Faithbridge Sermons

Teaching Pastor Ben Stuart opens 1 Corinthians 13 not as a wedding poem, but as a survival manual for the church. He starts with a hollow tree: massive, impressive-looking, brought down not by lightning but by tiny bugs that slowly ate it from the inside out. Churches die the same way—not through outside persecution, but through envy, ego, and pettiness quietly hollowing them out. Paul’s remedy is...

Pastor Ken Werlein opens 1 Corinthians 11:17–34, where Paul confronts a church that had turned communion into a class system—the wealthy eating well while the poor arrived late to find nothing left. The ground was supposed to be level at the foot of the cross, but Corinth had quietly started building the old hierarchies back up. From there Ken draws out three things: make room at the table for eve...

Director of Discipleship Michael McDowell continues our series on 1 Corinthians, “Healthy Church,” with a sermon about temptation. God promises us in 1 Corinthians 10:12–13 that He “will not let you be tempted beyond your ability”—but that doesn’t mean you should let your guard down. Here, Michael shows us that temptation pulls us into a cycle of sin and shame, and breaking free takes intentionali...

Bible Teacher Jared Darby opens 1 Corinthians 8:1–13, where Paul uses a debate about food sacrificed to idols to make a much bigger point: the problem in Corinth wasn't ignorance—it was independence. They loved learning about Jesus but lived like the gospel only affected them personally. Jared draws out three challenges for a healthy church: be careful with your freedom (your rights don't trump yo...

Pastor Ken Werlein takes up 1 Corinthians 7:25–40, speaking directly to single people—from someone who was single for 35 years before marrying. Paul's message isn't romanticized in either direction: marriage brings real complexity and was never meant to complete anyone, and singleness isn't a waiting room until life finally starts. Ken draws out three things: don't idolize marriage (no spouse will...

Bible Teacher Dan Slagle steps into 1 Corinthians 7:17–24, where Paul addresses something more fundamental than marriage: the restless discontentment that drives us to wish we were someone else, somewhere else, in different circumstances. Dan names two dangers that come from living in that restlessness—the treadmill of the next thing, where whatever we chase never quite satisfies, and the slow poi...

Executive Pastor Wayne Risher opens 1 Corinthians 7:1–13 with a simple image—a level—and a simple truth: something can look straight and still be crooked, and if you live with crooked long enough, it starts feeling normal. From there he walks through three things Paul shows us about marriage: it's a ministry of self-giving (your spouse isn't just meant to minister to you—they're someone God gave y...

Pastor Ken Werlein opens 1 Corinthians 6:9–20 with a question the Corinthians had already answered wrong: what does Jesus have to do with your body? Paul's answer—everything. You were bought at a price, which means your body belongs to Jesus, not you. From there Ken walks through why sex matters so much (it joins whole persons, not just bodies), and what to do about it: flee what needs to be fled,...

Michael McDowell takes us into 1 Corinthians 6, where Paul confronts one of the messiest realities of church life: conflict. Paul gives us three movements for handling it well. First, keep it in the circle—the moment conflict escapes to people who aren't part of it, it becomes gossip, and gossip corrodes trust faster than almost anything else. Second, actually deal with it—ignoring conflict isn't...

Michael McDowell takes us into 1 Corinthians 1, where Paul goes after the underlying habits making the church sick before he ever addresses the conflict. The first is assuming life is always supposed to go up and to the right—but Paul holds up a cross and says this is the source of health. The second is "my way or the highway"—the self-centeredness that poisons marriages, workplaces, and churches...

Pastor Ken Werlein kicks off the new  Healthy Church  sermon series in 1 Corinthians 12, addressing the question head-on that many people carry but rarely say out loud:  I love God, but I'm done with the church.  Ken reminds us that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to one of the messiest, most dysfunctional churches in history—and still called them the Body of Christ. From that image, Ken builds three con...

Pastor Ken Werlein opens up Hebrews 10:24–25 with a simple but convicting observation: there's no such thing as Christian Solitaire. You can have the Bible app, the podcast, the worship playlist, and a genuine faith—and still be missing the one thing Jesus never offered anyone: a syllabus to follow alone. His method was always relational. Ken gives us three things the text calls us to do: lock in...

