Brooklyn Tabernacle - Audio Sermons Feed

What honors God? Not perfection. Rahab, a prostitute, was honored by God. Why? She risked her life to side with the Israelites—by faith. If God was honored by perfect holiness, who would He honor? We’re all sinners. Rahab had some things to straighten out, but she dared to stand by faith. Let’s be courageous and stand for Jesus today. Faith always has its reward.

Sometimes walking by faith means doing things that don’t make sense. God told Joshua, “March around Jericho silently for seven days. Then blow the trumpets and shout!” The people must have wondered how in the world that would give them victory. But they did it by faith. Has God asked you to do something that you don’t understand? Walk by faith and not by sight.

Are you discouraged, thinking that God doesn’t care about your need? Too often we lose our grip on faith, but Jesus empathizes with weaknesses! The enemy wants to steal God’s blessing on our lives, but we need to fight back by approaching God’s throne of grace. What’s your need today? Don’t lose your grip. God has enough power to move the mountains in your life.

Maybe today you are facing a Red Sea. It’s scary, yet you hear God saying, “Move on. Go! Trust Me.” But those walls of water on either side! Will they crash down? We want a guarantee that God will take us safely through, but He says, “March! Go forward by faith.” Don’t panic; keep your eyes on Jesus. The just shall live by faith.

Do you believe that Jesus’ blood is enough to cleanse you from your sin? When God told Moses to put the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts to be saved from the death angel, he had to believe God. And by faith he obeyed. If you too believe God and apply Jesus’ blood to your heart and conscience, no judgment will come upon you, because Christ bore your judgment. Let’s do it today.

Moses saw the invisible. How? By faith. Too often we look at our deteriorating situations, and we get anxious and nervous and despairing. But when our hearts perceive God as His Word becomes alive in us, we see Jesus, and we know that we know that He is with us. Don’t look just at what you see physically. Look at God today, and see what He can do.

The church today has lost its awareness of our glorious hope: Christ’s return and our going to heaven to be with Him. But Moses understood it, for Hebrews 11:26 says that “he was looking ahead to his reward.” He thought, “God has something better for me down the road, and I’m going to walk by faith, even if I suffer.” No hardship is worthy to be compared with the glory that God is preparing for us.

Identifying with Christ can mean difficulty. Are we willing for that? Moses was. By faith, he said, “No, I’m not Egyptian; I’m Hebrew,” even though it meant leaving the palace and joining the mistreated Israelites. But hardship is only for a season. Jesus is coming back to take us home! Let’s leave the pleasures of sin and identify with Jesus today.

Moses had it all. He was Pharaoh’s daughter’s son, after all. Then he realized, “Wait a minute. I’m a Hebrew.” So by faith he said, “I’m not identifying with what’s easy. I’m identifying with who I really am in God.” We Christians can be so tepid. Who are you—Democrat, Republican, white, black, southern, American? Or by faith will you boldly say, “No, I’m a Christian.” Let’s be courageous. Let’s walk by faith.

What did Jacob, Joseph, and Moses have in common? They were so sure of God’s promises that they acted in faith—even when the answers didn’t come until after they had died! When the invisible promises of God are made real to our hearts, and we know with absolute surety what God has said, we act on those promises. Let’s believe God with all our hearts and then do what He tells us to do.

We go to church; we read our Bibles; we pray. But in Psalm 50, we find out that even when we’re doing all the right things, God still calls us to account sometimes. Why? Because we forget to thank Him. God judges His people and says, “Don’t just give Me your regular routine. Sacrifice thank offerings to Me!” Let’s thank God every day, every hour, for every single thing He does for us.

Some of us don’t believe that God can reveal anything—and our church services reflect it. But just as God revealed blessings to Isaac, and Isaac spoke them over his sons by faith, so the Lord will speak to us too by His Spirit. We don’t want fake emotionalism, but we do want the faith that the Holy Spirit wants to create in us. Let’s expect God to bring the supernatural to bear in our daily living.

