Woodland Hills Church

Greg Boyd concludes the series on Revelation by exploring the final words of the book’s epilogue. The main point is that Jesus is coming soon! Greg explains what this means and how we can respond to this announcement.

Dan Kent invites us to see the story of the Bible, summarizing five grand themes that begin in Genesis and are completed in Revelation. In this way, the book of Revelation calls us back to where we belong, even in the midst of a broken world that tries to pull us away.

Greg Boyd walks us through the vision of the river flowing through the holy city of God, showing us what it means to live as participants in the triune dance of God’s love. The fullness of the presence of God will occur at the end of time, but we can begin to live it now.

The concluding chapters of Revelation provide a vision of what it means to flourish. This vision is of a holy city, one that is built around the presence of God. There we discover the ultimate foundation of human flourishing, the meaning of all life. 

Dan Kent invites us to see three grand themes that are woven throughout Revelation and are brought together at the end of this grand book. These themes are the “two ways” pattern repeated throughout Scripture, the fact that the path of God is a person and that the destination of the path is communal.

This sermon by Greg Boyd focuses on the meaning of “The Lake of Fire.” Greg introduces the traditional meaning of eternal, conscious punishment, and then he expounds upon an alternative interpretation, one that is founded upon the reality that God is revealed in Jesus Christ on the cross.

In this teaching Greg Boyd explains the meaning of the 1,000 year reign of Christ, and shows us how this imagery is not a foretelling of future events, but instead instruction for how to live in the present, reigning with Christ in the midst of our everyday battles. 

The rider on the white horse appears in John’s vision, and it looks like God will conquer through violence. However, Shawna Boren explains there is more than meets the eye, and when we read at a deeper level, we actually see a rider who wages war like a shepherd caring for their flock.

Greg Boyd calls us to participate in the divine-human marriage relationship between Christ and his people. We are made to experience divine love and to live in love, which will be fully realized upon Christ’s return. Now we are called to make ourselves ready, embracing this love by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Don’t TRIP. In this sermon, Pierre Fulford invites us to understand how easy it is to TRIP (Temporal Reality Inverting Perspective) as we take the trip of life. We can allow the temporary to determine the way we live and miss out on what really matters, or can look beyond the temporary and see the eternal, walking in the present with an enduring perspective.

Greg Boyd calls our attention to the importance of forgiving one another. This practice plays a significant role in our call to live as God’s covenant community. We have received God’s “all-forgiven reality,” and now we are to emulate the love of Christ on the cross and extend this new reality to all.

Life in godly unity requires that the real you shows up. However, no one has it all together. We can either pretend we do and remain disconnected, or we can adopt the practice of confession and learn to love one another through the reality of weakness and even failure. Dan Kent shows us what biblical confession is, what it is not, and then points us toward practical steps to move into honest confession. 

We are better together and the way we use our tongues will either promote or destroy our togetherness. Greg Boyd shows us how Scripture views the power of the tongue and how it can be used for ill or for good. 

How do we experience the reality of being God’s family in practical ways? This question is especially crucial in a world that promotes judgment, division and isolation. Dan Kent addresses this by highlighting the instruction to “bear with each othaer.” Living in love does not mean only embracing those who are easy to love. Real love calls us to embrace those who require patient endurance. In this way, we reflect the love of the cross.

This sermon by Shawna Boren unpacks regarding people from a human point of view and then guides us to take practical steps to view people as God views them. This is the way that we live in love as Christ loved us. 

Greg Boyd opens our new series “Better Together” with a sermon on the biblical call to participate as a member of God’s family. Because the patterns of modern culture divide us, it’s a challenge to shift from an isolated “me” to a collective “we,” but God connects us so that we might live in love alongside one another. 

Jesus has risen! In this sermon, Greg Boyd unpacks the meaning of the Resurrection and its implications for our lives. He names four facets of the empty tomb so that we might see it from a variety of rich angles, and as a result enter into the power of the Resurrection by the Spirit.

