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Cityview Community Church of Elmhurst

  1. Sep 27

    Crossing Over (Joshua 3)

    PODCAST Crossing Over September 27, 2026 | Brandon Cooper Brandon discusses how trusting God is easy to talk about but hard to actually do, especially when you are standing at the edge of something impossible. In Joshua 3, God carefully prepares His people to trust Him before asking them to take a single step into a flooded, raging river. He moves them through three stages: preparation, understanding, and seeing. At the heart of it all are two questions that conquer fear. Is God able? And is God good? The crossing of the Jordan points forward to an even greater act of faithfulness. Jesus, the true Ark of the Covenant, went ahead of us, crossed over first, and made a way for us to follow. God does not promise that every impossible situation will resolve the way we hope, but He does promise His presence. And His presence is enough. TRANSCRIPT_______________________________________________+ The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Good morning, church. You can go ahead and grab your Bibles. Open up to Joshua, chapter three. Joshua, Chapter three, as we continue in our series in Joshua today. As you’re turning there, if you’re a history buff, you may know General Pope, Union General in the American Civil War, who was famously incompetent. At one point, he basically marched his troops around in circles effectively, and they, as a result, ended up out marching their supplies so that by the time they arrived at the battlefield, they were already exhausted and hungry. And the officers under Pope were confused and nervous. So when they faced the famously competent Confederate general Stonewall Jackson, they were expecting the worst and knew that they had every right to expect the worst. Now, consider Israel, because at this moment, of course, they’ve been marching in circles effectively for 40 years, living off manna and not much else. Their illustrious leader is dead Moses, and they now have this unproven replacement, Joshua, over them. And you can imagine they stand on the brink of the Promised Land, exhausted, hungry, nervous, confused, maybe even doubting. Why would they trust Joshua to lead them into the Promised Land? For that matter, why would they trust God? Why would any of us trust God really, at any moment? Well, in today’s story, we’re going to see why. Because God is going to give Israel every reason to trust him. And Joshua, his servant, he’s going to give them encouragement to go on and to go into the Promised Land. It’s a slow process. It’s interesting here in Joshua 3, Joshua 4, which we’ll get to next week, the narrative slows to a crawl. This is the longest, most important scene in the book, which may surprise you. Most of us. You go, what’s the most important scene in Joshua? And you would all answer, Jericho. Yep. And that one’s important. It’s a long narrative as well, but this is the longest, most important part of the book. In fact, when you look at later Israelite writers, they point back to this moment when they crossed the Jordan river and not to Jericho. It’s memorialized in Israel’s history. Here is the prophet Micah, for example, speaking to encourage his generation to go on trusting God. And he says this. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord. Shittim is where they are. Gilgal is where they’ll be at the end of chapter four. So, like, this is the story that we’re talking about. And here you’ve got a later prophet going. You remember. Do you remember that? Like, that’s how important this is. So God Takes his time in telling this story so that his people and we today might know and trust him. So we’ve got three stages on the way to trust and on the way across the Jordan River. These three stages are a little bit like first time patient in a dentist’s office. You know, picture a little kid or something like that. And they’re freaking out because, you know, it’s the dentist and whatnot. What does the dentist do? How does the dentist help them get settled in? First stage of just kind of preparation, right? Like take deep breaths here. Mom and dad are probably helping out in this process. And then the second stage is understanding. That’s where the dentist will start showing the tools. Like you met Mr. Thirsty before. He’s just gonna all the saliva out and then he’s got the, you know that little hook thing. And he touches your finger and it’s sharp, right? And you’re like, yeah, why are you showing me this? And they’re like, but then we do it on your fingernail. Do you feel that? No. See? Okay. Okay, I got understanding now. I know these tools are going to be used for. And then ultimately they’re going to see the dentist is going to do a little bit and they’re going to go, okay, that wasn’t that bad. I think I can do this. I’m ready now. At this point, you notice they don’t show the drill that first time, do they? Right? But the kid’s like, I can do this. Leans back, you know, chair goes back. You’re watching Bluey on the TV on the ceiling. It’s great stuff. So that’s what the Lord is doing for his people here. So stage one then, as we dig in, stage one, preparing. Preparing God’s people to enter in. This is Joshua, chapter three. Let me read verses one to six for us. Early in the morning, Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan where they camped before crossing over. After three days, the officers went throughout the camp giving orders to the people. When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the litical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about 2000 cubits between you and the ark. Do not go near it. Joshua told the people, consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you. Joshua said to the priests, take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people. So they took it up and went ahead of them. You notice it’s early in the morning, first thing. This is the people that is ready to go. They’ve been waiting for a while and they’re going to set out from Shittim. As I mentioned, they’ve actually been in this camp since numbers 22. So long time since they arrived in this camp. They’ve taken a second census. They’ve gotten extensive instructions and have been preparing themselves to go in. And Moses, before he died, preached a series of sermons to them that has come to us as the book of Deuteronomy. Now they’re there for this long time because it’s a strategic place to camp right near the Jordan river so they could get there quickly. When the Lord finally says, it’s time, let’s go, they’re right there. So the whole nation is like first time expectant parents at this point. You know, you’re coming up on nine months and you’ve got the go bags packed. That changes, by the way. But I can speak from experience here. By the fifth one, you don’t pack a bag, okay, until the baby crowns and then you’re like, we should think about this now. But first time they’ve had the bags packed since like month three. Set to go. The keys are right there on the table. You don’t need to look for them. If, you know labor happened in the middle of the night kind of thing. The car is parked facing out so that they can get to the hospital as quickly as possible. At which point they’ll hear it’s false labor and they should come back later. Because that’s how it also works your first time out. But like, that’s where Israel is. They’ve been waiting for 40 years for baby to arrive and they are ready to go. So the first part of preparation that they get here then is just simple instructions. The officers go throughout the camp. We met them back in chapter one. Here we know why they got appointed so that they can pass along instructions to the people. They’re giving orders. You notice they’re giving orders about the ark in particular. If you were here with us last year when we did our Exodus series, you know a lot about the ark. If you weren’t just kind of a brief synopsis here. First of all, if you are picturing Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, that’s it. That’s what we’re talking about. Okay, so it’s the gold box, got the angels on top kind of doing this. It’s was constructed at the same time that the tabernacle was constructed. And it’s important. I mean, in many ways, this is the holiest object on earth at this time, which is why it is then placed in the holiest place on earth, the most holy place in the tabernacle, right there. And it is seen as God’s very throne. Like, this is where God speaks when he speaks to his people. We saw in Exodus. Within it are the tablets of the covenant that Moses brings down off Sinai. There’s an omer of manna, so that they remember the Lord’s provision while they were in the desert, and Aaron’s staff that budded to show the Aaronic priesthood. So the Ark’s got all of these ideas associated with it, and a few of them we would probably think of, but maybe not one of them. So three in particular I want to highlight. First of all, there’s a military association, and that’s the one we wouldn’t necessarily think of. We picture, you know, the religious, the cultic association. But no, there’s a military one. The ark went into battle. In fact, that’s how the Israelites lost the ark for a time, because they lost the battle under the priesthood of Eli because of their sin and rebellion. But the ark goes first as this reminder that it is God, Yahweh, who leads them into battle, and it is Yahweh who gives the victory. Of course, there is the legal association.

