Keystone Church | Paradise Sermons

Joel Wood | Jan 26 2025 There is a danger that we would treat confession as an end in and of itself. This is especially true in our time that prizes “authenticity” above all else. We want to be authentic and honest about our sin, but that is not the end goal for us. Rather, our goal and desire is to grow to be more like Christ and to be authentic in who we are as God’s sons and daughters. This mea...

Kyle Kauffman | Jan 19 2026 Sin is like a nocturnal animal. It loves to hide away in the darkness. But the more we hide it away, the more sin tends to thrive and grow. It’s often only as we bring our sin into the light that it starts to lose its power. This is exactly what John is calling us to do in 1 John 1:5-10. It’s why confession to others can actually be a means of God’s grace in our lives....

Kyle Kauffman | Jan 12 2025 One of the reasons we are prone to fake it and hide away our sin is because we don’t really believe the gospel. If we believe the gospel, then it should free us from having to act like we have it altogether or aren’t really sinners. The gospel is based on the very fact that we really are sinners who need a savior. The gospel assures us that we are accepted by God despit...

Kyle Kauffman | Jan 5 2025 Before getting honest with each other, we are meant to get honest with God. It’s pointless to start confessing our sins to one another if we have not first confessed our sin to God. Real confession and repentance start with realizing that our sin is first and foremost against God. We also recognize that our sin is not simply bad behavior, but rather a heart that is resis...

Josh Stalnaker | Dec 29 2024 Everyone craves relationship. the Bible is full of examples of people craving relationship in positive and negative ways. God exists in relationship as the Trinity and has existed like that for all eternity. John 1:35-51 introduces us to some of Jesus' first disciples and how they began following Him. In two instances (Simon Peter and Nathanael) individuals hear about...

Kyle Kauffman | Dec 22 2024 We all have the desire for a life that is full, satisfying, and complete. But so often we look for life in the wrong places thinking that what we long for can be found somewhere other than God. Jesus came so that we might find life in God. Not simply so that we could treat God as an add-on to our already full lives. The more we come to truly know God the more we find ou...

Kyle Kauffman | Dec 15 2024 Jesus came to this earth, not simply because we need a good example to follow or a good teacher to give us spiritual pep talks. He came to this earth because apart from him we don’t really have life. He did not come to this earth simply so that we can have a day off in December, fun traditions, and a reason to give each other presents. If that’s all Christmas is, it’s j...

Kyle Kauffman | Dec 8 2024 John 1:1-3 introduces us to the “Who” behind Christmas. In one of the most precise, powerful statements in the Bible, John tells us the one who came as a baby at Christmas is the God who created life (and all things) and gives meaning to life and our existence. John reveals that behind and at very center of Christmas stands the God who wants to be Known. This is why He c...

Kyle Kauffman | Dec 1 2024 Light and life are intricately connected. Light is necessary for life to exist. Light enables us to see things as we should. Light exposes what would otherwise remain hidden. Light gives us hope in the face of darkness. When John declares that Jesus is the light, He is saying the exact same thing about Him. There may be all sorts of other places we look for ‘light’ in th...

Kyle Kauffman | Nov 24 2024 Do we believe that God truly loves the world? Do we believe it is God’s desire to save sinners? Do we believe that God does not wish for any to perish? It’s easy for the church to become inward focused and to lose its passion to see the gospel advance and sinners saved. But when this happens, we actually have lost our understanding of God’s heart for the world. Jonah is...

Kyle Kauffman | Nov 17 2024 Jonah’s response to the salvation of Nineveh is one of the most surprising parts of this book. How can Jonah be so upset that God chose to save Nineveh? Why would Jonah, who has been a recipient of God’s amazing love and grace, be so angry when God shows that same love and grace to others? Yet, even as we ask those questions, we are forced to see something of ourselves...

Brandon Fisher | Nov 10 2024 Jonah 3:5-10 may be one of the most surprising sections of the Bible. An entire city, along with its King, who were enemies of God and His people believe the message of Jonah and responded in repentance. We find in this section that God’s power is able to save even those who we think are most beyond the reach of saving. We find a picture of what true repentance looks l...

