Podcasts about pastor eric

In this episode of Teenager Tuesday, Will Perry is joined by Pastor Eric to kick off a new three-week series on what healthy dating actually looks like. They discuss dating as practice for character rather than just marriage, looking for mutual respect over mutual attraction, naming red flags before dating begins, and staying involved without taking over. This episode is for parents who want to get ahead of the dating conversation with their teenager, whether or not it has come up yet.

Seeing the light and following it are two different things.. and Part 2 draws that line clearly. Pastor Eric picks up where last week left off and this message asks a question every believer eventually has to face. It's not about what you've seen; it's about who you're following.Scriptures referenced in this message: · John 7:37-38 · John 8:12· Isaiah 49:6· Acts 13:44-47· Luke 2:25-32· John 9:1–38Learn more about salvation, info about Destiny Church, or how to give by visiting our website.Real | Relevant | Relationship

What happens when the greatest battle you're fighting isn't around you—but within you?In this powerful message, Pastor Eric takes us to Galatians 5 and explores the battle between the Spirit and the flesh. Scripture tells us that these two are opposed to one another, fighting for influence over the way we think, choose, and live. When we choose Christ, our spirit comes alive—but the battle for the throne still has to be won.Every day, we face moments of stimulus and choice. What happens around us can influence our thoughts, but we still have a choice about what controls our actions. The question is: Who is sitting on the throne?If we want to be led by the Spirit, we have to stop being led by the things that compete with Him:By a culture that doesn't follow God.By friends who don't follow God.By our circumstances.By our feelings.What's happening to you cannot overpower what God is doing in you. And you cannot be led by feelings and faith at the same time. The Spirit leads us according to the Word—not simply according to what we think, want, or feel.Walking by the Spirit means learning to recognize His presence, respond to His promptings, and make room for Him to lead. But it also means dealing with the flesh. God doesn't want to kill you—He wants to kill what's killing you.Your flesh is either crucified or in control.You don't need to get saved again every morning.You need to put the flesh back on the cross every morning.You take up your cross so the flesh doesn't climb back into the chair.The Word is the sword.The Spirit is the power.The chair is the decision.You may be fighting a battle right now with thoughts, emotions, desires, circumstances, or strongholds that have been competing for control. But you don't have to stay bound. The Name of Jesus, the Blood of Jesus, and the Word of Jesus are weapons God has given us to walk in freedom.It's time to start winning the battle.Take up your cross daily.Know the Word.Commit yourself to God.Close every open door.Confront the enemy in prayer.Who is really in control?

What happens when the greatest battle you're fighting isn't around you—but within you?In this powerful message, Pastor Eric takes us to Galatians 5 and explores the battle between the Spirit and the flesh. Scripture tells us that these two are opposed to one another, fighting for influence over the way we think, choose, and live. When we choose Christ, our spirit comes alive—but the battle for the throne still has to be won.Every day, we face moments of stimulus and choice. What happens around us can influence our thoughts, but we still have a choice about what controls our actions. The question is: Who is sitting on the throne?If we want to be led by the Spirit, we have to stop being led by the things that compete with Him:By a culture that doesn't follow God.By friends who don't follow God.By our circumstances.By our feelings.What's happening to you cannot overpower what God is doing in you. And you cannot be led by feelings and faith at the same time. The Spirit leads us according to the Word—not simply according to what we think, want, or feel.Walking by the Spirit means learning to recognize His presence, respond to His promptings, and make room for Him to lead. But it also means dealing with the flesh. God doesn't want to kill you—He wants to kill what's killing you.Your flesh is either crucified or in control.You don't need to get saved again every morning.You need to put the flesh back on the cross every morning.You take up your cross so the flesh doesn't climb back into the chair.The Word is the sword.The Spirit is the power.The chair is the decision.You may be fighting a battle right now with thoughts, emotions, desires, circumstances, or strongholds that have been competing for control. But you don't have to stay bound. The Name of Jesus, the Blood of Jesus, and the Word of Jesus are weapons God has given us to walk in freedom.It's time to start winning the battle.Take up your cross daily.Know the Word.Commit yourself to God.Close every open door.Confront the enemy in prayer.Who is really in control?

Welcome to the audio podcast of Valley Family Church located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We pray you'll be encouraged as you listen to this podcast. For more information on Valley Family Church, visit valleyfamilychurch.org.

Join us as Pastor Eric continues teaching through the book of Matthew from Chapter 27 verses 1-31 in a message entitled "What shall I do with Jesus?"

