Hardwired with Jeff Wickwire

Can you imagine going bowling for the first time and getting a perfect score of 300? Now, imagine throwing a perfect game after perfect game for a week straight. The odds of that happening are one in a trillion at best! But Pastor Jeff teaches you today that those odds are still better than your odds of perfectly following the Law of the Old Testament throughout your entire life. You can’t be saved by your good works, because even one slip-up is enough to disqualify you from God’s presence. You need His grace!

In a monarchy, the royal crown is passed down from parent to child. It’s not a position the child earns by merit; it’s passed down to them by birthright. But in today’s message, Pastor Jeff reminds you that salvation isn’t something that is passed down like a birthright. The Israelites did inherit the blessings that God gave to Abraham, but that did not buy them access to God’s throne room. They had a front-row seat to what God was doing in this world, but each person has to choose to follow God for themselves.

The book of Hebrews shows us that there is a throughline connecting the stories of Abel, Enoch, and Noah. We’ve learned that the safest place for us to be is walking right alongside God, obeying Him and following in His footsteps everywhere we go. This world around us has been plunged into chaos, but Pastor Jeff wants us to remember that we have a loving Father who knows exactly what to do. If we are faithful to obey His instructions, He will grant us His blessings and peace.

Atoning for your sins is an area of your life where you don’t want to take shortcuts. After all, in God’s eyes, you are either guilty of sin, or you’re not. There are no half-measures. In today’s message, Pastor Jeff teaches you about Cain and Abel, and about how Abel’s offering recognized God’s requirement of blood to atone for sins. However, Cain wanted to take a shortcut by sacrificing the fruit of his fields, but in doing so, he rebelled against God. The Lord doesn’t accept insincere offerings. 

Some promises come with an expiration date. A coupon is usually only good for a few months, a check is typically void after 90 days, and a job offer needs to be signed and returned in order for you to start your new role. Now, there are many Jews today who haven’t yet accepted the gift of Jesus, even though He meets all of the Bible’s prophecies surrounding the Messiah. However, Pastor Jeff teaches you today that the Israelites still have time to recognize Jesus as Lord. But their time is running short!

People love to hear stories of time travelers! Whether their vehicle of choice is a phone booth, or a car with a built-in flux capacitor, their brave pilots go back and forth across the timeline, fighting monsters and preventing history from erasing itself. Well, Pastor Jeff teaches you today that God is even more powerful than a time traveler! He knows the entire story of humanity, and He knew it before He even created the world. He knew to choose you to be part of His Kingdom, before you were even born!

It’s easy to think of salvation only in spiritual terms. After all, who needs a body if your soul will live forever in God’s presence? However, Pastor Jeff reminds us today that our bodies won’t just be left to decompose in the ground when we go to meet the Lord. When Jesus returns for His bride, He will also bring resurrection for the dead! Our old bodies will be raised up out of the ground, and remade into new and perfect creations! We will become truly perfect in God’s sight.

When you see that a loaf of bread has gone moldy in your pantry, do you assume that only the moldy slice is affected, or do you toss the whole loaf? Well, seeing visible mold on the loaf means that the entire loaf is likely contaminated. Pastor Jeff reminds us today that the depravity we see in this world today is the outward symptom of a world that has fully given itself over to sin. This darkness should bother our consciences, because the Holy Spirit is concerned about the state of the world.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a fan of free samples at the grocery store. Sometimes, the product being offered at the sample station is one that I already planned on buying! When that happens, I know that the sample I’m tasting now will only get me excited for the full portion I will enjoy later! Pastor Jeff reminds us today that even though we are filled with the Holy Spirit’s power, we have only experienced a fraction of what we will see when we receive our full portion of God’s presence!

The valley of the shadow of death may be the darkest valley that you ever cross in your life. It’s a place where the fear of loss can cause as much damage to your soul as the loss itself. But God doesn’t leave you to face that valley alone! In today’s message, Pastor Jeff wants you to recognize that the Lord is your good shepherd, and He is always looking out for you! It’s not hard to find His hand reaching out to guide you. Knowing that His hand is there in the first place is the hardest part of the battle.