The Christmas season is one of the most beloved seasons of the year. It’s filled with family, friends, giving, receiving, and joy, but it’s also filled with chaos, hustling, shopping, and oftentimes arguing. All of these things make it very easy to forget the true reason we celebrate this special time of year. Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas in his message, Jesus Is The Reason For The Season Pt. 1: Jesus, The Spirit of Peace.
Luke 2:8-14 (NKJV) John 8:12 John 3:19-21 John 4:42 Isaiah 57:19 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (KJV) Luke 19:42 Isaiah 53:5 Hebrews 12:14a (NIV) Matthew 24:35 Isaiah 9:7 2 Peter 3:7 Ephesians 2:14-17 Job 22:21 Romans 5:1
Jesus Is The Reason For The Season
Jesus, The Spirit of Peace
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon Him; And with His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
Once a year, the High Priest was to sacrifice two goats for the sins of Israel. Jesus is our perfect sacrificial lamb, so why did the high priests have to sacrifice two goats? And why did one of the two goats have to go to Azazel? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to a mystery of the Day of Atonement in his message, Yom Kippur Pt. 2: The Fulfillment of the Day of Atonement.
1The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, 2 and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. 3 But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. 5 And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. 6 Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. 7 Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 8 And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. 9 And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, 10 but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.
Leviticus 16:1-10
Jesus was the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement.
There are seven feasts of God given to the children of Jacob through the prophet Moses. Four of these seven feasts of God have been fulfilled. The last three, The Feast of Trumpets, The Day of Atonement, and The Feast of Tabernacles, have yet to be fulfilled. If we understand the institution and purpose of these feasts, then we can better understand what they foreshadow. Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the mysteries of Yom Kippur in his message, Yom Kippur Pt. 1: The Institution of the Day of Atonement.
26 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the Lord. 28 And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 For whoever is not afflicted on that very day shall be cut off from his people. 30 And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. 32 It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.”
Leviticus 23:26-32
The institution of the Day of Atonement came through the Prophet Moses in the wilderness.
July 4th, Independence Day, is the celebration of America’s official freedom from the tyranny of its motherland, Great Britain. Today, we, the American people, take this day for granted. Christians aren’t even sure if we should be patriotic to our country anymore. Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he shares his eye-opening message, The Patriots.
Patriotism is the love of one’s country. Our country is our inheritance from God. How can we, as Christians, not do anything but be patriotic to the country our God has given us?
8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He divided mankind, He fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
Deuteronomy 32:8
1First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Today, in this ever-darkening world, the need for and importance of a father is seeming to dwindle. Fathers are mocked on tv and portrayed only as stupid, dumb, useless, clueless, and often the source of the problem the strong, brave, brilliant, super-like mom has to fix. Is this how we are to treat and portray our fathers? Do fathers matter to God? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the importance and necessity of fathers in his Father’s Day message, Dad, You Matter.
Ephesians 6:1-4 Nehemiah 4:14
Dad, You Matter
Dad, your role as the father is important; you matter. You cannot be replaced. You have an essential part to play in the raising of your children, never forget that.
14 And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
Nehemiah 4:14
1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:1-4
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, 2 To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3 I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.
2 Timothy 1:1-3
1There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
2,000 years ago, 120 disciples of Jesus sat in the Upper Room praying and waiting, in accord, for the promise of the Holy Spirit. It was Pentecost Sunday, around 9 am, when the power of God rushed into the Upper Room like a mighty rushing wind. Tongues of fire rested upon each and every head. The promise of the Holy Spirit had come. Pentecost had been fulfilled. 2,000 years later, we take all of this for granted. We don’t fully grasp what that meant for the Church and the world that day. Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the grave importance of Pentecost in his fiery Pentecost Sunday message, The Promise of Pentecost.
Acts 1:3-9 Joel 2:28-29 Isaiah 32:15 Ezekiel 39:29 Zechariah 12:10 Acts 2:1-4 Matthew 10:1 Luke 1:35 Isaiah 42:1 Luke 4:18-19 John 5:19a Matthew 28:18 Matthew 21:23 Acts 3:11-12 Acts 3:16 John 14:12-14 John 15:7-8 Zephaniah 3:9 2 Timothy 1:6 1 Timothy 4:14-15 1 Thessalonians 5:19
The Promise of Pentecost
The Holy Spirit
The Promise of The Holy Spirit
28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. 30 And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
Joel 2:28-32
The Coming of The Holy Spirit
1When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Sometimes it’s easy to take for granted what Jesus did for us on the cross. We’re mere humans who are quick to forget. In some cases, many of us are lied to and told that our actions cannot impact our salvation. We’re told that healing, gifts of the Spirit, and abundant life is no longer for us. So, what was the purpose of Jesus’ sacrifice if all that He did wasn’t for us? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the great price our Savior paid for us in his powerful and sobering Easter Sunday message, The High Price That Jesus Paid.
Mark 15:33-39 Mark 14:36 Mark 14:22-25 John 3:16 John 15:1-8 John 15:10 Acts 1:24b-25 Luke 22:44
The High Price That Jesus Paid
33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, He is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed His last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing Him, saw that in this way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
2,000 years ago, the Lamb of God came to take away the sin of the world. God came in the flesh, yet the Pharisees and their followers didn’t recognize this visitation. They didn’t recognize God incarnate as He rode before them on a donkey fulfilling prophecy. They missed all of the signs. Will you? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the importance of the sign of the times in his Palm Sunday message, The Day of Visitation.
Luke 19:28-44 Psalms 50:12 Psalms 118:22 Luke 20:17-18 Matthew 23:37-39
The Day of Visitation
The Triumphal (Triumphant) Entry
28 And when He had said these things, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, He sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’”
32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as He had told them. 33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” 35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 And as He rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.
37 As He was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Jerusalem Missed The Day of Their Visitation
41 And when He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
40 to 50% of all marriages in the US end in divorce, making the US have the 6th highest divorce rate in the world. Why are so many marriages failing? Why does it matter? Not only does such a high divorce rate affect millions of families and children, but Jesus declared, “So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Shouldn’t we work towards figuring out why the divorce rate is so high if marriage makes a couple one? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the key to a loving, successful marriage in his Valentine’s Day message, Husbands Love Your Wives.
Ephesians 5:22–33
Husbands Love Your Wives
1Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. 3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”
Matthew 19:1-9
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
They say if your dreams don’t scare you, then you aren’t dreaming big enough. Our God-given dreams don’t always seem possible. They’ll tell you that it’s impossible. They’ll tell you that you aren’t enough, but what they don’t understand is that if God is for you, then who can be against you? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the importance of pursuing our God-given dreams regardless of whether others believe it’s possible or not in his New Year’s Day message, Against All Odds.
2 Samuel 23:8-17 (CEV) Ezekiel 22:30-31
Against All Odds
31 When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. 32 And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” 33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”
38 Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, 39 and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.
41 And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42 And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43 And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” 45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”
48 When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. 50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David.
1 Samuel 17:31-50
37 For nothing will be impossible with God.
Luke 1:37
26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
