Heartland: Recent Episodes
Heartland
Jesus calls us to become living stones that have been formed a shaped to serve God’s work in the world.
In the beginning, even the early church struggled with how to best fulfill God’s mission.
Our understanding of the Christian faith is only as good as our reliance on Jesus Christ to open our eyes so that we might see what he is doing.
Jesus’ work in the world is not done. He now sends us to be his Spirit-filled hands and feet in the world.
The first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection were sent on a very simple mission, to tell others that Jesus had been raised from the dead. It’s our mission too!
Jesus enters Jerusalem, not on a mighty warhorse, but on a donkey. He comes as the true but humble servant king. As our king is, so should we be.
Jesus calls us to ask for wisdom, discernment, and guidance as we seek to live faithful Christian lives.
Jesus calls us to pursue the only thing worth anything in God’s Kingdom, a life of committed discipleship in the way of Jesus.
Jesus calls us to works of mercy, fasting, and prayer, but we must do them in ways that bring glory to God and not ourselves.
To grow up to become like our Father in heaven we must respond to every form of hate, violence, and evil with love that seeks the good of our neighbors, both friend and enemy.
Loving God means that we love and seek to be reconciled with our neighbor. Anger, lust, and unfaithfulness, which leads to treating others poorly, prohibits us from loving God and entering a genuine relationship with God.
At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus wants us to know who we are. We are salt and light because we are followers of the Law of God.
In the Beatitudes, we are first given God’s grace amid our brokenness. Then we are called to respond to the grace we have been given by giving it to others.
In the Beatitudes, we are first given God’s grace amid our brokenness. Then we are called to respond to the grace we have been given by giving it to others.
As the light, Jesus reveals to us the way he would have the world be. He then calls to us to turn from those things that distract us from joining his kingdom and calls us to become life-long learners at his feet.
Jesus proclaims his obedience to the Father through his baptism. The Spirit affirms his decision. We have a chance to do the same thing through our baptism.
Pastor Jason has a conversation with April DeTienne about stories of personal hurt and trauma, the long road to healing, and our hope and belief about the church's place in that process.
Humanity is small and insignificant in the light of God’s great majesty. Yet, in God’s love for us, he has given us a royal job to do: to act as royal stewards of his creation.
We are called to enter into exuberant praise because our God and King is coming to rule the world in fairness and faithfulness.
We lament the brokenness of the world, yet we with hopeful expectations for the coming of Jesus Christ.
As we begin the season of Advent, we are called to remember the history of God’s salvation for creation as we anticipate the birth of Jesus Christ.
God calls us to examine our lives to see when and where God has been faithful to us, when and where God had provided a way out of dark places when it seemed as if there was no safe exit
We are barren, just like Abraham and Sarah. Yet God calls us to be obedient so that we might have life and become a blessing to the entire world.
As a church we are called not to make a name for ourselves, but to be fruitful and multiply. Pentecost is the renewal of the command and an empowering to be fruitful and multiply
Pastor Mike Palmer brings a message to encourage us to live with joy in a broken world.
The world is not as it should be. We are called to persistently call out to God, who is justice, to make things right.
Our sinfulness causes pain and grief in the heart of God. After the Flood, God chooses to respond to evil, not with destruction, but with love and forgiveness.
God has provided boundaries for us that help us to mature in our faith and in Christlikeness. Everyday we are bombarded by voices that challenge the goodness of God’s boundaries.
God created us in his image so that we might best be able to enter into a relationship with him.
Paul calls us to examine all of our relationships as if we were looking through the mind of Christ.
Paul encourages us to take off all the things that keep us from becoming like Christ. He encourages us to clothe ourselves with love.
We need not search after anything other than Christ. If we seek only Christ, he will guide us well.
When we unite with Christ, he peels away the layers of sin and death we have accumulated for ourselves. Through his death, our sin and the powers he vanquished have been destroyed.
The Apostle Paul encourages the Colossian church and reminds them that Jesus has rescued them from the power of darkness, and now they are citizens of God’s Kingdom.