  2. Sep 20

    The Kindness of God (Joshua 2)

    PODCAST The Kindness of God September 20, 2026 | Brandon Cooper Brandon discusses how Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute living in Jericho who made one of the most remarkable declarations of faith in all of Scripture. When Israelite spies entered her city, she hid them, defied her king, and boldly proclaimed that the God of Israel is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Her faith was not just words. It was proven by her actions before she ever spoke them aloud. The scarlet cord she hung from her window became a symbol of salvation, echoing the Passover and pointing forward to Jesus Christ. God not only spared her and her family but wove her directly into the genealogy of His own Son. No matter what is in your past, Rahab’s story is proof that no one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. TRANSCRIPT_______________________________________________+ The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Good morning, church. You can go ahead and grab your Bibles. Open up to Joshua, chapter two, Joshua two. As we continue in the series we began last week on the book of Joshua. As you are turning to Joshua 2. There is a familiar trope in cop movies, especially, where there is an insider, somebody on the inside of a gang or a cartel, something like that, who is working with law enforcement. And usually there’s some sort of relationship there, maybe because they’re the informant, they’ve become friends in this process or fallen in love or something, or sometimes it’s somebody they knew previously. This is a family member who took a bad turn or a friend who took a bad turn, ended up in this place. And so at a certain moment, the cop has to come to this insider and say, look, you need to get out. All right? There’s a raid coming tonight, tomorrow, first thing in the morning. Like, now is your chance. There’s this choice before you. You can either leave the gang, leave the cartel and be saved, or you can stay and be arrested or worse, killed in the raid. And so there’s always that suspense, of course, in the movie at that moment. That’s why you’re there. That’s why you paid good money to see it and stuff. But there’s also this tension because you’re realizing, you know, you’re asking them to leave people they know, people who have been friends to them, maybe even family. There’s a severing of allegiances that needs to happen. And so it’s this tough, tough moment that’s not altogether unlike what we’re going to encounter in the story before us this morning. Canaan, Jericho in particular, is about to experience God’s just judgment. And this is a wicked culture. In fact, the whole reason Israel’s been in slavery in Egypt for the past, you know, few centuries was to ensure that the sin of the Canaanites reached its full measure, so that when God brought his judgment on them, it would be just. So there’s this just judgment, the conquest that is coming to Canaan, and we have an insider willing to help. And so it’s got that same suspense. Will she get out in time? It’s got the same relational tension. Chapter two functions, in many ways, the way chapter one functioned for us last week. So last week we met the Israelites as a people, and we also met one Israelite in particular, Joshua, who was going to be a sort of savior to the people. Well, this week we meet the Canaanites, and we also meet somebody who could be a sort of savior to the people. But who that savior is is shocking and teaches us so much then about God’s kindness, his grace and love, and also his mission to the world. So we’re going to see that unfold in three scenes as we go. So let’s start with scene one, the commission. Joshua, chapter two, verses one through. Let me read it for us. Then Joshua, son of nun, secretly sent two spies from Shittim. Go look over the land, he said, especially Jericho. So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. The king of Jericho was told, look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land. So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab, Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land. But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them. But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof. So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan. And as soon as the pursuers had gone out the. The gate was shut. This story starts off on the wrong foot in just about every possible way. If you were reading this story for the first time, having started at Genesis, like, tracked with Israel’s history until you got here, you would be understandably nervous when you got to chapter two, verse one. First of all, the spies are setting out from Shittim, which means very little to us, I know. But if you were somebody familiar with Israel’s history, having had, you know, ancestors who lived it, you would remember that Shittim is where the Israelites fell into some of their worst immorality, sexual immorality, especially associated with the BAAL of Peor near the end of Numbers, under the treacherous influence of the false prophet Balaam. Not only are they in Shittim, but then they’re also sending spies out. Joshua’s sending spies out, and you’re thinking to yourself, I’ve seen this movie before, because Moses sent spies out, 12 of them in that case, and it didn’t go well. 10 of the 12 spies come back and go, we have no hope. Like, God can’t possibly deliver us. And so the people didn’t believe and weren’t able to enter the rest of the promised land as a result, but perished out there in the wilderness. So here are their kids. And it seems like they’re doing the exact same thing. They’re in the same place. They’re sending out spies also. Now, Joshua was one of 12 spies. He came back and said, no, God has got this. So we’re maybe a little confident there at least. But will it go differently this time? Joshua sends the spies out to spy out the whole land, but especially Jericho, he says, which is important because Jericho is not just a town. It is a military garrison. It is an outpost. This makes sense because it’s right on the border of the land. Imagine for a moment that you somehow managed to cross the DMZ from North Korea into South Korea. What do you think you’re going to come to first as you cross into South Korea? Like a nice resort or military. And that’s Jericho. Right. So it’s the military right there on the border, because it’s a military outpost. There are probably very few families there, very few women there. And so it’s maybe not altogether surprising, then, that the spies enter a brothel. Well, except it is surprising because these are supposed to be moral Israelite men here. And even some of the language that’s used, the Hebrew words, are exactly the Hebrew words you would use euphemistically for somebody who’s visiting a brothel. Like the word translated, stayed means literally lay down there that night. Now, the Hebrew is quite clear that there was no sexual impropriety in this moment. It goes on to explain that. But even still, we got that nervousness as we start off this story. Now, I said they entered a brothel. They didn’t actually. They entered the house of a prostitute. That’s a little different. This would have just been an inn or a tavern in this place. But it would have attracted, certainly the usual vices. And so Rahab, whatever else we learn about her, and we will learn lots about her as we go, is guilty of a grievous offense against a holy God. We have to have that in our minds. And so we’re wondering, then why did the spies head here to this person who’s guilty of this grievous offense against God? Why would they go into a place where you’d have any question of impropriety even? It actually makes a lot of sense that they would have gone to this tavern. If there was a fifth column in Jericho, you would find it here. And even if not, you would find information. You’re just going to be hearing the gossip as people have a little too much wine or beer. You know, loose tongues are going to let slip the weakness. Or we’re shutting down the power grid for routine maintenance next week. And you’re like, great, that’s the day we should go. This is how spies work. Plus, it would give them a chance to blend in because this is where you would head if you were visiting. So they’re doing well morally, and they’re doing well maybe vocationally they head to the right spot. Except not so well vocationally. Apparently, they stick out like sore thumbs because they are identified immediately. Like, they’ve been in that town for 10 minutes and already everybody knows who they are. These are the Jack Sparrow of spies right here. You are, without doubt the worst spies in the world that I’ve ever heard of kind of thing. But at least we’ve heard of them, and we have. So. So the king sends the message to Rahab, like, look, we know who’s there. Would you send them out to us? It is not looking good for the spies at this moment. Except Rahab surprises us because she hides them and then lies to the king, says they’ve left already. Can I mention here, just as an aside, the Bible says nothing about her lie. You notice it wasn’t here in chapter two. Didn’t say it. When it talks about Rahab elsewhere, it doesn’t say anything positive or negative about the lie. Doesn’t justify or excuse the deceit, but also d

  3. Sep 13

    Rest for the Weary (Joshua 1)

