubt, suffering, or persecution, our greatest hope to turn to is Jesus, who also faced doubts, suffering, persecution, and the temptation to quit. Don't quit on Jesus. Don't turn from him under pressure; turn to him. He's the best and only hope we have. That is the message of the letter to the Hebrews.

Hang On to Christ (Hebrews Overview) 08-21-22-JeremiahKinney

God designs a church according to his specifications. We each play a specific part that he has designed if our eyes are on Jesus Christ, expressing his spiritual gifts in love for the common good. God is building his unified churches through his created diversity.

Spiritual Gifts (1 Corinthians 12-14)11-20-22-JeremiahKinney

There's the copies, and then there's the real thing. The continual sacrificing to re-balance the scales with God is a thing of the past. That was just a picture of something truer, of Jesus's once-for-all sacrifice of himself for us. God has promised to make us Heaven's own citizens by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The pictures in the Old Testament point to the reality of Heaven itself, so that being saved by the blood of Jesus is a thing we can know for sure.

Pictures Don't Do God's Promises Justice (Hebrews 8) 02-05-23-JeremiahKinney

Religion should point to Jesus. Otherwise, it is a distraction. Jesus is the Real Thing, the answer and remedy to problems and desires that religion cannot satisfy. Jesus is greater than religion.

Jesus is Greater than Religion (Hebrews 9:23-28) 2-26-23_JeremiahKinney

Though life is full of stress and pressure, God gives us directives that strengthen us so that we can endure, so that the growth of our faith can exceed the pressure of our lives. Since Hebrews 10 uses the phrase "let us" three times in a short paragraph, we can call that section a salad, full of the healthy stuff that boosts our faith to the end.

A Salad for Strength to Endure (Hebrews 10:19-25)03-12-23-JeremiahKinney

How can we hang on to Christ when we feel rejected, ignored, persecuted, canceled, and all we would have to do to be more socially acceptable is let go of Jesus? How can we endure in our faith? Here's how, in Hebrews 10:19-39.

You can suffer for Christ and hang on! Yes you can! (Hebrews 10:19-39) 3-19-23-JeremiahKinney

A heavenly focus is critical to earthly endurance. God has made a promise to those who believe in Jesus that they will one day be in heaven forever with him. In Hebrews 12, to conclude a passage about endurance and perseverance, the author points the follower of Christ to gaze on heaven, to hold on for heaven. His description of heaven centers around Christ and how the follower of Christ miraculously belongs there! Hold on for heaven, brothers and sisters!

Hold on for HEAVEN (Hebrews 12:18-29)6-11-23-JeremiahKinney

In Hebrews 13:18-25, we read a prayer that God would give us all we need to assure us of our salvation, to ensure that we remain in his saving grace now and forever so that we cannot lose our salvation, to equip us to be all he intends for us to be in right standing before him. Why would he do such a thing? Because he is "the God of peace."

Peace Now and Forever (Hebrews 13:18-25) 7-30-23-JeremiahKinney

How Does God Motivate? (1 John 2:28-3:3) - 7/13/14 - Jeremiah Kinney

God's love and forgiveness defies reason; it's so immense. No matter what we have done, he is ready to forgive. It is so reasonable that we would run to him for mercy and grace; it is so unreasonable that we would stray from him. So God says in Isaiah 1, "let's reason together" or let's settle this, and then he offers his no-matter-what forgiveness based on the justice he has enacted on Jesus Christ in our place.

No-Matter-What Forgiveness (Isaiah 1) 8-20-23-JeremiahKinney

God was heartbroken over his people. They were dying because of a lack of knowledge of who he was and who they themselves were. They didn't know God, and they lacked self-awareness. In Isaiah 5 and 6, we read of the sinfulness of human hearts and then the wonderful love and awesome majesty of God. What more could be done for his people that he has not done? He gave us his Son, and then he cleansed our hearts so that we could receive him.

Hope for the Hopeless (Isaiah 5-6) 9-3-23-JeremiahKinney

God actually addresses the concept of conspiracy theories with his prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 8. God connects our chaotic surroundings and fearful hearts to his own promise of sanctuary and rest and Messiah. If fear of any kind is your big enemy, then the love of God is your big answer.

Waiting on God Gives Fearless Rest (Isaiah 8:11-22) 10-1-23-JeremiahKinney

We need all-weather faith, a trust in God that works when times are hardest. In Isaiah 31, the prophet is surprised when the people of God fail to consult him on their difficult days. Instead of running to our own solutions or the other manmade answers we find in this world, why not try the Lion? Why  not go to God, who is jealous for us, will not abandon us? Why not check in with him, consult him, see what he will do? If he didn't spare his own Son, won't he give us all we need?

Why Not Try the Lion? (Isaiah 31)2-4-24-JeremiahKinney

There is man's way, that leads to pain, and God's way, that leads to peace. That's what Isaiah shows us in Isaiah 32-33. God's peace comes in the forms of quietness, forgiveness, transformation, and stability. It leads us to heaven through the giving of his Son and the sending of his Spirit. We are called to faith in God's way, God's Son, and we are promised peace if we believe.

Ambassadors of God's Way (Isaiah 32-33) 2-11-24-JeremiahKinney

Trusting is praying. In Isaiah 36-37, we meet King Hezekiah, a very, very good king who was pro-good, pro-righteousness, pro-God, but he was still trusting in his own strength. It was when he learned to pray that he really and truly began to trust only in God. After experiencing a whole litany of devilish deceptions, he came to the end of his own strength and, through prayer, put his trust and hope in the God of heaven alone. And this is what we can do to, invited by Jesus Christ to trust in him alone!

