The Firehouse Church in Bremerton, WA

The Firehouse Church in Bremerton, WA
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Truth. Power. Love.

Episodes

  1. 6d ago

    2026.9.27 TFHC – Charismatic Emphasis | 1 Corinthians 14

    September 27, 2026, Message by P. Kevin Clancey Transcript coming soon. The post 2026.9.27 TFHC – Charismatic Emphasis | 1 Corinthians 14 appeared first on The Firehouse Church in Bremerton, WA.

  2. Sep 21

    2026.9.20 TFHC – Spiritual Gifts | 1 Corinthians 12

    September 20, 2026, Message by P. Kevin Clancey Transcript coming soon. The post 2026.9.20 TFHC – Spiritual Gifts | 1 Corinthians 12 appeared first on The Firehouse Church in Bremerton, WA.

  3. Sep 14

    2026.9.13 TFHC – The Lord’s Supper | 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

    September 13, 2026, Message by P. Kevin Clancey Transcript coming soon. The post 2026.9.13 TFHC – The Lord’s Supper | 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 appeared first on The Firehouse Church in Bremerton, WA.

  4. Aug 31

    2026.8.3 TFHC – Propriety In Worship | 1 Corinthians 11:1-16

    August 30, 2026, Message by P. Kevin Clancey Transcript coming soon. The post 2026.8.3 TFHC – Propriety In Worship | 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 appeared first on The Firehouse Church in Bremerton, WA.

