Home > Resources > Sermons > 2003 Sermon Archive

1/5/2003 – State of the Congregation Address 2003, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 49:19 Audio - 5.78 mb High-Quality Audio - 23.12 mb Presentation Slides 1/12/2003 – Entering into Worship, Peggy Riley  –  sermon length 17:45 Whom do you worship? What do you worship? In today's entertainment-focused society, we often emulate people such as athletes, musicians, and movie stars. People who are rich and famous allure us. Yet, they are human beings like you and me. What we truly desire and need is the healing presence of Jesus Christ. Audio - 2.08 mb High-Quality Audio - 8.33 mb Study Guide 1/19/2003 – Coming Together at the Cross, Curtiss P. DeYoung  –  sermon length 41:41 Diversity marks the world. Moreover, these differences often lead to division. Is it possible to unite around the cross of Jesus Christ? Curtiss DeYoung, Associate Professor of Reconciliation Studies at Bethel College, addressed this question in his sermon. Audio - 4.88 mb High-Quality Audio - 19.54 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 1/26/2003 – Consumer or Disciple?, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 39:14 Greg began a new sermon series on discipleship with this sermon. A natural progression from his sermons on love, discipleship is the concrete manifestation of love. It is about what love looks like in day-to-day life. Audio - 4.60 mb High-Quality Audio - 18.39 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 2/2/2003 – Welcome to the Army, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 43:13 Greg continued his sermon series on discipleship by showing that the church should be purposeful, like an army, in its interaction in the world. To help the audience to understand the rigorousness of being in an army, Greg interviewed on stage a former Marine named Anthony. Audio - 5.07 mb High-Quality Audio - 20.26 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 2/9/2003 – Reconciliation, Greg Boyd and Efrem Smith  –  sermon length 45:37 This morning Efrem Smith and Greg Boyd preached as a team on the topic of reconciliation and its centrality to the Gospel. The text for the sermon was II Corinthians 5:16-21. Audio - 5.37 mb High-Quality Audio - 21.38 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 2/16/2003 – Me, We, and the Trinity, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 49:49 Greg continued his sermon series on discipleship by preaching on the principle that what’s best for a person is when the good of the community is also considered. The world illustrates this relationship between the individual and the whole in such things as animals, the sciences, and economics. Audio - 5.84 mb High-Quality Audio - 23.35 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 2/21/2003 – Black History Month Service, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 18:43 Audio - 2.19 mb High-Quality Audio - 8.77 mb 2/23/2003 – The Matrix, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 50:13 Greg continued his series on discipleship by emphasizing the importance of controlling what we think. He focused on Romans 12:2 which reads, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing, and perfect will.” He challenged us to wake up to the transforming truth of Jesus Christ. Audio - 5.89 mb High-Quality Audio - 23.54 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 3/2/2003 – Building the Kingdom, Richard Coleman  –  sermon length 48:20 Rev. Richard Coleman of Kingdom Oil preached about making the Twin Cities God’s kingdom. He focused on the need to submit to God, as Jesus demonstrated in the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). Rev. Coleman stated that our “holy hope” – our greatest vision of what we can attain – must be in submission to God. Audio - 5.66 mb High-Quality Audio - 22.65 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 3/9/2003 – Next Steps, Efrem Smith  –  sermon length 46:14 This morning Efrem Smith preached from Philippians 2:1-5 about taking the next steps of growth in the Christian life. Efrem exhorted the congregation to step out in faith. Audio - 5.42 mb High-Quality Audio - 21.68 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 3/16/2003 – Frozen/Unfrozen, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 33:37 This morning Greg preached briefly about the healing touch of Jesus Christ. The text for the sermon came from Matthew 8:1-3, 14-15. In these verses, Jesus heals a leper and a woman’s fever by touching them. At the end of the sermon, there was an opportunity for people to receive prayer about areas in their life that need God’s touch. Audio - 3.94 mb High-Quality Audio - 15.76 mb Study Guide 3/23/2003 – Communicating with God, Part 1, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 53:46 Do you ever wonder how a person “hears” a word from God? People speak about prayer as “communication with God,” but how is it that someone listens to God? Greg addressed these questions by beginning a two-part sermon on “Communicating with God.” Audio - 6.30 mb High-Quality Audio - 25.21 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 3/30/2003 – Communicating with God, Part 2, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 46:32 This week Greg concluded this two-part sermon by giving four more principles for communicating with God. Audio - 5.45 mb High-Quality Audio - 21.81 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 4/6/2003 – Jesus In, Jesus Out - Wrong in, Blocked Out, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 43:15 Greg preached this morning about how to cultivate a perspective of giving that demonstrates freedom in Christ. He shared that accepting our culture’s matrix of lies keeps us from the natural expression of giving that should characterize a follower of Jesus. Audio - 5.07 mb High-Quality Audio - 