Hardwired with Jeff Wickwire

The first step in forgiving someone is letting go of your grudge against them. You're allowed to recognize the hurt that their actions may have caused you, but follow that acknowledgment with another one: that you can't seek vengeance on your own. Today, Pastor Jeff uses the example of Jesus to illustrate this point: He could have brought down literal fire and brimstone on Peter in retaliation for his betrayal, but instead, Jesus surrendered Peter's treachery and responded in love and compassion for His friend.

A lot of healing can take place over a meal. Sitting down to eat with someone is a very human experience, where all involved are taking care of their physical need for food. In the case of Jesus and the disciples, they had an opportunity to eat together after Peter returned to his life of fishing. Pastor Jeff shows you today how the breaking of bread between Jesus and Peter mended the relationship that had been previously strained. Peter's denial of Jesus was forgiven, and the bond between man and God was restored.

Pastor Jeff reminds us today that people are always watching us. Maybe it's those we pass on our way to work every day, the cashier serving you at the grocery store, or it can even be members of your family. In today's message, Pastor Jeff wants us to be inspired to build a habit of prayer so profound that it becomes noticeable to the people around us. Not so that we can look holy in front of others, but so that people can see the Holy Spirit living inside us, as He makes us into new creations.

Bible Prophecy is kind of like a roadmap. Not only does it tell us where the world is going, it also serves to remind us of what has happened before! Pastor Jeff reminds us today that there are many things prophesied in God's Word that have already come true, and more things that have yet to happen. But because we've seen those prophecies come true in the past, we can also have faith that the prophecies that have yet to happen will eventually come to pass! We have to wait on the Lord's timing.

When you go to get into a pool, it's hard for your body to adjust to the temperature of the water. Some people lower themselves into the water slowly because they're afraid of the cold. But sometimes, in order to acclimate to the water quickly, you just need to jump straight into the water! In today's message, Pastor Jeff reminds you that you need to be fully committed to following Jesus if you want to see Him do great things in you. He won't do much in your life if you keep second-guessing His calling.

You may think that you're safe from the sin of idolatry because you don't bow down to a little statue of Buddha in your closet. But Pastor Jeff reminds you today that idolatry isn't just about worshipping other gods; it's about letting things get between you and your worship of the one true God. Anything can become an idol if you let it take precedence over your relationship with Jesus. Your favorite sports team, that new show that's on TV, and even your closest friends can become idols.

Jesus did the one thing that is impossible for an ordinary human to achieve in this life: He lived a life fully without sin! Pastor Jeff teaches us today that even though Jesus faced temptation just like you and I do every day, He was able to hold fast and avoid giving in to His human impulses. It's because of that perfect record that His sacrifice was able to cover the sin debt of all mankind. You and I have the opportunity to be forgiven of our sins, all because Jesus was the fulfillment of the Ten Commandments.

In baseball, pitchers dream of throwing the “perfect game”: a game where not a single opposing player gets on base across all nine innings. It's an extremely rare occurrence and requires great skill from the pitcher and his teammates to accomplish. If you think a perfect game is hard to pull off, wait till you see how hard it is to live a life without sin! Pastor Jeff wants you to realize today that everyone has sinned in their lifetime, and the only way to avoid the punishment for that sin is to surrender your life to Jesus.

Not one person on Earth is guaranteed tomorrow. You never know when your number will be called, and you'll find yourself standing face to face with God, to give an account for your life. The rich man in Luke 12 did not understand this, and instead, he was worried about building his personal wealth. Pastor Jeff implores you today to not get your priorities twisted. Rely on God to provide for your material needs, and ask Him to draw you closer to His presence. That is something money can't buy.

When you're driving on a windy mountain road, and you see a metal guardrail along the side of the road, do you get mad that the guardrail is stopping you from doing what you want to do? Or do you recognize that the guardrail is there to protect you from danger? In today's message, Pastor Jeff reminds you that the Ten Commandments weren't meant to limit the Israelites' behavior; it was meant to give them healthy boundaries to create a society that honored God and respected each other.

