Back to the Future
Back to the Future: Covenant Community
February 4, 2024 • Pastor Tammy Long • Nehemiah 8:1–12
We are concluding our mini-series, “Back to the Future,” with the premise that sometimes we must go back to go forward. God’s basics are firm foundations that we must revisit wherever God is leading us into the future. (1) As we started 2024 looking forward, we looked back to the foundation that God’s Word requires us to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God according to Micah 6:8. Walking humbly with God is core because doing justice and showing loving kindness will follow since that is God’s nature and character. (2) Then we affirmed that walking with God is a relationship that requires consistent and honest communication known as prayer. As we entered into 21 days of prayer and fasting to nurture and strengthen our walk with God, prayer is required to grow closer to God. (3) Then going back to the future means a consistent commitment to service and missions, especially towards the least and the lost as Christ commanded and modeled for us. (4) We affirmed the solid foundation of soul friends. It is a fundamental and core truth that we need one another for support, accountability, and encouragement as we walk with God on this spiritual journey. (5) Last, the focus of covenant community is that God has called us to be a family before God and family to one another. God has placed us in a larger community as brothers and sisters serving one Lord as one body and the family of God. God has uniquely called and shaped the family of South Bay Community Church. We are an interdependent, interconnected community who are together connecting with God, growing together, and changing the world. Through worship, we assemble to hear the Word of God, serve God and one another, and fellowship. We affirm the truth of God’s vision for us that we are God’s family connected in a community by covenant.
Back to the Future: Soul Friends
January 28, 2024 • Minister Douglas Ericsson • Hebrews 10:24–25
We are continuing our mini-series, “Back to the Future,” with the idea that sometimes we must go back in order to go forward. God’s basics are a firm foundation that we must revisit wherever God is leading us in the future. In this message, we are looking at Soul Friends in Community. When we think of friendship we think of hanging out together, enjoying someone you know well and whose company you appreciate. Friends share mutual affection and intimacy usually based on shared interests. It generally involves two people who trust each other. What is distinct about a soul friend? A soul friend is a kind of friendship that is centered around concern for one another’s soul – that is, who we are in the depth of our being, the real person we are on the inside. To be a soul friend is to meet each other as the unique individual we are before God, as the whole person that we are, not just our outward presentation. A "Soul Friend" relationship is based upon our personal connection with Jesus Christ. Jesus is at the center of a soul friendship under the leadership of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. This friendship seeks to help each other live fully in Christ. Supporting each other’s life in Christ is the goal of soul friends. Christ alone is our salvation; Jesus Christ is our justification, so we no longer seek to justify ourselves. This surrender of our own power, ability, and goodness to be right with God and others is how we come to faith. It is how we continue in our walk. It is also how we engage with our Christian brethren. God’s intent from the very beginning is that we live in community. Just as when God created humanity through Adam and Eve, God said, “It is not good to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Beyond marriage, we need soul friends in the community of faith.
Back to the Future: Service & Mission
January 21, 2024 • Pastor Leedah Wong • Luke 14:12–24
We are continuing our mini-series, “Back to the Future,” with the idea that sometimes we must go back to go forward. God’s basics are a firm foundation that we must revisit wherever God is leading us in the future. In this message, we are looking at service and mission. In the Great Commission, Jesus said to His disciples, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19a). However, much of the American Church falls short of evangelizing all nations. Instead much of the church is focused on training people how to make a Sunday morning production, taking care of church facilities, teaching, and listening to sermons. However, the Church falls short of living with radical generosity towards the poor, evangelizing ethnic neighbors, and reaching a post-modern world. The Church is supposed to be like an aircraft carrier ship (not just a cruise ship). The aircraft goes on a mission and then returns to the ship to prepare for its next mission. In contrast, a cruise ship produces shows to keep people happy. The Great Commission commands followers of Christ to engage in service and make others disciples. When you are engaging in service and making disciples of others, it encourages you. Service includes loosening the chains and untying the cords and yoke of injustice, sharing your food with the hungry, and sheltering the poor wanderer. Then your light will shine like the noonday (See Isaiah 58:6-10). Pastor Leedah Wong is the pastor of a church that meets in his family home. In the family home, they invite refugees, the homeless, and single moms. Every step to love the poor is a step closer to God. Joy, peace, laughter, purpose, and meaning in life come from Jesus. Jesus washed the feet of the poor. This house church, Restore 22 (R22), lives out the instructions in Luke 14:12-24: When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.
Back to the Future: Prayer & Fasting
January 14, 2024 • Pastor Tammy Long • Matthew 6:5–8, Matthew 16:18
We are continuing our mini-series, “Back to the Future,” with the idea that sometimes we must go back to go forward. God is timeless. The details, the circumstances, or the context may change, but the principles and truths of God are constant. God’s basics are a firm foundation that we sometimes must revisit for wherever God is leading us into the future. In this message, we are looking at prayer and fasting, two spiritual practices that have been around for thousands of years and resonate within our souls as ways to connect with the sacred, the holy, and the divine God. In communicating with God, prayer has been a core practice for thousands of years, and it is today. As we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this weekend, it is fitting to hear his words: “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” Similarly, fasting has been a core practice for thousands of years. Dr. King engaged in fasting as a spiritual discipline of self-sacrifice, of solidarity with the poor and oppressed, and to connect with God for discernment, wisdom, and spiritual power. Pastor and theologian, John Piper said, “Fasting is at heart…an intensification of prayer. It’s a physical exclamation point to the end of the sentence: “We hunger for you to come in power.” “It’s a cry with your body, I really mean it, Lord This much I hunger for you.” From the beginning, prayer, and fasting has been about connecting with God with God at the center. Fasting is about emptying ourselves to make room for God. Prayer is communing with God in our fast. As we do, God fills us with God’s character and many blessings.
Back to the Future: Walking With God
January 7, 2024 • Pastor Tammy Long • Micah 6:1–8
Happy New Year We are starting a mini-series of messages titled, “Back to the Future.” To fully experience the future God has in store, it is always positive to go back to review the basics. This principle is illustrated by Vince Lombardi, who was Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers. His opening words on the first day of training camp in July 1961 was his famous quote, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” The players thought they knew what they were doing and already had the basics mastered. The players were ready to pick up where they left off with fresh energy and resolve, but Lombardi had everyone review the basics of football: throwing, catching, blocking, and tackling. But Lombardi knew that to get to where you want to go in the future, you often have to go back and begin again as you strengthen your foundation and focus on what is important for the future bright with possibilities. The back-to-the-basics strategy paid off. In the next seven years, the Green Bay Packers won five NFL Championships. We can easily get off track when we think we are doing all the right things. The Bible in Micah 6:1-8 has a similar illustration of going back to review and embrace the basics to fully experience the future. God takes the people of Israel back to the basics of what God requires and desires. The basics in verse 8 are: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. As we walk humbly with God, doing what is right and seeking love and mercy will follow us as we become more like God. Humbly walking with God means not to walk proudly, but to be wise, intentional, thoughtful, deliberate, attentive, and cautious according to the Will and Way of God. Essential elements of walking with God are known as the Six S’s: 1 Spiritual Retreat (to be done monthly/yearly); 2 Sabbath (to be done weekly), 3 Scripture (to be done daily), 4 Soul Friendship (to be done daily/weekly), 5 Statio (to be done event by event), and 6 Selah (to be done moment by moment). We engage and include God in our daily activities so that God can guide us, shape us, and form us into the glorious future God has planned for each of us.