Southall Church Podcast

In Ephesians 6:13-20, Paul tells Christians to put on the whole armor of God. Putting on the Belt of Truth, the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Sandals of Peace, the Shield of Faith, the Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit are vital to fighting the spiritual battle around us.

In Ephesians 6:12, Paul tells us we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but that there are evil spiritual forces at work against us that we need to be prepared to withstand. We are not called to live a safe Christian life. God has created us to live a dangerous, risky, and courageous life! While the devil wants to keep us comfortable, entertained, and distracted, God wants to fill us with a vi...

This morning we were reminded from Ephesians 6:1-9 that as followers of Christ, we can make a kingdom impact by serving with a sincere heart in both work and family life. All (moral) work is a calling from God, which should affect how we view and approach our daily lives. No matter what your vocation is, do it with all your heart as serving the Lord.

This morning Pastor Dave Buehring brought wisdom and clarity to what Paul is saying in Ephesians 5 about how godly marriages should function. Both man and woman are to live first unto and for the Lord – the real “head” of the marriage is always Jesus – and to live in mutual submission to one another, seeking to come alongside each other in fulfilling the calling and purposes of God in their lives.

This morning Pastor Jimmy dug into the first half of Ephesians 5 where Paul explains how to be imitators of God and says, "At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." As God's beloved children, we are all called to walk in love, in purity, and in wisdom.

In the second half of Ephesians 4, Paul says to put off your old self and put on the new self, and what he’s telling us is how we are to live now that we’ve been rescued and redeemed by Christ. Becoming a follower of Jesus is not about behavior modification, it’s about identity transformation. You don’t have to get your life cleaned up before you come to Christ. However, when we become followers o...

In chapter 4 of Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, Paul is telling us that biblical unity is the byproduct of inner character. It is the result of the people of God cooperating with the spirit of God, as He sanctifies us, matures us, a grows us in godly character. When there is unity in the body of Christ, when we're growing in God's character, and operating in the gifts that He has g...

This morning we had the privilege of Pastor Don Finto preaching on embracing the power of the Holy Spirit, embracing the power of love, and embracing the power of Godly imagination, through sharing stories from his own personal walk with the Lord.

In the first half of Ephesians 3, Paul is telling us that whatever hardships we face as a result of obedience to Christ, we face as a prisoner of Christ, not as a victim of circumstance. See, Paul was so thrilled about the gospel that not even a prison cell could keep him from moving the mission forward. He understood God’s perspective and purpose in his imprisonment.  If we grasp the enormity of...

This morning was such a sweet Student Takeover Sunday with students on our worship, serving all throughout the service, and a message from our Student Pastor, Dylan, from the second half of Ephesians 2. Praise God that because of the amazing grace that He has extended toward us, we’ve been found, and in Christ, we never have to be far from home again, because we have been brought near by the blood...

Sin isn’t just the bad things that we do or our selfish motives for the good things that we do – sin is actually the condition of our hearts. It’s who we are apart from God’s miraculous work in our lives. We were spiritually dead…BUT GOD. "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Chris...

Paul never once prays for believers to have easier circumstances, but that they would know God more deeply as a result of their circumstances. Becoming an apprentice of Jesus doesn’t rescue you from hardship, instead, God gives you the ability to persevere through hardships that would have previously crushed you apart from Him. See, it's knowing God, who you are in Christ, how valuable you ar...

This morning Pastor Rob kicked off our summer sermon series on the book of Ephesians with what it means to be in Christ! "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places," – Ephesians 1:3 What Paul was telling the church of Ephesus and the message for us today is know who you are – remember that God...

This morning Pastor Jimmy wrapped up the Parables series and in this parable from John 12, Jesus is saying if we are truly going to live, we have to be willing to die. The seed that dies bears much fruit.  "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Him...

In this parable from Matthew 13, Jesus is telling us that the byproduct of a life wholly surrendered to Him is to bear fruit and multiply the Kingdom. Through His Word, Jesus is sowing seed in our lives, and maybe you haven't seen fruit because you've been living with a hardened heart toward God and your relationship with Him has grown cold, or you love Jesus but when hard times come you...

In the parable of The Ten Bridesmaids from Matthew 24, Jesus is giving a warning and an encouragement to the Church. Jesus is coming back for His bride, and He is telling us here to get ready and stay ready because if you wait until the Bridegroom shows up, it’ll be too late. We need to be ready not only for the return of the Bridegroom, but also need to be ready to love and serve our neighbors, t...

On this Easter Sunday, we looked at the three parables found in Luke 15; The Lost Coin, The Lost Sheep, and The Lost Sons. Through these parables, Jesus is showing us that God cares about lost things. He is absolutely set on pursuing and finding what has been lost. His heart is for lost people because you are His highest treasure! So much so that He sent His own Son to die – but Jesus didn’t just...

In light of the horrific and unimaginable tragedy at The Covenant School in Green Hills last Monday, we decided to push pause on our Parables series this week to speak to some of the questions we all may be asking and to create space to come to God in prayer. God can handle our biggest questions, our deepest sorrows, and our greatest fears. He not only allows it, but He also invites it. And the tr...

With this parable, Jesus is reminding us that if we, like the rich man, place our entire identity in wealth or other temporary comforts, when those things are taken away there is nothing left. Riches, reputation, beauty, and possessions will all fade away, but when our life is centered on the Lord, even after every single pleasure this world has to offer is faded and gone, God is still our help be...

This morning we had the privilege of being taught by Bill Spencer, the Executive Director of the Narrow Gate Foundation, on the Parable of the Talents found in Matthew 25. Bill has a special way of breaking stories down, putting them into the full context of Scripture, and helping us gain so much understanding.

This morning Pastor Dylan taught on the parable of The Pharisee and the Tax Collector found in Luke 18 in which both men go into the temple to pray and the Pharisee uses his prayer to elevate his righteous actions while condemning the shortcomings of others. The problem wasn’t his behavior but that he believed that he could be justified by his behavior. We can easily fall into this self-righteous...

Every single one of us is like the fruitless fig tree in the parable from Luke 13 that deserves to be cut down. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but that's not the end of the story. In this parable, the caretaker is committed to making this tree fruitful. That's Jesus! He is doing all the work in order to create the conditions in us through which we would come to...

We have an enemy who loves to sow division, discouragement, duplicity, and distraction in an effort to sabotage the work of King Jesus in the world and in our lives. In this parable, Jesus is warning us of that and telling us it's not our job to worry about the tares. One day the farmer is going to take care of the tares. Our job is to mature and multiply, and trust that the farmer knows what...

This morning the Holy Spirit was moving in powerful ways during worship, so we decided to lean into that and follow His lead.

The parable of the workers in the vineyard found in Matthew 20 is not actually about the workers or the vineyard, it is about a gift that you’ve been given by an extravagantly generous God in heaven, who kept seeking out the one’s that no one else wanted. The brokenhearted, the beaten-down, the overlooked, the forgotten. This story tells us that life is not fair, and thank God it’s not because whe...