Join us this week as our kids share what they've learned in VBS and lead us in worship!
Those who are found faithful will find themselves safe with God in the new heaven and the new earth.
Revelation is about worshipping the one who remains so faithful that our greatest sins are not held against us but forgiven.
Christ calls us to put off self-reliance, submitting ourselves to his Lordship and care.
Christ calls us to trust that we will always belong to him regardless of the challenges we might face as faithful believers.
Choosing to not participate in the political and economic idolatry of our day will allow us to fully participate in God’s mission of reconciliation and restoration of people and creation.
Jesus calls us to hold on to our faith as we seek to live in the world without succumbing to temptation to serve other gods.
A life of faithfulness to Jesus does not guarantee health or wealth. Jesus calls us to remain faithful regardless of the cost.
Faith Maternity Care is a home and resource for homeless pregnant women in Missouri. Melissa Williford came to share about the ministry, their impact in our community, and how we can help them to make a difference.
Jesus calls us to faithfully follow God’s commands in a loving manner, rather than with strict legalism.
Christ stands amid the churches of the world encouraging and calling them to faithfulness.
It is ok if we do not always understand the work of God in our world. Over and over again, God proves that he’s working to help us understand and believe.
Despite the ruin that may come to our life because of our own unfaithfulness, life and hope are always the last word.
Those who are affluent and apathetic about the needs of those around them will be the first to experience God’s judgment.
God’s judgment is not just for those who actively participate in oppression and violence, but also for those whose lifestyle perpetuates the system of violence and exploitation.
We are the people of God because of God’s grace and mercy. We are called to remember who we are as God’s people so that we can live in covenant faithfulness with God and others.
Once again, Jesus reveals himself to us as the One who is bringing about God’s salvation for the world.
Jesus invites those who have means to participate with his mission of restoration and renewal in the world.
In spite of our sinfulness, Jesus extends a call to us to participate in God’s mission of ‘catching people.’
We are called to a ministry which is outward focused for the purpose of participating in God’s mission of freedom for the world.
As we participate in God’s mission in the world, we are called to love those who perpetrate acts of evil.
Jesus gives us an outline for what his ministry will look like. What Jesus has done, he will call us to do as well.
We are called to live into our baptism by sharing in Jesus’ mission to bring healing and salvation to our broken world.
Christ has come and is coming again. We are called, just has John the Baptist was called, to prepare the way for the coming of God.
Mary proclaims what God has done in the past because she understands that what is happening in her now is a continuation of God’s faithful saving acts toward his people. It gives her hope for the future.
God invites us to participate in God’s mission of salvation and restoration for the world.
Even though barren brokenness surrounds us, we are called to live with imaginative hope as we wait for God’s salvation through Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ becomes our true King, not in the ways of past Israelite kings or even Roman Kings, but through the powerful truth of suffering love.
Jesus warns us to be on guard against those who claim to bring salvation, but to trust that all things will be made right.
Jesus contrast the self-righteous scribes with a humble and generous widow who gave to others out of the little she had. We are called to be more like the widow as we seek to follow Jesus.
We are to love God with all we are, we are to love ourselves well and appropriately so that we might love others in the same way.
Jesus longs to help us regain our sight so that we might fully and faithfully follow him in the way of the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God doesn’t operate under the same set of assumptions that the rest of the world works. Children are important, so are marginalized people. The rich and powerful aren’t important.
Jesus calls us to let go of whatever it is that is keeping us from truly following him.
Dr. Randy Cloud from MNU shares a message with us regarding David and Goliath and the lessons we can learn from this classic Bible story.
Greatness in the Kingdom of God is not like greatness in the world. God calls us to be servants of all.
In times of joy and pain we are called to live in patient solidarity with those around us.
James shows us how an uncontrolled tongue can destroy what God is doing in our lives and in our church. Our tongues can be controlled when we seek God’s wisdom.
James encourages us to practice listening and hearing well so that we may respond with the grace that has been given to us by God.
