Brooklyn Tabernacle - Audio Sermons Feed

Imagine stones of varying sizes. Let’s call any impediment that blocks us from doing what the Lord wants a “stone.” A small one may be a bad attitude, while a death would be a large one. But whatever blocks we are facing, God can handle. He rolls away stones, no matter how big or small.

Jesus gave up His life so we could have the gift of eternity with God. He suffered physical brutality and emotional betrayal from His friends. But some women gave Him their attention, and a man named Joseph gave Him a tomb. They showed Him their love through their giving. What are we giving to Jesus? Can we give Him more? He’s certainly worthy.

Have you been praying for something for a long time and seen no answer? That happened to the prophet Daniel. But it wasn't because God didn't care—it was because spiritual forces were battling in a way that we don't understand. Don't give up! Our strongest weapon against the power of darkness is prayer. We are on the winning side!

When we are devoted to Jesus—trusting Him, walking with Him, and leaning on Him for everything—we will never lack what we need. We will never be ashamed or disappointed. May God revive us so that we become totally devoted to Jesus, putting Him and His kingdom first and our own needs second.

In Bible times, a massive curtain separated people from the presence of God. But when Jesus died on the cross, that curtain was torn in two—from top to bottom! This act of God signifies that anyone can now have communion with Him, anytime and anywhere. Let’s take advantage of that magnificent fact!

The world hates the name of Jesus. And if we associate with Him, the world may hate us too. Yet with help from the Holy Spirit, we can be all in for Jesus and even love those who hate us. It’s more than worth it to deny the approval of the world for the sake of Jesus.

Jesus loves you. How often do we hear that and take it for granted? The truth is, we don’t have to earn His love. God loved you in your past—however messy and shameful that may be—and He loves you today, in the present. We aren’t worthy of it, and that’s why we love Him back. Let’s remind ourselves of Jesus’ sacrificial love every day.

Jesus Christ is an outsider. To be followers of Him, we can’t run with the crowd or fit in with the world. As the Son of the Living God, He goes against the flow. He’s holy. Jesus was perfectly sinless, yet He endured unspeakable mockery and torture. And He did that for us. Jesus Christ—our holy, sacrificial Savior—has a beautiful, wonderful name. Let’s cherish the name of Jesus.

Why didn’t Jesus save Himself from the mocking and the beatings that He endured? He could have called down angels to rescue Him and punish His abusers. But He didn’t. Because we, as sinners, desperately need a Savior. While Jesus suffered and died on the cross, we were on His mind. Reflect on His sacrifice and tell someone about our Savior today.

Prayer is an awesome thing. When we pray wholeheartedly, we call on God. Through the psalmist, the Lord said, “Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you”! The God we serve always keeps His promises and fulfills His plans. What peace we can have when we call on God, knowing that He cares and answers!

Ministry is hard work. Some of us are called to full time ministry, while others volunteer in nursery, the choir, the sound booth, and other places. We get tired sometimes! But Jesus didn’t suffer on the cross for us to just sit in a church service. We are called to serve others. Let’s shift our focus to Jesus’ sacrifice. If He could endure that, we can persevere for His glory.

Everybody wants to fit in—at school, at work, even at church. Some Christians choose to blend in with the crowd so that they won’t be called “holy rollers” or “Jesus freaks.” Regardless of what society says about us, we must put all our trust in Jesus Christ. He died for us! We can’t worry about pleasing the crowd or fitting in when we focus on living for Him.

Why are we so worried all the time? We focus on everything in the world around us except for Almighty God. That distraction comes from the devil. He wants to do whatever he can to steal our souls—when he can’t get the souls of born-again believers, he tries to steal our joy and destroy our lives. We can’t go his way. Jesus is the only way to peaceful, everlasting life. He loves us so much. Let’s go with God!

Have you ever been stirred up by a crowd? That's what happened to the people on the day Jesus was crucified. Ultimately, of course, Jesus' death on the cross was the Father’s plan, but He was crucified by a group of people who were stirred up by a few leaders. As Christians, we can’t be blind followers of a mob or our culture. We are to follow God.

Jealousy is a nasty thing. It puts down others and uplifts the unholy trinity—me, myself, and I. Rather than living in the brutal sin of jealousy, we should live for others, like Jesus did. Let’s celebrate people's wins and encourage them! And if someone is jealous of us, we can submit that to the Lord. He’s always looking out for us.

In the age of social media, we’re always on the defense, ready to pounce on anyone who disagrees with us or attacks us. But Jesus didn’t get defensive—even when He was being led to His death! The Old Testament prophesied that He would be quiet like a lamb during His trial. After all, Jesus is the Lamb of God. We should strive to be gentler and quieter, like lambs, in this harsh world.