The Long Journey from the Head to the Heart Dr. Eric J. Gilchrest, Pastor | September 13, 2026 Check out the weekly sermon here or on our SRBC podcast on Apple Podcast and Spotify. While you're at it, check us out on Facebook and Instagram too. Like what you hear? We'd love to know.At South Run, we read every message personally. Whether you have a question, want to share how God is moving in your life, or are thinking about visiting in person, this is the place to start. If you click the link below, Pastor Eric will personally reach out to you. Listening online? Let us know. Sermon Transcript The Long Journey from the Head to the HeartDr. Eric J. Gilchrest, Pastor. . . are few. And so for this last season of Church Life, we've been talking about these two different paths, right? There's this one way to live a life in which you find yourself down roads of destruction that you should never have walked down. And then there are ways of living a life that lead to real life. And Jesus warns us, he says, the way to life is not easy, It's narrow. It's probably going to cause you some difficulty at times. This isn't to say it's the easy road at all. If anything, the other Rd. is the easy one. But it is a road that leads to life. And so I've been talking about different ways that this gets played out and different topics. This sermon is A little bit like if you've ever watched a television show where you're watching these characters unfold over a span of time, and then the storyteller goes back in time, right? And the storyteller starts to tell you about the roots of the character. I remember the first time I maybe encountered this completely was the show Lost. They tell you about the various characters, Jack and Kate and a guy named John Locke. And then you're like 3, four, five seasons into it. And then you're finding out about John Locke as a little kid or something and like what happened to his life. Or if you've read good books, maybe, I'm blanking on this, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, right? He does this well. He gives you not just like the world therein, but he builds the world out. This sermon's a little like that, where we've been focused on what Jesus offers these two ways in Matthew 7. But truth be told, Jesus is not making this up whole cloth. He's actually pointing to the passage that Dave just read for us back from Deuteronomy chapter 30. And it's worth knowing this because there's actually a whole history of this that's sitting in your Bible that predates anything that Jesus says or does. And it's worth knowing what's really happening in these scriptures. And so today my hope is to kind of walk you through a few of them to show you what Jesus is pulling on and then to show you that Jesus' intent is to actually fill all of that out and to make a way where before there had not been a way. Let's begin with prayer. God our Heavenly Father, we thank you. for sending your Son Jesus Christ to die on a cross for our sins, to cleanse us from our iniquity, that we might have new life. We thank you for raising him from the dead, that he might defeat death once and for all, and offer true life, eternal life for all of us. And Lord, we thank you for sending your Holy Spirit. And we ask right now, here and now, that you send your spirit into this place, that Lord, you speak through my words to the hearts of those listening, that they might know what you are trying to tell them this morning. We pray this in Christ's holy name, amen. So if I were to ask you what is Jesus' famous sermon, you would probably say, the Sermon on the Mount. Is there another one? It's kind of the only one that I am aware of that maybe gets a title, like the sermon something or other, right? If you were to go home today and want to read the Sermon on the Mount, you would go to Matthew chapter 5 through 7. It's long. It's 3 whole chapters long, right? And in Matthew 5 through 7, If I were to ask a follow-up question, like what's the text Jesus is preaching his sermon from, what would you say to that? No, nothing? Okay. Yeah, that's fine. Because here's the truth, right? I would say it this way. He's preaching from the whole of the law. And he's teaching us how to read the whole of the law, which is to say the first five books of the Bible, Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy. This is where you find the Torah. Another word for law, by the way, frankly, a translation I would prefer is instruction. These are instructions on how to live a life. both communally, for Israel as a whole, like how Israel as a whole is supposed to live a life, and then for the Israelite himself or herself, or for you, yourself, like how you're to live a life. These are the instructions. And so Jesus is kind of flipping through the instruction manual, and he's then preaching through this sermon of chapter 5 and then 6 and then 7, and he gets to the end of seven, and then he delivers the line that I just read earlier about the two different ways. perhaps not surprisingly, he's doing precisely what Moses did. You see, Moses delivers the law, and he gives us things, the memorable ones like the Ten Commandments, right? And then he gives all these other little laws, and if this happens, well then do that, and if this happens, well then do that, and you shouldn't do this over here, and you should definitely do this over here, and then he gets to the end of it all. In Deuteronomy 30, is kind of the capstone of it. And then he says, he's kind of looking back on all the commandments. And in brief, he says, look, I've laid before you two options. The one option leads to life and the other option leads to death, which is precisely what Jesus does, right? He says, I've preached my sermon, my most famous one, the Sermon on the Mount, and I get to the end of it all and I'm offering you two things. There's the one way that leads to life, and there's the one way that leads to death. So let's take a look at Deuteronomy 30. We'll start in verse 15, though. Deuteronomy 30, starting in verse 15, and we'll see what Moses says. Because this again is filling out this backstory that predates what Jesus is doing a few thousand years later. And so in verse 15, he says, see, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. And if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today. And then he explains like how to obey these commandments. There's 3 parts to it. So if you obey these commandments by one, loving the Lord your God, two, by walking in His ways, and three, by keeping His commandments and His statutes and His rules, well then you shall live and multiply. It's interesting to me, and I think it should be to you, that what Moses gives us here is, here's how to obey the commands. And he doesn't get around to actually telling you to obey the commands until.3. He starts with, you obey the commands by, right here, loving in your heart, loving the right thing, namely the Lord your God. And then the next part is you move from loving to doing the thing, to like walking in his ways. And then finally third, When you're doing that, you are finally keeping the commandments and the statutes and the rules and the instructions and all the things that Moses just laid out in the first five books of your Bible. And if you do those, well, that leads to life. This sounds a lot like what Jesus says, doesn't it? Like you should do these things. And Jesus knows, and frankly, Moses knows, and I'm gonna guess you all know too, that actually doing the thing is a whole lot harder than it seems. It's a whole lot harder. We'll finish up the passage here starting in verse 17. If your hearts turn away, and you will not hear, but you're drawn away to worship the other gods and you serve them, well, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you're going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today. I have set before you again two options, life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life, that you and your offspring, your kids and their kids and their kids. they might live, loving the Lord your God, and here they are again, by the way, loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life, He is your length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give to them. Now I'll say, if I'm preaching a sermon like Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount, this is a great text to draw from because it's stirring, right? He's putting before you, like, are you going to choose the way to life or are you going to choose the way that leads to death? And then he gives us some ways to actually do this. But what Moses knows And what Jesus definitely knows and what you probably know too is that knowing the thing that you should do and having it sitting here in your heart to do it, two very different things. They say that the 18 inches from your head to your heart is the longest journey you can possibly take. To get something that you know to be true Down inside here, this is a lifetime of a journey. Turns out that knowing the law and doing the law are two entirely different life tasks. If I were to ask you right now, should you lie to your neighbor or your kids or to your pastor? You would most certainly say, of course not. I'm not going to do that. And if I were to say, should you steal from your workplace? should you take things from there? And no. Who's going to do that? Why would I do that? Should you defraud people out of their money? No. I'm not going to steal from somebody. Should you cheat on your spouse? No. way. Should you beat up your little brother, right? No, I shouldn't do that. But somehow the knowing of it is very different from the doing it. And you find yourself in places and doing things that you thought, I shouldn't be doing this. How did I get here? Why? am I here? And for some of you, it's why am I here again? And then again. And then again. You've probably met the doctor who dispenses all the advice and tells you, well, you shouldn't drink and you shouldn't smoke. And then you walk outside after your appointment and there's the doctor smoking away, right? Or I like to I know some ethicists who have PhDs in ethics, and I like to say that these are some of the most clever people knowing how to get around ethics and doing all the wrong things because in their mind they can make the mental gymnastics. Or maybe the lawyers who know all the rules, right? They know the laws, But do they keep them? That's a different thing. And here again, it's this length from the head down into the heart that we're trying to examine this morning. And it's the problem that Moses poses. Moses poses. And Jesus poses and I'm posing to you. What did Moses expect though? If we just back up a few verses to the beginning of what we were reading this morning. Starting in verse 11, Deuteronomy 30, 11, he says this. He says, the commandment that I'm commanding you today, it's not too hard. These are his words, not mine. This commandment, these set of laws, it's not too hard for you. And it's not far off. It's not in heaven up there somewhere that you should say, who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it? And neither is it beyond the sea. It's not like way out there somewhere that you've got to say, who's going to go over the sea to find these commands and to tell us what it is to do? He says, no, it's none of that. The word is very near to you. It is in fact, it's in your very mouth, and it might even be in your heart, so that you can do it. And so Moses is clearly expecting these people, the Israelites, and frankly us, to do the right things. And he's saying it's not too hard. But if you know the Israelite story, What happens to these folks? Well, you just fast forward a few books and you get to the prophets and what is happening to them is the exact thing that's foreshadowed here at the end of Deuteronomy, which is that they are being ushered out of this promised land into a place called Babylon. And they're told very clearly why, which is that they weren't capable and they didn't keep the Mosaic law. They did all things that they shouldn't have done. And there's a people group that did things that they shouldn't have done. And now, well, now they're being ushered out of the promised land, the land of the living, and they are in exile. And this brings us to two more passages that connect deeply with what is happening both here and what Jesus will pick up on later. The first is Ezekiel, chapter 36, 26, and 27. Here, the Israelites are in this foreign land where they can't get back. It seems the promises have been broken. It seems the covenant between them and Yahweh is toast. And yet, God's not done with them. And he says the following. He says, I'll give you a new heart, and I will put this new spirit within you, and I'll remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and I'll give you a new heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. And he's basically saying here, a time will come when I will show you how to get this law in here. So it's not just up here in your head, but it's made its way into your heart somehow. And it appears that there's some sort of movement of the spirit that is involved in all of this. Well, then there's this other prophet, Jeremiah, speaking about the same time. Israel is in exile. They're in Babylon. And he too comes saying some promises about what's to come. And in verse 31, 31 and 33, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. This won't be like the old covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. The very covenant, by the way, I was talking about in Deuteronomy chapter 30. And so Jeremiah is saying, it's not going to be like that one. That one was in stone. That one mostly lived up here in their heads, if it lived anywhere at all, but it never made its way down into their heart. And so he says, I've got to make a new covenant. And Jeremiah promises that God is making a new covenant. By the way, if you don't know, maybe you're new to all of this or maybe I just need to teach a little better, but we're going to take communion momentarily. We're going to use these exact words, so pay attention to what's happening here. And Jesus from that upper room is going to say to his disciples in the moment he's handing the bread and the cup to them, he's going to say, this is the new covenant in my blood. And he's using Jeremiah 31. He's directly echoing it. And he's saying, what's happening right now in this upper room? This is the new covenant. And this is where All of these promises back in your Old Testament are finally coming to fruition. Back to Jeremiah 31, 33 now, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they will be my people. And so the problem back in Jeremiah's day is we need to know how to put the law in our hearts. This is the same problem today. I don't want you to think that you get scot-free out of here without somehow getting it inside of you. I know plenty of people who go by the name Christian and they got all the right things up here, but none of the right things sitting here and the way they live their life is not shaped by the law or by Christ or by anything connected to either of those. The big question for the day is, how does one get the law out there to in here? I want to point you to another passage in Scripture. By the way, if you want, you can just write these down and really dig into them later. But for now, I'll just keep burning through them. This is New Testament this time. This is Romans chapter 10. It's a very famous passage. You've probably heard it before, but if not, we'll certainly read it together. And I want you to notice that Paul here is quoting directly from our passage. He is quoting directly Deuteronomy chapter 30. And he says this, Moses writes, about the righteousness based on the law. That the person who does the commandments will live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, and here's the quote from Deuteronomy 30, don't say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven? You remember this part of Deuteronomy 30? You can go back and read it again. But then Paul adds what's in the parentheses here. He says, that is to bring Christ down. And then he goes on, he says, who will descend into the abyss? This is the way Moses had written it was who will go out to the seas or beyond the seas, right? And then Paul says, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it say? And here's still Moses, right? The word is near you. It's in your mouth and in your heart. And this is Precisely. I mean, he's quoting directly from Deuteronomy chapter 30. But he's doing something very unique and you need to know precisely what he's doing. Do you see what he's done? When Moses is talking, Moses is talking about the law. Who will go up to the heavens and find the law up there to teach us how to live a life, right? Who will instruct us on the way we should live? And Moses says, you don't need to go up there. I'm giving it to you right now. And Moses says, you don't need to go over the seas to find the law and to bring it back because I'm telling you right now it's been given to you. But that's not what Paul does. Paul substitutes out the law for Christ. It's A radical move. You have to believe the Jews hearing this might be a little scandalized, But if they've been around the church for a few years, they will know Paul makes this kind of move on a regular basis. He reads his Old Testament and he sees Jesus on these pages. And specifically, he sees Jesus where the law is sitting. Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 5, the very beginning of his most famous sermon, he says, I have not come to abolish the law, I have come to fulfill it. I've come to fill it out. And then Paul tells us what this looks like. He's telling us that if you want to know how to live a life and what it means to live abundant life and what it means to have eternal life and the way we were designed to be in this world, well then look no further than the person of Jesus. Paul has a very interesting take on the law generally speaking. But what he definitely does is he says, look at Jesus because Jesus fills out how this law was always meant to work. And if you want to know how this law was always supposed to bring you life, well then just simply do the kinds of things Jesus does. Paul doesn't stop here though. You see, Paul keeps going with this Deuteronomy passage and says something, again, very interesting and now this time very familiar to some of you. Verse 9, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. But the scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. We're still left with the question, how does one get the law from their head into their heart? And there are two ways I would want to offer you. One is far more important than the other way. The one way is God. This is an act of grace, a gift that God gives to you. And the other way is your part, the part you play in all of this. And both of these are really important. So what Paul is doing in this passage and what Jesus is teaching us is that in order to have this gift of the Spirit, And to get the law and the person of Jesus into your heart, it requires an act of grace on the part of God. And that we must confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord. And we must believe in our hearts that He has been raised from the dead. And if we do these things, then yes, we will be saved. Which is to say that the movement from the head down into the heart has begun. But then there's also the part that you play. And this is the part where you have to step in and you have to step up and you have to do the things that the law commands of you and that Jesus desires from you. And so if you want to get that 18 inches from the head down into the heart, what we're really saying is that you've got to make the faith that you have really real. It's got to mean something. It can't just stand out here somewhere. It's got to pierce your heart. This is not something I can do for you. I can teach you about it. I can speak to you, hopefully inspire you. But at the end of the day, this is a you thing. And you've got to want it. You've got to desire it. You've got to, use the scriptural term, you've got to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. In just a few seconds, we're going to take communion. The external and the internal are miles apart, and there will be people in the room who take the same bread and cup and they are taking it as an external act, a rote thing that you've done hundreds of times and let's go ahead and get this done so we can head off to lunch and all will be well. And then there are some of you who want to make it really real. who want to actually experience the body and the blood of Christ, who want to take communion because you want to encounter the living God. My prayer for you this morning is that you're in that second camp, is that you are doing what you need to be doing to get God in here. Quick word of warning, Some of you will say to me in private moments, God, or Eric, I've been trying this thing. Maybe you're praying, God, I've been trying this thing where I want to know you're in here and sometimes I just don't know. And I would say to you if you told me this, I get this. And I'm sorry that it doesn't feel real just yet. But I would encourage you to keep showing up. and to show up in this place and to show up reading your scripture, show up reading or praying to God and meeting with others who have a spiritual life that has clearly transformed them in some way and asked them, what was it like for you? What is it like for you? What is it like to follow Jesus for real along the way? And I assure you, over time, the small steps and acts of faith that you participate in will begin to seep its way down into the very core of who you are. Before you know it, you are being transformed and you are being changed into the Christ-like person that you were always meant to be. When we take the bread and the cup, we say, this is the body of Christ and it's broken for you. And this is the blood of Christ and it is shed for you. And this is for the forgiveness of your sins. We do ask for one more step. You and me, that is. And it's the Pentecost step. Pentecost is the day where the Spirit comes down. Because the tradition says that Jesus was raised from the dead and ascends to the Father and is seated at the right hand of God. And that's great and all, but we want the Spirit. We want something closer. We want God here with us. And so the promise is not just that Jesus is far off, but He sends His Spirit with us, to live in us, to participate in our transformation. So this is my prayer for you and for me this morning. Let us pray together. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as we gather around your table this morning, we ask for clean hearts and clean hands because we come with hard hearts and dirty hands. We know that we need you. We know that we have failed you and ourselves and the ones we love. But God, we know that forgiveness is available at this table. We know that you welcome us home with the open arms of the Father with his prodigal son. And so this morning, we come running. We come running back to you, God. But we also ask for a movement of the Spirit so that as we take these elements, or meet us in this place, meet me, meet each person who will walk up and will receive the body of Christ broken for them, the blood of Christ shed for them. Meet them, Lord. And when we eat and drink together, Lord, we will celebrate together what you have done. We pray this in Christ's holy name. Amen. If my communion service would come forward, we will begin. We have some new folks here with us today. The way we take communion goes like this. We come forward down the center aisle and there will be two stations. One will have, well, Each person will have a bread and a cup and you'll simply put your hands out and they will give you the body of Christ, which is broken for you. And then you'll grab the cup. Now if you need gluten-free or if you want a wafer that's not been touched by one of their hands, we have those where the cups are located as well. But then you'll take that back to your seats. We will take communion together as one body. While you're waiting in the pew with the bread and the cup in your hands, I would encourage you to do some reflecting, some praying, and see if we can't make this really real this morning. On the night he was betrayed, Jesus took the bread, he gave thanks, he broke it. The body of Christ broke it for you. And he took the cup And he said, this is the new covenant in my blood for the forgiveness of your sins. Please come forward the table is open.

Pastor Eric continues teaching verse-by-verse through the book of Philippians. In this teaching we look at what it means to share in each other's joy and how it is a safeguard to us.

Send us Fan MailThis week, we dive into Hosea and discover a powerful picture of God's heart.Sin breaks the heart of God, but it doesn't extinguish the love of God.Hosea shows us that God's judgment comes from a broken heart—not an angry one. His holiness and His love are never separated.In Hosea 11, God remembers Israel like a parent remembers teaching their child to walk. And then He asks:“How can I give you up?” — Hosea 11:8How powerful is that?Join us for Episode 35 as Pastor Eric explores the relentless love of a God who is both holy and compassionate.Support the show

Sunday Service . "Bringing God's Presence Into Your Home" - Part 8 Pastor Eric Johns 09/06/26 . We are Live on YouTube every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. Follow us on our platforms so you never miss a service! . . Click the Link to find out more about us! - https://linktr.ee/Buffalodreamcenter?utm_source=linktree_profile_share

Welcome to the audio podcast of Valley Family Church located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We pray you'll be encouraged as you listen to this podcast. For more information on Valley Family Church, visit valleyfamilychurch.org.

Please join us today as Pastor Eric teaches through Matthew 26:31-75 in a message entitled "Under Pressure".