20.28 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 4/13/2003 – Four Principles of Kingdom Giving, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 43:53 As Woodland Hills anticipates the pledge weekend for Growing in the Spirit (May 3 & 4), Greg preached about four principles of church giving. Audio - 5.14 mb High-Quality Audio - 20.58 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 4/20/2003 – The Rest of the Story (Easter), Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 42:53 This Easter morning, Greg preached about the power of Jesus’ resurrection to revolutionize our lives. To introduce the power of this new life in Christ, he contrasted it with a life not marked by the resurrection. Audio - 5.03 mb High-Quality Audio - 20.11 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 4/27/2003 – Living on the Edge, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 43:11 Greg’s sermon this morning confronted the mindset of fear and self-preservation that pervades our culture. As the church anticipates next weekend’s commitment services for Growing in the Spiri, Greg challenged us to step out in faith in light of God's love and faithfulness. Audio - 5.06 mb High-Quality Audio - 20.24 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 5/4/2003 – Faith is Love in Action, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 63:50 This morning on the commitment Sunday for Growing in the Spirit, Greg preached that the Christian life is about action. Audio - 7.48 mb High-Quality Audio - 29.92 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 5/11/2003 – The Motherhood of God, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 44:54 On this Mother’s Day, Greg preached about the vital importance of women and moms and about how they reflect God. Audio - 5.26 mb High-Quality Audio - 21.05 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 5/18/2003 – Busting out of the Matrix, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 47:43 Greg has preached numerous times about the cunning power of “the matrix” (i.e. the pattern of this world that blinds humanity to the truth of the Gospel). This morning he continued that theme by preaching about a driving aspect of the matrix, namely, the gnawing feeling of discontent that we believe we can meet through the acquisition of more things. Audio - 5.59 mb High-Quality Audio - 22.37 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 5/25/2003 – Everything You Wanted to Know About Tithing, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 45:28 In this week’s sermon Greg continued his series on stewardship by preaching about tithing (the practice of giving 10% of one’s income). Is this a law that Christians must follow? Audio - 5.33 mb High-Quality Audio - 21.31 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 6/1/2003 – Remember, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 36:36 This morning Greg spoke about “remembering” as a way of moving forward in life. He used two Scripture passages as the basis for his sermon. One text illustrates the wrong way to remember and the other the right way. Audio - 4.18 mb High-Quality Audio - 16.7 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 6/8/2003 – Training for the Kingdom, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 49:09 This morning Greg continued his series on discipleship by speaking about the rationale for living a disciplined life, and how this type of life affects our present situation. The main text was 1 Corinthians 9:23-27 where Paul exhorts his readers to live a life marked by an eternal purpose that displays a commitment to discipline that would rival that of an “Olympic” athlete. Audio - 5.62 mb High-Quality Audio - 22.5 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 6/15/2003 – It's Time to Be Healed, Peggy Riley  –  sermon length 45:45 On this Father’s Day, Peggy Riley preached about the healing power of God the Father through Jesus Christ. In particular, Peggy focused on the release from bondage that God provides to those suffering from generational curses. God’s intention for us is not to live captive to such things, but instead to live abundantly, experiencing the fullness of God’s blessings. Audio - 5.29 mb High-Quality Audio - 20.9 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 6/22/2003 – Pregnant With Jesus, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 45:27 Greg continued his series on discipleship by preaching on the nature of kingdom training. Galatians 4:19-20 served as the text for a message about two competing models of discipleship: the legal-religious model and the love-relational model. Audio - 5.20 mb High-Quality Audio - 20.8 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 6/29/2003 – The Road that Leads to Death, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 42:21 This morning Greg preached about four steps that characterize the road to spiritual death. He emphasized that spiritual formation happens regardless of whether or not a person is intentional. Thus, we can become increasingly formed into the likeness of Christ through our participation in the divine nature (see 2 Peter 1:4), or we can turn away from God. This morning Greg focused on the latter. What typifies the road to spiritual death? Audio - 4.84 mb High-Quality Audio - 19.3 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 7/6/2003 – Clashing Kingdom, Richard Coleman  –  sermon length 46:11 Richard Coleman preached about the clashing kingdoms of Satan and God. The death and resurrection of Christ has fundamentally secured the Kingdom of God’s victory over Satan. However, a real battle still persists between God and Satan until Christ’s return. Disciples of Jesus will inevitability experience the reality of this conflict. Scripture states that the devil prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). We