Kaleo Church Podcast

      How do you respond when God says yes? How do we avoid becoming so enamored with his gifts that we allow them to distract us from the giver? Specifically, what does it look like to separate the gift of forgiveness from the God who offers it to us? In order to help us answer some of these questions Zechariah comes to remind us not only what we have been saved from, but what we have been saved for.

Sometimes we can get so used to the narratives about Jesus coming into the world that we lose our wonder and awe. In Luke 1, Mary and Elizabeth will demonstrate how marveling at who God is and what he has done is intimately intertwined with humility. Listen and hear how the Gospel moves us from mystery to marvel.

The reason we often struggle to believe God’s promises isn’t because they aren’t enough to give us hope in the midst of this broken world, our struggle is that they often seem too good to be true and too big to be possible. So what are we supposed to do? How can we learn to trust in promises that clearly exceed anything we could hope to deserve and how are we supposed to believe God’s word when we cannot imagine how he could ever bring it about? These are the questions that Luke comes to answer in tonight’s passage.

Oppressive, barren, and silent darkness provides the context for Christmas. In the midst of dark days we can be tempted to doubt the promises of God. Yet, into this darkness the Lord sent his angelic messenger to bring good news of God's faithfulness to fulfill his promised salvation in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the faithful One who never doubted the word of God his Father. Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness, the Word made flesh. He came to tear down the curtain so that doubters like us may enter into his presence now and forever!

Most of us find that we care far too much about what other people think about us. Now our culture thinks that the answer to this problem is to say, “As for me it is a very small thing what anyone else thinks because I know that I am good and I love myself and that is all that matters…” But is what our culture tells us true? Are we the judge? Do we get to give the ultimate verdict on our lives? And is relying on our own feelings about ourselves really the only way to stop being controlled by what others think of us?  These are some of the questions that Paul comes to answer for us in I Corinthians 4:1-5.

In this passage Paul shows us the folly of boasting and the wisdom of recognizing our utter dependence upon God. He argues that when we boast we actually rob ourselves of all that our God has offered us as a free gift of grace. However, if we are willing to depend upon him, we will find that “All things” have become our servants to be used by God for our ultimate good.  

      In this passage Paul blows us away by telling us that the local church is actually the inner sanctuary of God’s temple because the Holy Spirit has chosen to dwell in our midst. He goes on to warn the Corinthians that God will destroy anyone who destroys his temple. In this message we will consider the implications of this passage including both the protection and the warning that it comes to offer. We will also consider the amazing reality that this passage was written by a man who had once made it his mission to destroy the church.

Have you ever wondered how Judgment Day informs how you do ministry? Most of us have rarely thought about that, but for Paul it mattered greatly. Listen and hear how the Gospel transforms the way we do ministry in light of Judgment Day.

In a culture that favored public speaking, the Corinthians began dividing over their favorite pastors. In our culture today, with innumerable podcasts, videos, and social media posts, we aren't too far removed. Listen and hear how the Gospel directs the glory we long to give to others to the only one who actually deserves it.

The wisdom of God hidden from the world is the magnificent grace of God freely given to us in Christ Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, and so we depend upon the Spirit applying salvation through the gospel to have the mind of Christ.

Have you ever felt overwhelmed with the call to tell others about Jesus? Have you ever felt weak or afraid of being rejected or looking foolish? If you have then Paul wants you to know that you are not alone. In I Corinthians 2:1-5 Paul tells us that he felt weak and afraid and was filled with much trembling when he arrived in Corinth. However, Paul’s response to these feelings might surprise you. In this passage we will see how Paul responded and why he chose to respond that way.

What if where you are right now, in terms of earthy categories, was as good as things ever got for you? What if the current state you find yourself in was the place that God desired to be with you for the rest of your life? If that were the case do you think that his love would be enough for you? In this passage Paul reminds the Corinthians that God’s love for them has never been dependent on their earthly status and that what he has given them in Christ is enough.

Evangelism can be really hard. Often the fear of rejection or even of looking foolish to others keeps us from sharing the Gospel. We want to share the Gospel, but sometimes our inability to figure out how to make the Gospel sound attractive to others keeps us from sharing it. But what if the Gospel wasn’t supposed to be attractive to the values of this world? What looking like a fool was meant to tell us more about the person who is rejecting the Gospel than the person sharing it? And what if God has designed the sharing of the Gospel, with the rejection that often comes with it, to do a transforming work in the one sharing it and not just in the one hearing it? These are some of the questions we will consider in this message.

We live in a time where people are very quick to divide over conflict and all of us are familiar with the pain that comes when people we love choose to part ways with us over a disagreement. Sadly this conflict isn’t just something we face in our culture but its something we experience within the church as well. In I Corinthians we see that we are not the first to experience significant conflict within the church. Here Paul comes entreat us to remember that we are on the same team and to seek to mend the relationships that have been torn apart by sin. Paul goes on to give us three different arguments for unity and what we will find is that these same truths can also be used to comfort those who are dealing with the pain that conflict and division within the church can cause.

The Corinthian church was a mess. They were tolerating sexual immorality, they were suing each other, they were getting drunk on communion, some were teaching that there is no bodily resurrection and they were using the spiritual gifts God has given them to make them feel superior to others. It was church filled with conflict and compromise. And yet Paul calls them “Holy” and declares that Jesus will sustain them until the end, guiltless on the day of Christ Jesus. How can Paul talk like this to a people that were so sinful? Why did he feel like this was the best way to address them? In this sermon we will seek to answer these and other questions.

Where do you seek hope in the midst of suffering? Often when things get difficult we seek hope in convincing ourselves that it isn’t our fault. We defend or justify or compare our involvement to others believing that the path to hope lies in our innocence. But Psalm 106 comes to show us another way. In Psalm 106 we find that as crazy as it might sound, the path to hope actually lies through confession. If you are wondering how that is possible this sermon will seek to answer that question.

How can the Psalmist call us to serve the LORD with gladness? In verse 3 the Psalmist explains that the reason he calls us to serve the LORD is because he is the God who made us. But how can he ask us to serve him with gladness? In verse 5 the Psalmist argues that the reason we can serve the LORD with gladness is because he isn’t just God, he is also good. In this sermon we will see how God’s greatness and his goodness combine to make praising him both the natural and the most enjoyable response we could have to encountering his glory.

We live in a culture that has done everything it can to distract itself from death. It says, “Since there is nothing that can be done to stop death, what’s the good of thinking about it. In Psalm 90 we are given an alternative to ignoring death. Here Moses writes to a people surrounded by death and his advice for them was to learn from it. Learn to number your days; learn to fear God more than people or circumstances; and learn that even in the darkest and most hopeless circumstances your God is able to satisfy you with his steadfast love and bring true joy and gladness into your life.

Every week millions of people around the world gather together in local churches to worship the God of the Bible. Throughout history and in many places to this day, Christians have been willing to make great sacrifices, many have even risked their own lives in order to be a part of these weekly gatherings. But why? What is the point of God's people gathering together each week? How important is it? How should you and I think and feel about gathering together? What priority should we give it in our lives? Tonight we are going to look at Psalm 84 as well as some other Psalms in order to try and answer some of these questions.

Have you ever found that your feelings were unfolding faster than you were able to process them? Have you ever cried out to God for help and felt like there was no answer? Have you ever tried your best to follow God only to have everything come crashing down around you? Have you ever been vulnerable and then had your weakness used against you by someone you trusted? If your answer is yes to any of these questions then Psalm 69 is for you!