A Sermon on Forgiveness Dr. Eric J. Gilchrest, Pastor | September 6, 2026 Download Check out the weekly sermon here or on our SRBC podcast on Apple Podcast and Spotify. While you're at it, check us out on Facebook and Instagram too. Like what you hear? We'd love to know.At South Run, we read every message personally. Whether you have a question, want to share how God is moving in your life, or are thinking about visiting in person, this is the place to start. If you click the link below, Pastor Eric will personally reach out to you. Listening online? Let us know. Sermon Transcript A Sermon on ForgivenessDr. Eric J. Gilchrest, PastorGood morning everybody. A couple of things before we get started. I know Clint already said it, but I am personally so pleased to have Erin Ovenshire as our new admin. She has been wonderful to work with already, and I look forward to good things there. I just wanted to make sure everybody knew and to welcome her in this role. Second, though, so one of my new favorite things these last few weeks has been the number of children in our worship service. I don't know if you feel this way too, but I definitely do. And I also want those parents to feel very comfortable having their children in the worship service. This is something that at South Run Baptist Church, we prize. We hold this as very important. I don't say this enough, so this is part of what I'm doing right now, which is we have intentionality behind having the kids in here. There are many churches you could attend where you ship the kids off and they're gonna be somewhere else for the whole time that you're here. And by kids, I mean like even up through like junior high or something. We've learned, but studies say Having your kids in here, like seeing what the adults do, watching your parents worship, this is very, very important for their spiritual development. And so this is why we want the children in here. With that said, we also want you to feel comfortable taking your kid out if you need to. And so if at any point you need to, we have a room downstairs. I think it's the Birch room, whatever the middle room is down there. where the TV's on with me on it, and you can participate in the service down there if that's what you need at any point. So feel free to utilize that. All right, let's get started here. Please bow your heads in prayer. God, our Father in heaven, your name is holy, and we seek your holy name this morning. God, I ask that you speak your words through your humble servant this morning, that those who are in attendance and those who are listening, whether online or at some future point, will hear you. They will hear you speaking to them loud and clear. Lord, this morning you know what we're talking about. We are talking about forgiveness. And Lord, we are the recipients of your boundless forgiveness. And so we begin with thanks, but we also now open our ears to what you wish to say to us. In Christ's name we pray, amen. We're talking about forgiveness, but we're also kind of the macro level. We're talking about the two ways. There's the narrow way and there's the wide way, and the wide way leads to destruction. And Jesus is trying to get us to walk down that narrow Rd. right? Which is to say it's a harder Rd. to walk and it requires some intention behind it. And it means that we have to pay attention to what we are doing and should not be. And some of those things we're not doing, but we should be. And so this morning, we have a wonderful test case in forgiveness. Forgiveness. This is certainly something that we've all been on both sides of the coin for. We've needed to forgive somebody, but we've also needed to be forgiven by somebody. But I wanna begin with a question that I asked our deacon ordinands on this last Wednesday. We had a deacon ordination meeting, council, where we brought in the two gentlemen who were being tried and tested, and it was grueling, and we really put it to them. They did pass, so next week we will be voting on our deacons, which will now include Brian Sands and Dan Ovanshire. We're very happy to have them on that slate, and you'll get to vote on them along with two others next week. But the question I asked was, what is the gospel, right? What is the gospel? Somewhat simple question. And I would hope that each of you, if you've been around the church for a while and if you confess Christ as Lord, you would have some kind of answer to this. What is the gospel? So I want to offer to you kind of a version in brief of how I think about this. It starts at the beginning of the creation, which is to say that in the beginning, God created all things good. In fact, he finishes it all and says, this is very good. But we know it doesn't stay there for too long. And there's the fall, Genesis 3 happens, and Genesis 4, they're kicked out of the garden. And then we're living in this world. And if you look around, you see what? You would currently see three hurricanes are sitting in the Pacific Ocean. Something is broken with the world itself, literally. There's a flood in Nepal that led to over 1000 deaths. There's all kinds of illnesses that are just waiting to infect each and every one of us. But it doesn't stop with the brokenness in the world, does it? then kind of seeps into us, you and me, or maybe there's other people, right? the sin sickness that covers humanity. And we are all people who do things that we shouldn't do and we don't do the things that we should do. And then when we're really honest, we look inside and we realize that it's sitting in here. And if you think back through your past, you realize, you know what, there are things that I regret There are things that I need forgiveness for, and I'm reaching out to a God that I need forgiveness from. And so then the gospel is God looking down and saying, I'm going to do something about the state of the world. And to do something, well, he sends Jesus, the Son of God, into the world, And Jesus dies on a cross, as we say, every single second Sunday of the month when we take communion, for the forgiveness of your sins, to make things right again. And then he is raised on the third day, defeating death and offering eternal hope into the future. This is what's happening. And so then the macro story says that what God is doing is he's taking the very good thing that had been broken and he's putting it back to rights again. This is good news. And it's the hope that we all hold on to. At the very center of all of it is a God who loves us so much that he keeps coming after us offering forgiveness when we don't deserve it. Offering forgiveness when we don't deserve it. Which then gets to what Paul says to us about forgiveness at large. He says, for example, actually, sorry, slide one, I had this on here. So what is the gospel? It's the good news that God has chosen forgiveness and mercy instead of punishment. He has chosen reconciliation instead of walking away, and he has chosen restoration instead of pushing us out. And here's what Paul, the move Paul makes in Ephesians 4.32. He says, forgive one another as God in Christ forgave you. And so this morning, as we're talking about the need to forgive one another, we should be reminded that the gospel story is the frame to it all. And as Paul says, God forgave you. And how did he do this? In Christ, in the story that I just told you, on the cross, through his death and through his resurrection, you have been forgiven. And so we too are to what? We're to take that same model and we are to apply it, everybody around us. forgive one another as God in Christ forgave you. Now the goal of forgiveness with both God and man is restoration. If the story of scripture from front to back is a story of restoration, well then that's what we're doing in our relationships when we forgive as well. We're seeking to restore. to make all things new. Now I should say very clearly that this does not mean consequences don't matter. They matter deeply. And so if you are seeking forgiveness from somebody, you must be ready to acknowledge that there is going to be a fallout to whatever it is that you have done in this life. And so consequences matter. There's a famous theologian from the mid-1900s named Bonhoeffer, and he had this famous book in which he talks about cheap grace, cheap grace. And I would offer you, there's something that is kind of a corollary to this, which is cheap forgiveness. Cheap forgiveness wants the benefits of forgiveness without the cost. Costly forgiveness is the willingness to do what it takes by the person who needs forgiveness to be reconciled. And so if you have harmed somebody and you are seeking their forgiveness and you are seeking to be made right again with them, you must recognize that there are consequences and there are costs to whatever it is that you've done. And we'll talk more about that momentarily. I've put a few things at the bottom of your bulletin. Some bullet points that I'm hoping you walk away with after the sermon, if you don't walk away with anything else. And here's one. Forgiveness restores you and reconciliation restores the relationship. Forgiveness restores actually the one who is doing the forgiving. It's the one, when you forgive, like you have been made whole, there's kind of a weird logic to this. And then reconciliation is when the relationship has been made whole again. Now I confess, I've kind of teased two things apart that may not be obvious just from the kind of a flat reading of scripture, but I do think this is really important for you to know that there are two sides to this. And sometimes forgiveness is all that's possible because whatever that other party they're doing, they may not want reconciliation. But in the ideal world, both parties are involved, and that's when reconciliation actually happens. But for the time being, I kind of want you to piece these out and keep them separated one from the other. Forgiveness or restoration and reconciliation are two different things, and it's important for you to hold them apart from one another. But in the best case scenario, both happen. With that then, let's turn to our scripture for today, which is Matthew chapter 18, verses 21 and 22. Matthew 18, 21 and 22 goes like this. Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him as many as seven times? And Jesus said, I do not say to you 7, but 77 times. Now the observant among you will immediately say, wait, I thought it was 70 times 7. We could dig into the Greek here and we could look at precisely what's there. And even if we did that, here's what you would find, that we actually don't know what the answer is. It might be 70 times 7, which would be what, 490? Or it might be 77. But the truth is, neither matter, because that's not what Jesus is saying, is he? He's not asking you to count up how many times you forgive, and then once you reach 77, done. No, he's saying forgiveness should be ever ready. This is something that as followers of Christ, that narrow way, like at any moment when somebody calls on us to be forgiven, like really be forgiven, we are willing and ready to offer that to them. The passage today is followed by a parable, which we won't read together, but I'll just simply tell you what's in it. It applies directly to the gospel story that I gave you up front and it goes like this. There's a master and he has a servant and the servant owes him the equivalent of $4 billion, a billion with a B. This is like the math works out this way. And the servant comes and is pleading with the master. He says, please just let me go. He was about to sell, the master was going to sell the servant into to slavery. And he said, please, I can't. And the master had mercy on him and said, you know what? I'm actually, I'm going to forgive the debt, $4 billion, and I'm going to let you go. As the servant left, he found somebody else who actually owed him some money to the tune of about $6,000, which, That's A lot. Like $6,000. Somebody owes me $6,000. You better believe I'm going to want that money back. But if I've just been forgiven $4 billion, you know, I think I might be generous. I would hope. But this servant was not. This servant instead, he went after the guy who owed him $6,000. And then when he couldn't pay, what did he do? Well, he sold him into debtors prison. Well, when the master found out, he said, how could you do this? You are wicked. Do you not know how merciful, how forgiving I have been to you? And then you turn around and with this debt, sure, it's some money, but it's nothing what you've been forgiven already, right? Hopefully you can see the comparison to the gospel itself. God has offered each and every one of us forgiveness in abundance. And so when he calls on us to forgive others, to forgive our neighbors, to forgive those who have done something wrong to us, our friends, our spouses, our kids, or whoever, we should be ready at any moment to say yes. But there are some parameters. And this is worth our time because oftentimes forgiveness turns into that cheap forgiveness. And I don't want it to do that this morning, and I don't want to leave you with the wrong impression about how forgiveness works. And so if you're in the Matthew 18, I just encourage you to back up just ever so slightly because the forgiveness stuff doesn't start there. It actually starts in 1815. And here's what Jesus says here. He says, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. And if he listens to you, have gained your brother. The scenario is a simple one. Somebody has done something wrong to you and you go to them and you say, you've done this wrong thing to me. And you're coming with open arms and you're saying, I would like to forgive you. I just need you to own what you've done. And if they say yes, well, then you've got your brother back. Reconciliation has happened, right? Luke actually. gets a little more pointed here. There's a version of this same saying that happens in Luke's gospel. If you return there at some future point, if you want to, it'd be in chapter 17, verses 3 to 4, go like this. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in the day and turns to you seven times, I say, repent. Or saying, I repent, you must forgive him. Here's what I want you to know about this passage. Some of us are really good at rebuking others. Others of us are really good at forgiving others. But in my experience, very few are good at both. I want us all to be people who are good at both. rebuking or bringing to someone else, here's what you've done wrong to me. None of this passive aggressive stuff. Just be honest and straightforward and say, you've hurt me. I need you to apologize. Here's what's wrong. And then when that person actually does, and when they own the problem that sits between you and that person, then you forgive them and you make things right. This is the ideal, right? That you're doing both the rebuking and then the forgiving when it happens. Which is another way of saying that in every scenario where forgiveness is involved, there's always two parties. If you were to come to me in pastoral counseling or something and you would say, Eric, I need to talk to you about forgiveness, my immediate question, well, which one are you? the one who needs forgiveness or are you the one forgiving somebody else? Because the conversation is going to look a little different depending on what side of the ledger you're sitting on. So we'll start with the one who's in need of forgiveness. Maybe this is you this morning. The first thing I would say to you in that counseling session would be to own your sin, no matter how big or small it is. Own whatever it is you've done wrong. And maybe you don't even want to call it sin. Maybe it's like, you're thinking it's this thing. But I need you to own it and to say, you know what, I really did that. And then you need to recognize the consequences that happen and flow out of whatever that thing is that you've done. And depending on the severity of the thing you've done, you might expect that some trust has been lost and must be restored with that person. And that again, depending on the severity of it all, it might take a while. It might take years or even decades to restore some of the trust that is lost. Once you're ready for it, I would then encourage you to apologize to the other person. But in my household, we have a way of apologizing that isn't just merely saying, I'm sorry, and then you move on. I would call that cheap forgiveness, and that's what we're trying to avoid this morning. Instead, we have a fourfold model of what apologies look like. includes, I am sorry. It was wrong because in the future I will. And then will you forgive me? Now, parents, you can take this and use it for your kids. That'd be great. But parents, I would encourage you to use it for one another as well. And it goes like this. I am sorry for. And this is when you actually name the thing that you did and you own it. and you say it out loud so that the other person knows what you've done wrong, and they know that it was wrong. And then you say it was wrong because, and here's where you get to explain to the person that you now understand why it was wrong. And you've put yourself into their shoes, and you show them or explain to them what it must have been like for them to be on that side of it all. And then in the future I will. And here is what you should have done instead. It's more than just next time I won't do X, Y, or Z. Next time I just won't get angry with you. It's in this moment that you get to demonstrate that you understand why you did the thing that you did. And so maybe you came home from work and you were just in a rage because somebody at work had offended you, and then you come home and you take it out on your spouse. when you apologize, you say, in the future, if I know I'm in this mood, I'm just going to tell you right up front, and then I'm going to encourage you to maybe avoid me for a short time, and I'm going to go cool off, and then I'm going to make sure that I'm a good man or a good woman so that you have the spouse that you deserve in that moment. And then finally, once you've really explored what went wrong, then you're in a place to say, will you forgive me? Let us make things right. And hopefully, prayerfully, you're with a spouse or maybe it's a friend or maybe it's, again, your kids or whoever it is. This works with anybody. Hopefully they will say, yes, I forgive you. Now the flip side of the coin is the party that needs to forgive. Jesus tells us 70 times 7. If someone seeks your forgiveness, you need to be ready to forgive. This is the way to life. Life abundant is living with a heart ready to forgive at any moment. Again, remember Ephesians 4, forgive one another as God in Christ forgave you. Remember, There was the billion dollars and there's the thousands of dollars and the ledgers are very, very different. And I would also encourage you to remember that forgiveness, it restores you. First and foremost, to withhold forgiveness is an affront to the way God operates in this world. And therefore, It is an affront to our truest nature as children of God. If we were made in God's image, and I believe with all my heart that we were, and God is a God who forgives again and again and again, then if we want to live into our truest nature, we must be people who forgive. But if you want a more selfish reason for why you should forgive, it goes like this. It's good for you. To forgive somebody else, it feels good to just let it go. In fact, there's a famous saying that holding on to anger is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. It's not going to happen. And so you must stop drinking the poison and you must forgive the other person and let it go. Now there is a deep struggle that happens if you've been hurt. And the struggle is, do I trust this person again? There are the memories that I have of when they wronged me. There's the fear that they're going to do it again. And so again, depending on the severity of what has happened between the two parties, I just want to affirm that sometimes is going to happen. And that's okay. And it doesn't mean that there's something wrong with you and your ability to forgive someone. It is a reminder that trust It's not a guarantee in a relationship, and it must be earned and it must be kept. But the question left then is when do you choose reconciliation and when is it okay not to? I've said that these are two different things, forgiveness and reconciliation. And the goal is reconciliation. Two parties coming back together. This is what God does with us. God is, we are rather, estranged from God, but God seeks us out because God wants to be with us. This is the truest form of forgiveness. But there are times in life where reconciliation may not be possible, because it does depend on both parties participating. But there's also this. There is the example of abuse in a relationship. And so if you've ever been a part of an abusive relationship, whether physical abuse, emotional abuse, or otherwise, you know that there is a gap that sits between forgiveness and reconciliation better than anybody else knows this, or at least you should. And so I would want to talk to you and to say, forgive. but not too quickly. To return to Luke, if your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. You must first learn to rebuke. It is possible that if this abusive relationship you've been in has gone on for too long, you're probably pretty good at the forgiveness side but maybe need to learn some things about rebuking, holding someone accountable for their actions, to build boundaries and to tell someone that they can no longer do this to you. And if they do, there are clear consequences for it. But the other thing that needs to happen is that the abuser must learn to repent. Repentance is actually a big word. It's more than just, baby, I'm never gonna do that again. It's actually walking the walk. It is not cheap forgiveness, like Bonhoeffer warns of cheap grace. True repentance in relationship is the same as it is with God. When we truly repent, it means we turn around and we start walking in a different direction, not just by words, but in our actions. We no longer do what we used to do. We take necessary steps, radical steps, to stop doing the old and to start doing the new. So if the abuser is showing no signs that they are taking steps in the opposite direction, well they aren't getting help from a counselor, or they haven't changed their behavior in some fashion, then repentance has not really begun. Repentance hasn't really begun and reconciliation should be off the table until they are ready to truly repent. If you keep reconciling with someone who refuses true repentance, you are not righteously walking as Jesus teaches us to. You are simply putting yourself in harm's way. And if I were in the room with you, giving you counsel, I would say you need to walk away until true repentance is part of what is happening in that reconciliation. So how to seek reconciliation, how to offer forgiveness, a very quick word to our married couples in the room, but everybody else can listen in because I think this applies to everyone. Empathy is mission critical. Empathy. It's the ability to see the world as somebody else sees the world, to put yourself into their shoes. If you're going to apologize to someone, you need to understand what it is that they're experiencing and feeling in the world. And as they walk through the world, they see it a certain way. And you need to be able to say it and to name it. Because if they're going to understand that you get it, or they're gonna need to know that indeed, you see it and you're able to say it and you're able to speak it out loud. I came across this wonderful quote this week by a guy named Oswald Chambers. He wrote the devotional that, I don't know, everybody in my generation seemed to grow up on. And he says this, spiritual maturity is going from being thin-skinned and hard-hearted to thick-skinned and tender-hearted. I loved this. There's so much wisdom in this. Too many of us Christians who have been in the church for way too long are too thin-skinned and way too hard-hearted. And when it comes to our relationships, we're too thin-skinned and we're too hard-hearted. We're too quick to judge and not quick enough to forgive. But the maturest ones among us are what? They are the thick-skinned ones, and they can see why someone might behave the way they do. And they don't take it personally always. Sometimes they do if they should, but they don't always take it personally because they have this thick skin needed to be a mature person. But more than that, they are tender-hearted, looking out for all the opportunities to make things right in the world, to breathe life into the world, into other people, and to reconcile at every possible opportunity. We are to be people who are thick-skinned and tenderhearted. Back to the gospel. The world was created very good, but we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But God so loved the world that He gave His only Son to atone for the sins of the world and to make all the wrong things right. He forgave you and me 70 times 7 times. The billions of dollars that you and I, oh God, have all been wiped away. So let us heed Paul's advice together. Forgive because in Christ Jesus, God has forgiven you. Let us pray. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in this place right now, are a group of your children. We're a messy bunch, often harming others and being harmed by others, sinning and having sins committed against us. And so Lord, we need a few things about forgiveness. And so Jesus, we look to you. We look to you to offer us the billions of dollars of wiped debt that we've needed. But we also look to you to show us the way to life, the way that you have already paved for us. You've made abundantly clear on the cross, Lord, the kind of God you are, a God who forgives. And Jesus, you even say, forgive them, and they don't even know what they're doing. Jesus this morning, teach us to be more and more like you, our king, the one who rules on high right now, the one we say that we serve, the one we say that we love, the rabbi that we say that we follow, God make us more like you. We pray all of this in Christ's holy name, amen.