  5. Aug 24

    2026.8.23 TFHC – Guard Yourself, Guard Your Neighbor | 1 Corinthians 10:14-33

    August 23, 2026, Message by P. Kevin Clancey Transcribed by Beluga AI. All right, dear ones, we're making it through Corinthians. For years I didn't preach much on Paul, and it wasn't a bias on my part. I just found myself really caught up in the Gospel and Acts and other places… the Psalms. But I think I've done my due diligence here. I went through Romans a year ago, and going through 1 Corinthians this year. I don't know, we might dive into 2 Corinthians after we get done with 1 Corinthians. We'll see where we go. We'll see where the Spirit leads us. But we're in 1 Corinthians 10. We ended with no temptation has befallen me, but what is common to man. And God is faithful. He'll not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able, but with the temptation will provide the way out so that you will be able to bear it. You'll be able to walk out of it, bear it. 13 No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13, CSB) And now he's going to talk about the temptation toward pride—pride in your freedom and to idolatry, committing idolatry in your Christian freedom. And so, starting at 1 Corinthians 10:14. 14 So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I am speaking as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I am saying. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, since all of us share the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel. Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 What am I saying then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons! 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord's table and the table of demons. 22 Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? 23 "Everything is permissible," but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible," but not everything builds up. 24 No one is to seek his own good, but the good of the other person. 25 Eat everything that is sold in the meat market, without raising questions for the sake of conscience, 26 since the earth is the Lord's, and all that is in it. 27 If any of the unbelievers invites you over and you want to go, eat everything that is set before you, without raising questions for the sake of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, "This is food from a sacrifice," do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience. 29 I do not mean your own conscience, but the other person's. For why is my freedom judged by another person's conscience? 30 If I partake with thanksgiving, why am I criticized because of something for which I give thanks? 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or Greeks or the church of God, 33 just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved. (1 Corinthians 10:14-33, CSB) May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock, our Strength, and our Redeemer. 14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14, CSB) All right. Idolatry is a big problem. It's a big problem throughout the Bible. I've been going through the Bible, now—a couple years ago, if you remember, we went through the Bible chronologically and probably was about three chapters a day. We had to probably read about three chapters a day to kind of keep up with that. So now I'm going through the Bible a chapter a day. And so it's going to take me a little more than three years to finish. I'm about a year, a little more than a year in, about a year and a quarter in. I'm in Chronicles, and I'm just going through Chronicles. And I'm going through this period of Israel's history—and this is not going to end in my Bible reading. I understand this. I got two Bible studies going on on Thursday. One we're going through Jeremiah, and the other we're going through Isaiah. You know, I'm doing a Bible study with Isaiah and with Isaiah, I'm going through Jeremiah and with the other people, I'm going through Isaiah. You know, you just complicate things. You just do. You're not simple. So that's all right. That's one of the reasons we all like you so much. But one of the things I think Ats and Stevin, Isaiah and myself, we can all say is, boy, those prophets talk a lot about idolatry. That's a big problem. And it's not that Israel or Judah ever gave up entirely on Yahweh, but it was always a mixture. And Paul says in this passage, "Are you provoking the Lord to jealousy?" God is a jealous God. The Bible says that. He's a jealous God. Now when we use the word jealousy—this is an unfortunate way language works; translations don't kind of come across smoothly because 99 people out of 100, when you