Official Podcast of Grace Ottumwa: Recent Episodes
Grace Ottumwa
Pastor Chris continues his series on “Knowing God, Knowing Self”. You won’t want to miss this message from Matthew 22.
After the message from this passage, go to our Digital Community at https://www.facebook.com/groups/graceottumwa to connect with others at Grace.
You can watch last week’s message on our YouTube and Facebook Pages.
Grace Ottumwa is a new church in Ottumwa that helps people grow their faith, serve their community, and love people.
If our faith is based on God’s love and grace, what is the role of obedience? What does obedience look like when we follow Jesus? Come this Sunday to hear Pastor Chris will share what Jesus says in John 15 about obedience.
After the message from this passage, go to our Digital Community at https://www.facebook.com/groups/graceottumwa to connect with others at Grace.
You can watch last week’s message on our YouTube and Facebook Pages.
Grace Ottumwa is a new church in Ottumwa that helps people grow their faith, serve their community, and love people.
How are your habits impacting your life? Have you thought about it lately?
It's surprising how once we've established a habit-- good or bad, how much it impacts our life. Is the impact of your habit drawing you closer to God and the life He has for you? On Sunday, we'll look at a story from Daniel's life and how the habits he established drew him closer to God.
After Pastor Chris’ message from Daniel 6:1-10, go to our Digital Community at https://www.facebook.com/groups/graceottumwa to connect with others at Grace.
Grace Ottumwa is a new church in Ottumwa that helps people grow their faith, serve their community, and love people.
How did we get so exhausted?
And how do we find the rest that our souls are craving?
After Pastor Chris’ message from Matthew 11:27-30, go to our Digital Community at https://www.facebook.com/groups/graceottumwa to dive in deeper.
You can amplify the impact of Grace by sharing this episode or giving financially at https://www.graceottumwa.org/give/
Grace Ottumwa is a new church in Ottumwa that helps people grow their faith, serve their community, and love people
You were made for more than just a comfortable life. You were made for a good life!
According to Jesus, a good life involves more than a little discomfort.
After Pastor Chris’ message from John 21:15-25, go to our Digital Community at https://www.facebook.com/groups/graceottumwa to dive in deeper.
You can amplify the impact of Grace by sharing this episode or giving financially at https://www.graceottumwa.org/give/
Grace Ottumwa is a new church in Ottumwa that helps people grow their faith, serve their community, and love people
Do you enjoy comparing yourself to others?
Or are you ready to be set free from the comparison trap?
The comparison game seems fun at first, with a real opportunity to win! But if you’ve been playing for long enough, you know that nobody really wins this game.
Together, we’ll find freedom in Jesus.
After Pastor Chris’ message from John 21:15-25, go to our Digital Community at facebook.com/groups/265210934472228/ to dive in deeper.
You can amplify the impact of Grace by sharing this episode or giving financially at graceottumwa.org/give/
Grace Ottumwa is a new church in Ottumwa that helps people grow their faith, serve their community, and love people.
Did you notice Jesus this week? If not, don’t be too hard on yourself. Jesus’ first followers didn’t recognize him either.
After Pastor Chris’ message from John 21:1-14, go to our Digital Community at facebook.com/groups/265210934472228/ to dive in deeper.
You can amplify the impact of Grace by sharing this episode or giving financially at graceottumwa.org/give/
Grace Ottumwa is a new church in Ottumwa that helps people grow their faith, serve their community, and love people.
What questions were you afraid to ask in church as a kid?
What questions are you afraid to ask now?
Countless people are walking away from their faith today.
What if Jesus doesn’t want us to silence our questions?
What if our silence is the problem?
After Pastor Chris’ message from John 20:19-31, go to our Digital Community at facebook.com/groups/265210934472228/ to dive in deeper.
You can amplify the impact of Grace by sharing this episode or giving financially at graceottumwa.org/give/
Grace Ottumwa is a new church in Ottumwa that helps people grow their faith, serve their community, and love people.
What are your self-limiting beliefs? What are the lies that hold you back from living the life you were created to live? Jesus’ disciples didn’t believe because they saw the empty tomb. They believed because they saw the empty grave clothes! As we celebrate Jesus coming out of the tomb, we’re shaking off our own graveclothes and finding new life.
After you listen to Pastor Chris' message from John 20:1-8, check out our Digital Community at
Grace Ottumwa is a new church in Ottumwa that helps people grow their faith, serve their community, and love people. Get connected by joining the Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/265210934472228/
You can amplify the impact of Grace by sharing this episode or giving financially at graceottumwa.org/give/
Nicodemus left his midnight conversation with Jesus with guarded interest. Jesus offered him a different kind of religion that he hadn’t considered before. But what will happen when he tentatively steps into this new faith? Find out in this message from John 7:37-52 CEB.
What is the plan to re-launch the large in-person worship gatherings? God isn’t calling us to return to 2019. God is calling us to join God’s mission this year, next year, and on into the future. So we don’t settle for a trimmed-down version of 2019. Instead, we pursue God-sized dreams and pursue them with a commitment worthy of God’s mission. Spiritually prepare to enter the future God has for us by reading John 1:35-51 CEB.