If you live in a big city, there's usually a few different routes to get to any given place in that city. Maybe there's a freeway that gets you there faster, while the route that goes through neighborhoods is a little more peaceful. Well, if you're trying to get to Heaven, there is only one road to take! And that is the road that you gain access to by accepting Jesus' gift of salvation. Pastor Jeff reminds you today that none of the world's religions or spiritual figures can get you into Heaven. Only Jesus can.

Have you ever watched people that make trick shot videos online? While their clips may only show times that they successfully made a basketball shot from the upper deck of a stadium, or they made a hole-in-one golf shot from five hundred yards away, the truth is that there are countless takes where they failed to meet their target. Pastor Jeff reminds us today that all of us have fallen short of God's target, but our God is a merciful God! Jesus' blood is able to cover over all of our sins.

In The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo's friend Sam stops as they're leaving the Shire on their long journey, saying, “If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest from home I've ever been.” Sam may have taken one step in that moment, but it would take countless more steps for him and Frodo to reach their destination. Pastor Jeff teaches today that the Holy Spirit's transforming work doesn't happen all at once. It takes thousands of tiny steps and lots of time to make you into a new creation.

Every piece of pottery in the entire world starts out as a lump of clay, harvested from the earth itself. It takes the work of a craftsman to transform that piece of clay into a vase, a plate, or any other object that you can imagine. Pastor Jeff reminds you today that while you and I are products of this world, we are meant to be shaped and formed into completely different beings. That's where the Holy Spirit comes into play, because as we faithfully follow Jesus, He renews us from the inside out.

So many stories that are in the Bible are there to be instructive to the Christian life. The reason that the Bible spends time looking at Jesus casting out demons is because you and I have the task of fighting Satan's forces in our time as well! Pastor Jeff will show us today how to recognize demonic influences in our world, and how we can call on the name of Jesus to cast out those evil spirits. It is not by our strength that we can do this, but it is through the power of Christ that is already in us.

When we go to see a stage play, we are usually only seeing part of the cast and crew on stage at any given time. Behind the scenes, there are all sorts of people making the show happen. Although these people work together to create an enjoyable experience for the audience, Pastor Jeff teaches us today that there are dark forces behind the curtains of our reality. Satan is real, and his objective is to push humanity further away from the love of God. But with Jesus' help, we can fight back against the enemy.

There may be some of you listening to this program today, and thinking that you're too small of a target for Satan. Maybe you're not involved in ministry, and you're not really doing anything to grow God's Kingdom. Pastor Jeff reminds you today that since you have a unique and special calling on your life, that does make you a target in the enemy's eyes! But God isn't going to leave you exposed to danger. Satan and his forces cannot harm you, but they will do everything they can to lead you astray.

The book of Proverbs warns against pride, reminding us that it leads to destruction. Well, we also learn in today's message that pride is the sin that turned Lucifer against God. Pastor Jeff doesn't want us to indulge in pride, because when we think we're the smartest people in the world, we put our own opinions over God's. The wisest thing we can do as followers of Jesus is to be willing to die to ourselves every day so that we can follow the Lord better. That's how we set ourselves apart from Satan.

The Bible teaches that all of life is precious. From the people you pass on the street every day, to unborn children around the world, every person on this planet is uniquely designed by God. But Pastor Jeff teaches you in today's message that not everyone holds that same view of human life. One of the easiest ways to forget about the sanctity of human life is to ignore the One who created humanity in the first place. God made the entire universe, but humanity is His most prized creation.

Everything in this world has a beginning, especially the world itself! Pastor Jeff reminds you today that there are people who deny that there is an intelligent design to this world, and instead believe that it is the result of random chance. But if you're going to have a Biblical worldview, you need to believe that God was involved in the Creation of the world! The Bible teaches that God created the entire world and called it good, and you are called to glorify God's name by glorifying His handiwork in the world.