use the word in English, "jealousy," they immediately go to what we would call petty jealousy. You know, that the guy at the park… "You talking to my wife? What are you talking to my wife for, man?" Because I want to invite her to grow close to Jesus, you know? My wife's standing right next to me. You know, it's like, I'm not hitting on your wife. What are you, a knucklehead? You know? And we think of that kind of jealousy, that kind of childish… Two sixth grade girls, and then a third sixth grade girl enters the picture. And you know, these two sixth grade girls have been besties forever. Then this third girl… and this other one of the girls starts kind of being a semi bestie with that other girl. So the girl whose bestie is leaving her for another girl, what does she do? She goes on TikTok and says she's fat and she has zits, you know, or she does it more subversively than that. And you know, it's this petty kind of jealousy that takes place. That's not what the Bible means when the Bible says God is a jealous God. What the Bible means is God is fiercely protective of that which is His by right. "Israel's mine. Israel, you're mine. Don't go worshiping other gods." Listen, I do not have to... My wife is a jealous wife. She guards our marriage jealously. She's not jealous in a petty sort of way. If I hold a woman's hands and pray for her, my wife has no problem with that. If I lay hands on her head and pray for her, she has no problems with that. And my wife is fully committed to the doctrine of non-divorce. She says divorce is not an option. And she says, "Kevin, if you ever cheated on me, I would not divorce you. I would kill you." She's clear on that. Divorce is not an option. "I said, 'Till death do us part and you would die.'" And she's fiercely jealous about that commitment, one to another. That is a rightful kind of jealousy. She's not pettily jealous. You know, as a pastor, women seek counseling. I talk to all kinds of women all the time about very personal details of their lives. My wife trusts me in that. She's good with that. But she's jealous about the thing that matters, that union that we have as man and wife. There's a great movie made years ago about a famous basketball player. I think it was Isaiah Thomas. Isaiah Thomas was a point guard for the University of Indiana and then for the Detroit Pistons. And, you know, he was a Hall of Fame point guard. He's small for a basketball player, 6'1". He's a tiny guy, quick as a… quick as a… Yeah. Small basketball players are different than small human beings. If you're 6'4" and you play in the NBA, you're tiny. Not currently in the NBA. Mugsy Bogues. Mugsy, yeah, he was quick. Spud Webb was 5'7". But those are by far the outliers. Isaiah Thomas was considered small at 6'1". Anyway, the story goes, Isaiah was a… was big family, lots of brothers and sisters, single mom in the hood. I don't know if it was Detroit or one of those Midwestern cities. He was growing up in the hood. He was a basketball prodigy. You know, anybody who's that good in their 20s usually are that good at 10 and 11. Everybody goes, "Oh, this kid's different. This kid's different." And everybody knew Isaiah, you know, had a chance to go somewhere in basketball. The only thing that could derail him was the neighborhood. Drugs, gangs… And sure enough, the gangsters came around when he's about 12 years old trying to recruit him. That's what they did to every boy in that neighborhood. "We're your family. We'll protect you. We'll look out for you. We look out for one another. Those guys across the cross on the other part of town… they come gunning for us, we come gunning for them. You know, life is dangerous. You be with us. You be with us. We'll teach you how to be a man." Because not a lot of people out there teaching them how to be men. And so they're recruiting young Isaiah, and Isaiah's listening to them. And all of a sudden, this little woman comes out of the house with her hand behind her back—Isaiah's mom. She's got her arm, she's got her right hand behind her back. She comes out and says, "You boys get out of here. You leave my boy alone." And they cuss her. They say, "Shut up, woman. Go back in the house. None of your business." You know, cuss words and this and that. And they're just like, "We're taking your boy." And all of a sudden, with the guy who's doing the most talking, standing closest to her, from behind her back comes a sawed-o

  6. Aug 10

    2026.8.9 TFHC – Proverbs 3:1-12

    August 9, 2026, Message by Stevin Johnson Transcript coming soon. The post 2026.8.9 TFHC – Proverbs 3:1-12 appeared first on The Firehouse Church in Bremerton, WA.

