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Gannon Sims: Who We Are (1 Peter 2:1-5, 9-12)
Gannon Sims, senior pastor of Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas, opened with a controversial statement from Stanley Hauerwas, one of his teachers. “The purpose of the church is to show the world that it is not the church,” Hauerwas said.
Sims didn’t appreciate Hauerwas’ words until he put them up against Peter’s description of the church in 1 Peter 2. Peter describes the church as living stones built into a spiritual house of priests.
Sims’ sermon is built on Cliff Temple’s statement of faith. The statement describes the congregation as created in God’s image, broken, redeemed, family, servants, priests and missionaries.
The church as living stones is like a kintsugi pot or a tile mural, Sims said. Both art forms involve broken pieces put together into something beautiful.
This sermon was delivered Aug. 21, 2022, for the morning worship service of Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas. It is the third in a series titled “Being the Church in the World.”
A sermon script is available here.
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