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Hearing the Words of the Kingdom
Stories of a Kingdom Joel Wood Stories of a Kingdom Joel Wood

Hearing the Words of the Kingdom

Joel Wood

God’s Word, and specifically the good news of the gospel, is what God uses to draw people into His Kingdom. But not all those who hear God’s Word respond to it in faith and believe. Jesus reveals the various responses people have to the message of the Kingdom in the story of the sower, or more accurately, the story of the soils. This surprising story calls out those who are hardened to the truth, shallow in their faith, or distracted by their world, leaving only one type of hearer who believes. . .whose heart is fertile and ready soil for the Gospel. The response reveals the heart and ultimately their relationship to God and His Kingdom. This story also presents an encouragement to all who proclaim Gods’ Word. We must remember the results lie outside of our control, but remain in the sovereign hands of the King who rules over the results of His Word, which far outweigh all our expectations. 

Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23

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Introduction to Stories of a Kingdom
Stories of a Kingdom Joel Wood Stories of a Kingdom Joel Wood

Introduction to Stories of a Kingdom

Joel Wood

Jesus was, and still is, the greatest teacher the world has ever known. While Jesus taught in many ways, one of the most specific and impacting was in using parables. Often, we think of Jesus parables as sermon illustrations or stories that merely helped people pay attention. Jesus stories were certainly captivating and they helped to illustrate truth, but there is more happening in Jesus’ parables than that. Jesus spoke in parables to reveal the secrets of God’s kingdom, to help us to understand what that Kingdom is like, what it means to belong to it, and how we are to live our everyday lives in light of it. More than that, Jesus also spoke in parables to reveal who was truly a part of God’s kingdom. In fact, the parables Jesus shared were purposely designed to reveal the condition of His hearers’ hearts and bring the gospel to bear on their lives. Using a simple story to convey a singular and powerful point about the Kingdom of God, Jesus’ parables either draw us in to a closer relationship with Him through repentance and faith, or push us away in confusion and rejection. Our response to them makes all the difference in our lives both for today and for eternity. 

Matthew 13:10-17

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Looking For Forever
Forever Now Brandon Fisher Forever Now Brandon Fisher

Looking For Forever

Brandon Fisher

We all long for a “perfect life.” We may have different ideas of what a perfect life looks like, but the longing for a perfect life is universal. Yet, one of the things we are reminded of on a regular basis is that our lives are far from perfect. We don’t always get what we want. We have hopes and dreams that go unfulfilled. Things regularly mess up our best laid plans. We rarely make it through a day without facing some sort of trouble or difficulty. We our reminded often and in various ways that we live in a broken world. But if we are looking for heaven here and now, then our unfulfilled desires, ruined plans, and everyday difficulties leave us constantly discontent. We easily respond in complaining, anger, or envy as the perfect life we want seems to always be just out of our reach. So often our discontent is rooted in expecting heaven here and now. The Bible teaches us to expect troubles in the present and perfection in the future. In other words, the Bible tells us to not look for heaven now, but to expect it in the future. And when we know that the future will be perfect, we can live with contentment in midst of an imperfect life here and now.

1 Peter 1:1-9

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Longing For Forever
Forever Now Kyle Kauffman Forever Now Kyle Kauffman

Longing For Forever

Kyle Kauffman

Suffering. It’s the one thing we all wish that we could avoid. And yet it is the one thing that every single one of us will face in this life. The amount of suffering we face will vary, but no one makes it through this life without suffering. Whether it is loss, physical pain, mental and emotional pain, or a combination of all of them, everyone suffers. The hope of heaven does not alleviate suffering in this world, but it can transform how we think about suffering, how we face suffering, and how we have hope in suffering. Conversely, suffering can change how we think about heaven, increase our longing for heaven, and help us to live our lives focused on heaven. The Bible is a book full of people who suffered just as we suffer, but the Bible also points us to the hope we have that is able to sustain us through our all suffering in this life.

