Woodland Hills Church Sermons Audio Podcast

In this week's message, Dan continues our look at the biblical narrative themes of covenant and kingdom in the story of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. After his baptism and before the start of his ministry, Jesus was tempted in three very important ways by Satan. In this message we learn how Jesus inserts himself in to the biblical narrative and seeks to fulfill the promises and potential of old testament characters like Israel, Adam & Eve, and King David.

The New Covenant, which was inaugurated by Jesus and we celebrate with the sign of the communion meal, is a reframing of the Passover Meal from Exodus. In that Old Testament story we see how God defeated evil by allowing evil to act upon itself. In the same way, the cross brings victory over sin and defeats Satan through the hidden wisdom of love.

In this past weekend's sermon, we take a birds-eye view of the prophets, and what they teach us about one of God's most core values: taking care of the vulnerable.

This week Greg goes through the covenant God made with king David, and touches on some of the foundational beliefs of Woodland Hills involving finding security only from Jesus instead of human kings, and how God always finds a way to bring beauty out of our sins.

As we continue our Long Story Short series through the lens of covenant and kingdom, in this message we explore the connection between relationship and responsibility in the story of the Isarelites making a golden calf for worship while Moses is on Mt. Sinai. It's all too easy for us to get impatient and lose trust in what we can't see. Grace explores the struggles of the Israelites by reflecting on her own experience in building idols in her personal life.

In the fourth part of our Long Story Short series, Greg zooms in on the calling of Abraham in order to discover the ways in which God's Kingdom is like a mustard seed.

In this third installment of our Long Story Short series we explore what the overall narrative of the Bible is as it relates to our Covenant with God, and the Kingdom ways we're called to live here on earth. Today, we look at the story of the Flood through the lens of the cross finding that there's a new lesson about God's character and God's posture to us when we sin. Greg ends with one practical way we can live out our covenant to God inspired by this passage: by caring for the earth and all it's inhabitants.

In the second part of our Long Story Short series Greg takes a look at what happens when Adam and Eve disobey God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and what universal lessons we can learn from them about who we were originally designed to be. Life in the Kingdom revolves around trusting God for provision and honoring his prohibition. It's this focus that keeps us secure in our identity and not looking for life elsewhere through judging eyes. We are to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, and him crucified, and this will keep us from judgement of others as well as keep a clear picture of who God is.

Today we started out our new series called Long Story Short, where we will go through the whole bible book by book, looking at the key stories through the lens of Kingdom and Covenant. David started us out at the beginning in Genesis 1 and 2, to explore where the themes of covenant and kingdom show up and what they mean for our identity and intended vocation in the world.

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In this fifth installment of our Take Heart series, we explore what it means to be encouraged in one solid truth: that God's love for us is unceasing and he is present with us in the midst of incredible brokenness. Discouragement can come when we have a broken picture of God, but we can be encouraged that God always looks like Jesus and Christ crucified. But first, we need to understand the difference between believing something and experiencing something.

In this fourth installment in our Take Heart series we explore what it means to be encouraged in our ability to build skills and competence in the areas God has entrusted to us. Discouragement can come externally from factors outside of our control that can be overwhelming, but it can also come from feelings and patterns of passiveness within that keep us from enacting what God has trusted us to do.  

Today with David, we looked at God's desire for encouragement and what kind of posture we should have in encouragement. He looks closely at the nostalgia of the Israelites when the temple was rebuilt and how it keeps us from seeing the ways God wanted to encourage them in the present rebuilding.

In this sermon with Greg, we get deep into talking about facing fears and problems, but not succumbing to them. Often times when we or ones we love go through hard times, along come four different crowds of people offering various "you'll get through it" type remarks. Though when life falls apart and everything comes undone, whether it be you or someone you know, sometimes all you can do is "Embrace the Suck" and just be present. The time may come where you can sort things out, mend, or find some sort of contentment, but sometimes you just need to be there, in the moment.

Today Sandra shared with us a real-life example of her brother's story, and what to do, and what not to do, when confronted by someone else's discouragement.