  7. Aug 3

    2026.8.2 TFHC – The Example Of Israel In The Wilderness | 1Cor 10:1-13

    August 2, 2026, Message by P. Kevin Clancey Transcribed by Beluga AI. Thank you, Lord. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. 6 Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6, CSB) Thank you for the way, Jesus. Thank you for the truth, and thank you for the life. We are in 1 Corinthians, and tonight we're in chapter 10. We're going to go through the first 13 verses tonight. So, if you got your phone, if you got your Bible app, and you want to open it up and follow along, you can. I'll be using the Christian Standard… By the way, people ask me what version I use. I use the Christian Standard Bible. So that's the one I use. In Bremerton I use the Holman Christian Standard Bible, and this is just a modification of that one. Sometimes people ask me what Bible they should use, and I like what Jack Deere said. He says, "Use the one that tells you to love your enemies." All right? I'm of the mind that all of the modern translations, evangelical modern translations, are good, and they are reliable and trustworthy. They are put together by godly scholars. There are different translation theories from easily readable to more literal. And everybody, you know, "Oh, we want the more literal." Well, oftentimes the more literal is not the best because language does not translate literally. There are different idioms, different catchphrases. And so often the better way to go is more of a thought for thought. And what I like about the Christian Standard Bible is it is a hybrid between literal and thought for thought. And basically they say, "We go literal as much as we can, but when we feel like the literal—just doing literal word-for-word translation—actually hides the meaning from modern English readers, we try to do what they call dynamic equivalent. We try to convey what the passage, what the original passage was saying to the original audience, which is the point." But if you want to know more on Bible translations, as in all subjects theological, I can give you a half an hour rant. And I would love to do that. I just love to do that. But I'm not going to take up the time here to do that. But come on Thursday night to the Men's Bible study, where I'm famous for my half an hour rants. And it is all Ats' fault. It's 90% Ats' fault, 10% Stevin's fault—99% because Ats asks very insightful, very thoughtful questions. So does Stevin. And therefore, they tempt me into these long theological rants, and then they don't complain, moan about it, and therefore they encourage me. It is their fault. So if you like that sort of thing, if you like listening to somebody drone on for a half an hour, I'm your huckleberry. All right, I'll do it for you. All right, I'm going to do about a half an hour tonight, but I'm going to try to stay on topic. Everybody say, help him, Jesus. Help him, Jesus. There you go. Got the white hanky out. I always knew you were a black woman in hiding. 1 Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:1-4, CSB) Wanna see Jesus in the Old Testament? Paul says that that rock that Moses struck and that water came out, that Jesus said that the sustainment of the Jews walking across the desert was Christ. That Yahweh was Christ sustaining them, the visible Yahweh. 5 Nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did. 7 Don't become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party. 8 Let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in a single day twenty-three thousand people died. 9 Let us not test Christ as some of them did and were destroyed by snakes. 10 And don't grumble as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. 11 These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall. 13 No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:5-13, CSB) And God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Lord, our Rock, our Strength, and our Redeemer. 14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14, CSB) So, I grew up in the day… back in the day, when I was in junior high school—Sofia, Sydney, we would ride our horses like, you know, your dad, and we'd tie them up at the post. You know, some people would take a buggy, and we'd get to school. We get to the old one-house school, and there we would be. And that was the day where your P.E. teachers, your coaches were still allowed to do what we call, what I call, hard coaching, which meant they were allowed to cuss you out. And there was no HR. You couldn't complain about it. You couldn't lawyer up. You couldn't say you were abused. That was just coaching. And they could just... They could yell at you and get in your face and use cuss words and the whole bit. P.E. Coaches, back in my day, they had a solution for everything. One thing would solve any problem. "My girlfriend broke up with me, coach. I'm so sad." Take a lap. Take a lap. Anything that ailed you. The answer was, "Take a lap." And so we ran lots of laps. And then they could put hands on you. Now, that's the… "Oh, you can't touch them. You can't touch them." You see these old football coaches and they grab a kid's face mask and pull it down and yelling at the kid, we're like, "Oh, that's a crime against humanity." Well, these guys... I played quarterback in the eighth grade. I didn't go out for football in the eighth grade because I went out in the seventh grade, tried out for quarterback, and the coach didn't give me a single look. Well, he was the same coach that was the eighth grade coach the next year. So I'm not going out for quarterback. I'll just… I play basketball. My basketball coaches like me. I'll focus on basketball. Well, he didn't have a quarterback that year, and I had a couple friends who were on the team. He was complaining, "I don't know who we're going to use at quarterback." And they ratted me out. They said, "Clancy could play quarterback." Because I've been throwing balls to them for years. He says, "Clancy?" "Yeah, in your PE class. He can play quarterback. He's a good quarterback." So, we're playing football out there for P.E. one day, and he saw me play. After P.E., I'm walking to my next class and he goes, "Clancy!" "Yeah, Coach?" "Ain't you out for football this year?" "No, I'm just gonna focus on basketball. You know, I'm gonna focus on basketball this year. I'm not going out for football." He says, "I think you're going out for football this year." I said, "Nah, I'm just gonna play basketball." And he got me up against the wall, put me up against the wall. He put his elbow in my chest. He put his hand on his fist, with his elbow in my chest, he said, "I think you're going to play football." "Well, I just want to play—" "I think you're going to be out there for practice today." "I'll see you this afternoon, Coach." I started starting quarterback. I had the job. I was conscripted. That's called irresistible grace. But I'll tell you, this coach also had a paddle. You know, I don't know how many of you grew up in schools where the principal had a paddle. This coach had a paddle. And one of the things they made us do on rainy days is they made us—they'd take us inside, and they'd take the girls inside, and we'd dance. We'd have to dance with the girls. Now, in 10th, 11th, and 12th grade, I loved dancing with girls. That was the best. Seventh grade? No, I don't want to dance with girls. No seventh grade boy wanted to dance with girls. All right? I don't know if you noticed this when the boys were in the seventh grade, girls, but they're dorks, all right? They actually stayed dorks for a long time. But anyway, they get a little more handsome, and they get a little better. They get a little more appealing. But we were pretty dorky, and… But we had to dance with these girls, so we did it. But one kid refused. And this kid, he came from a rough home, and he sassed this coach all the time. And he was not… you know, he was a troublemaker in school. Coach said, "Dance with those girls." He said, "No, I'm not gonna dance with those girls." "I told you to dance with those girls." He said, "No, I'm not gonna dance with those girls." He grabbed that kid, took him outside, grabbed his paddle, put that kid over his knee, and that kid says, "You can't hit me." We're listening to this. "You can't hit me, you blankety blank, blank…" We're listening to this, and we hear this: "Aaagh! You blankety, blank, blank—" Swish! He beat the snot out of that kid. I think there were like eight or nine good whaps. I mean, today he'd lose his job. He'd probably go to jail, get sued, whatever. Well, what does this have to do with 1 Corinthians 10? That kid served as an example to the rest of us, as a bad example. Here's what not to do with this P.E. Coach. All right? I

