In this message, Eric connects Psalm 67’s vision of being “blessed to be a blessing” with a deeper biblical identity: exile. Looking at Jeremiah 29 and Philippians 3:20, Eric shows how Israel’s exile in Babylon shapes how followers of Jesus understand their place in the world today. We are not at home here. Our citizenship is in heaven, and that changes our allegiance, our priorities, and how we engage our city. Instead of withdrawing or revolting, we are called to seek the peace and prosperity of the place where God has sent us. The message challenges us to embrace a new identity—citizens of heaven living as exiles—and to respond practically through prayer, generosity, and mission.

In this message, Eric kicks off the two-week series Go! Here, There, and Everywhere by naming a subtle but common spiritual drift he calls yearbook theology—the tendency to make faith primarily about ourselves. Using familiar passages like Jeremiah 29 and Psalm 46, Eric shows how Scripture is often misunderstood when we ignore context and center our own experience. He then walks through Psalm 67, revealing God’s heart to bless his people so that his ways and salvation might be known among all nations. The message challenges listeners to see God’s blessing not as the destination, but as the means—inviting us to align our lives with God’s global, outward-facing purpose and ask a simple but courageous question: Will I be a blessing?

As Eric wrapped up our Unity series, we asked an honest and important question: Is racial unity optional or essential to following Jesus? To answer it, we took a “hop-on, hop-off” tour through the book of Acts and saw how racial and ethnic inclusion sits at the very center of the early church. From Jesus expanding the disciples’ vision beyond Israel, to Pentecost including people from every nation, to the church empowering marginalized voices, to Peter realizing God shows no favoritism, Acts shows us again and again that the gospel tears down ethnic and racial barriers. Racial unity wasn’t a side issue—it shaped how the church lived, led, and loved. The conclusion is unavoidable: racial unity is essential to following Jesus. And our calling today is the same—to not make it difficult for people of any race or ethnicity who are turning to God.

In this message, Bishop McBath reminds us that the Church’s core calling is reconciliation—not division. Drawing from 2 Corinthians 5:11–21, he teaches that reconciliation begins with our broken relationship with God, not merely our broken relationships with one another. Through Christ’s sacrificial love, we are reconnected to God purely by grace, not merit. But reconciliation doesn’t stop there. God entrusts reconciled people with a reconciled mission. As Christ’s ambassadors, we now represent a new kingdom, guided by a new love and a new way of leading—making decisions about others based on grace, not race.

In this message, Eric reflects on ten years of Grace Bible Church’s journey toward racial unity—honestly naming missteps, growth, repentance, and grace along the way. Drawing from Jesus’ prayer in John 17, the Lord’s Prayer, and the vision of heaven in Revelation 5, he reminds us that unity across race and ethnicity is not a side issue, but central to the gospel and the witness of the church. Racial unity is not about uniformity or politics, but about a shared purpose—to love God and love others. As God continues to form a diverse and unified community at GBC, the invitation remains simple and challenging: pray, listen, and trust the Spirit to keep moving us toward complete unity.

In this message, Eric explored one of Jesus’ most challenging teachings from John 12:20–26, where Jesus describes life, growth, and glory as something that comes through death, not success. As Eric explained, what Jesus calls “glory” often looks like failure by our culture’s standards. Just as a seed must fall into the ground and die to bear fruit, followers of Jesus are invited to stop trying harder and instead surrender their desires, control, and self-reliance to God. Eric challenged listeners to ask an honest question—What am I depending on when I am not depending on God?—and showed how real spiritual growth happens when we trust God with what we cannot control and follow Jesus in the way of surrender.

 As a new year begins, many people measure growth by strength, success, or knowledge—but Scripture offers a deeper vision. In this New Year sermon from Psalm 131, we are invited to rethink spiritual growth as deeper dependence on Jesus, not greater control over life. Through personal story and biblical reflection, this message explores how quieting our souls before God forms trust, resilience, and peace—especially when life doesn’t go as planned. True growth isn’t about having more answers, but learning to rest in the faithful care of God like a child with a loving parent.

Is Christmas really good news when life feels hard? This Christmas, Eric reminded us that Jesus entered a world filled with disruption, disappointment, and pain. He wasn’t born into a perfect situation—and He didn’t come to give us a perfect life. He came as a Savior. Jesus is not an assistant or a good example; He is the One who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Christmas is the good news that God meets us in the life we’re actually living and offers forgiveness, hope, and new life through Jesus. This message explores why Christmas is good news for everyone—and how trusting Jesus as Savior and Lord can bring peace even when life doesn’t turn out as planned.

Yesterday we stepped into one of the most unlikely Christmas passages—2 Corinthians 6. At first glance, beatings, sleepless nights, and hunger don’t feel like they belong anywhere near Christmas. But when we look at Jesus’ actual birth story—born out of wedlock, far from home, in a borrowed stable, fleeing as a refugee—we realize this is the world he willingly entered. And it’s the world we still live in. Christmas isn’t the promise of a perfect life; it’s the announcement that God stepped into a broken one. Paul describes the tension of following Jesus as “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” That’s Christmas. Real life, real pain, real joy, real hope. Jesus doesn’t wait for your life to look ideal. He comes into the life you really have. And he gives you a joy that circumstances can’t create or take away. This week, fix your eyes on what is unseen—on him.