Abraham had waited years for a son, but then God said, “Offer Isaac to Me as a sacrifice.” What? But God was testing him—and he passed the test. When God asks us to do what makes no sense, we can reason, like Abraham did, “God promised me good, so I know that He will make this work. He will never fail in His promise to me.” Let’s glorify God with our faith, believing that He will bring us through.

What are you tolerating in your life that’s offending the Lord? Even as Christians, we put up with things that hurt us and hold us back. Yes, we should be tolerant of people, loving them, being patient with them. But as Jesus told the churches in the book of Revelation, we should never tolerate sin. If we love the Lord, we should love what He loves and hate what He hates.

Is heaven on your mind? When we don’t have faith, we settle down on this earth—and our hopes and fears go up and down with news headlines and the market numbers. But God wants us to walk above all that by faith, focused not on this world but on the kingdom of heaven. If you’re worried about politics or the economy, get heaven on your mind. Our great hope is going home to be with Jesus.

A lot of people don’t believe that Jesus is coming back again. You can tell by the way they live. But to the men and women of faith in Hebrews 11, heaven was so real that they lived as strangers and foreigners on Earth. Faith brings a consciousness of God, His promises, the value of a soul—the invisible things of eternity. We can live by sight, or we can live by faith. Let’s walk by faith.

The faith of Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child started with a promise from God. Faith is not “If I believe hard enough, it’ll happen” or dreaming something into existence. It has to be initiated by God. Then, when His promise is a long time coming, we can keep believing, because God said it would happen. What has God spoken to you? Believe Him today. God is good.

Everyone God has greatly used throughout church history has had to leave what they’re used to and go to a new place. Sometimes we get our definitions more from our church cultures than from God’s Word, and God says, “Leave.” That’s what He told Abraham—and John Wesley, and George Whitfield, and William Booth, and many others. To be used by God, we need to step out in faith.

Too many Christians are not just in the world, they’re of the world. But anyone who is walking with Jesus by faith is a pilgrim on this earth. We should never settle down in this world, because God has something far better for us! Like Abraham, we should be looking forward to the heavenly city God has promised us and be shaped by its values. This world is not our home; heaven is.

There’s one thing that always accompanies faith: obedience. Abraham had no idea how leaving home and going to an unknown land would work out, but when God asked him to do it, he obeyed. What is God asking us to do? Let’s do it. Like Abraham, let’s believe God so completely that we don’t just intellectually agree with Him but we act on our faith in Him.

When Abraham got to the promised land, you’d think he would have built himself a nice, big house to settle down in. But he lived in tents, like a stranger in a strange land, his entire life. Why? He was looking forward to heaven. The promises of God were more real to him than the earth around him. By faith, let’s live as strangers in this world. Soon we’ll go home and see Jesus.

The first thing God ever said to Abraham was, “Get out of town. I have great plans to bless you, but not where you are.” Not everyone should leave home, but the greatest stories in the Bible are about people who left the familiar to go to something God had for them. It might feel scary, but when we step out in faith to obey the Shepherd, goodness and mercy will follow us all our lives

What would you do if God told you, “Leave your home, your job, your church, and I’ll show you where to go”? We like security, predictability, five-year plans. But Abraham didn’t even have a five-minute plan! He obeyed God, not knowing where he was going. That’s not emotionalism or fanaticism. It’s true biblical faith. Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to lead us.

Noah didn’t see any rain, but when God told him to build an ark, he did it. By faith, he was sure that if God had warned of a flood, there would be a flood. God has warned us too of judgment to come—and He has sent us an ark named Jesus. Are you in that ark? By faith, trust Jesus, and when judgment comes, He will be your salvation.

For many of us, God is a subject in our minds that we study. But God is not a subject. He’s a living person. He is. How few of us have a living God! Our lives would completely change if we walked in the faith that Jesus is with us—listening to us, watching us, directing us moment by moment. This isn’t mysticism. It’s the life that pleases God.

God can be made happy, and He can be made sad. So what displeases Him? When we walk in unbelief. “I’m never going to make it; the world is against me.” That’s not faith. God rewards those who trust Him and come to Him and pray, “God, I’m asking You to meet my needs.” Remember Paul’s statement of faith: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Let’s make God happy today.

