Church hurt is real. But have you ever traced it to its root? Almost all of it starts the same way: someone presenting themselves as one person while living as another.

In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of property, kept back part of the money, and laid the rest at the apostles’ feet as if it were everything. It looked generous. It was a performance. In this message, Pastor Jonathan Evans opens the interrogation room where Peter asks the question that still convicts today: why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? You may be able to lie to men. You cannot lie to God.

In this message, you will learn:

• Why the first church gave so freely, and what it means that when grace comes into your life, grace should come from your life
• The two hidden words in Acts 5 (“kept back”) and how they handcuff Ananias to Achan at Jericho
• Where church hurt really comes from, and why the gap between the performance and the person crushes people
• The difference between making mistakes and planning a double life
• Why a gift is not a character reference, and how Spirit-filled discernment protects the church
• What Sapphira’s silence teaches about accountability in our homes and teams
• The future interrogation room coming for every believer, and how to be found faithful in it

Some people in your life do not want you healed. Not because they hate you, but because your brokenness pays them.

It funds their income, feeds their ego, entertains their boredom, or protects their control. And most of us have never stopped to ask the question this sermon forces: who around me profits from my pain?

In Acts 3, a man who could not walk spent over 40 years being carried to the temple gate to beg. Carried by the same people, to the same spot, every single day. And Pastor Jonathan Evans asks the question hiding in plain sight: if they were consistent enough to carry him to the gate every day, why did they never once carry him inside for healing? Maybe because his begging was their business.

In this message, you will learn:

• How to spot the people who need you broken: insecure bosses, misery-loves-company friends, emotional vampires, sympathy dealers, and toxic mentors and partners
• The Acts 16 story of masters who got rich off a girl’s bondage and jailed the man who set her free
• Why forgiveness is letting them go, but you cannot reconcile with everybody you forgive
• Why you can be consistently at church and consistently stuck, and how honesty starts the healing
• The difference between the people who profit from your pain and the two good men who stopped and gave
• How one healed life made God famous and led 5,000 people to Christ

A lot of us have quietly decided we just need a personal relationship with God. No church drama, no people, just me and God. It sounds spiritual. The problem is the Bible never describes the Christian life that way, and that one belief may be the reason your faith feels distant, drained, or stuck.

In this message, Pastor Jonathan Evans opens Acts 2:42-47, where the early church gave themselves to teaching, to fellowship, to breaking bread, and to prayer. He shows the difference between being saved and being devoted, and why “just me and God” leaves so many believers running on empty. The call is simple: stop trying to follow God alone, and become the church again.

In this sermon:

• Why the church in Acts is believers only, and what made it recognizable
• The difference between salvation and devotion, and why the modern picture is fuzzy
• Why we perish for lack of knowledge, not lack of entertainment
• How to become the salt that slows the decay instead of shaking our heads at the culture
• Why you were never built to follow God alone, and what fellowship really is
• The Wi-Fi modem and the phone: two pictures of staying connected to the power source
• How breaking bread joins heaven and earth and equalizes everyone at the table
• The story of how Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship started in 1976 with ten people in a house

What would it sound like if Peter preached to you today? In this message, Pastor Jonathan Evans steps into the Day of Pentecost and delivers Peter’s sermon from Acts 2 in first person, the sermon that saved 3,000 souls.

The crowd thought the disciples were drunk. Peter knew better: they were filled with the Spirit of God. What follows is the message that started the church and still confronts us today.

In this sermon you will learn:

• Why Spirit-filled believers will always be misunderstood (1 Corinthians 2:14)
• What Joel’s prophecy means for the time you are living in right now
• Why Peter said your time is running out, no matter your age
• How to avoid getting your Jesuses confused in a culture full of false versions
• How David’s words in Psalm 16 prove the resurrection (“His pen was writing, but Jesus was talking”)
• Why a holy God giving one option is grace, not restriction
• The two types of repentance, and why the Lord deserves both

You might not be behind. You might just be waiting in the wrong spot.

So many believers are sitting in a season of waiting, wondering why nothing is moving. In this sermon from Acts 2, Pastor Jonathan Evans opens up the day of Pentecost and shows why so many of us feel stuck waiting on God, and the specific move the disciples made before the Holy Spirit ever showed up.

In this message you will learn:

• Why you may not be waiting on God, but God may be waiting on you (10:12)
• The three things the disciples did before Pentecost that positioned them for the promise (11:11)
• Why “devoting yourself to prayer” is not the same as just waiting (13:08)
• The five contrasts between Sinai and Pentecost that show how the covenant changed forever
• The difference between being baptized in the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit
• Why tongues of fire in Acts 2 are not the same as the angelic language in 1 Corinthians 14
• What it means that the church is the locker room, not the destination

What if God hid the date of Jesus’ return on purpose?