Trusting is Praying (Isaiah 36-37) 2-25-24-JeremiahKinney

God has already solved your problems, but he still wants you to pray! That's what we learn in Isaiah 37. God wants you to experience his love so he desires us to pray so that we can know he is involved in our lives, shaping and helping us.

God Has Already Solved Your Problems (Isaiah 37) 3-3-24-JeremiahKinney

External acts of faith, coming from a heart of biblical convictions even, is dead without trust in God. King Hezekiah, in Isaiah 38-39 (as well as 2 Chronicles 29-32 and 2 Kings 18-20) was an outstanding hero of the faith, and yet, he struggled to bank all of his trust in God and keep it there. The Isaiah account shows we need a better king, that even the great ones come up short, and so, we learn to trust in God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Faith without Trust is Dead (Isaiah 38-39) 3-10-24-JeremiahKinney

Isaiah 40 proclaims the initiative mercy of God to people who are weary for any reason. If they will wait on the Lord, he will renew their strength. They will soar with his wings. This is made possible by the coming of God to us first, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Where Did You Get Those Wings? (Isaiah 40) 3-17-24-JeremiahKinney

God says "fear not" throughout the Bible, including in Isaiah 41. He means to comfort us, but those words have more purpose than that. He also means to free us from being controlled by fear, acting out on our fear with sinful and unhealthy responses to events that disrupt us. Instead, with true worship, we can look beyond the events to the one in control, God himself.

Disarm Fear with True Worship (Isaiah 41) 3-24-24-JeremiahKinney

Jesus has earned your absolute trust. Isaiah 42:1-9 describes God's plan to save us. The One who made us also made a plan to save us, and it centered wholly on a man who would absolutely trust God and absolutely earn your trust, and that man was Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Man, Son of God, God the Son, who died for us, was buried, and rose the third day, bringing justice to victory for our redemption from sins! He was so gentle it would be unnatural for him to even break a bruised reed. He has earned, can earn, will earn your absolute trust.

Easter-Jesus Earned Your Absolute Trust (Isaiah 42:1-9)_3-31-24-JeremiahKinney

God describes his initiative love in Isaiah 42-44. He chose to love us. We don't come to him first. He comes to us while we are still blind to him. His Holy Spirit changes us so that we can finally see he is worthy of our worship. Praise God! It's all to his glory!

God Chose to Love You (Isaiah42-44)4-7-24-JeremiahKinney

There is only one God, we read in Isaiah 44, and he shows us his wonderful attributes toward us in nine different ways, ways that Jesus revealed God to us as well! Then God outlines the folly of idolatry, especially in comparison to him. Then, with amazing grace, despite our idolatrous tendencies, God invites us to come home to him!

There is only one God and he wants you to come home (Isaiah44) 4-14-24-JeremiahKinney

God takes responsibility for you. That's the point of Isaiah 45. When God foretold the existence of a man named Cyrus, who would be an emperor that worked God's will, he was giving Isaiah this information 150 years in advance to prove that he is guiding events that affect each one of us, that he knows us, loves us, and takes responsibility for us. It all led up to a greater Cyrus leading us out of a greater exile on a greater Exodus. That person would be Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins and emerged from the dead three days later.

God Takes Responsibility for You (Isaiah 45) 4-21-24-JeremiahKinney

God is carrying you, and he always has. That's the word from Isaiah 46. We are not carrying God, but often, we are carrying our false gods, which let us down and expose our limitations, our very need for the real God who always saves. Even when we have wandered far from him, toting those false gods, the one true God brings salvation near to us, and he does so by God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah!

God Is Carrying You (Isaiah 46)_4-28-24-JeremiahKinney

God wills grace. We discover that in Isaiah 47-48. God wills grace even though it's undeserved, or even when we are in the right and administering justice. God wills grace, and we see it in the way he breaks the cycle of stubbornness by graciously giving his Son Jesus Christ.

God Wills Grace (Isaiah 47-48)_05-05-24-JeremiahKinney

God doesn't take shortcuts. In Isaiah 49, God says it would be too easy to save just a few. He then explains a great big plan of expanding his good news to the whole world through his Saving, Suffering Servant, Jesus Christ our Lord. We see his plan, described in Isaiah 49 described again in Revelation 7, as multitudes will rejoice in heaven for the gift of Jesus. Then we realize how thankful we can be that God doesn't take shortcuts!

God Doesn't Take Shortcuts (Isaiah 49) 5-19-24-JeremiahKinney

We can pray everyday to God for forgiven closeness, for sustained endurance, and for renewed vision. In Isaiah 50, we read of the then-future Servant of God, Jesus Christ, how he would daily present himself to God as teachable and prepared to endure the worst we could treat him so that he would be able to sustain us who grow weary in God's service. Anytime there is any darkness around us, and every day to build up our faith, we can pray our daily here-am-I to our Lord and God.

Pray a Daily Here-Am-I (Isaiah 50) 5-26-24

Remedy City Church-Proverbs

God Takes Us Under His Wing (Proverbs 1:1-7) 1-27-19 JeremiahKinney

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit--our God, three in one! God requires reverence and promises comfort, inheritance, and support, so he calls us to make a decision: will we follow God or follow this world? (Many people want to understand "the unforgiveable sin" which is also included in this passage.)

Remedy City Church-LukesGospel

Decision TIme-The Unforgiveable Sin (Luke 12:8-12) 6-28-2020 JeremiahKinney

Remedy City Church exists to take the remedy of Jesus Christ to the needs of Muncie, Indiana, and beyond. We are called to care about our church community (to help one another move from where we are to where God wants us to be), about our communication of Christ (to tell good news to church and city, Christian or not), and about our city (to show how God’s forgiveness radically changes a person from the inside out).

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