Advertise on podcast: Live Church

This message explores John 14:27–31, where Jesus, hours before His crucifixion, leaves His disciples three eternal gifts: faith, joy, and peace. It highlights His sovereign choice to go to the cross out of love and obedience rather than coercion, and contrasts worldly peace—rooted in security and circumstances—with the lasting peace that comes from reconciliation with God. The message closes by inviting listeners to anchor their souls in that unshakable peace amid life's hardships.

This message explores John 14:15–26, where Jesus promises the Holy Spirit as a permanent, personal Helper who will indwell believers and ensure they are never left as spiritual orphans. It contrasts genuine faith, marked by joyful obedience, with mere profession, and emphasizes that believers' bodies become the literal temple of the Holy Spirit. It closes by tying this indwelling to believers' adoption as God's children and the Spirit's role in inspiring Scripture and empowering the church to spread the gospel.

This message unpacks John 14:7–14, focusing on Thomas and Philip's requests for clarity about the Father and Jesus's response that "whoever has seen me has seen the Father." The message walks through Philip's request to "see the Father," explaining it as a faithless demand for a theophany despite already having a front-row seat to God's full revelation in Christ, and highlights the works of Jesus—healing, cleansing, raising the dead—as evidence for those who struggled to believe. It clarifies the promise "greater works than these will he do" as referring to the Gospel's global spread through the Spirit-empowered church rather than more spectacular miracles, and closes with a careful explanation of praying "in Jesus's name"—rejecting the popular misreading of it as a blank check or magic formula and reframing it as aligning one's requests with God's will and character so that prayer becomes participation in God's kingdom work rather than a demand for personal gain.

This message examines John 14:1–6, Jesus's comforting words to His disciples as He prepares them for His departure and death, promising that He goes to prepare a place for them in His Father's house and declaring Himself "the way, the truth, and the life." Set against the backdrop of humanity's deep-seated fear and denial of death—drawn out through Ernest Becker's *The Denial of Death* and everyday examples like the pursuit of youth, status, risky behavior, and avoidance of hospitals and funerals—the message explores how death remains the one certainty no one can truly prepare for or negotiate with. It contrasts this universal anxiety with the hope Jesus offers His grieving disciples, who are losing not just a teacher but the mentor who has guided, protected, and spoken truth into their lives for three years and are now faced with carrying on without Him. The message frames Jesus's promise of a prepared home and His identity as the exclusive way to the Father as the answer that allows believers to face death not with dread, but with confident hope.

This message unpacks John 13:36–38, the exchange where Peter boldly declares he will lay down his life for Jesus, only to be told he will instead deny Him three times before the rooster crows. Using Watergate figure Charles Colson's dramatic fall and later redemption through prison ministry as a modern illustration, the message explores how self-confidence in one's own loyalty and faith can conceal a dangerous undercurrent of pride, and traces a recognizable cycle: overestimating one's spiritual strength, dismissing warnings, rationalizing sin as justified, and ultimately experiencing a fall that is either exposed or confessed. It contrasts two possible responses to that fall—Judas's path of despair versus Peter's path of godly sorrow leading to repentance and restoration—and grounds the discussion in Romans 8:28 and the story of Joseph in Genesis 50:20, showing how God works even human betrayal and failure toward redemptive purposes. The message closes by highlighting restoration as one of the most beautiful realities of the Christian life, born not from human strength but through acknowledged weakness.

This message explores John 13:31–35, the intimate final words Jesus speaks to His believing disciples after Judas departs to set his betrayal in motion. Set in the upper room in the hours before the crucifixion, the passage captures Jesus giving His followers a new commandment—to love one another as He has loved them—and declaring that this love is the very mark by which the world will recognize His disciples. The message unpacks the weight of this moment as Christ's parting instruction to those he calls his own, drawing a distinction between godly love, marked by repentance, and worldly love, and connecting it to Matthew 5:14–16's call to let good works shine visibly before others. It challenges listeners to examine their own hearts and lives for evidence of this outward, active love, cautioning against both counterfeit displays of "love" carried out in Christ's name throughout history and the failure to lovingly confront what will harm those we claim to love, urging a balanced, genuine expression of godly love as the true evangelistic witness to the world.

This sermon continues the study of John 13:18–30, shifting focus from the moment of Judas's betrayal to the deeper question of how someone entrusted with such a close relationship to Jesus could fall so far. It traces two paths that lead a person toward Judas's fate: the love of money, which slowly corrupted Judas as the disciples' treasurer and ultimately drove him to betray Jesus for a small sum, and a seared conscience, the gradual numbing of moral sensitivity described in 1 Timothy 4:1–2 as consciences "seared" like flesh under a branding iron. Drawing on Romans 2:14–15 to show that even a moral conscience is God-given and universal, the message contrasts a soft heart still troubled by sin with a hardened one that no longer feels conviction, then turns to 1 Timothy 1:18–20 and the Corinthian church's experience with church discipline to illustrate how unrepentant sin can lead to being "handed over to Satan"—not out of hatred, but as a severe mercy meant to bring a person back to repentance.

