ENCOUNTER Podcast: Recent Episodes
ENCOUNTER
We're a church defined by grace, committed to three essentials: encountering God, encouraging each other, and engaging the world.
There is something powerful when out of a place of weakness incredible strength and power is displayed. This is especially true when an injured player on a team stays in the game for the sake of the team. Join us Sunday and learn how God gives us “joyful eyes” to see God’s grace so that we can participate in a greater glory.
In God’s economy you can be destitute and be the most generous person in the room because giving connects our circumstances to God, connects our finances to worship and connects our character to God’s heart.
God gives a path forward for all of us in seasons of hurt. In 2 Corinthians 11 God gives some steps forward after times of hurt especially when dealing with “church hurt”. Join us and discover a path toward healing that we can experience and share with others.
Jesus’ love for the Church, His Bride, is the template for marriage; Jacob treatment of Leah is totally UN–like the Gospel!
Turning our thorns into His glory is an endurance race empowered by the incredible love of Christ.
Our world is full of advertisements on how to achieve lasting change in our relationships, but 2 Corinthians 5 speaks to God’s path for making all things new.
2 Corinthians 1:3-11 invites us to be a part of a chain reaction of God’s comfort so we can share His hope with others.
Part 2 of Hearing God? Explore sharping our hearing to God’s quiet personal communications, separately from the Bible.
God is a talker. He has tons to say to direct and bless us as individuals. Come this Sunday and explore skills for understanding what God is saying to YOU personally when you read His word, the Bible.
aul is praying for believers in Ephesus, that they would know… His incomparably great power for us who believe.Consider Ephesians 3:20–21… Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Does this describe the kind of life you feel that you are living as a Believer and Follower of Jesus Christ? I’m sure most of us feel that we are coming up short of this prayer and promise, but our hearts soar at the possibilities a life fully engaged and empowered by the Holy Spirit would offer.
Most of us are familiar with the story of Balaam and his talking donkey, especially fun in Sunday School class. There is much more to his story—a dark and sobering lesson about spiritual battle, seen in the devastating failure at the Baal of Peor. But here we also learn an incredible truth about our victory in Jesus, and how to thrive when the devil is scheming for our downfall.
The blessing of endurance comes by throwing off weights and sin and fixing our eyes on Christ.
Let's look into our hearts to see if we are ready to open the door to welcome our community.
Understanding the relationship between disciples and rabbis in First Century Galilee sheds much light on what it means for us to follow Jesus.
Have you ever experienced something so great and powerful that you felt amazement and fear at the same time? What would it take for that to happen? We are going to meet a fisherman named Simon who experienced this when Jesus stepped into his boat.
While traveling with Jesus, His disciples witnessed several miracles and listened and learned from his teachings. They lived life with Him day in and day out, yet He was still mysterious to them. Jesus asks “Who do you say I am?” What’s your answer to that question?
Easter -- “It is finished.” By saying this Jesus was signaling to the Jewish world that there was no more need for sacrifices or temples because His work brought the ultimate fulfillment to what their sacrificial system foreshadowed. When Jesus rose from the grave it was proof that he had conquered not just death but opened up an entirely new way for us to have a relationship with God.
Thirsty with no immediate relief? Jesus was there in the worst way. Hanging on the cross and suffering so that you and I could find a way back to our Heavenly Father. His thirst, viewed in retrospect, gives us an amazing amount of hope.
Jesus was ready to die on the cross but there was one thing he needed to do. One thing that was so important that it will forever be remembered as one of Jesus’ last sayings.
Continuing in our series SEVEN, the last seven sayings of Jesus. We look at the thief on the cross. Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
For the next seven weeks, ENCOUNTER is going to focus on the last seven sayings, the last words of Jesus. But why are they significant?
Your family is the most powerful and influential group that has affected who you are today.
As Christians, we are part of the family of God, and we should have something of the family likeness.
God designed the church to be so much more than a building, but a people who are who are deeply devoted and faithful; men and women who have discipleship at the core of their being. God does not ask us to be consumers OF the things of God, but to be contenders FOR the ways of God. We don’t just show up because it’s the dutiful thing for Christians to do, but because the Holy Spirit has genuinely filled us and we are empowered to do His work.
At the most unexpected time, in the most unexpected place, to the most unexpected people, Je-sus was born.
If there was one word that could describe 2021 it just might be, “unexpected.” Maybe this year you got surprising news, went through a transition you didn’t see coming, or dealt with a situation you hadn’t planned on. And now it’s almost Christmas. What about you? What are you anticipating?
The expectation of our savior Jesus is that we would voluntarily give up temporary satisfaction for deeper gratification. The practice of self-denial, saying “No,” to the things of this world so that we can say, “Yes,” to the things of God is a practice for all followers of Christ.
What do we do when our preferences collide? What about our culture? What about our values? How do we love others when we are having difficulty agreeing with them?