    PODCAST Rest for the Weary September 13, 2026 | Brandon Cooper Brandon discusses how we live in a restless age, constantly searching for peace in money, relationships, and achievement, only to find that none of these can hold the weight we place on them. Joshua chapter one speaks directly into this tension, revealing three daily choices that lead to genuine rest: believing God’s promises, obeying His Word, and following His leadership together in community. God’s promise to Joshua, that He would never leave nor forsake him, belongs to us as well, and it does not shift with our circumstances. Jesus is the true and better Joshua, the one whose name literally means ‘the Lord saves.’ Where Joshua and Israel ultimately fell short through unbelief, Jesus lived in perfect obedience and then took our failure upon Himself at the cross. Because of what He has done, we can receive an inheritance that cannot spoil or fade. Real rest is not something we manufacture on our own. It is something we receive from the God who loved us enough to make a way for us to have it. TRANSCRIPT_______________________________________________+ The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Well, good morning, church. Good to see you all today. You can go ahead and grab your Bibles, open up to Joshua1 if you haven’t got that yet. We’re starting a new season series in Joshua today. If you are using that black Pew Bible in front of you, you’re on page 169. Joshua chapter one. So we are starting this new series in Joshua, which is great news for those of you who may be visiting with us for the first time today. Perhaps you got invited to kickoff or something like that. Clean slate. You come in, you don’t need to catch up at all. You’re not in the middle of a series, except that the first word of Joshua, at least in the Hebrew, is the word. And so we’re actually picking up in the next chapter in a saga. This is the start of season six and you missed a lot in those first five seasons. So what are some of the things we might have missed? We missed for Example, God calling out of all people, all nations, a single man agent, Abraham, and promising to bring him into a land that would be his own and to make his descendants into a great nation. We miss the fact that his great grandson Joseph got sold into slavery in Egypt, which actually ended up being a really good thing because it meant he was able to save not just his family, but really that part of the world from famine. Except that they get stuck in Egypt for, you know, a handful of centuries and are made slaves in Egypt. So God raises up Moses to deliver them out of Egypt. He sends those 10 plagues on the Egyptians. He splits the Red Sea. We did all this last year at this time so that they could walk through it and into the promised land. Except there, on the brink of the promised land, when 12 spies returned from having looked at the land God was going to give them, terrified, scared, and then managed to scare the rest of the people. That group actually ended up perishing in the wilderness because of their unbelief. They were not able to enter into the land land. So here we are, 40 years after that, on the brink of the land again. Will they ever get in? Will this promise that’s five centuries old now ever come to fruition? Will they ever find rest for their weary souls and that matter, rest for their weary souls, the soles of their feet, because they’ve been walking for a long time at this point. So they are looking for literal rest. Yes, but we’re talking about something deeper. We’re talking about spiritual rest. We could almost say an existential rest. And as we begin to talk about that, we can begin to sense how relevant this ancient book is for our lives today. Because of the restlessness that we experience in our modern culture, ours has been called an anxious age. An anxious age. Despite the fact that we have more money, more health, et cetera, than ever before, we are an anxious people, an anxious generation. Which just goes to show you that our rest is not dependent on our circumstances. It must be something else that we’re talking about. So we’re restless because at this point, we are unmoored, drifting from the source of rest, which means it’s up to you, on your own at this point, to provide it for yourself, searching for that something that will make everything okay forever, and we still haven’t found what we’re looking for. Rest is so tenuous, so fragile, so constantly under threat in our age. It doesn’t take much. Like we’ve experienced it just as a family right now. We got evicted from our home for a few months while they remediate a mold problem that we have. We had car troubles this week. You start to think of the financial hit that those things can cause and you’re like, just like that. You know, my shoulders are tense when I think about what’s going on. I’m sure you all could fill in your own blanks in that story. Most of us feel unsettled so easily and feel it deeply. And so the good news of Joshua that we’ll see today is that there is hope beyond our circumstances when we return to the source. And so I want to give you the big idea up front. Here’s the takeaway from the passage that we’re going to start study this morning. It’s quite simple. It’s just this. Find your rest in Jesus. Find your rest in Jesus. Now I realize I’m gonna have to prove that that’s a good idea right there. We’re have to talk about whether or not we actually can find rest. And then of course the big question you all have is, what do you mean in Jesus? Because we’re in 1200 BC right now, so we got 1200 years before Jesus. Jesus is born into the world. God become flesh. So we’ll talk about both of those as we go. As we follow the narrative’s three scenes, we’re going to see three choices that we can make today and every day to find our rest in Jesus. So scene number one from Joshua, chapter one, verses one to six. Let me read it for us now. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of nun Moses, aid Moses, my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan river into the land I am about to give them to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot. As I promised Moses, your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, from the great river, the Euphrates, all the Hittite countries to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. So we are in a moment of massive transition in Israel’s history. You see it right there in verse 1. Moses, the servant of the Lord is dead. Moses is at this point the only person who’s been called the servant of the Lord. And he is dead. We meet him. We meet Joshua, his aide. If we’ve read the previous few books, we’ve met Joshua already. He gets to go up partway up Sinai with Moses. So he’s kind of there with him. He’s one of the spies who goes out to check out the land initially. I mean, he’s one of the. Just two of them who come back saying, we can do this because the Lord is with us. Well, there’s Joshua, his aid. It’s actually interesting. Moses renamed Joshua. Anytime you get a new name in scripture, it’s pretty significant. We would go from Abram to Abraham, or we go from Simon to Peter, for example. Always means the Lord’s got some something for you. Well, Moses renames Joshua. His name was Hoshea, which means salvation. Just sort of generically. Moses renames him to Yehoshua. You just add a little prefix on. It’s no longer salvation. But the Lord says, yahweh saves. Joshua is actually the first person in recorded history who gets the Yahweh prefix attached to his name. Name all the people, you know, with that jo or something like that in their name, like Joel or Jonathan. Joshua is the first one. But Joshua faces an immediate problem, as do the Israelites, because Moses, the greatest leader in this young nation’s history, is dead. I mean, Moses is the one who’s brought them back from the brink of destruction. Literally, when he’s up on Sinai, he comes down, they’re all worshiping a golden calf. And the Lord says, tell you what, I’m gonna wipe them out. We’ll start over with you. And Moses intercedes for the people, and they are spared. Moses spoke face to face to the Lord. He had such an intimate relationship with God that when he would come away from meeting with him, his face was shiny like the glory of the Lord got stuck on him so that he glowed a little bit that Moses is dead. Who will take his place? Can anyone even take his place? We just have no parallel for this today, this sort of leader. I mean, you think Queen Elizabeth died recently after decades? Yeah, but she wasn’t the leader. You know, she was a ceremonial figurehead. Maybe it’s Steve Jobs at Apple or something like that. You’re like, sure, but that’s a company. That’s not a nation. This is different. And so we’re in this delicate moment in a young nation’s history. Transitions are always rough times for dynasties and all of that. And so we fully expect a pause. We start reading here. You know, Moses, my servant, is dead now, then you and all these people take a beat, mourn, recalibrate. Let’s get some democratic elections set up or something like that. That. No, we get none of that. Moses is dead. All right? So you and all the people get ready to rise and cross the Jordan river, which will be another major obstacle we’ll come to in a few w

  4. Sep 6

    Forgiveness from the Heart (Matthew 18:21-35)

