2 Pillars Church - Sermon Audio: Recent Episodes
2 Pillars Church
Sermon Audio from 2 Pillars Church. 2 Pillars is a gospel-centered, missionally-focused church located in Lincoln, Nebraska. Our mission is to make, mature, and unleash missionary disciples who live with gospel faithfulness to the glory of God. For more information visit our website at http://www.2pillarschurch.com.
The big question that Proverbs 9 asks the reader is this: Which will you choose? Wisdom or Folly?
Jesus came and lived and died for us while we were naive, lazy, and wicked. And Jesus came and lived and died to free us from being naive, lazy and wicked.
Wisdom seeks sexual pleasure as God designed it to be enjoyed—within the created bounds of biblical marriage.
Proverbs 4 tells us of two generations, two paths, and two hearts. The main love of your heart will direct your path and have an influence on your generations.
Proverbs 3 teaches us how to get what we really want, what to do when we don’t, and ultimately, what we really really want.
The Lord gives wisdom to those who earnestly seek it, delivering them from evil and its eternal consequences.
Wisdom is offered to you. It warns and counsels and guides. And the aim of wisdom is to beautify your life.
The goal of Proverbs is to make you wise, but to make any progress toward this goal, you've gotta have the key.
For those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose, all things work together for good. We are to “know this”, that we might live in light of this.
Romans 8:26–27 contains an incredible, sustaining truth for Christians as they travel the road to glory, marked with suffering: The Spirit helps us in our weakness and suffering, sharing in our groaning and interceding for us.
What hope is; what it actually looks like in the Christian life; what our hope is in; and what hope does.
As debtors to God, we live for Him; as mortifiers, we put to death the deeds of our bodies; and as children, we do it all without a spirit of fear.
Real Christianity isn't merely about knowing the right things. It isn't merely about getting your theology straight. It's also not merely about behavior or ethics, nor is it about an emotional high. True Christianity is about the very life of God in the soul of man. Divine life in us.
Deep down—deepest down—there are only two types of people in the world: those who are in accord with the flesh and those who are in accord with the Spirit. Do you know who you are at that deepest level?
The gospel isn’t just about “no condemnation.” It isn’t just about justification. It’s also about sanctification. But the law can’t sanctify us any more than it can justify us, and therefore, we need an actual Trinitarian miracle to see true, deep, lasting change happen in our lives.
For those who are truly in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation, and there never will be. There never can be!
Romans 8 contains some of the most incredible truths in all of the book of Romans; however, the “THEREFORE” in verse 1, drives us to review all that has come before Romans 8 up to this point. As we resume our series through the book of Romans, we look back through chapters 1-7 to see Paul exhorting us to acknowledge our problem, surrender to our need, and receive the solution—of Jesus.
Psalm 134 calls the Christian to both a recognition and an expectation of God’s blessing.
Psalm 132 reminds us that our hope is not in the labor of human hands, but in the promises of a faithful God.
In Psalm 131, David gives us a picture of his inner life and shows us how a calm, quiet soul results from a humble faith in the Lord.
Jesus works for His people, watches over His people, and gives rest to those who trust Him.
Those who have experienced the great salvation of the LORD will not only be filled with joy but will do whatever they can to ensure that there will be a "harvest" of people coming to serve the LORD.
In the face of wickedness, Jesus will protect those who truly trust in Him, so that they are able to persevere in faith.
Acknowledging that if the LORD had not been on their side the enemies would have destroyed them completely, the pilgrim psalmist blesses the sovereign LORD, who enabled them to break free from the trap that was set for them.
Eagerly expecting the sovereign LORD's response, the psalmist prays for his merciful intervention because the people of God have endured more than enough scorn and contempt from the proud.
As God’s people live as sojourners in a strange world, longing for home, they can be assured of His faithfulness to deliver them and to judge those who are hostile to them.