Aren't you glad that there is a source of absolute truth in this world? It seems like that for every thing you hold to be true, there is a complication or an argument to be made against it, however minor it may be. However, Pastor Jeff teaches you today that the Word of God is a source of absolute truth, and it is still relevant today! While modern times are vastly different from Biblical times, Scripture gives you a solid worldview through which you can understand the world in the way that God sees it.

If you were to go ziplining, wouldn't you trust a braided steel cable versus a ragged nylon rope? The stronger the material making up the rope, the more tension it will be able to withstand. And just like that zipline, you need the strongest materials, in order to get through the challenges of life. Pastor Jeff encourages you today to recognize God as the ultimate source of strength for your life. If you build your life on His principles, you won't need to worry about what the world puts in your way.

When you're in the Kingdom of God, there is no going back to the way things used to be! You can't just turn back the clock and go back into a life of sin. Pastor Jeff reminds you today that just like the Israelites were taken out of slavery and left Egypt behind, Elisha left his former life behind when he chose to follow Elijah. His old line of work was left in the dust because Elisha had chosen to pursue the things of God. What is the Lord asking you to leave behind, to pursue His will for your life?

With today's technology, you have no shortage of pastors and teachers to listen to! And with that variety of voices comes a wide spectrum of ideas. Pastor Jeff teaches you today that, unfortunately, there are many pastors out there who teach more like motivational speakers than like messengers of God. Those weak pastors will produce weak fruit, people who aren't truly living in the way of Jesus. If you want to grow in your faith, find a pastor that will teach straight from God's Word.

When you are feeding an infant, you have to give them soft food that they don't have to chew. But as they get older, they need to be able to eat solid food, so that they can grow strong and healthy. Well, Pastor Jeff teaches you today that there are many Christians today who are stuck in that infant stage. They worship Jesus but don't believe that God's Word is absolute truth. A follower of Jesus needs to believe in the absolute truth of God's Word, because otherwise their witness will be empty and meaningless.

If your phone or your computer starts to run slowly after a few years, one step you can try to fix the issue is to do a factory reset! By restoring your device to the way it was when it was brand new, you can clean out some of the junk files that have built up over time. In today's message, Pastor Jeff teaches you that God wants to reset your mind because renewing your mind will make it easier for you to follow God's will for your life instead of constantly giving in to your own desires.

Daniel and his friends didn't just have to say “no” to Babylonian influence once. Instead, they had to say “no” every day, even multiple times a day! Every meal with indulgent food, every lesson taught from a Babylonian perspective, every conversation with a fellow student or a teacher was an opportunity for the young Israelite men to give in. But Pastor Jeff teaches you today that as you grow stronger in your faith in Jesus, it starts to become easier to say “no” to the things of this world.

There are some trees that, as they get older, will grow massive root systems that anchor them into the ground. They can get to the point where not even a tornado can rip them out! Well, in today's message, Pastor Jeff is going to teach you that in order to withstand the pressures to conform to this world, you're going to need to place deep roots in God's Word! When you know what God wants for your life, inside and out, you will be able to resist the temptations of earthly pleasures that surround you every day.

It's pretty easy to find out who your real friends are when you begin to go through difficult times. If someone in your family is suffering from an illness, who in your circle is checking in on you? If you're going through financial hardship, who's the friend calling you and inviting you to fellowship together? Pastor Jeff teaches you today that the godly friends that you gain are worth their weight in gold. God can use them to help guide you back towards the path of righteousness when you fall astray.

Have you ever met someone who was a fan of two rival sports teams? Maybe they pick a side when they play each other, but they'll cheer for each team individually when they're playing other opponents. But you can't do that when it comes to the Kingdom of God. You can't sit on the fence. Pastor Jeff teaches that if you don't serve God, you are His enemy. The world will eventually be destroyed and remade in God's perfect vision. What side will you be on when that happens?