James longs for us to have the wisdom to know from where our temptations come and to know from which direction help at overcoming them might arrive.
We’re called to ask God to continue to reveal himself to us so that we might be faithful and join in with what he’s already doing around us.
Jesus is rejected in his hometown and he warns the disciples that they’ll face rejection, too. We shouldn’t focus on the rejection because God is with us.
The Kingdom of God is extravagantly given, frustratingly successful, hidden yet revealing, mysterious in the way that it grows, small and insignificant, yet full and life giving.
Solomon was wise, but stumbled and followed what the world had to offer, bringing down the great nation of Israel with him. God offers us his wisdom, that passes all understanding, and leads us where we ought to go.
Sometimes God gives us what we want, not what we need. Thankfully, God always seeks to work our mistakes into something good.
Pastor Dan challenges us to use God's word as a guide for the world around us, instead of what pop culture or a famous guru might suggested. Keeping our minds focused on God's plan.
We receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit so that we might go forth and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.
The strength that’s needed to do the hard work of God’s mission for the world is impossible apart from the diversified unity of believers. And that unity requires love, a Christlike, selfless love.
We’re all connected and we’ll never know the impact our sharing of God’s good news might have on the world around us.
Every day we are given a chance to determine who we are and who we follow. Will we follow Jesus by living into the wisdom of the cross?
Our false, mistaken, and foolish interpretations of what God is doing in our world don’t disqualify us from re-joining what God is doing in our world.
Our care for one another flows from the power of the Holy Spirit that binds us together into one heart and soul. The fruit of this unity is generosity in caring for one another.
Jesus assures us that he goes ahead of us as we seek to participate in his mission of salvation in the world.
Jesus calls us to live like we are dying, dying to ourselves so that others might find life.
Jesus chooses to become King not through the success of feeding a multitude of people, but through the wisdom of the cross.
When we come together in prayer, in sacrifice, and in scripture, our belief is strengthened and our witness in the world is emboldened.
Those who wish to call themselves followers of Christ will be the kind of people that are continually giving themselves over for the lives of others
Lent is for us a time to repent of our sins, but also to cling desperately to our God who is a God of comfort and reassurance.
As God heals us from our brokenness, we are called into service in the Kingdom of God. Like Jesus, we must maintain laser like focus on God’s mission in the world.
God calls us as a community of faith to discernment regarding the voices we listen to as we seek to become better followers of Jesus Christ.
Our conversions are always commissioning to participate in God’s mission of salvation in the world.
God call us to be faithful even when faithfulness leads us into having difficult conversations with other Christians.
We are always invited to discern where God is at work and to join in with what God’s doing here and now, even if its shatters our conception of what the church should be and do.
The darkness, the hurt, the pain, the destruction of our world does not overcome the light that Jesus has brought and is now bringing.
God is truly Immanuel, God with us, working on us and through us so that the world might be what it was created to be.
God desires to inhabit us in such a way that our obedience and faithfulness is not merely a result of our action, but that our very substance is used to birth God’s work and word in our world.
God is inviting us to look forward into the wild, open, and uncertain future so that we might participate in what God is doing in our world.
Each Advent is a chance for us to have a new beginning, heeding the call of God’s grace to join ourselves with the the work that God is currently doing.
Those who will find themselves invited into God’s eternal kingdom are those who have properly expressed their love for God through their love and care for their neighbor, especially “the least of these.”
Loving God and loving neighbor are inseparable. We can love God and neighbor because Jesus is the messiah.
Jesus wants us to live as faithful servants of God while remaining active participants in our country.
It is not enough to merely respond to the invitation of God’s salvation; we must ensure that we are growing in grace and holiness.
The church is God’s. He has allowed us to be its workers so that we might produce good fruit. When we try and take ownership of the church so that it serves our own interests we demonstrate our unfaithfulness.
Proper belief in Jesus mandates that we are obedient, even when it goes against what we are accustomed to believing and doing.