  8. Jul 27

    2026.7.26 TFHC – The Kingdom And The Power | Acts 1:5-11

    July 26, 2026, Message by P. Kevin Clancey Transcribed by Beluga AI. And we are His subjects, His children, His servants, and He's coming back for us. And He will establish an everlasting kingdom, world without end. He is the small pebble in the book of Daniel that crushes all the other kingdoms of the earth and then grows and grows and grows until it's a mountain that covers the whole earth. The Bible is a story about kingdoms, and it's about King Jesus and God taking His kingdom back and then inviting us to inherit His kingdom as His children. So, Acts 1:5-11. We'll be back in Corinthians next week, good Lord willing, and the creeks don't rise, my dad used to always say. And so, here's what it says: 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days." 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." 9 After he had said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. 11 They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven." (Acts 1:5-11, CSB) God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable, Lord, in your sight, our Rock, our Strength, and our Redeemer. Amen. 14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14, CSB) Daniel 7:13 says this: 13 I continued watching in the night visions, and suddenly one like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before him. 14 He was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14, CSB) The Bible is a story of kingdoms. God created Adam and Eve, and they were to be His co-regents on the earth. They were to spread His dominion, His kingdom, over the whole earth. And then rebellion broke out. Adam and Eve listened to the deceiver. They rebelled, and that gave a foothold to the evil one. And then the evil ones continued to rebel. There was more than one evil one. There were many evil ones. And they rebelled, and they ruled these little kingdoms of Earth because human beings submitted themselves then to the evil ones, not to the one true God. And so you look at ancient history, and you see human sacrifice, you see barbarism, you see cruelty. When the Spaniards came to the New World and they discovered these great civilizations, they were horrific civilizations. They thrived on human sacrifice. They thrived on blood, as did every single culture in the world before the Jews came in and forbade human sacrifice. The kingdoms of this world were ruled by the kingdom of darkness. But God was not going to give up His plan for planet Earth. And so, He chose one people, just one people in the midst, just one tiny people, because He was going to display His glory through this tiny group of people. And He wanted to be their king. He said, "I'll tell you what, let me be your king." But they would not have it. And so, then they had many kings, but He made covenant with them, and He said, "If you will follow my covenant, you'll be a light to the nations, and people will see who the real king is, who the real God is." There's only one God. And these other gods are fake gods. These Baals, these Molechs, these Asherahs—these are fake gods. They are small "g" gods. They are spiritual powers for sure. But they are usurping the kingdom of the true God, and God is insistent that He's going to get it back. And so, the story of the Bible is the story of spiritual warfare. It's the story of the battle of kingdoms. It's the story of God fighting for His creation, fighting for us, fighting to take back what is His. And that's the story. Jesus came and He preached the kingdom of God. That is the central message that Jesus preached. He said, "The kingdom of God is at hand." And the last Old Testament covenant, God makes covenant with David. And He says, "There is going to come a king, and He is going to sit on your throne, and His kingdom will never end." Daniel prophesied the exact same thing in Daniel 7. We just read it. And when Jesus ascends, when Jesus goes to heaven, that is Daniel 7 coming to life. One like the Son of Man coming to the Ancient of Days. When Jesus says, "Behold, you'll see me coming on the clouds of heaven," Christians have taken that historically to mean His second coming, coming back. But Jesus, that's His ascension. He's on the clouds of heaven. He's coming. Where is He coming? He's coming to His throne to sit before the Ancient of Days and take His place as King, where now He rules as King, and His kingdom is expanding. And so the disciples and the Jews of Jesus' day were looking for a king. They were looking for a kingdom, but they had too small of a vision. They didn't understand God's promise to Abraham that God was going to make them a light to the nations, a light to the Gentiles, and that His kingdom was going to be a kingdom over all the earth. They were looking for a king like David, who would make Israel the next Rome, would make Israel the next Greece, the next Persia, the next Babylonia. All the people they had suffered under these hundreds and hundreds of years, and now finally, again, just like when David was king, we're going to be the big dog on the block, and everybody's going to be afraid of us for a while. That's the kind of king we're going to get. And so, the disciples… "Is this going to be the time you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" Why was Jesus crucified? Because He was a disappointment as a king. He came in on a what? He came into Jerusalem riding a what? A donkey. What did they want Him to come into Jerusalem riding? A charger? A horse. They wanted Caesar, and they got a crucified man on the cross. A slave's death. A humiliating slave's death. Nope, that's not a king in the ancient world. They couldn't see the humble King. The disciples saw it, but they still couldn't get rid of that image that "Ah, you died, you rose. Now comes the white horse. Now comes the army. Now comes the battle against the Romans." And Jesus says, "You don't know times, you don't know seasons, you don't know nothing. But here's what's going to happen. There's going to be a power that's going to come upon you, and that power is my power. It's the power of my Spirit. And it's going to continue to live and teach you and train you to live by the rules of my Father's kingdom, by humble love. And by humble love, this kingdom is going to spread all over the world till the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea." And 2,000 years later, the world we live in is radically transformed from the Roman Empire because of a crucified carpenter and a converted Pharisee teaching about this kingdom and this kingdom conquering by love, not by the sword. It's not a geographical, political kingdom in the sense that we know of as geographical and political kingdoms, but this kingdom will cover the earth. Jesus is going to get back what is rightfully His. And every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. It is an inside out, upside down kingdom. It's not a kingdom that wins by the exertion of physical force on the outside. It's a kingdom that works and grows by the transformation of human beings from the inside out. It's upside down. It's a kingdom where the King serves, where the King washes feet. And if you want to be great in His kingdom, you're not a mighty general riding on a horse and in a cavalcade, and you're not a president or an emperor. If you want to be great, you're a neighbor who serves the people in their neighborhood. You're a co-worker who encourages the discouraged people that you work with. You're a husband who serves his wife. You're a wife who serves her husband and her family. If you want to be great, you go low. It's a strange kingdom. Jesus never gathered an army. He never traveled more than 30 miles from His hometown, except as a child when He went to Egypt. He never had riches, He never had slaves, He never owned property. He lived off the generosity of others. And nobody in human history has had an impact like Him. And it continues. Think about it. In Poulsbo, Washington—yumpin yimini, sure, you betcha—a group of people are singing songs, worshiping this crucified carpenter. If there's any evidence at all that Jesus is King, it's that. All the Caesars have crumbled, all the empires have fallen. And yet His name still ascends. He is taking back His kingdom from the kingdom of darkness. It is the kingdom of light and the darkness has not overcome it. And there is now a power in the kingdom, and it's not weapons, it's not guns, it's not drones, it's not nuclear, it's not the weapons of this world. The power is the power of His Spirit. And it is the Holy Spirit, Christ in us, who gives us the hope of glory. So in the midst of a world that doesn't understand us, in the midst of the world that still is honoring and looking for human kingdoms and looking for power and looking for might, we have a different kind of power that