Pastor Ken Werlein takes us to 2 Chronicles 20, where King Jehoshaphat faces a coalition of three armies with no time to prepare and no plan to execute—and reaches for something no one expected: a fast and a prayer. From that ancient moment, Ken draws three convictions for how we face the hard things: run to God before you run to the details, show up to the gathering because there are things that...

Bible Teacher Steve Carter opens up Ephesians 6:10–18, reminding us that the devil's playbook hasn't changed—he's still running the same three schemes he's used since Genesis 3: getting us to hide, drowning us in shame, and keeping us paralyzed by fear. The good news? God hasn't left us unequipped. Steve walks us through the armor of God—not as a list of abstract spiritual concepts, but as real, p...

Bible Teacher Clay Scroggins closes out the Not Today, Satan series by showing us the end of the tape. After weeks unpacking how the enemy works — his lies, his shame, his temptations, his strongholds — Clay takes us to Colossians 2:13–15, where Paul describes what actually happened at the cross: every sin forgiven, every debt canceled, every weapon stripped from the enemy's hands. The problem isn...

Bible Teacher Jared Darby takes us into 2 Corinthians 10:3–5, making the case that the enemy's greatest weapon isn't possession — it's formation. If he can shape what you believe, what you love, and what you dwell on, he doesn't need to possess you. Jared unpacks how the enemy builds "strongholds" in our minds — lies we've believed so long they start to sound like our own voice — and gives us thre...

Bible Teacher Dan Slagle opens up 1 Peter 5:6–7, showing us that worry and anxiety are one of the enemy's most effective weapons — and that he knows exactly when to use them. At the root of all our worry, Dan reminds us, is a lie: that we are in control. He walks us through two kinds of worry — the kind we bring on ourselves by running ahead of God, and the kind that just hits us when life takes a...

Bible Teacher Duffy Robbins takes us into 1 John 2:15–17, where the Apostle John maps out what Duffy calls "the Devil's Triangle" — three temptations that cause more believers to crash and drift than almost anything else. The first is the desires of the flesh: the things we want to do . The second is the desires of the eyes: the things we want to have . And the third is the pride of life: who we w...

Bible Teacher Duffy Robbins teaches from Ephesians 4:26–27 and 30–32, reminding us that not all anger is sin — but unchecked anger is one of the enemy's most effective weapons. Duffy unpacks how unholy anger works: it starts small but grows fast, it begins inside us but eventually poisons everything around us, and it always brings grief — to our relationships and to the Holy Spirit Himself. The go...

Michael McDowell takes us into Genesis 3, where the serpent's subtle lies lead Adam and Eve into sin, and shows us that the enemy is still using the same playbook today. Michael unpacks three lies the enemy uses to pull us away from God: that His Word is restrictive and ridiculous, that sin has no real consequences, and that God isn't ultimately good. But just as Jesus recognized and rejected thes...

Bible Teacher Gary Thomas teaches out of Colossians 1:25, reminding us that following Jesus means loving and serving His church. While churches are imperfect and can sometimes cause disappointment, ultimately, the church is worth loving because it belongs to Jesus, and those who love Him will join Him in building and strengthening His bride.

Senior Pastor Ken Werlein interviews students Reagan Bell and William Werlein to discuss Faithbridge's life-changing student mission program, The Road. Through personal testimony and Biblical wisdom, William and Reagan share what The Road has taught them about serving God's Kingdom and loving the people He places before us. Pastor Ken invites us all to support the 350+ students going on Road Journ...

Founding Pastor Ken Werlein leads us through Hebrews 12:1–2, exploring the idea that following Jesus is a race that requires endurance, focus, and faithfulness. He challenges us to run with others in strong community and to throw off the sin that entangles us. He challenges us to step into the race with intention, surround ourselves with the right people, and keep moving forward with perseverance.

Founding Pastor Ken Werlein leads us through Romans 8:28, reminding us that even in the middle of grief, disappointment, anxiety, and unanswered questions, God is still working. God does not call evil “good,” but He is able to weave even the hardest parts of our lives into His greater purpose for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Even when we cannot see it yet, God is fai...

Bible Teacher Jared Darby leads us through Romans 8:18–27, exploring the idea that our suffering isn’t meaningless; it’s shaping us and pointing us toward a coming glory. He reminds us that pain isn’t punishment but preparation, that hope is formed in the waiting, and that even when we don’t have the words, the Spirit meets us right in our weakness. Instead of trying to control the outcome or rush...