Paul, the greatest Christian we know of, said, “Pray for me.” He had been to the third heaven and seen things he couldn’t even talk about, yet he asked ordinary Christians to pray for him and his ministry. How much more do we, pastors and lay people, need prayer? Let’s not let pride keep us from asking others to pray for us. As we ask, Jesus will work through us in power.

As Christians, we have faith that God has washed away our past sins. But we also need faith to live for God every day. Actually, we need to trust Him hour by hour—talking to Him, praising Him, walking with Him. If God can keep us for one hour, then He can keep us for the next hour! Enoch understood that, and that’s why God was pleased with Him. Let’s trust God every hour today.

Not everything we do in the name of God pleases Him. Hebrews 11 tells us that God was happy with Abel’s offering—but not Cain’s. Why? Because Abel gave his offering by faith. We can serve God mechanically, out of duty or routine, or we can serve Him by faith—leaning on Him, trusting Him, communing with Him. It’s not our service alone that pleases God but our faith.

What problem are you facing? If God created the entire universe just by speaking it into existence, then no problem of ours is so big that He can’t handle it. Our God, who created everything out of nothing, is even tender enough that He sent Jesus to die for us and to touch our hearts with His grace and love. God never says to us, “I can’t do that.” Nothing is impossible with Him.

God is impressed by one thing: faith. Never once did Jesus say, “Wow, is that guy smart!” or “Did you hear the woman sing?” Instead, He commended people like David, Abraham, and Sarah, not because they were perfect, but because of their faith. These people banked their lives on God’s promises—and so should we. What’s concerning you today? Give it to the Lord, and honor God with your faith.

Too often we say, “I prayed on Tuesday, and now it’s Thursday, and nothing’s happened. God, where are You?” But we need to be like the men and women in the Bible who were commended for their faith. They so trusted God, so received His word to them, that they banked their lives on it. We can be confident and assured that whatever God has spoken to us, it is real. He will bring it to pass.

God doesn’t commend our intelligence; He knows everything. He doesn’t commend our wealth; He owns everything. He doesn’t commend our talents or abilities; He gave them to us! But faith? Childlike trust? That means so much to God. Stop worrying. Don’t be afraid. Whatever you’re going through today, put your hand in the hand of Jesus Christ, and say, “Lord, You have this.” And He does.

The Christian life begins with faith—but it also has to be lived out by faith. In other words, we have to persevere in trusting Jesus and not shrink back. If it wasn’t possible for us to shrink back from faith, why would God warn us in both the Old and New Testaments to endure? We can choose to panic or try to solve our own problems, or we can choose to trust the Lord. Let’s live by faith and see God deliver us.

There’s some funny business going on in Christian theology today. Since the Protestant Reformation, no one has ever said, like many Christians do today, “Fulfill your destiny, your dreams.” No. They said, “Do the will of God.” Our dreams could be whacked. In any decision or plan we need to make, we should say, “Lord, let me do Your will.”

Have you ever worn a mask—acting one way in church and another way at home? That’s what the religious leaders of Jesus’ day did, and when Jesus called them out for it, they killed Him. We’re all guilty of hypocrisy in one way or another. But it doesn’t matter what people think; what matters is what God thinks. Whatever we’re going to be, let’s be real.

When you trusted in Jesus, did you know that were signing up not just for peace and joy but also for suffering, persecution, and rejection? But Hebrews 10:35 encourages us: “Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.” Our focus is on eternity! Are things shaky in your life? Hold on to God. The best is yet to come.

The Christianity of the Bible includes suffering. The early believers faced insults, persecution, the confiscation of their property—and they did it joyfully. Christianity isn’t measured by pleasure, money, possessions, or dreams and destinies. God give us the courage to say “Thank You, Jesus, that we are counted worthy to suffer for Your sake.”

Are you going through something hard and the enemy or some carnal Christian says, “What’s wrong with you? Look, if you aren’t getting well, there must be sin in your life," or, "You don’t have faith.” But the early believers went through a great conflict of suffering, and they endured. Problems don’t mean that you’re not right with God! Rejoice. If we endure with Christ, we will reign with Him.

