Jeremy Hoover

Car trouble happens either suddenly and unexpectedly or gradually and noticeably. So does trouble in your spiritual life.

We are exhorted to treat and view others as though they were members of our family (1 Timothy 5:1-2). When we do this, we overcome selfishness in order to serve.

In this 3.5 minute reflection, I encourage us to listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit, and when we hear his voice, to follow.

Although we are taught from a young age to stay away from strangers, as we grow and mature we need to begin showing hospitality to strangers. Showing hospitality demonstrates the gospel in both attitude and action to others.

In contrast to the "expert" who sought to minimize the category of "neighbor," Jesus teaches us that our neighbors are anyone we encounter who needs mercy.

Sometimes, we struggle with reading God's word. But to get the most from it, we must first see it as something valuable, humbly seek God through it, and obey him through action learned from our reading.

At the end of this lesson, I present 4 simple steps by which we can begin growing spiritually as we read God's word.

Sermon: How to Grow Spiritually with God's Word

While traveling to Montana last week, we knew we were going up in elevation but it didn't become visibly obvious until we hit the mountain ranges in Wyoming and Montana. Sin and disobedience are a lot like this: we don't know we've arrived at such a sorry state of sin until it is visibly obvious. We need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, casting off sin and distraction, to be elevated with him (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Things changed over the weekend. I learned that there was going to be a "white pride march" in Jackson, put on by a questionable group known as Battalion 14. As I wrestled with the implications of this for our city, I woke up Sunday determined to speak about it. The result was this sermon, spoken mainly "off the cuff," from my heart, connecting ideas from Romans 12:1-3 and 15:7, Galatians 3:26-29, and especially Ephesians 2:11-22, about our unity and oneness in Christ.

I especially focused on the teaching in Ephesians that reminds us that Jesus destroyed the wall of hostility that existed between ethnicities. I reminded us that as followers of Jesus we are called to love and serve our neighbor. Racism, or the propagation of such by hiding behind "free speech" or silence, has no place among Christians. We are called to speak the truth about evil wherever we find, and in whatever form we find it.

I hope you enjoy this sermon and learn from it. Please leave some feedback.

Sermon: Mature Faith

On Sunday, we'll be moving into 1 Timothy 3:1-11 in our bible study. Below are two audios, each about 10 minutes long, where I introduce some of the main topics we'll discuss along with my ideas on some of these. They're off the cuff without notes, so cut me a little slack if parts of them sound a little disorganized!

Click here for some study questions for 1 Timothy 3:1-11.

Click here for a recent post I wrote about whether all elders need to be able to teach.

Too often, church relationships contain conflict. In Philippians 2:1-11, the apostle Paul teaches us how to overcome conflict and live like Jesus by working for oneness with one another, looking to others' interests first, and becoming obedient through service.

Sermon: How to Have the Mind of Jesus