Renovate: Recent Episodes
Christ Chapel Bible Church
Renovate is for young adults in Fort Worth, TX – whether you’re in college, living the post-grad life, figuring out how to adult on your own or venturing into young married life, come find community at Renovate. Visit us online at www.renovateftw.org or find us on social media @renovateftw.
We want peace, healing and love — and we look for these things everywhere — but oftentimes we're looking in the wrong places. Did you know we've been given these things already? God has given us His Spirit to live with and help us as we live for Him. What an awesome promise! Join us as Ben shares about the Holy Spirit, who He is, what He does, and what healthy submission and dependency on God's Spirit looks like for the believer.
For more about this imperfect community, visit https://www.renovateftw.org or check us out on Instagram or Facebook @renovateftw.
Christianity can be confusing. Maybe it's because our experiences have shaded our view of the gracious God who is supposed to love us where we are. Join us as we unpack the good news of who Jesus really is. Jesus loves us too much to leave us where we are! And that's why our ministry is called "Renovate" — because we believe in a gracious God who doesn't just leave us where He finds us. He is constantly renovating us to look more like Him! Find our more about the Renovate community by visiting www.renovateftw.org or check us out on Instagram or Facebook @renovateftw.
Do you believe God is a perfect Father? If the experience with the dad you grew up with left you really hurt, or your dad was gone from your life, you have a skewed view of father. Or maybe you have a great relationship with your dad, but it's hard to see God taking over that role in your life. Either way, the reality is our experiences shape our perspective of the idea of God as our perfect Father.
Listen in as Ben shares with us what the Bible says about God as our perfect Heavenly Father, and as he asks the question, "what does this mean for us?" We have access to a Father who can shape our identity. Do we take advantage of that? Do we understand the depths of God's love in a way that changes us? Are we walking in shame because we don't believe He could love us? Or are you even a child of God? Do you know that the Creator of the universe is offering to adopt you? Have you accepted that offer?
These are the questions we have to ask when we think about how our experiences shape our perspective. Do you have the right perspective?
Find our more about the Renovate community by visiting www.renovateftw.org or check us out on Instagram or Facebook @renovateftw.
If God is supposed to heal and "bind up" our wounds, why do people in the church re-open them or make them worse? Let's talk about what's gone wrong within church community, what expectations we have or should have, and the way we are supposed to define and live out God's love with each other. We don't want church hurt to affect our worship of the Lord. So how do we restore and reconcile what is broken when people hurt us? Join us as we challenge ourselves toward a better way of living with a perfect God but an imperfect community.
For more about us, visit www.renovateftw.org or check us out on Instagram or Facebook @renovateftw.
Is Jesus really the only way? In a post-modern world where truth is a moving target and the ideology of the past is met with increasing skepticism, how are we supposed to navigate the claims of all the world religions when it comes to choosing rightly for ourselves? And if Jesus Christ really is the only way to get into Heaven, is it mean and exclusive of God to take away the option of a more customizable religion?
Join Ben as he highlights the kindness of a God who offers us things we don't deserve—everything—through Christ.
For more about this imperfect community, visit www.renovateftw.org or check us out on Instagram or Facebook @renovateftw.
What’s missing in your life? Is it a good career, a potential spouse, good friends? Maybe something less tangible comes to mind … like confidence, clarity about your future or freedom from a nagging struggle. What one or two things (or 30 things) need to come together before you can truly feel content in life?
If we are honest, we could all identify areas where we secretly feel sorry for ourselves. While we feel hamstrung, we have to watch others get everything that we wanted.
Is God holding out on us?
Fortunately, Scripture doesn’t flinch in the face of our raw feelings. In fact, it shows us what to do with our discontentment. We have the privilege of reading the words of one of king David’s worship leaders as he brings his all-consuming self-pity directly before a holy God. Join Ryan as he reveals the true goodness of God ... even in our unanswered prayers.
For more about this imperfect community, visit www.renovateftw.org or check us out on Instagram or Facebook @renovateftw.
