In this message from Psalm 106, learn how confession, reflection on God’s faithfulness, and a God-centered perspective shape genuine, lasting thanksgiving.

Cain’s descendants built cities, developed culture, advanced technology, and prospered in ways the world would applaud—yet they lived every moment outside the presence of God. Their story reminds us that success without God is not success at all. Prosperity apart from Him may look impressive, but it cannot satisfy, it cannot save, and it cannot endure. In this episode, we explore how the busyness of building for nothing and the foolish confidence of worldly achievement can silently pull our hearts away from what matters most—and why true purpose is found only in a relationship with Christ.

In “Sin’s Ruinous Rule” (Genesis 4:8–16), Pastor Ben Smith examines Cain’s tragic story to reveal three warning signs of sin’s growing destruction—its mastery, its blindness, and its judgment—while calling believers to repentance and the redeeming grace found only in Jesus Christ.

In Right with God (Genesis 4:1–7), Pastor Ben Smith contrasts the offerings of Cain and Abel to reveal that true acceptance with God comes only through obedience, faith, and submission to His will. This sermon challenges today’s culture of self-worship and calls believers to honor God through a worthy offering and wholehearted surrender to Christ.

In Death for Life, Pastor Ben Smith, Sr. explores Genesis 3:20–24, showing how God’s first act of redemption in Eden points to Christ’s death and substitutionary sacrifice. Discover how faith, a righteous sacrifice, and God’s grace bring true life.

Genesis 3:8–19 reveals the far-reaching consequences of sin. Pastor Ben Smith explains how sin breaks fellowship, disrupts cooperation, and distorts purpose, bringing guilt, pain, and death. Yet even in this dark moment, God gives a promise of hope through Christ, who conquers sin and restores what was lost.

Genesis 3 is a pivotal moment in Scripture when Adam and Eve chose to believe the lies of Satan rather than trust the will of God. Satan's work has always been to draw us away from God—through doubt, half-truths, and deception. Adam and Eve's choice in the garden was not just their story; it's ours too. As Romans 3:23 reminds us, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

To understand our own sin, we must first understand the first sin. What does their rebellion teach us about the danger of Satan's lies? At the heart of every temptation is an invitation to reject God and trust the deceiver instead of the Creator. This text teaches three vital lessons: the need to trust God's wisdom, trust His word, and trust His design.

In this sermon, Pastor Ben Smith expositionally preaches from 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12, addressing the critical issues of the sin of idleness and the often-abandoned practice of church discipline. He emphasizes that sin is a serious threat to individual Christians and the church, rightly understood as rebellion against God's lordship. The sermon highlights that faithful labor is submission to God, contrasting it with sinful idleness. The sermon also outlines three basic principles of church discipline: it is an action of the church, a direct confrontation of sin, and is fundamentally gospel-driven. Listeners will understand why the church must obey Christ's commands, even when they are countercultural, to affirm the gospel, combat sin, and rescue wayward members.

Some tasks are restricted from you because of a lack of ability. Other tasks are restricted from you because of a lack of qualification or authority. The pride of sin produces the lie that your own efforts can achieve righteousness. The arrogance of sin can convince you that you do not need Jesus. However, the testimony of scripture is that you can never achieve righteousness before God through your own efforts. Salvation comes only through the work of God. Jesus is the perfect high priest who, through His life, death, and resurrection provides forgiveness of sin and access to God to all who believe in faith. 

Hebrews 7 teaches three ways that Jesus, as the perfect son of God, provides for salvation.

It is possible to be near the gospel and miss salvation. It is possible to have some knowledge of the gospel and not believe it. It is possible to be close to salivation and not be saved. Proximity does not equal possession.

Beyond making a comparison between Moses and Jesus, Hebrews 3 warns that it is not enough to simply know who Jesus is. Like the people that Moses led, there will be many who miss out on receiving the salvation of Jesus. Those whom Moses led out of Egypt were witnesses to God's great and glorious power but did not have faith and thus did not receive the blessing of the promised land. Likewise, many today have heard the gospel but have not believed in faith and thus have not received the promise of salvation.

The whole testimony of scripture is how God provided salvation for sinful man. From the first sin and the first pronouncement of the curse of sin in Genesis 3, God has been working to bring salvation for man’s sin (Genesis 3:15). God revealed His holiness and man’s need for the atonement of sin through the shedding of blood through the Law. Speaking through the prophets and writings, God declared the promise of a coming Messiah who would bring salvation. Through the Old Testament histories, God revealed how He was providentially working to prepare the way for the Messiah. Then, with the advent of Jesus, the fullness of God’s redemptive plan was made known.

