In this message of our "Truth Bombs" series, we tackle the human tendency to rebel against authority—especially when that authority requires something from us. Whether it’s grumbling at a referee from the sidelines or dismissing a doctor's tough advice, we often respect a title only until it challenges our own control.

Drawing from Luke 20, we look at the moment religious leaders challenged Jesus’ authority. Jesus responded by dropping a massive "truth bomb" regarding the identity of the Messiah. By quoting King David in Psalm 110, Jesus revealed that the Messiah isn't just a political hero or a distant descendant; He is Lord, existing above and before even the greatest kings.

The core of this message challenges the modern trend of shrinking Jesus down to a "life coach," a motivational speaker, or a "wish-granter". As the source notes, "If Jesus is only helpful, then you’ll stay in control. But if Jesus is Lord, that means that you are not". When we truly acknowledge Him as Lord, it moves us beyond "looking for tips" and into a life of total surrender and repentance.

Key Takeaways from the Sermon:
• The Problem with "Helpful" Jesus: Why viewing Jesus as merely a resource for your own goals keeps you in the driver's seat and misses the point of the Gospel.
• Authority vs. Accountability: Understanding why we often "smile and nod" at Jesus’ titles until He calls us to change our lives.
• The Trap of Self-Righteousness: A look at the "teachers of the law" who valued religious showmanship over honest repentance.
• The Religion of Recognition vs. The Lord Who Saves: Choosing between a faith based on our own achievements and a Savior who descended to wash feet and die for our sins.

Ultimately, Jesus doesn't want to just "renew your mind"; He wants to blow up the lies in your heart so that He can take His rightful place as King of your life!

In this opening message of our series "Truth Bombs,” we confront the reality that no one who met the real Jesus was ever just ambivalent about him. On a scale of one to five, Jesus’ ratings were always ones or fives—people either loved and worshipped him or loathed and wanted to kill him.

Drawing from Luke 4, we look at Jesus’ first sermon in his hometown of Nazareth. The service began with amazement as Jesus declared himself the long-awaited Messiah, but it ended with a lynch mob trying to throw him off a cliff. Why the sudden shift? Jesus dropped a "truth bomb" on their pride and entitlement, pointing out that God often sends His grace to those who are humble and repentant rather than those who simply feel they deserve a "hometown discount".

Key Highlights from the Sermon:
• The Myth of a "Nice" Jesus: Discover why the historical Jesus was "explosive" and why "nice" is the one thing he never was.
• The Tom Brady Test: Are you truly coachable and correctable? We explore why a lack of humility is the number one reason people "crash out" of relationships and careers.
• Stone vs. Play-Doh: A diagnostic look at your heart—is it rigid and defensive, or is it soft and willing to be reshaped by God?
• The 40-Day Lenten Challenge: Instead of giving up caffeine or sugar, we are challenged to give up defensiveness. This includes a specific "homework assignment" to ask three people in your life: "What is it like to be around me?".

Ultimately, the way to "not hate Jesus" is to choose repentance. When we turn away from our pride, we find a Savior who doesn't just point out our flaws but offers freedom, forgiveness, and the "year of the Lord’s favor".

In this first message of our new series, "Truth Bombs," we explore one of the most provocative and memorable moments in Jesus’ ministry: the clearing of the temple.
While we often imagine Jesus flipping tables with righteous anger, the background of this event reveals a deeper issue of "drift" and "project creep". At the time, Jerusalem would swell to 250,000 people for Passover, and the temple’s Court of the Gentiles—the only place non-Jewish believers could worship—had been turned into a noisy, crowded marketplace for the sake of convenience. Jesus stepped into this chaos and declared, "My house will be a house of prayer... but you have made it a den of robbers".

The base message asks: Is your heart overheating? Just as an old electrical outlet can melt when overloaded with too many appliances, our hearts can "overheat" when we allow disordered priorities—like our careers, finances, or family schedules—to crowd out our communion with God.
Jesus exposes the drift in our hearts not to crush us, but because He takes His love for us seriously. The same hands that overturned the tables of the money changers were the hands eventually spread out on a cross to absorb the burden of our sin and offer us total forgiveness.