The Psalms of Ascent were likely sung by God’s people as they made their pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the major feasts each year. Today, they are sung by Christians as they make their pilgrimage of faith, growing as disciples of Christ and awaiting His promised return to consummate His kingdom and usher in the New Heavens and the New Earth.
For much of his letter, Paul has been telling us how we came to be justified. Now, as chapter 7 closes, he tells us what it’s like to live as those who are justified—what it’s like to live, with the gospel in us.
What is the Christian’s relationship to the Law? The licentious Christian says: “believe and be saved.. and forget all this talk about the Law.” The gospel provides a different answer.
What is the Christian’s relationship to the Law? The legalist says: “believe and obey, and then be saved.” The gospel provides a different answer.
Our modern culture's understanding of what it means to be human is that we are each our own, and belong to no one. The Bible, on the other hand, teaches us that everyone is a slave to something and that we proclaim whose slave we are by how we live. As Christians, we are slaves of God.”
For those who are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ, the reign and rule of sin has been overthrown. We should, therefore, resist sin and offer ourselves and our capacities to God as instruments of righteousness.
What difference does it make that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave? All the difference in the world if you trust in Him by faith. Those who belong to Him are dead to sin and alive to God.
The more you understand and comprehend the bad news, the more you'll understand and comprehend the good news; and therefore, the more awestruck you'll be by the person and work of Jesus.
The more you understand and comprehend the bad news, the more you'll understand and comprehend the good news; and therefore, the more awestruck you'll be by the person and work of Jesus.
The deeper your understanding of justification goes, the greater your rejoicing will be.
The church body is a unified whole consisting of many diverse, interdependent parts. Its members are empowered by God for the building up of the church.
Who funds the church is a really important question because how we answer it—not just with our mouths, but with our lives—greatly reflects what we believe about the church.
A philosophy of ministry is the why behind the what of how we do church. At 2 Pillars Church, our philosophy of ministry is centered around Gospel Communities. In this sermon we explore why, and also what exactly a Gospel Community is.
God has blessed us all—men and women together—with a vast variety of spiritual giftings and we seek to nurture, equip, and empower the use of those gifts, for His glory and our good, within the proper boundaries that Scripture provides for the local church
When we understand that the church is important, when we understand what it is and what it does... When we understand the importance and biblical case for church membership... all of that naturally ought to prompt all of us to ask: Who leads the church? The Bible’s answer to this question is “elders and deacons.”
When we remember the Lord’s faithfulness in the past, we find a sustaining hope for a painful present and an uncertain future.
A look at church membership under the categories of biblical implication, visible and invisible, privileges and responsibilities, accountable love, persistent commitment, and representative witness.
Church baggage results from wounds that haven’t been tended to in a healthy manner. The gospel draws those who have been wounded near, both to Jesus and to his people, in order that they might experience His healing grace.
‘What does the church do?’ is a deceptively complex and potentially divisive question. By exploring both the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, we can beware of our tendencies to separate one from the other, or conflate the two.
Who we are as the church shapes what we do; and conversely, what we do as the church shapes who we are.
Your ecclesiology—what the Word of God teaches about the Church—radically impacts your life. And yet we also have to reckon with the truth that your life, your experience in the church and of the church, also radically influences your ecclesiology.
The Lord’s plan and timeline are often slower and longer than our own. Long-View Christianity is a call to patient, yet expectant, endurance of faith.
We can rejoice in suffering b/c our foundation is in Christ and we have a community of believers around us.
Jesus gives the Christian the hope of joy, even in the midst of pain and difficult circumstances.
Lasting joy is in looking forward to being with Jesus forever while living for others now. Lasting joy is found in Jesus.
If justification is by faith, then clarifying the nature of faith, and how we grow strong in our faith is crucial.
Justification is the hinge upon which Christianity turns. Unless we grasp it foundationally, we’ll have no foundation. It is, therefore, essential for us to understand and internalize how justification works. And further to understand: anyone can get in on this.
