Watch the Official Trailer
An 8-week multimedia Bible study by Jordan Thomas that invites you to to return to Scripture to behold the beauty of Christ, contemplate the role of the local church in the Christian life, and learn what God says about the purpose of each body of believers: to treasure Christ above all else, together.
About
description
Love for the person of Jesus Christ is native to the heart of every born-again believer. But such love refuses to be enjoyed alone.
God designed the Christian life to be lived out in the context of a local church, and the local church to be a microcosm of the great company of believers throughout the ages who treasure Christ supremely. But many Christians in our modern, individualistic culture have lost their grasp on the value of the local church, and many congregations have drifted from the simplicity of devotion to Christ, turning instead to the latest trends to bring people in the doors. How do we get back to doing church as God intended?
In these 8 workbook chapters and accompanying video sermons, you are invited to return to God’s Word to behold the beauty of Christ, contemplate the role of the local church in the Christian life, and learn what God says about the purpose of each body of believers: to treasure Christ above all else, together.
components
Christ Our Treasure: Enjoying the Preeminence of Jesus in the Local Church is centered around 8 video sermons and a corresponding 8-week workbook-style study. Each week, the students spend the week working through the workbook lesson and finish the week by watching the corresponding video sermon and, if working through the study with a group, discussing the content with the group.
Each workbook week is comprised of one lesson which is designed to be slowly worked through, meditated on, and applied throughout the week.
about the author
Jordan Thomas is a husband, father of six, and founding pastor of Grace Church, Memphis. After preparing for the ministry through college and seminary, Jordan went on to train in church planting at Bethlehem Baptist Church before returning to Memphis, Tennessee to plant Grace Church in 2007. Jordan now continues in local church ministry through shepherding the fold at Grace Church and leading with Treasuring Christ Together Church-Planting Network.
Endorsements
"Some things should be obvious in the Christian life, such as treasuring Christ. Yet opposition to treasuring Him, internally and externally, can sidetrack Christians from the central passion that belongs to all whom Jesus redeems. When that happens, we need course correction, a fresh look at “seeing Christ as compellingly beautiful,” leading “to embracing Him as our all-satisfying treasure.” Jordan Thomas helps us in Christ Our Treasure: Enjoying the Preeminence of Jesus in the Local Church, not simply by bringing up the obvious but by plunging us into the depths of Jesus’ person, work, and love for His people. Through an eight-week meditative, reflective discipling tool, Jordan spurs readers to action in reading the Word, praying, meditating, worshiping, witnessing, doing missions, and living life in the body of Christ as the means and overflow of treasuring Christ. I’ve known Jordan for many years. I’ve often commented to others, ‘When I’m around Jordan, I want to be more like Jesus.’ Reading this book, feeling its passion and weight, and seeing his delight in Jesus makes me want to treasure Christ more. Use this workbook as a gift to help believers treasure Jesus."
Phil A. Newton | Director of Pastoral Care & Mentoring for the Pillar Network | retired pastor | author of 40 Questions About Pastoral Ministry; Shepherding the Pastor.
"Would you sign up for a tour to behold the most exquisitely beautiful vistas ever seen? That’s what Jordan Thomas does in Christ Our Treasure. From Genesis to Revelation, we are taken on an intoxicating expedition of the person, work, and eternal worth of Christ. We are carefully instructed how this riveting view of Christ changes us—not only individually, but entire churches collectively.”
Nathan Knight | Lead Pastor, Restoration Church, Washington, D.C. | Author, Planting by Pastoring, Crossway, 2023
"As a small boy, my older brother compelled me to ride Space Mountain at Disneyland against my fervent protests. After the ride, I could only say, ‘Let’s go again!’ It was exhilarating in a way I had never experienced. This is not an ordinary book. It is a book and a workbook that invites you to read, write, and, most importantly, think about the most essential reality in history. Yet, if you will hop aboard with heart, mind, and pen, what you will find is something so rare, a truly exhilarating book!
John Erickson | Director for Care and Advance, Treasuring Christ Together Network
“Salvation is personal, but it never remains private; it is confirmed and grows in the community of the saved, and Jordan Thomas has served us well by showing convincingly from God’s word that these happen as we treasure Christ together. If Christ indeed is our greatest treasure, we enjoy him best when our enjoyment is shared with others. As the author argues, we need other Christ-treasurers to help us treasure Christ. His study is rich with insights and will challenge long-standing and new believers to treasure Christ with Christ’s people. Study and savor the Savior with the saved.”