Key Takeaways from the Sermon:
• The Scale of the Temple: Understanding the majesty and theological design of the temple in Jerusalem.
• The Concept of Drift: How a "great cause" can slowly degenerate from a movement into a business and finally a "racket".
• Disordered Priorities: Recognizing when "good things" (like providing for family or saving money) begin to usurp God’s place in our hearts.
• Grace in the Overturning: How Jesus mends and heals us even as He exposes the things that hold us back from Him.

In this Ash Wednesday message from our "Truth Bombs" series, we confront the one reality our culture works hardest to ignore: our own mortality. When we hear the words, "You are dust, and to dust you shall return," it isn't meant to terrify us, but to wake us up from the distractions and self-reliance we often use to keep death at arm's length.

Whether death feels far away or is sitting close by with a specific name or diagnosis, its approach reveals what we truly stand on. If we rely only on our own achievements and confidence, we find that those foundations begin to crumble as mortality marches closer. However, by looking at the cross, we see that while death is the result of sin, it is not the end of the story.

Key Highlights from the Sermon:
• The Euphemism of Death: How we "medicalize" and "distract ourselves" from mortality to avoid facing our finite nature.
• The Mirror of the Cross: How Jesus’ suffering reflects the gravity of our sin, yet simultaneously reveals a God who is willing to give His own life for ours.
• Repentance as Honesty: Discover why repentance isn't a state of despair or "managing appearances," but the beginning of true rest and honesty before a holy God.
• The Promise for the Dust: The hope that because God met our dust in the person of Jesus, He has promised that "dust will rise" into a future with no more sorrow or fear.

As we move from self-reliance to reliance on God, we find that the "sham is over". We don't have to hide our hearts from Him; instead, we move to where His mercy can reach us.

Is it possible to believe in the goodness of God and the victory of the cross while living in deep emotional darkness? In this sermon, we explore the disorienting reality of being a genuine Christian who battles the "mental arthritis" of depression.
In this message, you’ll discover:
• The Weight of History: The story of Charles Spurgeon, a world-renowned preacher who battled a "mental giant" of depression for 35 years after a tragic church accident,.
• A "Canonized" Struggle: Why the Bible doesn't dodge depression but instead features main characters like Moses, Job, Elijah, and even Jesus as a "Man of Sorrows" who was familiar with suffering,.
• The Darkest Psalm: A deep dive into Psalm 88, the only psalm in the Bible that doesn't end with a happy confession of faith, but with the haunting line: "Darkness is my closest friend",.
• The "Who" Before the "Why": Why Heman the Ezrahite started his darkest prayer with three Hebrew words: Yahweh Elohei Yeshua’ti—affirming that God is present, powerful, and his only source of salvation, even when he couldn't feel it,,.
• How to Love Someone in the Pit: Practical advice for those supporting loved ones, including the need to be "comfortable with uncomfortable emotions" and the power of presence over easy solutions,.
• The Ultimate Hope: The life-changing truth that "Jesus saves the depressed". He doesn't wait for you to climb a ladder to reach Him; He climbed down into the "pit" to find you.
Your feelings may be valid, but they don't get the last word—Jesus does,. Whether you are struggling to get out of bed or walking alongside someone who is, this message is a reminder that while sadness may be temporary, the joy found in the finished work of Christ is eternal.

"It is Jesus—and not the absence of depression—that saves us".

