Wawasee Bible Sermon Audio

Part 1 – SERIES: Vertical Way too often our primary day-to-day focus is horizontal, on the here and now. But we’re called to lift our heads, to keep our eyes on Jesus, to seek God’s glory, to get Vertical. When God gives us a glimpse of his glory it changes everything. This week we study Isaiah 6:1-7, where Isaiah gets a glimpse of Jesus Christ in his full glory.s

Part 3 – SERIES: We Are Sent "We are sent to love people and invite them to follow Jesus with us." That's our mission as a church. This week we look at the fact that we are sent to invite. As followers of Jesus we're sent to invite people to friendship. We're sent to invite people to church. We're sent to invite people to Jesus.

Part 2 – SERIES: We Are Sent "We are sent to love people and invite them to follow Jesus with us." That's our mission as a church. This week we look at the fact that we are sent to invite. As followers of Jesus we're sent to invite people to friendship. We're sent to invite people to church. We're sent to invite people to Jesus.

Part 1 – SERIES: We Are Sent "We are sent to love people and invite them to follow Jesus with us." That's our mission as a church. This week we look at the fact that we are sent to love. Each follower of Jesus is sent by him after coming to faith in him. Just as the Father sent Jesus to love people, so we're sent to love people. (This week's message is short as we also celebrated the ground breaking of a new addition and renovation this morning.)

Part 6 – SERIES: Summer Psalms 2018 Dr. Rock LaGioia of Grace Theological Seminary is our guest this week. Jesus is coming to judge the earth, and this truth should influence how we live our lives. We should praise the Lord with joyful singing. He has revealed his wonderful salvation. The Lord is reigning as sovereign king. And he will return as the righteous judge.

Part 5 – SERIES: Summer Psalms 2018 Psalm 119: Learning & Living from A to Z, Pastor Kirk Barger

Part 4 – SERIES: Summer Psalms 2018 Tom Speicher is our guest this week. The worshiper shares his bedrock emotion: I love the Lord! Then he shares his reasons: God has heard his cry, lifted him out of his pit of despair, and liberated him! Finally he shares his resolve: He will live right, believe right, pray right, perform right, and faithfully praise right. Praise the Lord!

Part 3 – SERIES: Summer Psalms 2018 Rick Thompson, Superintendent of the Great Lakes District of the Evangelical Free Church, is our guest this week. Psalm 92 can be divided into two distinct parts. 1. It is good to sing praises to the Lord, for he is highly exalted! (v. 1-8). It’s good to praise him in the morning and the evening. It’s good to praise him with music. It’s good to sing praises to him in the presence of his enemies. 2. It’s good to sing praises to the Lord because he exalts his people! (v. 9-15). He gives us strength to face our foes (both within and without), and strength to face the future with hope.

Part 2 – SERIES: Summer Psalms 2018 Pastor Glenn Blossom is our guest this week. The free life is the happy life lived in Christ alone, because happiness comes from being pure and clean. If you hide your moral failures God will make you miserable. If you cover them, he will expose them. However if you name your sins and confess them to God, he will make you happy! If you explode them, God will cover them! Intimacy with God is your only way of escape from your bondage. Don't be stubborn—look where it got David! Come clean to the Father, be cleansed by the blood of Jesus, the Son, and Sing, Sing, Sing in the Spirit of Our Lord—our Deliverer and our deliverance!

Part 1 – SERIES: Summer Psalms 2018 Dr. Tiberius Rata of Grace Theological Seminary is our guest this week. Tiberius gives an overview of the function of the Psalms, different types of Psalms, and their value to us as followers of Jesus. Psalm 1 is a Psalm of Wisdom and serves as an introduction to all of the Psalms. Two ways of living and their two resulting destinies are contrasted in Psalm 1, and we're encouraged to choose the way of the righteous. The righteous separates themselves from wicked influences, saturates themselves with the Word of God, and thus prospers and is fruitful. In contrast, the wicked is ultimately useless and eternally judged. Choose the way of the righteous! True happiness begins with righteousness.

Part 12 – SERIES: Galatians - The Sweetness of Freedom What are you boasting about these days? Paul closes his letter to the Galatians with an exhortation of what to boast in and what not to. Your boasting reveals the heart of your worship. Boasting in anything other than Jesus and his cross is wasted breath. Paul declares that it’s his desire to boasting nothing except the cross of Jesus Christ. The thing(s) you boast in has power over you… but Jesus’ grace leads to freedom!

