The title of this message is a play off of the phrase "once learned, twice burned," or perhaps you know it as "once bitten, twice shy." Either way, it's a way of saying that you learned your lesson well. If you burned your hand on the stove onc...

Have you ever been at "rock bottom?" It's never fun, but the beauty of it is it always gives us a chance to repent. That was the case for Jonah. In Jonah 2, Jonah gives us a model for repentance that we can use in our own lives when we're helpl...

Have you ever ended a snow day or a free day and thought, "man, that could have been spent better." Yeah, me too. What if there was a way to make it better? What if before the video games and show binging, you spent some extra time dev...

In crime movies, when the bad guys are caught and the police are busting up their operation, they might say "the jig is up, boys." In other words, "we've been caught." When it comes to our own sin, we like to hide it and cover it up, but God wi...

Are you required to obey your parents? What about God? Surprisingly, the answer is both yes and no. Yes, you absolutely are required to. God doesn't give you an alternative, you're commanded to obey Him and your parents. Also no, you have a sen...

Have you ever asked for a favor from someone that wasn't for you? As in, you went on someone else's behalf to ask for a favor. Using your own social capital to pull in a favor for someone else is a really good thing to do. But what happens when...

Have you ever heard of what's called "narrative building?" It's kind of like when someone starts a rumor about you. They begin to 'build' a 'narrative' or a story about you that's either false or only half true and then it's professed as if it'...

Every once in awhile, you'll be reading your Bible and you'll hit a difficult passage. It happens to everyone, but if we're not careful, it can send us in a total spiral! That's why this episode was recorded, to help you with some strategies fo...

God is going to overcome the world and believers in Christ get to partake in it with Him. BUT, how do we know we're going to? How do we know we're in Christ? John is going to give us even more evidence that we are in Christ, grab your Bible and...

Have you ever wondered what perfect love is? Could you define it? Could you identify it? Even as a Christian, it can be hard to define or model perfect love, but the Holy Spirit has guided John to give us the perfect picture of it from God's ex...

Have you ever heard somebody's testimony on how they were brought from the worst of the worst into Christ's kingdom? When you compared their testimony to yours, did it make you feel like yours is lacking? I've felt this before! But tune in to h...

Have you ever entrusted someone with a task and wondered if they actually were doing the work you trusted them with? It's kind of an anxious feeling, especially when you've got a lot invested in them! The amazing thing is that in Christ, you NE...

As we have been examining our individual walks with God to see that we're in the faith, John continues to provide evidence. We've heard from John already that we are to love one another, but now John is giving us some contrast between God's chi...

The Holy Spirit guides John to write one of the most sobering contrasts in the entire world: children of God and children of the devil. This scary reality should drive Christians to proclaim the truth more and the unbeliever to faith in Christ....

The world of podcasts is vast. Who's safe to listen to? Who isn't boring? Who is doing podcasts to further the gospel and help Christians live better? I've got a few suggestions, tune in for more! For reminder, here are the podcasts...

There's an endless debate about whether or not you MUST read from a physical Bible instead of just accessing it from your phone. Having the Bible on your phone is awesome, but I'm going to make the case that your physical Bible is always better...

Have you ever listened to somebody preach or teach on the Bible and wondered if they are actually a believer in Christ or an enemy of the gospel? The Holy Spirit uses John to address this in our passage, even calling false teachers "antichrists...

It's so easy to get trapped into all of the worldly things and the desires of the flesh, even if you're a believer. When we're tempted to look at the world as being attractive, it helps to know what really comes from it.So grab your Bibl...

Love is inseparable from obedience to God. A Christian without love is like a competitive swimmer that never goes in the water. If someone is a true believer, they will love both God and their neighbor. Grab your Bible and tune in t...

Our culture tells us that we're "enough" and we don't need change and we just need to be ourselves. Our culture also tells us that if there is a heaven, all we need to do is be a "good person." None of that is true, however. We NEED someone to ...

How do Christians approach the aftermath of a national tragedy? Our country experienced a very difficult day on Sept. 10, 2025, and it seems as though tragedy isn't slowing down any time soon. How are we to respond? How should we think? How sho...

Have you ever wondered how you're supposed to know if you're truly a Christian? John lays it out clearly that you must be walking in light, because God is light. Since there's no darkness in Him, you can't be walking in darkness. Gr...

What is the difference between being confident in something versus having doubts about it? The EVIDENCE! If you have sufficient evidence to believe in something, you will. What if I told you that we have excellent evidence for Jesus? <...

In the past couple of messages, we looked at Apostle Paul's instructions for the Christian household (and workplace). For our final message in Colossians, we're looking at how to behave outside of the household, particularly with "outsiders," a...

As the Apostle Paul continues talking about the Christian household, he moves on to what the text calls "bondservants." Though not a direct equivalent, our modern day employee is about the closest we can get culturally in 21st century America t...