Kaleo Church Podcast

In 2 Timothy 3 Paul warns Timothy about the danger of false teachers who have the appearance of godliness but deny its power. In this message we will consider a few of the different ways that we are tempted to settle for the appearance of godliness and deny the true power of God’s grace. Specifically we will talk about the danger of making the confession of our sins into a form of godliness and the danger of presuming upon God’s grace while continuing to live for ourselves.

Do you love God? A lot of people reading this will probably say “Yes.” But in 2 Timothy 3 the question isn’t “Do you love God? But “Do you love God the most.” In this passage Paul lays out the danger of disordered love where we find ourselves loving good things more than the God who made them. In this sermon we will talk about how to tell what it is that we love the most. We will also discuss how we can find freedom from the disordered loves that are constantly trying to suck us in.

Within the context of the local church, there will be some that are under Jesus Christ as their Master, while others are under the evil one as their master. The way Paul commands Timothy to talk to these opponents, can also teach us how to correct our opponents in such a polarizing culture. Listen and hear how the good news of a gentle and lowly Savior creates in his followers a gentleness that mirrors the gentleness of Jesus.

Paul applies how the Gospel and endurance apply directly to our words. There are some in the Ephesian churches who will use the word of God and the Gospel to give life to others, while there are some who will use their words to spread false teaching and death. Listen and hear how the Gospel frees us from irreverent babble and spurs us on to gospel proclamation for the glory of God and the good of the church.

Due to Paul's impending death, he wants to prepare Timothy and all whom he disciples into a life of endurance that leads to seeing Jesus face-to-face. How does endurance happen in the Christian life? It happens by remembering Jesus and the gospel that cannot be bound. Listen and hear how remembering Jesus is the heartbeat of endurance.

One of the things that Christians often find themselves wrestling with is how does God’s law and obedience and effort relate to God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness. Is the primary message of the Bible “Just Believe” or is it more a call to “Radical Discipleship?” In 2 Timothy 2:1-7 Paul helps us get a better understanding on how God’s grace and hard work are supposed to relate. We will also see how Paul tries to help us better understand the Christian life by comparing it to the life of a soldier and an athlete and a farmer...

In 2 Timothy 1:8 Paul calls Timothy not to be ashamed of Jesus, but rather to join him in suffering for the Gospel. How does this verse apply to us today? Should we really be suffering for the Gospel today in America? In this sermon, we will discuss if suffering for the Gospel is really necessary or not. We will also talk about what our motivation for not being ashamed of the Gospel should be and if the suffering that comes with it is really worth it.

Today, just as in Paul’s day, two forms of power vie for our attention. The world holds out a power found in strength that offers us control so that we can avoid suffering and gain significance. But in 2 Timothy Paul shows us another way. Here he offers a power found in our weakness for the sake of love. Rather than avoiding suffering this power enables us to endure it and instead of seeking its own significance this power enables us to consider other people more significant than ourselves. While on the surface the power that this world offers appears far more attractive in this sermon we will see that true freedom comes when we embrace the power of the cross.

2 Timothy is the last letter we have from the Apostle Paul. He wrote it from an underground dungeon with chains around his wrists as he waited to be executed. The letter contains his last words to a man he often referred to as his beloved son. In this introduction, we will see how it is that someone stuck in a dungeon can be filled with gratitude and how someone who saw themselves as the worst of sinners could face death with a clean conscience. We will also see the vital role that God has called each of us to play in passing our faith down to others.

The Psalms were written for a year like 2020 because they give expression to our many different emotions – our highs and our lows – our confusion and our confidence – our anger and our love – our deepest sadness and highest joys. The Psalms legitimize our emotions. The Psalms remind us that our emotions are a gift from God and rightly understood they lead us to the Creator and Redeemer of our emotions so that they can then be used to glorify Him in all of their great variety. Listen to hear how Jesus gives us hope even when we are feeling overwhelmed.

I know the topic of white privilege isn’t something you would expect to hear about in a sermon but over the past week, I have found that God has used this precise topic to give me a better understanding of the Gospel. In this sermon, I hope that you will come along on that journey with me. In the end, we will consider different ways that we might lay down privilege in solidarity with those who are suffering as well as ways that we might take up privilege in order to leverage it for the sake of others.

Is it right to confess the sins of our fathers? We see Nehemiah and Ezra and Daniel and the Psalmist doing it, but still, the practice seems strange. I mean do we really need to be forgiven for things we have never personally done? In this sermon, we will look at what the Bible teaches about the corporate confession of sins both past and present. We will also seek to apply that teaching to the long history of racial injustice that has plagued the church in America.

As we consider the tragic murder of George Floyd and the massive impact it has had on our black brothers and sisters will we listen and lament the racial divide in our country and all of the pain and suffering it has caused? Psalm 22:24 reminds us that our God does not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted. The question we will address today is will we join Him in sitting in solidarity with the suffering. One day our God is going to come and wipe every tear away which means that if we are ever going to weep with those who weep, now is the time.

Our world is in the midst of civil unrest, racism, and injustice. What is our role as followers of Jesus and how do we figure out what to do? It may sound odd but we need to learn from the trees. Listen and hear how the Gospel and trees creates a people whose allegiance causes them to bear fruit for the King.

No matter how happily settled you and I maybe each of us knows that deep down inside something tells us there has to be more. C.S. Lewis called this longing our inconsolable secret. In this sermon, we will consider what it is that we are ultimately longing for and how it is that we might one day experience the satisfaction we are seeking.

All of us have a deep longing not only to be loved but to be enjoyed and appreciated by the people we esteem the most. Growing up we quickly learn that if we want to get the love we seek we need to be good. But what happens when we realize that we are not good enough to get the amount of love we need to be happy? In Psalm 32 David answers this important question for us.

Most of us find ourselves fluctuating between feeling like things are under control and being happy and being overwhelmed because we realize how little control we actually have. Back and forth we go between feeling confident in our plans and feeling anxious about things we can’t control. But In Psalm 28 David comes to show us a 3rd way. He begins by reminding us all how little we really do control but instead of being overwhelmed with anxiety David says, “My heart trusts in God and I am helped.” In this message, we will consider what it would look like for us to relinquish control into the hands of our God and rest in his ability to care for us.

What is Jesus doing right now? We talk often about how Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the grave, but what is he doing right now? In Psalm 20 we will take a closer look at what Jesus is doing up in heaven today and the impact that ought to have on our own lives.

Many of us have trusted God to protect the things in life that we loved the most only to realize that he doesn’t always do it. Why? Why doesn’t God always protect the things we love the most? And what are we supposed to do with all the insecurities that come from realizing that God doesn't always protect the things we care about? This message comes to help us understand how we can still trust God and live securely even when he doesn’t always protect the things we really love.

At this point most of us probably find ourselves longing for things to go back to normal. We feel like strangers in our own world and we miss the way things used to be. Abraham and Sarah were very familiar with these feelings. For over 60 years they wandered together as strangers and foreigners waiting for God to give them the land he had promised. Today we are going to talk about the temptations they faced as they waited and see what it was that enabled them to trust God while feeling like a stranger in the world. I believe that the things we can learn in this passage could be really helpful for all of us as we learn how to navigate these strange times.