Mission Church: Teaching Podcast

The writer of Romans 8:18, the Apostle Paul, knew a thing or two about present pain. He had been stoned, whipped, and imprisoned for his faith. He also knew first-hand about the promise that Jesus gave those to those that received the free gift of salvation. Lean in and learn from this ancient expert on how both the crushing weight of pain and the pure joy of promise can exist at the same time in the same situation.

Living through this pandemic has revealed things for all of us. Certain things have been brought to the foreground and are appearing larger than they really are. But we want to flip our perspective to see things from an accurate and biblical point of view. Starting with Earth and Eternity.

We have a living hope because we have a living God. That is the heart of Easter. Yes, times have changed and many are in a shelter-in-place situation. But because of His victory over death itself, Jesus has invited each one of us to seek shelter in a hope that cannot be contained. He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Good Friday is a time of remembrance; of reflection. To allow us all some space to seek what God has for our unique stories, we've stitched together three movements covering the journey that Christ took from the garden, the cross, and the tomb. Join us as we remember what our freedom cost and look to the triumph ahead.

Life as we have known it has been interrupted. Our day-to-day is vastly different and it can feel like we are unheard, unseen, and without hope. Jesus' ministry tells us a contrasting story. In the Gospel of Mark, we are told about two people who encounter Him for very different reasons and are met with the full presence of true hope.

Life comes with uncertainty built right in, and when you throw a pandemic into the mix, well, you can turn uncertainty up to eleven. And yet, God calls us to an unshaken life even in the midst of uncertainty. Thankfully, we find a timely example of this type of living in Psalm 62.

In this season of tremendous loss, it's safe to say that most of us will be wounded by it in some way. That's a hard reality and something that is not unseen by God. And yet, though we worship the God of all comfort who is present with us in even the darkest of times, His promise is so much more about victory and hope. Why? Because, well, loss may wound, but love wins.

In uncertain times, fear is all too common. And yet the Gospel points out that fear is actually quite normal, even to be expected. It's actually where we take our fear that can make all the difference in our reaction to it.

Here's a bothersome truth we see in the life of the Old Testament prophet Elisha; You don't have to understand completely to respond immediately. This is literally how his own journey of transformation began and for him, there was no turning back to the life of 'same.' Why? Because he burned the plows. Even without fully understanding the kind of life he was stepping into. A life of being never the same.

Shame is insidious. It's powerful. It can hold us, hostage, for years and sometimes even longer. Yet, Jesus has called us into a life of freedom and fullness. It's time to talk, and that's why we're so excited to welcome clinical counselors Michelle Lenz and Dennis Humphry into our conversation on shame.

Grief is all too real sometimes. Whether it was ten years ago or one month ago, grief has affected all of us and more than likely is still something we struggle with today. That's why we are really excited to welcome Brandon and Tyler Grissom for a conversation on grief. Whether you or someone you know is experiencing grief, we know this conversation will help all of us navigate this difficult subject.

How much do you know about surfing? If you're like most of us in the midwest chances are your answer is, "Not much." Well, here's a crash course. When you're surfing in the wide-open ocean you can't actually produce the wave you'd like to ride, but you CAN prepare for it. Experiencing a movement of Jesus in The 10 in our lifetime feels a lot like surfing in this regard. It's the difference between the GOOD of right now and the GREAT that God is calling us into. Are you ready to hang-loose and catch the wave? Surf's up!

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even GREATER things than these, because I am going to the Father. – John 14:12 Wait; what? Greater than what Jesus himself did while he was among us in physical form???? Yep, because God the Son went UP, God the Spirit came DOWN. He was given for many reasons but one reason is for you to experience greatness. But what kind of greatness? The greatness of Jesus. Great love, great self-control, great kindness, great conviction, great patience, great impact, great generosity, great commitment and great power to serve others. Greatness in the kingdom of God will always include that kind of greatness. And as we'll learn through the Old-Testament life of Caleb, greatness is a choice we all can make.

Have you ever thought that something you had was good, only to find out that you missed out on something GREAT? Examples? How about your new phone that became outdated by the time you made your first call? Maybe when your waiter places the herb-roasted chicken on your table and then walks by with the beef tenderloin for the table next to you? Regardless of the situation, there are two things we need to get clear on. That - What we have is good. And good is the enemy of great.

In part 1 of our discussion on anxiety, we began unpacking the helpful acronym: C.A.L.M. with Celebrate. While celebrating in God is both the foundation and 1st action of finding 'calm' in the storm of anxiety, it's also just 1/4 of what we find the apostle Paul writing to the Philippians about. In part 2 we find there is a path to peace, regardless of the situation surrounding us! It's time to discover the 'A.L.M.' in C.A.L.M.

It’s well documented that the giant of anxiety is the issue of our time. Anxiety is an American mental health epidemic. It ranks as the #1 issue for women and the #2 issue for men. With all of this overwhelming evidence, how can we find peace? Well, the goal isn’t to never have anxiety, the goal is for anxiety to not govern our lives. How? By placing our contentment and control in much more capable hands.

There are times in all of our lives that we have done things that have caused others pain; whether intentional or unintentional. We'd also hazard a guess that we have also all experienced pain and hurt at the hands of someone else in our lives; again, intentional or not. But nevertheless, there are times that hurt becomes so deep that that hurt can begin to give birth to varying degrees of anger, hate, resentment, and sometimes revenge. It's time to put these feelings to rest. But how? Is it even possible to experience freedom from past hurts? Well, Ephesians 4:32 has something to say about this, and the example is Jesus.

The giant of fear is something we are all familiar with. In fact, there are 2,000 classified fears, but what’s ironic is you and I were born with just two! The fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. Why does that matter? Here’s why: Most fears are learned which means most fears can be unlearned. And one of the best ways to unlearn our fears is to learn from those who overcame their fears. To do that, we’re going to spend time in an epic story of the Bible found in 1 Samuel 17.

When it comes to your new year in 2020 what is standing in the way of the new ground God has for your life? Our guess is that it may look like the giants we face in our everyday existence. Fear, anxiety, grief; to name just a few of these barriers between living life and living life to it's fullest. It's time to stop fleeing. It's time to face the giant!

Ok, it's Christmas, but we have some bad news... darkness is all around us. (We know, cheerful start; right?) We all know the many feelings that darkness can bring about; but what about light? Have we experienced what light does to the darkness? So, here's the good news; LIGHT HAS COME in the person of Jesus!