Dieudonné Tamfu, Ph.D. | Senior Pastor, Église Baptiste Bethléem | Founder, Bethlehem College & Seminary, Yaounde, Cameroon.
"This book brings us back to the primary foundation of our faith as Thomas guides us to explore not only the beauty of Christ, but also the beauty of encountering Him in the community of the church. As a cross-cultural worker, I highly recommend this book in helping to guide others from different backgrounds to be in awe of Him. Each week is a Scripture-filled journey into understanding what treasuring Christ can truly mean.”
Jeff Williams | Career Missionary and Church Planter, North Balkans, Eastern Europe.
"If you are a little like me in highlighting Christ-filled edifying quotes in a book to post them somewhere or remember them forever, you better get ready with a jumbo highlighter as you read these pages. This is not only a philosophical reflection on the worthiness and beauty of Christ but also a theological and biblically honest reflection that academic minds and traditional hearts desperately need. After reading this book, your admiration and treasuring of Christ will be hugely benefited by drinking of this fountain.”
Alejandro Molero, Pastor | Iglesia Biblica Sublime Gracia, Washington, D.C. | NAMB Northeast Regional Leader for Hispanic Church Planting
“My dear brother Jordan helps us to see Christ for what he truly is, i.e. our treasure. If you are someone who treasures Christ, this book will help you to do that more. If you are someone who is struggling to treasure Christ, then this is the right book for you as it will help you to see, know and behold the beauty of Christ. And this book will also help you to love Christ's bride, i.e. his church. Furthermore, you will be encouraged as a church together to learn to love and treasure Christ. This book is for each and every member of the church to be read together as a church. What a treat!”
Hezekiah Harshit Singh | Pastor, Satya Vachan Church, Lucknow, India
Foreword by Dr. John Snyder
There are two reasons that I whole-heartedly recommend this study.
The first comes from my knowledge of the author. I met Jordan Thomas (some readers may know him from Behold Your God: Rethinking God Biblically and Behold Your God: The Weight of Majesty) over twenty years ago in a hospital room when our mutual friend and mentor, Clyde Cranford, was ill. Clyde, who discipled me after leading me to the Lord, also met with Jordan for discipleship after his conversion. Clyde’s formal meetings with each of us went on for nearly two years, but our mutual friendship with him continued long after. However, it wasn’t until after Clyde’s funeral that Jordan and I began to become better acquainted. We were both part of a small group of young men who were training for the ministry that met weekly at a coffee shop in Memphis, Tennessee. As a group, we read through the works of older writers and discussed how the truths we were finding there should be applied in our lives and in the life of a church. The significance of those meetings was greater than we might have imagined, as many of those men have gone on to labor faithfully in the kingdom.
Jordan and his wife temporarily left the Memphis area so that Jordan could serve as an intern at Bethlehem Baptist Church under John Piper. When he returned, he and a small group of hungry believers covenanted together as a new church in February of 2007. Because of our friendship and near proximity, Jordan and I have been able to occasionally preach for each other. I have always been encouraged by the carefulness that Jordan and the other pastors at Grace Church Memphis have exhibited in loving God and His people there.
More than anything, Jordan’s life these past twenty years has been distinguished by an earnest pursuit of and every clearer grasp of Christ’s love and loveliness. It is rare to meet a minister who, after all the ups and downs of the gospel ministry, is pursuing Christ with more delight and intentionality than when he first began. You cannot spend much time with the author of this book without noticing the fruit of his ongoing study of Christ, memorization of significant portions of Scripture, and long hours of gazing on our Lord. Every time I visit with him, Jordan has been a source of good for my soul. The study you are holding in your hands is a product of twenty years of the author’s determination to delight in Christ above all else.
The second reason I am grateful to recommend this book is that its theme is of incalculable value to the Church. In this work, you will be led to reconsider what it means for the people of God to treasure Him in the person of His Son. The author divides this subject into three stages of the Christian’s life: Embracing the unsearchable riches of Christ in conversion, treasuring Christ together with a body of believers on earth, and continuing that delightful duty in eternity with all the saints. Jordan reminds us that we become what we behold. In the author’s own words,
That which most deeply captures your heart most powerfully shapes your character. Your greatest love chisels you into its image. Your character today was formed by what you beheld in your many yesterdays. What you want dictates how you walk.
May God help us all to recalibrate our personal and corporate choices in light of the great treasure of knowing and communing with the One who is altogether lovely!
Dr. John Snyder | Pastor of Christ Church New Albany | Director of Media Gratiae