Pastor Eric continues teaching verse-by-verse through the book of Philippians. In this teaching we consider what it means to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and then we consider the importance of not grumbling or complaining.

Send us a Text Message - include your name!In this episode of Faith Over Breakfast, Pastor Eric and Pastor Andy answer Russ Lewis' question about good shame and bad shame. As they bounce around, reconstruct their ideas, and try to be coherent in the early morning hours, they come to some pretty profound conclusions about our capacity to shame one another, the destructive ways we can carry shame, and how we might receive the discipline of God as a kind of good shame that leads us toward forgiveness, restoration, and healthier connection with God and one another.Support the showSupport"Faith Over Breakfast with Pastors Andy & Eric" is a weekly podcast where Pastors Andy and Eric come together over a imaginary delicious breakfast to talk about faith, food, sermons, culture, and more. In each episode, the pastors delve into thought-provoking topics and offer inspiring insights and practical guidance for those seeking to deepen their relationship with Jesus. With occasional guests joining the conversation, "Faith Over Breakfast with Pastors Andy & Eric" provides a unique perspective on what it means to live a life of faith in today's world. Whether you're a seasoned Christian or just starting on your faith journey, this podcast is the perfect companion for your morning routine. So join Pastors Andy and Eric each week as they explore the intersections of faith, food, and life over a delicious breakfast.Support:https://www.buzzsprout.com/97804/support

Andrew's conversation with Tonie, Pastor Maritza, and Pastor Eric, recaps GT's GroupLink Sunday across all locations and highlights why life groups matter so much: they help a big church feel smaller and give people real community beyond Sunday mornings. They connect this to the “All In” message and explain that believers need people beside them—like Aaron and Hur supporting Moses—to stay focused on Jesus, grow deeper roots, and walk through life together.

Listen in as Pastor Eric and Ashley Durso kick off and introduce a new podcast for the members of Grace Rancho! Listen to Grace at Home here.

Pastor Eric's message encourages everyone to get connected in a group, because who we have surrounding us in life matters when we need encouragement and accountability. Sundays are important, but being all-in for Jesus means we need real community throughout the week with people who help us keep our eyes on God and support us when life gets hard.

Sunday Service . "Bringing God's Presence Into Your Home" - Part 7 Pastor Eric Johns 08/30/26 . We are Live on YouTube every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. Follow us on our platforms so you never miss a service! . . Click the Link to find out more about us! - https://linktr.ee/Buffalodreamcenter?utm_source=linktree_profile_share

HE CHOICE OF A NEW GENERATIONWhat kind of faith are we handing to the next generation?In this powerful message, Pastor Eric challenges us to consider what the Church of the future will look like—and whether the faith we carry today is something the next generation will experience for themselves. Scripture warns of a generation that grew up without personally experiencing the presence of God or seeing what He had done. We cannot simply hand down traditions. The next generation needs an encounter with Jesus. Culture is constantly offering us a “new formula”—something more comfortable, more popular, and easier to accept. But the Gospel doesn't need a new formula. The Word of God is still the standard. The Cross still works. The blood still flows. The Spirit still empowers. We don't need something new—we need Jesus. The question is: **What are we willing to trade?**We cannot sell truth for trends, convictions for comfort, or power for pleasure. What we refuse to compromise today becomes what we have available to hand to the generations coming behind us. We cannot sell out the truth about sin.We cannot sell out repentance.We cannot sell out the blood.We cannot sell out being set apart.We cannot sell out a Spirit-filled life. Normal doesn't mean biblical. The hunger to fit in should never outweigh the calling to stand out. We have not been called to follow the trends of culture—we have been called to live according to the Word of God.This generation doesn't need a more comfortable Gospel. It needs the real thing.Bring holiness back.Bring righteousness back.Bring faith back.Bring Jesus back to the platform.Bring the Holy Ghost back.May Jesus find faith in this generation.

HE CHOICE OF A NEW GENERATIONWhat kind of faith are we handing to the next generation?In this powerful message, Pastor Eric challenges us to consider what the Church of the future will look like—and whether the faith we carry today is something the next generation will experience for themselves. Scripture warns of a generation that grew up without personally experiencing the presence of God or seeing what He had done. We cannot simply hand down traditions. The next generation needs an encounter with Jesus. Culture is constantly offering us a “new formula”—something more comfortable, more popular, and easier to accept. But the Gospel doesn't need a new formula. The Word of God is still the standard. The Cross still works. The blood still flows. The Spirit still empowers. We don't need something new—we need Jesus. The question is: **What are we willing to trade?**We cannot sell truth for trends, convictions for comfort, or power for pleasure. What we refuse to compromise today becomes what we have available to hand to the generations coming behind us. We cannot sell out the truth about sin.We cannot sell out repentance.We cannot sell out the blood.We cannot sell out being set apart.We cannot sell out a Spirit-filled life. Normal doesn't mean biblical. The hunger to fit in should never outweigh the calling to stand out. We have not been called to follow the trends of culture—we have been called to live according to the Word of God.This generation doesn't need a more comfortable Gospel. It needs the real thing.Bring holiness back.Bring righteousness back.Bring faith back.Bring Jesus back to the platform.Bring the Holy Ghost back.May Jesus find faith in this generation.