must stand our ground in Christ. Audio - 5.28 mb High-Quality Audio - 19.3 mb Study Guide 7/13/2003 – Dying to Self, Part 1, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 38:26 This morning Greg continued his series on discipleship by preaching about the necessity of dying to self. Expounding on Luke 14:25-28, Greg stated that God’s call “to hate” family and self does not literally mean hate, but instead is a figure of speech used in ancient times to emphasize meaning. Audio - 4.39 mb High-Quality Audio - 17.5 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 7/20/2003 – Dying to Self, Part 2, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 43:13 Greg continued his sermon from last week by illustrating in three areas how dying to self makes a difference in living for Christ. Audio - 5.07 mb High-Quality Audio - 20.26 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 7/27/2003 – Dying to Self, Part 3, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 42:35 This week Greg continued his series on dying to self and its connection to discipleship by illustrating how this change radically alters a person’s perspective on individuality. Audio - 4.99 mb High-Quality Audio - 19.97 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 8/3/2003 – How the Dead View Others, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 42:51 This week Greg continued his series on dying to self and its connection to discipleship by illustrating how this change radically alters how a person views others. Audio - 5.02 mb High-Quality Audio - 20.09 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 8/10/2003 – Dying and Wealth, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 39:03 Greg concluded his sermon series on “Dying to Self” by preaching about how a person’s identity rooted in Jesus Christ changes his or her perspective on wealth and comfort. Audio - 4.47 mb High-Quality Audio - 17.8 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 8/16/2003 – Life After Death, Dwayne Polk  –  sermon length 38:34 Audio - 4.41 mb High-Quality Audio - 17.6 mb Presentation Slides 8/17/2003 – The Barbarian Way Out of Civilization, Erwin McManus  –  sermon length 43:00 This morning Erwin McManus, Senior Pastor at Mosaic Church in Los Angeles, challenged the congregation to live passionately for Jesus. He exhorted the congregation to recapture the essence of the “barbaric” attitude of a new Christian. God desires that we live with abandonment. Audio - 4.92 mb High-Quality Audio - 19.6 mb Study Guide 8/24/2003 – Synergy, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 45:16 Greg stated that an understanding of discipleship as “synergistic” (where God and humanity work together) steers away from polarizing extremes that typically characterize people’s understanding. Audio - 5.18 mb High-Quality Audio - 20.7 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 8/31/2003 – Transaction or Connection?, Mark Stromberg  –  sermon length 44:12 Mark preached from John 4:4-30, 39-42, the famous passage that records Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman. Mark stated that this section of Scripture illustrates the difference between transactional relationships and relationships that connect with people. Audio - 5.05 mb High-Quality Audio - 20.2 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 9/7/2003 – God of Etcetera, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 46:30 This weekend Greg examined Ephesians 3:16-19 and found that this passage contains the ultimate goal of all discipleship. Not only is the goal stated here, but also the means by which we can achieve it. Audio - 5.32 mb High-Quality Audio - 21.2 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 9/14/2003 – Becoming a Detective of Your Brain, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 38:57 For some reason, even though we have accepted Christ in our lives, certain things about us are very difficult to change. Is changing these bad behaviors a lost cause? No. God is working with us for change, and we must take proactive responsibility for what is going on in our brains. Audio - 4.45 mb High-Quality Audio - 17.8 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 9/21/2003 – Spiritual Warfare, Ted Roberts  –  sermon length 50:27 The "good fight" is the one you win! This sermon focused on how to fight "the good fight." There are four things we need to know: 1) The enemy’s tactics, 2) the enemy’s weapons, 3) our tactics and 4) our weapons. Audio - 5.77 mb High-Quality Audio - 23.0 mb Study Guide 9/28/2003 – The Nature of Faith, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 44:33 This week Greg explored the difference faith can make in our attempts to "take captive every thought" in order to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Ultimately the point is to know the truth and let that truth transform your reality. Audio - 5.10 mb High-Quality Audio - 20.3 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 10/5/2003 – Deciding to Follow Jesus, Dwayne Polk  –  sermon length 65:37 Dwayne Polk’s message this week continued in the line of Greg’s ongoing focus on discipleship this year. Polk described the decision whether or not to follow Christ as a “choice of critical significance.” Audio - 7.51 mb High-Quality Audio - 30.0 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 10/12/2003 – Letting Go of the Grail, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 44:03 Letting go of our own desires, rights, conveniences, pleasure, wealth, and security is necessary if we are to serve a master other than ourselves. If we do choose Jesus, we must die to our own agendas so that in Christ, we can really live. Christianity is an all or nothing decision. Audio - 5.04 mb High-Quality Audio - 20.1 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 10/19/2003 – Jesus on the Street, Sandra