Category Archives: Sermons

“Revival X was the best one yet”

This is what several people have told me after last week.

And if this is true, then this should be the best year of True North yet.  If we really have more revived young people than ever before, then this should be an explosive time of spiritual growth for us!

At least that’s what the sermon was about this weekend!  We looked back at how we got our name True North and what we want to be all about this upcoming year.  Our theme verse from Psalm 16:8 says that we set the Lord always before us.  This can’t just be something we say at camp, but it needs to be the way we live every day here in the OC.

In fact, our passage from Psalm 16:8-11 is quoted twice in the book of Acts as the apostles started building the church.  Peter uses it in Acts 2 for the first sermon of the church where 3,000 people get saved!  Paul uses it in Acts 13 when he is spreading the gospel to the Gentiles.  The good news of Jesus’ resurrection is the power behind revival.  It is how we can have a new life!

My prayer is that this isn’t the end of Revival, but that it is just the beginning. I’m praying we will stay on fire for Jesus Christ in our hearts and that fire will spread this year when we go back to school.  I don’t just want to see a revival in Lake Havasu, but at Laguna Hills.  I want to hear worship songs at Aliso Niguel.  I want to be on the front page of the San Clemente newspaper because our Christian club is taking over the campus.  Please join me in prayer, that this year’s revival will continue onto the campuses of Orange County high schools, that God’s name will be glorified right here where we live!

Here’s the sermon from this weekend at True North right here and leave a comment if you are praying for the revival to continue!

True North

At Christmas we celebrate his birth and at Easter we celebrate his death and resurrection, but when do we consider who Jesus is today?  At True North we did this last weekend on the 5th birthday of Compass Bible Church!  Our goal is to take one weekend every year to remember the glory of Jesus as he is revealed in the book of Revelation.  Here’s the sermon:

The Revelation of Jesus

This revelation of Jesus calls for a response from each and every one of us.  Some of us are lukewarm towards him.  We think that we know him in a “Lord, Lord” way but really we don’t.  He is waiting for us to be zealous and repent so that he will really enter into a relationship with us.

Others of us (and I would put myself in this category) have repented of our sin and lived on fire for Jesus.  But the question is do we still have that first love?  Is our love for him increasing in obedience or have we stopped doing the things we did at first?

As we see Jesus in resurrected, glorified Godness, with eyes on fire and a sword coming out of his mouth, he wants our whole hearts.  As the saying goes, we need to be on fire for Jesus!

Please leave a comment about what you learned about Jesus from the sermon or about how you are trying to stoke the fire of your heart for him!  Here are three things I am doing today to fan the flame:

#1 – Eating the Bible! This is why we have Scripture of the Day on this website, because we all need a regular intake of God’s Word to stay strong!  Like newborns we should long for the pure mile of the Word (1 Peter 2:2).  And those of us who have been Christians for a while should be meat-eaters moving on to maturity (Hebrews 5:11-14).

#2 – Updating my Prayer Journal! It would be hard for me to say that I love my wife if I didn’t talk to her every day!  That’s why I need to constantly be seeking the Lord in prayer and thinking through all that I have to say to him.  For me, it is so helpful to organize these thoughts by writing them down and then I can see how he answers them time and time again!

#3 – Writing! Whenever I write about the Bible and try to take my thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, it has a real sanctifying effect.  Sometimes I try to write blogs like this or have even tried writing a book or two.  But mostly, I just write in a journal in my computer as I think through something God is teaching me.  Lately, I have not been doing this as much and I am eager to get back to it!

What do you do to stoke the fires of your heart for Jesus?  Leave a comment and let us know!

Revelation 9:20-21 - The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Right now we are reading through the book of Revelation, especially the horrific judgment of God as his wrath is poured out on the world.  It is amazing to me that people don’t want to repent after this destruction is unleashed upon them.  But before we look at how foolish these people are, we must ask ourselves a most important question: Have I really repented of my sin?

Here are a few of the sermons from True North about repentance:

The first one talks about life only being available for a limited time.  And it gets back to the old, lost truth that if we do not turn, then we will burn.

This next sermon defines the difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow.  Many people feel bad about their sin and say they are sorry.  But in the end, they continue to sin.  Godly sorrow means that not only do you confess your sin but you commit yourself to turning away from it.

This third sermon is from the book of Revelation.  Jesus talks to the church who has lost their first love and tells them how to get it back!

So, why the Taco Bell picture?  Well, it turns out that I mention at least something about Taco Bell in the introduction to all three of these sermons.

I pray that some of you will listen to these old sermons and become aware of the sin that you are in.  May we all repent, whether it is for the first time in a radical about face of life because God saves you or whether it is a part of the regular repentance in our love for Christ.  Leave me a comment if you listen to the sermons at all and let me know what you think!

How to Defend the Faith

1 Peter 3:15 – But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.

In our sermon last weekend, we challenged everyone to defend the faith.  They could either share their story of salvation through their testimony.  Or they could tell someone the good news of the gospel.  Our goal was to obey the command to give a reason for the hope we have in Jesus.

We are continuing this challenge over the next two weeks as we get ready for Good Friday and Easter.  What a great time of the year to talk with people about the death and resurrection of Christ.  We can ask them what they are doing for Easter?  Or we can ask if they know that Jesus died for all of their sins? Some of our students are even going to preach on the resurrection at a campus lunch so we can invite hundreds of people to Easter at the Bren!

Please leave a comment on this post if you have a conversation with someone about Jesus.  It will be encouraging to see how others are spreading the truth about Jesus.  This Easter, may God save many people as he uses us to be his street team.

Dating.

This is a hot topic for high school students!

Today we were able to look at 1 Peter 3:1-7 where it describes the roles of husbands and wives.  My prayer is that students will prepare now for their future relationships!

In my sermon this weekend I mentioned the dating series we have done a couple of times before God Calls It Love!  If you are interested in hearing the whole sermon on how dating should be for the purpose of marriage listen here:

Also, we talked a little bit about how Christians should not date non-Christians and what type of person we should be attracted too.  For more on that listen here:

May God raise up young men and women at True North who are above reproach in dating relationships now and ready to have marriages that will bring him glory!

(You can also download these sermons from our iTunes podcast or pick up a copy of the complete CD set here at the church!)

This weekend 206 high school students went up the mountain to bring heat to the snow.   Specifically, we looked at the young life of David in God’s Word as an example to us today.

Click on the title to listen or download the sermon.

#1 – We meet David, a young man after God’s own heart.

#2 – David fought Goliath in the name of the Lord.  May we set goals to bring God glory and start with the little things we have to do every day.

#3 – David finds a friend in Jonathan.  This is a sermon on how to make Christian friends.

(You can also download these sermons through our iTunes podcast.  Just go to iTunes and search True North or Compass Bible Church High School)

Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about these sermons!