When was the last time you bragged on Jesus’s goodness? We have so much to thank Him for! Spiritually healthy Christians are glad—full of songs, even! When we keep our eyes on Jesus and His ability to handle our problems, we are no longer sad or mad. Whether through words or songs, we have plenty of reasons to tell others of His wonderful deeds.

Peter denied Jesus, his friend and Savior, three times. Afterward Jesus looked over at Peter, who then wept deeply. How did Jesus look at him? Was He disappointed? Angry? More likely, Jesus looked as He does at us today—with compassion. Despite our shortcomings, Christ is full of love for us. What a wonderful thought!

There’s nothing worse than doing evil in the name of religion. But it was the high priest who stirred people into condemning Jesus to the cross! All across history we see hatred manifested in the works of religious people. This does not reflect or uplift the name of Jesus—it does the opposite! As Christians, we are called to love even the people who disagree with us.

No one wants to die. But Jesus said that's exactly what needs to happen if we want His life! Just like a seed has to be buried in the ground in order to grow into what it's meant to be, so we too have to die to selfishness and our own ways if we want the life of Jesus. Are you willing? A kernel of wheat has to die to release its germ, providing for hundreds of other wheat stalks to grow. Jesus used this little plant to exemplify how His death provides for our salvation. Let’s remember that, if He could bear the weight of our sins, we can handle whatever He asks of us. If we die to our inner desires, like that wheat kernel, we can open the door for others to be saved!

Have you ever been wrongly accused of something? There are few things more frustrating than injustice. Jesus was falsely convicted. He lived such a pure and sinless life that the Pharisees had to hire people to make up accusations against Him! As Christians, our lives should have no room for hatred or bias. Let’s pray to have good testimonies like Jesus.

To follow Jesus at a distance is to be a lukewarm Christian. God said He would rather we be hot or cold—never lukewarm. If we “tone down” our beliefs to appease others, we add distance to our relationship with Jesus. We must draw closer to Him every day!

Politics are filled with hatred and anger. This is nothing new. Jesus was taken by an organized group of men who hated Him. Though it seems hard to consider, we could be like those men! Are we so caught up in our political devotion that we are against the things of God? We must choose the love of God every single day. By God’s grace, we can display that to an angry world.

Again and again in the Bible and in our own lives, we see God pick up broken pieces and make something amazing. He uses our failures to humble us so that we can showcase His strength and not our own. The moment we realize we fail is when we are most usable to Him. If we've messed up, we haven’t gone too far. God uses failures in beautiful, healing ways if we let Him.

Imagine being asleep when the Son of God wants help! Just like the disciples were physically sleeping when Jesus prayed before His crucifixion, we too can be spiritually asleep when Jesus wants us alert. There are people who need to hear about Him! Let’s be alert, because it’s harvest time!

We are in spiritual warfare every single day. What is our greatest defense? Prayer! Jesus told His disciples to watch and pray so that they wouldn’t fall into temptation. That command applies to us today. The best way to stay strong against attacks from Satan is to get alone with God and pray. Let’s ask God for a spirit of prayer!

Life feels hopeless sometimes. But Jesus made us such a precious promise! We can know immediately that we’ll be with God infinitely. All we have to do is acknowledge Jesus. Recognize that you are a sinner in need of saving, and the only One who can save you is the Lamb of God. Once we accept that gift, we need to tell others about God’s promise! Let’s live in the love of our Holy Father.

Jesus, the Son of God, faced more stress than we could ever comprehend. As the cross loomed before Him, He was “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” What would have happened if Jesus had avoided the cross? May we never take for granted the amazing sacrifice made on our behalf. What great love He showed!

We don’t know ourselves that well. We sure think we do—we can think highly of ourselves and judgmentally of others. But when we see how strong and holy God is, we realize how weak and woeful we are. Take a step back today and ask God to reveal Himself—it’s humbling!

We can easily get so caught up in our views of pastors and leaders that we lose sight of Jesus. People will fail us and hurt us. But God never will. Even when we fail or get hurt by people in church, Jesus never changes. Today can be the day we start over in our relationships with Him and restore our faith!

We all have times when we don’t quite feel right spiritually. Even pastors get discouraged and need prayer. What we need is something from heaven. Only those things from God above will fulfill us. Let's pray for a fresh fire in our spirits and trust that the Lord will comfort and anoint us.

If it wasn't for Jesus going to the cross, where would we be? When we think of that, it gives our hearts a song! God gave us the gift of music so our souls could express our praise in a fitting way. Even if we don’t have fantastic voices, let’s sing and worship the Lord today.

During the sacred act of communion, we do not literally partake in the flesh and blood of Jesus. Communion is symbolic. It's important, though, because it reminds us of Jesus’ sacrifice. Because of what He gave, we are free and forgiven! God does not remember our sins!

