Taking The Land - CFM Sermon Podcast

Is your phone receiving more of your attention than God, your family, or your calling?

In this challenging message from the San Antonio Bible Conference, Pastor Packia Raj exposes how social media can quietly influence our attention, identity, relationships, and spiritual direction. Using 1 Samuel 15:22–23, he shows how repeated distraction can become control—and why obedience, discernment, and the lordship of Jesus are essential in a screen-saturated world.

This message will challenge you to examine:
- What receives your first attention each day
- How comparison creates discontentment
- Whether your feed is shaping your faith
- The influence of online voices and algorithms
- Practical boundaries that can protect your calling
- How to put your focus back on Jesus

“Views are not validation. Followers are not your fruit. Virality is not the truth.”

Chapters
00:00 Opening and Scripture reading
01:30 The “emergency” that was a social media post
03:18 When social media competes with God’s voice
04:19 “To obey is better than sacrifice”
05:30 The screen as a new battlefield
07:27 “When the Screen Steals Your Soul”
10:43 The battle for your attention
11:39 Attention, affection, and phone habits
13:09 Putting God first in the day
15:03 Is social media controlling you?
17:25 The comparison trap
18:53 Looks maxing and image pressure
22:22 Body image and suicidal thoughts
23:39 Doomscrolling and exposure to harmful content
25:38 Screen time and relationships
27:11 When feeds and algorithms shape faith
28:22 Rebellion finds a microphone
31:16 Why followers and views don’t prove truth
34:19 Guarding what enters through your eyes and ears
35:31 When online content weighs down your faith
36:59 Setting boundaries and closing harmful doors
39:50 Algorithms versus spiritual direction
40:48 Hearing the voice of Jesus
42:22 The central question: who is Lord of your life?
43:19 “Heaven still has the pulpit”
45:20 A challenge to check your heart and set boundaries
46:27 Call to repentance and salvation
48:25 Choosing eternity over a six-inch screen
49:22 Invitation to return to God
50:48 Altar call to break unhealthy screen habits
52:16 Prayer for surrender and refocusing

## CONNECT
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## SUPPORT WORLD EVANGELISMGet the **Taking the Land Premium Subscription**:✓ No ads ✓ Early releases ✓ Full-length Testimony Tuesdays **Supercast | $3/month** https://taking-the-land.supercast.com/**Spotify | $3.99/month** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/taking-the-land/subscribe**Apple Podcasts | $4.99/month** https://apple.co/4owjo5Z**All proceeds go to world evangelism.**

Are you living on what God did years ago—or experiencing Him now?
In this vintage message from February 11, 1976, Pastor Wayman Mitchell warns that even genuine spiritual victories can become idols when we turn them into monuments and stop moving forward with God.
Preaching from Hebrews 2:1–9, Mitchell draws lessons from the bronze serpent, Abraham’s encounter with El Olam—the everlasting God—and Elisha’s cry at the Jordan: “Where is the God of Elijah?”
God is not only the God of yesterday. He is the everlasting God who is working today.
Chapters
00:00 — America’s Revival Heritage
05:09 — The Danger of Idolatry and Past Experiences
12:14 — The Everlasting God
25:53 — The Remedy: A Living Faith Today
27:45 — Understanding Our Identity in God
35:12 — The Call to Return and Embrace God
36:19 — Invitation to Experience God’s Love
## CONNECT
Find a CFM Church near you: https://cfmmap.org
Enjoying Taking the Land? Leave a five-star review:
Apple Podcasts:  
https://apple.co/3vy1s5b
Podchaser:  
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/taking-the-land-cfm-sermon-pod-43369v

Easy faith may feel comfortable—but it cannot prepare you to carry real responsibility.
Opening the San Antonio Bible Conference, Pastor Richard Rubi explains what Paul meant by an “eternal weight of glory.” God’s glory is more than a powerful emotion or an extraordinary church service. It is God working through ordinary people whose faith has been strengthened by affliction, devotion, discipleship, and obedience.
Drawing from 2 Corinthians 4:16–18, Pastor Rubi challenges Christians and church leaders to reject lightweight Christianity, embrace the responsibility God has placed upon them, and become people whose lives and words carry spiritual weight.
In this message:• Why hardship can produce deeper spiritual strength
• The difference between revival and discipleship
• Why conversions cannot be manufactured
• How conviction, commitment, and responsibility produce spiritual authority
• What happens when a church preserves its activity but loses God’s presence
• Why “the glory is found in the devotion”
Chapters
0:00 Introduction and Acknowledgments
0:33 The Importance of Challenging Education
3:11 Understanding Glory in Ministry
16:31 The Weight of Glory
17:23 Becoming Heavyweights in Ministry
22:51 The Difference Between Revival and Discipleship
28:22 The Call to Witnessing
29:57 The Weight of Responsibility
32:07 The Call to Discipleship
33:10 The Challenge of Cultural Conformity
36:40 Direction in Discipleship
38:23 The House of Glory
41:32 Living with Purpose and Weight
46:19 The Importance of Commitment
47:29 Seeking Glory in Ministry
## CONNECT
Find a CFM Church near you: https://cfmmap.org
Enjoying Taking the Land? Leave a five-star review:
Apple Podcasts:  
https://apple.co/3vy1s5b
Podchaser:  
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/taking-the-land-cfm-sermon-pod-43369v

