Kaleo Church Podcast

A false view of freedom and spirituality will lead the church to adopt the same ethics as the surrounding culture where the free expression of inward desire is celebrated. Paul points us to the resurrection of Jesus to transform and renew our hearts and minds and give value to our physical bodies. He directs our love and all of who we are away from self and turns it to God and to others so that we may experience and live out of the true freedom that is only found in Jesus Christ.

Our culture tells us that the path to meaning is through the free expression of our desires, unless of course, those desires end up being harmful either to ourselves or others. In I Corinthians 6:9-11 Paul warns us about the danger of following many of the desires that our culture has deemed safe. In this passage we will see both the danger and the ensuing shame that comes from following our desires, as well as the redemption from shame and the freedom from our enslavement that the Gospel comes to offer us.

How are Christians supposed to respond when they have conflict with other Christians? Are we supposed to respond just like the rest of the world or is there a way to respond to conflict that is distinctly Christian? In this passage Paul lays out two right ways and two wrong ways for Christians to deal with conflict. 

       In this passage Paul tells us that another purpose of church discipline is the protection of the Church. After calling the Corinthians to live out the identity that God has given them in sincerity and truth Paul ends this section by giving us a few more details about the process of church discipline. In this message we will also consider the terrible carnage that has been left behind when this passage has been abused and we will talk about how our God has chosen to respond to it.

The Church is a family and one vital aspect of any healthy family is discipline. In this message we will discuss the purpose of church discipline and why it is that we often find ourselves so resistant to it. We will also consider the posture of church discipline which Paul tells us is mourning.

 In this sermon, we see how Paul continues to address and correct the Corinthians infatuation with eloquent speakers. While some of them have become arrogant towards Paul, his way of corrective discipline is with a fatherly gentleness that calls them to imitate the heart of Christ that Paul himself is imitating. Listen and hear how the Gospel forms us into gentle people.

The way up is down. That is what Paul is trying to help us see in this passage. And in order to make that argument Paul uses biting irony to help wake us up from our infatuation with the things of this world and to call us to follow him as he follows Jesus down the way of the cross. In this message we will see why Paul’s call is so extreme as well as what makes it worth the tremendous cost.

      Pride is a problem that all of us struggle with. In fact, the less someone struggles with pride, the bigger their problem actually is. Fortunately, in I Corinthians 4:7 Paul uses three diagnostic questions to attack the very roots of our pride. So for all us who happen to know some proud people, this message is for us. 

      Did you know that our attention is the most valuable resource that we have? And yet the truth is that we often give it away for nothing. In this text Peter tells us that we would do well to pay attention to God’s Word as if it were a lamp in a dark place. But it’s hard isn’t it? It’s hard because we live in an age of distraction. In this sermon we will consider why it is that we are so prone to distraction. We will also consider why it is that God’s Word is truly worthy of our attention and what it might look like for us to give our most valuable resource to the one who is most valuable.

      How is it possible to die in peace? I think many people assume that when death comes, they will somehow find peace and yet the reality is that most people go through life grasping at control and struggling with fear and anxiety when even one of the things they love are threatened. How could we possibly imagine that we might be ready to lose everything in death when we still haven’t figured out how to live in peace with the ordinary losses of life? In this passage Simeon shows us the secret to dying in peace which, we will find out, also happens to be the secret to a life of peace.

Have you ever felt like you just didn’t belong. It’s hard, isn’t it? In this message we will consider what the Christmas story has to say about rejection and our longing to fit in. Specifically we will consider why it is that the only person who got to choose when and how he was born chose to be born in a stable and laid in a manger. 

      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.