Adam Nagle | November 3 2024

Kyle Kauffman | Oct. 27 2024 God’s saving love experienced is what he uses to commission us to be messengers of His word to others. God saves people so that he might then send them to warn others and speak his message of salvation to others. His love is what qualifies and calls us to be His ambassadors to the world. While not every Christian is called to be a missionary (like Jonah), all Christian...

Kyle Kauffman | Oct. 20 2024 God acts in history to save people. This is how God displays his love. This is how we experience God’s love. This is not just the story of Jonah, but it’s also the story of the entire Bible and it’s the story of everyone who has placed their faith in Jesus. Jonah’s powerful prayer/psalm gives us a memorable picture of how God acts to save his people. It leads us to pra...

Kyle Kauffman | Oct 13 2024 Love can be painful because love seeks to do what’s in the best interest of someone else even when it hurts. We often conceive of love in nice and neat categories. But Jonah shows us that God’s love is what will lead him to send storms our way in this life. These storms are often the very means God uses to save us, to expose and destroy our idols, and to draw us back to...

Kyle Kauffman | Oct 6 2024 Jonah 1:4 opens with one of the greatest phrases in the bible, “But the LORD.” Left to ourselves we would be completely lost and hopeless. We would remain estranged from God for all eternity. But the LORD shows his love in pursuing us. We see in the story of the sailors on the ship that salvation is a result of God’s intentional pursuit. And we see in the story of Jonah...

Joel Wood | Sept 29 2024 This sermon is meant to provide an introduction to the book of Jonah by helping us to understand who Jonah was and what was taking place in history at the time of Jonah’s life. This sermon is also meant to show how Jonah’s response to God’s call exposes our own sinful hearts. We all hear God’s call, whether it’s to believe in Him or change how we’re living for Him. However...

Kyle Kauffman | Sept 22 2024 God saves us completely by grace. But he expects that His grace will lead us to be active participants in his Kingdom. God entrusts into our care all sorts of things: relationships, opportunities, and resources. And he expects us to steward what he has entrusted into our care for His glory. We are meant to look for the ways God has given us to love and serve others. An...

Kyle Kauffman | Sept 15 2024 If you expect something big and important is going to happen, you naturally watch for it and wait eagerly for it. Those who belong to God’s Kingdom are expecting Jesus to return. We believe that He is coming back again to dwell forever with the church. It can be easy to forget this as Jesus delays his return. But if we truly believe Jesus is returning and that his retu...

Kyle Kauffman | Sept 8 2024 In two short valuables we are told that God’s Kingdom is so valuable it is worth sacrificing everything else in this life for. Which might lead us to ask, “What is it that makes God’s Kingdom so valuable?” And the answer to that question comes in the form of a person. Jesus is the great treasure of God’s Kingdom. This means belonging to and living in God’s Kingdom invol...

Kyle Kauffman | September 1 2024 God’s Kingdom is marked by radical forgiveness. Though we owe him a debt we could never pay, He fully and freely forgives us. And he now calls us to do the same with others. Our lives bear testimony to God’s great forgiveness by how we forgive and forbear with the sins of others. And yet so often we are like the servant in the parable who refuses to extend forgiven...

Kyle Kauffman | August 25 2024 To belong to God’s Kingdom means to see our lives and all we have as belonging to Him. He is the one who created us and is meant to rule over us. And yet often, we try to rule over our lives rather than submitting ourselves to His rule. We hold onto things as if they belong to us, rather than gladly entrusting them to His care. We refuse to do obey Him even after He...

Brandon Fisher | August 18 2024 God loves to give people what they don’t deserve in order to display His generosity. His Kingdom is a Kingdom of grace where he gives what he pleases to whom He pleases. We can be prone to believe that we deserve more than what we have been given. But those who live within God’s Kingdom are meant to see all they have been given as undeserved grace. This then enables...

Kyle Kauffman | August 11 2024 Our lives in this world are full of mystery. We often cannot understand why God doesn’t always answer our prayers, especially when we perceive the thing we are praying for is a good thing. It’s easy for us to give up praying or to doubt God’s goodness. Jesus knew this would be the case. And so he told a parable that can encourage us to persist in praying. We find tha...