Podcasts featuring messages from Lead Pastor Jim West, as well as associate pastors and guest speakers. Join in person for worship Sundays! Overland Park Campus 8/9/10:30 AM or South Kansas City Campus 10:30 AM. And if you can't make it, we are LIVE online at 10:30 AM, colonialkc.org/watch.
Jonah now represents those who have been born again. He has been forgiven; God answered his prayer in the deep; and God has blessed his affliction to serve as a sincere and humble testimony of God’s severe judgments and God’s unmerited grace. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org...
We cannot help but imagine Jonah’s humiliation as he emerges from three days in the belly of a fish, staggering onto the beach covered in fish vomit. Jonah’s story is our story...but ultimately, Jonah’s story is part of HIS STORY! So much of this man’s epic failure sets the stage for what Jesus will call, “The Sign of Jonah.” Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org...
God wants to supply the power to the humble---God wants to use the ordinary ...the regular...the poorest...the weakest...so that when it is all said and done their will be no question to where the power came from when you look in your rearview...you will know that it was God who pushed you...it was God who propelled you...it was God that gave you strength. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org...
Jesus knows that His Father is not a distant disciplinarian, but a close, compassionate Daddy who hears His Son, loves His Son, and is eager to act on His Son’s desperate cries for help. There is no one in human history who made a greater sacrifice than Jesus Christ did by dying for us on that cross some 2,000 years ago. Let’s honor Him today, and every day, as we remember our true identity as God’s beloved children. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more ...
Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the fish, highlights a self-centered nature and lack of repentance, yet acknowledges God’s grace in accepting Jonah’s flawed but honest plea. His prayer emphasizes the omnipresence of God and the importance of seeking His presence rather than fleeing, as God’s pursuit of us is relentless and His desire for a relationship is paramount. The power of God’s presence in creation is humbling, and humility is necessary to recognize and embrace it, as exemplified by Jona...
Like many of you, my greatest seasons of spiritual growth have come in seasons of involuntary confinement, so I am deeply motivated to form my own practice of askesis in the days to come. Church, our feelings will not lead us to practice askesis . But without confinement, concentration, and a deep awareness of our limits, we can easily become a “Jonah”, no matter how noble our intentions. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org...
Jonah was in the deepest darkness. His soul was fainting away; but even there God made a way for Jonah to remember the LORD. God gave Jonah the gift of faith when he needed it most and deserved it the least. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org...
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There is a necessary dying that must take place before we will ever meet the LORD in the deep. It is a dying to self. It is a dying to our pride and our idolatry. It is a dying to our self-made, self-promoting, self-centered worldview. It is a necessary dying...and that’s exactly where Jonah is right now. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org...
If you know yourself to be saved…if you truly believe that you were bound for destruction in a storm of your own making and you were saved when Jesus took the dive on your behalf, then you will exceedingly fear the LORD. Love makes sacrifices. The call to substitutionary love is not optional for Christians; it defines Christians. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org...
Take a good hard look into your identity. Listen carefully to the words that come out of your mouth. Be open to the possibility that you have an “othering” problem. Everything you hold dear is soon to be tested, and the test will reveal your true allegiance. Jonah is on the run from God. He has no intention of obeying God’s call upon his life to confront Israel’s enemy, that great city of Nineveh, with the news about God’s imminent justice and His offer of mercy. Support the show Thanks for list...
Today the Church universal gathers in every tribe, tongue and nation to celebrate the empty tomb and the joy of our Lord’s resurrection. The Empty Tomb is the hinge of history. Everything about our hope rests upon this historical fact: Christ is risen, He is risen indeed! Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org...
Jesus died so that you can have hope...the pain is hard...the people talk about you...the struggles are deep...but the closer you get to Jesus...the sweeter it gets...you began to look past the pain...and give praise...you began to look past the insults...and see a crown of righteousness...you began to look past the heartache...and see the glory of eternal life...you may have a cross...but for everyone that has a cross...there is a crown. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Faceb...
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When Christ Jesus commands us to “go and make disciples,” implicit in the dynamic of how that will actually happen is an understanding that we’re not only preaching the gospel to those God sends us to but also to “go and live the gospel” out with someone we are Discipling. Go to your culture my friends . . . wherever the Holy Spirit is calling you, to whomever he is calling you to . . . GO. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org...
