Anyone who takes a deep look at Jesus will realize that He was not an ordinary man. He was full of a love that was pure and otherworldly, and it inspired Him to do things that can be very hard for us to understand. But we must continue to look at Him until we see the motivations of His heart rightly. In this sermon, Reverend Dave Leopold unpacks the miracle at the Wedding in Cana and Jesus’ driving out the money changers in the temple. He shows us how both stories reveal the passionate and zealous love which God has for us.
Jesus wants our inner being to be void of distractions and noise, so that it can be a peaceful quiet place where His presence can dwell.
We’ve all had experiences where someone did something or said something that initially hurt us that turned out in the end to be the best thing for us. We call that tough love, and it is love, even if it doesn’t feel like it. In this episode of our series A Vision of Jesus, Dave Leopold looks at two instances where Jesus treated someone in a way that initially seemed cruel but ultimately worked out for their good. Jesus will do whatever He knows is best for us, because He is full of grace and truth.
To get our attention, sometimes Jesus has to put us through things that are not as comfortable as hearing Him in a still small voice.
Who was this Jesus from the Bible? What was He really like? Reverend Dave Leopold continues to help answer these questions this week. One startling revelation about Christ’s character is that He was and is a consuming fire of love. And when this love came into contact with men and women in the Bible, it demanded a response. Dave looks at two such encounters in the stories of the Rich Young Ruler and Zacchaeus the tax collector. Each encounter with Jesus’ powerful presence brought them face to face with their true character, and it was then they were forced to decide how they would respond – a decision that would determine their eternal destiny.
Jesus's love is a refining fire, and it will bring us to a crossroads where we must decide if we will choose to follow Him.
Over the next four weeks, we’re going to play a series of messages by Reverend Dave Leopold from the Zion Faith Homes. These talks, delivered back in February to the men in our Residential Program, focused on helping us to see the character of Jesus Christ more clearly.
This week’s message comes from John 1, where the Apostle wrote that Jesus Christ came to us, “full of grace and truth.” These words are a profound revelation about Jesus’ ministry, but they also reveal to us what we truly need from God in this life. Grace enables us to do what we could never do on our own, while truth tells us exactly what we need to hear and shows us what we need to see. Together, they work to help us to find our way towards real freedom.
Grace and truth are not miles apart. They go together and God wants to give us both.
People who are sincerely seeking freedom from sexual sin usually have a vague idea that there is something under the surface that needs to be dealt with. This is true, but they are usually very surprised when they find out what it is. In a recent series of shows, we asked the question, “What does that have to do with my problem?” And all the issues we touched on in those episodes – self-righteousness, self-pity, obsession with success – all of them flow out of a thriving self-life. In this week’s show, we look at another key feature of the self-life: pride, and how it really is another hidden fuel of sexual sin.
A prideful man is primarily concerned with protecting himself and exalting himself.
Last week we looked at how vital confession is for someone to find freedom from sexual sin. This week we look at another aspect of confession: confessing adultery to a wife. Pastor Ed and Kathy Gallagher join us to look at some practical steps and considerations when confessing sexual sin, as well as some of the struggles that come with taking this difficult, but vital step.
Repentance and confession go hand in hand. There is no victory outside of repentance and there is no repentance outside of confession.
One of the most common lies whispered into the ears of men in sexual sin is, "You can get free between you and God. No one needs to know." While many are willing to believe this deception, the truth is that confession is absolutely essential for anyone who desires genuine freedom. In this episode, Pastor Ed Buch helps us unpack the spiritual realities behind confession.
Sin thrives in the dark. If it is not brought into the light, it's going to continue and it's going to grow.
We’re taking a break from producing a new episode this week as we get settled, following a wonderful time at our Annual Conference this past weekend. This replay is one of our favorites from our 20 Truths series, and we hope it’s a blessing to you. In it, we’ll define hedonism, and look at its close connection with sexual sin. Much of today's church lives more to please self than to honor Jesus, and it’s this kind of lifestyle which opens the door for sexual sin. If you haven't listened through the whole 20 Truths series before, we’d also encourage you to go back and listen to that series. Just look for episodes 363-364 and 366-381.
A Christian who lives his life in pursuit of worldly pleasure is setting himself up for compromise, temptation, and failure.
In this new Ask the Counselor episode, we continue looking at sins which are closely tied to sexual addiction. Today we’ll look at self-pity, covetousness, self-righteousness and living by our feelings. While on the surface these issues may seem unrelated, they are still sins that must be dealt with if a person is ever to experience genuine freedom over their sexual addiction.
Issues like self-pity, self-righteousness, and living by feelings must be dealt with if one is to find true freedom from sexual addiction.
The 22nd Annual Pure Life Ministries Conference is coming up April 22nd & 23rd and will be hosted in the Answers Center at the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, KY. In this episode, we want to give you a taste for the kinds of powerful teachings you can expect at this event by playing a sermon preached by Steve Gallagher at our 2019 conference. We hope it will bless you, and that you will consider joining us this April.
Christians who are not vigilant against false teaching in the last days risk falling away from the Lord, and falling into apostasy.
One of the worst aspects of sexual sin is that it breeds deception in the heart and in the soul. The many lies that come with sexual sin slowly corrupt a person until they are completely blind to the spiritual realities of life. Therefore, the sexual addict must learn to live in truth if he or she is ever to find freedom from their sin.
Sexual sin blinds us to the spiritual realities of life. Until the sexual addict learns to live in truth, they will never be free from sin.
In the final episode of our series, Refined as Silver, we look at what it means for a wife to forgive her husband truly, completely and radically, even after the devastation of sexual sin. Biblical Counselor Rose Colón joins Nate to talk about the challenges that arise as a wife seeks to live in forgiveness, and the incredible freedom that comes through it.
Rose Colón shares from her experience about the freedom and challenges that come in forgiving an unfaithful husband.