Brian Jones Sermons

What type of family did you grow up with? And how do you think that family shaped the person you are today? Here's Brian's message from Sunday, August 18, 2019 as part of our series, "Redemption Story."

Here’s my message from Sunday. Sometimes in life we make the right decisions. Other times, we need to look at the wrong decisions we’ve made and make them right.

One of my favorite children’s stories is Dr. Seuss’ 1940 classic, “Horton Hatches the Egg.” In there is the famous line that Horton repeats over and over: “I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful one-hundred percent.” This level of faithfulness is displayed in the Old Testament narrative of Ruth. Ruth is a model for how we ought to view the relationships we have with the people we love. Even if you haven’t always been a model husband/wife/father/mother, etc., you’ll learn how to have what it takes in week two of our series, “Asking For A Friend.”

There’s a direct connection between what we allow to enter into our minds, and what goes on inside of us. Jesus says it this way in the Sermon on the Mount: “If your eye is bad, your whole body will be in the dark” (Matthew 6:23). Here’s what it looks like for you to rise up against depression in week two of our series, “Rise Up.”

1 John 2:6 tells us that, “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” I’ve always understood this verse to mean that Jesus’ followers must act (morally speaking) the way Jesus acted – loving the poor, evangelizing the lost. But what would it look like if every area of our lives was spent emulating how Jesus lived his life here on earth? I explain what I mean, and the implications for all of us, in this first message from our new series, “Rise Up.”

There’s one spiritual discipline that often goes overlooked, and yet might be the most powerful way to change your life, your outlook, and your current situation: fasting. Here’s why you should consider fasting, when and how you ought to do it, and what happens when we give something up in order to hear from God.

God has a dream for every single one of us. A lot of times we think it’s a certain destination. But what if it’s more about the journey? And what if the things you’ve experienced up to this point were all meant to lead you to exactly where you find yourself now? We look at the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis, and the way God works in all of our lives in week one of our series,” What is God’s Dream For My Life?”

After Jesus rose from the dead, he sent his followers out and the early church exploded with growth. There was ONE THING that could stop the spread of the gospel in its tracks – and it almost succeeded. We explore the Apostle John’s response to this challenge (and what it means to us today) in week one of our series, “Can’t Buy Me Love.”

In his gospel, Matthew captures what Jesus' followers experienced as they discovered that he HAD INDEED raised from the dead. My favorite part of this message? The response of a whole bunch of people who made the decision to follow Jesus and be baptized. What a way to end to an amazing Easter at CCV!

Everything Jesus endured in the final hours before his death – the torture, the mocking, and ultimately his crucifixion – demonstrates how great God’s love is for us. We walk through the specifics - the how and the why - in the final week of our sermon series, “Via Crucis” (The Way of the Cross).

Since the beginning of recorded history, whenever one country would conquer another, the new king would parade his army through the streets of the capital city in an awe-inspiring spectacle of power to announce “there’s a new king in charge now!” Jesus entered Jerusalem in his final week to shouts of “Hosanna! God save us!” But his mission was far greater than what anyone expected it to be.

In his book The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” At CCV we’ve been following Jesus’ journey in the Gospel of Matthew from Galilee to Golgotha. We’re calling this series “Via Crucis,” which is Latin for “The way of the cross.” In this week’s message we turn to Matthew chapter 16, the turning point in Jesus’ story. To get away from the crowds Jesus took his disciples to a pagan area called Caesarea Philippi, a long day’s walk north of Capernaum. What he revealed to his disciples about his identity, his mission, and our mission, will upend everything you’ve come to believe about what it means to follow Jesus.

The events that would lead to Jesus’ death started when the religious leaders of the day learned of his teachings about the Sabbath. Hear why this controversy was such a big deal to them, and what Jesus’ perspective on “following God’s laws” means to us today in week one of our series leading up to Easter, Via Crucis (Latin for “The Way of the Cross”).

God calls each of us to go on a hero’s journey. In week one of At The Movies, we look at the film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and why listening to God’s call is one of the most important decisions we’ll ever make.

The Parable of the Bags of Gold is one of the most well-known illustrations ever used by Jesus. There are two kids of disciples - ones that on judgment day Jesus will call, “wicked, lazy and worthless…” and ones that will hear the words, “well done, good and faithful servant.” Which one would you rather be?

This Sunday I talked about how sharing our faith can be challenging. There are some very real barriers that we face when we finally gain enough courage to share our story with someone. I look forward to seeing how God uses your story to create a GAME CHANGING moment in someone else’s life!

What a privilege it was to welcome Mary and Wallace Kamau (from Missions of Hope International) for Justice Day 2019. How incredible, that the school they started with 50 kids in 2000 has grown into a ministry that now serves over 18,000 children in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Well worth watching.

For most people, church is a building, or an event that you go to – “I’m going to church today.” In week two of our series Made For More, I lay out the case for church to be WAY more than either of those, and why this is crucial to becoming a better follower of Jesus.