What if the most important Christian virtue was the one you’re least likely to talk about? It fiercely tears apart our ego; yet the moment we talk about it or believe we have attained it, it flies away.
In Philippians 2, we see that humility grows in our lives as we look away from ourselves, look outward toward others, and look upward to Jesus Christ as our Example and Rescuer. No other religion would say that their god is humble, yet Jesus chose to be emptied of His rights so that we may be filled with His love.
The Church is a beautiful community. A loving family partnered together for the everyday mission of making disciples.
The Church is a beautiful community. A loving family partnered together for the everyday mission of making disciples.
The Church is a beautiful community. A loving family partnered together for the everyday mission of making disciples.
The Church is a beautiful community. A loving family partnered together for the everyday mission of making disciples.
The Church is a beautiful community. A loving family partnered together for the everyday mission of making disciples
In the Gospels, Jesus was confronted by a bunch of people before being sentenced to the cross. Peter pulls out his sword and tries to defend Jesus. Jesus stops all of it and surrenders to the crowd. Why? Yes, in the upper story there was a huge plan to save mankind, but in the lower story Peter was just trying to protect his friend. Why did Jesus tell Peter to put his sword away? Maybe for the same reason he wants us to put our swords away.
Join us Sunday for “the making of a pastor search” – a behind-the-scenes look at the path that led us to us to this point. You’ll hear some of the lessons the elders learned during the process. It is our prayer that, revealing the path the Lord took us on, sharing the lessons we learned, will provide inspirations and lessons for us all.
Psalm 34 is in the Bible as a hymn of hope. These words give the reader invitation and motivation to give everyone and everything to God. But let’s be honest. We live in a day where the idea of hope feels risky.
But what if… in your ordinary, today feels a lot like yesterday, everyday grind of life… what if the Bible could give you permission to believe again?
Hospitality is way bigger and so much more important than we can imagine. Let's discuss what true hospitality is and how we can change the world by being a friend to strangers.
Even if you believe that you are useless in the kingdoms of God, it is not what God believes about you. In fact, it is your brokenness that makes you valuable.
I want to share with you three essential truths I hope you’ll never forget. In my journey, they’ve been like guardrails keeping me on course. To forget these, is literally to lose our way.
Mothers and Fathers build society. What they do, or don’t do, has everything to do with what the next generation does. They deserve our honor. Mother’s Day can also be tough for all sorts of reasons. At ENCOUNTER we get that. We want to honor motherhood — and all those amazing women who give time and attention to raising up a new generation of Jesus followers.
When anticipating a certain outcome or believing that life should be a certain way, we can become disappointed and disillusioned. Often, these disillusionments or disappointments can be directed at God. Why did He allow this to happen? Why didn’t He stop this from happening? This thing should happen, or this thing should not happen. This weekend we are going to take a journey with two men traveling on a road who had their expectations shattered, only to discover that something greater than they could have expected transpired. All they needed was a change of perspective…and maybe that is all we need too.
Jesus has dinner with a hated tax-collector to demonstrate that no one is beyond His love.
Genuine followers of Christ acknowledge their fallenness and embrace the grace that God lavishes us because of Christ’s sacrifice in our place.
Jesus transformed a demon possessed man and sent him out as a testimony to God’s glory.
While life now may involve great sadness, the Kingdom of Christ promises a different future.
Entering the Kingdom of God requires an awareness of our need—our spiritual poverty apart from God
Last words are always important words. Think of the last time you left your loved ones for a long period of time. What did you want them to know? What did you want them to feel? What was important for you to communicate to them? When Jesus left the earth, he gave us his important last words. These words are described as “the great commission”, a short command for his followers to live out what was important to him.
We’ve all been through some tough stuff in 2020. The lyrics from O Holy Night about the “weary world rejoicing” seem more poignant than ever. No one would fault you for wondering — is rejoicing even possible right now?
Let's re-center our perspective around something profoundly meaningful and hopeful this Christmas. We know that not everyone can join us at our in-person Christmas Eve gatherings
The Psalms invite us to a place of intimacy with God—and that is where we find our strength and purpose.
We all believe something. But what we believe matters deeply. God’s Word is Truth and lights our way.
. Are we not all in amid some sort of storm right now? Do we have hope that God will see us through? Life may seem like its crumbling around us, so how do we pursue hope when life seems hopeless? Find out this weekend as we find comfort in the fact that He has still got the whole world in his hands.
The compassion and care of Boaz for Ruth reminds us of the way God reaches out and rescues us.
As Ruth gleans in the fields of Boaz, she gives us a picture of hope even when we don’t know how God will provide.
Life is full of twists and turns which present us with new opportunities if we’re willing to adjust and move forward.
From the idolatry of the golden calf to contributions for the tabernacle—the people learn God’s priorities.
From water to manna to quail to winning war with the Amalekites, God is revealing Himself as our Provider.
Passover is the ultimate symbol of God’s desire to save any who will trust his provision.