God has sent a great storm upon the sea. Jonah’s disobedience has invoked God’s wrath, and the consequences of Jonah’s choices are bringing great peril to the sailors onboard the ship. We will return to the ship and look closely at the contrast between Jonah in the storm and the Apostle Paul who endured a very similar storm many years later. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org...
Sometimes in our life we may be asking God for something and he is continually telling us no...the hurt is still there...the pain is still there...the sickness is still there...the relationship is still broken...the person is still our boss...the coworker is still getting on our nerves...the finances are still not what I expect... But even though we ask...God is still saying no....So, what do you do when God says no? Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more ...
This little story of Jonah is not intended to make us feel great about ourselves. It’s a wakeup call to God’s people. God has His heart set on Nineveh, and He has called us to speak the truth to a lost and perishing world. God loves that motley crew on the deck of a sinking ship, and He has placed us on that ship that we might bear witness to the One, True God in our prayers and in our service. As those entrusted with His Word, called to be a light in the midst of this present darkness, it is no...
Let us learn from Jonah. The place of our greatest freedom is in the presence of the Lord…not away from the presence of the Lord. The safest place for our souls is in our present obedience; disobedience is a sure path to disaster. When we are in the presence of the Lord, He pays the cost for us. When we flee the presence of the Lord, the cost is ours and ours alone. When we rest in the presence of the Lord, our identity is secure, regardless of the circumstances. When we flee the presence of the...
Is God less than loving by commanding his prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh? No. God loves Jonah, but God has every right to call His servant to be His mouthpiece to a hostile nation. Is God less than loving if Jonah suffers persecution, torture, or death as a result of this assignment? No...God is never less than loving in anything God does because God IS love. But that’s a hard pill to swallow, particularly if you are Jonah. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagra...
Jonah is a colorful, exciting, dramatic short story that has value in and of itself. However, the more we know of the deep history leading up to Jonah, the more we will come to grasp the profound significance of this little story tucked away in the much-neglected section of our Bibles commonly referred to as “the minor prophets”. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org...
This favorite story of Jews, Muslims, and Christians is still popular today. This sermon delves into the relevancy for today: who was Jonah, when did he live, and best of all, what to make of the whale. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org...
Today we want to move from the principle of service to the practice of service. As we said last week, The principle of service shows us the argument for why we should commit our lives to serving, especially for the matter of building bridges and breaking down walls. The practice of service shows us what it practically looks like. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org...
Jesus avoided the drum major instinct. Jesus consistently exemplified the message of humility. Even when his followers wanted him to make a stand and overthrow the government, his response was, my time has not come. Why, because the strongest strategy for progress and success, is humility and servitude. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org...
Knowing and experiencing God’s radical, costly grace leads a Christian to become a radically generous person in every domain of life including the way we treat people, the use of our time, the way we extend hospitality…we become radically generous people in every currency of life which is costly…it’s often painful…but we become generous towards others because God was so radically generous towards us. This morning we will wrap up the series by looking at what Jesus says about wealth in one of His...
Wisemen? Magi? Little is recorded in scripture about these men. However this well researched sermon into the oral traditions and works of ancient scholars sheds much light on this subject. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org
The power of the Gospel to eradicate fear from your life will depend on the degree to which you truly behold—gaze at, grasp, relish, internalize, rejoice in—the Gospel. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org
Joseph, a man who finds himself in a peculiar situation. He is betrothed to a woman of whom he has never laid with, but now she is pregnant. Having been engaged myself as a young man, I can imagine the anticipation of being engaged. The joy of knowing your wife who has been waiting on you her whole life and you have been waiting on her to seal this agreement, the covenant of marriage. Waiting a year to touch his wife and in his excitement, waiting and anticipating … Joseph gets the word… Mary’s ...
The birth of Jesus to a teenage mother is a familiar story to most of us. But in the familiarity of this story, we often lose perspective on just how hard it must have been for Mary. We tend to jump to the happy ending - the birth of the Savior of the World and skip over the reality of what Mary must have gone through, the pain she felt, the emotions she experienced, and the journey she went on. Support the show Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org...
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