Life Lessons with Dr. Steve Schell

We were created to worship and be in love with God. In this new four-part series, we look at how and why we worship. God actually looks for people who worship Him in Spirit and in truth. He goes after men and women who are worshippers. We must see the importance of worship in our life, and we each must become a true worshipper, growing in our understanding and commitment in worshipping God.  To re...

We were created to worship and be in love with God. In this new four-part series, we look at how and why we worship. God actually looks for people who worship Him in Spirit and in truth. He goes after men and women who are worshippers. We must see the importance of worship in our life, and we each must become a true worshipper, growing in our understanding and commitment in worshipping God.  To re...

Listeners, this episode is a out of chronological order in our study of Luke, but the message is so good we included it anyway! People suffer hardship and rejection for different reasons. Sometimes we reap the bitter fruit of our own mistakes or rebellion. Sometimes we reap the bitter fruit of others' mistakes or rebellion. Yet, sometimes we suffer precisely because we are doing what God has asked...

You might say this passage describes the first Sunday night service. It takes place on Sunday evening (the first day of Jesus' resurrection). The disciples were gathered for a meal (Mk 16:14) in a room with the door barred against intruders. Suddenly, Jesus appeared in their midst. They had been arguing about the validity of His resurrection, so the first thing Jesus did was to prove He was physic...

If Jesus stood in front of us in white robes, it wouldn't make us believe in Him. Faith doesn't come by seeing. Rather, it is a choice we make. It has to do with our character. In moments when we are caught off-guard, what we really believe comes out of our mouths and shows on our face. We are going to see this fact occur with two disciples who are walking on the road to Emmaus. These disciples ha...

Not all the seventy elders of the Sanhedrin agreed with the decision about Jesus. At least two were secret followers of His who disagreed with the majority and watched in dismay at the brutalization and crucifixion. They were prominent, influential men who believed Jesus was sent from God but were still afraid to confess Him publicly. They knew if they did they would lose their positions and proba...

You and I need to understand what it means when we say Jesus died for us on the cross. We say it often with real faith, and we mean it. But what Jesus really did for us isn't particularly clear in our minds. We know He somehow died on a cross.  But the more we understand Jesus' suffering and the dignity with which He went through the crucifixion, the more we see Him as the Son of God, and the more...

The saving of the thief on the cross is undoubtedly the most remarkable salvation of all of those recorded in the gospels. Many people believed in Jesus as they watched Him heal, deliver and perform miracles, but this man believed as he watched Jesus die. He had only a few hours of contact with Jesus, during which both endured the horrors of crucifixion, yet, in spite of this, he embraced the esse...

As I read this passage describing the arrest and trials of Jesus, there is an ingredient present throughout which startles me. It's the degree of anger which is directed toward Jesus. He's not just arrested, tried and executed. He is mocked and brutalized at every turn. In view of the fact that He did nothing more than teach, heal and deliver people from demons, it's remarkable how much fury is un...

In a short span of time these two disciples both experienced a level of personal failure which devastated them. Judas, of course, betrayed the Lord by leading the religious officiais to the Garden ot Gethsemane. Peter blatantly and repeatedly denied knowing the Lord while waiting among the crowd outside the high priest's home. Though Judas' sin was more deliberate than Peter's, both men show great...

Every year many Americans make promises to themselves and others called "resolutions." These commitments to improve behavior are notorious failures. People promise all sorts of things, but usually these can't be kept for more than a month or two into the new year. The problem, of course, is that our will power isn't strong enough to resist the temptations that lure us back to old habits. Appetites...

We are still in the upper room with Jesus and the disciples. In these last moments Jesus has before He is arrested, He wants to teach His disciples, among other things, about humility. After Jesus and the disciples have just enjoyed partaking of the Lord's supper, Jesus watches them break into an argument about who is the greatest. Jesus wants His disciples to be humble; and they are not.  And jus...