Today we continue our sermon series in the book of James, Everyday Gospel. In James 1:12-18, James encourages believers to persevere through trials. He shares that God does not tempt us but is the giver of all good things. Pastor Eric highlights these points from the text: 1) God gives life 2) Sin brings death 3) Our gospel hope

Pastor Eric kicks off our new sermon series Breathe

Lust Dr. Eric J. Gilchrest | August 30, 2026 Check out the weekly sermon here or on our SRBC podcast on Apple Podcast and Spotify. While you're at it, check us out on Facebook and Instagram too. Like what you hear? We'd love to know.At South Run, we read every message personally. Whether you have a question, want to share how God is moving in your life, or are thinking about visiting in person, this is the place to start. If you click the link below, Pastor Eric will personally reach out to you. Listening online? Let us know. Sermon Transcript Pastor Eric J GlchrestIt's good to be with you this morning. I come bringing an exciting sermon to you.I'm glad you're here today. If you are new to South Run Baptist Church, I first want to say welcome. We are so pleased that you have chosen to join us this morning. I believe you're here for a reason. I do believe that God has brought you to this place at this time because he has something for you. I believe this of all of us gathered together here. But you should know you've come on a unique Sunday because we've been working through, well, actually, I was thinking about this. We're kind of like a set of Russian nesting dolls this year. So the broad theme is transformation. We've been kind of working on that all year long. And then we've been on this two ways journey where there's these two ways that Jesus offers us abundant life, but he says it's the narrow way, right? And so it requires some adeptness at traversing that narrow way. And then he talks about the broad way, which leads to destruction. And on the broad way, it appears that this is in many ways the easy way. This is the path of least resistance. And so we've been, the nesting doll has been on that path of least resistance. And to do that, we've been talking about the seven deadly sins, right? And so here we are, we're at the 7th of seven. And so if you've come for the first time this morning, you've come on a Sunday in which we are talking about lust. Before we get there, this is a test for those of you who have been with us the whole journey to see if you can name the other six. And if you can't, well, then we're going to start it all over again and we'll do it together. So say them with me and I'll parrot them back to you. What would one of them be? Enri. Gluttony, wrath and sloth, greed, I think we said anger, and vanity, somebody said. I think we got them. Those are the six, leaving us today's message on lust. Part of what we've been trying to do with all of them is also tie together how our technologies the phones in our pockets, the computers that we all sit behind every day, they shape us and they form us and they misshape us and they malform us into beings we were never intended to be. And so my hope through this whole time together actually has been to demonstrate to you that the object in your pocket is not value neutral, that it is having an effect on you in one way or another. And I can really think of no better example than this morning's topic. And so we will talk about some sensitive issues. I've tried to do so in a fashion that is sensitive to all of the various ears this morning, but do know that this is what we're talking about. Let's begin with prayer. God our Father in heaven, you look down at your children and you want what is good for us. You want what is best. You want us to live lives filled with life and abundance and all that is good. And God, yet sometimes we choose the lesser way and we find ourselves going down paths we were never intended to go down, being shaped into people we were never intended to be. And this morning, Lord, speak to us. Speak to our hearts. Speak to our marriages and our families, that we might live lives according to your word, but according to the grain of the universe that you have created, the good universe, the one we intend to live in, the kingdom of God. I pray this in Christ's holy name, amen. You should have gotten a handout when you came in, at least the adults in the room. Yeah, I'll take it, just to wave it around. At some point in the sermon, we will get to this. And this may end up being the most practical sermon I could possibly give to you where there's an actual handout that you can take home with you to give you some resources for how to walk this way well. The Bible has a lot to say about sex. If you've ever read the Bible in full cover to cover, you might be surprised about what you find there. And now that I think about it, I should probably use this as a pitch when I try to get you to read the Bible more often because sex sells and it's filled with it. even has a whole book devoted to it. Did you know this? It's called the Song of Solomon. who himself had 1000 wives and concubines and apparently knew something about the matter. If you think it's a prudish book or that its authors would clutch their pearls at the smallest innuendo, well, you've simply not read close enough. But if you're new to the Bible reading thing and you thought this way, you would be forgiven. Because often this is how we Christians approach the topic, sheepishly in whispers And I confess it's how I often approach this topic, especially from the pulpit. I get nervous and frankly a little weird about it, which is why I'm writing this sermon out rather than trying to go off script. It'll keep me from blushing, hopefully. If the Bible is okay with this topic, then we probably should be too. So I'm going to speak frankly about the matter while recognizing that our congregation has members of all ages listening right now. Parents, you shouldn't feel on edge for what is about to happen, but know that it might spark some interesting conversations around the lunch table that I think you're ready for. And in fact, I encourage these conversations. It's a hope that I have for all of us to be a little more open and in dialogue with one another about this matter. But that said, if at any point you feel the need to take a bathroom break with your child, please go right ahead. I won't be offended. In the beginning, God created the Garden of Eden. And he said to that first couple, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And I know of only one way to be fruitful and to multiply. There's also the matter of Genesis 2, 24, in which God tells the first couple while they're still enjoying the safety of the garden, that when the two are joined together, they become one flesh. Two bodies united into one body. Sounds like a description of the topic we're talking about today. which means to me that God creates it as part of the good creation. It is something that is beautiful, is certainly enjoyable, and I would even say it is spiritual. Two becoming one is a mystery. But don't take my word. It's what Paul says in Ephesians 5 when he compares marriage to our union with Christ. And he also raises the two becoming one mystery as a warning to the Corinthian people in 1 Corinthians 6, who are uniting themselves with temple prostitutes. And Jesus raises the two becoming one mystery as a way to affirm marriage and to limit divorce. Which is all to say, that Genesis and Jesus and Paul, they talk about two becoming one flesh as something to happen within the marriage covenant. The covenant binds two people together by law and by custom, and it requires that the two people remain together in sickness and in health and richer and poorer till death do us part. And why? because it is only this kind of union that makes it safe to practice the deep magic we call sex. There are two ways to preach a sermon about sin, one that I would call an Old Testament sermon and the other a New Testament sermon. The difference is subtle but important. The Old Testament sermon relies on the law. It tells you where the boundaries are. are external to you. For example, an Old Testament sermon tells you the rules to keep and then you simply keep them. Don't murder, don't steal, don't lie, don't break the Sabbath and so on. An Old Testament sermon on adultery would stick to the basics. Don't have sex outside of marriage and you're good to go. But A New Testament sermon, the kind that Jesus would give, drives us deeper to the heart of the matter. which is always a matter of the heart. Jesus is helping us fulfill the Old Testament promise that Jeremiah 31, 33 expresses when he says, I will put my law within them and I will write the law on their hearts and I will be their God and they will be my people. Jesus is trying to write the law on our hearts and to do that, You must look below the surface, which is what Jesus is doing in his most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5. Please turn there now and we'll read verses 27 to 30. You have heard it said, you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away, for it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away, for it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. Now some people want to read their Bible with a precise literalism that demands that every last passage be understood with no nuance. But let's all hope that Jesus is here using hyperbole. Pulling out your eye or cutting off your hand is a bold move. But I'll say in all of my years of church life, and I've had many, I've met a lot of people with a lust problem. but I've never met a single person wearing an eye patch. Here's what Jesus is saying in brief if you ask me. The root of the external act of adultery happens in your heart well before it happens when you walk into a bedroom. If you are to be a kingdom follower, living life abundant, then you will need to get radical in your attempts to root out the heart condition because the alternative is a road that leads to Gehenna, a place that elsewhere is said to be filled with weeping and gnashing of teeth. If you've ever known someone whose partner has cheated on them or who has been sexually assaulted or abused, or someone who has lost a spouse or a job or ministry because of this sin, then you know that the weeping And the anxious grinding of the teeth isn't just waiting on the other side. It starts in the here and the now. How many lives have been broken by this sin? How many marriages and families have been shattered by it? So let's talk about what's in the heart. When I was a kid, Before the internet existed in my house and well before the iPhone had the internet in everyone's pocket, I remember my mom telling me that I shouldn't look at dirty magazines. When my neighbor, Sam Weissman, came outside with his dad's Playboys, I ran inside because I did not want to disappoint my mom. And then later, about a year later, we were digging in a forested area at my friend's house. His name was Brian. And we dug up a stash of more magazines. And once again, I ran away back home because I did not want to disappoint my mom because I wanted to be a good boy. This was a different age and a time when temptation didn't follow you everywhere you went. The magazines stood waiting in a forest for years. But the screens that you take everywhere are constantly offering temptation. The internet made *********** readily available, cheap and easy to find. The smartphone, it made it available everywhere you went. The algorithm and social media learned who you are and began to feed you whatever it takes for you to spend more and more time on your device. If you're a boy or a young man, the girls too, the algorithm knows, and it knows that lust is a powerful drug, and so it is ready to feed you images again and again before you finally say yes. The magazines no longer stay put. They follow you home and everywhere else you go. Let's start with some statistics. Common Sense Media surveyed teens between 13 and 17 years old in 2023 and here's what they found. 73% have watched *********** online, 54% saw it by age 13, 15% by age 10 or younger. The average age of first exposure is 12 and 58% first encountered it accidentally. That's just the kids, the adults in the room. Barna and Pure Desire did a survey in 2024. Here's what they found. 54% of practicing Christians reported viewing **** compared to 68% of non-Christians. Among pastors, 67% report a personal history and then nearly one in five of those currently struggle. of practicing Christians view it weekly. 75% of Christian men and 40% of Christian women report viewing occasionally. And 62% of Christians agree a person can regularly view *********** and live a sexually healthy life only four points below the general public. Jesus says that lust is part of the broad Rd. that leads to Gehenna. But 62% of Christians seem to disagree. The statistics bear out something very important here. Lust and *********** is something that doesn't just go away when you get older. We must all learn to fight this battle, no matter the age. Running from the magazines weren't the end of my personal history. So for me, I know I need to stay vigilant about this. In my house, we talk about these things openly. We have rules and protocols that I want to share with you around our technology. If you were here for a Sunday morning Bible study, we've talked through some of these and you should have received a sheet of paper, adults, as you walked in that hopefully will guide you through some of what I'm going to say that we went a little deeper this morning in Sunday school. I think of lust a little bit like I think about the weeds in my yard. As long as there's a plan and a strategy that is actively keeping the weeds at bay, the yard is going to look great. But as soon as that stops, the yard goes untended. And then once you start looking for it, you start to see more and more weeds popping up here and there until eventually you look out and you realize there's weeds everywhere. And you wonder how'd that happen? If you're a child, it might happen like this. You're simply playing a video game and up pops an ad with a voluptuous woman in something that can't really be called clothing, encouraging you to visit her website. Or maybe you're simply on a website like me, Bible Gateway, preparing a sermon on lust when up pops an underwear ad. Yes, this did happen. Or you're on X or Instagram and they begin to put pictures and products on your screen that you're not really seeking out. But the more it shows up, the more you're interested and the more you click and then the rabbit hole goes deeper and deeper and deeper. And so what does one do in this situation? You should think of yourself and your marriage and your family in the middle of a castle, and your job is to protect it at all cost. You will want to put up high walls, thick walls, a big moat around all of it. And so I want to offer you some very practical advice in two parts. Part one is how to build the walls, and part 2 is what to do if your castle has been sieged. So the protection piece. The first thing I'd want to say here is that you cannot wait on the technology industry to keep you safe or to keep your kids safe. They will not build this wall for you. In fact, they are selling a drug and they are hoping that you get hooked and that your kids get hooked. You may have heard it before. There are only two industries that call their customers users, illegal drugs and big tech. Therefore, you must get radical and take matters into your own hands. Number 2, start with locking down your devices. There are computers and there are phones and there are iPads and whatever else you have in your house. Each will be a little different, but parents especially, both for yourself and for your kids, learn how to limit their screen time. Learn how to manage their content. Learn how to use what the tech companies actually do give you at their disposal to limit what is coming through those big walls that you're trying to create. Number 3, your computers are a little harder to lock down. And so in my house, we pay for something called covenant eyes. We pay $200 a year for this. It might sound like a lot of money. I think it sounds like a very little amount of money for the peace of mind that it gives me, knowing that I'm offering protection, another wall for my kids and my family to feel safe within. Whatever you choose, I would encourage you to once again get radical. Don't just find yourself floating down the broad Rd. just because everyone else seems to. Instead, you have to take matters into your own hands. Number 4, there is the matter of your internet or your routers. And you can try to create as high a wall and a moat as you can. And one tool in the toolbox is using your internet provider to block certain sites or to even automatically turn off at certain times of day. Let's say 1 A.m. There's no good reason for somebody to be on the internet at that point. Number 5, know that with all your best efforts, there will always be workarounds that you haven't thought of, which gets to the most important thing that I can give you. Have a good relationship. with loved ones, with your kids, especially spouses with each other. Have open, honest dialogue. Reduce the shame. It is the shame that drives you into the closet and into the darkness. And the only way out is to get rid of some of that shame and to be willing to talk about it. And so make this a regular conversation in your house. The more you do it, the less awkward it gets. Men talk to your sons. Women talk to your daughters. Have these conversations with your kids. And please, spouses have them with each other. The easiest rule, no devices in the bedrooms. If you're wondering, what's the one quick win that could come out of here as to how I manage my own household and what the kids can do and can't, This is probably the easiest thing that you could make happen right now. But what happens if the army has already sieged the castle and you're in the middle of a fight that you're losing and you are struggling and you can't seem to find your way out? Well, that's the backside of the sheet that I've given you. I've got 4 steps for you. Step one, step out of the darkness and into the light. It will have control over you until you tell someone who is safe and importantly, someone who will force you to do something about it. Men, I want to offer you this morning that I am safe and I will help you do something about it. I have heard stories from young boys to very old men and nothing will shock me, I assure you. Step 2, depending on your situation, and the level of your problem, you should probably find a group to meet with. There are lots of groups dedicated to helping people break their addictions, some in person and some online. Two groups I'm aware of and I know meet locally are called Pure Desire and Celebrate Recovery. I would start there if you're just simply looking. Number 3, develop a strategy and know where the weak points are in your defense. Share these with an accountability partner. For example, maybe you're on a work trip. We'll have your spouse keep you honest when you come home. Late nights or certain times of day. We'll just know when that is and don't be alone during that time. Maybe it's a certain device. Go ahead and ditch that. Is alcohol involved? It might be time to address that problem too. And know that stress will always cause you to do things you might not do when you're not in stress. So manage that. Fourth and finally, replace the bad habit with good habits. More exercise, a new hobby, intentional time with your family. We had this conversation, as I said, this morning with the Sunday morning Bible study. And it was brought in that we should certainly infuse all of these steps with a healthy spiritual life that loves God with all our hearts and souls and minds and strength and our neighbors as ourselves and our spouses as ourselves. But sometimes we maybe keep praying to God and we say, oh, help me with this and help me with this and it never seems to go anywhere. That's what this roadmap is for. It has helped you if you've been there again and again and again and again. One final word I would want to give is to the spouses in the room, because the part I haven't yet addressed is that lust and adultery is not a victimless crime. There is often a spouse or a family that feel the effects of this betrayal. If that is you, know that God sees you too. And you too need help and you need encouragement. And the steps for what you should do are not the same as the above. They are similar. It involves talking to someone. Maybe it's finding a group. Some of the groups offer spouses groups as well. And so if the person who has hurt you needs to build their defenses, I would encourage you to build some of your own as well. Build walls and boundaries that they should not break in order to keep yourself from being hurt again and again. And develop lines that cannot be crossed and communicate those clearly and what would happen if they do get crossed. And finally, do things that will fill your soul as well. In the beginning, God created all things good. And this includes sex. But it is a powerful force. And a desire for it sits deep within us. And we live in a dangerous world where the temptations are everywhere. So let me encourage you to protect it. Keep it safe. Build the walls of a covenant marriage around it. Put them up high. Build a moat around it so that you keep temptation at bay. Talk to your spouses. Talk to your kids. Have these conversations regularly. Help is available. Victory is available. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, let us pray. Father in heaven, Jesus, King Jesus, who sits on the throne, who has power over all the universe, Holy Spirit who has been sent to us to live in us, to dwell in us, to cleanse us from the inside out, empower us this morning, convict us of where we need changes, Give us the path forward. Show us how we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds and to take on the mind of Christ and to live as you would have us live, O Lord. May we walk that narrow way, the hard way, but a way that leads to life abundant because Lord, we know that other way leads to the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. God, this morning, no doubt if the statistics bear out, some people hearing my voice right now, whether in person, online, or on a podcast into the future, they are wrestling. They are wrestling with something that has sat hidden for way too long. It is time to take the thing that existed in the darkness Bring it out into the light. Because God, you have a better way. You have a way that is filled with joy and freedom. So Lord, this warning, convict of sin, but also convince us that you are powerful enough to heal. We pray this in Christ's holy name. Amen.‍

