Woodland Hills Church Sermons Audio Podcast

The relationship of Christianity to the culture in which it is found has always been complex and strained. Perhaps no event illustrates this problem better than our national celebration of Christmas. When the radical message of Christ gets mixed in with civic religion, the result is a trivialization and Domestication of God.

The image that we have in our minds of God radically shapes how we think about God and more importantly, how we relate to God. What does your picture of God look like? The place where God is most fully revealed is in the person of God’s own Son, Jesus Christ. When we grasp the truth about Christ, we can have confidence that we are drawing near to a true and accurate picture of God.

Perhaps the most universal fear is the fear of dying. We abhor the decay of our bodies as we age and we have anxiety about our death. It is amazing then to see that the Son of God came to Earth precisely to die and he did so willingly! In Christ, God takes our sin, death, and despair and in return God gives us Eternal Life, peace, joy and righteousness. To borrow a phrase from Martin Luther, this is indeed a “happy exchange”!

The Bible teaches that Christ was perfected through his suffering. Christ suffered because of his radical obedience to the Father in this totally corrupt world. We live in this same world and are called to the same obedience.

The Kingdom of God is truly among us in one sense, for the forgiveness of sins has come and is available to all! But the Kingdom of God has yet to come in another sense, we await the Lord’s return when finally, peace will truly abound on earth. The Kingdom of God will come suddenly and God will salvage what can be saved. But there will be a final judgment that reveals the true status of our relationships with God.

There is something of a paradox at the heart of a human being. On the one hand, we are totally deprived sinners before a holy God, but yet our destiny is to reign with Christ in the Kingdom of God! It has been said that the corruption of the best is the worst. This is profoundly true of humanity which, though the crown of creation, is capable of the most destruction.

Our lives are often riddled with contradictions: we can be singing praises to God one minute and swearing the next. There is something about us humans that makes this possible. Dr. Boyd will discuss humans as beings created in God’s image as he continues this series on the Letter to the Hebrews. If God created us in God’s own image, what happened? Why do we fall so far short of God’s glory?

Nothing in this world is truly neutral. Everything is either growing or it is dying. This law is true of our spiritual lives as well. Dr. Boyd addresses this problem and what to do about it as he continues this series on the Letter to the Hebrews.

Many people have argued that Jesus was actually an angel or some other type of being that is less than fully God. There is a sound Biblical defense against this claim. In the 1990’s people became increasingly interested in spiritual things of all sorts. As Christians this presents us with new opportunities as well as new obstacles to sharing our faith.

If you are curious about angels and demons and what they have to do with God’s good news for the world, this sermon is for you. Christians have authority over demonic forces. This means that we have nothing to fear, but outside of Christ, there is nothing that can be done to prevent spiritual attacks.

People are more interested in angels today than they used to be. This means that the church needs to respond with sound teaching on what angels are and what role they play in the grand scheme of things.

The many problems in the world cause some to wonder about the moral character of God. The greatest revelation of God’s character is found in Jesus Christ who is God in the flesh.

Many people today believe that moral and religious convictions are all relative. Dr. Boyd exposes the many problems with giving up on God as the one true Absolute. In the Old Testament, God used prophets to speak the truth to God’s people. In the New Testament God used Jesus Christ to bring the truth. Christ is the one true absolute in the world.

How we pray reveals much about how we view God. Do we thank God that we are not so bad as the next person? Or are we like the tax collector, who, understanding his sin confessed it before God and was counted as righteous. Dr. Boyd discusses the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Many people think that they are not good enough to be Christians. This is a tragic thought. It is precisely because we are NOT good enough that Christ died for us and we are now free to be Christians. Dr. Boyd discusses Gal. 5 where Paul said, “It is for freedom that Christ has set you free.”

Sometimes churches that claim to be “tough on sin” end up being the one’s with the most hidden problems! But Transformation must take place! Dr. Boyd continues exploring the problem of sin and the power of grace in Paul’s letter to the Romans. Do not let your feelings of failure win the day! Christians, God is the one who defines you and God has declared you to be righteous. Salvation has been granted to you SO that your life will be transformed by the new spirit living in you. Dr. Boyd concludes this message entitled Empowered By Grace.