We can't deny that pain and suffering are realities in the world we live in. Yet, in churches around the world, a message is preached that there is a God who is in control. It seems like the we're left with only two options: God is cruel, or God is not really in control.
- Is He a loving and compassionate God but just isn’t in control enough to stop some of the horrible things that happen on a daily basis?
- Or is He fully in control but not kind enough to use His control to stop the grievous disasters around us?
We believe the church is a place where we can and should ask hard questions like this. We believe in a truth that’s worth digging deep for, so join us as we step into this conversation!
For more about this imperfect community, visit www.renovateftw.org or check us out on Instagram or Facebook @renovateftw.
If you think people in the Bible didn’t doubt God, you should probably doubt that thought! They had their trust issues with Him just like we do today, and yet, the story of God through the Bible reveals a couple of very important things about God and His creation: He is a perfect and able Creator, and we are clouded and broken in our understanding of who He is. So when it comes to our doubts about God (those ones we keep secret or the ones we shout to anyone who will hear), our brokenness is not made perfect in our abilities or understanding, but in our faith and trust in the One who reveals Himself in His perfect time and way. Join Ben as he introduces the beauty that our doubt can lead to as we journey together this spring semester!
Merry Christmas Renovate! 🎁 We got to steal a conversation with Bear Rinehart of NEEDTOBREATHE when he was here for Renovate Live on Dec. 1. In our studio, he opened up about his life, anxiety, worship, doubt, college football, Jesus, and his creative process among other things! It was a real treat to hear someone who is so stinkin' talented open up in such a real way and have such an honest conversation about these personal things. Stop reading and press play now!
For more about this imperfect community, visit www.renovateftw.org or check us out on Instagram or Facebook @renovateftw.
Are the lenses we look at dating, marriage and love distorted? We broke into the studio this past week and recorded a follow-up conversation to Ben's talk at Renovate Live earlier this month with some special guests. You're going to want to hear these hot takes on dating from Matt Lantz and Amy Foster as they respond to and elaborate on three big areas that we all tend to navigate poorly when it comes to dating and marriage.
For more about this imperfect community, visit www.renovateftw.org or check us out on Instagram or Facebook @renovateftw. For Matt's "blook" on dating, visit this free resource at: thedatingblook.wordpress.com
For information about AVENEW for dating, engaged and young married couples, go to: www.avenewcouples.com
Some of our relationships are smooth sailing but some of our relationships are honestly really jacked up. Why? Why do we get it wrong so often, or make so many mistakes after a stretch of things seeming to go so well?
Maybe it’s because we’re looking at our relationships through a wrong or distorted lens. The way we look at dating, the way we see the opposite sex and the way we see ourselves are what build into our perspective, and ultimately, what cause us to continue to see someone as “not the right one” and things begin to fall apart.
But we believe in a God who has designed us to function differently than what is being sold through the images, expectations and experiences of our lives. So shouldn’t our relationships actually say more about our strengths than our insecurities? Join Ben as he attempts to narrow our focus on how we were designed to date, marry and love deeply!
For more about this imperfect community, visit www.renovateftw.org or check us out on Instagram or Facebook @renovateftw.
Don't forget this month's PDF resource if you want to interact more with this content!
We welcomed two really special guests into the studio this week to respond to Ben's talk from Renovate Live earlier this month on the narrow road to unity over race and politics. Join us for this follow-up conversation as we try to navigate the best way to follow Christ when we are fearful or frustrated at the broken world around us. Want to get to know us better? Reach out to us at www.renovateftw.org, or on social media: @renovateftw
Our world has become increasingly polarized and volatile. That’s certainly true when it comes to racial and political views in our culture. Are we too woke or are we too indifferent? To what degree do our convictions shape our politics? How do we maintain unity when it feels like people around us are increasingly hostile? Join us as Ben steps into a conversation on what to do when our minds run to worst-case scenarios that can divide us rather than to Christ who can unify us.
