Understanding the Kingdom of God is absolutely crucial for understanding the teaching and ministry of Jesus (Mark 1:14-15; Matthew 4:23; Luke 4:43). Therefore, it is imperative for us to understand what the Kingdom of God means. Scripture tells us that Kingdom of God is in some way related to Jewish end time expectations and must be understood in terms of Jewish Messianic hopes. Check out this message if you would like to learn about the end time expectations that had arisen in Judaism before the time of John the Baptist and Jesus to provide a framework into which the New Testament concept of the Kingdom of God fits in. If you would like to learn more about the Kingdom of God, you can download this week’s audio message at the following link (This message was originally given at Oak Bluff Bible Church on May 22, 2022).
David Cwir - Ministering in the Power of the Holy Spirit - God's Family Church - August 29, 2021
We need to get back to Biblical Christianity and live like Jesus called us to live by the Holy Spirit! A cursory reading of the New Testament shows that the message of the gospel is truth accompanied by experienced reality (as in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5). Although it came in word (proclaimed truth), it did not come in word alone: God verified its truthfulness by a display of His power through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:18-19). It is this difference between the early Christians and us that is so radical that it explains a lot about our present condition in the West. Check out this audio message to learn about what the Bible says about the full gospel message as well as some practical ways to minister in the Spirit as demonstrated by Jesus.
David Cwir - How Do We Humble Ourselves?
What is humility and what does it look like? Looks can be deceiving: Sometimes pride can look like humility, and humility can look like pride. The key difference is whether your trust and confidence is in yourself or in the Lord. Check out this message if you would like to learn more about the absolute importance of humility, what it is, and how we humble ourselves according to the Bible. You can listen to or download the audio message from the following link (This message was originally given at Oak Bluff Bible Church on February 23, 2020).
David Cwir - God Offends the Mind to Reveal the Heart
From the moment Jesus began His work on earth, His ministry was highly offensive to people. His method and message was so offensive, in fact, that it ultimately led to His death on a cross. Was the use of offense intentional on His part? In this week’s message, David teaches about the Scriptural examples and illustrations from the ministry of Jesus to show how He used offense as a strategy to reveal people’s hearts. Check out this week’s audio message if you are interested in learning about why Jesus uses this offensive strategy, and how we can learn from it in order to stay on the path of life. (This message was given at Oak Bluff Bible Church on February 16, 2020)
“And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
~ Jesus (Matthew 11:6)
David Cwir - Humility: The Key to Understanding Truth
Seeking to be right only leads to self-righteousness. Seeking to be humble results in a knowledge of the truth. Jesus reveals truth to the humble of heart, and therefore, the only way to be “right” is through humility. As illustrated by the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23), Jesus used parables and hid truth about the Kingdom in them so that people with prideful (hard) hearts couldn’t receive the truth, but that those with humble soft hearts could. Why did He do this? Because God knew that the prideful would reject the truth about the Kingdom and receive a more severe judgment as a result (Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 12:47-48). In other words, it’s God’s mercy to use parables so that the prideful would not be held accountable for rejecting the truth contained within them. Jesus hid truth in mysteries so that only the humble of heart were able to hear and understand the truth and they would multiply it. Check out this week’s message if you would like to learn more about why Jesus used parables and how Humility is a prerequisite for understanding truth (This message was given at Oak Bluff Bible Church on February 9, 2020).
David Cwir - What is Humility?
Truth is a Person. Our faith is not mental assent to a set of propositions, it is relationship with God. Jesus did not base his relationship off of whether people were right or wrong, rather, He hung out with the humble of heart. Jesus’ disciples did not have perfect theology by any means, but they were humble enough to receive Jesus when He came. The problem with seeking to be "right" is that it results in self-righteousness, and scripture says that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5, James 4:6). Humility is a posture of heart we all must have. Check out this week’s message if you would like to learn more about the absolute importance of humility, what humility looks like according to Scripture, and how crucial humility is in our walk with God (This message was given at Oak Bluff Bible Church on February 2, 2020)
David Cwir - How to Know the Will of God
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing, which is to be conformed to the image of Christ. As soon as Jesus was anointed by the Spirit, He immediately began being led by the Spirit (Luke 4:1-2). This is exactly what we are supposed to do as Christians: “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God” (Romans 8:14). Jesus is our example of what it looks like to live life in the Spirit, and how we are called to follow His example. Check out this week’s message for a Scriptural foundation on how to hear God’s voice, know God’s will, and be led by the Spirit
David Cwir - The Sword of The Spirit (Prayer Keys from Paul the Apostle)
All three times the devil tempted Jesus, He used the shield of faith to extinguish the temptation and fought back with the sword of the Spirit (the word of God). If Jesus who was The Word had to take His stand on “It is Written…” how much more do we need to stand on “It is written…”? Check out this audio message to learn crucial keys from the prayers of Paul and the life of Christ on how to exercise the power and authority that Jesus bestowed upon all believers in a practical and effective way (This Message was delivered at Oak Bluff Bible Church on November 17, 2019)
