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On Sunday we continued in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 where Paul applies the gospel to a problem the fledgling Corinthian church is having.... they are breaking off into little factions depending on which human leader they preferred listening to. Paul cannot believe this. "Was Paul crucified for you?" He asks. "Were you baptized in the name of Paul?" He wanted them to fix their eyes on Jesus, because the truest wisdom is not found in any human teacher and their eloquence or impressiveness, but in the cross of Christ. This is foolishness to many, but God's surprising way of operating is to use foolish things to shame the wise, and weak things to shame the strong, and He uses things that aren't to nullify things that are... this is an odd saying... and yet God's ways are often upside down from the world's ways. What seems foolish to the world is the power of God unto salvation!

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"This week we began a series in 1 Corinthians where Paul writes to a church that is spiritually gifted but deeply immature. Rather than begin by rebuking them for a laundry list of issues, Paul reminds them who they are. He greets them as, "To the church of God, in Corinth." He names them by who they are in God, and who they are in place. This reminds us that as the Body of Christ we are not just the church in general or in the abstract, we are a church that has been placed. In this way, we become an ongoing extension of the incarnation of Jesus... we are His Body, on earth, in our community. Just as the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us... the Church does the same and chooses presence, proximity, and relationship with our neighborhood."

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God invites us to be ministers of reconciliation, and for us at Madison, we live into this calling through the four Reaches. We Reach Up to glorify God, we Reach In to be transformed by His grace, we Reach Out to share God's love near and far, and we Reach Across to embody racial justice and reconciliation. Praise God.

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In the fourth and final sermon of our Reach series, Pastor Ericka White explores what it means to Reach Across—and why unity is spiritual warfare. What if learning to love across our differences is part of our “training for reigning” with Christ? This message invites us to consider how the church can live now as a preview of Christ’s coming Kingdom.

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Pastor Andrea brought us to Acts chapter 2 which gives us a snapshot of the early church and how they operated together after Pentecost. They gathered in fellowship, studied the apostle's teaching, broke bread, prayed together, met in their homes, and took care of the needs of the community. Then it says "The Lord added to their number day by day." On Reaching In Sunday, we are reminded that part of our mission is authentic community, and that gets built, day by day, in some pretty ordinary practices. Community is an investment account: it grows as we contribute to it. And these practices, over time, is what God uses to shape us, as a community, into Christ's Body.

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"Psalm 95 is a beautiful call to worship, but it comes with an attached warning not to let our hearts go astray like God's people did in the wilderness. Drawing on the Exodus story, Pastor Andrea reminds us that to truly reach up in worship, to glorify God alone, is to turn our backs on the small "g" gods of this world. This forms us, every time we worship together, into an alternative community. It will mean the world can look at believers and say, "They are built different." And in this way, we become a credible communal witness to the truth and power of God."

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This week we started a series on Madison Square's "four reaches". The focus of this sermon was the example of Jesus for outreach. We took a look at the story of the extraordinary healing at the pool of Bethesda recorded in John chapter 5. Here Jesus gives us 4 methods of outreach:

1.Jesus went to where the disabled, the sick, the marginalized were.
2.Jesus took note of the man’s condition.
3.Jesus took time to listen to him.
4.Jesus brought healing into the man's life

As is common in Jesus' ministry he gives us practical ways to be his disciples in our context. We are challenged to live out what He showed us in the hurting and broken world in which we live. Jesus' example is for us to practice these methods outside of the walls of the church. We also see from the truth of scripture that WE are the broken and marginalized. Jesus comes to us, takes note of our sinful condition, identifies with humanity by becoming human, and finally offers us healing; the true free gift of Salvation. Have we heard Jesus' words? Have we received this gift of Salvation? Will we follow His example?

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“Join us as we continue our summer sermon series with messages that speak to what the Church needs to hear today.”