What’s next for Grace? What does it look like to faithfully follow God’s call to grow, serve, and love together as we put the virus behind us in just a few short months? Even more so than when we launched in 2019, we don’t all know one another. We’ll need to relearn names, stories, and faces - and meet many new faces too! How is God calling us to reconnect? Prepare your heart by reading Hebrews 10:23-25 CEB.
Conversations about race are hard. Conversations about racism are even harder. Maybe that is what makes systemic racism so powerful - we can’t talk about it. We can’t name it. Because if we name it, we fear we could be accused of racism. So let’s change the conversation. Today, we aren’t talking about personal racism, the dehumanizing and evil things that a racist person might do. Instead, we are talking about systemic racism, the subtle and pervasive ways that our culture has misled all of us in regards to race, and what we can do about it. Get curious and prepare your heart by reading Micah 6:7-8 CEB.
How does God think about race, color, culture, and language? On December 18, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. described Sunday at 11AM as “The most segregated hour in this nation”. Nearly six decades later our schools are more diverse, our transportation systems are more diverse, our workplaces are more diverse, and our stores are more diverse. But on Sunday morning, we continue to segregate. If an outsider were to look at 86% of Christian communities, they could make some reasonable assumptions about what the Christian faith says about race, color, culture, and language, but do these assumptions match what God thinks? Is it truly God’s vision that God’s church be twenty times more segregated than the nearby schools? Or does God have something better in mind?
We’ve had a hard year. Yes, we experienced surprise blessings, but it was also a hard year of isolation, stress, routine changes, and disappointed hopes. To dull the pain, many of us turned to snacking, shopping, and scrolling. After the momentary distraction, these methods of numbing left us with regrets, not relief. Listen to this message as Pastor Chris shares the better way that Jesus offers us in Matthew 11:28-30.
Before Nicodemus spoke with Jesus, it looked like he knew all the answers. Then Jesus turned those answers on their head. Don’t miss these three messages leading up to Easter, following the story of Niccodemus in the Gospel of John. Dive deeper in today’s message by reading from John 3:1-10 CEB.
Have you heard Jeff Leonard’s adoption story? Do you know the path he took to meet his birth family? Through this special collaborative message between Jeff and Pastor Chris, we’ll get ready for our next step in making this year an unshakable year.
Part of what made 2020 so hard is that we stopped seeing each other. We were so overwhelmed and so afraid that it became very difficult to truly see people close to us or far from us. It was as if they became translucent! In this message from Matthew 14:22-23, Pastor Chris unpacks how that happened and how we can start seeing people again.
What is the opposite of scarcity? In a fearful world, we are afraid that there is not enough. Until we receive the vaccine for this scarcity mindset, we will continue to be shaken by every storm that passes by us in 2021. In 2021, we want to be unshakable. Start your unshakable journey in this message from Pastor Chris, based upon Psalm 78:13-20, 23-30.
What is the first step in becoming unshakable? Be vulnerable. It sounds counterintuitive, right? The events of 2020 shook us to the core. As we enter this new year, we are preparing ourselves for whatever might come our way. To prepare for 2021, we start by changing our mind about what it means to be vulnerable. We will explore this and other topics in today’s episode, based upon 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Matthew 3:13-17
We entered this year thinking that we were unshakable. Then 2020 knocked us off our feet. Throughout the month of January, we will train our minds and our hearts to live an unshakable life no matter what happens in 2021. But it all starts with one foundational idea this Sunday. This one idea will enable us to face 2021 with greater strength and resilience. Find out more on Sunday at 9:45 AM on Facebook LIVE: www.facebook.com/graceottumwa/live
In this year of ‘distancing’, we need the God who doesn’t distance. We need Christmas. We need Immanuel. We need ‘God with Us'. Today's message from Pastor Chris Childs is based upon Matthew 1:18-23.
“I’ve always disliked “Mary’s Song” at Christmas.” That’s what Pastor Chris first thought, when he considered preaching from this passage in 2020. Mary starts out, “My soul magnifies the Lord” and Pastor Chris says, “Oh boy. Another generic song about praising God.” But this year, he slowed down enough to read Mary’s words. Mary’s song was not generic at all. With pointed words, Mary surprised Pastor Chris with the true meaning of Christmas, a meaning we all need to hear this year. Prepare your heart for worship by reading the words of Mary’s song in Luke 1:46-55.
Why do we need Christmas in 2020? If Christmas is about shopping sprees and family gatherings, and those just aren’t the same this year, why don’t we just skip the holiday? Of course, Christmas is about so much more than that. If there has ever been a year that we needed Christmas, this is it. So why Christmas? Why do we need it this year? Pastor Chris Childs will explore this, in today’s episode, based upon Isaiah 11:1-10.
“But what does serving on a team have to do with following Jesus?" For the past two weeks, we’ve heard about the importance of serving on a team. But what does that mean practically, and is it really necessary? Prepare for the final sermon in this series by reading Matthew 4:17-20 and Romans 12:4-8.
“Who do they think they are?! Do they really think they have what it takes?” Such things might have been said about the ‘nobodies’ we’ll meet in today's message from 1 Corinthians 1:26-31. Why are we talking about them? Because God uses the nobodies of this world to change this world.
In a dived world, what is needed most? And what part do YOU get to play? Today's message from Pastor Chris Childs, is based upon 2 Corinthians 5:13-18.
For more information on the ministries of Grace, go to www.graceottumwa.org.