## SUPPORT WORLD EVANGELISMGet the **Taking the Land Premium Subscription**:✓ No ads ✓ Early releases ✓ Full-length Testimony Tuesdays **Supercast | $3/month** https://taking-the-land.supercast.com/**Spotify | $3.99/month** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/taking-the-land/subscribe**Apple Podcasts | $4.99/month** https://apple.co/4owjo5Z**All proceeds go to world evangelism.**

Sending someone into the harvest field sounds exciting at conference.
But who pays the moving costs? Who helps them find a home? Who supports them when the job doesn’t come through? Who answers the phone when ministry gets difficult?
Preaching from Romans 10:14–15, Pastor Artie Aragon delivers a direct challenge to churches and pastors about what it really means to SEND.
From decades of ministry in Chinle, Arizona, Pastor Aragon explains that church planting cannot simply be celebrated from the conference platform. Sending people requires sacrifice, financial provision, discipleship, personal involvement, and a willingness to believe God for supernatural resources.
One statement captures the seriousness of the message:
“We as senders, we have to get the sending part right.”
Pastor Aragon shares remarkable stories from Chinle’s church-planting ministry, including sending workers overseas, supporting international works, and watching God provide resources that seemed impossible for a small reservation church.
If God can help Chinle reach beyond itself, He can help any church that is willing to see the need, count the cost, and keep sending.
Chapters
00:00 Opening and the call to send01:14 Romans 10: The chain of responsibility03:44 Why those who respond are called beautiful04:37 Sending begins with a God-given burden06:05 God’s heart for those who are lost08:15 The Great Commission is not optional10:12 Pastors develop and send workers11:05 Counting the real cost of sending13:35 The Prescott pattern for church planting15:28 Seeing the need through Jesus’ eyes18:42 Reaching the lost beyond church programs19:02 The cost of raising and releasing workers22:35 Sending means staying involved24:08 Why church planting can’t be done on the cheap26:11 The sending church’s financial responsibilities28:19 Real startup costs for a church plant29:00 Partnership and ministry support31:29 Why ongoing support matters33:53 True riches and supernatural provision35:48 Financial breakthrough that keeps churches sending38:35 Releasing and supporting international workers40:23 A $320,000 church plant and its impact42:42 Lessons from stories of sending45:08 Closing appeal: see the need, love, and pray
## CONNECTFind a CFM Church near you: https://cfmmap.orgEnjoying Taking the Land? Leave a five-star review:Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3vy1s5bPodchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/taking-the-land-cfm-sermon-pod-43369v## SUPPORT WORLD EVANGELISMGet the **Taking the Land Premium Subscription**:✓ No ads ✓ Early releases ✓ Full-length Testimony Tuesdays **Supercast | $3/month** https://taking-the-land.supercast.com/**Spotify | $3.99/month** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/taking-the-land/subscribe**Apple Podcasts | $4.99/month** https://apple.co/4owjo5Z**All proceeds go to world evangelism.**

Does your life feel small because nobody seems to notice what you do? In this 2017 sermon, Pastor Wayman Mitchell explains why unseen faithfulness matters—and why we must not despise small beginnings.
Preaching from Zechariah 4:10, Mitchell challenges the idea that size, crowds, and recognition determine the value of God’s work. Through biblical examples and experiences from Wickenburg, Prescott, and Guam, he shows how meaningful ministry often begins in overlooked places.
If you’re serving without recognition, discouraged by slow progress, or wondering whether your contribution makes a difference, this message offers a challenge: embrace the work God has placed before you.
In this message:
Why gathering a crowd is different from building a church
What small beginnings can teach us
How God works through overlooked people and places
Practical ways to serve people who are easily forgotten
Why recognition is not the measure of faithfulness
Chapters
00:00 Opening praise and Zechariah 4
03:05 The rebuilt temple and the older generation’s grief
04:15 “Do not despise the day of small things”
05:43 Embracing obscurity
06:13 The obsession with church size
08:24 Small churches, mega churches, and proselyting
11:11 What obscurity means
13:11 Jeremiah’s call not to seek great things
15:25 A ministry of tearing down and rebuilding
16:20 Prescott’s rough beginnings
20:05 Jesus, Nazareth, and the overlooked
21:34 John the Baptist and Amos: unlikely messengers
23:31 Wickenburg and faithful work without recognition
25:31 Faithful pastoring in Brazil, Indiana
27:26 Isaiah 58 and rebuilding the old waste places
28:54 The vision for the islands
29:51 Guam, the Marianas, and church planting
33:35 David’s hidden preparation for Goliath
35:56 Creative ministry among the overlooked
37:04 Rehab ministry and the fruit of service
38:30 The value of churches built on broken people
39:01 William Booth’s calling among London’s poor
40:30 A missionary reminder: “We’re not home”
41:09 Final challenge: obscurity may be God’s plan
CONNECT
Find a CFM Church near you
Enjoying Taking the Land? Leave a five-star review:
Apple Podcasts
Podchaser
SUPPORT WORLD EVANGELISM
Get the Taking the Land Premium Subscription:
No ads
Early releases
Full-length Testimony Tuesdays
Supercast | $3/month
Spotify | $3.99/month
Apple Podcasts | $4.99/month
All proceeds go to world evangelism.
Music licensed through Soundstripe.
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