Part 11 – SERIES: Galatians - The Sweetness of Freedom In Galatians 5:26-6:10 Paul gives out some practical application for keeping in step with the Spirit. It begins with an admonition not to be conceited (having excessive pride in yourself, vanity). Pride can take the form of arrogance or low self-esteem, both are the result of people who are self-absorbed. The cure is living out our gospel identity in Jesus Christ. Only when we live this out can we truly love people. Those who have sinned. Those who are burdened. Those who lead and teach. All of those who come into our lives.

Part 10 – SERIES: Galatians - The Sweetness of Freedom For the Christian, there is an internal war taking place between the desires of our sinful nature and the desires of the Holy Spirit which is now within us. It’s a battle between sinful works of the flesh, and allowing Jesus’ Spirit to produce fruit within us. Three steps will help us produce fruit: 1) Remember you belong to Jesus. 2) Crucify your sin by identifying and tearing down your idols. 3) Keep in step with the Spirit.

Part 9 – SERIES: Galatians - The Sweetness of Freedom Jesus has freed you so that you may live in freedom. That’s the point of Galatians 5:1-15 (and really all of Galatians!). Jesus has freed you from guilt and from fear of condemnation before God, which frees you to love him with your whole heart! And to love others with that same freedom and selflessness. You have a choice to make. Choosing Jesus and him alone for your salvation, sanctification, and glorification is choosing freedom. But choosing religion or idolatry or anything other than Jesus is choosing slavery. Which will you choose?

Part 8 – SERIES: Galatians - The Sweetness of Freedom Galatians 4:21-31 is one of the more confusing passages in the New Testament for two reasons: 1) it relies heavily on a knowledge of some key Old Testament events, and 2) Paul uses allegory to make his argument (which can be a challenge to interpret!). Pastor Josh begins with a brief overview of allegory and how to interpret it, then goes back to unpack the events in Genesis that Paul is referencing so that we can interpret and understand Galatians 4:21-31. In the end we each have a choice to make. Choosing Jesus is choosing freedom. Choosing religion/idolatry is choosing slavery.

Part 7 – SERIES: Galatians - The Sweetness of Freedom Paul gives a “before” and “after” picture of knowing Jesus personally. Before knowing God through Jesus Christ, we were all enslaved and without hope. The essence of true salvation is being known by God. To be known by God means having a personal relationship with him where you are deeply loved by God. We look at three implications of being known by God: 1) You are free from legalism and all that enslaves, so flee your idols. 2) We must have no “sacred cows” and be willing to change anything (other than the Gospel itself) in order to bring others into relationship with Jesus. 3) We see in Paul’s suffering that our own suffering has purpose for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ.

Part 6 – SERIES: Galatians - The Sweetness of Freedom Paul needs the Galatian churches to understand that the Gospel is not based on the Law but on God’s Promise. By way of illustration, he reminds them that God’s promises cannot be changed or annulled, and that receiving the promised inheritance/blessing is a matter of faith in Jesus Christ. Are you trying to earn God’s favor by your own works? If so, you’ll never make it! Paul tells us to simply believe God’s promise to grant salvation and blessing to anyone who puts their faith in Jesus—For all the promises of God find their yes in Jesus! (2 Corinthians 1:20)

Part 5 – SERIES: Galatians - The Sweetness of Freedom In Galatians 3, Paul gets to the heart of his argument with the Galatian churches. They must learn and remember that not only are they justified (declared righteous) by faith alone, they are also sanctified (made holy) by faith alone in Christ alone. It’s all God’s grace, and not based on any human effort! Adding human effort to the equation perverts the Gospel. The entirety of the Christian life (start to finish) is one of faith! – Believing God!

Part 4 – SERIES: Galatians - The Sweetness of Freedom The body of Paul’s letter to the Galatians can be divided into three parts: 1) A defense of Paul’s authority as an Apostle (1:10-2:21), 2) Paul’s defense of the Gospel, and 3) application of the Gospel. As we begin this first section, we see that it’s all grace! Paul exerts his authority to remind the Galatians that salvation is all an act of God’s grace, and that Paul received this gospel not from men but from Jesus himself. Pastor Josh unpacks our identity in Christ as a gift of God’s grace in the Gospel.

Part 3 – SERIES: Galatians - The Sweetness of Freedom In Galatians 2:1-10 we get a glimpse into a meeting between Paul and some of the leaders in the early church that affected the rest of church history. It yielded two key outcomes, 1 personally for each believer in Christ, and 1 corporately for the Church as a whole. The first is Freedom in Jesus Christ. The second is Unity in Jesus Christ, which must be intentionally protected within the local church.