Good News Church – Yukon, OK

Be the Answer

It is a wonderful thing to have your prayer answered by God. Some have referred to the passage of Jeremiah 33:3 as "God's phone number" in that it describes how to get God' attention. But the reality is actually quite simple: God will answer you whenever you call out to him. God will not abandon us in our time of need. His love for us means he will answer to us as a good heavenly father. God's answer to us will show us things that were hidden previously -- all we have to do is call out to hi...

Speak Lord

Last week I shared about visions to you. While I would not say visions are an often occurrence for me, they are always a blessing to receive and do their part to reveal something to me that God is trying to communicate. In the passage of 1 Samuel, we see the biblical precedent for God speaking outside of the written word to people to directly connect with his spiritual children. At a young age the future prophet Samuel was called by God in a manner which seemed audible to him. We must keep o...

A Faithful Father

On this Father's day I would like to talk to you about your heavenly father. Even for those who never knew their earthly father, or had a poor relationship with them, God is there as the model example of fatherhood for each one of us. The gospel of Luke describes the story of the prodigal son, one who threw away everything his father had given him and took it for granted. And yet when he returned, the father embraced him and threw a banquet to celebrate his return. Our heavenly father holds ...

Write the Vision

In my sixty years of life, God has given me various dreams and visions. Tonight I'd like to discuss seven of these with you and describe the impact they have had on me. The Old Testament has a passage in which the prophet Habakkuk is instructed to "write the vision and make it plain upon tablets." I believe that whenever we are given a vision by God that it is important for us to record it and allow its message to live on far better than our feeble memory could allow it to. By meditating on ...

Finishing Strong

Hebrews 12 speaks on the importance of us running our race. Whether you are conscious of it or not, you are in a race, a spiritual one. You have been called to run it with endurance and excellence. Our ability to fulfill this call can be hindered by sins and other earthly attachments. In these latter days it is even moreso important to exhibit endurance in your race you run, as the great cloud of witnesses in the heroes of the faith have done before us.

New Covenant Confessions

I want to continue on with the topic of words with you all. I think it's interesting that Proverbs states that "death and life are in the power of the tongue," putting death before life. I believe this serves to emphasize the incredible destructive power that words can have to the reader ensuring we take care. Tonight however I would like to cover the New Testament and its various passages of words being spoken to give life to a situation. These instances can serve as confessions for us to b...

The Power of Death & Life

I am continuing my series on the power of words, in particular the power of life and death that is held in your words. Our words have a way of lifting us up, like through praise. They are also just as capable as limiting us. It is therefore of utmost important to reflect on our words. Why? Your sayings can undo your prayings. Our time in prayer is not the only time where words matter, as our words spoken whenever are just as capable of bringing about physical and spiritual change.

The Power of Words!

In our faith the words we speak have immense value. The act of salvation itself is said by the Bible to be partially an act of speech, describing that by the act of confession salvation is brought about. Our words can affect three worlds: the one we are living in, the spirit world, and the demonic realm. I want to recap today what I have been covering recently in Wednesday night messages what I have been speaking over words and emphasize to you their importance.

What Jesus Said about Words

I would like to continue on with the concept of the power of words, this time focusing on what Jesus said about the power of words in the gospels. Words can linger in your spirit for a very long time, and the positive and negative statements of others can stick with you for even a lifetime. We have all been witnesses of how a kind word from someone brings us joy, or a hurtful comment tears us down and takes a long time to recover from. It is therefore important to observe what Jesus had to s...

You Are Important

I feel that there is a power in the thought of "people don't realize how important their life is." Your life is tremendously important regardless of what stage you are in or what you have done. You can have the sole power in some cases to make a difference in someone else's life. We have all been on the receiving side of this, where our life was forever impacted because of the actions of someone else.

How God Judges

I'm going to continue my message from several weeks ago which focused on why our words matter. Even if we are taking care to not speak profanity or unwholesome talk, there is still attention that should be paid to the words we are speaking in terms of what we are speaking over ourselves. The Bible states that God will judge us on terms of the words we have said. If we have spoken life or death, those will judge us.

The Wise Woman

I am grateful for the role that women have had in church history and that they continue to have. The first person to accept Christ in the continent of Europe that we know of was a woman named Lydia, and the gospels also describe a number of women who ministered to the Lord. Proverbs 31 describes several criteria of what makes such a "wise" woman who is in tune with spiritual principles and not wasteful, lazy, or vain. Such a "Proverbs 31 woman" makes for an excellent companion and spiritual ...

