Life can become very busy, and it is easy to lose focus. Everyday realities and problems can disrupt our relationship with God. We are constantly bombarded by little things that can bide for our time, and divert attention from what really matters. As believers in Christ, communion is one of God’s ways of reminding us of what really matters. Communion helps to us to remember what Christ did for us and refocuses our lives towards him. Read More
The Escaping The Matrix Conference took place on December 9-10, 2005, at Woodland Hills Church. The conference was based on the book Escaping the Matrix, by Greg Boyd and Al Larson, and was led by Greg, Mike Davis, from Ontario, CA and Bobby Bodenhamer, from Gastonia, NC. Like the characters in The Matrix movie trilogy, our minds can get hardwired … Read More
Sandra Unger began this sermon with a visualization exercise. We were asked to picture in our minds the following people: a mailman, nun, rapper, basketball player, pilot, Christian and finally a disciple of Jesus. For many people, it was easy to conjure up a picture of the first five but the last two posed a problem. Following Jesus is actually remarkably simple. Submit your entire life to Christ and he will give you a new one. It’s not difficult to know what the right thing to do is. But it is often very difficult to jump into the unknown territory that comes along with doing the right thing. Read More
Drawing from Luke 9:23 and 14:25-27 & 33, Greg talked about dying to the flesh so that we might have true life in Christ. Life in the “flesh” means that we cling to life outside the center (Jesus Christ), which results in our lives enslaving us, something God never intended! Jesus speaks strongly about this because he knows that when we finally let go and “die” to ourselves, we will find life in the center where there is peace and a whole new perspective on the world! Read More
Willing just one thing, the love of God, is our only task. Our hearts are pure and our minds are sound when we overcome the double-mindedness that we unconsciously live in by submitting to God (James 4:7). Greg called our attention to how our minds are caught up in routines that produce behavior that is harmful to ourselves and others. Working toward kingdom single mindedness moment by moment will focus our energy where it should be: on the love of God for us and on loving ourselves and others because of it. Read More
Paul and Sandra’s message called for a major shift in thought for many of us: church isn’t a place you go or an event you attend. Instead, church is what happens when those who follow Jesus gather and live in unity and obedience to who Jesus is and what Jesus does. Both speakers discussed the effects of this new perspective. Read More
Kevin, our Community Pastor, spoke about Christ’s calling of Simon, Andrew, James and John to be his disciples. As fishermen, their families’ livelihood depended on this trade, yet they simply dropped what they were doing and followed Jesus. Why? What was it about Jesus that caused people to leave their families and livelihood to follow him, and what was Jesus tapping into in these four early disciples? Read More
Sandra challenged us to go against the grain of the so-called American Dream and the materialism inherent in it. She also encouraged us to be critical of how we’re already being influenced by it and to allow God to work on all of the broken areas of our lives so that we can make an impact. Read More
God designed us to work both for our livelihood and for the Kingdom of God. Consequently, we will be held accountable for our work both individually and corporately as the body of Christ. The book of Revelation includes a “report card” of sorts given by God to seven churches; following this example, Greg reported on how Woodland Hills has been Growing in the Spirit over the past year. Read More
It takes discipline and self-sacrifice on the part of individuals for us as a whole to become “a community of spiritually empowered people” as stated in our church vision. As spiritual people, we are called to think more about the eternal consequences of our words and deeds. Read More