In this episode, we're going to see the final passover service the Lord served to His disciples. We will look at Judas' betrayal, at the upper room and Passover. And then we will look at the glorious New Covenant Jesus introduced the disciples to through the taking of the first communion. To purchase Pastor Steve's newest book Understanding Romans: Life-Changing Lessons from Paul's Greatest Letter...

It's Tuesday afternoon of Jesus' final week in Jerusalem, and He and His disciples are heading back to the Mount of Olives where they will camp for the night. As the road rises, going up the hillside, the Temple comes into view with the setting sun glistening behind it. Though it has been 49 years in construction, it is still not completed, yet the beauty of the gold and white marble is breathtaki...

The subject of finances is one that can make us uncomfortable, but there are things we need to do with our finances as Christians in order for us to be blessed of God. And the model for us is this marvelous widow who gives all she has out of a faith-filled and generous heart.  Though we are not told, we have to ask the question: What possible reason could there be for her to do what she did? We wi...

We begin this episode in Mark 11, and we hear Jesus use prophetic symbolism when he comes across a fig tree on the road. The fig tree was one of the major symbols of Israel, so the fact that this fig tree had leaves with no figs indicates something was wrong, since figs and their leaves always come out at the same time. The Messiah is looking for fruit on His tree. Does the religious structure hav...

It is obvious that our society is becoming a dishonest society. Lying is now normal. When things happen slowly enough around us in our culture, we become transformed by it without even knowing it. As the culture becomes a culture of lying, we don't sense the difference, and Christians can bring it right in to their lives too.  We will talk in this episode about the problem with lying and hopefully...

While escorting Jesus to his home, Zaccheus is overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit and born again through repentance and faith. As they stand in the street, they are surrounded by a great crowd of disciples and onlookers. According to the ancient Roman historian Josephus, approximately two million pilgrims would flood into Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, so the crowds must have been enormous...

The Lord needs to instill in each of our hearts a healthy fear of Him so that we are protected from sin and the schemes of the devil. We'll talk about the danger of hypocrisy, of developing a hidden life. We'll talk about integrity, of developing a life that is the same no matter who is watching. We'll also define the fear of God and talk about why a Christian should fear God to begin with. To pur...

In Luke 18, the rich, young ruler encounters Jesus on the highway on the road south to Jericho. This young man, probably in his late teens or early twenties, is very rich, and he has some kind of position of authority. He falls on his knees in front of Jesus, who looks intently on the man and loves him. But Jesus sees the man is in bondage. Jesus is able to look at our lives and see the thing we r...

In this episode the Lord is currently on His way to Jerusalem at the end of His public ministry on earth. We don't know which town He is in right now, but He is coming down towards Jericho. The crowds are huge right now in His ministry, and in the midst of the thousands of people who are coming for healing, a group of parents are bringing their babies in arms and are asking Jesus to bless their ch...

The Lord told this parable to make sure His followers would never grow discouraged by God's seeming reluctance to punish their enemies. Though it would seem like God was refusing to answer their pleas for relief from persecution, they must not allow this to spoil their faith. They must continue to pray, believing God to answer all their needs. To purchase Pastor Steve's newest book Understanding R...

Isn't it interesting that Jesus told His disciples about events which would not take place until the end of world history? Today we can say with confidence that many of these things would not take place for at least years (1967 + 32 = 1999; This sermon was originally preached in 1999). Why would believers need to know about something that far in the future? Obviously, Jesus felt they did, as did P...

The apostles have asked the Lord to increase their faith, and in verses six through ten Luke records two of the foundational truths with which He answered them. Both are given to them as parables. The first, in verse six, reminds us to keep our attention focused on the unlimited power of God rather than the size of our own faith. It's God's power that does the work, and all we need is enough true...

In this episode, we are talking about forgiveness. It's one of those subjects you simply have to talk about regularly because offenses come, issues come into our hearts, and we can grow bitter and hard. So God is constantly reminding us through His word to forgive each other. We will talk about two levels of forgiveness in this episode. We're not just talking about the personal offenses that take...