Pokluda reminds students that God created people with a purpose

Addictions can come in all shapes and sizes, and Pastor Jonathan “JP” Pokluda touched on the power and influence of idols when he spoke at Convocation Oct. 13 — both the “bad” idols and the ones people often associate with good things like exercise and coffee.

Pokluda started his sermon by explaining how cameras made it to the front of the cellphone. He said self-love caused people to prioritize wealth and fame.

As a result, depression and anxiety levels have risen higher now than any other generation, and narcissism is really a mental illness. It is a plague driving society. 

He reminded students that Jesus Christ is the only one worthy of being called the greatest. He said God opposing the proud but giving grace to the humble is more than just a Bible verse that people have heard in Sunday school.

Pokluda spoke on how God created each person for a specific purpose, and if a person truly wants to be great, they have to be the greatest servant.

“There are certain things that he made you to do,” Pokluda said. “Real greatness does not come overnight … I think we underestimate what we can do with (long-term) obedience in the same direction, and we overestimate what we can do in a short amount of time.”

He continued that night at Campus Community, challenging the “you only live once” mentality, which is not God’s best for his children. He said that a child of God is the operator of their body, not the owner, and a person’s body is not something to be treated recklessly.

It is God’s plan that those who were created in his image keep their bodies free from addiction, however powerful or innocent that addiction might seem. Whether it is street drugs, coffee, sex or fitness, if it has a hold over a person’s life, it has become the master of his or her life.

“It can be something positive,” Pokluda said. “It can be a good thing that has become an ultimate thing. Therefore, it is a bad thing (because) it is an idol.”

He said the value of a person’s body is what another is willing to pay for it, and God paid for our bodies with the life of his Son. We are to honor God with what we put into our bodies and what we choose to do with them. At every crossroads in life, he reminded students that God gives us the opportunity to choose to honor him with our bodies and
our decisions.

Junior Heather De Boer first heard about Pokluda from a friend who introduced her to his former ministry, The Porch, and has been an avid listener of his ever since. What struck her the most was how many themes he covered beyond the typical church topics. 

“I think his sermon was very necessary and straightforward,” De Boer said. “For me, I have had an exercise addiction in the past. The comparativeness that it brought into my life, the stress, anxiety and all the negative aspects that came with it. It shows how easily sin is able to enter in from any addiction.”

Pokluda is the lead pastor of Harris Creek Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. He was the young adult pastor at The Porch in Dallas for many years, and more of his sermons can be heard on The Porch app, the Harris Creek app, the Harris Creek podcast or on the website Harriscreek.org.

“The happiest people on the planet Earth are people who give up their lives (for Christ),” Pokluda said.

Stiner is a news reporter for the Liberty Champion