This sermon opens the Gospel of John's account of the Last Supper (John 13:18–30), focusing on the identity and role of Judas Iscariot within Jesus's inner circle. It examines why Judas—described as the "son of perdition" and a foreshadowing of the future Antichrist—was chosen as a trusted disciple despite his corrupt character, and explores how Old Testament prophecy (Psalm 41:9, Zechariah 11:12–13) is fulfilled through his betrayal. The message walks through the tense scene where Jesus reveals that one disciple will betray Him, unpacks the cultural significance of bread-sharing as a gesture of friendship, and shows how the disciples' assumptions about Judas blinded them to the truth even as it was unfolding before them. It closes with the sobering moment Satan enters Judas, illustrating how prior choices open the door to spiritual possession and setting the stage for the events leading to the cross.

This installment of the *Doctrines of Devils* series confronts the popular but unbiblical notion that true love means unconditional acceptance of sin. Using the account of Herod, Herodias, and the beheading of John the Baptist from Mark 6:14–29, the message draws a stark contrast between worldly love — selfish, compromising, and ultimately self-destructive — and Agape, the sacrificial, unconditional love displayed on the cross. Historical background on Herod's family and the corrupt Roman rulers of the era illustrates how "love" divorced from truth enables sin and protects evil. The sermon argues that real love calls people to repentance rather than excusing their sin, warns against the cultural pressure to affirm what God calls wrong, and challenges listeners to examine their own hearts for hidden compromises before pointing fingers outward. It closes with the story of Dr. Robertson McQuilkin's devoted care for his wife with Alzheimer's as a modern picture of selfless, covenantal love, paired with 1 Corinthians 13 and Proverbs 3:3–4 as a call to embody steadfast, sacrificial love.

This installment of the Doctrines of Devils series confronts the pervasive lie that God is primarily an experience to be chased rather than a divine Person to be known. Drawing from Romans 12:1–2, it examines how the modern church's obsession with entertainment, sensationalism, and emotional highs has produced consumers instead of disciples — and a generation that drifts away once the feelings fade. Listeners are challenged to reexamine their motives for coming to church: are they seeking an emotional experience, or coming simply because of Christ? The message closes with a call back to true worship — not what we receive, but what we give: presenting ourselves as living sacrifices, wholly devoted to God.

This sermon warns against false teachings that “deify man and humanize God.” Grounded in 2 Timothy 4, it argues that many modern distortions, from occultism and New Age spirituality to Word of Faith practices, repeat Satan’s ancient lie that humans can attain godlike power. The message calls believers, especially fathers, to guard the doctrine of their homes and remain anchored in Scripture. It rejects practices such as channeling, manifesting, and manipulative “positive confession” as attempts to control God. Instead, Christians must humbly accept their creaturely place, trust God’s sovereignty, and worship Him as the holy, transcendent Creator.

True biblical doctrine glorifies God and unites believers, while false doctrine originates from demonic influence and destroys. Churches must guard certain non-negotiable, close-handed truths — the nature of the Trinity, salvation by grace through faith alone, the authority of Scripture, the reality of sin, and explicit biblical mandates. Open-handed issues allow for humble disagreement without division. False teachers are identifiable by their pride, controversy-stirring, Christ-absent teachings, and personal agenda-driven motives — ultimately using godliness as a means of personal gain. The church must remain anchored to the sound words of Christ, protecting the flock from wolves who seek followers for themselves.

This sermon on John 13:1–17 highlights lessons from Peter during Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. First, believers must be patient with one another, as Jesus was patient with Peter’s immaturity and misunderstanding. Second, Peter reminds us that we do not understand everything; resisting God’s ways, grace, or methods is often prideful. Third, our plans often reveal selfish ambition, just as Peter’s hopes for Jesus were tied to his own expectations. Jesus’ foot washing symbolizes both His humble service and His cleansing work in salvation. Since Christ has washed and richly blessed His people, they should humbly serve one another too.

Jesus Christ, the most powerful being in existence, knelt before His disciples and washed their feet — the most degrading task in the ancient world. In doing so, He painted a picture of His entire mission: descending from glory, taking the form of a servant, and absorbing the cost of humanity's sin. While His disciples argued over greatness, Jesus simply picked up the towel. He calls His followers to do the same — to stop keeping score, stop fighting for position, and start serving freely. Because Christ took the ultimate hit for us, we are freed and compelled to take the hit for others.