On April 3, we held a special Good Friday service to reflect on Jesus’ sacrifice. If you'd like to watch this service, you can find the video on our website. here: https://whchurch.org/forsaken/And if you missed it, you can watch and find sermon resources for our Easter Sunday service, here: https://whchurch.org/risen/

In this panel discussion, Greg Boyd, Shawna Boren and Dan Kent discuss three problem issues in Revelation 14-18. The first issue pertains to the nature of hell, the second deals with God crushing people like grapes, and the third addresses the denigrating language about women. The panelists interpret these passages to show how they align with the revelation of Jesus on the cross.

Dan Kent calls us to love the church as the people of God. He does this by identifying two real issues that hinder people from embracing the church and then he shows us how to overcome these obstacles as we engage the God who engages us.

Greg Boyd explains what the doctrine of the rapture is and why it is problematic. He then offers an alternative perspective, one which aligns with the call to live in love as Christ loved us. 

In this sermon, Cedrick Baker calls us to worship through song. In doing so, we open our minds to remember the goodness of God and his work in our lives, and we increase our faith as we walk with Jesus. Singing aligns us with the work of God and leads to dependence upon the only one who can deliver us.

Revelation opens our eyes to see the empty promises of empires and systems that proclaim eternality and permanence. However, the reality is that they all fade and fall. In this sermon, Greg Boyd challenges us to set aside our hopes in these empires, and place our hope on the only kingdom that will last, the kingdom that is found in the cruciform king. 

This sermon by Dan Kent names what it means to be trapped by the culture of Babylon and the path to escape it. The Babylonian way compels us to pursue more while never having enough, while the cruciform way of Jesus offers us a gift that we cannot work to attain.

God’s judgment is a common topic throughout the Bible and even in popular culture. But what does the Bible mean by divine judgment? Does it mean God smites us when we go too far? In this sermon Greg Boyd invites us to see the divine judgment or the wrath of God in a different light. God’s judgment actually means that sin possesses its own repercussions—you might say that the wrongdoing ricochets. This is how divine wrath works because this is how God designed creation. 

Greg concludes the Love Does series with a look at Paul’s statement that love rejoices in the truth in contrast with not delighting in wrongdoing. He then connects the contrast between truth and wrongdoing to demonstrate how right relatedness is truthful and how this is the way we live in love. 

This sermon by Greg Boyd shows us that love is more than simply not wronging others. The love of God actually means that we are not delighting or celebrating the wrongdoing. The motivations of our heart are shaped by love and therefore produce the fruit of loving action. 

Love does not keep a record of things done wrong and love believes the best of others. Sandra Unger names how difficult it is to walk in these two aspects of agape love. She names how keeping a record of wrongs undermines love and provides insights into how we can move away from this all-too-common practice.

Cedrick Baker invites us to look at love in action as extreme measures for the welfare of the other. Reflecting on the extreme measures of the Incarnation and the Cross, we are called to bless the other at cost to ourselves. 

Paul wrote that love does not envy or boast. Yet these two practices are woven into modern life to such a degree that many cannot see any other option. Shawna Boren unpacks how envy and boasting undermine the practice of love and then shows us a better way, a way out and into agape love.

Greg Boyd teaches us that to dishonor others is to play the “king of the hill” game where everyone is trying to climb the social ladder at the expense of others. Love refuses to play the game of shaming another to benefit self. Instead, love honors others just as God honors us.

This first sermon in the “Love Does” series highlights the action of trust. Dan Kent explores the way that God trusts, the call to be trustworthy in our relationship with God and how to grow in our trust of one another. This challenge to the worldly pattern of distrust invites us to manifest love in concrete and practical ways. 

This Christmas Eve, Greg gave a short sermon starting out by exploring the question,“Who are you?” by contrasting ancient, story-based identities rooted in community, with modern identities that often lead to loneliness and emptiness.He goes on to tell “the story of us” – of a loving God who created humanity for relationship and stewardship, our fall into brokenness, and God’s persistent work of restoration in found in Christ Jesus.

