Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. We are starting a new series this evening in which we are going to examine God’s love and how his love is to change who we are and how we live. Now it is important to remember the purpose that the apostle John has for writing his first letter. John says he writes these things so that our joy may be full (1 John 1:4). John also states at the end of this letter than he is...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. We are coming to the end of our series called Don’t Waste Your Life as the book of Ecclesiastes explores what is the gain and advantage for all your effort in this world. We are now coming to the concluding wisdom for life in the final chapters of the book. In Ecclesiastes 10 the teacher offers more wisdom about how to not live foolishly (Ecclesiastes 10:1-11) and how t...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. We have noted how God has sent Jeremiah on some missions as a living parable to teach the people regarding their condition and what God is doing. We have seen Jeremiah use spoiled linen undergarments to show how the people have defiled themselves. Jeremiah was not allowed to be married or go to funerals, weddings, or parties to show the lack of joy, peace, or comfort in...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. We enter a new year full of new hope and high expectations. This year is going to be different. This year is going to be better. This year we are going to do what we did not get down this last year. This is going to be our year. But you also know that you have said this before. You know there is an underlying problem in with life. Life is frustrating. There are so many...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. Our culture often wisely will emphasize the need to live a balanced life. Popular life coaches will speak to the need for not being excessive in certain areas of your life. But this is not a new idea. Rather, the need for balance in life is a biblical teaching that you find in the scriptures. The teacher is continuing to take us to the school of life. In the second part...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. We are in a series called Flourish where we are looking what was preventing God’s people from having a flourishing, blessed relationship with their God. In this series we have seen that the people have ruined themselves because they have refused to listen to God, making them useless for God’s purpose (Jeremiah 13). The people had listened to false teachers and false pro...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. As we come to Ecclesiastes 7, the teacher is going to tell us the things that are better in life. The book has been attempting to determine what we gain for all of our work and effort on earth. What do we get for all that we put into this life? What is the advantage or benefit for all the effort we give? I have also noted to you that the message of the book is not that...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. God often would require strange activities from his prophets in order to teach the people to whom the prophets served. When we studied Ezekiel, we saw that he had to lay on his side for a year to get the people’s attention and to teach them what God’s word was. We already have seen Jeremiah have a spoiled undergarment to show the people how their relationship with God h...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. The teacher of Ecclesiastes has been giving his instructions so that we will not waste the time of our lives that God has given to us. The teacher has been trying to find out what gain we get from all of our effort and work on earth. So he is exploring different areas of life, helping us see through the noise and the foolishness, so that we can make wise decisions. The...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. Please open your copies of God’s word to Jeremiah 15 and I want to begin our lesson by listening to the startling words of Jeremiah 15:1. Then the LORD said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! (Jeremiah 15:1 ESV) The Lord proclaims that even if Moses and Samuel were...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. We have been spending our time in a series called Don’t Waste Your Life where we are paying attention to the teacher of Ecclesiastes. He is looking at life and determining what is the gain or benefit for all the work that we do while on this earth. The point of each of these messages has been to give us a right lens for how to look at life and valuing the things that ma...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. We are starting a new series that is found in the midst of Jeremiah called Flourish. This comes from Jeremiah 13-19 where God is talking to his people about why they are unable to flourish as he people. Rather than enjoying God’s blessings, they are going to be put through judgment because they have failed to understand their relationship with God. God is going to expla...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. We have been looking at the teachings of Ecclesiastes to learn how to not waste the time of our lives that God has given to us. As we have noted sometimes the book of Ecclesiastes is misunderstood to be saying that everything is meaningless. But as we carefully look at Ecclesiastes 4 we will see that this is not at all the case. In chapter 4 the teacher is going to expl...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. God has given his answer to the prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk has been praying to God about how he does not understand what God is doing in the world. It did not make sense to him. He has been crying out to God asking, “Why?” and “How long?” God did not give specific answers to these questions. Rather, God tells Habakkuk that he is going to act in unbelievable ways. Since...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. We are in a series called Don’t Waste Your Life. The teacher of Ecclesiastes is examining a variety of areas in life to consider what is the profit or the gain in pursuing what the world says is valuable or important. What benefit do you have if you pursue what the world says will give you happiness? Not only this, but the teacher of Ecclesiastes is also looking at what...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. We have looking at the book of Habakkuk as a means of trying to understand what is going on in our lives and in the world when we do not understand what God is doing. Habakkuk has prayed to God about how he does not understand what God is doing and God has given some hard answers about what he is doing in the world. In Habakkuk 2 God is in the midst of delivering his se...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. There is something that humans tend to appreciate about seasons. Many people like moving to the autumn season and watching the leaves change and fall. People often will question how I can live in Florida because they say I do not get to experience the seasons. I tell them that we have seasons down here. We have hurricane season. We have snowbird season. But seriously, w...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. Habakkuk is a prophet who has been praying to God and Habakkuk does not understand why God has not been answering his prayers. Habakkuk has been crying out for help but does not feel like God is listening (Habakkuk 1:2). Habakkuk does not understand why he cannot see God acting. God then responds to Habakkuk, telling him that he is going to do something so unbelievable...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. In Ecclesiastes 2 the teacher is in the midst of trying to find out what can be gained by life under the sun. What do you get from all of your efforts in this world? What do you have to show for all the work you do in this life? In our last lesson we noticed that he tried to be a pleasure seeking, seeing if this would be the answer for life. He drew the conclusion that...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. Habakkuk is a prophet who has questions for God. He is looking around at the world, and in particularly, looking at his own nation and seeing wickedness and violence. Habakkuk is asking God why he does not do something about it. How long will he keep crying out to God and God will not respond to him? We saw in the last lesson that Habakkuk showed us how we can pray to G...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. The teacher of Ecclesiastes is pursuing life attempting to answer the question found in Ecclesiastes 1:3. “What does a person gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?” What do we have to show for all that we do in this life? Now the point of these studies is not to be depressed or demoralized by the teacher’s conclusions. Sometimes people read this book...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. The apostle Paul is writing to these Christians so that they will focus on their manner of life being worthy of the gospel of Christ. One of the key characteristics of a life being lived for the gospel is unity and harmony among Christians. Philippians 2:1-2 records Paul’s plead to them that if Christ means anything to their lives, then be of the same mind, have t...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. In the last paragraph the apostle Paul has described his joy in suffering. His joy came from knowing that the gospel was advancing through what he was experiencing. His joy also came from knowing that his faith was only being strengthened to bring about his spiritual deliverance. Paul spoke this way because for him to live is Christ and to die is gain. His whole life is...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. We are at a point now where many disciples are turning away from Jesus. It is not just the hard-hearted people that are rejecting Jesus. Even disciples who have been following Jesus are turning away. Why these disciples turning away? What has happened to cause them to turn from following Jesus? We are going to look at John 6:60-71 and consider why these disciples are le...

Speaker: Brent Kercheville. The day before Jesus fed 5000 with five loaves and two fish. The next day the crowds come back looking for Jesus and find him across the sea in Capernaum. But Jesus knows their hearts and declares that they only reason they seek him was not because they saw the signs and comprehended, but because they wanted their bellies fed. They have come for Jesus to satisfy their p...