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A Great Marriage

What makes for a great marriage? God puts a priority on marriage, in fact, it was his idea. A good marriage does not only benefit itself -- it will benefit your career, mental health, and almost every other area you can imagine. People can develop an erroneous idea that they can compartmentalize their marriage, but it affects every part of your life, serving as part of your spiritual core. I'd like to explore what Scripture has to say about this subject and hopefully bring some enrichment to...

Why Words Matter

I had a birthday a few months ago and turned 60. I felt that now was a good time for me to develop a 10 year plan to set out goals and things to work toward. One of the main tenets is the desire I have to think about the words that are spoken out of my mouth. The harvest created by your words can be either bad or good. God is merciful to us but ultimately the words we say will control the outcome. I want to dive into the scriptural backing behind the reasoning that our words matter tonight. ...

Mental Wholeness

Did you know God wants people to not only be whole physically, but also mentally and emotionally? In the book of Job, we read about a man who went through a very difficult period in his life. He lost all of his children, his wife, all of his possessions, and every last thing he considered important. The book of Job is essentially him processing all of this. And yet we see at the end, Job is in better condition in ever, God having restored all these things to him, eventually dying an old man ...

The Bridge Builder

God calls us not to burn bridges, but to build them. We are called to restore people and relationships, and the shortest surviving letter of Paul's centers on this concept. Paul had received and ministered to an escaped slave named Onesimus. Upon sending the slave back to his master, Philemon, Paul wrote, urging that Philemon send the slave back to Paul in order that Paul might free him and continue to minister to him. This touchy subject demonstrates the importance of maintaining relationsh...

The Key to Success

In October 2019, I wrote a journal entry where I recorded how I had asked the Lord what life adjustment I could make to have a greater impact on his kingdom. During the night, I felt God deal with me about the importance of meditating the word. I knew that God was saying if I would meditate God's word regularly, I would be more effective to him. I saw a comparison between a strong engine and the heart that is strengthened by meditation, in that they are both tuned to do what they are intende...

Comfort for the Brokenhearted

One of the greatest blessings God gave me in this world was an older brother. He in some ways was like a father to me and is someone I truly look up to. Family is a dear thing that God has given us on earth, and nothing is more crushing than the death of a family member. Grief can shadow all of the joy in your life and cause you to temporarily forget the blessings God has given you. Even more hope can be found in knowing that if the family member was a follower of God, they are now communing...

Humility before Honor

Each year I attempt to come at the resurrection of Christ from a new angle, and this year I would like to focus on the biblical concept of humility before honor. God rewards humility and a self-awareness in a world that is all about "me". Christ gave the ultimate example of humility in the Passion week - he was whipped, scorned, spit upon, and beaten. And yet three days later, he had risen as the king of kings and lord of lords. The believer may undergo a similar transformation in God's eyes...

Abundant Living

When I first began reading the Bible as a high schooler, I realized so many of the passages warned about money and greed. Indeed, there are many people who fell astray in the Bible due to the unyielding influence of money on their decision making. And yet we must recognize that the Bible does not say money is evil, only that the love of it is. God wants to provide our needs and allow us to live in this world which requires money. There are many Bible passages that speak of God's blessing on ...

Make Room

Often there is a question of what happened between the death of Jesus and his resurrection. We are given a glimpse into that interval in the passage Ephesians 4, where it is said that Jesus descended down into the earth before ascending up into the heavens. One sentence stands out in particular: "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." What are these gifts he gave? Jesus gave us his spirit and its many gifts. These gifts empower us and enable us to carr...

The God of Plenty

What does the Bible have to say about God's plan for us being blessed in life? There can often be some opposition to stating the belief that God wants to bless us in ways other than just non-financial. The simple truth is that Satan does not want you to be blessed, but God wants to provide for you and meet your needs. The prosperity God wishes to bring you is whole -- meeting your physical, spiritual, and, yes, financial needs. God truly is our God of plenty.

Run with Purpose

We live in a day where there are a lot of distractions and ways to get sidetracked off the main thing. Of course, the main thing in Christianity is to love the Lord our God and to love our neighbor. The main thing is to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. It is obvious from these statements that we are called to run with purpose. God has not called us to haphazardly pursue his purpose for us but instead to move intentionally and with focus. When thinking about the word "...

God's Abundant Provision

The Bible talks about blessings for you, but not only spiritual ones. There is a biblical basis for God blessing his people with material blessings. While we won't have any need for physical possessions in eternity, the fact is that to live in this world money is a requirement. My hope is that we can go through several scriptures that demonstrate this biblical truth and bring you enlightenment. While there is a view of money that is unbiblical, that of greed, this should not cause us to disc...

