Hardwired with Jeff Wickwire

If you were packing for a long hiking journey, would you rather have a map drawn on the back of a napkin? Or would you rather have a detailed map of the trail, complete with information about rest stops and camping sites along the way? In today’s message, Pastor Jeff wants to make sure that you’re taking advantage of the most useful map you have available to you. God’s Word is the map that will guide you through this life, no matter what kinds of challenges you face along the way.

Listen, dating is a complicated process! It can take years for you to find someone that you feel comfortable dating, and by the time you get to that point, it can become difficult to let that relationship go. But in today’s message, Pastor Jeff reminds you that even your romantic relationships should build you up in your faith, not tear you down or distract you from following God. So if your potential partner isn’t going after God in their own life, that relationship has the potential to be destructive for both of you.

Have you ever used GPS to navigate an unfamiliar area, and the directions told you to make a turn onto a road that just wasn’t there? Well, it turns out that even with our advanced technology, we can still be led astray by human knowledge. That’s why Pastor Jeff is reminding you today how important it is to live your life with God as your true compass. The ways of man are liable to get it wrong more often than not. But God’s truth is perfect, and His Word will never lead you down the wrong path.

When you buy a piece of furniture or equipment that requires assembly, it usually comes with an instruction manual that gives you the steps needed to complete the project. If someone else tried to look a the finished product and write their own manual, the instructions would be incomplete and unreliable. Pastor Jeff wants you to ask a big question today: why do people look at the instruction manuals that men write for themselves, when you have access to God’s Word, given to you by the Creator himself?

How long would you be able to hold on if you had no hope for a better future? The world is full of broken people living broken lives: people who are looking for any reason to keep holding on. Pastor Jeff lays out the structure of the book of Ecclesiastes in today’s message and shows you how true faith in Jesus can give you the hope you need to hold on through this life. No matter how difficult life’s challenges may get, you have a God who cares for you and has prepared a better place for you.

The rearview mirror in your car is useful for lots of reasons. It gives you a way to see if there’s a vehicle behind you, but it also serves to remind you of where you’re coming from. Pastor Jeff teaches us today that we need a rearview mirror in our own lives, to remind us of how God has provided for us so far. It becomes easier to trust Him in the present when we reflect on what He has done for us in the past. But when we forget to look back, it can be easy to get locked up in fear and lose faith in the Lord.

Sometimes we just want God to take the wheel, to take control over our lives without having to put in any effort ourselves. Wouldn’t it be easier that way? But in Pastor Jeff’s message today, he reminds us that following God isn’t some passive activity, where we get to play passenger as He drives the car. We still play an active role in our lives on this Earth, but what God does is gently guide us, showing up in ways we don’t expect, so that we can gain wisdom even in the difficult trials we face in this life.

The Middle East has always been a region full of tension. The Israelites weren’t able to just walk into the Promised Land after leaving slavery in Egypt, they had to fight to take possession of what had been given to them. But Pastor Jeff warns us today that the most pivotal conflict in that region has not happened yet, and it may be coming sooner than we think. Despite the coming violence, we will see God move to intervene on behalf of His people like we have never seen before.

How good are we at predicting the future? For the most part, we don’t even know how the next two or three days are going to play out. But yet, the prophet Ezekiel received a vision from God that allowed Him to predict the rebuilding of the nation of Israel, twenty-six hundred years before it came to pass! In today’s message, Pastor Jeff reminds you that not only does God know how this story ends, He knows the beginning and the middle of the story as well. Nothing comes as a surprise to Him.

The Bible teaches us that from God’s point of view, a thousand years is like a day, and one day is like a thousand years. God doesn’t see the world on the same timeline that you and I do, but that doesn’t mean that He isn’t faithful to fulfill His promises. In today’s message, Pastor Jeff reminds you how God’s faithfulness to Israel continues to this day, as He brought His people back to the land of their ancestors after nearly two thousand years of exile. The Lord’s promises endure forever.