    PODCAST Forgiveness from the Heart September 6, 2026 | Kyle Bjerga Kyle Bjerga discusses how forgiveness is one of the most challenging teachings in the Christian faith, especially when the person who hurt you is someone close to you. In Matthew 18, Jesus answers Peter’s question about how many times we must forgive by making it clear that true forgiveness does not keep score. The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant puts our situation in sharp perspective: we have been forgiven an impossible debt before God, and that reality should shape how we respond to the far smaller debts others owe us. Forgiveness does not mean erasing consequences, rebuilding trust overnight, or pretending something never happened. It is both a decisive moment and an ongoing process, one that requires drawing fresh grace from God each day. Forgiven people forgive others, not because it is easy or natural, but because the King has already paid the debt. TRANSCRIPT_______________________________________________+ The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Well, good morning. Go ahead and grab your Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter 18. If you’re using one of the black pew Bibles there in front of you, it’s page 799. If you don’t have a Bible, that is our gift to you so you can find your place in it and then take it with you today. Two weeks ago, Daniel shared with us the story of Corrie Ten Boom, one of my heroes of the faith. I mention her a lot. And the story he shared is one that we have talked about here, here a lot. Because Corrie, as a concentration camp prisoner and survivor, was able to forgive a Nazi guard whom she met years later after he became a Christian. She shook the hand of a man whose hand was responsible for her own suffering, for the suffering of family and friends. And she was able to look at him in the eye and say, I forgive you, brother, with all my heart. Corrie Ten Boom, the lover of Jesus, the forgiver of a Nazi prison guard, never Struggled with forgiveness again. False, false, she says in one interview. I wish I could say that merciful and charitable thoughts just naturally flowed for me then on, but they didn’t. Years later, she was hurt by a group of Christian friends of hers. And the pain caused by this group led to anger and bitterness. It led to sleepless nights of replaying that situation over and over again. Maybe you understand what she’s talking about. Was it possible to forgive again? Because here’s what we know. We talked about this last week. Sin is going to happen in the church. We are going to sin against each other. But what if that sin isn’t just a sin you point out in somebody because you see it in them? What if that sin is something against you? What if that sin is committed against you? What if the sin of that person and their gossip is actually gossip about you? What if the lie that they tell is a lie about you? You see, there’s a little bit of a difference when we just point somebody’s sin out, when we actually experience that sin ourselves. Maybe even as I talk about this, there’s some pain in your own heart because a face or a name, you see them right now. Someone who has sinned against you, maybe even a brother or sister in Christ, maybe even in this room. And I will tell you, if you are sitting as a family, they are in this room. Because we all sin against each other. If we are brothers and sisters in Christ, this will continue to happen, happen until he returns. So here’s what I know. Jesus sees that person that you see, and Jesus has forgiven that person. So the question is, have you or will you? This whole series, the Little Kingdom we’ve been talking about, what does it mean to enter into the kingdom of God and then live as the people of God in the kingdom of God? And so we saw that we come into this kingdom, humility before the Lord like a child. We help each other out. We deal with sin in our life. We pursue each other because we love each other. And today we finish by focusing on forgiveness within the community of God, within His kingdom. So let me give you the big idea right up front. It is this. Forgiven little ones, forgive others. Forgiven little ones, forgive others. Worth defining forgiveness. Forgiveness is giving up the right to punish. It’s canceling a debt. And so in the definition, what we understand is there is a real wrong that has been done in order to forgive. We have to reconcile that there is wrong done toward someone. And yet in forgiveness, we choose to absorb that wrong and not hold it against that person. Not treat them as they deserve. So I want to give a few preliminary thoughts on forgiveness, kind of looking at the whole of Scripture, because this is just part of a much larger understanding of one of the most important teachings in the Bible, and that is forgiveness. So I hope this grounds us a little bit more as we dive into Matthew 18. But before we get there, some things that we need to talk about. Forgiveness is not because there are some unhelpful and unbiblical teachings out there about forgiveness. So when we talk about forgiveness, we do not mean that there aren’t consequences. This isn’t a way to get out of those natural consequences. Or maybe a standard has been crossed and there’s consequences for it. So, for example, if you think of somebody’s sin against you and it also breaks the law, then they need to be held accountable to the law, even if you forgive them. So you can forgive them and they could still be prosecuted and penalized if that was the case. Second, forgiveness does not equal trust. You can forgive someone even when trust is broken. So think about somebody who gossips about you. You can forgive them for that gossip, not treat them as they deserve. But the next time you have something to share, you’re probably not going to share with that person. Or at least not in the same detail for a while. Because forgiveness doesn’t equal trust right away. And finally, forgiveness does not mean forgetfulness. Remember I said maybe even a face or a name popped into your mind as I was talking just a few minutes ago. That just means you haven’t forgotten, but maybe you have forgiven them. Maybe you have forgiven them, but you have not forgotten. And forgive and forget is a very common phrase when we talk about forgiveness. It is impossible. And it is also not the teaching of Scripture. And then people will point to where it says, God remembers our sins no more. It’s right there. But that doesn’t mean our sin slips God’s mind. He is omniscient. He is all knowing. If he forgot our sin in that sense, then he would cease to be God. Because he is different now. He forgot something. No, he knows all of it. The amazing thing is that he chooses not to remain. He chooses not to punish us as our sins deserve. That’s the amazing thing. Because if God forgot our sins, then he would wonder why Jesus was on the cross. He knows why he’s on the cross because of our sin. And he chooses not to remember. He chooses not to punish anymore, and he cancels our debt. So with those things said, let’s turn to Matthew 18 where we see a continuation of Jesus teaching after Peter, good old Peter is going to interrupt him with a question. Jesus is going to tell us a story, and then we’re going to get the lesson from that story, all on the important topic of forgiveness. And so that will serve as our outline today, the question, then we’ll get the story and finally the lesson. Let’s look first at the question, verses 21 through 22. Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times. Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times, but 77 times. Peter has a good question. It’s a good question. Coming on the heels of what we looked at last week, we love each other enough to confront sin in our lives. And once that person then repents of that sin, we should forgive them. Them. So we saw that process last week when somebody is called out for sin. We saw the process of going to them, just you and them, and then the smaller group, and then taking it to the church. And the hoped for outcome in all of that is reconciliation. So it’s confession, repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation. That’s where hoping comes every time a sin is pointed out to us because we want to restore fellowship between them and God and fellowship between us and them. So repentance from the other person is key to forgiveness, since forgiveness should always include at least a desire and a pursuit for reconciliation. So let’s look at Luke 17 should be on the screen for you, I believe Luke 17. This is Jesus talking again. He says, if your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke. That’s what we looked at last week in Matthew 18. Okay, and if they repent, forgive them. That’s what we’re looking at today. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying, I repent. You must forgive them. So it’s clearly stated here that there’s repentance coming out of our passage last week. It is assumed that at some point in that church discipline, this person comes to terms with their sins, confesses, repents, and seeks forgiveness. And so, as brothers and sisters in Christ, how do we respond? In the church, we have a heart ready to forgive. We have a heart ready to forgive. Think about it this way. How terrible would it be to call somebody out for their sin, see them go through the process. We looked at last week, week, see them repent, and come to you and say, I’m repenting. Would you forgive me? And you say, I gotcha. I Told you you were wrong. Like, how damaging would that be to the person? Cause we point out the sin not for that moment. We

  5. Aug 30

    Sinning & Winning (Matthew 18:15-20)