Is it possible that a believer could fall away from the faith? Or is it once you’re saved, you’re always saved? The warning in Hebrews 10:26–31 is to believers—people who have experienced grace and are now insulting grace. But let’s remember, “The Lord will judge his people.” We aren't the judges. In the end, God’s going to settle everything.

Today’s passage is a warning—written to Christians. Why would God warn believers of judgment except to tell us, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling”? As Warren Wiersbe said, there are just enough warnings in the Bible that if we think we are standing firm, we should be careful that we don’t fall. Whatever our theology is, let’s stay close to Jesus today.

Today’s passage is highly debated by those who believe that once you’re saved, you can never lose your salvation. Others point to this passage to say that salvation can be lost. As we consider this, let’s remember that others are people whom Christ died for. We can leave things with Him. If we show mercy, we will receive mercy.

What does Easter save us from? Hell. As believers in Christ, the sobering reality of people facing eternity without God should stir our hearts. Jesus said that the road to destruction is broad and that many are on it. May the love of Jesus in us compel us to courageously share His gospel with others so that they too can be saved from darkness and brought to light.

Anytime a believer forsakes gathering with other Christians, unless there’s a physical reason that he or she can’t meet, that person is on the road to ruin. The gathering of the saints is of vital importance! In the midst of a dark and evil culture, we need each other. If you’ve given up meeting with other believers, come back. You can encourage others—and you will be encouraged too.

The test of a real relationship with the Lord is how we get along with people. Some of us say, “I love God. I just can’t stand people.” But Christians are not to isolate themselves from others. We are to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” We can spur others to love just by loving them. Why don’t we do it today?

Everyone in this world can let you down—your mother, your father, your sister, your brother, your best friend, your spouse. But God can never let you down. Why? Because He who promised is faithful. Every promise God has made to us He will keep! Let’s persevere in our faith, holding fast to the hope we have in Jesus.

What will ruin your day? A guilty conscience. But praise God, we can be free of a conscience that’s condemning us through the sprinkled blood of Jesus. Let’s walk in the light, confessing any known sins, and claim the power of the blood of Jesus Christ to keep our consciences clean.

God asks us to draw near to Him. What a privilege! But the fact that God asks us to come to Him means that we can be Christians and not be living near to Him. We can be distant, aloof, preoccupied with everything but the main thing. Do you need a fresh encounter with Jesus? Make the main thing the main thing today.

Do you want communion with God? Then you’ve got to have full assurance that you have a clean conscience. But this is easier said than done. If you are bound by guilt or some sin from the past, you who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are forgiven, and God has forgotten your sin. You can live today in newness of life, with a clear conscience and a heart sprinkled with the blood of Christ.

Satan says to us, “Think about your sins every day. God remembers them, and He has it in for you.” But God says, “Their sins I will remember no more.” What a gift! If you are being attacked about what you did, what you said, what mistake you made, accept God’s forgiveness, and let His peace and joy flood your soul.

Are you confident to enter the most holy place—the presence of our holy, perfect God? You should be, because Jesus opened up the way for us by His blood and His broken body. We get caught up in, “I met a movie star!” But because of what Jesus did, we who are weak and faulty can be with Almighty God! Since we have this new and living way, why not enjoy it?

Satan says to us, “Think about your sins every day. God remembers them, and He has it in for you.” But God says, “Their sins I will remember no more.” What a gift! If you are being attacked about what you did, what you said, what mistake you made, accept God’s forgiveness, and let His peace and joy flood your soul.

We can’t improve, no matter how hard we try. What we need is for God to put new hearts within us! That’s what the new covenant is all about. Instead of us fighting against our selfish nature, God puts His laws in our hearts and gives us a willingness to please Him. It’s not, “Come on, do better.” No, the Holy Spirit works in us, giving us new hearts to live out of. Praise God.

Waiting can be hard. But it might encourage us to remember that Jesus understands waiting. He waits today in heaven for the Father to say, “Go back to earth as King of kings and Lord of lords, make Your enemies Your footstool, and bring Your people to heaven.” Waiting is the ultimate sign of faith. Let’s wait with our Lord today, whatever our need might be. As we do, He will renew our strength.

