Hypocrisy. Infighting. Deceit. What do these things have in common? For everyone, they represent some of the worst aspects of human relationships and community one can experience. But for some, they represent their experiences with individual Christians, or sometimes whole churches, that have left them hurt, broken, or skeptical of any person or group claiming the name of Jesus. What should be a fragrant aroma that draws people closer to God and one another, the church at times can be more like a toxic repellent that drives people away.

The Bible does not lack examples of believers guilty of harmful behavior. It is painfully honest about situations that arose in the early days of Christianity or that could arise today, but it never permits the failures of a few to have the last word for the life of the many. The first Christians did not dismiss their problems, but addressed them with both truth and love, thereby setting the pattern for all generations of believers to follow.

For those today who have been repelled by the noxious odors of toxic church life, Citronella Church is a series of sermons addressing common ways in which communities of faith can fail. But it is also hopeful and optimistic in what Jesus does to present his bride “holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.” (Ephesians 5:26)

For those who make up the church, these sermons will call us to be imitators of Christ in all that we do. (Ephesians 5:1) We will be challenged to consider our own contribution to the condition of our local churches and the impacts they have, for good or for bad, on the world around us.

The Bible does not dismiss the failures of people of faith, nor is it silent on how they may be remedied. The fragrant aroma of Christ (Ephesians 5:2) may yet still be smelled in our midst!

Series Playlist

Citronella Church

A Community of Distrust

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  A Community of Distrust

  Apr 24, 2022 • 48:38

  The Bible is not ignorant of the issues that trouble human relationships, nor is it dismissive of the types of failures the church is capable of. God’s word provides everything we need to be all we are called to be: a community where truth in love reigns supreme. Speaker: Sean…

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  It's My Way or the Highway

  May 1, 2022 • 45:48

  Because we are all works in progress, we who make up the church can’t expect to always agree on things. For good-willed people who agree on the essentials, the question isn’t if differences and disagreements will arise, but when—and when they do, how will they be handled? Speaker: Sean Scribner…

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  The Person Behind the Mask

  May 8, 2022 • 49:25

  When the Holy Spirit has access to your heart and transforms you into the likeness of Christ, and all the masks you hide behind are removed, he will use you, and the sweet fragrance of your life, however pressed, to bring glory to God and reach the world with the…

“But these are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.” (John 20:31)

God wants to be known. He has spoken and acted throughout history in ways that reveal his existence and power, but nowhere has he spoken and acted more clearly than through the words and actions of his son, Jesus Christ. The gospel of John presents him as the one who, though “near to the Father’s heart” (John 1:18), has “made his home among us” (John 1:14). He uniquely “radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God” (Heb. 1:3), therefore in Jesus we not only have evidence of God’s existence and power, but the very heart of the Father expressed in flesh and blood.

The gospels all record things Jesus said and did, as well as the reactions and assumptions of others. But there’s something special about the “I am” metaphors in the book of John. Each expression is rich and vibrant and loaded with meaning. In his own words, Jesus tells us what he is like. Who better to explain himself, and thereby explain the Father, than he?

For the season of Lent, we will dive deeply into these special statements in John. Together, we will get to know the man behind the metaphors. He has acted and spoken, and these deeds and words are recorded that we might know him, believe in him, and have life by the power of his name.

Series Playlist

I Am

The Bread of Life

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  The Bread of Life

  Mar 6, 2022 • 35:20

  The point of the sign and reenactment and ensuing discussion of the feeding of the multitudes is not that Jesus provides food, but that Jesus IS food. He is the one who mediates the very life of God, life that truly satisfies, life that is imperishable and never ends. Speaker:…

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  The Light of the World

  Mar 13, 2022 • 34:37

  Jesus Christ is God’s special revelation, unique in how he alone reveals and exposes both the truth about God and the truth about us. He is God’s personal, saving presence in action, and he invites all who live in darkness to come to him, walk in the light he is…

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  The Good Shepherd, Part 1

  Mar 20, 2022 • 45:49

  The exhortation of the scriptures is to entrust our hearts to Jesus, who tends, feeds, and secures his flock through devoted undershepherds who rightly divide the word of truth, but also rightly live it day in and day out. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: I Am Scripture: John 10:1-5

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  The Good Shepherd, Part 2

  Mar 27, 2022 • 36:07

  There is no safer, more secure, more rich or satisfying life than life as part of the flock of Jesus. Despite all the promises of the world, the flesh, and the devil, only Jesus provides the life we were created for and our hearts truly desire, and he does so…

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  The Way, the Truth, and the Life

  Apr 3, 2022 • 32:37

  Jesus is the only way to the Father because he is the Truth of God and the Life of God in the flesh. He saves by who he is and all that he does, and there is no other way to heaven than through him. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: I Am…

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  The True Vine

  Apr 10, 2022 • 34:29

  As the True Vine, Jesus Christ is the true and better Israel, the one producing fruit his Father the Vinedresser desires. He is the one who was obedient unto death. He supersedes the temple, all the Jewish feasts, even Moses himself. Now he supersedes historical Israel as the locus of…

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  The Resurrection and the Life

  Apr 17, 2022 • 39:12

  That Jesus is the resurrection and the life means that your relationship to him today will determine your experience of eternity tomorrow. If life for you ends today without Jesus, all that remains is a permanent second death. But if you believe in him now, and every other now until…