(The Gathering Church in Colorado Springs | Sunday Sermon Recap)

Before Chris shared, we heard a testimony that felt like a living parable of the gospel’s patience and power.

Larry shared about his younger brother, Don—years bound in alcoholism and drugs, years of painful conversations, and years of prayer for the bondage to break. For the last two months Don has been in a VA recovery program, completely sober—no drugs, no alcohol—and even his voice sounds different. The encouragement was simple and strong: sometimes the gospel feels “long distance,” especially with family, but don’t give up. God can do in your house what only God can do.

That testimony became a doorway into the message: the gospel is not behavior management. It’s the announcement of a new reality—of a new life given—and the invitation to live from what is true.

Rewatch the full message here: https://www.youtube.com/live/ENuBNg7sFxA?si=SvMyd-lvwVzLhj67

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The gospel confronts the root, not just the fruit

Chris opened in 2 Corinthians 5:21—“He who knew no sin became sin for us”—and connected it with John 1:29, where John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

He emphasized that Scripture often speaks of sin not merely as individual acts to be managed, but as a deeper condition—a way of being in Adam that Christ confronts at the cross. If we reduce the gospel to “try harder, do better,” we end up fighting the wrong battle: obsessed with symptoms, while our hearts remain uncertain about who we are.

A line he shared from a friend captured the center of it:

“Sin manifests in the space of unrealized and unpossessed identity as sons.”

In other words: when we don’t know who we are, we reach for counterfeit lives. But when identity is healed and secured, fruit changes.

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Luke 1 and the turning of hearts

Chris lingered on a passage that framed what he believes God is doing in this generation:

Luke 1:16–17
John the Baptist comes “in the spirit and power of Elijah” to turn hearts—fathers to children—and to turn “the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.”

He noted that in Scripture, disobedience is often closely tied to unbelief—not merely “rule breaking,” but refusing to be persuaded by what God says is true. And the “wisdom of the just,” in this sense, is a persuasion that brings alignment: an inner agreement with heaven.

This is where humility becomes something different than many of us learned. Humility isn’t talking down about ourselves. Humility is agreeing with God.

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From spiritual exhaustion to rest

A repeated phrase in the sermon was “toiling all night.” Chris connected it to the way many believers live: striving, fighting, sweating, trying to get free, trying to change, trying to prove sincerity—only to wake up exhausted and discouraged.

He contrasted self-effort with a life lived by faith—resting into what Christ has already done, and learning to act from union rather than strain.

This theme came to life through two fishing stories.

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Two fishing stories: Luke 5 and John 21

Chris read Luke 5:1–7—Jesus tells Peter to let down the nets after a night of catching nothing. They obey, and the catch is so large that the nets begin to tear and the boats begin to sink.

Then he turned to John 21:1–14—another miraculous catch, but this time after the resurrection. Again they’ve caught nothing through the night. Then Jesus stands on the shore in the morning and tells them to cast the net to the other side. The catch is massive—yet the net does not break.

Chris highlighted what felt like a picture:

• The “night” can represent labor in self-effort—work without revelation, activity without rest.
• The “morning” (resurrection dawn) represents a different kind of life—life that hears Jesus and responds from union.
• The unbroken net points to a structure that can actually hold fruit—the ekklesia (the gathered people of God), not isolated striving.

He also mentioned the detail that John records 153 fish (John 21:11), and noted an early interpretation (often attributed to Jerome) that this number symbolized the fullness of nations—every kind of fish—hinting at the gospel’s reach.

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The charcoal fire: Jesus heals shame before He commissions

One of the most tender moments in John 21 is that Jesus is already cooking.

John 21:9 says the disciples see a charcoal fire with fish and bread. Chris pointed out that the charcoal fire echoes Peter’s denial—another charcoal fire in Peter’s past, where shame and fear had spoken loudly. Now Jesus meets him at a similar place, but with a different voice:

Not accusation.
Not punishment.
Breakfast.

Jesus is not taking something from them. He is giving them Himself. The finished work does not begin with our contribution; it begins with His provision.

And yet, Jesus says:

John 21:10
“Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.”

Chris framed this as participation: Christ provides the meal—and invites us into it. He feeds us, and He lets us bring what His own life produced through us.

Then comes the order that matters:

Intimacy before commissioning.
Restoration before sending.
Love before assignment.

Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love Me?” (John 21:15–17). Chris emphasized: Jesus is not sending out people full of condemnation. He is forming a resurrected people—secure in love—who can carry His life into the world.

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A dream: the harp, the bowl, and a heart that gives authority

Chris shared a dream centered on David and the harp.

In the dream, David meticulously tuned the strings—not too tight, not too loose—until the instrument carried the right tension. Chris said he saw one side become a harp and the other a bowl, and felt the Lord highlighting something: we have often wanted proclamation without tuning.

He drew a distinction:

• Wind instruments in Scripture often accompany war, assembly, and declaration.
• Stringed instruments align the heart—forming an inner resonance that gives weight to the voice.

The point wasn’t about music preferences. It was about spiritual authority: proclamation that “lands” doesn’t come from intensity alone. It comes from alignment—when the heart has been tuned through surrender, through suffering, through saying yes in the real places of life.

When heaven and earth are aligned, the voice carries a frequency that is not manufactured. It is received.

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An invitation for our church

At the close, Leah led the church into ministry time with a clear pastoral discernment: spiritual exhaustion is often a sign that we’ve been “toiling all night.” And Jesus is inviting us into rest—not passivity, but rest that produces fruit.

This wasn’t framed as elitism or exclusion. It was framed as gospel invitation:

• to stop living from shame
• to stop narrating ourselves through failure
• to let Jesus name us from the cross and resurrection
• to live as a people rooted in union and formed in love

If you’ve been weary in your faith—if you’ve been striving, stuck, or spiritually tired—this message wasn’t a scolding. It was a table. A charcoal fire. Breakfast prepared by Jesus.

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Reflection questions for the week

1. Where do you feel like you’ve been “toiling all night”—working hard with little inner fruit?
2. What changes when you imagine Jesus meeting you at the place of shame, not to expose you, but to restore you?
3. If humility is agreeing with heaven, what is God saying about you right now that you need to stop arguing with?
4. What would it look like to practice obedience as listening—“cast the net on the other side”—instead of striving?
5. Where is Jesus inviting you into participation, not performance?

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Links and next steps

Rewatch the message: https://www.youtube.com/live/ENuBNg7sFxA?si=SvMyd-lvwVzLhj67

If you’re longing for deeper connection, prayer, and a community centered on union with Christ:

• Company 318: company318.com
• Join our Substack community: https://company318.substack.com/
• Visit The Gathering in Colorado Springs (Sundays at 10:00 a.m.): the-gathering.us