Do you find it hard to extend mercy to people who curse God? Jesus doesn’t. After He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, Jesus didn’t obliterate His enemies. Instead He sat down at God’s right hand, where He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool. While He waits, the gospel is going out, and even persecutors of Jesus are being saved and transformed. Praise God for His amazing grace.

“I want to follow my destiny.” How many of us have heard that said? But when Jesus came to establish the new covenant, He said to His Father, “I have come to do Your will.” Destiny and dreams are not what the New Testament highlights. No, it says that he or she who does the will of God will abide forever. Let’s ask God to help us do His will today, wherever that might lead us.

The gospel is so simple. It’s just, “Behold, the Lamb of God. One look at Jesus will save you.” Religion imposes rules and rituals, but when Christ came into the world to pay the price for our sins, God did away with all that. We don’t need complicated teachings and practices. We just need Jesus and Him crucified.

Sin is so ugly. If you want to know how bad sin is, look at what Christ suffered on the cross. Many of us think that we are basically good people, but sin is so serious that the blood of animals couldn’t pay the price for it—only the blood of God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, could save us. Let’s love Jesus for the great love He showed us first.

A lot of people don’t like to hear about the inferiority of the Old Testament. But the Word of God says that the Mosaic law is only a shadow, not the reality itself. The reality is Jesus! He calls us much higher than the Old Testament. Let’s serve God today not in the old letter of the law but in the newness of the Spirit, who gives us life.

How many of us who follow Jesus long for His return? Some of us are so locked into the things of this world that we don’t anticipate the coming of Christ. But Hebrews says that Jesus is coming back “to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Let’s be like the early Christians, who looked up every morning and said, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Let this be the day.”

People laugh at the idea of sin: “Don’t judge me! I do what I feel.” But Hebrews says that when we die, God will judge us. Those who reject Jesus will hear, “Depart from Me. I never knew you.” But those who put their faith in Jesus will be saved, because our sin was already judged when Jesus died on the cross. Have you put your faith in the Lord? You can do it today.

Jesus’ rule of life was one thing: find God’s will and do it. Yet the idea of yielding to the Lordship of Christ is foreign to many Christians. Are you on your own errand instead of God’s? God has plans for you! Live close to Him, and He’ll whisper them to you. Like Jesus, let’s find out what God wants us to do and be faithful to do what He says.

The Old Testament sanctuary was a copy. It wasn’t the genuine article. But now we have access to the genuine article, heaven, where Jesus, our high priest, is representing us. Why then do we cling to the old covenant, trying to please God through ceremony or good works? We can rest in Jesus and His once-and-for-all sacrifice on Calvary.

Look at the sun and the stars! If God spoke the heavens and earth into existence, He can solve any problem in your life. Just as He hovered over the earth in the beginning, so He is hovering over you. He wants to bring order out of your disorder and light out of your darkness! Surrender to Him today.

Without blood, Hebrews tells us, there is no forgiveness of sin. That is why under the old covenant, animals had to be sacrificed. But the blood of Jesus is better than the blood of bulls and goats! Jesus willingly gave His life, like a lamb led to the slaughter, so that we could be free. That should make us love Him a little bit more today.

God doesn’t wink at our sin. No, He is holy. He can’t have fellowship with sinners. But God sent Christ to be our ransom—to take our punishment for sin so that we would be clean. Because of that, we can now receive the promised eternal inheritance—an eternal home in heaven. The glory of it is beyond telling! Praise God today for the undeserved gift He has given us.

Jesus has cleansed our consciences so that we can serve the living God. But Satan accuses us, saying, “How can you go into God’s presence? You just yelled at your wife. You kicked the dog!” Don’t argue with him. Point to the cross of Calvary and say, “Jesus died for me. He cleansed my heart and my conscience, and I’m coming through Him into the presence of God.” Let’s do it today.

The blood of Jesus cleanses our consciences so that we don’t have to live with soiled, condemned minds, thinking, “Oh, no, I’m in for it now!” Praise God! But do we take advantage of it? We can study about it, but we should also act on it. Talk to God; come into His presence; tell Him what you need. Let’s enjoy the gift of a clean conscience today.

