Watch Sermons

Fear of God > Suffering & Dying
Fighting Fear with FEAR Joel Wood Fighting Fear with FEAR Joel Wood

Fear of God > Suffering & Dying

Joel Wood

How does fearing God overcome the fear we all tend to have when it comes to suffering and dying? We know that we will suffer at times in this life and that we will all die. But the fear of these things happening in the future can keep us paralyzed in the present. A proper fear of God frees us from fearing what may lie in the future for us. We don’t need to fear suffering and death because we have the presence of God with us and the promise of God to anchor us no matter what happens in our lives. We can know that God will bring good from our suffering and that death will only serve to make us better.

Read More
Fear of God > Fear of Man
Fighting Fear with FEAR Joel Wood Fighting Fear with FEAR Joel Wood

Fear of God > Fear of Man

Joel Wood

How does fearing God overcome the pervasive fear of man in our lives? Whether it’s wanting to please people, fearing rejection and criticism, or just being concerned with what other people think about us, fear of man tends to run deep. A proper fear of God can enable us to overcome our fear of man and obey God even when it may cost us people’s approval and rejection or opposition. A BIG view of God enables us to see man in his proper place and as a result to not be held captive in fear of other people. And a correct view of God can give us the desire to please him alone and not live for the approval of people.

Read More
Fear of God > Fear of Uncertainty
Fighting Fear with FEAR Kyle Kauffman Fighting Fear with FEAR Kyle Kauffman

Fear of God > Fear of Uncertainty

Kyle Kauffman

There are so many things in this life that are uncertain. It’s easy for our minds to dwell on the uncertainty and try to play out all the ‘what ifs.’ When we do that, we often imagine the worst and anxiously worry about the bad things that could happen to us and to our loved ones. We grasp for ways to control the outcome of the future, but the uncertainty still remains. When we meditate on all that is uncertain, we tend to become fearful and anxious. God instead invites us to meditate on what is certain… by fixing our minds on what is true… his character, his words, his promises.

Read More
The Forgotten Fear
Fighting Fear with FEAR Kyle Kauffman Fighting Fear with FEAR Kyle Kauffman

The Forgotten Fear

Kyle Kauffman

We rarely speak of fearing God today and even when we do, we can still end up easily misunderstanding what it means to fear God. Though we all know what it feels like to fear something the idea of fearing God often remains unclear and fuzzy to us. We wonder if we should still fear God today. And if so, what should that fear look like? Does fear mean that we should be afraid of God? Or is fear only something non-Christians should experience because they have not yet come under God’s grace? Fear of God can feel like something that we read about in our Bibles and yet are unsure about in our lives. But we need to recognize that a right fear of God is actually the doorway into wisdom, hope, joy, and peace.

Read More
A World Full of Fears
Fighting Fear with FEAR Kyle Kauffman Fighting Fear with FEAR Kyle Kauffman

A World Full of Fears

Kyle Kauffman

There are all sorts of things we may fear in this life. Sometimes fear can be a minor phobia and at other times it can be a crippling panic. Fears can be obvious and very clear. But fears can also remain hidden and be hard to identify. Fear in and of itself is not a bad thing. There are certain things we are right to be afraid of. But fear is a very powerful emotion and it has the ability to enslave us, control our lives, and guide the decisions we make with our lives. Because what we fear will ultimately affect how we live. It’s important to understand what causes us to fear and what lies behind our fears in order for us to better understand why we fear. Ultimately, we want to see what is happening in our hearts that leads us to fear certain things or people. And then to see that the solution to our fears is not simply to stop fearing, but rather to put our fear in the proper place where it belongs.

Read More
The Story of the Nations
The Story of (Your) Life Joel Wood The Story of (Your) Life Joel Wood

The Story of the Nations

Joel Wood

All nations, cultures, and peoples are meant to worship God. Yet in the Tower of Babel we find the exact opposite. The peoples band together to build a tower that will magnify humans and their efforts rather than God. God responds by coming down to disperse the peoples and confuse their languages. Yet even in God’s judgment we see a plan start to see more of his plan for redemption immerging. God plans to have people from all nation, tribe, and language worshipping Him. In this we find that the differences in culture and language can actually be a really good thing. Each culture and language can worship God in unique ways. We have much that we can learn from each other in the present (rather then being suspicious of one another). We find that God’s plan is to offer salvation to all nations through one man who immerges from one nation. We now have the opportunity to take that message of salvation to all the nations.    

Read More
The Story of God’s Faithfulness
The Story of (Your) Life Kyle Kauffman The Story of (Your) Life Kyle Kauffman

The Story of God’s Faithfulness

Kyle Kauffman

God makes and keeps promises. That reality alone should amaze us. But here’s the even more amazing part: God makes and keeps promises to sinners. God shows us that a relationship with him is not built, earned, or enabled by our obedience and efforts. Rather the gift of his presence and blessing in our life is rooted in his promises. We see in Genesis 9-10 that the story God writes is one where he binds himself to his people with promises through covenants. God shows that the way he will rescue the world and turn it into paradise again is through making and keeping his promises. His promises call us to respond with grateful trust, love, and obedience. Yet we find that God continues to keep his promises even as we fail to trust, love, and obey him over and over again.  

Read More
The Story of Justice & Grace
The Story of (Your) Life Kyle Kauffman The Story of (Your) Life Kyle Kauffman

The Story of Justice & Grace

Kyle Kauffman

God judges sin. This can leave us surprised and shocked. It’s hard for us to read stories like the flood in Genesis without walking away surprised by how seriously God takes sin. Yet if we want to recognize how great God’s mercy is in saving us, we must also come to grips with how great our sin is and the judgment we rightfully deserve. The story of the flood is a story that tells us God acts both with judgment and with mercy. He judges sin and yet shows favor on Noah and makes a way for Noah through the judgment of his sin. This story points us to the cross as the ultimate place where God acts with both judgment and mercy and provides a way for his people to pass through his judgment safely. Now we who have received mercy are called to be people who carry God’s message of mercy to others. 

Genesis 6-8

Read More
The Story of Death & Life
The Story of (Your) Life Kyle Kauffman The Story of (Your) Life Kyle Kauffman

The Story of Death & Life

Kyle Kauffman

We often skip over or cruise past the genealogy lists in the Bible. They have unfamiliar names that are hard to pronounce and seem overly repetitive. We might wonder, “Why in the world is this even in the Bible?” Even these lists have something important to teach us, especially this first list in the Bible. They point us to both the beauty and brokenness of life in this world. Life is a wonderful gift, but because of sin life comes to an end. This genealogy teaches us that we all live under the shadow of death. This genealogy reminds us that we will all both grieve the loss of others in our life and that we to will one day face death. No matter how long we live, we must come to grips with the truth that one day we will die. And this genealogy teaches us that God’s plan and promises continue on even after we are long gone from this world. And that although death looms over us, there is hope for us both in and after this life.

Read More
The Story of Conflict & War
The Story of (Your) Life Joel Wood The Story of (Your) Life Joel Wood

The Story of Conflict & War

Joel Wood

Sometimes things go from bad to worse. That’s the story of Genesis 4. We see how quickly sin spreads and multiplies and creates more pain and hurt in this world. This story shows us how powerful sin is in our lives and in this world. It corrupts, infects, multiplies, and leaves a path of destruction in its wake. This story shows us that all conflict begins in our own sinful hearts. We wage war against other people because a war is already raging in our hearts. As a result, we are called to wage war against the sin within us. And yet we find that the war against sin is not ultimately won by our efforts but by the one who God sends His Son to overcome sin and all its effects. 

Read More