the Cross Orlando

Opening a series on the church shared with two sister congregations in Lake Mary and Sanford, this message works through Paul's body analogy in 1 Corinthians 12:12-20, teaching that the church is a cohesive unit of distinct members with reciprocal need: you both belong and are needed.

Closing out the series in 2 Peter, this message works through chapter 3 and its answer to the scoffers who ask where the promise of Christ's coming has gone: God's delay is patience, not forgetfulness. Drawing on Isaiah 40-43 and Romans 2:4, it calls the church to wait for the new heavens and new earth with diligent, peaceful lives and hearts of repentance.

Continuing through Peter's second letter, chapter 2 catalogs the moments God has separated people out — the angels, Noah's generation, Sodom and Gomorrah — and warns of false prophets who play on our passions and promise a freedom that turns out to be bondage. The hinge is verse 9: the Lord knows how to rescue, and the freedom Christ calls us into is liberation rather than rule-keeping.

Opening a three-week look at Peter's second letter, this message walks through chapter 1: God's divine power has already granted everything needed for life and godliness through the knowledge of Christ. Peter's list of virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, and brotherly affection is not a to-do list but a set of dummy lights signaling where we have forgotten what is already true.

The final message in the series on vocation looks at civic and neighborhood calling through the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25), urging us to get in the game with the gifts and resources God has entrusted to us, followed by a conversation with Paul about his work in commercial real estate and his involvement with the Coalition for the Homeless.

Continuing the series on vocation, this message turns to the second arena—church—working through 1 Peter 2, where Peter urges believers to put away malice and slander and be built together as living stones into a spiritual house, a sanctuary founded on Christ the cornerstone, justice, and righteousness. It closes with a conversation with Brandi-Michelle Rhodes on belonging and what members of a church owe one another.

Continuing our series on vocation, we turn to Luke 3 — where John the Baptist tells the crowds, tax collectors, and soldiers to do their everyday jobs justly rather than abandon them — and see how working fairly and well honors the image of God in the people our work touches. Ben is then joined by urban planner Eliza, who shares how her faith shapes the way she designs more walkable, neighborly communities.