The Tree Church Sermon Podcast

Jesus surrendered all that was His to become man to win man back. He sacrificed for a greater good. Every generation is called to do the same. We are here as Christians because EVERY generation has had faithful people who sacrificed for the Kingdom of God to continue. We must do the same for our generation and the future ones.

Tithing is really a relational desire of God. In Malachi 3, God's command is for the people to "return to me" by once again trusting Him with their tithes. The people had "left" God by no longer being obedient in giving which meant that they were relationally disconnected. God's desire was a return to a relationship and the pathway was tithing.

When we are a steward instead of an owner, we are called to both a posture and a practice The posture is contentment. The practice we must put into use is giving first. When we give to God first, it makes Him the priority and also increases our faith.

Before you can understand any of the teachings from the Bible about money, you must first embrace a proper perspective concerning your resources. From the very beginning of God's relationship with His people, He has taught them that 100% of what they have is His and they are simply stewards of it. When you own something, you can do what you want with it. The rights are yours. When you steward some...

You don’t become a great football player on the field, it’s what is done in practice that makes an athlete great. Faith is not forged in the lions den, but in the upper room through prayer. Prayer is simply a way to connect with God. It’s never been a religious activity, but rather a relationship connector. In it’s most basic and purest form – prayer is how you connect to the presence and power of...

The goal of marriage is for two to become one. That was God's initial design but that design only works with God as the focus of the marriage. When Adam and Eve sinned, God was pushed out and replaced with SELF. From that point on, every marriage struggles because people by nature are selfish. When Christ once again becomes the focus, SELF is put in its proper place and marriages can attain onenes...

The process of being disciples and making disciples is very difficult when we think we have to be good enough to actually lead someone else. The truth is Jesus never meant for us to simply lead others as much as He meant for us to get into groups of like minded people and together walk towards Christ.

Dozens of times Jesus said "Follow me" to people and each person was different, had different struggles, were in different places and have different degrees of understanding. The goal was the same for each of them in spite of their diversity and so was the expectation. Jesus told them all to follow and to be willing to take up their cross daily. This goal and expectation are still in effect today...

This is the story of the good Samaritan. In this event, a man sets out to test Jesus and in their conversation, the man then asks a common but wrong question: "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus flips it around by telling the story of the good Samaritan. What Jesus communicated is that it's not about who you have to love but are you being loving? The question isn't about "Who is my neighbor" but "Am I bei...

The 72 return from their journey with stories of success and miraculous happenings. They seem almost shocked at all that God had done through them, and they are excited. Jesus confirms their excitement by rejoicing with them and yet Jesus takes the moment to remind them of something even greater than their success in ministry. That they have eternal life with Christ. Just like all good things God...

God wants to speak through us to others to encourage them. Sometimes God speaks prophetically through you to encourage someone or He will speak through someone else to encourage you. Either way, it's all a gift of the Holy Spirit

Jesus calls each of us…not just the “professionals” (ie. pastors, missionaries, apostles) to advance the kingdom of God. And we each have been uniquely designed and uniquely placed where we are (in our jobs, families, hobby, clubs) to bring the gospel to our center of influence in order to advance the kingdom of God.

The calling on our lives to follow Christ is a calling that if we are true to, will cause our lives to look radically different than the culture we find so prevalent in today's world. Even in light of the current debate over homosexuality, the love of God compels us to reach out in truth AND love to the world around us. Those two principals don’t compete with each other but actually go hand in han...

God gives us the tools we need to accomplish the impossible task of living for Him and making disciples of the world. This only happends through the power of the Holy Spirit as God uses His gifts to help us in supernatural ways.

The Holy Spirit works ON us so that He can also work THROUGH us. He convicts, challenges, empowers, etc. our lives so that we can be a blessing to others. Our natural bent is sin. In Galatians our spirits are described in dramatically sinful ways. The Holy Spirit wants to change that.

In the same way that when you are saved, you receive the full benefits of salvation through obedience, the baptism in the Holy Spirit also works. Once you receive Him by faith, you need to walk in obedience to experience the full benefits and power of the Holy Spirit.

God giving us His presence/Spirit was His plan all along because He is the only one who can accomplish true life in us and through us. I am talking about how giving us His presence/Spirit was His plan all along because He is the only one who can accomplish true life in us and through us.

Luke lays out all of the ways that Jesus is great: heals the sick, raises the dead, controls the weather, authority over spiritual forces, does miracles like feeding the thousands, and transfigures in front of His disciples. The differences between the realities of His greatness and submission are laid in stark contrast to the response of His disciples as they argue who is greatest amongst themsel...

The crowds were amazed at Jesus and were in awe of His power. They marveled at the sick healed and the demon drove out. They were astounded at His authority and His words. The temptation for Jesus was to buy into and set up an actual throne. The disciples and the crowd would have helped Him do it. They were primed and ready. But Jesus never wavered in keeping His eye on what really mattered…the Fa...