  9. Jul 20

    2026.7.19 TFHC – 2027.7.19 TFHC – Paul The Apostle | 1 Corinthians 9:1-27

    July 19, 2026, Message by P. Kevin Clancey Transcribed by Beluga AI. Thank you, God, for your love. Dear ones, I pray that we would know it in our heads, but I pray that we would know it in our hearts, that the almighty, sovereign, all-powerful, unapproachable light, glorious, hallowed, supreme God of the universe is a good, good Father to you. He loves you. He cares. Listen, cast your cares upon Him, for He cares for you. If it matters to you, it matters to Him. If it matters to you, it matters to Him. Thank you, Lord. Would you apply that to our hearts? Let that sink in, that you're a good, good Father, that Jesus came to reveal you in a way that nobody had revealed you up until that time. That you are a good, good Father. And I thank you. Through Christ we pray, Amen. That concept of God the Father is seen in the Old Testament somewhat, but not—it's revolutionary. It is a part of the Christian revolution that Jesus teaches God as Father. What does Islam say? God is great. God is great, God is powerful. That's the Old Testament. If you ask somebody, "What does the Old Testament emphasize—the fatherhood of God or the glory, grandeur, sovereignty of God?" They would say the glory. It would be the glory, grandeur, and sovereignty of God. And if you ask certain brands of Christianity, "What does God lead with? What is God's priority? His glory or His love?" And there are Christians who would say, "Oh, it's His glory. His love is secondary. God does all this to glorify Himself." But I disagree. I think Jesus comes and puts that on its head. I think God's primary motive for creating and God's primary motive behind everything is love. And He's glorified in His love. He's glorified in His love. And so that's just my take. I don't know if you know that that's kind of a debate in Christendom, you know—glory before love or love before glory? I'm settled on that one, man. I'm settled on that one. Our Father. Jesus comes and leads with Father. Notice, "Our Father…" Then He goes to glory—they're both there—"hallowed be your name." But He starts with "Daddy"; He leads with "Daddy." The whole Sermon on the Mount… do you not know? Not a sparrow falls… how much more does your Father value you? I mean, we are so immersed in a Christian worldview that that's the water we swim in, that God is loving, that God is good, that God is Father, even to the point where people will just say, "we're all children of God," as if that's just a normal human assumption that people have been making throughout history. First of all, it's not really literally true from a biblical perspective that we're all children of God. But I would say also that, listen, you are children of God by faith in Christ, and so, dear ones, you are God's children and you are deeply loved. That song just kind of got that little mini sermon going in me. All right? He's a good Father and He loves you. And much of our struggle in our Christian life comes from the fact that we believe it as a doctrine in our heads, but maybe because of the insufficiency of our earthly fathers, the woundedness in which we live out this world, the trauma we've experienced, we don't know it in our hearts. And that's certainly been the case for me throughout my life. You know, if somebody says to me, "Kevin, do you know God loves you?" I say, "I believe God loves me, yes. I mean, the Bible says God loves me." "Do you feel it?" Not as often as I'd like to. I can count my blessings, you know, it's like, God must love me. I'm just so blessed, you know. He gave me all, you know, so I'm happy. I'm happy. But just to feel loved is… Lord, let it reach our hearts that you're a good, good Father. Just say a quick prayer for somebody on your right or on your left or maybe both—somebody else in this room, just say a quick prayer. Let's close our eyes. Let's say a quick prayer and say, "God, I pray that that person would experience in their hearts that you're a good Father." And Amen. Amen. While we were doing that, did God speak to anybody? Did God just say anything to any of you when you were doing that? Did you get a little like a word, or a picture? All right. If you did, and you're going to come up to me afterwards and say, "Kev, I just didn't want to say it in front of everybody, but I just want to tell you," I'm going to stop praying for you, all right? Don't do that to me, all right? Don't do that. Don't be that person. You know, I love you introverts, but come on, come on, make it happen. All right. 1 Corinthians 9, and we're going to do the whole chapter. On your mark, get set, go. 1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, because you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 4 Don't we have the right to eat and drink? 5 Don't we have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife like the other apostles, the Lord's brothers, and Cephas? 6 Or do only Barnabas and I have no right to refrain from working? 7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink the milk from the flock? 8 Am I saying this from a human perspective? Doesn't the law also say the same thing? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses, Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain. Is God really concerned about oxen? 10 Isn't he really saying it for our sake? Yes, this is written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes should thresh in hope of sharing the crop. 11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? 12 If others have this right to receive benefits from you, don't we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right; instead, we endure everything so that we will not hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 Don't you know that those who perform the temple services eat the food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the offerings of the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel. 15 For my part I have used none of these rights, nor have I written these things that they may be applied in my case. For it would be better for me to die than for anyone to deprive me of my boast! 16 For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am compelled to preach —and woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this willingly, I have a reward, but if unwillingly, I am entrusted with a commission. 18 What then is my reward? To preach the gospel and offer it free of charge and not make full use of my rights in the gospel. 19 Although I am free from all and not anyone's slave, I have made myself a slave to everyone, in order to win more people. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law —to win those under the law. 21 To those who are without the law, like one without the law—though I am not without God's law but under the law of Christ—to win those without the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some. 23 Now I do all this because of the gospel, so that I may share in the blessings. 24 Don't you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize. 25 Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown. 26 So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. 27 Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:1-27, CSB) And may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock, our Strength, and our Redeemer. Amen. 14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14, CSB) All right. Paul's letter to the Corinthians is all about correcting problems and abuses from an immature church, an immature church that thought they had arrived. And Paul is reminding them that they have only just begun. And then he brings out evidence after evidence of their immaturity. There are divisions. There is sexual immorality. They flaunt their freedom and eat food offered to idols, even though they're free to do so, to the spiritual harm of those who conscientiously don't do that and think it's wrong to do. And so, he says, "Your pride just shows that you're spiritually immature." And they accuse him. Paul came as an apostle, and they accused him of not being a genuine apostle. And it's basically like, "We don't have to listen to you anymore, old man." It's like, you know, you raise your kids, you're their dad, you love on them, you discipline them, and you know, they just come to a point… "I don't have to listen to you, old man." You know? "I can do what I want to do." And that was the kind of their attitude toward Paul. "You don't have the right to speak into our lives anymore. We've arrived. In fact, we're probably more mature than you. We're more spiritual than you." And his whole letter is to say, "Well, no, you're not. No, you're not, and here's the evidence." And so here he defends his apostolic authority. First century apostles had some authority. We Protestants have taken the authority of the first century apostles and taken their book and have said, "This is our apostolic authority. We don't have apostles coming around teaching us. We have the original apostles through t

