Lake City Church (Mooresville, NC)

⚠️ Biblical Warning: Mark & Avoid This church or ministry consistently demonstrates a teaching trend that deviates from sound doctrine. The majority of evaluated sermons align with biblical warnings of compromise, moralism, therapeutic self-help, or false teaching.

Read the Biblical mandate for marking and avoiding.
Primary CharacteristicSardis
Theological Profile
Faithful (Philadelphia/Smyrna)Orthodox/Cold (Ephesus)Compromised (Pergamum)Critical Error (Laodicea/Sardis/Thyatira)
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The Danger of Decisional Salvation: A Pastoral Correction

The sermon demonstrates strong pastoral empathy and effective use of illustrations to address grief. However, the conclusion introduces a critical theological error by framing salvation as a transactional result of a sinner's prayer and human decision. This synergistic approach compromises the core Gospel message, shifting the basis of assurance from Christ's finished work to human performance.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive' appearance of evangelical Christianity but is spiritually dead due to the presence of Synergistic Soteriology. By teaching that human decision and verbal confession secure salvation, the message replaces the monergistic work of God's grace with human effort, resulting in a fundamental error regarding the nature of salvation.

Read MoreThe Danger of Decisional Salvation: A Pastoral Correction
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The Light of the World: Grace, Guilt, and Hope

While the sermon offers a compelling exposition of [John 8:12](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8%3A12&version=KJV) with strong emotional resonance and clear illustrations, it critically fails in its evangelistic application. By tying salvation assurance to a specific human action (lifting a hand and reciting a prayer), the sermon undermines the doctrine of monergistic grace, teaching that human decision is the final determinant of salvation.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive, but is dead' orthodoxy. While it maintains correct terminology regarding Jesus as Light, it fundamentally undermines the Gospel by teaching that salvation is secured through human decisionism and synergistic works (the altar call prayer) rather than God's sovereign grace. This represents a dead orthodoxy where the mechanism of salvation is replaced by human effort.

Read MoreThe Light of the World: Grace, Guilt, and Hope
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The Honeybee Church: Cultivating Grace-Filled Community

The sermon offers a warm, relatable call to community, using vivid illustrations to highlight the benefits of small groups. However, it suffers from a significant theological weakness: it presents community involvement as a duty requiring human effort rather than a response to God's grace. This moralistic framing risks burdening the congregation with the weight of their own spiritual growth, rather than resting in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Pergamum — The sermon exhibits a compromised theological framework characterized by a moralistic emphasis on human effort and relational mechanics. While it maintains a veneer of orthodoxy, it tolerates a 'works-based' approach to spiritual growth, failing to anchor community life in the finished work of Christ, which aligns with the warning against the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans—compromising the purity of the Gospel with worldly methods.

Read MoreThe Honeybee Church: Cultivating Grace-Filled Community
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The Source of True Joy: Grace vs. Formula

The sermon offers engaging illustrations and a generally positive message about joy. However, it contains a fundamental theological error in its soteriology, teaching that human decision and prayer recitation activate salvation. This 'Synergistic Soteriology' compromises the Gospel, shifting the burden of salvation from God's grace to human performance.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive, but is dead' orthodoxy. While it utilizes Christian terminology, it fundamentally undermines the Gospel by teaching that salvation is activated by human decision and mechanical prayer formulas (Synergism/Decisionism) rather than the sovereign, monergistic work of God. This error strikes at the heart of the Gospel engine, rendering the preaching spiritually lifeless despite its outward appearance.

Read MoreThe Source of True Joy: Grace vs. Formula
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Cultivating the Heart for Harvest

Pastor Howell delivers a practical message on spiritual preparation, using agricultural metaphors and biblical examples like Moses and Jonah. While the call to obedience and generosity is biblically sound, the sermon suffers from a critical homiletical imbalance. It presents these commands as the primary mechanism for spiritual fruitfulness without adequately grounding them in the Gospel, effectively reducing Christian living to moralistic self-effort.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Pergamum — The sermon exhibits a significant homiletical imbalance, leaning heavily toward moralistic self-help and behavioral commands while failing to anchor these imperatives in the Gospel. This reflects a 'Pergamum' state where the church tolerates a diluted message that accommodates cultural expectations of self-improvement, lacking the distinct boundary of Christ-centered grace.