The testimony of scripture is a testimony to the work of God to bring salvation to man. Titus 3:4-7 teaches three fundamentals of the true and gospel.

When you have known and been transformed by the mercy of God the outward work response to this is showing mercy to others.

In recent years, there has been a noticeable growth in the use of the word "family" in reference to co-workers, teammates, professional associations, and hobby groups. The rise of applying the concept of family to corporate culture has grown so common that there is now a growing awareness of the problems this creates and significant pushback.

In the context of the overuse of "family" applied to none-family connections and the corrective pushback, we come to 1 Timothy 5, where Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, instructs Timothy to labor as an overseer among the church not as a dictator, ruler, or boss but as a son and brother. While applying the family relationship to your school, work, or hobby connections may be unwise, the Bible commands that Christians should apply it to fellow church members.

Recognizing the members of the church as family testifies that the church is more than a disconnected group with no responsibilities to one another but that through saving faith and mutual submission to Christ and one another, the members of the church are related and connected to one another.

This world is corrupted and filled with wickedness. Psalm 10 addresses the wickedness of this world and the destruction that such evil brings, particularly to the weak and vulnerable. However, you must be careful not to assume that the wickedness exposed in Psalm 10 applies to someone else. This psalm does not confront the classical atheism of those who openly reject the existence of God but functional atheism of living as though there is no God.

The psalm calls believers not to settle for the things of this world but to long for the kingdom to come when the king who is king forever will fully reign.

And while there is an opportunity, it beckons all to bow the knee, confess Jesus as Lord, and surrender yourself to the king who is king forever.

Regret is a powerful emotion. Generally, it is connected to missing or squandering an opportunity or being unsatisfied with a decision later revealed to be foolish, unwise, or bad. Walking in obedience before the Lord may cause you to experience difficult days and know momentary grief and suffering, but you will never regret it.

In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul references an issue of sin he addressed in 1 Corinthians 5. He had previously written to the church concerning sexual immorality that had been allowed to remain unconfronted in the church. Because of his love for the people in the church, he was grieved by their sin while also saddened that his confrontational words had caused them pain. However, he does not regret writing these words. And he is also confident that the Corinthians do not now regret receiving his words because God has used them to bring the offending individual and the church fellowship to repentance.

All relationships require some level of separation. Marriage requires "forsaking all others," citizenship requires "renouncing all other allegiances, and to be a child of God requires forsaking all other masters. Romans 10:9 declares that salvation comes from believing God raised Jesus from the dead and confessing Jesus as Lord. If Jesus is Lord of your life, you have forsaken all other lords and renounced all allegiance and fidelity to any other lord.

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 is not a passage that is hard to understand, but it is one that offends the one who seeks to be friends with Christ and the world. It has two commands. One is a prohibition, and the other is a response to the transformation of the gospel. Both commands call the saints of God to live according to the righteousness of God and put away all defilements of the world.

The arrogance of youth can be destructive and costly. In Genesis 19, we have the account of Jacob learning humility, the cost of sin, and the fruit of his deceitfulness. He was learning valuable truths the hard way and experiencing the grace of God to mature him in righteousness.

Sin is destructive, and failure is demoralizing. If we are not careful, our response to sin and failure can be as destructive, if not more than the original sin. In Genesis 27, we witness how Isaac, Rebecca, Esau, and Jacob responded to their previous sinful attempts to get their way. Each of them is attempting to recover from their own failure. Through their testimony, we see in Esau the destruction of unrepentance, in Rebecca and Jacob the unexpected cost of sin, and in Isaac the testimony of repentance.

To be transformed is to be irrevocably changed. Once a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it can no longer be a caterpillar again. Butterflies never return to being caterpillars, nor do those saved by the cross of Jesus go back to a life ruled by sin.

The end of Romans 5 says that where sin increases, so does grace. To the sinful mind, this sounds like an invitation to sin more to get more grace. In Romans 6, Paul responds by teaching what it means to be transformed. Yes, more sin equals more grace, but the response by one transformed by the gospel is not to desire more sin but more righteousness.

Matthew 11:28-30 is a beloved passage because of its pastoral care, gracious invitation, and the promise of rest. However, the context in which this passage comes is of Jesus speaking a harsh word of judgment on those who had rejected Him. But even as He warns of the consequence of sin, He offers a gospel invitation. Jesus invites all to come to saving faith and know the rest that is only known through the forgiveness of sin.