  10. Jul 16

    2026.7.12 TFHC – Love Over Knowledge | 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

    July 12, 2026, Message by P. Kevin Clancey Transcribed by Beluga AI. So, 1 Corinthians 8. 1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that "we all have knowledge." Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by him. 4 About eating food sacrificed to idols, then, we know that "an idol is nothing in the world," and that "there is no God but one." 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth—as there are many "gods" and many "lords"— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him, and we exist through him. 7 However, not everyone has this knowledge. Some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 Food will not bring us close to God. We are not worse off if we don't eat, and we are not better if we do eat. 9 But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, won't his weak conscience be encouraged to eat food offered to idols? 11 So the weak person, the brother or sister for whom Christ died, is ruined by your knowledge. 12 Now when you sin like this against brothers and sisters and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat, so that I won't cause my brother or sister to fall. (1 Corinthians 8:1-13, CSB) May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock, our Strength and Redeemer. Amen. 14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14, CSB) So, Paul is dealing with a series of issues in the Corinthian Church that he planted and spent 18 months there. And so he introduces each issue with these words: "Now about…," "Now, concerning…" And so the first issue, if you remember, were divisions in the Church—"I'm of Apollos, I'm of Paul, I'm of Cephas." The second has to do with sexual morality and what marriage means and what it means to be husband and wife and marriage and divorce and singleness and all that. The Corinthians were saying first, there were divisions. Second, they were saying, "Since we have liberty in Christ, we can still go to the temple prostitutes and indulge there with the prostitutes. But, you know, we're free in Christ to do that. We don't worship those idols anymore. But we still…" And Paul says, "No, you can't do that. You can't join your body, which is joined to Christ, to that of a prostitute. And don't you know, in God's ideal of marriage, one man, one woman… It's found in Genesis… one man, one woman. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother, be united to his wife, not his wives, and the two will become one flesh." 5 and he also said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? (Matthew 19:5, CSB) And that is strongly reinforced then in the New Testament. I know in the Old Testament they practice polygamy. There are reasons for that, historical reasons. There's reasons God allowed it, mostly for the protection, safety, and care of women. But God's ideal has always been to represent His covenant love with His people, with the picture of marriage. And so that he reinforces that to the Corinthians. Now, the third issue he's bringing up is food offered to idols. And you think, well, if the Bible is ever irrelevant, it's this. I mean, none of us today are in a quandary over—you know, we went to Safeway, and we were looking in the meat aisle and said, "I don't know if this food has been offered to idols or not. I don't know whether I should get it or not." You know, when I went over to Brian's house and he would graciously barbecue up for us burgers and brats, I never—my conscience was never smitten with—"I wonder if, you know, Brian dedicated these brats and burgers to idols before he put them on the grill." I just ate them. They were good, you know, and when Stevin cooks something up, same thing, it's like, it's good. But there are analogies in our modern world. And the basic point Paul is making here is don't let your Christian liberty, or as he calls it, your knowledge—and he uses that sarcastically with the Corinthians. Oh, your knowledge allows you to do this? Well, does your knowledge allow you to destroy another brother or sister in Christ who has a conscious qualm about this thing? And yes, you think their consciences are weak and you're strong, but when you wound them, when you hurt them, you're doing a great disservice. And so he starts by just being very clear up front. Knowledge puffs up, love builds up. And so this section is about simply this: the primacy of love over knowledge. The primacy of love over what you know or think you know. And so he deals with that because the Corinthians thought that they had arrived. They