This is the challenging tension that a community like Renovate should not be afraid to wrestle with as we seek to do what’s best. For more about this imperfect community, visit www.renovateftw.org or check us out on Instagram or Facebook @renovateftw.
Don't forget this month's PDF resource if you want to interact more with this content!
Welcome to our follow-up conversation on the Renovate Live talk, "Who You Say I Am," where Ben shared an alternative to the defensive vs. defeated mindsets we so often find ourselves in when grappling with who we want to be. Our guests Lilly Park (Ph.D, author and professor of biblical counseling) and Ryan McCarthy (pastor and biblical counselor) explore hot topics like guilt, shame, anxiety, depression, victimization, brokenness, hurt, humility, community and other areas where we tend to talk ourselves out of a healthy view of identity. Join the conversation! Listen here, and reach out to us at www.renovateftw.org, or on social media: @renovateftw
We're constantly asking ourselves who we are. We develop, work on, exercise, mature, educate and refine ourselves; and we ask a lot of questions along the way. Questions like: "Who do you want me to be?" or if we're feeling particularly healthy, "Who do I want to be?" But the reality underneath all of our personal development and refinement is that we actually started with something broken that we're desperately trying to fix.
We live in a culture that has two responses to this brokenness: One response comes in the form of voices of affirmation, keeping us feeling broken or unworthy; magnifying any emptiness, loneliness or anxiety as it creeps in. Those voices offer inadequate solutions to actually fix these growing problems. The other response we often find are the voices that would tell us we're not inherently broken. There's nothing wrong with us. We're just victims, and any inadequate feelings we have must be because of someone else, and we should punish them and move toward any truth that makes us feel most comfortable.
There's a third option: Christians talk about it all the time, but their lives often reveal a difficult journey in applying it. Join our conversation as we dig into Scripture and ask a miraculous God to do miracles in our life as we ask Him the question: Who do you say that I am?
Looking for more conversation on this? Check out this resource for one of the best water cooler convos of your life! More about us? Go to https://renovateftw.org for find us on Instagram and Facebook: @renovateftw
What purchases your entry into the Kingdom is not your works, deeds or track record. It's God's grace!
Did you know there’s a right and wrong way to follow Jesus? Did you know the teachings of Jesus aren’t suggestions on ways we should live? When Jesus came, He came to establish His kingdom. And like any kingdom, there are expectations of how its citizens are to function. The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ inaugural address. It’s His declaration of what it means to be a citizen in the Kingdom of God. Join us for our new series as we learn what it looks like to pledge allegiance to The Kingdom.
While community involves our brothers and sisters in Christ, it doesn’t stop there. It’s not a social club for like-minded people. It’s a vehicle for taking the message of the gospel to the world. While we show love to one another, we also show to love to those who are far from Jesus.
A community built solely on a grace is a lopsided community. Is grace of monumental importance? Yes. But a community also needs truth. A healthy gospel-centered community is one that knows people need to hear hard things from time to time. A healthy gospel-centered community is one that doesn’t shy away from correction or rebuke. A healthy gospel-centered community is one that can walk the line between grace and truth.
So much of the Christian life is spent pretending to be who we think we should be. We talk a big game about vulnerability. And while we might be transparent from time to time, we’re rarely truly vulnerable. We rarely allow people to see the parts of who we are that bring us deep shame. Why? Because we fear that is people really knew us, they wouldn’t love us. The gospel, however, frees us to stop hiding. The grace of Jesus frees us to take off the mask, to step out from behind the bushes, and to be truly vulnerable.
Every person on the planet craves community. But not all communities are created equal. And since we’re so desperate for community we’ll oftentimes settle for community that is less than ideal because a community is better than no community. But what if there was a community that strove to provide a space to be fully known and fully loved? What if there was a community uniquely designed to bring about deep, rich friendships? What if there was a community that leaves you better than when they found you? Good news. That community exists if we’re willing to fight for it.
There is a big difference between guilt and shame: Guilt says, "I made a mistake." Shame says, "I am a mistake."
