Woodland Hills Church - High Quality Audio

When John the Baptist was proclaiming the coming of the Messiah he preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins and called people to be baptized. Jin Kim connected this proclamation to faithfulness in the body of Christ and the importance of bearing fruit in the world.

For this weekend following Thanksgiving , Dwayne delivered a sermon about the basics of living a thankful lifestyle. He asked questions about what we can thank God for in the middle of difficult situations and why it’s important to practice Thanksgiving in general.

Greg shared an image that he uses to represent how principalities and powers pollute the “air” we breathe by drawing on the impact of sins committed in the past. Norm shared his story of how he got out of living in poverty with the help of a friend who provided key opportunities.

Generational sin is the ongoing effect of hurtful behavior that passes on from parents to their children. Not only do the children have to deal with this sin, but God too works with us to overcome these effects of past wrong-doings on our lives.

The Bible has a lot to say about poverty. Most of it refers to material poverty—which is why we are focusing on that this series—but the Bible also recognizes the poverty of isolation, loneliness and invisibility.

Efrem Smith preached about how being a Christian means participating in the Kingdom of God in between the first coming of Christ and the second. He used Matthew 25 to help us grasp this.

The Importance of Knowing Ernest: Sandra shares experiences and insights that have come from her family’s “unlikely” friendships with people on St. Paul’s East Side. In our movement toward the issue of poverty, it’s easy for the ‘haves’ to feel heroic for seeking to give to the ‘have-nots’. Through her relationship with Ernest, Sandra explains what can happen when we pursue relationships instead of responsibilities, or people instead of poverty.

Greg was careful to be clear that his challenge was primarily to those in the lower middle class of America and higher. However the principles apply to all of us: Don’t hoard the things of this world, but rather share generously with those who have less than we do.

We know that we are saved by God’s grace, not our own good deeds—but God still intends that we do good deeds. In fact, God saved us so that we can be restored to right relationship with God and all of creation. This restored relationship includes the activity (good works) that God has planned for each one of us.

When we ask the simple question, “What does the Lord require?” we get a clear answer from Scripture. There are many passages we could turn to for a response, but one of the most concise is Micah 6:8. Act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God.

We see many examples of celebration in the Bible. By reading through these verses we can learn a lot about what celebration is and how it was done during biblical times. [Focus Scripture: Psalms 66:8]

Greg reminded us of the importance of worship, praise and celebration. We sometimes tend to collapse all three of these words together and associate it with the singing portion of a church service, but there’s much more to it that that.

Jesus was frustrating to most people who asked him theological questions. When the Sadducees challenged him, Jesus set them straight on the resurrection, the role of women, and gave a few hints about heaven, none of which they wanted to hear.

Jesus was being set up by some schemers who were trying to trap Jesus. They asked him whether or not Jews should pay taxes to Caesar or not. His answer undermined the game the schemers were playing and will challenge the way we relate to our own government.

By telling a parable Jesus prophesied that he would be rejected and killed. Nevertheless, he also claimed he would be the cornerstone for the coming Kingdom of God. This was shocking to his followers and enraged the religious leaders of the time.

Rob spoke about forgiveness and one common challenge to it—revenge. When someone hurts us and we turn to revenge, we are essentially saying that we don’t like the way God is running the universe.

Our guest speaker could only speak on Sunday, so Greg used the Saturday night service to host a Q&A centered around the recently debated concept that God might be behind the natural disasters in the world...as well as other questions from the congregation.

Kevin Johnson shared some experiences he’s had with “strategies” for personal transformation. None of these strategies by themselves are good enough if we don’t have a basic openness to God’s leading.

At one point in Jesus’ ministry, priests and teachers of the law questioned Jesus about his authority. They asked him by whose authority he taught the gospel and did the miracles. Rather than answering their question, Jesus returned a question.

It might surprise you to know that Jesus got angry enough to turn over tables! There are times when it is appropriate to boldly confront others in our community.