PROVERBS: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World Date: January 5, 2019 Video Sermon: Click on the play button below description to watch. The Book of Proverbs is an incredible part of the Bible that is packed with insights for how to live a good life. It is wisdom literature, and as such, it is intended to teach people the right way to live according to God’s design and intention for human life to flourish. If we will seek wisdom with all our heart as if for hidden treasure, then we will come to know success, blessing, health, peace, discernment, and so many other things that God wants for his people. Credit for clips: The Bible Project (“Overview: Proverbs” and “The Book of Proverbs“)

Event: Spirit & Truth Fellowship National Conference 2017 Where: The Hilton, Atlanta, GA When: September 24, 2017

Being God-Centered and Answering His Call Date: July 4, 2017 Audio Sermon: Click on the play button below description. Being God-centered is essential to trusting God. The opposite of being God-centered is being self-centered. So what does it really mean to have a God-centered approach? How should we think about being God-centered? And how can we form that habit in our lives? In this sermon, these two approaches to life are contrasted by drawing upon the record of King Asa where he took one approach and then decided to try the other under fairly similar circumstances (2 Chr 14 & 16). The immediate outcome of the two approaches seemed to be the very similar on the surface, but in fact, they were very different in the aftermath. God is calling each of us to do specific things for him. But what he does is calls us to join him in […]

What in the World Are We Doing!? Date: June 2, 2017 Video Sermon: Click on the play button below description. Paul tells Timothy to “keep the commandment unstained” (1 Tim 6:14). Furthermore, James in his letter exhorts his readers to “keep oneself unstained by the world” (Jas 1:27). In this sermon, we look at how the world can stain us, and thereby allow it to stain the commandment (i.e., instruction) of God. The problem is that Scripture tells us that we are to not be stained by the world, that God loves the world (Jn 3:16), that Jesus said we are “not of the world” but has called us “out of the world” (Jn 15:19), that Jesus prays for us not to be “taken out of the world” for he has sent us “into the world” (Jn 17:15, 18), and that through our faith we have “overcome the world” (1 […]

Forged in the Furnace of Life Date: April 21, 2017 Audio Sermon: Click on the play button below. We all look at suffering as something undesirable, unwanted, and evil. While suffering might not be what God had in mind when he created Adam and Eve, their mistake has caused suffering to be an inherent component of human life. In this sermon, I talk about how suffering is tough, temporary, and transformational. Suffering is hard; it often pushes us to our limits. No one wants to go through it, but suffering is a natural part of living in this broken world with the power of sin and Satan at work. Strikingly, the NT writers had quite a positive outlook on suffering, especially when it was on account of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Both the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter have important things to say about how the […]

Holiness is a Matter of Habit Date: January 7, 2017 Audio Sermon: Click on the play button below. Holiness is when we reflect the character of God in our life. But such patterns of living are foreign to us at the time when we become a son or daughter of God. Holiness is built in the life of a believer just like any other type of behaviorism…through repetition and training (and of course, with the help of the spirit of God). In other words, holiness is not something achieved by having the right checklist or knowing all the do’s and don’ts. Holiness is about a shift in our attitude and desire that stem from a change in our character, and our character is influenced by what sort of personal qualities we are nurturing in our life and the type of choices we make each day. In this sermon, I encourage […]

Habakkuk and a Message for Revival Date: July 23, 2016 Audio Sermon: Click on the play button below. Revival comes from the word “revive” which means “to bring to life again” or to “restore to health.” But revival is something that happens to those who have life already, not to something lifeless. Thus, revival is something that is directed toward those who already follow Christ and have eternal life within them. Revival is about refreshing, refocusing, restoring, and bringing to life again one’s faith and their pursuit of God. However, revival is not primarily about renewed interest in the church, increased attendance, or overall enthusiasm of the congregation. Rather, revival is something that emerges from deep within the heart of each believer. It is something that arises from a determination and disposition of the heart that turns to God and seeks him in all things. Concerning what it takes for […]

What Are You Looking For? Date: June 25, 2016 Audio Sermon: Click on the play button below. What we are looking for will determine what type of “soil” we are preparing in our hearts. And if we are looking for Jesus and seeking to submit to him as a disciple and follower, then how we live, what choices we make, and the habits we form will either support that endeavor or deter us from it. If we are not disciplining ourselves in godliness, then we will inevitably succumb to the temptations of the world and pursue the desires of our flesh rather than the things of God. Furthermore, when it comes to the temptations of the world, one of the most pervasive is that of lust. And lust is like a slow disease that can creep into our lives almost innocuously and then slowly grow and become stronger and stronger, […]

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Date: May 21, 2016 Audio Sermon: Click on the play button below. What does it mean to be spiritually mature? And what does it mean to be emotionally mature? Well, emotional health and spiritual maturity are actually inseparable. You cannot be spiritually mature and emotionally immature. It doesn’t work. It can’t work. Our spiritual lives are inextricably tied to our emotional life. Most of us have some category of life in which we are an emotional infant. A category that we have not surrendered to God; a category that we have not relinquished our hold on so that the power of God’s spirit and the blood of Jesus can heal us. Emotional underdevelopment is not always obvious. For most, it is the part of us that we like to hide and keep in the dark. But when we don’t address our emotional dimension, we will always be […]