Tag Archives: Online Sermons

Jul 19 2009
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Evangelism, Leadership, Missional Living, Outreach, Preaching, Resources, San Francisco Ministry Plant, Sermons, Teaching, Theology, Urban Ministry

You’re Moving to San Francisco to Do Ministry Work? Why Bother?

[ CLICK HERE TO LISTEN – WES WOODELL: “CHRIST IN THE CITY” ]

I’ve been asked questions like those that make up the title of this blog post more than a couple of times in the past few years.

This morning, I had the privilege of walking the Downtown Church of Christ in Searcy, AR, through a lesson in which I tell a couple of stories about experiences I’ve had since moving to San Francisco. I also share the thought process and convictions behind mine and Airiel’s decision to live and minister on the west coast.

There are two goals I had for this lesson:

  1. I wanted people to grasp the deep level of love God has for all mankind, and His desire to use the church to reach all mankind (I posted several Scriptures that highlight this about God here).
  2. I wanted the members of the Downtown Church to think of missions, not just as work overseas or work in far-off corners of the globe, but also as work right here in the United States. We desperately need to see more evangelistic activity taking place in our major cities. I did my best to highlight the importance and practical benefits of evangelistic ministry therein, and also built a case as to why domestic missions in major U.S. cities should be a leading priority for our churches.

I’ve posted for you the lesson from the second service. I was more relaxed in my delivery, and left quite a bit more pleased with how it went than the sermon delivered in the first service.

Anyway, if you have a few minutes and want to listen to a couple of stories about my work in San Francisco, or if you’re interested in domestic missions in the United States, please check this lesson out.

Have a great day!

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Jun 23 2009
8 Comments
Devotional Thoughts, Discipling, Leadership, Missional Living, Preaching, Resources, Sermons, Teaching, Theology

Faith IN Works, or Faith THAT Works?

[CLICK HERE to listen to this week’s lesson]

[CLICK HERE to get the PowerPoint]


John 3:16.

 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 [emphasis mine]

“All you have to do to be saved is believe. All you have to do is acknowledge that Jesus existed – that He lived, died, and rose again, and you’ll be saved.”

I’ve heard that message a lot. I remember listening to the radio as I was driving in Tampa a few years ago, and the broadcaster (his name escapes me) said, “If you have ever believed in God – even if it was just for a split second – you will be saved even if you don’t believe in Him now! 2 Timothy 2:13 says that if we are faithless God will remain faithful, and John 3:16 says …”

I was a brand new Christian at the time. As soon as I got home, I looked up the Scripture the guy on the radio quoted, and was a little confused as to why he hadn’t quoted the verses immediately preceding it … check it out:

“Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” 2 Timothy 2:11-13 [emphasis mine]

Yikes – what that guy was saying verse 13 meant didn’t mesh at all with verse 12, yet he was sharing his version of the message with thousands of listeners. I wonder how many bought it?

Martin Luther

I presented a lesson this past week on faith that works from James 1:21-25 and 2:14-26 (see also Hebrews 11; Matthew 7:21-29; John 14:15-24, 15:10; 2 John 1:6; Revelation 20:12)- something that broadcaster apparently hadn’t thought about much.

Did you know that Reformation leader Martin Luther hated the book of James? He called it an epistle of straw because he thought it contained a message of works-based salvation. In other words, Martin Luther thought the New Testament epistle of James taught people they had to earn their salvation – that they had to be ‘good enough’ for God to love them.

Luther did a whole lot of good for Christianity in general, but he completely missed the ball when it came to the book of James. That’s because Luther didn’t have the best understanding of what faith in Jesus really is.

So let’s ask the questions:

What is faith? Is faith simply a mental belief? Am I really saved if I mentally believe in God, mentally believe that Jesus is His Son, but neglect to follow His teachings? Do I really have faith if I refuse to obey?

I share what I think in the lesson – what do you think?

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May 17 2009
6 Comments
Devotional Thoughts, Discipling, Leadership, Missional Living, Preaching, Resources, Sermons, Teaching, Theology

What does it mean to have a Christ-centered identity?

Who am I?

A small question with profound implications.

Did you know sociologists have discovered that how a person chooses to answer that question will define how they think and behave in almost every situation in their lives?

It’s a scientifically proven fact, and as a result, your answer to the question “Who am I?” is a very, very important one.

I personally believe that, for you and everyone else, the answer to the question “Who am I?” should be firmly rooted in who Jesus Christ was and is. If it’s not, then there’s a problem.

Today I walked the Lake Merced Church through a lesson on living a Jesus-centered life that I’ve been mulling over for a while, and would love for you to listen to it too.

Lesson based on Philippians 3.

Here are a couple of diagrams I made (included in the PowerPoint) to illustrate the difference between a self-centered life and a Jesus-centered life as I see it.

It’s important to point out that this all STARTS with someone choosing who they’re going to be at their core – what their identity is:

 

 

This first slide is a picture of a typical person’s life. You can substitute other things for the word ‘self’ – career, pleasure, lust, consuming want of a romantic relationship, fame, money, etc., but all of those ultimately lead back to the same thing – self centeredness.

Some people may not be completely self-centered. Their life may be centered around something else – it may not even necessarily be a bad thing (like family or kids), but if Jesus isn’t involved then there’s a problem.

As you can see from the diagram, choosing (and ultimately your core-idenitity is your choice) to have a self-centered identity affects every aspect of a person’s life, from their worldview, to their priorities, to their way of life, and all of these things feed into one another.

 

 

The second slide is a picture of someone who’s chosen to center their life around Jesus – a picture of a disciple.

As you can see, with their identity rooted in Christ, every aspect is affected.

The apostle Paul is a great example of a guy whose life was depicted by slide #1 until he had his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road – after that happened, he experienced a total identity shift (what we call a conversion or being born again), and he moved to slide #2!

I go into this in more detail in the lesson. If that sounds interesting to you, give it a listen.

If you like listening to preaching and would like to hear more, visit the sermons page of this blog (yes, I know it’s badly in need of an update – I’ll do it when I do it!).

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