Paul sums up our case: all have sinned, all are due God’s wrath. He sums it up by helping us see the pervasiveness of sin (i.e. total depravity) as well as the universality of sin; and therefore, our universal need for salvation.
Behind every objection to the gospel there lies an honest question deserving an honest answer.
What do you trust in for salvation? If you can answer that question, you’ve got it wrong.
Do you believe in “the communion of saints”? How does that work out in your attitude and actions?
The opening of Paul’s letter to the Romans is packed! We learn who Paul describes himself to be, what the gospel is all about, what the gospel is FOR, and what it has done.
The Minor Prophets are extremely relevant to us today, but in order to make sense of them we have to know something about who they were and when they ministered, something about what they said and how they said it, and also why. In this sermon, we meet the Minor Prophets.
Jesus has clear commands about your money and the kingdom. Here he gives a negative command, a positive command, and the reason for the commands.
Jesus makes a point about materialism, warns us against materialism, and tells us why it’s so dangerous.
Real change, through real communion with the real Jesus is possible. In its purest, fullest sense, that happens in an ongoing way, all of the time, everywhere. But we only learn to pray all of the time everywhere, by learning to pray some of the time somewhere.
The purpose of prayer is communion with God. That’s what we’re after in this series on “flourishing in prayer.” We’re after communion, fellowship, enjoying His presence. Abiding in Him. Living with Him.
The spectacular thing about the Bible is that it not only acknowledges our weaknesses, our unfaithfulness, our fears, lack of courage, fragility and all the rest, it highlights them... because we are precisely the kinds of people Jesus came to die for.
The woman who anointed Jesus at Bethany provides us with a beautiful picture of sincere, costly, and Christ-centered worship and devotion.
What you believe about the end of the world and the return of Jesus matter for how you live today.
When it comes to the kingdom of God, being “almost there” is not the same as being there.
The Parable of the Tenants teaches us about God’s kind patience, His inevitable judgement, and His marvelous plan of redemption.
It is quite easy, and extremely dangerous, to appear religious without actually having Jesus at the center of your life. And the litmus test for discerning if this is true for you, is your fruit.
It's not just who Jesus is and what He's done that matters, see... we also have to understand and be shaped and formed by what He's like.
Reflecting on 2020 and looking ahead to 2021 as it pertains to your personal walk with Jesus.
Christmas says: everything is going to be okay, nothing is going to be okay; and yet everything is going to be okay.
Because we are sinful, our holy God cannot dwell with us; but without His presence we are not His people. This is the problem and the solution is to understand something about God’s character: that He will be gracious to whom He will be gracious and will show mercy on whom He will show mercy. The solution is made manifest in the person and work of Jesus.
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: [2] shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; [3] not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
Following Jesus’ prediction of his death, James and John ask to be seated at his side in glory. Jesus asks if they will be able to drink the cup. They respond affirmatively and he agrees but says that the seats aren’t his to give. The other ten respond with anger toward James and John for the question. Jesus reiterates on what greatness is in his kingdom and what it means to be his disciple and how that is related to and patterned on why he came.
As Christians, we are all, always, on the road with Jesus. On this road, Jesus knows the way, Jesus leads the way, and Jesus is with you on the way.
The kingdom of God belongs to the helpless… and until you receive it as such, it’ll never belong to you.
According to Jesus, the way to be first is to be last and the way to be last is to be a servant of all. Being a servant means receiving and welcoming those without prestige or position or power—the little, the least, the last and undeserving—just like Jesus did with us. It’s only when we’ve really learned to welcome others like this that we’ve really learned to welcome Christ into our lives and through Christ, the Father in heaven.
True faith doesn’t have faith in itself. True faith is always aware of how small and inadequate it really is.
Following Jesus has costs associated with it. Christianity doesn’t cost you anything and yet it costs you everything.
The theme of justice is all over the Bible, but it isn’t always all the way through the church. As Christians, we must understand the Biblical importance and nature of justice, and further, we are to live out the Biblical actions of justice.