How To Change | The Kindness Of God | Week 1

·33 min·3 clips

A pastor questions whether people still set New Year's resolutions and explores financial, spiritual, and physical goals for 2024.

The episode begins with the host asking listeners about their New Year's resolutions, sharing his own back-and-forth on the practice over the years. He categorizes goals into financial, spiritual, physical, family, and relational types, noting some people prefer mission statements instead. The host transitions to the church's annual theme, 'The Kindness of God', and introduces the big idea: God's kindness leads to our goodness. He focuses on Titus 2:11-15, explaining that the grace of God appeared historically through Jesus, bringing salvation for all people. A story is shared about a man new to church who didn't know Jesus was a historical figure, highlighting modern ignorance. The host reads a text from a young man who realized Christianity is about relationship, not rules. The sermon delves into how God's grace instructs believers to deny godlessness and live sensibly, righteously, and godly. To illustrate this, the host references the book 'Intentional Father' by John Tyson, outlining five shifts: from ease to difficulty, self to others, whole story to part of the story, control to surrender, and temporary to eternal. A detailed anecdote describes a mission trip to Guatemala where a wealthy teenager saw extreme poverty, realizing his bathroom was larger than people's homes. The host connects these shifts to active waiting for Jesus' return, using terms like 'bring heaven to earth' and 'kingdom living'. He explains that Jesus gave himself to redeem believers from lawlessness and cleanse them, creating a people eager to do good works. The episode closes by addressing feelings of enslavement, guilt, or lack of desire for good, pointing to Jesus as the solution. Finally, the host emphasizes from Ephesians 2:8-10 that salvation is a gift from God, not from works, encouraging listeners to receive God's kindness in 2024.

As heard by us

A New Year's sermon review on how God's kindness turns spiritual change into a response to grace.

This single-episode review frames the sermon as a New Year's message about change that begins with God's kindness rather than self-improvement.

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Why you'd press play

You want a new-year reset that begins with receiving grace, not proving yourself through resolutions.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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