None of us could walk up to a king’s palace and say, “Yo, I want to talk to the king.” We would need an invitation. But right now you and I can have an audience with the King of kings, God Almighty. He is constantly inviting us into His presence. We’re not worthy, but Jesus is, and He has made the way. Come to the King today. He will heal you and help you.

Are your sins under the blood of Jesus? Some people are offended by this idea. Others have negatively called Christianity a bloody religion. But for those of us who know how Jesus’ blood has cleansed our hearts and consciences, we sing, “Oh, the blood of Jesus, it washes white as snow.” What a gift of God!

It is estimated that people make some 35,000 decisions every day. Too often, though, we make decisions without God in mind—and end up frustrated. To live out God’s purpose for our lives, we need His guidance, and that requires surrender. Be encouraged today to trust in the Lord with all your heart, and He will direct your paths.

Did you know that God treasures your prayers? The book of Revelation says that the prayers of God’s people are like incense kept in bowls. Don’t let anything stop you from pouring out your need to God, even if you don’t have the right words. God’s ear is open to your cry. He delights in hearing and answering the prayers of His children.

Too often we are afraid of people and the control we think they have over us. We jump through hoops to try to please them. But God says, “Don’t fear man. Fear Me.” When we take our eyes off people and put them on Jesus, He lives through us and gives us a confident peace and joy in the midst of any circumstance.

What decision are you making today? Too many Christians try to navigate life with their IQs. But in the new covenant, God says, “I’ll send you My Spirit. He will guide you into all truth.” When we’re not led by the Spirit, we walk in the dark. Ask Jesus, “What should I do?” His Holy Spirit will light your way.

If you’re a Christian, everything wrong you’ve ever done has been forgiven. Satan might dangle your sins in front of you to bring you into condemnation, but he’s a liar. God has forgiven us, and our wickedness He remembers no more. It's settled; over; done with. Praise God! Let that make you glad today.

Are you trying to please God by keeping rules? “Don’t wear those clothes.” “Worship in this place.” Outward religion can never please God. What we need is heart change! That’s why He says, “I’ll put My law in your hearts and minds.” In other words, “I’ll change you from the inside out.” Let’s believe in Jesus to transform us today.

“Try harder.” “Obey.” “Do more.” Commands like these come from the old covenant, which was, “Here’s My law; you do it.” Now, under the new covenant, God says, “If you’ll just believe in Jesus, I will do it.” Be encouraged today that the new covenant is not about what we do; it’s about what God does for us.

Have you ever felt forgotten by God? Forsaken? Depressed because you’ve failed and think God is punishing you? Be comforted. God loves you! When the devil comes in like a lion, push him away and say, “I have victory through the One who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

“Oh, God, I messed up. Forgive me. But now I mean business! I’m going to do good things so You’ll approve of me.” That’s Old Testament. No matter how hard we try under this system, we fail again. And again. That’s why God made a new covenant! If the devil is beating you down because you’ve failed today, be encouraged by this reminder from Hebrews that Jesus has made a new way.

Many of us have been influenced by Old Testament Christianity—“Do this. Don’t do that. Keep that law.” But Hebrews tells us, “That’s gone. Christ has come now. It’s a whole new system.” We obey God today by obeying the teachings of Jesus: “Love one another.” “Have faith in God.” “Take up your cross, and follow Me.” It’s not about trying. It’s about trusting. Let Jesus work in and through you today.

What do you need from God today? You can come into His very presence, where Jesus is serving at the true tabernacle in heaven. You don’t need to come to a building, a pastor, an altar on earth. God is just as likely to answer your prayer while you’re riding to work in your car as when you’re sitting in church. Jesus is with you today, as close as the mention of His name.

What challenges are coming at you today? It doesn’t matter how big they are—if God is for you, no one can be against you! When Jesus lives inside you, He will help you overcome, because He loves you, and nothing can separate you from His love. He is for you today.

Pastor Cymbala encourages us to imitate our Lord by being kind, as he reviews 1 Samuel 30:26-31.

Pastor Cymbala asks us to consider God’s calling on our lives, as he reviews 1 Samuel 30:23-25.