Jeremy Hoover

In Philippians 1:3-11, Paul sets the tone for us by focusing on others instead of his own situation, fears, and troubles. Many of us need to be less selfish in our lives. We can know that we're growing spiritually when we focus more on others and less on ourselves.

In this sermon from 1 Thessalonians, we looked at how Paul encourages Christians to be thankful for each other and to love each other. But what about people who are difficult to love? The only way we can truly love each other with godly love is to rely on God. This is how we grow in holiness--learning to trust God more and more, which leads us to greater love for others.

Sermon: Become Holy by Loving Others

Text = 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13.

Theme = If we have increasing love for each other and increasing holiness in our lives, that is enough while we wait for the Lord.

In Mark 12:28-34, Jesus taught a teacher of the law that the greatest commandment is to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. After several interactions with religious "leaders" who were not leading the people, Jesus finally broke out some teaching about the teachers of the law--they're hypocrites who neither love God nor love their neighbor.

They don't love God because they love themselves and their self-importance more. They don't love their neighbor because they'd rather abuse widows than serve them.

In contrast to them, in Mark 12:41-44, is, of all people, a widow! This widow loves God with all her heart, soul, strength, and mind. She gave a tiny fraction of what the rich were giving, but Jesus says she gave MORE THAN they gave.

How could she? Because she gave sacrificially, from her heart. It wasn't about the money. It's never about the money. She gave a gift of her heart because of her love for God.

We avoid hypocrisy by focusing on our love for God, seeing where that love leads us, and then loving him.

Sermon: How to Love God Without Hypocrisy (Mark 12:38-44)

In this audio devotional (approx. 3 minutes long), I discuss what Jesus means when he says, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." He does not mean that teacher nearly entered heaven or is close to "being saved." Instead, he means the man is well on his way to assimilating kingdom values into his life. Are you?

In this audio devotional (approx. 2.5 minutes long), I examine what Jesus meant when he told the teacher of the law in Mark 12:34 that he was "not far from the kingdom of God."