We must put our hope into Christ and eternal life rather than the material wants of this world.
Receiving great and immeasurable grace requires the giving of great and immeasurable grace.
Jesus calls us to lovingly confront our Christian brothers and sisters who have sinned so that they might repent, be reconciled to God and neighbor, and restored to full participation in the community of faith.
Greatness in the Kingdom of God is becoming like a humble and subordinate child. Greatness in the Kingdom of God is serving the insignificant little ones in our world.
God is a gracious God, merciful and slow to anger while abounding in steadfast love. He is ready to relent from punishing. Most of the time, this is not who we are.
Human life contains many tragedies and often times seems unfair. No matter what we have been through God has a reward for us in the next life and can give us strength for this life.
Jonah runs away from the call to go to Nineveh because he knows that God is merciful and willing to extend grace to those who are undeserving. Jonah does not want the people of Nineveh to repent.
There is nothing that could ever separate us from God’s love. God is with us and for us, always.
We become co-heirs with Christ when we allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit so that we might become fully obedient sons and daughters of God.
If we are to live faithful and obedient lives, we must live in the power of God’s Holy Spirit. We must be in the Spirit and the Spirit must be in us.
Paul highlights the tension between knowing and wanting to do what is right and actually doing it that we all experience as we seek to follow Jesus. We’re not to give up hope, as Jesus Christ will one day bring us to perfection.
Paul calls us to choose which master we will serve, sin and death or life in God through Jesus. We make this choice by presenting ourselves as instruments of righteousness.
We have been united with Christ through our baptism. This means that we have shared in his death and resurrection but also that we now receive vital nutrition from Christ to go forth and walk in newness of life.
We have peace with God because we have been granted continued access into God’s presence so that we might grow in grace.
If we want to participate in the work that Jesus is doing in our world, bringing about the Kingdom of God, then we must pray and wait for God’s Spirit to empower us and send us out.
As followers of Jesus, we're to work toward unity of the spirit by having sympathy, a tender heart, a humble mind, while always being ready to share God's love.
Jesus calls us to be faithful in doing good for others, even if it means we might experience suffering.
We are being built into a spiritual house which is to give testimony to the goodness of God.
We are called to be holy as God our Father is holy. Holiness means living with genuine mutual love.
We have been reborn to a new life in Christ. This rebirth makes us strangers in our own land.
The Resurrection always sends us out to participate in Christ's mission of salvation for the world.
Jesus enters Jerusalem, not on a mighty warhorse, but on a donkey. He comes as the true but humble servant king. As our king is, so should we be.
Neighborliness is extending the same rescue and forgiveness that we have received to our neighbor.
Confession and repentance lead to a blessed life. The hiding of sin leads to distress and burden so that we may be taught how to live as good neighbors.
Loving God means that we love and seek to be reconciled with our neighbor. Anger, lust, and unfaithfulness, which leads to treating others poorly, prohibits us from loving God and entering a genuine relationship with God.
At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus wants us to know who we are. We are salt and light because we are followers of the Law of God. Only, we haven’t always understood the Law correctly. Jesus is helping us see what the Law means so that we can be salt and light.
In the Beatitudes, we are called to respond to the grace we have been given by giving it to others. If we are faithful, we will be persecuted.
We often want a sign that God will come to us as a conquering hero. Here, God gives us a sign that consists of a defenseless child, not a conquering hero.
God calls us to wait patiently with him so that we might learn how to allow our weapons of conflict to be transformed into implements that bring life.
Jesus chooses to save others before he saves himself. Christ calls us to seek to live in the same way, actively working for the salvation of others even if it costs us greatly.
We are encouraged to believe that, even when it seems the world is crumbling around us, God is still in control.
Salvation and justification come to us only after we realize that we are lowly and sinful and in need of God’s mercy.
The world is not as it should be. We are called to persistently call out to God, who is justice, to make things right.
Jesus continues to reveal to us the nature of the Kingdom of God by showing us that there is no one who can’t recieve God’s salvation.