    PODCAST Sinning & Winning August 30, 2026 | Brandon Cooper Brandon Cooper discusses that confronting sin in the church is uncomfortable, but Jesus addresses it directly in Matthew 18 with instructions rooted in love. The goal is never punishment but restoration, winning a fellow believer back to faithful living. The process moves from a private conversation to bringing witnesses, and if necessary, to involving the whole church. Even the most serious step, removing someone from membership, is meant to be redemptive. This kind of accountability only works when church membership means something, because membership is the covenant framework that makes discipline possible. Christ Himself is present in the process, guiding the church as it pursues the spiritual health of its members. The motivation for all of it is the gospel: Jesus was cut off so that we could be won to Him, and that same love drives us to pursue one another. TRANSCRIPT_______________________________________________+ The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Good morning, City View Community Church. Take two. Good morning, City View Community Church. Let’s all rise. As we prepare our hearts for worship. We gather expecting an eruption of the sacred. An in breaking of the holy that will mark off our time from what preceded to what will follow in powerfully transformative ways. In silence, prepare your hearts for the sacred to break in. To all who are weary and need rest. To all who feel alone and want community. To all who mourn and long for comfort. To all who feel worthless and wonder if God cares. To all who fail and desire strength. To all who worry and want peace. To all who sin and need a savior. To all who hunger and thirst for righteousness. And to whoever will come. This gathering offers are welcome. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us sing to our Maker. Now. In my mother womb you formed me with your hand known and loved by you. For I took the bread when I doubted. Lord reminds me I’m wonderful be made. You’re an artist and a potter of the Kansas and place. And to make all things work together for my future and for is you make all things work together for your glory and for your name. Nothing has been wasted, no failure or mistake. You’re an artist and a potter. The canvas and a blade. To make all things work together for my future. Let lo my good unique work together for your glory. It’s all your name. You make all things work together for my future and for my. Work together for your glory. Your name. When I down and Lord, remind me my wonderfully made. You’re an artist and a potter. The canvas and the place I know nothing has been wasted, no failure or mistake. You’re an artist and a potter. Understand? A flame. You make all things work together for my future and for my good. You make all things work together for your glory and for your name. When I doubt it, Lord, remind me I wonderfully made. You’re an artist and a potter. On the canvas and the plain I know nothing has been wasted. No failure or blame. You’re an artist and a potter of the can. You’re not finished with me. You’re not finished with me yet. You’re not finished with me, Lord. You’re not finished with me yet. You’re not finished with me. You’re not finished with me yet. You’re not finished with me. You’re not finished with the end. Let’s read Leviticus, chapter 19, verses 17 to 18. Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not Share in their guilt. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people. But love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. The scripture reminds us that true love means clearing our hearts of bitterness and choosing to seek peace with others as we sing. Take my life. Let it be. Let’s offer God our relationship, our anger and our hearts, asking him to use us as instruments of his love. Take my life, Consecrated Lord to thee. Take my hands and let them move as the impulse of thy love. As he impulse of thy love. Take my feet and let them be with them beautiful for me. Take my voice and let me speak Always only for my keep. Always only for my king. Take my silver and my gold. I love, my good, I withhold. Take my moment and my days. Let them flow in deep pray let them flow and be. It shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is thine own. It shall be thy royal throne. It shall be thy royal. Take my heart, it is thine own. It shall be thy royal throne. It shall be thy royal throne. With our hearts restored, he has done great things. We will stay together. We will see and we too. We will not be burned by the fire. He is the Lord. We got by the blood of hell. Protected, gathered up. We will be in the house of Zion. We will sing in our heart restored. We will sing together we will sing and we go. In the dark of night, before the dawn. My soul is not afraid for the promise morning of our O God of Jesus be the same. We will be in the house of fire. We will sing with our hearts before we have done great things. We will sing together we will sing and we, we. Every vow we broke. You are the faithful one and from the dun to the grave find us again the great shallow. We will see the rock of fire. We will restore the sun rain. Please remain standing as we answer the catechism questions today. Question 18. Will God allow our disobedience and idolatry to go unpunished? No. Everything is against the sovereignty, holiness, goodness of God and against his righteous laws. That’s a downer. How about a little bit more good news? Here’s the next question. Is there any way to escape punishment and be brought back into God’s favor? Amen. Please be seated. Good morning and welcome to City View Community Church, where we as a church are made to magnify Jesus and sent to serve others. My name is Reeve. I’m a pastoral resident, church planning resident here. And if you are a guest with us, we’re so glad that you’re here. I encourage you to scan the QR code on the screen, fill out the connection card so that we know you were here and we get to reach out to you at the end of the service. Our pastors Kyle and Brandon will be out in the lobby and they would love to meet you as well. And if you did fill out that connection card, they have a gift back for you as well. If you’re following the church’s Bible reading plan, we recently finished 1st Chronicles 29. From verses 14 onwards, we see David proclaiming these words, but who am I and who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you and we have only given you what only comes from your hand. David’s proclamation is this acknowledgment that Lord, all I have is yours, and that truth remains true for each and every one of us. The God who cheerfully gave Himself to us loves the cheerful Giver as well. If you came prepared to give this morning, you can do either online, on the website or in the giving station at the back. I was in my trivia group this past Wednesday and I kept thinking to myself, I’m forgetting something. I am forgetting something and I don’t know what it is. And then Thursday morning I was doing announcements and I forgot to invite them to kickoff. That is not good. But don’t be like me. So we celebrate kickoff in the fall and it is a time where you get to invite that person that you’ve been thinking of, whether that’s a neighbor, a family member, someone in your circle they react to. Like it would be awesome if these people could come and see my church. See what a Gospel proclaiming church looks like. This is your time to invite them. It’s a place for them to come and see not just this community, but the God who is behind this community. And I was told to echo Brandon’s words from last week as well. The desserts are plenty, but the cleanup laborers are. So if you’re willing to stay a little longer and help up, that would be greatly appreciated as well. Every third Sunday of the month at 6:30pm the church gathers to pray. This is the time dedicated to acknowledging that without God, this church, this family of believers simply would not exist. It is God who sustains. It is he who guides. And our prayer will always that be that when we depend on him, he is glorified through us. So I encourage you to join us as we pour our hearts out to the Lord. We clothe ourselves in prayer so that when the world sees us, they don’t just see the church, they see the God who is clearly evidently working in and through us. Speaking of depending on the Lord, here’s a quick reminder that we will be having a meeting at the end of the service regarding our vision to plant churches. As exciting as new opportunities are, it is important that we humble ourselves and acknowledge that it is God. It is him who has brought us thus far and we need him to lead us again. In moments like this, Brandon will give us a little bit more information about childcare and everything that goes in there. But for now, let’s bow our heads in prayer, praying that bring for the church plans as well as the sermon that Brandon will be giving us. Praise be to you Lord, the God of our Father Israel. From everlasting to everlasting. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power, the glory and the majesty and the splendor for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom you are exalted as head over all wealth and honor come from you. You are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now our God, we give thanks to you and praise your glorious name. But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you and we have only given you only wha

  6. Aug 23

    The Father’s Love (Matthew 18:10-14)

