Spring City Fellowship
260405Sunday
Sunday April 5, 2026 10:15AM Service

      • Psalm 150:3NIV2011

  • All Hail King Jesus
  • Crown Him With Many Crowns (Diademata)
  • The Lamb The Lion The King
  • Worthy
  • Revelation Song
  • Thank You Jesus For The Blood
  • There Is A King
  • What He's Done

      • Romans 15:5–6NIV2011

  • Our theme for 2026 is “Embrace Transformation”.
    Transformation is the inward change that we experience when we become more like Jesus.
    Romans 12:2 ESV
    2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
    Transformation is a process that is ongoing throughout our lives.
    Over the last three months I have been reviewing the 4R’s which describe who we are and what we are about.
    We have talked about revival, disciple-making and the goal of transformation.
    And the goal of all of this is to glorify God - that literally means to reflect His goodness.
    Today is Resurrection Sunday.
    He is risen! - He is risen indeed!
    Is there any greater example of transformation than the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead?
    And that resurrection power lives in and transforms us!
    Romans 8:11 NLT
    11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
    Wow - that is transformation! - Let’s embrace it!
    What we do here at SCF is express in four words - the four R’s:
    Respond
    Restore
    Release
    Relate
    We have already talked about each of these in some detail, but now I would like to consider them all at once and especially in light of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.
    Our vision at SCF is to “Encounter God’s Transforming Love.”
    That is what we are offering to everyone who comes here.
    Encounter God’s Transforming Love - It is the promise of resurrection.
    It’s not just an idea - it’s an experience.
    Whoever you are and whatever you have been through, there is hope.
    You can say that God is real and that God is good because you are living proof!

    Respond

    Encounter God
    We have many ways of describing the initial experience of coming to faith in Christ.
    We call it “getting saved,” implying that escaping punishment is the central idea.
    For a while it was popular to use the term “born again,” that speaks more of the transformation.
    Billy Graham used the language of “accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior,” which seems to cover all of the bases.
    Many folks today just calls themselves Christians without needing an explanation - they just “self-identify” as Christians.
    I prefer to think of becoming a Christian as a “God encounter.”
    It’s that moment when you realize the truth about God and about yourself.
    It’s when you come face to face with who Jesus is and what He has done for you.
    Even if you grew up in the church, surely there was a moment when it all became real!
    An encounter demands a response.
    The three crosses on our logo remind us that there were two men crucified with Jesus, each had a different response,
    Luke 23:39–43 CSB
    39 Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other answered, rebuking him: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment? 41 We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
    So which of these responses do you identify with?
    If you were there when Jesus was crucified, (keep in mind that none of them knew about the resurrection yet) what would you have done?

    A divine encounter is when you see the truth.

    That was a divine encounter and the response of the second thief was a God-inspired moment.
    There are those moments in life when we have the clarity to see that God is real and reaching out to us.
    Maybe it was the accident that could have, and probably should have taken your life?
    Maybe it was the break up that made you realize that anyone can let you down and that sometimes you let yourself down?
    Maybe it was an illness that served to remind you that you are not invincible?
    In those moments where life is interrupted and time seems to stand still, God is either ever-present or conspicuously absent.
    The difference is in our response.
    Are we seeking God or running from God?
    Are we tuning in to God or tuning Him out?
    So what if I did sense God at some time in my life, what should I do?

    Responding to God becomes the goal of your life.

    The appropriate response to a divine encounter is obedience.
    When you know who Jesus is and what He has done for you, you will want to know what you can do in return.
    The Hebrew word for obey simply means to listen?
    It is implied that when you hear what you are supposed to do, you will of course, do it.
    How will you know when God is speaking to you? You’ll know!
    Read the Bible to see what God has been saying all along and you will learn to hear His voice better.
    Galatians 2:20 ESV
    20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
    Maybe you thought that you would give Jesus a try?
    Maybe you were promised that if you gave your life to God, He would make it better?
    Maybe you thought you would simply add Christianity to the list of things you already believe in.
    Some people today have “blender” religion - they just put it all in a blender and blend it up until you can’t recognize what’s in it.
    If you haven’t figured it out by now, you will - blender religion doesn’t work- It’s all or nothing!
    Our attempts to partially respond to God never yield the results we are looking for.
    Jesus is Creator God - not a smoothie!
    If Jesus is Lord, He must be at the center of our lives.
    Life doesn’t revolve around me, it’s all about Him!
    Every time we gather for worship, our worship is not complete until we have responded to what we have heard.
    Responding to God means letting God change you and that brings us to our next point.

