Shows
Koinonia FellowshipLiving the Resurrection Reality - Ben HiwaleBecause there is the resurrection, life is more than just biological existence.
2016-05-1641 minKoinonia FellowshipAnchoring Deep - Ben HiwaleWhat is one way that the Gospel is changing you? Is there any area of your life where you have substituted a routine for your relationship with Jesus?
2016-04-1840 min2016-04-0752 minKoinonia FellowshipUnintelligibility in Church - Ben HiwalePaul’s teaching to the Corinthians challenges us in a relevant way today. How eager are we to have spiritual gifts and use them? The implication is that our gifts are not static. It isn’t as if the spiritual gifts we receive when we’re first converted are the only gifts we’ll ever have. The text invites us to consider prayerfully asking God to endow us with spiritual gifts. With faith and a desire to build up the church, we must seek God and trust Him to use us in the body of Christ as His servants.
2016-03-2047 minKoinonia FellowshipDisciple or Consumer - Ben HiwaleIn an age when people define themselves by their wealth and possessions, Jesus' words are hard to hear. Self-denial simply is not a popular message in our super-size, Big Gulp culture. In following Jesus, we begin by letting go of all those things that place a prior hold on our affections. Relationships, possessions, privilege, position, and ease give way to God's call.
2016-03-0636 minKoinonia FellowshipAbove All - Love! - Ben HiwaleWhen we choose to love, we become a tool in God’s hands to transform the lives of those around us. Start doing the selfless things, the persistent things, the hopeful things, the enduring things—and you will be practicing the love that never fails.
2016-02-2949 minKoinonia FellowshipJudged by the Company You Keep - Ben HiwaleThe apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10 that God was not pleased with the behavior of the Israelites. Paul cautions in verse 21, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.” Everything we own is a gift from God. Without Him, we have nothing! But we need to remember that when we put the gifts above the gift-giver, God, we have made our possessions an idol.
2016-01-1144 minKoinonia FellowshipWhatever It Takes - Ben HiwaleThe question in our minds as Christians is: How do I engage with my culture and yet be faithful to Christ without compromise?
2015-11-1644 minKoinonia FellowshipThe Gospel and Our Unalienable Rights - Ben HiwaleGod’s call is not limited to apostles like Paul. Every sincere follower of Christ has been given a place in carrying out God’s purposes for our world. There is no greater joy in life than being used by God.
2015-11-0946 minKoinonia FellowshipTest! - Ben HiwaleThere is no better way to become like Jesus than to have your faith tested. How can you develop character when things go well? But when things go badly, you learn whether you have true faith or not. If you fail the test, it is not the end of the road, but rather a chance to get on the right road.
2015-11-0238 minKoinonia Fellowship1 Corinthians 8:1-6 - Ben HiwaleAs Christians and Americans we enjoy a double portion of freedom. As Americans, we are free to say what we want, free to travel wherever we want, free to work and live wherever we want. As Christians we are free from the condemnation associated with sin and we are free from the demands of the law because it has been fulfilled for us. We are free to use all of God’s creation for His glory. We are free to enjoy the blessings God offers through this world. Paul reminds us today that though we are theoretically free to do as...
2015-10-1951 minKoinonia FellowshipIt is Complex and Complicated - Ben HiwaleOne of the biggest challenges in life is to be content in our stage of life. It has been well said, “Happiness is not having what you want. It is wanting what you have.” Nowhere is this more true than with singleness and marriage. God’s desire and expectation is that you and I would be content in Christ, whatever circumstances we find ourselves in. The Apostle Paul leads us into confrontation with one of the major social problems of our day, and that is the breakup of marriages.
2015-09-2157 minKoinonia FellowshipBanned From Church - Ben HiwaleAccountability within the Body of Christ is a gift of God to keep His children walking in His ways for their ultimate good.
2015-08-1747 minKoinonia FellowshipSelf Centered to Selfless - Ben HiwaleThe standard we use to compare ourselves matters. We judge ourselves by how we look, how smart we are, and how successful we deem ourselves to be. What about in the church?
2015-07-1345 minKoinonia FellowshipUnderstanding Obedience - Ben HiwaleAs a follower of Jesus Christ, we are called to give Him our all. It is only when we give up the search and turn it all over to Him that we find what we were looking for all along. Dying to self can be a scary thought, but it’s the price of true happiness. Jesus submitted everything, including His fears and His friends, to the will of God. It cost Him His life. It won Him the harvest. What have you not surrendered to God? Why? Will you obey Him?
2015-07-0537 minKoinonia FellowshipWrong Way of Doing Church - Ben HiwaleOne of the glories of the church is that nobody does the same thing. Churches that try to turn out people that all dress alike, carry the same kind of notebook, speak the same kind of language, use the same version of the Bible are missing what God has in mind, because
we are all to be different, yet working together and needing one another.
another.
2015-06-1548 minKoinonia FellowshipThe Cross Versus the Wisdom of the World - Ben HiwaleThe wisdom of God comes to us through the foolishness of the cross. It is a foolishness to accept a gift so great that its magnitude cannot be measured. It is a foolishness to believe that God would send His Son to live among us and then allow Him to be killed just so our sins could be forgiven. It is a foolishness to think that God would provide
each of us with the Holy Spirit living in our hearts in order to help us grow closer to Him. We are fools to believe that eternal life comes simply from...
2015-05-1741 minKoinonia FellowshipContagious Attitude - Ben HiwaleGod has called us to a very important relationship, and because the church at Corinth had not understood the implications of their calling and the relationship they personally had, the apostle has to deal with divisions, scandals, lawsuits, immorality, drunkenness and quarreling.
2015-04-2044 minKoinonia FellowshipDeep Wells General Session Two - Ben HiwaleWhen the ideal is hard to attain, it's tempting to just lower the bar and redefine the ideal. This can be especially true when it comes to Jesus' teachings about family and children, which many of us have already fallen short of. This message will explain why aiming for God's ideal is still worth it; even when our reality makes reaching it impossible. Buried beneath the hurt, disappointment, distance, or silence is a desire to be connected to our children.
2015-03-2140 minKoinonia FellowshipThe Law of Harvest: Galatians-6-1-10 - Ben HiwaleAs Christians, we are free to live in the fullness of life. Love for God frees us to love others truly and happily. Let us freely sow love that we and all the world may harvest that true and bounteous life which is God’s gift in Jesus.
2015-03-1647 minKoinonia FellowshipRadical Power of Christian Life Galatians 5:16-26 - Ben HiwaleWe are all under constant temptation and can never live a holy life without the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. We're living in a world system that is utterly contrary to the things of God, under constant pressure to love the world (1Jn 2:15-17), to compromise with the world (James 4:4) and to conform to the world (Ro 12:2). We don't have the resources to fight such a formidable foe; we need the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
Join us Koinonia Fellowship as Pastor Ben continues our study of Galatians.
2015-03-0840 min