Southside Baptist Church Podcast

At its best, religion is our attempt to get to God. At its worst, it is an effort to hide from God while attempting to manipulate and control others. Jesus did not come to give us a new religious system. He came to end religion by offering us a relationship with God that is not dependent on temples, priests, or sacrifices, but on God’s abundant grace and our faith in Him. Join us for part six of 30 Words, where Pastor Gary explores this most radical and unexpected gift of the Gospel.

For some the Gospel message is primarily about going to heaven when we die. While that is good news, it is not the best news. Jesus came to do much more than take us to heaven when we die, He came to set up God’s kingdom here and now. Join us for part 5 of 30 Words where we will learn about God’s Kingdom and how it gives us hope now and forever. 

We don’t like the word “sin.” It sounds way too judgmental. It makes us think of legalistic people, hypocrisy, and everything we don’t like about religion and church. While most people don’t claim to be perfect, few are willing to embrace the title of “sinner.” We may be willing to admit a “mistake,” but we are reluctant to say that we have “sinned.” The problem with the word “mistake,” is that it is insufficient to describe our problem. You make a mistake on a math test. Mistakes are easy to fix, but what do we do about the problem of sin? Join us for part 4 of 30 Words where we will learn the good news that Jesus came to save us from sin.

God is love. There are very few people who would disagree with that statement, and even fewer who wouldn’t at least say they hope that is the case. But how do we know for sure? In part three of 30 Words, we will consider what it means that God is love and how Jesus came to prove it to us once and for all.

You cannot understand the Gospel as “good news” until you understand who Jesus is. And once you truly understand who Jesus is, there is no way you will ever understand the Gospel as anything other than good news! Jesus is not just a great teacher who established a world religion. He is God with skin on – God with us – God for us, not against us. Join us for part two of 30 Words where Pastor Gary will share three reasons why the Gospel must begin with Jesus.

The Gospel is so simple a child can understand it, yet so immense that people have dedicated their lives in pursuit of it. This simple message radically changed the world until the world gradually changed the message. Throughout the years, the Gospel has been faithfully shared, preserved, complicated, weaponized and even ignored. You may call yourself a Christian and still be asking, “What is the Gospel, and how do I explain it to other people?” Join us for a new sermon series in which we will learn, live and share the Gospel message in 30 Words.

Money ... what people think about it, and how they use it offers a window into the human soul. Money is the source of much of our anxiety and almost all of our greed. No wonder the Bible calls love of it a root of all evil. It is also why Jesus talked so much about money — not to try to get it from us, but to try to keep it from getting us! Join us for the final part of Selfless where we will take a look at what Jesus had to say about selfless generosity as an antidote for greed and anxiety.

“Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist” (Matt. 11:11). That’s high praise coming from Jesus. After all, “those born of women” pretty much includes everyone ever born! But why would Jesus give so high compliment to such a – let’s face it – bizarre character? The dude dressed in camel skin and ate locusts! And that was weird even in Bible times. Surely such high praise from the Son of God would warrant a little boasting, right? Wrong. In fact, it was John’s incredible humility that positioned him to be the perfect warm-up act for Jesus’ arrival. Join us for part three of Selfless, where we will learn the formula for humility from John the Baptist.

Jesus modeled the kind of selfless service He called His disciples to practice. In fact, it was the selfless service of the early Christians that attracted the attention of the entire Roman world and led to the rapid growth of the first-century church. Join us for part two of Selfless where we will learn the secret to selfless service and why it is still essential for following Jesus.

There has never been a time when people have been more confronted with “self” than we are today. From the rise in popularity of everything from self-help books to the “selfie sticks,” we are clearly a culture of people consumed with self. We are acutely aware of our own image and how that image is being projected to a world we have been convinced is always watching. This unending barrage of self has inflated our egos while simultaneously creating a deep sense of personal insecurity. In many ways, we are like a nation of people walking around gazing into hand-held mirrors, so consumed with our own image that we fail to see the people all around us. One of the most defining and yet misunderstood characteristics of Jesus, is that of humility. C.S. Lewis famously described humility not as thinking less of yourself, but of thinking of yourself less. Join us for a four-week series on humility and how this virtue can free us from the tyranny of self-absorption and make us look more like the Savior.

When asked if the end of World War II was near, Winston Churchill famously replied, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” As we conclude our look at the life of the Apostle Paul and our Journey through the book of Acts, join Pastor Gary Webber as we consider how the unfinished story of Acts 28 invites us to continue Christ’s mission to the ends of the earth.

Just when you think it can’t get any worse… it usually does! The question is, how do you prepare for the unthinkable? The time to make preparations for a storm is when the weather is still calm. The time to prepare a ship for an emergency at sea is while it is still tied to the pier. Join us for a look at Acts 27 where Paul faces the perfect storm and shows how faith in Jesus can prepare us for the unexpected.