Woodland Hills Church Sermons Audio Podcast

“Why did Jesus have to die?” We all know that Jesus died “to take away the sin of the world.” But what about a more complete explanation? How can Jesus be justly punished for our sin? A common explanation has been that the Father’s wrath against our sin moves God to destroy us because a holy God cannot tolerate sin. The Son becomes a buffer and takes the punishment in our stead. While this is true, it is not the entire truth. Greg challenged this thinking by reminding us of some of the biblical descriptions of the work of Christ. Jesus reveals the love of God, not merely conceals God’s wrath.

Jesus gives us the greatest commandment, to love God, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We've all heard this command, but we tend to resist the basis for loving our neighbors — loving ourselves. The “small story” we often live in focuses on what we've done, what was done to us, and what we dislike about ourselves. The Big Story is the eternal perspective. It includes not only us, but what God has done, is doing, and will do through us. In Christ, we are to see our story as part of the Big Story. With God's help we can embrace this process to overcome the evil within.

This week, Woodland Hills Church truly had a blessing! Rev. Dr. Brenda Salter-McNeil came back to preach the Word of God and finish up her two-part series “River of Life,” from her November 2004 visit. She opened up by singing “Spirit of the Living God” and reminding us that it’s only by God’s Holy Spirit that we can be empowered to do anything of Kingdom value.

**Please note, this study guide is only applicable to the 11:00 a.m. service. Unfortunately, we did not anticipate that Neil would give three different sermons for each service! Though very generous on his part, it was a surprise to us!** This message challenged us to be content as children of God, walking freely in the Spirit, and it warned us of the two things that might prevent us from experiencing the freedom we have: legalism and license.

No study guide is available for this service, which was different from the 11:00 service.

In this sermon, Greg reinforces the message of the Kingdom of God by helping us see our lives not only in relationship to ourselves and those closest to us, but also in the “big picture” of what God is doing in the world. The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that is growing within the world to transform it. It is not only how it impacts our personal lives that matters, but also how our personal lives participate in the larger Kingdom efforts that God is calling us to.

Everything in our lives is connected in some way to every other thing in our lives. We must be aware of this if we are truly to root out sin and manifest the Kingdom of God. The biblical image is that of yeast leavening a whole lump of dough, which is used both positively (Mat. 13:33) and negatively (2 Cor. 5:16). Sin—including festering anger, unforgiveness, resentment—works like yeast to penetrate deep into the lives of those affected; likewise, the Kingdom of God works like yeast transforming the whole for good as well. Therefore, we cannot really compartmentalize our lives. And as we begin to cooperate with the yeast of the Kingdom of God in our lives, we quickly find the world resisting us.

Christians are the “first fruits” of the “human harvest” that God is bringing up on the earth. Greg discusses how just as in a natural harvest a small portion of the crop is ready early, we as Christians in this world now are ready for heaven before others have realized that heaven has been prepared for them! Contrary to the assumption that when the messiah came all would be transformed immediately, Jesus teaches that there is a process, an unfolding that will occur. We are a part of that process as the first fruits!

Greg is internationally known for his work on what theologians call "the problem of evil," which was the subject of this week's sermon. People had been calling Greg all week asking "Did God cause the tsunami in Asia? If not, why did God allow it?" Such questions assume that God is directly responsible for natural disasters; Greg argues that this assumption is not biblical.

Central to Greg’s message today was that the incarnation was not simply a historical act that ended at Christ’s ascension. It goes MUCH further than that! The Church IS the Body of Christ - we are the hands, the feet, the ambassadors, the temple, the Body through which God works. Therefore, we must share Christ’s attitude summed up by this phrase: be present, in love, without judgment.

The term “perichoresis” was used by the church many hundreds of years ago to describe the inner life of God, which includes the Father, Son and Holy Spirit fully knowing one another. This is sometimes artistically illustrated by a divine dance, which God wants us to become a part of as well. In Christ, God has made a way to include us in the dance even though we do not deserve to be included, and we persistently resist the movements required (full transparency, self-sacrifice, interest in the other over ourselves, etc.).

Today’s message was on the offensiveness of the gospel, which becomes apparent when we start out by asking a typical human question: “What’s in it for me?” Consider Mary, the mother of Jesus, and John the Baptist – people who gave up much to obey God and suffered greatly as a result. Obeying God will have painful consequences so long as this world is under the reign of the enemy. The kingdom of God is not like this world, and when we bring this opposing Kingdom into the world we will find strong resistance, and it will cost us something.

This week, Greg preached an inspiring message that concluded his Kingdom of God series and emphasized how God the Father is a living, interactive God who is always working in the world. As such, the kingdom of God is one of the “here and now”! To the extent that Christianity is transformed from finding life in Christ to finding life from Christian religiosity and moral correctness, it will not only continue to alienate others by living in judgment but also blind its followers to how God is actively, vibrantly working right NOW in those alienated.

Greg continued his series on the kingdom of God and focused on living life moment by moment. All we really can offer to God is the very moment we are in – will we bring our faith into the moment-by-moment reality of our life? Greg discussed Gen. 28:10-13 and 16-17, focusing specifically on the fact that Jacob was awakened (through a dream) to the presence of God right in the very place he stood. We must remember that God is with us right here in the place where we stand, where we work, where we sin, where we worship, everywhere.

This week, Ike, our Associate Community Pastor, discussed how communion is meant to be a celebration. Ike takes us back to the first communion as an example of the power of remembering through sharing our stories. Could it be that when we take communion in a large group we miss out on something Jesus valued? Do we miss the faith- and community-building aspect that Jesus meant for us to experience? We need to hear how God “showed up” in each other's lives to grow closer in community, to be encouraged, and to remember Jesus, to remember when...