People in this world are just looking for a place to belong. They find kinship in culture, in relationships, and even in church. But humans are bound to let other humans down, because we're inherently broken and imperfect. Pastor Jeff reminds us today that only God can give us an identity that will withstand the world's attacks, because it's built not in what we do, but it's based on who we serve! Our identity in God is unchanging because He is unchanging, and He has adopted us as His own.

Everyone has good and bad experiences in this life. That's just part of being human. You can probably name two or three instances in your childhood that shaped you into the person you are today, whether they had a positive or a negative effect on you in the long run. But Pastor Jeff teaches you today that in order to live the life that God has for you, you need to let go of other people's opinions of you. The only person whose opinion truly matters is the one who formed you in your mother's womb.

There are many people out there today who think that because they call themselves Christians, and attend a church service once every few months, that they are saved from their sin. But Pastor Jeff warns you today that following Jesus isn't a one-and-done deal. It requires you to surrender control of your life, and to submit yourself to a different way of living. Someone who claims Jesus but doesn't submit to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit isn't following Jesus, they are following their own interests.

Many people in today's world are short-sighted, focused only on what's happening right in their immediate future. And while there can be value in paying attention to the moment we're living in, Pastor Jeff reminds us that life is a marathon! Instead of focusing only on the things happening right now, we are to pay attention to the things that have eternal ramifications. Following  Jesus is one of those things that we must spend our whole lives doing, but we know that the reward is worth persevering for.

One way that civil engineers make roads safer for people to drive on is to put rumble strips in the roads, to alert drivers that they need to slow down before they cause an accident. Now, if the drivers get mad at the engineers for making their ride bumpy, they're missing the point completely! Pastor Jeff teaches us today that if we are seeking to warn people about the dangerous road they're on in this life, we're not being irritating for the sake of being irritating. We're trying to steer them away from death!

Believe it or not, everything happens for a reason. While the enemy may try and influence the world for evil purposes, God can use those actions for His Glory. Pastor Jeff shows you today how important it was for Joseph to be where he ended up, because his actions saved the nation of Egypt, as well as the family of Israel, from a disastrous famine. If you can't understand why God is leading you into a difficult season, have faith that He has something better for you up ahead.

Let's face it, we are going to face troubles in life! The consequences of living in a fallen and broken world are that we are surrounded by broken people, everyone trying to deal with their own messes. But by coming to know Christ, we have gotten a peek at a better way to live life! We still live in the broken world, but we know that there is a better life to come. Pastor Jeff reminds us today that in order to get there, we need to persevere in following God's commandments, even when life gets difficult.

There was an old game show called Pros versus Joes, where everyday contestants would face off in physical challenges against professional athletes. And in most cases, these average “Joes” couldn't hold a candle to the performance of an athlete who had trained for years to reach their peak performance! Pastor Jeff wants you to understand today that if you want God to use you for great things, you have to spend the time getting into His Word. You're not going to go from Joe to Pro overnight.

Some of us are obsessed with the new thing. When we find a new music artist we like, we start with their most recent album, even if their most popular songs are from twenty years ago. Or if we start a new TV show, we only want to watch the recent seasons. But Pastor Jeff implores us today to take the Old Testament just as seriously as the New Testament. The Apostles didn't have a distinction between Old and New. Instead, they recognized that all of Scripture is God's inspired Word.

Have you ever caught someone following you or staring at you from a long distance away? It can make you feel uncomfortable, knowing that your actions are being watched by someone else. Pastor Jeff isn't trying to make you nervous today, but he does want you to understand that there are people in your life who are looking at you as an example of Christian living. If you were the only reflection of Jesus that someone ever encountered, would they be left with a good or a bad impression of Him?

It's easy to wonder why God allows false teachers to deceive people for as long as they do. Doesn't He want believers to have an easier time going through life, not having to worry about being deceived by false teachers? But Pastor Jeff reminds you today that you can always recognize a false teacher by the fruit their work produces. It may not be immediately apparent, but a rotten vine will not be able to produce good and Godly fruit. But a teacher that follows the words of Jesus will produce good fruit.