If you break an arm, the path to recovery is clear, and you have a visible cast to show why you can't "help move a couch". But when it comes to mental health, there is often no clear story, no X-ray, and no obvious timeline for healing. In this final message of our series, "Light in the Pit: Faith through Depression and Anxiety," we look at the heavy reality of life in the darkness and how God meets us there.
In this sermon, you will discover:
• The Complexity of the Pit: Why depression is often "polygenetic"—where genetics "load the gun" and environment "pulls the trigger". We explore how neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine affect our homeostasis and motivation, making even a simple "to-do list" feel insurmountable.
• The "To-Do List" Trap: Why telling someone in a depressive episode to "just pray" or "just read your Bible" can feel like an impossible mountain to climb, and how to offer physical care and love instead of spiritual cliches.
• Biblical Heroes in the Dark: A look at the "grandparents' diaries" of faith—King David, Job, Jonah, and Jeremiah—who all experienced moments of melancholy, turmoil, and even a desire to die.
• Elijah’s "Greatest Day" to "Darkest Night": How the prophet Elijah moved from the high point of fire on Mount Carmel to a "pit" of exhaustion and isolation in a cave, begging God to take his life.
• God’s Holistic Care: See how God restores Elijah not by lecturing him, but by providing sleep, food, physical touch, and eventually, a "gentle whisper".
• The Three Pillars of Recovery: Why the combination of seeing light, finding community, and having a sense of purpose is vital for walking out of the pit.
Depression may make you feel abandoned, but the Bible reminds us that you are never alone. Jesus Himself entered the "deepest darkness"—suffering the weight of sin and true separation from God—so that He could reach into your pit and pull you into the light.

Whether you are in the pit today or walking alongside someone who is, find hope in a Savior who goes all the way to the darkness to bring you home.

Is your brain acting like a malfunctioning smoke detector, screaming about an emergency when there’s no fire in sight? In this third week of our series on mental health and Jesus, we tackle the "massively important" topic of anxiety by looking at how the Trinity works together to calm our hearts.
In this sermon, you’ll discover:
• The Gift of Anxiety: God wired your brain with a "danger detector" called the amygdala to keep you safe from real tragedy. But for many of us, this system is "out of control," triggering panic over bad grades, work projects, or social media "what ifs."
• The Father & Your Body: Your mental health is "deeply theological" because God created your body and brain. Learn how to use the "vagus nerve" and intentional "box breathing" to literally tell your brain there is no danger.
• The Son & Your Certainty: Drawing on the story of Martin Luther, we explore the "monster of uncertainty" regarding our standing with God. If you’ve ever wondered if you are "good enough," discover the peace of knowing righteousness is by faith in Jesus—from first to last.
• The Spirit & Your Community: Discover why even atheists recommend church for improved mental health. The Holy Spirit "roots" us in community, using the "communal nature" of singing and gathering to pull us out of isolation and remind us we aren’t alone.
• Jesus as a Resurrected King: Stop zooming in on your problems and zoom out to see the King who holds your "what ifs" in His pierced hands.
Anxiety might be part of your story, but it doesn't have to be the end of it. Whether you are struggling to "just chill out" or trying to help a friend who is spiraling, this message offers a grown-up, biblical look at finding a peace that goes beyond understanding.

Stop trying to earn your peace and start receiving the relief only the King of Kings can bring.

Is your nervous system feeling the weight of the "Anxious Generation"? In this sermon, we explore how our modern environment—filled with digital inundation and constant comparison—is creating a cultural rise in anxiety that our bodies weren't designed to carry.
In this message, you’ll discover:
• The Childhood Shift: A look at how we’ve traded physical risk and independence (like riding bikes around the block) for digital "security" that is actually more emotionally dangerous.
• The Body’s Fire Alarm: Why anxiety isn't a sign that your body is "broken," but rather a God-designed alarm system that is simply going off too often. Learn how to move from your "dinosaur brain" back to reason.
• The Trinity vs. Anxiety: A practical three-part framework to quiet your thoughts:
◦ The Father & Your Body: Reclaiming your physical health through breathing, sleep, and nature, while removing the shame of seeking medical or professional help.
◦ The Son & Your Future: Why the cross answers your biggest "what ifs." If Jesus finished the work of your salvation, you can trust Him with your family, your job, and your health.
◦ The Spirit & Your Community: How the Holy Spirit intercedes in your weakness and places you in a community of people ready to help you carry your "heavy boxes".
• Digital Abstraction: The danger of trying to be "omniscient" like God by consuming an endless stream of global news and social comparison.
Anxiety often tells us to isolate, but God invites us to return to community and anchor ourselves in the Gospel. Using a powerful scene from the movie Signs, Pastor Mike reminds us of the Father’s invitation in the midst of our struggle: "Breathe with me. You're not alone. You're okay".

Stop telling yourself a story about a scary future and start resting in the story God has already finished.