    PODCAST The Father’s Love August 23, 2026 | Daniel Jensen Guest preacher Daniel Jensen focused on Matthew 18:10-14, highlighting God’s love for “little ones” (believers). Daniel explained that God values, protects, and pursues His believers, using the metaphor of a shepherd seeking a lost sheep to illustrate God’s active care. He stressed the simplicity and dependence of believers on God, likening them to children who follow their Father. The sermon concluded with a call for believers to embrace and share God’s love. TRANSCRIPT_______________________________________________+ The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. I want to pray for our guest preacher today. He is a member here at Cityview, Daniel Jensen, but this is his first time preaching with us. Daniel graduated from Moody in May and has preached before while on his internship in the UK Last summer was married. This summer, that was very exciting, right here in Stock. So let me pray for Daniel as well as the church plant rest of the service. Would you join me in prayer, Lord? We pray first of all for how you are leading us as a church. We are so excited to see what you are doing, but Lord, would you provide what we need in this exciting time? We ask for guidance, especially for us as a congregation, but for every one of us as individuals as well. Knowing that some of us will go out with this church plant, would you be stirring in the hearts of the people that you would have a go, Lord? We pray for unity throughout this process, anytime there’s change, Satan loves to gain a foothold, and we know that. And so we pray against that, Lord, and that we would be united. We would be of one heart and one mind in the Lord Jesus, committed to Your glory and the building up of Your kingdom in all that we do. And we pray, God, for missional hearts that we would be willing to make sacrifices for the sake of Your kingdom, that others may know. And Lord, we know that a missional heart will require generous sacrifice of our funds, but of our time and energy, and even the sacrifice of friendships weekly gatherings all together as we send out a group as well. So, Lord, would you prepare our hearts for that as we get nearer to that time? But Lord, we pray that you would establish this new church, that it would be a light in the darkness, a city shining on a hill, drawing people to yourself, because they see who we are in you, because they hear the good news of the gospel, and because you are drawing them to yourself. Lord, now as we turn to your word, we pray for Daniel. Pray that you would prepare him to speak to us, fill him with your Spirit even now, that he might speak boldly and confidently while standing on the rock of your word. And Lord, give us ears to hear your word. We know that your law is perfect, refreshing the soul. So would you refresh our souls in this time, we know that the statutes of you, Lord, are trustworthy, making wise the simple. So, Lord, would you make us wise in this time? We know that your precepts are right, giving joy to the heart. So, give us joy. We know that your commands, Lord, are radiant, giving light to the eyes. So, enlighten us, and that the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. And we know that all of your decrees, Lord, are firm and righteous. So may we listen to them. May we grow in our fear and love for you, for the glory of your name. We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen. If you’ll open your Bibles to Matthew 18, that’s what we’ll be will be today. We’re continuing in our sermon series, going through Matthew 18. So if you haven’t listened to the previous sermons, I’d recommend you go back and listen to them. They’d help with some of the some of the context. But if you’ve ever been to a jewelry store, you you might have had the privilege of holding a diamond, one of those really, really expensive big diamonds, and you’d know that as you look at it, you just you can’t take your eyes off it. The way that it it shimmers in the light and reflects rainbows on the wall, the way that the light refracts through the different cuts of the diamond, it’s mesmerizing, and all you need to do once you’ve looked at it for a while from one direction is just turn it a little bit, and it looks like a whole new diamond, and you could you could adore it, all anew. And someone might walk by and and they might briefly look at it and and continue on. You’d say no, no. Sit with me. Look, it’s beautiful. I think sometimes we have the temptation to be the man that walks by with God, particularly with the love of God, when in fact we need to behold it, behold Him like a diamond, to just sit and gaze at its beauty, and then we could could even just turn a little bit, get a new perspective, and just adore it anew. God’s love is so wonderful that we can we can do that for our entire lives, and sometimes we think that Sunday morning is enough. And so, in this time, I hope that we can we can spend some time adoring the diamond of God’s love, as we see in this passage. Like I said, we’ll be in Matthew 18. If you’re in the pew Bibles, it’s on page 799. I’m not there yet. That’s embarrassing. Let me read it for us. We’re reading verses 10 to 14. See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a man owns 100 sheep, and one of them wanders away. Will he not leave the 99 on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the 99 that did not wander off. In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. This is the word of the Lord. Now, like I said, if you haven’t been listening to this sermon series, I’d recommend you go back to to understand a little bit of the context. But there, there’s one thing that I want to hone in on, because it’s going to be particularly relevant for our text. Throughout this this chapter, Jesus has been using this phrase “little ones, little ones, and and he uses he starts it by by using a child as an example of faith. He says, “Unless you become like one of these little ones, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. This phrase, “little ones, throughout the chapter, it begins to get used as describing believers. So by the time of Jesus speaking in our passage, when he says little ones, he means believers. He’s not talking about little literal children, not necessarily. But we shouldn’t just we shouldn’t just replace little ones with believer, because there’s there’s a beautiful nuance, there’s a beautiful a beautiful piece to that phrase “little ones. The title “Little One. See, as I’ve grown up and kind of gotten into adult life, I’ve seen a lot more things that I have to keep track of, a lot of car things, and insurance, and money, and making sure I don’t get scammed, and now I have money that people want, and they can get it from me if they try hard. There’s just a lot of things to think about that I didn’t have when I was a child. I think the simplicity of the of a child, of a little one, is something that Jesus is trying to get at here. the The life of a little one is simple. You wake up when your parents tell you. You eat what your parents tell you. You go where your parents tell you. You do what your parents tell you to do. You follow your parents. So maybe when the little boy goes to the store with his mom, he doesn’t need to understand all of the aisles where everything is. He’s just got to follow his mom, or if or if he goes downtown with his with his dad, he doesn’t need to know all the streets. He doesn’t need to keep track of everyone. He’s just got just got to hold on to his hand. I think it’s the same for us, as those who are little ones of God. We don’t we don’t have to understand all the intricacies, all the complic all the complications of life, we need only follow our Father. I don’t mean to downplay the the difficulty of the Christian life, but there’s that utter simplicity. We can follow our heavenly Father because He’s a good Father, and He cares for us. All we need to do is hold on to his hand. Now, in our passage, we’re going to see about God’s love for His little ones, and that’s our big idea. I’ll give it to you up front. God loves His little ones. It’s simple, but we’re going to take some time to to unpack it through through our passage. Now our passage is is going to be kind of like a sandwich. It it starts and ends with some some indicative, some statements just about truth, some facts, and in the middle is kind of some meat of a parable. And so we’re going to to first look at that top statement. We’re going to look at look at the diamond from the top, and then we’re going to go to the bottom. We’re going to look at the bottom, and then we’ll look at it straight on. And I hope that that through this we’ll get we’ll get to to see some of the intricacies and beauties of God’s love for His little ones. So the first statement is verse 10. Let me read it for us. See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. So Jesus first he gives this warning: See that you do not despise one of these little ones. Now that that sounds about what we would expect in the previous. Passage he had mentioned how we ought not to cause little ones to stumble. So he’s he’s giving us a command as how do we are to act, and then as usual Jesus applies that to the heart that we ought not to despise his little ones, and then and then he gives us a reason. He follows it up with

  7. Aug 16

    From Humbling to Stumbling (Matthew 18:5-9)