Read MoreCultivating the Heart for Harvest
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The Danger of Manipulating God: A Warning on Word of Faith Theology

While the sermon attempts to encourage believers to trust in God's power, it fundamentally distorts the Gospel by teaching that faith is a meritorious work that manipulates divine outcomes. The message replaces God's sovereign grace with a transactional system of positive confession and faith cultivation, leading to a theology that is not only weak but fundamentally in error.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Thyatira — The sermon exhibits active heresy through the integration of Word of Faith theology, which teaches that human belief and speech mechanically manipulate divine outcomes. This represents a severe doctrinal deviation from biblical orthodoxy, compromising the sovereignty of God and the nature of grace.

Read MoreThe Danger of Manipulating God: A Warning on Word of Faith Theology
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The Sacred Art of Slowing Down

The sermon offers a compelling call to spiritual mindfulness and patience, using the Transfiguration and other biblical narratives to illustrate the value of divine presence over human achievement. However, the message is compromised by a lack of Gospel anchoring; it presents 'slowing down' as a moral duty achievable by human willpower rather than a fruit of the Spirit's regeneration. While the illustrations are strong, the theological foundation is weak, risking a shift from Gospel grace to moralistic effort.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Pergamum — The sermon exhibits a significant homiletical imbalance, leaning heavily toward moralistic behavioral commands without anchoring the believer's ability to respond in the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. This reflects a teaching style that tolerates a 'self-help' approach to spiritual readiness, characteristic of a church that has compromised the distinctiveness of Gospel grace for practical, worldly advice.

Read MoreThe Sacred Art of Slowing Down
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Reaping a Heart for God: The Danger of Spiritual Coldness

The sermon offers a passionate exhortation to maintain spiritual fervor through specific habits like prayer, giving, and Bible reading. However, the presentation relies heavily on human effort and behavioral mechanics to achieve spiritual outcomes, lacking the foundational anchor of Gospel grace. This results in a message that feels more like moralistic self-help than a proclamation of the Gospel's power to transform.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Pergamum — The sermon exhibits the characteristics of Pergamum by tolerating a form of cultural accommodation where the Gospel is diluted into moralistic self-help. While the doctrinal content is not heretical, the homiletical approach relies on human effort and behavioral commands to produce spiritual outcomes, reflecting a weak boundary between the Gospel and moralism.

Read MoreReaping a Heart for God: The Danger of Spiritual Coldness
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The Lost Key: Why Fasting Alone Cannot Save

This sermon attempts to encourage spiritual discipline through fasting but fundamentally fails to anchor the practice in the Gospel. By presenting fasting as a mechanism to 'shift atmospheres' and 'access power' without explicitly connecting it to the grace of the Cross, the message drifts into a works-based spirituality. Additionally, the communion service was conducted without the necessary biblical warnings, risking the spiritual well-being of the congregation.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive, but is dead' orthodoxy. While it utilizes biblical language and discipline, it fundamentally omits the Gospel of grace, replacing the finished work of Christ with a works-based reliance on fasting to access spiritual power. This synergistic approach, where human effort (fasting) is positioned as the key to unlocking divine favor, constitutes a dead orthodoxy that lacks the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit's regeneration.

Read MoreThe Lost Key: Why Fasting Alone Cannot Save
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The Danger of Self-Powered Faith: A Critique of Sowing and Reaping

While the sermon offers practical advice on family and mindset, it is fundamentally compromised by the teaching that human words and actions mechanically determine God's blessings and salvation. The reliance on fear-based altar calls and transactional prosperity theology undermines the sufficiency of Christ's work and the sovereignty of God.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Thyatira — The sermon exhibits active heresy through the integration of Word of Faith positive confession, transactional prosperity theology, and synergistic soteriology. These errors fundamentally distort the Gospel by replacing God's sovereign grace with human manipulation and mechanical efficacy, aligning with the spiritual adultery and false teaching condemned in Thyatira.