Have you ever worked on a group project, but had one person not be of help at all, and yet still manage to take credit for completing the assignment? As annoying as that situation can be, the truth is that when it comes to our relationship with God, we are that slacking person! Pastor Jeff reminds us today that we cannot achieve anything for ourselves when it comes to life after this world. The only way we can achieve eternal life is by the grace of God; none of us are worthy of Heaven otherwise.

Nothing is more important than deciding who Jesus is to you. Was He just a good man? Another religious prophet? Or is He the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and the only way into an eternity filled with God's love? Today, Pastor Jeff wants you to take a moment to reflect on the teachings, sacrifice, and love that God has for you. Allow His truth to penetrate your heart and guide your life, for in Him, you find purpose, fulfillment, and the promise of eternal life. Choose to follow Jesus and experience His grace.

It doesn't matter how far you've drifted from the Lord or where you are. God knows what you've struggled with and wants to help you overcome your circumstances and rise to new heights you never thought possible. In today's message, Pastor Jeff wants you to know that no matter how broken or lost you may feel, God's love and grace are far greater than any obstacle. Trust in His unfailing love, and allow Him to guide you toward restoration. There are no limits to what you can achieve through Jesus. 

What is a behavior that you consider to be “typical” for someone who isn't a believer in Christ? Maybe it's the kind of language they use, the substances they consume, or even the kind of people they hang out with. Well, Pastor Jeff reminds you today that Christians are subjected to the same temptations as anyone else living in this world. But when a self-professed follower of Jesus gives in to those temptations, it can begin to cast doubt on that person's devotion to Jesus and be a cause for correction.

There's an old children's cartoon called Inspector Gadget, featuring a bumbling main character whose robotic body contains all sorts of devices and, well, gadgets, to help him solve any problem he comes across. Now, God's Word isn't a cartoon character, but it is a powerful tool that is useful in all occasions! Pastor Jeff teaches you today that the Word of God is the main way that God communicates with you, and the wisdom contained within its pages is applicable to any situation you face today.

When Adam and Eve fell into sin, the trajectory of the human race was changed forever. We were created to worship and bring glory to God, but we became enslaved by our sin. But Pastor Jeff brings us a message of hope today, because the Holy Spirit wants to remake us into the people we were made to be! The process of renewal that God completes in us restores us to our original purpose and allows us to enter into the presence of God, free from shame, because our sins have been erased!

Did you know that there are professional coffee tasters? These people have developed their palates over years of training to be able to detect flavor notes across different beans from different regions of the world, and to be able to taste defects that will affect the final product. In today's message, Pastor Jeff teaches you about how the Holy Spirit gives you the gift of discernment so that you can tell what is part of God's Will for your life, but it takes time spent in the Word to develop and nurture that gift.

Have you ever watched Extreme Makeover? In this show, a crew of interior designers and contractors shows up at a family's home, and within the span of a few days, does a complete remodel to give the family the home of their dreams. Well, Pastor Jeff teaches you today that that's exactly what the Holy Spirit does inside of you! Before knowing Jesus, your heart was full of sin, and you were led by sinful desires. But when the Holy Spirit inhabits your heart, He remakes you into a brand-new creature!

Have you ever experienced a car breakdown, only for a mechanic to pull up behind you and help you get your car back on the road? It can seem like pure coincidence that the timing lined up, but you should also consider that it was the result of divine intervention! Pastor Jeff shows you today how not every interaction is an accident, and your testimony and experience with the storms of life may be exactly what someone needs to hear in order to further their own walk with God.

What happens when you water and care for a houseplant? Well, it will grow and flourish into something much more beautiful than you had when you started. Pastor Jeff teaches you today that when you take the time to nurture and develop your faith, God will make it grow into something much bigger and greater than you could have imagined! It began as a tiny seed when you first accepted Jesus into your heart, and over time, it will become stronger and more resilient against the world's storms.