Pastor Sherman Burkhead

Are we saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone? YES! Are we called to walk in obedience to God's commands? YES! But how? For many this issue drives them to legalism and for others to antinomianism. So how do we resolve this issue of being saved by faith apart from our obedience to the law and the gospel expectation that we will not live in sin? The answer is simple: when God saves...

It is true that Jesus died for our sin. But that is not all we needed. We needed to be made righteous in the sight of God. But the problem is we cannot be righteous on our own. Jesus the one in who we hope, also lived for our righteousness. He kept the covenant that all people fail to keep, he fulfilled the law we all fall short of, and he earned for us a perfect righteous standing before God. And...

Special Guest Preacher Kyle Strattan from Berean Fellowship in Lancaster CA, preaches a timely message on Matthew 6:19-34.

A message of hope for uncertain times. God's grace is greater than our failures, greater than the curse, greater than our sin, and greater than death itself. Not matter where you find yourself God's grace greater. Listen to this weeks message.

We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. And the reason we are sinners is because it is our nature. It is who we are! And the reason it is who we are, is because we were in Adam, our covenant representative before God. When he fell, we fell. But the good news is God sent a New Covenant representative the last Adam, Jesus Christ! And by faith in Him we are given a new natur...

What a staggering truth it is that God showed his love for us that while we were covered up in our sin, Christ died for us. Even more staggering is the truth that Christ reconciled us back to God as family, not while we were in the process of getting our lives together, but while we were God's enemies. It was when we were at war with God, hating him, that Christ gave up his life for us. And what w...

If you are a Christian and there are times you wonder if God really loves you, this this message is for you. Listen to this week's message.

Suffering is a part of our lives that we wish we can avoid. The truth is we don't want to suffer, if we can help it. We all want peace. We all want to be treated well. We want food when we are hungry, water when we are thirsty, and a cooler when it ‘s hot outside. None of us, in our right minds, volunteers to suffer. But not only is suffering part of this life, it is part of the Christian life as...

If you are in Christ you have access to God. It is as simple as that. Paul explains that if we are justified by faith in Christ we have peace with God and if we have peace with God we have continual access to Him. Meaning we have a never ending audience with the King. Think about that! Any time you need anything, anytime you want to talk to God, all you have to do is pray and you are in His presen...

Peace with God is not some fanciful pipe dream, it is an objective reality. Paul tells us in Romans 5 that those who have been justified by faith, have (in that very moment) peace with God. Those who trust in Christ by faith not only experience an end of hostility with God they experience permanent reconciliation to Him. And this is objectively true, even if at times we may not feel it, because th...

John Boys once wrote "The resurrection of Christ is the Amen of all His promises." That is the underlying truth of Easter. God made a promise to redeem us, and the resurrection proves that God keeps his promise. And this promise is ours, as Paul makes clear in Romans, simply by faith. Listen to this weeks Message

It is easy to follow God when the sun is shining. It is easy to praise the Lord when life is good. But what about when things fall apart? What about those times when it seems the worst is happening in your life? What about when it feels like you are completely alone? What about when you don't get the diagnosis you were hoping for? Do you still trust God to keep his promise? Abraham had every human...

We all live by promises. Our marriages are a promise. Our contracts are a promise. Even our friendships are built on promises of love and loyalty. But what makes a promise something that we can depend on. Two things: #1 The person making the promise is trustworthy and will do everything they can to keep their promise. #2 The person making the promise has the capability of keeping their promise. Wh...

Paul again uses Abraham as an example of what is required to be made right with God. And what we see is God makes a promise, Abraham believes that promise, God count's his faith as righteousness, and God keeps his promise. What we see is the promise of God has no strings attached, and this promise is not based on what we can do for God, but on God's faithfulness to keep his promise. We simply beli...

The good news of the gospel is we do not contribute anything to our justification. We, like Abraham, are declared righteous by faith. In fact, in Romans 4, Abraham is presented as the example of saving faith for everyone, Jew and Gentile alike. And what Paul is careful to explain is that our being made right with God is a gift of grace that is received by faith apart from anything else. Our faith...

What does it mean to be blessed? It is when life is good? It is when we have all that we want? Is it when we feel healthy? Is that what it means to be blessed as a Christian. The truth is God gives us many gifts in this life because he is good and they are blessings to be sure. But the true blessings from God are found in Christ. In Christ we have the blessing of being counted righteous and the bl...

There are many false ideas of why Christ came and what that means to us. For those who hold to some sort of works of righteousness believe that Christ came so they can do their part to earn heaven. For those who believe in the Social Gospel, Christ came to make the world a better place. For those who hold to Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, Christ came to make them a better person. And for those who...

One of the challenges we face is we live in a world where you must earn everything. You need to earn your grades at school, you have to earn a starting spot on the team, you have to work to make a living, you even have to earn the respect of your peers. And so we are used to working and earning and contributing, at least on some level. But justification before God isn't like that. We are saved by...

"Jesus came into the world to die for our sins, so that we can go to heaven" is certainly true but it is an oversimplification of what salvation really is. Yes Jesus died for our sin and yes those who trust in Christ are heaven bound, but the truth is salvation is so much bigger than just that. Salvation is not just forgiveness of sins, rather it is a miraculous work accomplished by the triune God...

The bad news is all of mankind has sinned and forfeited his right to have fellowship with God. But the good new is we are justified as a gift of grace by faith in Christ. This is good news indeed. Listen to this week's message.

Paul's indictment of all humanity comes to crescendo as he makes clear that no one has ever attained the righteousness required to earn favor with God. And even more all of mankind is enslaved to sin and doesn't seek for God and can't even understand the truth apart from the intervention of God himself. Mankind is truly corrupt and hopeless. But that is the foundation of the goodnews! Because God...

The bottom-line truth is this, there is nothing we can do to put God into our debt. He owes us nothing but his wrath and justice. Everything else is God's overwhelming grace in our lives. This is the truth that will help us let go of our self-righteousness. We are not right with God because of what we do for him. We are made right with God by grace through faith in Christ. Listen to this week’s me...

In the world we live in appearance seems to be everything. But the Bible reminds us that man looks at the outside, but God looks at the heart. The truth is we often put too much confidence in the outward symbols forgetting they are connected to inward realities. We are not saved by outward rites like baptism, or church attendance, or doing good deeds. We are saved by the grace of God that changes...

Pride can be a huge issue for everyone including Chritians. It is easy to fall into. But here is what we simply need to remember, if you are in Christ you never have cause to be prideful or arrogant because you understand you have nothing to boast about except for Christ. Not your accomplishments, not your church attendance, not your intelligence, not your good deeds. The gospel reminds us that Je...

Righteous before God. That is the goal of our existence. To be righteous before God. Because if we are not, nothing else matters. Because those who are not righteous before God are unrighteous. And the unrighteous are under the judgment and wrath of God. But the problem is none is righteous. So it would seem that we are hopeless. But the Bible says the righteous will live by faith. But how? How do...