Christmas is a time of joy. However, the story of Jesus’ birth also includes struggles, suffering and grief. This is found specifically in the narrative of the Magi, which includes great joy and the reality of the world. Greg Boyd identifies this and provides concrete ways to deal with grief in healthy ways. 

In this sermon, Cedrick Baker explores how Old Testament prophesies speak to the coming deliverance of the Messiah. In Genesis 49:10, we see how the Messiah will come from the tribe of Judah and will establish a new kind of kingdom. In this way God promises his care and provision which gives us a sense of security.

In this sermon, Dan Kent opens up the meaning of the prophesy from Hosea 11:1 about Jesus being called out of Egypt. Dan explains how this verse speaks to God’s delight for his people and applies this delight to us and how we experience God’s love.

Greg Boyd introduces this year's Christmas series, Fulfilled. Each week during this series we are looking at Old Testament prophesies about the incarnation of Jesus. In this first sermon, Greg addresses how the Old Testament proclaims that the coming Messiah will overcome Satan and evil.

Greg Boyd clarifies the meaning of the second beast in Revelation 13, naming it as the beast of “wow and wonder,” as it aims to expand our attention on the first beast. Greg then identifies common strategies the second beast uses in our culture today, offering ways to identify these issues along with three challenges for resisting the beast.

In this sermon Greg Boyd calls us to a sober mindset about the reality of the modern-day empire. Just as Revelation originally challenged the early church to resist the empire of Rome, so too the Spirit of God calls us to resist the delusions of the modern global empire.

This sermon on the first of two beasts in Revelation 13 addresses what it means to trust God’s faithfulness in tough times and the reality of hardship. Dan Kent contrasts this with a sanitized God, who, many assume, cannot deal with the world’s evil or the spiritual warfare that is being waged.

In this sermon, Shawna Boren proclaims our hope in the midst of trials and tribulations. She announces the fact that Christ has already defeated the enemy is stronger than our struggles. And she gives us concrete action steps to stand in the midst of Christ’s victory.

Greg Boyd highlights the way of lies versus the way of truth. The way of lies is founded upon the deception of Satan that draws us into the pursuit of ascent, rising to more power, more stuff and more acclaim. The way of truth is the way of the cross, the way of the Lamb. By counting the cost of discipleship, we move toward Christ and live in love.

This sermon by Cedrick Baker addresses the reality of an unseen spiritual realm and the need for spiritual eyes to see it. We are invited to cultivate a spiritual awareness of the spiritual battle that is transpiring all around us.

In this sermon Greg Boyd introduces a new series entitled Dragon Slayers. A myriad of symbols tell about a woman who gives birth to a Messiah, while Satan seeks to destroy him. Then the woman goes into the wilderness. The focus of this sermon lies on the meaning of going into the wilderness and our calling to bring God’s love to those mired in a wilderness life. 

Shawna Boren looks at the phrase “love is not easily angered,” which is an appropriate challenge in our current culture. She names what anger is and how it undermines love. Then she gives insight into how we can navigate this emotion in healthy ways.

Dan Kent introduces the problem of pride and how it is rooted in hierarchical systems where we measure ourselves against others. We are unable to love others when we are constantly evaluating them and ourselves. We must opt out of this system and learn to see all as equals, all equally loved.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13 that love is kind. Greg Boyd highlights kindness as a way of life that can revolutionize the world in which we live. He also calls us to slow down so that we make space in our lives for being kind and therefore live in love with one another.

This sermon challenges the pattern of selfishness as a contrast to the call to agape love. Through this teaching, we learn how selfishness undermines our call to be like Christ and practical ways we can address the selfishness that creeps into our lives. 

Greg introduces a new series on love by examining the four Greek terms that are commonly translated as the English word “love,” thus clarifying what love is and what it means to love as God does. He then takes us through the first three verses of 1 Corinthians 13 to demonstrate why love is so crucial to our walk with God.

In this closeout sermon for the Testify! series, Dan Kent surveys the key points of Revelation 10 and 11 and highlights how the testimony of the church is crucial to what God is doing in the world. He then challenges us to practice the call to Testify!