    Restore

    Encounter God’s transforming (or transformation)
    God did not save you just to leave you the way He found you.
    You are like gold that has been buried on the bottom of the ocean.
    You may be dirty and tarnished and barely recognizable, but underneath it all you are still precious and even more so because you have a story.
    A coin is valuable because it bears an image - even if that image is barely visible.
    You were made in God’s image - that makes you valuable as an image-bearer for God.

    Made in God’s image means that you represent God.

    Genesis 1:27 ESV
    27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
    You were created in God’s image.
    First and foremost, that is a status, you represent God regardless of who you are, just by being a part of humanity.
    But representing God well involves attributes- becoming more like God.
    We find out who we are becoming when we learn to know who God is.
    The best way to know God is to follow Jesus; who is the exact representation of God.
    When God looks at you, He sees Jesus.
    So while you are getting your life back together, just know that God already has you covered.
    Don’t look at all the pieces, keep your eyes on Jesus and let Him help put you back together again.
    You are a child of God!
    Those old sinful habits are not consistent with who you are and who you are becoming.
    Even if you slip up, it doesn’t change who you are.
    You can get back on track if you keep your focus on the truth of what you are becoming and not on where you have been.
    We look back to find out where we are broken so that we can be healed, but God is already looking ahead to see where He wants to use us to bring healing to others.

    Personal restoration leads to restored relationships.

    2 Corinthians 5:17–19 ESV
    17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
    Much of the work of restoration - the new creation - is going to be worked out in the context of our relationships.
    All of us have suffered relational damage, but healing also comes through relationship.
    God wants us to be agents of His healing as we are being healed.
    That means forgiving because you have been forgiven.
    It means we stop passing the hurt around and let it go to the cross where Jesus took it himself so that it could be effectively removed.
    It means that we exchange our pain for Christ’s love.
    I know it sounds so simple, but its not easy.
    Forgiveness is one thing, but trust is another.
    It only takes one to forgive, but it takes two to be reconciled.
    It may seem like to much to suggest that you can undo years of hurt, pain and dysfunction, but change needs a place to start.
    If you can let God do the work in you, it will eventually impact the lives of those around you, because we are all interconnected.

    Release

    God’s Transforming Love ( or God’s Love Transforms!)
    In Restore we talked about how the life of God flows to us, but this is about how the life of God flows through us.
    God wants to release His Holy Spirit through us.

    God wants to release you!

    Jesus released his disciples to go into the towns of Judea ahead of Him.
    Luke 10:3–9 ESV
    3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
    Notice that they did not call the people together and hold meetings.
    They ate and drank with the people.
    They accepted their hospitality, once they found someone who was hospitable.
    And in the course of all of that, they would have shared their story.
    Then they did the things that Jesus did, healed the sick, cast out demons and taught about the Kingdom of God.
    The point is: they didn’t have to be anything other than who they are, and “who they are” is people who have been transformed by being with Jesus.
    Then Jesus ascended to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to indwell believers.
    The Holy Spirit becomes the agent of transformation.
    It is how we do the things that Jesus did.
    John 14:16–17 ESV
    16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
    The reason that you and I can do the things that Jesus did is because we have the Holy Spirit in us.
    Jesus said He would baptize us with the Holy Spirit.
    What that literally means is that we can be immersed in or saturated with the Holy Spirit.
    Instead of a one-time experience, we should be continually asking for more Holy Spirit!
    Because of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to carry out the calling that God has on our lives, whether that be ministry, missions, running a business or raising a family.
    God has his people everywhere, and when you are filled with His Spirit, whatever you do can become a divinely empowered calling.
    God also gives us spiritual gifts with which we serve one another and the world.
    Your gift is like your super-power.
    It doesn’t make you invincible; it might actually make you more vulnerable in some ways.
    But when we all work together, using our gifts, we can accomplish so much more.

    Together we release the Kingdom of God.

    Jesus gave his church, His called-out ones, the authority to decide what they will allow or disallow on earth.
    That may be hard to believe; that we actually have that much influence.
    Perhaps it is because we use so much of our energy fighting one another instead of battling to forces of darkness.
    This is why is is so important that we become Kingdom-minded.
    If we are only thinking about our interests; our own calling, our own church or even our own ministry; we win the battle but loose the war.
    If on the other hand we learn to build the Kingdom, where it doesn’t matter if I get what I want, or get the credit or am recognized, then we can only win in the end, even if it feels like we are loosing.
    We win whenever God wins.
    We believe that each person has a calling from God and we want to help them both to discover what that is and to do it, even if it means sending them out to another church or mission field.
    Jesus sent his disciples to be an influence.
    Just go and release who you are into the environment.
    If people are blessed, then you are bringing the Kingdom.
    If they give you such a hard time that you are not able to be a blessing, then move onto anther more receptive place.
    When you release the Kingdom, you aren’t just in the river of life; you become part of the river of life!
    God’s life is flowing through you.