were a young church, but they were an arrogant church. They were all that. And later we'll get to this issue on spiritual pride when he talks to them about spiritual gifts. You know, they use spiritual gifts in the wrong way. They use spiritual gifts to elevate their status. Look, I speak in tongues, you know, a lot... And I prophesy a lot… I'm more spiritual than you… I'm free to eat meat offered to idols... I'm more spiritual than you. And he's saying, "You're not spiritual at all. You're destroying your brothers and sisters. You're not spiritual at all." Knowledge can only lead, he says here, to being puffed up and the sin of pride. Does that mean don't study? No. The Bible says study to show yourself approved. Does that mean be willfully ignorant? No, don't be willfully ignorant. But one thing's true. There are very few areas in human life that are more prone and more dangerous to the sin of pride than intellect. And I always preach to myself. When I preach, I just don't preach to you. And this one applies to me, man, because I love, love, love, love to win the argument. And part of that is… I think part of that is a gift. You know, I think logically, I think reasonably—I think I do—and I think things through, and I can articulate them. And that, I think that helps me be a teacher, but it also can make me a jerk. And I've done this. Now, some people are not offended because when I basically debate somebody theologically—not just theology, by the way, baseball versus sailing, for example, which is kind of a no-brainer—but, you know, I'll debate people about all sorts of things, and I'm very opinionated. I'm very opinionated. And actually only a handful, not all sorts of things. There's only a handful of issues I think I know anything about. You know, I would not debate Stevin about horses. Like, you're the guy. I know nothing about horses. It's just that they're big, and I don't want to get on anything that big. When I have a car, why would I? But I'll trust you that there's fun and joy in that. I'll trust you with that. You know, I wouldn't debate Brian about anything to do at all with math or engineering. I easily concede, you know way more than me about all that stuff. You know way more than me about bicycle repair, you know, you know way more than me. But when it comes to, like, the three or four issues that I think I know something about, you know, there we go. And some people like that interchange, and they're not offended by it. Other people, when you're just talking about things and say, "Well, what about this opinion? What about that?" And you think you're just bringing stuff up, actually they see that as an attack. It took me a long time to learn that. People are like, "Why are you attacking me?" I'm not attacking you. I'm actually helping relieve you of your stupidity and ignorance in my humility and brilliance. I'm your friend here. Other people are fine with it. Other people are fine. You know, I got in an argument online with Josh D'Intinosanto, who's our one Calvinist at Firehouse Church, and we were debating online. We were going at it, you know, it was on Facebook. And we had friends—I had friends interject and say, "Now, now boys, be good to each other." And neither Josh nor I were the least bit offended. I mean, you know, I called him a gravy-sucking, determinist Calvinist, and he called me a semi-Pelagian, heretic wimp. And we were fine with that. It was like, all in love and so… But other people get offended by that sort of thing, and so you got to be careful. And so there was another guy I was debating with online, and the Lord just really—it was during COVID, and he was stating the principle, he's a Christian man, and he was stating the principle that out of Christian love all Christians should get the vaccine because if you love your brother and your sister, you will get the vaccine so you won't get and transmit the disease. And I said, "I concede that point if the data showed that the vaccine stopped you from getting and transmitting the disease." But very quickly after the vaccine got going, the evidence seemed to suggest that the primary benefit of the vaccine was that it prevented people who had comorbidities and got Covid from nearly a serious case of COVID. And I thought, well then great, let my 80-year-old mother-in-law get the vaccine. I'm entirely in favor of it, but I don't want my, you know, 30-something-year-old pregnant daughter to get it. And I certainly don't want my grandsons to get it because I'm not sure what this thing does. You know, if you're 80, 85 and it does som

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