Woodland Hills Church Sermons Audio Podcast

Today we answer the question of why believe in God? Is this like believing in the Easter Bunny? Isn't it illogical and improbable that there would be a personal being out there who created everything and loves the world and every living creature? Our answer: No! When you look at the facts, it's actually MORE logical that the above is true than not.

In this third chapter of our Sure. series we come to Jesus. Who is He? How do we know what we know about Him? Why do we believe it to be true? What are the critiques of the Christian belief in Jesus as a historical figure and what are the rational arguments in favor of the orthodox view of Jesus as Lord? In this message Greg explores these questions and others while explaining what it means to "give the reason for the hope that you have".

What is faith? In what should our faith be anchored? Does our faith stand upon the various church doctrines and dogmas? In this sermon Shawna explores the meaning of faith, that the root which grounds our faith is not our belief system, but the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ crucified is the cornerstone of our faith. What is faith? In what should our faith be anchored? Does our faith stand upon the various church doctrines and dogmas? In this sermon Shawna explores the meaning of faith, that the root which grounds our faith is not our belief system, but the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ crucified is the cornerstone of our faith.

In the first sermon in our 'Sure.' series, Greg examines the nature of truth. Is all truth subjective? Is all morality relative? In western culture a premium is placed on tolerance. Greg explains the history of this movement and ultimately how it squares with the teachings of Christ.

During this final sermon in our Next Level Relationships series, Greg and Kevin have a conversation where we learn about the cycle of conflict. They discuss why we find it so easy to get pulled in, and more importantly, some tools from Jesus that we can use to short-circuit the cycle.

Why is it so easy to blame others when we are in conflict? In this fifth sermon of our Next Level Relationships series, Greg looks at what our brains and bibles can tell us about blame and how to navigate conflict.

Conflict is the "elephant in the room" of all relationships - we either want to ignore it or focus completely on it. Yet as Kingdom people, how do we deal with conflict in ways that reflect Christ on the cross? In the fourth week of our series, "Next Level Relationships," Osheta Moore shows us how to tell better stories about those who seem like our enemies, while seeing each other as fellow image-bearers of God, and never enemies.

In the third sermon of our The Next Level Relationships series, David Morrow looks at the critical role that listening plays in healthy relationships. Dave discusses three challenges to, and three lessons for effective listening.

This week we explore vulnerability, and how we all tend to use the serpent's tools of hiding and idolatrous performance to protect ourselves from judgement and shame. We learn that Vulnerability is the only onramp to real connection with others, and is also the key to enabling us to receive our life and fullness from God alone.

We tend to break the world in to sacred and secular, but in reality this is a false dichotomy. No matter where Jesus was or what relationship he was in He was fully present as a walking talking embodiment of the Kingdom of God. Instead of walking around with hungry hearts using others in an attempt to fill up our need for security, significance, and worth, we are called to mimic Christ in all our relationships by being filled by our relationship with the Father and letting that overflow to those around us.

For all of the events that take place in our lives from day to day, month to month, and year to year, it's important to take time to reflect, review, and ask God where He was working within these events and what He is doing through them. In the final message of 2017, Greg talks about the discipline of reviewing, and reflects on how God was working through Woodland Hills Church this past year.

For most of us the Christmas story is a religious story that has become predictable over the years. But to its 1st century audience the Christmas story was anything but religious and predictable. In this Christmas Eve sermon Greg shares, how the Christmas story was irreligious and unexpected to its original audience and how if we look at the story with fresh eyes we will see a God that pursues us relentlessly at all cost, meeting us right where we are.

As we continue our Christmas series, "Do you See What I See: Looking at How to See Christmas Through God's Eyes," we focus on the shepherds. As with most of Luke's Gospel, being centered on Jesus' interactions with the marginalized (including the shepherds as a key part of the birth story) is no accident. In Jesus' day the shepherds as a people group were one of the more despised, untrusted, unclean, & judged people in society. In this message we learn how to stop automatically categorizing who's in and who's out based on superficial judgements of worth, and how to recognize the marginalized peoples in our own society and what God might have to say through them.

Christmas is a time of year where we claim "Peace on Earth" and "Good-will toward humanity." But do we really mean that nice-sounding sentiment? Even more so, do we really understand the story that undergirds this time of year, in the first place? In our new Christmas series, "Do You See What I See," we explore Christmas as it was in the 1st Century: on the margins.

In today's final sermon in the "Overcome" series, Greg discusses the last critically important key to overcoming temptation: Community.