    Relate

    Encounter God’s Love (through each other)
    So now we come to the fourth and final step: relate - represented by the circle on the logo.
    The circle of the wedding ring is a sign of covenant - an unbroken union showing a continuous relationship.
    Our relationships in the church are covenant relationships in that we are joined to one another through our common union with Christ.
    The first three R’s are somewhat sequential in that each one naturally leads to the next.
    Relationship, however, permeates everything that we do and continues even after people are sent out.

    We love because God is love.

    1 John 4:7–8 NLT
    7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
    We all need to love and to be loved.
    When you love, you resemble your heavenly Father.
    Because God is love - that is His defining characteristic.
    God is the one who gives us the love that unites us.
    God is revealing Himself through humanity and unity is the evidence, the visible sign, of God’s Presence.
    When we love each other, that is the culmination of God’s revelation.
    That’s when people see God!
    John 13:35 ESV
    35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
    Whenever believers from different backgrounds, denomination and ethnicities get together and praise God there is a powerful Presence in that gathering!
    We want to be that expression of Divine love.
    The Bible says that we all function as one body - the Body of Christ.
    The analogy is that we have differing gifts and functions, but that we are all interconnected like parts of a body.
    We have many parts but we function under one head - Jesus Christ.
    We start by submitting to Christ in humility and then we can begin to bring out the best in each other.
    It takes work, but we put effort into our relationships.
    We take time to listen and understand one another.
    We try to see from another’s perspective.
    In the end, we really need each other.
    We need what each person brings.
    So we encourage their strengths and help them with their weaknesses.

    We are part of God’s family.

    God wants a family - He’s relational.
    We are to be like the Trinity - one in essence and purpose.
    A family is an analogy for “oneness of essence and purpose”.
    A family has the same DNA - one in essence.
    And they function as a household - one in purpose.
    As you are being united with other believers especially those from other places and cultures, you will find that people do things differently.
    We need to be open to learning new ways of doing things.
    We have our rules which serve a purpose, and that the purpose is more important than the rules.
    If we are going to have a sense of common purpose and know what we are to do, someone has to lead.
    We need to help our leaders lead by praying for them.
    And we unite around the vision that God gives them.
    The best part about being a family is not having to do life alone.
    You are surrounded by people who love you with God’s love and who deeply care about you because you matter to God and to them.
    We serve a God who raises the dead.
    Sometimes its the death of a relationship.
    Sometimes it’s the loss of a loved one.
    Sometimes it’s the death of a vision.
    We all experience death at times and of various kinds.
    But those who follow Jesus also experience resurrection!
    Romans 8:11 The Message
    11 It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!
    God is raising his church to life.
    We as a church are coming back to life with fresh vision and renewed purpose.
    This message is condensed from a series of sermons that I preached over the last few months.
    If you want to go back and listen to them, they are on our YouTube channel.
    You can also find a link on our website: Springcityfellowship.com/ about us.
    If you have been attending and would like to see our membership packet - that goes into more detail about or vision and how you can be part of it.
    It’s Resurrection Sunday!
    What is God bringing to life in you?

    Questions for reflection:

    How are you responding to what Jesus Christ has done for you? That response is not supposed to be a one-time event. So how are you continuing to embrace transformation in your daily life?
    How is God restoring you? Are you aware that you are in a process? It is the ongoing process of becoming more like Christ. How can we help one another in that process?
    What are you releasing? Do you know that as a child of God you are called to represent Him? Are you aware of the Holy Spirit's presence and power in you and working through you? How might we, together, transform the world around us?

      • Romans 12:2NIV2011

      • Romans 8:11NIV2011

      • Luke 23:39–43NIV2011

      • Galatians 2:20ESV

      • Genesis 1:27ESV

      • 2 Corinthians 5:17–19ESV

      • Luke 10:3–9ESV

      • John 14:16–17ESV

      • 1 John 4:7–8ESV

      • John 13:35ESV

      • Romans 8:11ESV

    • Because Of Jesus
    Spring City Fellowship
    office@springcityfellowship.com
    (610) 948-5250
    https://springcityfellowship.com
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