    PODCAST From Humbling to Stumbling August 16, 2026 | Brandon Cooper Brandon Cooper discusses the importance of avoiding stumbling blocks in the church, referencing Matthew 18:5-9. He uses the analogy of a college friend face-planting on a scooter to illustrate how easily one can stumble. Cooper emphasizes the need to welcome new believers and avoid causing them to stumble, likening it to Jesus welcoming children. He explains the concept of “stumbling block” as a scandal that could lead to apostasy. Cooper urges the congregation to be proactive in welcoming vulnerable Christians, to avoid causing others to stumble, and to cut out sin from their lives, highlighting the seriousness of sin and the need for radical action to avoid eternal punishment. TRANSCRIPT_______________________________________________+ The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Good morning, church. Go ahead, grab your Bibles. Open up to Matthew 18. Matthew 18. As we continue in our series, we’ll be starting in verse five. So, as you’re turning to Matthew 18 five, I had a buddy in college. This was some years ago now. This was back when the I think they’re called razor scooters had like just come out. They were the hot new thing, especially on a college campus because you kind of fold them up and you know carry them with you and whatnot. So my buddy was there, and there was a large pack of girls right near him. He was a ladies’ man at the time, and so he thought he would kind of you know swing in nice and cool, and he hit something pebble whatever crack in the sidewalk and face planted. So this was rough, especially early on in his college career as a freshman and whatnot. And so he kind of you know picked himself up, dusted himself off, and decided to scoot away somewhat quickly, except that he hit something, and so he face planted again right in front of the same group, and that was that. I think he transferred colleges at that point, which you would have to. I share this story because, of course, it doesn’t take much to face plant when you’re in something on something like a scooter, rollerblades, whatever. You know, it’s a crack in the sidewalk, it’s a pebble, whatever, and you can just go right over. Of course, some of us have learned the hard way. It happens when you’re walking sometimes too. You know, sidewalks uneven as you’re walking and talking, and boom, you’re just on your face. Sadly, this is true for us spiritually as well. There are lots of ways for us to stumble and lots of stumbling blocks on the sidewalk that we are walking down, and that’s where Jesus takes us next here in Matthew 18. Remember, we’re in chapter 18 because it’s a very tight chapter talking about life in the kingdom community, and last week we talked about the need to humble ourselves to change and become like children in order to enter the kingdom. But here Jesus moves us from humbling to stumbling, from being like a child to well, honestly, kind of what happens when you’re a child. If you had kids, you know when they’re first learning to walk, they face plant a lot, they fall down a lot. We had at least one kid who just kind of had a bump from like ages one to four or so, just never went away. We weren’t sure it ever was going to. I think it mostly has. So sure, kids are going to fall down, and that’s what it’ll look like for us in the kingdom. But the one thing you don’t do as parents and as friends and older siblings, the last one maybe, is knock them over. You’re learning to walk. You don’t keep pushing them over. Anything like that. That’s the point. Like that’s where Jesus is taking us here. We don’t want to be the reason that any of Jesus’s kids fall down. We don’t want to be a stumbling block to them, or to throw a stumbling block in front of them. It matters greatly to Jesus how we treat His people, and so what’s going to happen is this week in this passage He’s going to deal with our actions towards these little ones, and then next week we’ll see that he’s going to deal with our attitude towards the little ones. Now, the word stumbling block is is the key phrase for us in this passage. It’s literally the word scandal in in Greek, and then we get our word scandal from it. Of course, scandals taken on a slightly different meaning at this point. But you understand when there’s a scandal in the church, it might cause people to walk away from the faith. So they’re still related, but so that this word stumbling block-it’s translated different ways and usually with an awkward phrase-it shows up six times in the Greek in these five verses. So it’s this key concept that holds it all together, and so we want it to be the key concept for us as well, so it’s right there in our big idea. You can see on the screen in your bulletin as well. Take stumbling seriously in the church. Take stumbling seriously in the church. It is a big deal, the possibility of a stumbling block. So be aware, be Proactive, be zealous even for the health and the walk of those around you. There are three ways that we can take stumbling seriously in the church. We’ll take them each at a time. So the first one from verses five and six. Let me read it for us, and we’ll figure out what that fill in the blank is. So Matthew 18 verses 5 and 6, and whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. If anyone causes one of these little ones, those who believe in me, to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Now a word on the structure, because some of you are looking at this, especially if you’re looking in our pew Bible, and you’re going, okay, verse five goes with the last paragraph, not with this paragraph. How come we didn’t do it last week? And I could have because it’s there and it makes sense with the last paragraph also. Remember when this was all written, there were no headings and things like that. So this is just a seamless transition. Verse five. It does relate to what came before it. It also relates to what comes after. Also, really tightly with verse six, in fact, because verses five and six together form. This is what Jake was talking about, by the way, an antithetical parallelism. Good. Move on now that you know what that is. Antithetical, so the opposite, right? But parallelism. So the Hebrews loved to speak in parallel sentences, parallel grammatical structures. But an antithetical parallelism means the first part and the second part are opposites. I thought I need to illustrate this because this is a complicated concept. I get that, and so I’m going to go to Proverbs because Proverbs is full of parallelism and antithetical parallelism. I thought I’m not going to look at the prolog, chapters one to nine, so I’ll start in chapter 10 and I’ll just read until I come to the first antithetical parallelism. Proverbs 10 verse one, it’s everywhere. Okay, here’s Proverbs 10 one: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son brings grief to his mother. It’s parallel. You’ve got a son bringing something to a parent. Totally parallel. It’s also the opposite. That’s why it starts with the word “but, right? So you got a wise son, but a foolish son, bringing joy but bringing grief. The mom or dad doesn’t really matter which. There, that’s what we have in verses five and six. So I threw it up on the the screen for you again here, just so you can see the parallelism in a in an annoyingly literal translation. Whoever welcomes a child like this in my name, etc. But whoever scandalizes one of these little ones who believe in me. So whoever, whoever does something, does something, and then child, little one, same difference, right? And then we actually get something about Jesus in each case too. In my name, who believes in me? But they just say opposite things. The opposite, there, of course, is welcomes, scandalizes. That’s the big difference. What do we learn? Why does this matter? Because I’m looking at your faces, and you’re thinking you got about 10 seconds to make this more interesting, or I’m pulling out my phone and looking up fantasy football articles. We learn three things from all of that. First of all, we learn what exactly the little ones are, and this is really important. So we were talking about children last week, but not literal children. It was saying all of us. We all need to change and become like children. Now we know that when Jesus uses the phrase little ones. He’s talking about that same idea. Those who are childlike in the faith, because they’re set in parallel. There, he’s just talking about believers. So, anytime you come across little ones or one of the least of these in Scripture, you’re talking about disciples, Christians of Jesus Christ, maybe particularly vulnerable disciples, those who are newer to the faith, having a harder time walking still, who are weak or marginalized in some other way. Second, we learn, and this is important, that little ones, disciples, Jesus’s kids, can stumble, and that’s important. I actually wonder if Peter and the other disciples thought back to this moment, just you know, a short while later when Peter stumbles and denies Christ three times. When the rest of the disciples, the exception of John, scatter. You know, run away. Don’t even stay there by the cross as Jesus is being killed for them. And so, this good reminder, like, okay, it’s serious. It’s very serious. The word “stumbling” actually has the idea of like falling away from the faith entirely. Like that’s that’s a possible outcome. So it’s this really serious thing. But it would be good to know, like, okay, this is a possibility. We need to be aware of it. But

  8. Aug 9

    Kingdom GOAT (Matthew 18:1-4)