When we find ourselves struggling, what do we do? Last night we began a discussion about mental health. It wasn't all-inclusive, but it was a great reminder that our experiences matter because they shape the way we view God, and that we can make a choice to allow the gospel to rewrite our false narratives.
If you find yourself struggling, it's ok to reach out for help! In addition to Christ Chapel Soul Care, here are some local counselors Josh mentioned that we work with in the Fort Worth area:
Restoration
www.restorationcec.com
The Counseling Collective
www.thecounselingcollectivefw.com
Metroplex Counseling
www.metroplexcounseling.com
This week we wrapped up the series "How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Relationship" with our final piece of advice for how to screw it all up: Spend Years Developing Unhealthy Sexual Habits
Step 1:
Have an unbiblical view of sex. Read Song of Solomon!
Step 2:
Choose pornography over intimacy, because it breeds comparison and discontentment. Your significant other will ultimately have to compete with YEARS of images and actions engrained in your mind.
Step 3:
Associate your desirability with physicality. Everyone wants to be wanted and valued, but we tend to believe that we're only wanted and desired in relation to our sexuality.
We hope this series has been enlightening to you. Stay tuned for a bonus podcast next week!
Hope - the belief that a future scenario has the power to fix what we don't like about our current reality. When we put our hope in a person, we are expecting our relationship with that person to accomplish something they don't have the power to accomplish.
When we place our hope in a relationship, we're likely going to be ...
1. Tempted to settle.
2. Consistently disappointed or frustrated.
3. Exhausting the person we're in a relationship with, and maybe even driving them away.
So what do we do to change? Develop realistic expectations for what a relationship can provide. Here's two things to look for:
1. Someone to be "on mission" with (companionship)
2. Someone who will "chisel" you (sanctification)
No one—but God—can handle the pressure to be your everything. So let Jesus do what only He can do. The solution to our weariness, dissatisfaction, loneliness, frustration, etc. IS a relationship ... but not with a guy or a girl or any other person ... it's with the God of the universe who can see us for exactly who we are and can satisfy us for eternity.
When we remove our lives and our relationships from community for an expended period of time, we dangerously isolate ourselves and set ourselves up perfectly for ruining our relationships. This isolation plays out in 2 big ways:
- Romantic relationships
- Relationships with our friends
The antithesis of isolation is NOT being an extrovert. (We need extroverts AND introverts!) It is knowing and being known—which is biblical community. How do we do this and not fall into either unhealthy community or toxic isolation?
Our culture sometimes treats singleness like garbage rather than a gift. But our perspective doesn't change the actual value of the gift as God designed it.
Single people, here are 3 things to develop while you wait for your future spouse:
- Develop skills. Guys: Here are 7 of the top skills voted on by actual women who answered our online survey this week ... - Communicate with clarity - Handle conflict well - Listen well - Confident and assertive - Manage finances well - Can cook - Knows how to make bed 😆
- Develop character. Although relationships naturally develop our character, we should not have to wait for a relationship to develop character in us.
- Invest all you have in the kingdom of God.
Married people, here are 3 ways you can love your single friends well:
- Celebrate friends who make their singleness count.
- Invite people to be a part of your life no matter what season they’re in. If you don't, you can inadvertently communicate "you don't get it" to your friends.
- Be careful playing matchmaker. You could offend your friend by revealing how little you actually know about them; Or, you communicate that their worth is found in their relationship status.
Remember that our hope cannot be in a person—a relationship or a relationship status. Our hope is in the only One who will never ever run out on us ... Jesus Christ!
You can't forgive and forget, but you can forgive. Why are we able to say this? Perhaps it's because we've been forgiven of infinitely more than we can even fathom! We asked you to consider what's keeping you from having the relationships that you desire. Could it be that you're being a bad friend?
How to be a bad friend in 3 easy steps:
- Function as if people exist to serve you.
- Put bitterness ahead of forgiveness.
- Use your words carelessly.
Challenge: Ask your best friend what your blind spots are. (Pro tip: Listen with open ears and a closed mouth.)