Pastor Eric continues teaching verse-by-verse through the book of Philippians. In this teaching we look at what Christ's obedient death on the cross means for us.

Mark 10:13-22  I Pastor Eric Brown fmbcbellflower.org Mark: Expository Series

In Episode 163, host Christin Day sits down with Pastor Eric B. for an unfiltered conversation about addiction, incarceration, faith, homelessness, and the power of turning pain into purpose. Originally from Las Vegas, Eric shares how substance use began early, leading to years of street life, violence, incarceration, and homelessness. While in custody, he reached a point of surrender, gave his life to Christ, and began building a different future. Today, Eric is an outreach pastor at The River Church in Safford and a homeless outreach specialist with the Gila Valley Samaritan Home. He meets people where they are, helps connect them to showers, meals, laundry, treatment, sober living, and other resources—and reminds them that recovery is possible. In this episode, Eric and Christin discuss forgiveness, faith, the realities of addiction, and why continued outreach matters—even when it takes years for someone to be ready. If you are struggling with addiction or need support, visit thecrossroadsinc.org or stop by Crossroads at 2002 E. Osborn Road, Phoenix, AZ. Crossroads is open Monday through Saturday and welcomes individuals with insurance, AHCCCS/Access plans, or no insurance. #RecoveryOnAir #ROA163 #Crossroads #PastorEricB #ChristinDay #RecoveryIsPossible #FaithInRecovery #AddictionRecovery #HomelessOutreach #SecondChances #Hope #SaffordAZ #PhoenixRecovery #Podcast #PrattPodcasting

Pastor Eric challenges people to be “all in” with Jesus by truly knowing God, surrendering what they've been holding back, and trusting Him with every part of life.

In the final week of our Built for This series, Pastor Eric unpacks John 20:19-23 to explore what it looks like to live sent right where God has placed you — at work, at school, in your neighborhood, even in traffic. Discover how presence and purpose, along with the power of the Holy Spirit, can change the way you see the ordinary places you go every day.

Few Bible passages create as much tension as 1 Timothy 2:12. Does it mean women cannot lead, teach, or use their gifts? In this message, Pastor Eric walks through the larger context of Paul's words to Timothy and explains Trinity's understanding of the roles of men and women in the church. Along the way, he makes an important distinction: men and women are equal in value, significance, and worth, while Scripture gives them different responsibilities within the gathered church. This message also explores the many ways God uses women to teach, disciple, serve, lead, and share the good news of Jesus.

Sunday Service . "Bringing God's Presence Into Your Home" - Part 6 Pastor Eric Johns 08/23/26 . We are Live on YouTube every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. Follow us on our platforms so you never miss a service! . . Click the Link to find out more about us! - https://linktr.ee/Buffalodreamcenter?utm_source=linktree_profile_share

What good is knowing how to study the Bible if it never changes how you live? Pastor Eric wraps up the “Feed Yourself” series with a mirror, a prescription, and a challenge. Get ready to move from vague intentions to a decision you make before you even close your Bible.Scripture referenced in this message:· James 1:22 · James 1:22-25· Nehemiah 8:8 · Ezra 7:10· Matthew 7:24–27Learn more about salvation, info about Destiny Church, or how to give by visiting our website.Real | Relevant | Relationship

MALTA MOMENTSWhat if the place you thought was a setback is actually a God-ordained stop?In this powerful message, Pastor Eric takes us to Acts 28 and the story of Paul's shipwreck on the island of Malta. Paul was on his way to Rome, but before he reached his destination, God led him through a storm, a shipwreck, a snakebite, and an unexpected stop.Sometimes we become so focused on where God is taking us that we miss what He wants to do in us and through us along the way.A Malta Moment is a season when you thought you were headed one direction, but suddenly find yourself somewhere you never planned to be. But not every stop is the work of the enemy. Some stops are necessary. Some stops are God-ordained.In Malta, Paul discovered that the same hand that was bitten by the snake could still be used to bring healing. What looked like a detour became a place of divine protection, miracles, provision, and purpose.You may be in a storm right now. You may feel stuck, delayed, discouraged, or like you've been in your own “Malta” for far too long.But remember:The same God who orders your steps also orders your stops.Keep praising. Keep praying. Keep serving. Keep believing. Keep building the fire in the rain.Your Malta may not be the end of your journey—it may be the place where God prepares you for what comes next.

MALTA MOMENTSWhat if the place you thought was a setback is actually a God-ordained stop?In this powerful message, Pastor Eric takes us to Acts 28 and the story of Paul's shipwreck on the island of Malta. Paul was on his way to Rome, but before he reached his destination, God led him through a storm, a shipwreck, a snakebite, and an unexpected stop.Sometimes we become so focused on where God is taking us that we miss what He wants to do in us and through us along the way.A Malta Moment is a season when you thought you were headed one direction, but suddenly find yourself somewhere you never planned to be. But not every stop is the work of the enemy. Some stops are necessary. Some stops are God-ordained.In Malta, Paul discovered that the same hand that was bitten by the snake could still be used to bring healing. What looked like a detour became a place of divine protection, miracles, provision, and purpose.You may be in a storm right now. You may feel stuck, delayed, discouraged, or like you've been in your own “Malta” for far too long.But remember:The same God who orders your steps also orders your stops.Keep praising. Keep praying. Keep serving. Keep believing. Keep building the fire in the rain.Your Malta may not be the end of your journey—it may be the place where God prepares you for what comes next.

Today we continue our sermon series in the book of James, Everyday Gospel. In James 1:9-11, James warns believers against pursuing temporal things like riches. Pastor Eric highlights these points from the text: 1) Jesus is greater than poverty. 2) Jesus is greater than riches.

