Woodland Hills Church

The struggles we face offer us a choice: avoid them or use them as an opportunity to develop antifragile faith. Pain avoidance will keep us fragile, but when we press on with Christ as the goal, we can develop perseverance or what Dan calls, antifragile faith.

In this sermon, Greg shares how God uses afflictions to form our character, if we have a vision for God’s ultimate goal of life and set aside the common goal of the pursuit of happiness. A vision to know God and live in his love will motivate us to enter into training that will shape us to love God and others. This training moves us beyond the never-ending chase of happy so that we might find joy in all things. 

In this sermon, Greg paints a picture of what God is doing now and what God will do at the end of history. He does this by providing three snapshots found in three passages that describe what the end will look like and how God will redeem all things by the power of his love. This gives us a reason for hope in the midst of any current suffering and pain. 

This sermon addresses how God uses the suffering we face in this world to form us so that we might know Christ and his glory. While the sufferings we face are not orchestrated by God, God meets us in these situations and provides us with the opportunity to meet Christ in the midst so that we might be transformed into his likeness. 

Greg shares physical challenges he's experienced lately and how during a visit to the emergency room, he began to understand the meaning of sharing in Christ’s suffering. He uses this experience to show how God meets us in our sufferings and uses them to bring about the transformation of knowing Christ. 

The Apostle Paul wrote that he does one thing: forget what is behind and press ahead to the goal to win the prize of God. In this sermon, Dan Kent explains what it means to forget the past and press on toward God. When we do this we find freedom and joy to move into God’s continuing new work.

Shawna Boren teaches through Jesus’ words about the vine and the branches from John 15, explaining how God works with us so that we might abide in Jesus and have the fullness of his life in us. She helps us identify issues that hinder our abiding in Jesus and how we can move into the life of the vine.

This sermon provides a recap of the Unraveling Truth series, as Dan walks us through four elements of the series: Truth, God, Jesus and the Bible. He explains how these elements are related to each other and how they have implications for how we think and do day-to-day life.

Many people struggle in their faith because they have read in the Old Testament about the violence promoted and done by God. They ask how that violence is actually loving, and how it aligns with the God revealed in Jesus Christ on the cross. In this sermon, Greg provides a way to read these passages so that they point to the cross and demonstrate God’s love for the world.

In this sermon, Dan Kent asks the question, was Jesus a good teacher? He uses the story of the rich young ruler, who called Jesus “good teacher,” and Jesus’ response to help us see the uniqueness of Jesus’ teachings. The questions that this man brought to Jesus hindered his ability to receive what Jesus taught, and in the same way today, our questions limit us.