How Prayer Shapes Nations

I believe that despite the darkness of our times, God is going to do a great work and manifest his glory. Psalms 75:7 says, "But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another." We can feel powerless in a world seemingly ruled by enemies of God, but it must be remembered that God is sovereign and fully in control of the situation. There is no ruler who has arisen that God was surprised by. He will bring about his master plan of the ages, and we must hold strong to our faith in...

God's Plan for Increase

I grew up in a good church, but if you had asked me at the time to tell you what the Bible says about money, I would have only had negative things to say from the Bible. Certainly, the Bible does warn against greed and the dangerous pursuit of money. However, I was not fully exposed to the other side of the Bible's relationship to money, its promise that God will provide our needs and bless us. We see an example of this in the earliest forefathers of Israel, in God's blessing toward Abraham,...

The Good Life

Are you living God's good life he has planned for every believer? The Bible describes a very specific life that God would desire his children live. It is important to not stumble in your Christian life and become caught up in anger, jealousy, or disunity. Therefore, it is crucial that the believer exercise thankfulness, avoid bitterness, and possess longevity. If you can get these three areas right, many other parts of your life will comes together in holy unity.

God's Financial Plan

God has a financial plan for everyone. Just as he has a plan that relates to your health, marriage, or family, he also has a plan for and cares about your finances. The simple fact is that to live on this earth, money is required, and God is well aware of his. Throughout the Bible, God states that he will provide for his people and take care of us. In the book of Genesis, we see that Israel's earliest ancestors were greatly blessed by God, to help fulfill his plan he had for the Hebrews. God...

Supernatural Strength

Do you know how old Moses was when he died? The Bible says he was 120 years old, and yet his body was still in excellent condition: "His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." The Bible describes that for those who possess faith and do God's will, God extends a supernatural strength toward them to help them fulfill their mission. For Moses, it was leading the children of Israel into the promised land. While we are not all tasked with freeing a nation, the purpose for which God has p...

Complete in Christ

Who are you in Christ? What belongs to you in Christ? I am not referring to things that require much prayer and fasting to obtain from God. These are things we have inherited as part of our rebirth in Christ. Colossians 2:10 states that we are "complete in Him." The Bible speaks in both a past and present tense about God's work in us. We have been redeemed, but are also a continual work of bringing about holiness. While the Bible speaks of contentment, it does not speak of complacency. We mu...

Because He Lives

I would like to talk to you about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and its implication on our lives today that it holds. I don't want to come across like I am telling you something you don't know already -- I am talking about something very fundamental to our faith. This belief is losing ground in younger American generations according to polls, and thus it is essential to hold onto our greatest assurance of faith, the knowledge that on the third day Jesus was raised from the dead. Here I ho...

You Are Complete in Christ

I want to speak to you about the completeness of the believer when they are in Christ. As a transformed individual through the saving power of the blood of Jesus, we have access to a completeness of that comes through faith. This completeness comes about because of Christ's triumph in death and resurrection. As Colossians 2:15 states, "He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him." The believer has access to this same empowerment, if they ...

Overcoming an Offense

At some point in all of our lives, something is going to happen that rubs us the wrong way or hurts our feelings. It can feel like life isn't fair -- but as someone wise once told me, the fair only comes to town once a year. The Bible lays out a model for how to handle offenses in a way that glorifies God, especially in the story of John the Baptist. John was the forerunner to Jesus the Messiah, but he found himself in prison due to speaking out against Herod. When he sent his disciples to J...

Raise Your Expectations

Some members of our church and myself had a great meeting at the Oklahoma Capitol recently. I had been asked to speak there that night and felt that God had impressed upon me a special message that I would like to share to you all. I think anytime there is a new year there can be a question of if God has any words or messages to say about the upcoming year. I believe that an understanding of God's promises in the Bible is a basis for believing great things in this new year. If you raise your...

No Strife

My message is simple: no strife. Zero. None. Strife divides us. It has a way of creating open doors for the devil to come in and fulfill his mission of killing, stealing, and destroying. There can be a mindset of immaturity that invades us and tries to get us to pin all our problems on another person. But often, it is us who is in need of prayer. When you get into strife, you get out of love, joy, and peace. It is essential that you learn to avoid strife as described in the Bible.

Five Lessons on Tithing

I would like to follow up on my last message tonight with a discussion of a Christian's role of generosity in relation to their treasures - specifically, I would like to talk about a biblical basis for tithing. I have gathered five lessons on tithing to share with you that I hope will bring you much insight. Tithing is not fundraising, it is instead God's way of raising Christians to grow in character and trust. It is his way to teach us stewardship over what he has given us. After his ultim...