Pastor Eric continues our The Basics series with part two on Forgiveness

Sloth Dr. Eric J. Gilchrest | August 23, 2026 Check out the weekly sermon here or on our SRBC podcast on Apple Podcast and Spotify. While you're at it, check us out on Facebook and Instagram too. Like what you hear? We'd love to know.At South Run, we read every message personally. Whether you have a question, want to share how God is moving in your life, or are thinking about visiting in person, this is the place to start. If you click the link below, Pastor Eric will personally reach out to you. Listening online? Let us know. Sermon Transcript TranscriptPastor Eric J. GilchrestGood morning. It's great to be back with you. I've missed you.I wasn't here on Sunday, last Sunday that is. I was dropping Ezra off at college, which was an incredibly emotional, powerful experience. And then I had been out of town on sabbatical for a time, but I'm promising you I'm here for a while. Does anyone else hear that? It's the sound of... Oh, it is. Yeah. It's the 250th. There's like flyovers happening. I was going to say, I never hear, you know, anything quite like that. Yeah, we'll let the airplanes kind of die down a second. They'll be done in a moment, hopefully, unless it keeps going for a time. Yeah, just turn me up. Thank you. All right. Where were we? Where we were for the last month is we are talking about the way, which is the name for the earliest Christians. They were called the way. They were the ones who followed Jesus appropriately. And then we were also talking about the fact that there are these two ways that Jesus talks about. One way that leads to destruction. And this is the path that We've been talking about the seven deadly sins for. It is the path we're talking about today. It is the path in which we lead lesser lives, and we lead lives that are not intended to be led by God. Today we're talking about sloth, and this is, as it says, following the wrong way home. There's a lot of city stuff in the picture if you're looking at this, and there's a lot of hubbub and there's a lot of movement, and you might be thinking that's not very slothful. But actually, it kind of is. If you were in the Sunday morning Bible study, what we learned is that there are two faces to sloth, actually. The one that is the slow creature from Zootopia, who's amiable and enjoyable to be with, but is is so slow that it's infuriating, right? And they don't do much. But the other face of sloth actually is the person who's so busy and is distracting himself or herself with all these other things in life, and they're not attending to the one thing that they should be attending to. Our lives are actually filled with these sorts of slothful moments where we distract ourselves quite easily and we escape into our devices and we lead lives that are in constant distraction and not attending to the one thing that we should be doing. So Jesus talks about this road that leads to destruction. And this morning we're going to talk about sloth in that way. But he does talk about a road that leads to fullness of life, abundant life. And all year I've been trying to get you to realize there is abundant life waiting for each and every one of you. And this is in fact what God wants for you. Jesus wants this for you. It's the promise. It's frankly the great promise of Christianity. It's what Jesus teaches us, and he shows us the way. He walks the path before we ever do. And so when I got captivated earlier in this year by what I take to be a very simple idea, and the longer I sit with it, the more powerful it gets. And the idea is very simple, that Jesus lived a life showing us how to live a life. And if we just simply model ourselves after the life of Jesus, if we do the things Jesus does, if we speak like he speaks, if we walk like he walks, if we do what he does, then we too can have abundant life. So this morning, before we jump into sloth and we talk about what this means and what it doesn't mean, let us begin with prayer. Heavenly Father, We come this morning and we lift our hearts to you. We slow down in an appropriate way as you call us to every 7th day taking a Sabbath, a rest from the busy work of life, but not to be lazy, but to fall back in love with you, to be open to what you have to say to us and how you're directing our lives and where you're trying to move us to, the ways in which you are trying to grow us and the ways in which you have kingdom plans for each and every one of us. May we attend to you this morning. In Christ's name we pray, amen. I want to begin with an analogy from marriage. If you are not married, hopefully you can grasp what is happening here. This analogy takes place on the 2nd anniversary of a marriage when a couple is past the honeymoon phase and the 2nd anniversary happens and the husband forgets that it's the anniversary. And the wife is now deeply frustrated with her new husband and lashes out and says, how could you forget? James down the street, he took his wife to the Bahamas. You didn't even remember that it was our anniversary. You are a terrible husband. How dare you? And she storms off to the other side of the room. The husband, feeling very defensive and stonewalling, He just kind of turns in on himself and he walks to the other side of the room and he says, doesn't she know? I work so hard for this family, 80 hours a week. I am just, the pressure is so great. And so what? I forget one day, right? And he begins to get defensive. And so the couple is on each side of the room and And they both know that they love each other, right? This is why they married. They both know that they love each other. But the love requires sacrifice. And it requires the both of them to do the one thing that in this moment they're not sure they really want to do, which is to walk back to the center of the room and figure some things out. And to try to understand the other person and where they're coming from. And so what do they do? Hopefully they do what you don't do. They actually stay on the other sides of the room and they nurse their grievances and they choose sloth over love. And they choose to not reconcile. Instead, of choosing to die to self and to choose to try to work it out and love one another. If you've been married, then you know that building a relationship is not easy. What it really requires of this couple is to not exactly just figure it out in that moment. It actually requires figuring it out over a lifetime what the other person needs and what makes them happy and what makes them tick and what you need and where you need to stand up for your own self. And relationships require work and they require growth and they require you to talk about it and to do some hard things and to dig in together. Maybe on occasion going to a counselor or somebody who can help you grow together. And so a good relationship It doesn't just come together in that moment and all is well. It requires day in, day out, doing the hard thing. But if you don't want to do the hard thing, we call this sloth. Sloth is the willful rejection of growing into the person that God wants you to be. It is the willful rejection of growing into the person that God wants you to be. The marriage is just an analogy. It's an earthly analogy that should then be understood in terms of the spiritual realm, that God desires a relationship with you. And this God wants something from you, and he wants you to grow. And he wants you to be a bigger person, as we talked about again in Sunday school. He wants you to be magnanimous, which is to say big sold. But it's going to require work. And it's going to require some pain, maybe some late nights, some early mornings. Sometimes it requires eating some crow and saying, I'm sorry, and man, I really messed up. And coming to God and saying, please forgive me. It requires doing some soul searching. And it requires understanding what is it that God has called me into this life for? Why am I on this planet at all? And how can I serve the kingdom of God? Sloth is one of these sins that requires us to think about what sin is. Most of the time, someone might tell you, well, it means don't kill anybody. Check, not done that. Don't commit adultery, check, right? Don't steal, right? Okay, And you can think of all these things that you're not supposed to do. Sloth doesn't work this way. It requires actually the opposite. Sloth is what you don't do. It's the sin of not doing. It's the sin of not showing up when you should show up. It's the sin of knowing, I really should go do, I should really call this person, I should really go say I'm sorry to my wife and then not doing it. That, is the sin of sloth. The Book of Common Prayer has lots of prayers in it. one of which you might be familiar with. The prayer goes like this. Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought and word and deed by what we have done. And these are all the things that you've done. And it's a moment and opportunity of confession, right? To say, I've thought these things and I've said these things and I've done these things and God, I'm sorry for those. But the prayer continues and it says, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. And it's that. That's the sloth. That is what you're also saying. God, I am sorry that I didn't show up in this way. And then it goes on and says, we have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. Often, the not loving others and not loving God with our whole hearts is just as much about what you leave undone as it does what you actually do. And the prayer ends, we are truly sorry and we humbly repent. This year is a year of transformation. If you've been here since January 1st, we gave out bracelets and it says transformed on them and we read from Romans 12, 2, and it says, be transformed, right, and take on the mind of Christ. And this whole year, my hope has been that you have been engaging in thoughts and words and deeds that are in fact transforming you. We even had a marriage conference where we came together and the hope is maybe we can transform some marriages. And we've talked about doing hard things. Sloth is enemy number one against transformation. It is week two of the transformation process where you say to yourself, you know what? I'm going to be the guy who wakes up at 5.30 in the morning and I go to the gym and I'm going to start each day with a good workout. And then by week two might be generous, right? A few days later, you're thinking to yourself, boy, It is early. I think I'm going to stay in bed this morning. That's the physical forms of sloth coming at you. But there are spiritual forms of this too. It is where you say to yourself, I'm going to be a guy who prays regularly. Or I'm going to be the guy or woman who comes to church every Sunday. That's who I want to be because that's important to me. prioritize this. I'm going to be the dad who shows up for his son's or daughter's stuff, right? And spiritual sloth can creep in and we shrink back from how it is that God is trying to form us and to shape us. In this year of transformation, we began with Romans 12, 2, and I would ask that right now you open your Bible to that chapter. Because interestingly, our passage for today comes from this very chapter, Romans chapter 12. As you're turning there, I'll go ahead and start reading from verse 1. The passage today is from verse 9, but we'll get there. Paul says, mind you, while you're turning there, Chapters 1 through 11 are what often get called orthodoxy. This is Paul teaching you how to think right. These are the things that matter and how we are to understand what Jesus did on the cross and what his resurrection means from a kind of cognitive viewpoint. 12 and after is orthopraxy. This is the life you are to live in light of all of those things from chapter 1 to 11. And so this is what Paul says here. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies, your very lives, as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. And then the passage for the year, do not be conformed to this. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Be transformed. These are lofty ideas, aren't they? And if you've been trying this for the last eight months, you realize lofty ideas turn out to be really hard when you're doing it for a while. And the process of real transformation takes some time. And it takes some energy. And sometimes it's just easier to forget about it and to give up. In fact, this whole living sacrifice thing from verse one, every day, a living sacrifice, you're telling me I've got to put myself back on that altar day after day after day? Eric, that's a lot to ask. I would say to you, it's not me who's asking for it. Paul is, but this is the life of faith. He goes on, and in verses 3 to 8, he calls us all together and he kind of reminds us of what it means to be the body of Christ together. And he says, we each play a part in this body and we each have things to do. And being a living sacrifice means playing my part in the body of Christ that is the church, both the capital C church and the lowercase C church, the church worldwide and the church local. And he says, for by grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought, but to think with sober judgment each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not have all the same function. So we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. If prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. What does all that mean? I just say it like this. To be a living sacrifice means giving back to the body of Christ. If you're a deacon, be a good deacon. If you're a Sunday school teacher, be a good Sunday school teacher. If you're making meals on a Wednesday night, make great meals on a Wednesday night. But find some way to give, to be plugged in, to do something. Because that is part of what it means to be part of the kingdom and to do the things of the church. But he goes on, and this is our passage for the day. He says, let your love be genuine and hate or abhor what is evil. Love what is good, hate what is evil. It's really that simple. And hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. one another in the showing of honor. And then here it is, right? How I landed here at all. Do not be slothful in zeal, but be fervent in the spirit. Now let me just kind of back up one second. There's 2 ideas sitting here. Don't be slothful in your zeal, but be fervent in the spirit. The slothful in zeal, these are two words we don't really use ever, sloth and zeal, right? This means don't let your passion wane, but instead be fervent, another word we don't use a lot, but it really means boiling over. But be somebody who is alive in the spirit, and the spirit is boiling within them. And what Paul is calling us to in this in some ways is perhaps quite simple. He's saying that when you became a believer and you said yes to Jesus and maybe you walked down an aisle or at a camp you gave your life or you prayed, yes, Lord, yes, Lord, I will be your servant. There's probably some kind of fire burning within you in this moment. What he's saying is, don't let this fire die. Don't let it die. Instead, let it boil up. Because it's the boiling of the passion that then is very useful to the world that is around you. But if the passion that is in your heart, and all of these deadly sins, by the way, are heart issues, they're malfunctions of the heart. And if that heart is, it's lost its passion, then I don't know what's going to happen next. There is this ancient word that gets used for sloth. It's a nice fancy word. You can use it with your friends to impress them. It's called acedia, A-C-E-D-I-A, acedia. And it means, well, the word a means not, and cedia means care. It means you don't care. It means your heart isn't in it. means you've lost passion for the thing. If I could take you back for a minute to the couple standing on the other sides of the room. There's a real danger that might creep in if that couple doesn't figure out a way to get back to the center of the room. The real danger is that in year 20, when they are celebrating the 20th anniversary, and they no longer really celebrate much of anything, and they kind of, maybe they even sleep in separate rooms, and they've no longer come back to the middle. They have acedia. They no longer care. And the worst thing that could happen is that wife stops yelling at the husband to say, why didn't we celebrate our 20th anniversary? Because she no longer cares. And the husband no longer gets defensive and he no longer needs to protect himself because he too no longer cares. This is what sloth is. It's the stopping of caring. I coach soccer sometimes, although in the fall here I'm hanging up my coach's hat for a minute. I hope to again someday. But if you've ever worked with kids, you know what I'm about to say to be true, which is I can deal with kids, of course, the ones who care deeply and are really passionate about things. And then I can deal with kids who are passionately negative about something and they have some skin in the game and yet it's not working and they get upset about it, right? What I can't deal with is the kid who says, I don't care. That is a lack of love, if nothing else. If they say, Whatever. Okay, sure. Fine. Fine in my book is a four-letter word. It starts with the letter F. The reason being is it means that there is no passion. There is no love. There is only a cedia, a not caring. Sloth. is the willful rejection of growing into the person God wants you to be. For a lot of us, this happens because we stop caring. Sloth has a bodily form and it has a spiritual form. It's easy to see the spiritual form if we kind of first look at the bodily form. I mentioned last week we took Ezra down to Blacksburg and we dropped him off and it was a very emotional experience. I've never really had that kind of emotional experience before where I was deeply sad for myself and deeply happy for him because I know he's entering this window of life that is awesome. College is so much fun. There's so much growth that happens. And to be honest, there are days where I miss working with college students because of that window of time that is so cool. Yesterday, it hit me. Ezra wasn't there to mow the lawn for me. I had gotten out of the habit of mowing lawns It's been a few years, six years, my wife tells me. And I looked outside and my lawn was very full. And I thought, well, he's not here to do it. And Lizzie's, well, I don't know, I could try to train her. And Ezra's, Ashra's a little too young and looks like it's on me. I didn't want to do it. the sloth in me was saying, just stay inside, the air conditioning is comfortable. Maybe you could find another high school student out there somewhere and start paying that student. But I tried to, I overcame it and you'd be proud of me. I went out there and I mowed my lawn for the first time in six years. And it was fine. But sloth creeps in, a variety of ways. When we stop doing something over and over again and we offload it, right? And maybe it is like a physical thing, like mowing the lawn. But as I've already said, there are these other ways in which we become spiritually sloth. It's possible that like as parents, you were raising your kids in the house and And you knew, what, it's important that I teach this child like some things. And so I'm going to teach them how to pray. And I'm going to teach them to maybe read their scriptures. I'm going to teach them a few things about the life of the spirit. And then, they grow up and they leave the house. And well, now you don't have anyone to teach. And perhaps some of those muscles, for some of you older folks in the crowd, have begun to atrophy some. What I'd ask of you is to not let sloth jump in there. In fact, now's the time more than ever. There are people in this church who need you. They need your years of wisdom. They need what you've learned over a lifetime, and they need the food that you are able to feed them. Sloth can present itself in the body, but frankly, it's the spiritual sloth that is most dangerous. What should we do about sloth? With just very quick, I've got 5 steps I want you to take and then I'll pray and we can go home. But the five steps go like this. One, wake up. Wake up to the ways in which you've allowed a smaller life to creep into your life. in which God has called you into something bigger, but you've said no again and again. Or maybe it's like a sin that is sitting in your life right now, and you've just kind of grown accustomed to it, and you've allowed it to sit there, and at some point you say, I should probably work on this. I shouldn't let this just keep rotting inside of me. That is sloth on top of whatever that other sin might be. And so wake up, Number 2 would then be to rekindle that passion. So if Paul says in Romans 12, don't let sloth steal your zeal, but boil in the spirit, I'd encourage you to find that passion again. What was it that made you come alive? Or maybe it is in the workplace. what makes you come alive in life generally speaking? When I talk to young people and they ask, what should I do with my life? I often point them to, well, when you do something that makes you feel like invigorated, what is that thing? Because likely that is your gift to the world somewhere in there. And so what's that passion that is inside of you and how can you be using that for the kingdom? Number 3 would be to raise necessity. Raise necessity, which means somehow you've got to take this thing that God is trying to do in you and you've got to make it a necessary part of life where you are uncompromising about it, where you say, you know what, I'm going to do this no matter what. I'm going to drop all these other things and I'm going to do the one thing that actually matters. And then four would be to find accountability. Tell somebody, tell me, tell your friend, tell your mom, tell whoever and say, hold me accountable. This is my one thing. This is where God's growing me. I know it's going to be hard. I'm going to wake up at 5.30 one morning and not want to do it. And I need you to hold me accountable to it. And #5, just stay in the game. One foot in front of the other. In January, we started the year with transformation. My hope is some of you made some commitments. Some of you thought, you know what? I really do this year. I want to work on this. And over time, maybe you drifted. And this is the sermon that's ringing the bell to say, wake up and get back on track and do one thing, 1 foot in front of the other, in front of the other. Because sloth is coming for us And it's trying to steal our lives from us. And those screens that you keep looking at, they're taking your time and they're taking your attention. And that's part of what we need to put down in order to live the lives that God is calling us into. Let us pray. God our Father in heaven, we come this morning with confessions. Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought and word and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. And so, Lord, we are truly sorry and we humbly repent. God, it is our desire this morning to live lives that are magnanimous that are big-souled, in which we are challenged by what you are calling us into. We are ready to take the next step of faith. And it's going to require some sacrifice. It's going to require being a living sacrifice if the transformation is going to happen. And so, Lord, I know my part. I'm saying yes this morning. And I know there are people in this congregation who are saying yes too. Let us find some accountability. Let us find some necessity. Let us fix our eyes on you, the perfecter of our faith. We thank you. In Christ's name we pray, amen.

