Chained to a Ghost

White Stone Church

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Chained to a Ghost

Sermon Audio

February 18, 2024 • Brock Tharpe • Acts 20:22–24

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The Apostle Paul saw the Holy Spirit much differently than many of us do. While many of us see the Holy Spirit as a sort of adviser, Paul saw Him as his Master. While many of us see the Holy Spirit as a supplement to our faith, Paul sees him as central.

A great example of this is in Acts 20, where Paul says that he is literally "chained to" or "bound to" the Holy Spirit, even when the Spirit leads him to places where there will be hardship and suffering.

It's obvious that the majority of us don't submit to the Spirit in this way, but we are invited deeper into submission. We are all on a journey of relying more and more on the Spirit, from being curious about him, to being led by him, to being bound to him. And it is through being bound to the Spirit that God can use hardship and suffering in our lives to produce power in us to reach the world.

Be More Like Your Mom and Less Like the Antichrist

May 12, 2024 • Cody Zimmerman • 1 John 2:18–22, Colossians 3:12–13, 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4, Matthew 24:12, Romans 15:1–5

Entitlement, bitterness, cynicism, and resentment threaten every relationship we have. We have all been placed among people who we are called to love sacrificially, but the reality is that there are times when we feel like we are pouring out more of ourselves than we are getting back from others, and that can lead us to become bitter. It can tempt us to draw back from those God has placed in our lives for a reason. We could all stand to learn a little from the great mothers of the world in that way, because while every other relationship seems to be threatened by one party sacrificing more than their fair share, the constant sacrifices that mothers make for their kids actually cause them to love their kids more; not less. As we pick up our series through 1 John on this Mothers' Day, Cody reminds us that the danger of going from being part of Christ's Kingdom, to being anti-Christ, begins with the urge to grow bitter and pull away from the people God has called you to love when things get hard. The mark of a true citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, however, is steadfastness, consistency, and the ability to bear with our brothers and sisters in love.

At the King's Table

May 5, 2024 • Brock Tharpe • 1 John 2:15–17

Sometimes even good things can become bad things if they are keeping us from Christ the King. Each and every one of us have received an invitation to sit at the King's table— an invitation to be with our Father. The problem is that there are all sorts of other things vying for our attention, trying to keep us from accepting that invitation. At the midpoint of 1 John chapter 2, the author reminds us that if we love the world and the things of the world, the love of the Father is not in us. This simple truth isn't designed to offend us; it's designed to remind us that a relationship with our Father and creator is so much better than any of the temporary pleasures the world can provide. In this message, Brock reminds us that true Christianity runs much deeper than simply abstaining from sin and worldly pleasure. It is also about laying aside those weights so that we may taste the supreme goodness that can only be found in God alone.

Love One Another

April 28, 2024 • Colby Dorcely • 1 John 4:7–12

What is the difference between knowing about God and knowing God? Although it is a small letter, 1 John is packed full of ideas that have incredibly vast implications for what we believe and how we live. Three of the main themes covered in the letter are: sound doctrine about who Jesus is, obedience to his commands, and love. All three of these themes work together to give a full picture of what it looks like to genuinely know God through Jesus. As we have gone through the first two chapters verse-by-verse, we have seen much of John's writing about the first two of these themes: sound doctrine and obedience. In Colby's message this week, we take a short detour from where we left off in 1 John and skip to chapter four, to touch on the last of the three major themes of the letter: love. In 1 John 4 we receive the command to love one another, and the author elaborates that anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. But what exactly does it mean that God is love? And how does that inform the way that we love our brothers and sisters?