Unger  –  sermon length 32:00 Through the touching stories that Sandra relayed, we can see that Christ truly is to be found among the "least of these." Most of us are able to hide our pain beneath the façade of nice clothes, stable living situations, good friends and family support, but do we understand that we too are the least? We must never forget that we are all, always, desperately in need of God. Audio - 3.66 mb High-Quality Audio - 14.6 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 10/26/2003 – Peter Pan Escapes the Matrix, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 45:24 In Christ, we are radically free from the things that bind us to this world. The problem is that we have been brainwashed and led to believe lies about ourselves that prevent us from being what we were created to be. Do we trust our own thoughts about ourselves and others or do we believe what God says? Audio - 5.19 mb High-Quality Audio - 20.7 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 11/2/2003 – Feelings, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 39:33 It is important to note that Greg tied this discipleship series to our church's Vision Statement. We are called by God for a purpose, part of which is being discipled into spiritually empowered people. In this message Greg explored how we can guard our hearts. We cannot "will" to feel differently about things, but we CAN change how we think and represent things in our minds. Our feelings will follow. Audio - 4.52 mb High-Quality Audio - 18.1 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 11/9/2003 – How Beautiful, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 44:15 Greg's sermon this week was a reflection on several texts with a guiding theme of "overcoming duplicity." To work toward overcoming duplicity we need to ask the following set of questions: What is duplicity? How can it be overcome? What replaces it? Audio - 5.06 mb High-Quality Audio - 20.2 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 11/16/2003 – Zooming Out, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 41:40 This week Greg talked about a problem that we all experience: joylessness. We read in Scripture that God is joyful and he desires for us to experience joy too! We need to experience the Joy of the Lord if we are to live an empowered spiritual life in Christ. Joy strengthens us to endure the difficulties of life here and now. Audio - 4.77 mb High-Quality Audio - 19.0 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 11/23/2003 – A Brightly Colored Shirt, Kevin Johnson  –  sermon length 38:14 This week Kevin Johnson, our Community Pastor, brought a powerful message dealing with our hearts. He described the "heart" as the center of human existence, where our human abilities to love, marvel, and dream reside. We are able to experience events and truths deeply in profoundly empathetic ways. In this way the heart really demonstrates the truth of our being created in God’s image. Audio - 4.37 mb High-Quality Audio - 17.5 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 11/30/2003 – Joy Corkers, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 36:51 Recently Greg has been speaking about the Joy of the Lord and how we are intended to participate in that joy. This week’s sermon addressed two common ways that joy can be "corked" and restricted in our lives. The first is the "Savior Complex" and the second is the "Payback Complex." Both complexes rob us of the joy that God intends for us. Audio - 4.21 mb High-Quality Audio - 16.8 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 12/7/2003 – Communion and Holiness, Donna Stoesz  –  sermon length 27:55 During this service we participated in communion and had an opportunity for people to receive prayer and healing. Donna Stoesz, one of our prayer warriors here at Woodland Hills, led us into this time of renewal and restoration. Audio - 3.19 mb High-Quality Audio - 12.7 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 12/14/2003 – The Free-for-All God, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 48:01 This week Greg discussed the familiar story of the three wise men in Matthew 2. As it turns out, there were not three of them, they were not wise by biblical standards and they were not kings, as has been assumed by many over the generations. So what is going on here? Audio - 5.49 mb High-Quality Audio - 21.9 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 12/21/2003 – Letting God into Your Box, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 47:41 This week Greg again focused our attention on the story of the Magi from the east (Mt 2:1-11). God was willing to "get in the box" with these astrologers, to "speak their language" as it were, even though it required that God suspend his ethical opinions about their way of life. God's love for astrologers was greater than his hatred for astrology. Audio - 5.45 mb High-Quality Audio - 21.8 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide 12/24/2003 – The Star of Bethlehem, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 32:55 What was it about the star in the sky that convinced the Magi that a king (THE king) had been born in Judea? In his Christmas Eve message, Greg examined the astrological significance this star held for the Magi and showed how modern astronomy confirms the biblical account. Audio - 3.76 mb High-Quality Audio - 15.0 mb Presentation Slides 12/28/2003 – Pressing on in 2004, Greg Boyd  –  sermon length 48:42 94% of all New Year's resolutions fail. Bringing about permanent change in the way we think and live is very difficult. Yet the Bible says we are to be continually changing into the likeness of Christ. In this message Greg discussed how we can work with God to bring about permanent change in our lives. Audio - 5.57 mb High-Quality Audio - 22.2 mb Presentation Slides Study Guide