Read MoreThe Danger of Self-Powered Faith: A Critique of Sowing and Reaping
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Unmuted for Jesus: The Call to Authentic Witness

While the sermon effectively encourages practical engagement and personal testimony, it suffers from a critical homiletical imbalance. The message relies heavily on human behavioral commands and self-help strategies for evangelism, failing to anchor the call to action in the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit and the grace of the Gospel. This results in a moralistic tone that places the burden of spiritual fruitfulness on the congregation rather than on God's monergistic work.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Pergamum — The sermon exhibits a significant homiletical imbalance, leaning heavily toward moralistic behavioral commands without anchoring them in the Gospel. This reflects a 'Pergamum' state where the church tolerates a compromise between biblical truth and cultural self-help strategies, resulting in weak theological boundaries that prioritize human effort over divine grace.

Read MoreUnmuted for Jesus: The Call to Authentic Witness
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The Posture of Surrender: Beyond Human Willpower

The sermon offers vivid illustrations and practical applications for physical worship postures. However, it is critically compromised by a synergistic soteriology that attributes the power of repentance and submission to human decision rather than God's sovereign grace. This fundamental theological error shifts the focus from Christ's finished work to human performance, requiring immediate correction.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive, but is dead' orthodoxy. While it utilizes biblical language of worship and repentance, it fundamentally undermines the Gospel by teaching that the decisive acts of seeking, repenting, and submitting are dependent on human free will and decision rather than sovereign divine grace. This synergistic error renders the preaching spiritually lifeless, as it relies on human effort rather than the power of the Holy Spirit.

Read MoreThe Posture of Surrender: Beyond Human Willpower
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The Honest Heart: Finding Rest in God’s Faithfulness

This sermon offers a compassionate invitation to emotional vulnerability as a form of worship, supported by rich biblical illustrations from Psalms and Lamentations. However, the theological foundation is compromised by a transactional view of prayer and a prosperity-tinged assurance of material blessing. The message leans heavily on self-help mechanics rather than the regenerating power of the Gospel, requiring a recalibration to ensure the congregation rests in Christ's finished work rather than their own emotional exertion.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Pergamum — The sermon exhibits the characteristics of Pergamum, tolerating cultural accommodation and worldly compromise through a focus on self-help and transactional prayer mechanics. While it maintains a core orthodox framework, the homiletical imbalance and theological sloppiness regarding God's sovereignty and the nature of prayer weaken the Gospel presentation, failing to uphold the boundaries of sound doctrine.

Read MoreThe Honest Heart: Finding Rest in God’s Faithfulness
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The Danger of Decisional Assurance: Why Works Cannot Save

While the sermon offers warm pastoral encouragement regarding generosity and the joy of worship, it is fundamentally compromised by a critical theological error in its conclusion. The pastor substitutes the biblical doctrine of monergistic salvation with a synergistic 'decisionism,' urging the congregation to secure their assurance through a human act of decision rather than resting on God's sovereign mercy. This error undermines the entire message of grace, rendering the subsequent calls to worship and giving as works-based responses rather than grateful reactions to a finished work.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive, but is dead' orthodoxy. While it maintains the external form of Christian worship and moral instruction, it fundamentally lacks the life of the Gospel by substituting the sovereign, monergistic work of God for a human-centered decision. The reliance on a transactional altar call for assurance of salvation reveals a deadness in the core theological engine, characteristic of a church that appears alive but lacks the true power of the Gospel.

Read MoreThe Danger of Decisional Assurance: Why Works Cannot Save
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The Heart of Worship: Surrender, Battle, and Grace

The sermon offers warm, relatable illustrations regarding the posture of worship and the importance of fathers modeling faith. However, the message is critically compromised by a fundamental error in soteriology, teaching that salvation is secured by a human decision and prayer rather than God's sovereign grace. Additionally, the administration of Communion lacked the necessary biblical warnings regarding self-examination.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive, but is dead' orthodoxy. While it maintains the external forms of worship and church life, it fundamentally lacks the life of the Gospel by teaching that salvation is contingent upon human volition and a specific prayer, rather than the sovereign, monergistic work of God's grace.

Read MoreThe Heart of Worship: Surrender, Battle, and Grace
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The Danger of Self-Created Unity: A Theological Correction

The sermon suffers from critical theological errors, specifically the adoption of Word of Faith 'positive confession' and claims of subjective prophetic authority. These errors, combined with a moralistic homiletical approach that neglects the Gospel engine, render the teaching fundamentally compromised and spiritually hazardous.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Thyatira — The sermon exhibits active doctrinal deviation through the integration of Word of Faith mechanics and subjective prophetic authority, which constitutes a fundamental error in the nature of revelation and spiritual power. This aligns with the warning against the 'deep things of Satan' and the teaching of Jezebel in Thyatira, where false prophecy and spiritual compromise are present.

