Good News Church – Yukon, OK

Have you ever wondered what it would sound like if the Apostle Paul were to pray for you? That's exactly what we have in Ephesians 1. This passage is a prayer that Paul prayed over the church in the ancient city of Ephesus, in modern day Turkey. In this passage, we see that Paul prays that the believers would have a grasp of the resurrection life that is living in them. We can often think of the r...

Wednesday night I did a teaching on how to be led by the Holy Spirit. I'd like to follow up on that and talk about how we can be led by the Holy Spirit. The passage Romans 8:14 reads, "For as many as are led by the Holy Spirit, they are the sons of God." Jesus never said, "Take up your cross and leave me," he said, "Take up your cross and follow me." God's plan for you is to follow him and move fo...

I'd like to speak to you from Romans 8:14. God communicates with each of us in a conviction or a deep assurance in our hearts. Often people will say "I had a gut feeling about this" or "my conscience assured me of this". These are all ways of people saying that at their deepest nature they felt the Lord was getting a message to them. This communication from God takes place through his Holy Spirit,...

The story of Jesus and Zacchaeus is likely a familiar one to you, but I believe we can always glean some fresh insight from a story like this. There are many lost people in our lives like Zacchaeus, ones who need us to be a light to them. It is so easy to become distracted from what God has called us to do, his mission for us: to seek and bring the lost to salvation. This was not only Jesus' missi...

I'd like to speak to you from 1 Samuel 16 and 17, the account of David slaying the giant Goliath. This passage describes David's overcoming of a seemingly impossible opponent, and it holds close spiritual parallels to how a believer's attitude should be toward Satan. When we face giants in our life, we should not run from the giant but instead face it with a spirit of courage and faith. The first...

I want to talk to you today about a hopeful heart by first opening to Romans 15:13. This verse is part of a benediction that Paul wrote as he was winding down his letter to the Romans, writing: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." God is a God of hope, and He is capable of filling us with joy and peace...

One of the most referred to chapters in all of the New Testament is Acts 2. There's many ways people might know this chapter: some refer to it as the "birthday of the church", the beginning of the Church Age. Others might better know it as the day the Holy Spirit was first outpoured upon the church. Either way, it is certainly an important chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and is tremendously im...

Whether you are conscious of it or not, there is a "hedge of protection" that acts as a barrier of protection around your life. Without His protection over you, you would not be here today. We are all an example of God's divine protection over an individual's life. I believe that if we allow this concept to get down into our spirit, we can leave here with an expectation of the protection that is s...

Jesus says in the Bible: "I will no longer call you servants, but I will call you friends." The Bible shows that there is a friendship people can form with the world that is in reality hostile to God. If there is such a negative friendship, then there must similarly be a positive friendship that will help us to grow spiritually closer to God. In fact, there can be many such friendships: it is of u...

I want to talk to you today about the local church. Church wasn't my idea or man's idea, it was God's idea. We don't carry it on because it's a tradition, but instead because the Bible instructs us to be part of a church body. Some of the strongest relationships can be forged in a church together, as well as interacting with some of the most interesting and encouraging believers you can meet. In t...

The Old and New Testaments both speak about the Lord being our shepherd - whether Jehovah Rohi or the shepherd Jesus speaks of "laying his life down for the sheep." Jesus fulfilled this role as shepherd when he came to earth, and we, of course, are the sheep. Like sheep often do, Isaiah 53:6 speaks of us all having gone astray, which shows even more our need for a shepherd who will guide and care...

Psalm 91 is a familiar passage of scripture for many people, with many even putting this chapter to memory including myself. However, just because you know something mentally - like being able to recite it - doesn't mean you have a practicing knowledge of that particular passage. I could quote the entire chapter of this psalm, but just because I am quoting it doesn't mean I am deriving the benefit...

Open up with me to Romans 9. I was in my office praying not long ago, and as I was praying, the Lord kept reminding me of a meeting I went to in 1989 at the would-be Rhema campus. It was such a powerful meeting with so many young women and men present who felt called to ministry. After the Lord reminded me of this, I went online and searched major events that occurred in 1989. One major world even...

A number of years ago, I was a young pastor and had gone through a tough season of pastoring. At a time when I was trying to do my best to please the Lord and honor him, I came across the verse of 1 John 1:5-7. Verse 7 states, "but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." The focus of this...

Sometime back, about a year ago, I cleaned out our attic. Sharon and I have been married for about twenty years, and thus twenty years of items had accumulated in the attic. Do you know what I discovered? We pick up a lot of junk along the way. The longer someone stays in one place, they start collecting more and more things. In life, if we aren't careful, we can end up carrying a lot of fear, anx...

A number of years ago, I woke up in the night and was praying and said, "Lord, I'm doing everything I know to get closer to you. I don't know what else to do to draw even closer to you." Right as I said that, I heard the Lord say to me, "Pray the prayers of Paul." Like a lot of things, you hear from the Lord and initially get very excited, but eventually it fizzles out. I studied them a lot those...

After a great Wednesday night service this past week, as I was leaving I noticed that there were people praying together in groups throughout the sanctuary. I thought to myself, what a beautiful sight it is to see people praying for one another. I feel this is the vision that Jesus had in mind for the church, a place where believers can pray with one another. I then thought of the many "one anothe...

I came across this book that a friend of mine recommended to me named "Fifty Pentecostal and Charismatic Leaders." I like the book so much that I ended up calling the author not long ago and speaking to him at length about the book. The book mentions many leaders you are likely to have heard of: Smith Wigglesworth, William Seymour, and Aimee Semple McPherson. Among these people is mentioned an ind...

Let's go to John 16. The last two months for me have involved much more praying than usual from me for the state of our nation and the world. The advantage of a new year is that it allows you the chance to reboot and consider what you plan to do over the next year ahead. There's a statement I like that says "Things will never be different unless you do things differently," and similarly, with a ne...

Open up your Bible to Ephesians 4. This passage states, "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." These five categories describe what many call the five-fold ministry, with each role performing a vital function in the body of Christ. While each person may not be called to one of these roles, God still calls each Christian to live their...

I was praying about today's service and seeking the Lord and I was reminded of the importance of my role as a pastor in feeding you as a shepherd would feed a flock of sheep. The word I'd like to feed you all with today centers around one word – "blessed". I remember looking up the definition of blessed many years ago and reading that it is the opposite of cursed. As a child of God, you are the op...

I'm going to talk to you out of John 2 tonight. This is often referred to as Jesus' first miracle in the gospels. The gospels don't tell much of Jesus' pre-ministry time before his fast in the desert apart from his blessing by Simeon when a young child and being found by his parents in the temple at age twelve. As such, this passage to our knowledge is Jesus' first miracle ever performed in his li...

How many of you have a Bible today? Let's go over to Hebrews 11. I want to talk to you today about hope. We need to have hope in the day we're living in. Hope, by definition, is the expectation of future good. It's whenever we are looking ahead and believing there is God's goodness in our future. It's important for all Christians to have hope, particularly because what many people have banked thei...

I’d like to share with you tonight some special things from my heart. Many nations of the earth do not share the liberties that American Christians possess, such as freedom of religion. Where here we can freely proclaim our faith and practice it in our lives, in other nations even professing faith in Jesus could be the cause for imprisonment. However, there is a remnant of Christian believers in e...

Brent’s message last week on turning a curse into a blessing blessed me immensely and lined up with something that had been on my mind recently. I believe the church body has a need to live with victory – not just while in church but in our everyday lives. Too often, Christians live through a defeating week and get hyped back up to victory in church only to lose that feeling immediately afterward....