Drifting away from God is so easy yet so dangerous. How do we know when we’re drifting? When we neglect the Word of God, lose our dependance on the Lord, and cease communion, we drift! If we’re too busy for God, then we are too busy. He should always be our first priority. By the grace of God, let’s be intentional about not drifting spiritually.

Why was Jesus betrayed by someone close to Him? Jesus knew that Judas would be the one to betray Him. Yet He chose Judas anyway. This exchange reveals to us how each of us is totally responsible for our own actions. God knows everything and set everything in motion—but He gave us free will. Let’s use that to serve and follow Him today rather than go our own way.

In one biblical account, Jesus told His disciples the where, when, and who of what was about to happen. How could He have known all that beforehand? Because He was God in the flesh. God knows every detail of our lives. When we keep this in mind, it becomes easier to rest in His knowledge and be led by the Spirit, wherever that may take us.

Swimmers at the beach must always be wary of the undertow. If they don’t stay close to the shore and pay attention to where they are, they can get swept away! The same is true for our daily spiritual lives. If we don’t stay close to Jesus, we can be pulled away into the world. As long as we draw near to God, nothing can snatch us from Him. Let’s stay close to Jesus every day.

How often do we hear that “everything happens for a reason”? Well, according to Scripture, that’s true! God has this wonderful way of taking things that are negative in our lives and working them out. No matter how much we think we’ve missed the mark or failed God, His grace is more. The love of God is unchanging. May we never forget that He works all things for good.

The Bible doesn't tell us to be busybodies. Unless someone is asking for guidance, we should mind our own business and do what we can for the Lord. God isn’t calling us to climb the Andes Mountains or monitor the actions of everyone in the church. All He's asking us to do is what we can.

To really serve the Lord the right way, we have to not care about ourselves. We must be totally taken up with Jesus. We can certainly learn a lot from those believers who were willing to die for their faith. May we be like them and like Paul and say, “If I live, I live to the Lord. If I die, I die for the Lord. Either way, it's Jesus all the way.”

God will guide us to the very end, just as He led the people of Israel with the cloud and the pillar of fire in the wilderness. All we have to do is look up and then have the faith to follow where He leads. Let's not follow the influences around us but instead be led by Jesus every day.

Jesus is not a subject to be studied; He is a person to be experienced. He came to earth like an undercover boss, fully God yet fully man, so that we could draw near to Him. He spent thirty years preparing for ministry, modeling for us how God wants to grow us for service. The more we know Jesus, the better we can articulate Him to a badly broken world.

As Paul wrote his last words to Timothy, he warned against “godless chatter”—arguing over words, peripheral issues, doctrinal views. Instead, Paul wrote, “Rightly divide the Word of God.” Many today are leaving the faith, ignoring this warning. Paul closed, “Come before winter”—before it would be too late to see him again. Let’s be rooted in God’s Word “before winter,” while we have the chance

Many today are leaving the faith. So-called exvangelicals are deconstructing, pulling out of the race. But Paul, knowing he was soon to die, wrote to Timothy, “I remember your faith—it was the real deal. Fan into flame the gift of God.” In this letter Paul, writing his own epitaph, encouraged Timothy, and us, not just to start the race but to finish it, and to finish it well.

We can’t worship Jesus and be conscious about the opinions of others. We will always be criticized by carnal people. All that matters is what Jesus thinks. He wants us to draw near to Him with our hearts and worship Him with everything we have. Let’s go all in to worship God today!

Many Christians talk Jesus but live by old covenant law. That’s why it’s vital to understand the Old Testament. Rightly handling the Bible is mostly about knowing the difference between the old and new covenants. God’s plan to redeem mankind was not by law but by faith, as we see with Abraham and shining throughout Old Testament history. This is Christianity 101.

The Old Testament can be difficult to understand. But when we learn how to read it and how not to read it, it comes alive. The Old Testament is mostly a narrative of God’s story—how He created people in His name, how Satan came in to destroy His work, and how God set in motion His plan to redeem and restore us through “Christ in us, the hope of glory.”

Jesus wasn’t too high and mighty for anyone. He warned wealthy and well-known people that earthly goods will be worth nothing when we get to heaven. Only the true riches of knowing God can never be taken. When we live close to the Lord, we’re rich. Life becomes much more enjoyable when we live with eternity in view.

There are no secrets with God. The Bible tells us people do things in the dark and want to have secrets because they don't want anyone to know what they're doing. But everything will be brought to light when Christ returns. It's a good habit for us not to have secrets!

In a world full of anxiety and anger, many of us find ourselves bracing for impact—waiting for the next blow of bad news or frustration. A wonderful thing about being a child of God is that we do not have to live this way! We don’t have to hold on to fear and defensiveness, we can simply rest at Jesus’ feet. God is moving even in our times of uncertainty. It’s so sweet to trust in Jesus!