Read MoreThe Danger of Self-Created Unity: A Theological Correction
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The Danger of Subjective Revelation and Human Partnership in Grace

The sermon is compromised by two critical theological errors: the assertion of audible, extra-biblical divine speech (Montanism) and the teaching that spiritual renewal requires human partnership with God (Synergism). These errors shift the focus from God's sovereign grace to human experience and effort, requiring immediate correction.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Thyatira — The sermon exhibits active doctrinal deviation by elevating subjective, extra-biblical auditory experiences to the status of binding divine revelation, a hallmark of Montanism. Furthermore, it compromises the Gospel by introducing synergistic soteriology, suggesting that spiritual restoration requires human partnership rather than relying solely on God's monergistic grace.

Read MoreThe Danger of Subjective Revelation and Human Partnership in Grace
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The Danger of Decisional Regeneration

While the sermon offers practical and relational strategies for evangelism, it is fundamentally compromised by a critical soteriological error. The pastor conflates the recitation of a specific prayer and the raising of a hand with the act of salvation itself, creating a synergistic system where human effort secures divine grace. This undermines the sufficiency of Christ's work and places an impossible burden of subjective certainty on the congregation.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive, but is dead' orthodoxy. While it utilizes Christian terminology and evangelistic language, it fundamentally relies on synergistic decisionism and ritualistic prayer formulas for salvation. This reduces the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit to a human transaction, resulting in a dead form of religion that lacks the true life of Gospel grace.

Read MoreThe Danger of Decisional Regeneration
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The Hidden Ministry: Serving as the True Mark of Discipleship

This sermon offers a compelling call to active servanthood, effectively challenging the passive 'sitter' mindset common in modern congregations. However, the theological foundation is weakened by a moralistic approach that relies on human willpower rather than Gospel grace, and it omits the necessary biblical warnings regarding the Lord's Supper.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Pergamum — The sermon exhibits a compromised theological posture by tolerating a moralistic framework that emphasizes human behavioral effort over Gospel grace. While not fundamentally heretical in its Christology, the teaching aligns with the Pergamum archetype by accommodating cultural expectations of self-improvement and duty, lacking the distinct boundaries of Gospel-centered grace.

Read MoreThe Hidden Ministry: Serving as the True Mark of Discipleship
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The Myth of Instant Discipleship: A Call to True Transformation

The sermon offers a compelling critique of 'instant pill' Christianity and encourages a robust, lifelong process of sanctification. However, the message is critically compromised by a fundamental error in the presentation of the Gospel. The invitation to salvation relies on a specific prayer as the mechanism for regeneration, effectively substituting God's sovereign grace with human decisionism. This critical flaw undermines the sermon's otherwise sound exhortations to discipleship.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive, but is dead' orthodoxy. While it maintains the external form of Christian teaching, it fundamentally fails in its soteriology by promoting decisionism and synergistic salvation. The reliance on a specific prayer as the transactional mechanism for salvation replaces the monergistic work of God's grace with human effort, resulting in a dead spiritual core.

Read MoreThe Myth of Instant Discipleship: A Call to True Transformation
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The Danger of Spiritual Isolation: Why We Need the Body

The sermon offers compelling illustrations regarding the necessity of community for spiritual vitality, effectively using metaphors of cooling fire and severed limbs. However, the theological foundation is critically compromised by a decisionistic approach to salvation that elevates human prayer to a transactional mechanism, and a negligent administration of the Lord's Supper that omits the biblical call for self-examination.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive, but is dead' spiritual state. While it maintains an outward appearance of Christian activity and fellowship, it fundamentally relies on human decision and verbal confession for salvation (Synergism/Decisionism) rather than the monergistic work of the Holy Spirit. This dead orthodoxy substitutes the Gospel of grace with a works-based mechanism of self-generated prayer, failing to anchor the believer's security in Christ's finished work.