In Acts 1, the disciples asked the same question we keep asking today: “Lord, is it now? Is the kingdom finally being restored?” Jesus did not correct their expectation. He only corrected the timing. His work on the cross is finished.

His coming kingdom is still loading. In this message, Pastor Jonathan Evans walks through Acts 1:6-8 and shows why God refuses to give us the deadline, and what He’s actually called us to do in this last 1%.

WHAT YOU’LL TAKE AWAY FROM THIS MESSAGE:

• Why the disciples’ question in Acts 1:6 is the same question the modern church keeps asking
• How Jesus corrected the timing but never corrected the expectation of His physical return
• Why God hides the date on purpose, and what that says about real faith vs. deadline-driven panic
• The Acts 1:8 assignment for every believer alive in this last 1%
• What it really takes to be a Spirit-filled witness (hint: not credentials)
• A real story from the barber chair that flips the script on “when” and “where” we witness

What if the real question about your life is not how successful it looked, but what its summary will say in the end?

In this powerful message, Jonathan Evans shares a deeply personal story about grief, purpose, and the words his mother spoke in one of the hardest moments their family ever faced. Through that story, he brings us face to face with a sobering truth: you were not created merely to exist, survive, or be admired. You were created to serve the purposes of God.

This sermon is both tender and direct. It will comfort people who are grieving, challenge people who have grown complacent, and remind every believer that time is moving and faithfulness matters. If you have ever wondered what really counts, how to live with eternity in view, or how to make your life matter for others, this message will speak to you.

In this message, you’ll be challenged to consider:

• What the true summary of life really is
• Why purpose does not disappear in seasons of pain
• How to live today with tomorrow’s accountability in view
• Why human applause can never be your aim
• The danger of becoming “saved and satisfied”
• What it means to benefit your generation
• Why finishing well matters more than starting strong
• How kingdom community should respond to grief and need

There is a version of prayer that sounds spiritual but is powered by approval. And Jesus calls it out.

In Matthew 6:5–6, Jesus warns us not to pray like hypocrites who love to be seen, then He calls us into the inner room where the mask comes off and the Father meets us in secret.

In this message, Pastor Jonathan Evans exposes “The Masquerade,” the temptation to turn holy conversation into public performance, and invites you back to prayer that is honest, humble, and real.

If you have ever felt pressure to “sound right” when you pray, or you’ve caught yourself caring more about what people think than what God sees, this sermon will reset your heart.

Key takeaways from this message:

• Prayer is where you go down, not where you come up.
• God knows the difference between a conversation and a concert.
• If your motive is right, you can pray simply and God hears you.
• Audience Direction Disorder can turn prayer into performance, even in spiritual spaces.
• Your Father sees what is done in secret, and He rewards what is real.

Some of us pray like God is reluctant, like we’re bothering Him, asking too much, or showing up uninvited. But Jesus flips that mindset: God isn’t the unwilling friend in your life. He’s a loving Father who commands persistence, ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock and keep knocking.

In this message, Pastor Jonathan Evans walks through Jesus’ words on prayer and gives you a framework for when prayer feels stuck, delayed, or discouraging. You’ll hear why motives matter, why timing matters, and why your pursuit has to match your request.

And you’ll be challenged to P.U.S.H.—to pray until something happens. In this sermon you’ll learn:

• Why Jesus is drawing a contrast between God and the unwilling friend
• What it means that “ask/seek/knock” are imperative present tense (keep doing it)
• Why we default to the “human trinity” (me, myself, and I) instead of asking God
• How motives can affect what you receive in prayer (James 4)
• Why “no” sometimes means “not yet” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
• How contradictory habits can cancel sincere requests
• How to seek God practically by bringing Scripture into your prayer life
• Why the goal is seeking the Person, not just the item you want

This Christmas season, it’s possible to open a bunch of boxes… and still feel like your heart is empty.

In this message, Pastor Jonathan Evans reminds us that the greatest gift we can receive isn’t something we unwrap—it’s Someone we welcome: the presence of Jesus Christ. If you’ve been feeling tired, distracted, discouraged, or spiritually numb, this sermon will help you slow down, refocus, and receive what your soul actually needs.

Because the truth is: peace isn’t found in a present… it’s found in His Presence.

In this message, you’ll discover:

• Why Christmas can feel “full”… but still empty inside
• What it means to receive Jesus, not just celebrate a season
• How the Holy Spirit leads us into real peace
• The difference between gifts that fade and a Presence that fills