Time, Talent, & Treasures

I want to talk about three words: time, talents, and treasures. What do these three words have to do with your life? Your giving will always come from one of these three categories. It can be giving of your time, abilities, or wealth. John 3:16 is the most popular verse in the Bible, and it mentions a very impactful action of giving linked to God's loving of humanity. How do you make a difference in the world? You can't make a difference if you are unwilling to give.

The Habit of Rest

I want to talk to you on a habit that I want you to develop in the coming year. It is the habit of rest. You see, if you don't have a habit of rest, you're going to have a habit of worry. Worry can indeed be a habit, resulting in nervous energy in us and forcing us to believe something bad is around the corner. One thing we know about Jesus and his life in the gospels is that he had a habit of rest. It is my hope that we can all learn to be like Jesus in this regard.

Four Lessons about Reaping

I'd like to speak to you about generosity and its role in being the seed that we sow and later reap the results of. We reap in proportion to what we sow, and we reap what we sow: it is important we be sowing the right things and in the amounts we will be satisfied with when they come back to us. It is essential to be spirit-led in your generosity. As the Bible says, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."

Blessed Are the Works of Your Hands

Deuteronomy 28:1-8: This is my prayer for a new year, for myself and for you. This book was written as a reciting of the law for the nation of Israel, to remember God's laws and ways of blessing them. God promised Israel that they would be blessed more than any of the nations of the world, and from the various accounts in the Bible we know this was fulfilled in their various battles or endeavors. I believe that this passage is just as applicable for modern-day Christians, as we are God's peo...

Start a Prayer Journal

Going into a new year it is essential to have the proper mentality about your prayer life. I sincerely believe that one of the biggest improvements you can make to your prayer life is the addition of writing down your requests. Jesus warned many times in the gospel against letting our prayers become vain repetition. I believe that the risk of not writing down a request is that we forget we asked it, and then go on to again and again ask it, instead of believing that God will make good on his...

A Merry Heart

The Bible teaches that "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." In this age where there are so many things that can crush the spirit, it is important to maintain a spiritually merry heart. God is a God of encouragement to the believer and does not wish that we be despondent or pressed down. It is for this reason that God wishes us to proclaim the ultimate joy to people, the good news of salvation in Jesus. Joy comes about through preaching of the gospel, and is fundamental in a spirituall...

Faith for a New Year

There have been many times when the Lord made clear to me the things that would happen in the year ahead. While he does not always act on a timescale the human mind can comprehend, I can often look back after a year and realize what God did for me. It is important to remember that this progress from God is often incremental, and we must keep faith while we await its full delivery. Thus, as we go into the new year, I would like to talk to you about the importance of faith going into a new yea...

Change Your Words, Change Your World

Wednesday night I felt called by God to do a message on words. I dug on my computer that night and managed to find a sermon outline I had made in 2006. I had so many positive comments in response to this message, and I felt it would be good to review this message as a complete church family today. The simple fact is that changing your words you speak over your life is often all you need to massively change your world. The things in your life you are unsatisfied with could be the result of th...

Framing Your World with God's Word

I would like to share out of the book of Proverbs 18:21. It says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." Whether you realize it or not, you got saved because of the power of words. The tongue produces not only words, but also makes an impact and brings about what we speak. Some people may want to exclude some details and say only life is in the power of the tongue, but the Bible is clear that where the tongue can bring about life i...

Be a Shepherd

The shepherds are a central element of the Christmas story. They came from the fields hoping to see Christ through earnest desire of seeking God, and were rewarded for their effort. But in addition to coming and seeing, they went out and told others about what they said seen, proclaiming Christ. The believer should desire to be like a shepherd in these two regards: we should seek Christ, and speak Christ to others.

The Christmas Story

It is important to not let the familiar Christmas story become dull to one and fail to hear the great insights contained. Tonight, I'd like to talk over some points of interest and obtain biblical truths from the iconic moments known by billions around the world. In this story we observe a variety of attributes of God displayed, his providence in organizing the events, and his bringing of the shepherds to be among the first to take in the Christ child. A truly amazing story that would change...

Gold, Frankincense, & Myrrh

In the Christmas story, one of the most memorable and iconic group of individuals are the wise men. Despite not living among the people of God or following the law, they were led out of their own scholarly studies of the stars toward the Christ. From the moment Jesus came to this earth, it was obvious that he came to Jews and Gentiles alike. A tremendous attribute these three displayed was their generosity toward a baby they did not even know. Their generosity was blessed by God and is an ex...

An Attitude Adjustment

I want to speak about an attitude adjustment. I think all of us know what that term means: it refers to the need to adjust one's outlook or response toward various life events. Just as one can go to a chiropractor and have their back adjusted, it is possible to receive an attitude adjustment from the right source. We are in the holiday season, and much of what you can receive out of these times is determined by a good attitude.