Woodland Hills Church

The 24 elders in the throne room who sing praises to God show us that corporate worship is a distinctive feature of God’s people. Why is this important? What does this mean when corporate singing is uncommon outside of the church? Greg addresses these questions and provides practical guidance for ways that praising God can become a central part of our relationship with God.

When John enters the throne room in Revelation 4 and 5, the Father and Son are evident, but the Spirit is depicted as the seven eyes of the slain lamb. What does this imagery tell us about God’s triune nature and what can we learn about the role of the Holy Spirit? These are the questions addressed by Greg in this sermon, and the answers guide us into a deeper union with God.

The heavenly vision of John in Revelation 5 reveals that God redeems persons from every tribe, language, people, and nation. Shawna Boren highlights the radical contrast of this truth against our common experience of division and “othering” that occurs in small and grand ways in our lives. God calls us to love the other rather than excluding those who are different. We make this a reality as we embrace the practice of hospitality.

The people of God are a kingdom and priests who will reign on earth. This is our identity. What does this mean and what are the implications for us? Cedrick Baker explores how we are being formed to be people of character who are trained to reign on earth, reflecting the character of God.

In this sermon, Greg Boyd focused on the part of John’s vision that no one is worthy to open the scroll. The reason is due to the fact that humanity has been deceived and therefore does not align with the character of God. Greg ties this passage to the deception of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 and then he provides spiritual practices that can break this pattern of deception.

In this sermon, Greg Boyd introduces chapter 5 of Revelation where we read about the vision of the slain lamb. This lamb unveils the nature of God’s character in a surprising way, as typically God is depicted as having lion-like character, but instead the slain lamb shows us what God is really like, how God works in the world and how God has conquered evil.

The twenty-four elders fall before the Lord in perpetual worship, giving us a radical image of life in the presence of God. In this sermon, Dan Kent explores the meaning of worship by showing us that the key is our allegiance to God demonstrated by the choices that we make in laying down our crowns before him.

God is the only eternal one. All else is temporary. However, it is human nature to put our trust in temporary things, to focus on things that will not last. Jesus invites us to treasure that which will not be destroyed. When we set our hearts on God’s kingdom and his righteousness, we will discover the only treasure that endures.

In Revelation 4, the 24 elders lay down their crowns and fall before God’s throne. This sermon explores how such acts are typically performed out of fear, but here it’s actually a reflection of the kind of love that they see in the life of Jesus, and a participation in the triune dance of God’s eternal being.

In this sermon, Greg challenges us to upgrade our umwelt. He expands on what Emily introduced in the previous week, and provides three practical ways that we can increase our ability to see God and enter into the knowledge of his transcendent glory. Note: We had some mic issues between 27:07-29:12. We realize Greg can nearly not be heard, and we're sorry about that!

John was invited to enter a door to see into the throne room of God. This was not a physical seeing. It was a spiritual experience, where he saw into another dimension of reality. What does it mean to see into this other world, to experience God in this distinctly different way? This sermon, by Emily Morrison, encourages us to embrace the gift of seeing God in this radically different way.

In John’s vision in Revelation 4, he sees a sea of glass, which represents peace. What does this vision of peace mean for life when we are surrounded by chaos, evil and the constant barrage of all that is not peaceful? This vision of peace came before the final victory of sin and death. This peace is our inheritance in the present. We only need to see it and embrace it as God’s gift to us.

In this sermon, Greg calls the church to pay attention to the reality of spiritual warfare that pervades our world, and then he follows this with direction on the necessity and the ways to resist the powers that war against God’s kingdom.

In this sermon, Greg shares a second letter to the church of Woodland Hills that follows the form of the seven churches in Revelation. This letter praises the generosity expressed by the church, and it admonishes individuals regarding the need to live hospitably by examining how our time is eaten up by trivial and distracting busyness.

This sermon applies the instruction to “hear” what the Spirit said to the seven churches from Revelation by offering a letter to our church today. Specifically, it is a call to revival, to enter into a new space of renewal so that we might wake up to the work of the Spirit in and around us.

In the last letter to the seven churches, Jesus speaks of the endurance of the Philadelphians. They endure in times of trial and Jesus promises to keep them so that they might overcome and remain faithful. In this sermon, Greg challenges us to remain faithful in the midst of trials so that we might live in love, even when we face resistance to it.

Jesus rose on that first Easter Sunday in his physical body. He was not a disembodied ghost. This demonstrates that the resurrection is not merely about the salvation of our souls. It’s about bringing all things into wholeness: the physical experience of our bodies, other creatures and the entire world. In this sermon, Greg calls us into this radical vision of God’s comprehensive salvation.

This sermon narrates how Jesus was proclaimed as the Jewish Messiah by the people as they laid palm leaves as he entered Jerusalem. This is contrasted with their condemnation of Jesus to death, and it asks why they made this radical shift. Why did they adore him on Sunday and seek his crucifixion within the same week? These insights will open our eyes to what Jesus was doing, and what he is now doing in our world.

In this sermon, Shawna Boren explores the letter to the church at Sardis. This letter has a direct and somewhat harsh challenge given to a complacent and overly-confident church. These words are a warning to wake up and see reality for what it is so that we might more fully invest our lives in what really matters.

In this sermon, Jeremy Duncan, author of the book on Revelation entitled Upside Down Apocalypse, introduces Jesus’ words to the church at Thyatira. He unpacks the meaning of the violent and troubling imagery that we read, and he shows us how these words are meant to wake us up to the ways of the culture that undermine real life that only Christ can give us.