Read MoreThe Danger of Spiritual Isolation: Why We Need the Body
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The Danger of Dead Orthodoxy: Why Fellowship Requires Grace, Not Just Effort

The sermon offers strong practical exhortations on the necessity of church fellowship and uses vivid illustrations to engage the congregation. However, it is fundamentally compromised by a critical theological error in soteriology, where salvation is tied to a human prayer rather than God's sovereign grace. Additionally, the administration of the Lord's Supper lacks the necessary biblical warnings, reducing a solemn ordinance to a mere celebration without doctrinal depth.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive, but is dead' spiritual state. While it maintains the outward form of Christian worship and fellowship, it fundamentally lacks the life of the Gospel by substituting monergistic divine grace with synergistic human decisionism. The reliance on a sinner's prayer as the mechanism for salvation indicates a dead orthodoxy that trusts in human action rather than the sovereign work of God.

Read MoreThe Danger of Dead Orthodoxy: Why Fellowship Requires Grace, Not Just Effort
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The Danger of Decisional Regeneration: Why Worship Must Be Rooted in Grace

The sermon offers a passionate defense of corporate worship and the church's identity, encouraging believers to be deliberate in their praise. However, it is fundamentally compromised by a critical theological error: teaching that salvation is secured through a human decision and physical gesture (raising hands) rather than God's sovereign grace. Additionally, the sermon contains significant structural omissions regarding the Lord's Supper and misapplies biblical principles regarding silence and worship expressions.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive, but is dead' orthodoxy. While it maintains the external form of Christian worship and terminology, it fundamentally compromises the Gospel by teaching Synergistic Soteriology. It attributes the decisive action of salvation to human decision and physical gestures (raising hands, reciting a prayer) rather than the monergistic work of God's grace, effectively replacing the Gospel with a works-based decisionism.

Read MoreThe Danger of Decisional Regeneration: Why Worship Must Be Rooted in Grace
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The Danger of Decisional Salvation: Why Raising a Hand Doesn’t Save

The sermon exhibits strong homiletical energy and a clear passion for corporate worship, effectively dismantling the idea of the church as a mere building. However, the Gospel Engine is fundamentally compromised. The conclusion introduces a 'Sinner's Prayer' and physical gesture as the mechanism for salvation, shifting the burden of assurance from Christ's finished work to the believer's decision. This transforms a message about worship into a message of moralistic self-effort, requiring immediate correction to restore the biblical doctrine of grace.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive, but is dead' orthodoxy. While it maintains the external form of Christian worship and church identity, it fundamentally lacks the life-giving Gospel of sovereign grace. By teaching that salvation is secured through a human decision and a physical gesture (raising a hand), the message relies on synergistic works rather than the monergistic power of God, resulting in a dead orthodoxy that substitutes human effort for divine regeneration.

Read MoreThe Danger of Decisional Salvation: Why Raising a Hand Doesn’t Save
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The Dead Weight of Moralism: Why Community Without Christ Fails

The sermon offers practical advice on church engagement and humility but fundamentally fails to preach the Gospel. It reduces Christianity to a moral imperative to join groups and serve others, omitting the saving work of Christ. Additionally, the communion liturgy lacks the necessary biblical warnings, inviting all present to partake without self-examination.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive, but is dead' orthodoxy. While it maintains the external form of Christian community and small group participation, it completely omits the Gospel engine. By reducing the Christian life to human initiative and moral effort without anchoring it in the monergistic work of Christ, the message is spiritually dead and relies on self-powered growth rather than divine grace.

Read MoreThe Dead Weight of Moralism: Why Community Without Christ Fails
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The Sword of the Word: Misusing Scripture for Self-Power

While the sermon correctly identifies the believer's need for spiritual vigilance, it dangerously conflates the biblical 'Sword of the Spirit' with the Word of Faith movement's doctrine of positive confession. The teaching suggests that human speech has creative power to manipulate God and reality, and that salvation is secured through reciting a specific prayer. This undermines the sovereignty of God and the finished work of Christ, replacing Gospel grace with a system of human performance and mechanical formulas.

Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive, but is dead' orthodoxy. While it utilizes biblical language regarding spiritual warfare and the Word, it fundamentally corrupts the Gospel by teaching Synergistic Soteriology (salvation by prayer formula) and Word of Faith theology (human speech creating reality). This reduces the Gospel to a mechanical transaction of human effort, stripping it of the monergistic grace required for true spiritual life.

Read MoreThe Sword of the Word: Misusing Scripture for Self-Power