Pastor Eric continues teaching verse-by-verse through the book of Philippians. In this teaching we look at the key to the church's preservation in the midst of trial and tribulation.

Send us a Text Message - include your name!In this episode of Faith Over Breakfast, the pastors take on apologies and predestination, all spurred on by a listener's question.Support the showSupport"Faith Over Breakfast with Pastors Andy & Eric" is a weekly podcast where Pastors Andy and Eric come together over a imaginary delicious breakfast to talk about faith, food, sermons, culture, and more. In each episode, the pastors delve into thought-provoking topics and offer inspiring insights and practical guidance for those seeking to deepen their relationship with Jesus. With occasional guests joining the conversation, "Faith Over Breakfast with Pastors Andy & Eric" provides a unique perspective on what it means to live a life of faith in today's world. Whether you're a seasoned Christian or just starting on your faith journey, this podcast is the perfect companion for your morning routine. So join Pastors Andy and Eric each week as they explore the intersections of faith, food, and life over a delicious breakfast.Support:https://www.buzzsprout.com/97804/support

Pastor Eric Jeffcoat is a Pastor at Ocean Church, located in Estero, FL.Ocean Church exists to partner with the work of God in people's lives.To stay connected to Ocean Church: Website: https://bit.ly/2vx8M2o Ocean Church Facebook: https://bit.ly/2IXUsTq Ocean Church Instagram: https://bit.ly/2vx8x7u

Sunday Service . "Bringing God's Presence Into Your Home" - Part 5 Pastor Eric Johns 08/16/26 . We are Live on YouTube every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. Follow us on our platforms so you never miss a service! . . Click the Link to find out more about us! - https://linktr.ee/Buffalodreamcenter?utm_source=linktree_profile_share

Words matter more than you think, and one small mistake in how you read them can completely change what a Bible passage means. This message, Pastor Eric walks us through a simple method for uncovering what God actually intended, not just what sounds good to us. It might just change the way you open your Bible for good.Scripture referenced in this message:· Nehemiah 8:1-8· Proverbs 2:4-5· Isaiah 1:18· Nehemiah 8:8· 2 Timothy 3:16· Matthew 5:18· Galatians 3:16· Acts 1:8· Acts 17:11Learn more about salvation, info about Destiny Church, or how to give by visiting our website.Real | Relevant | Relationship

GOD I WANT YOUR FIRE!What happens when the fire that once burned brightly starts to become nothing more than an ember?In this powerful message, Pastor Eric takes us to 1 Kings 18 and the moment when the fire of God fell on Elijah's altar. When the people saw the fire, they fell on their faces and declared, "The Lord, He is God!"God's desire has never been for His people to simply gather—He wants His fire burning in us.Throughout Scripture, fire represents God's presence, His approval, His power, His purification, and His ability to transform everything it touches. But while God sends the fire, we have a responsibility to keep it burning.Prayer is wood on the fire.The Word is wood on the fire.Praise is wood on the fire.Obedience is wood on the fire.Holiness is wood on the fire.The question isn't whether God still has fire.The question is whether there's still wood on our altar.This message challenges us to ask:• Has passion been replaced by routine?• Has worship become predictable?• Have we become comfortable with things that once convicted us?• Are we passing a genuine hunger for God on to the next generation?• Is there still a fire burning in us?God wants to burn away compromise, fear, indifference, addiction, and everything that keeps us from walking fully in His presence. His fire purifies. His fire transforms. His fire exposes. His fire empowers.And when the fire falls, people notice.God, I want Your fire.

GOD I WANT YOUR FIRE!What happens when the fire that once burned brightly starts to become nothing more than an ember?In this powerful message, Pastor Eric takes us to 1 Kings 18 and the moment when the fire of God fell on Elijah's altar. When the people saw the fire, they fell on their faces and declared, "The Lord, He is God!"God's desire has never been for His people to simply gather—He wants His fire burning in us.Throughout Scripture, fire represents God's presence, His approval, His power, His purification, and His ability to transform everything it touches. But while God sends the fire, we have a responsibility to keep it burning.Prayer is wood on the fire.The Word is wood on the fire.Praise is wood on the fire.Obedience is wood on the fire.Holiness is wood on the fire.The question isn't whether God still has fire.The question is whether there's still wood on our altar.This message challenges us to ask:• Has passion been replaced by routine?• Has worship become predictable?• Have we become comfortable with things that once convicted us?• Are we passing a genuine hunger for God on to the next generation?• Is there still a fire burning in us?God wants to burn away compromise, fear, indifference, addiction, and everything that keeps us from walking fully in His presence. His fire purifies. His fire transforms. His fire exposes. His fire empowers.And when the fire falls, people notice.God, I want Your fire.

Welcome to the audio podcast of Valley Family Church located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We pray you'll be encouraged as you listen to this podcast. For more information on Valley Family Church, visit valleyfamilychurch.org.

Today we continue our new sermon series in the book of James, Everyday Gospel. In James 1:5-8, James encourages his readers to ask God for wisdom, and to ask in faith without double-mindedness. Pastor Eric highlights these points from the text: 1) Ask God for wisdom. 2) Receive God's wisdom. 2a. We receive God's wisdom from the Word. 2b. We receive God's wisdom through the fear of the Lord. 2c. We receive God's wisdom through wise counsel. 2d. We receive God's wisdom through life experiences. 3) Faith for God's wisdom.

Pastor Eric continues The Basics series teaching about forgiveness 

Pastor Eric's message teaches from Ephesians 6 that children are called to obey and honor their parents, while fathers and parents are called to lead with grace, godly wisdom, protection, and consistent instruction in the Lord rather than harshness or provocation. It also applies Paul's teaching on servants and masters to all areas of authority, urging believers to serve and lead wholeheartedly as unto Christ, rebuild family relationships, and return fully to Jesus.

Welcome to the audio podcast of Valley Family Church located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We pray you'll be encouraged as you listen to this podcast. For more information on Valley Family Church, visit valleyfamilychurch.org.

Send us a Text Message - include your name!In this episode of Faith Over Breakfast, Pastor Eric and Pastor Andy chat about recent events in downtown Tucson, what the world thinks about manhood, and what biblical manhood looks like. They talk about power, Jesus, creation, and how all of these shape our understanding of what it means to be a man. Along the way, they try to help people think critically about how we help young people understand the call of Jesus on their lives and how following Jesus shapes the way they understand their gender.Beyond The BeaconJoin Bishop Kevin Sweeney for inspired interviews with Catholics living out our faith!Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showSupport"Faith Over Breakfast with Pastors Andy & Eric" is a weekly podcast where Pastors Andy and Eric come together over a imaginary delicious breakfast to talk about faith, food, sermons, culture, and more. In each episode, the pastors delve into thought-provoking topics and offer inspiring insights and practical guidance for those seeking to deepen their relationship with Jesus. With occasional guests joining the conversation, "Faith Over Breakfast with Pastors Andy & Eric" provides a unique perspective on what it means to live a life of faith in today's world. Whether you're a seasoned Christian or just starting on your faith journey, this podcast is the perfect companion for your morning routine. So join Pastors Andy and Eric each week as they explore the intersections of faith, food, and life over a delicious breakfast.Support:https://www.buzzsprout.com/97804/support