2 Corinthians 4:16-5:4

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Investing For Forever
Forever Now Kyle Kauffman Forever Now Kyle Kauffman

Investing For Forever

Kyle Kauffman

What we believe about forever will shape how we use our money (and other resources) in the present. Or to put it another way, how we use our money will reveal what we truly believe about the future. If we believe this life is all there is then we will use our money to get as much as we possibly can out of this life. But if we truly believe that this life is short and heaven and hell are forever, then we will look for ways to use our money to make an eternal difference. Our use of money (how we spend it and save it) will reveal whether we are living for here and now or whether we are living for eternity. The more we set our hopes on the future God has promised to us, the more gladly we will give away our money in the present to invest in that future. Either our money will reveal we are living to gain all we can here and now, or that we are living to gain heaven and all that God promises to us.

Matthew 6:19-24

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Loving For Forever
Forever Now Joel Wood Forever Now Joel Wood

Loving For Forever

Joel Wood

One of the main things we are called to do as Jesus’ followers is to love other people in this life. We are to love others just as Jesus has loved us. We are to love other people by helping to meet both physical and spiritual needs. And yet to love others in the present will also require making sacrifices in the present. True love always requires a willingness to sacrifice something for the sake of another. This is where we find that Heaven and the future hope we are promised from God guides and empowers us to sacrifice much in the present in order to love others. Forever reminds us that we should care about both physical needs and spiritual needs. Forever reminds us that our acts of love in the present have eternal significance. And forever gives us the motivation to sacrifice much in the present in order to love others, knowing that every sacrifice will prove to be worth it.

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Living For Forever
Forever Now Kyle Kauffman Forever Now Kyle Kauffman

Living For Forever

Kyle Kauffman

The future we are promised is meant to shape our lives in the present. One of the ways our future should shape the present is in motivating us to grow in holiness/Christlikeness. When we know that heaven is our true home it means we should be okay with living as foreigners in this world. When we know that one day, we will be perfectly holy, it should lead us to pursue holiness in our lives today. If we are going to spend forever with Christ, then it should lead us to live for Christ right now. Paul was a man who was consumed with thoughts of heaven, and as a result he was a man who was radically transformed in the present. We find in Paul’s words in Philippians 3:12-21 four ways that forever impacts how we live in the present.

Philippians 3:12-21; Colossians 3:1-4

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All Things New
Forever Now Kyle Kauffman Forever Now Kyle Kauffman

All Things New

Kyle Kauffman

We tend to spend more time focusing on “how” things will end in this life then we spend focusing on what will come afterwards. We often talk about the end times and how it we believe everything will end more than we actually talk about heaven and what comes after the “end.” What do you believe heaven will be like? What types of images and descriptions come to your mind as you think about heaven? While the descriptions of heaven we find in the Bible leave a lot to the imagination, they also give us some really important details that help us to imagine heaven. We find one picture of Heaven in Revelation 21-22. The picture we find is incredible! And the more we both understand and meditate on this future, the more we will find it having an impact on our present.

Revelation 21:1-8; 22:1-5

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Forever Is For Real
Forever Now Kyle Kauffman Forever Now Kyle Kauffman

Forever Is For Real

Kyle Kauffman

You are going to live forever. Let that sink in for a moment. Forever is where you are headed. Your life will not end the moment you stop breathing in on this earth. Rather, you will go on living forever after you die here and now. Many people are vague on whether or not forever exists. They may hope there is some sort of afterlife, and yet they are unsure if there really is. And yet many people are “sure” that if there is an afterlife then it must be good for everyone. Meanwhile many Christians believe they are going to live forever and yet we can spend so little time thinking about forever and what difference it makes for right now. The Bible is clear that we are going to live forever. It is also clear that there are two eternal destinies: Heaven and Hell. And there is only one person who can change our eternal destiny. As we look to Jesus, we discover that the future is certain and we discover that we can know our future for certain. And we are challenged to live with that future in view.

John 5:19-29

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A Better Sermon
Hebrews: Jesus is Better Kyle Kauffman Hebrews: Jesus is Better Kyle Kauffman

A Better Sermon

Kyle Kauffman

The plan to close our series on Hebrews is to simply read through the entire Book of Hebrews. In this way we hope to both recap and respond to all that we’ve been hearing in the book of Hebrews, to experience the book of Hebrews as a Sermon like it was originally intended, and to ask and trust God to simply speak and move through the reading of His Word on this Sunday Morning.

Hebrews 1-13

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