    PODCAST Kingdom GOAT August 9, 2026 | Brandon Cooper Brandon Cooper discusses the concept of “the GOAT” in sports and how it relates to the desire for status and recognition in religious contexts. He emphasizes the importance of humility and service over status, using Matthew 18:1-4 as a guide. Cooper explains that true greatness in the kingdom of heaven is achieved by adopting a childlike humility, admitting sin, receiving salvation, and forgetting oneself to serve others. He highlights the need for the church to embody this self-forgetful service and encourages parents to model this behavior for their children, urging both children and adults to come like a child to Jesus. TRANSCRIPT_______________________________________________+ The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Well, good morning, church. It is good to see you all. It feels like it has been a while since I’ve been in this spot, at least. So good to be back. Would you go ahead grab your Bibles, though? And as Emma already told us, would you open up to Matthew chapter 18? We’ll be in verses one to four this morning. Matthew 18 one to four. Now, as you’re turning there, the question that gets asked so often is, “Who is the goat? Sometimes it’s pretty easy to answer. You’re like, whether you want to admit it or not, it’s Tom Brady. There’s no debate about it. Other times, is it Messi or Ronaldo, or more likely Pele? You’re all wrong. Okay, is it? And there’s a right answer to this one. We know LeBron or MJ. Yeah. The debates can get testy sometimes. It’s possible that once in a staff meeting, we had the LeBron MJ conversation, and I won’t name names, but those of us who aren’t from Chicago but who are from Maryland and Dubai argued the wrong side in just shocking ways. But Papa Carl set him straight, so it was fine. So these debates get testy. Goats themselves bleat a lot. Why do emotions run so high over something that is so silly and insignificant? It’s because we want to be the best, and we want everyone to know we are the best. We crave, crave status and recognition, like you know, baby birds chirping for mama to regurgitate some food in their mouths. Even in elementary school, you start to see this. So, kids, as long as you’re in the service, help me out here. You know, early on, we start to have these companies: Who’s the fastest in the class? Who’s the tallest? The smartest? The most popular? Of course, by the time you get to your senior year of high school, you actually vote on it because it’s so important. We know the answer to these questions, and all of this, as you know, breeds conflict. That’s a problem. Another problem is that we bring that mentality into the church and into the kingdom of God. Who is the best disciple? Who’s the holiest, the godliest among us? Who loves Jesus the most? And that’s the problem that Jesus addresses in our passage this morning. Now we are starting a new series today in Matthew chapter 18. It’s a very tightly knit chapter where all of the stories in it are about life in the kingdom community, which is not easy. If you’ve been in church for a week, or even if today’s your first day, you’ve been here for about 12 minutes. You’re like, “Yep, I can see people are going to be difficult even here. So this is this practical guide for life together, and the secret, as we’ll see today, is actually in our series graphic and title. So part of the secret is the idea of the little kingdom. Now, when we talk about the little kingdom, we don’t mean that the kingdom is small. It starts small, Jesus said, like a mustard seed. But of course, it’s going to grow quite large. It’s more that it is a kingdom of littles. Actually, it’s a kingdom of leasts, even, and so it is a kingdom of children in so many ways. In fact, that graphic is our big idea today. It’s there in the bulletin for you. And actually, Emma already said it for us as well. The big idea is, come like a child, come like that, like those kids in that picture. Come like a child. That’s the practical guide to Christian living. It starts there, coming like a child. So, how do we do that, though, in concrete ways? The kind of three essential steps we need to take. Steps that we actually saw in Miss Emma’s lesson, and so we’ll track with that as we go today. But step one, from verse one, there’s something we need to admit. Let’s see if we can figure it out together. So here’s Matthew 18, verse one. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? There’s the question again: Who is the goat? That’s the question the disciples are asking. What does it take to get on the discipleship podium to get the gold medal around your neck? Now, what do we think about this question as we hear it asked? Is this coming from a good place? Because it could be. You know, I want to be the best follower of Jesus that I can be. What does it take, Lord, for me to be that? Could be coming from a good place. This could just be selfish status seeking, though. It’s not so much that I want to be the best follower of Jesus that I can be, but I want to be a better follower of Jesus than the guy next to me. And we do need some context to then figure out where this is coming from, because at least in our story, and I know we’re picking up in the middle here, but even if you were to read Matthew from start to finish, the question seems to come out of nowhere. So we’re going to take a close look at the context in Matthew, but we’re actually going to draw a little bit in from Mark as well, since he tells the same story and gives us some more context. What does Matthew say? First three words, Matthew 18, at that time. So we’ve got a context already. It’s as these stories were happening. Whatever just preceded this story, like that’s that’s where it’s coming from. This question. So what’s right before? Well, Jesus, in this kind of cool miracle manages to pay the temple tax that he owes when he’s finding a coin in a fish’s mouth, which he probably put there. So he pays his temple tax. Well, he pays his temple tax along with Peter’s, and only Peter’s. And you got 11 other disciples, no doubt, going like help a brother out here. Like, you couldn’t find some more money in a different fish, being Almighty God and all of that. So Peter is singled out. Worse, Peter is singled out again, not for the first time. Matthew 14, he is walking on the water with Jesus, Matthew 16. He’s the star student who gets the answer right. You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Well done, Peter. Kids, as long as you’re in the room, I can ask you this question: How does it feel when your parents play Favorites. You know, your sibling gets back from practice of some sort or whatever, and you discover they got ice cream on the way home, again, three times in a row. They got ice cream. I didn’t get no ice cream. That’s how the disciples are feeling at this point. Is Jesus playing favorites, and it’s not just Peter either. It’s actually Peter, James, and John who are all part of this like inside clique. You don’t, if you’re looking at the pew Bible, you don’t even need to turn the page there. In chapter 17, verse one, it says, “After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and not the other nine, and they go up the Mount of Transfiguration. You can imagine how that conversation went when they came back down. How was it? Your little, you know, exclusive club of going up the mountain and stuff. It was pretty cool. We met Moses and Elijah. Jesus was really shiny. Wish you were there. Sorry you didn’t get invited. So we’re starting to wonder: Like, does Jesus like them better? Are they better? And Jesus has already said that there would be distinctions in the kingdom of heaven. Back in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says things like, “If you set aside these commands and teach others to do so, you’re the least in the kingdom. But if you teach these commands and you follow these commands, you’ll be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And so the disciples are going. I guess Peter figured it out, and we didn’t. So what does it take to be the greatest? And just why exactly are Peter, James, and John the ones who seem to be there already? So that’s a lot of context already. Mark fills in just a little bit more for us too, because Mark tells the story like this. Same thing. This is right after the Transfiguration. All that we read, Mark 933 and 34. What were you arguing about on the road? Jesus asked the disciples, but they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. So we get kind of a key word in there. The word is argued, argued, right? We see where the question comes from now. This isn’t what what does it take. This is like they’re fighting with each other. It’s not coming from a good place. Not asking about how to become great in worship and service and obedience. It’s asking which one of us right now is tops. Really strange question for the disciples to ask too. When you consider the group of men who are asking this question, I mean, is it the traitor tax collector? Is it the hot headz who keep asking God to wipe out Their enemies, is it Peter, the world’s first case of foot and mouth disease? Peter, who, by the way, just got called Satan a couple days ago by Jesus, and then there’s Judas. Let’s not forget about him. So it’s a strange question that they’re asking, but they are, and we can see at this point it’s. Driven by that selfish status seeking, they’re not asking this question for God’s sake. I want to be the best follower that I can be. They are asking it for their own sakes. I want to i

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