Rock Church Podcast: Recent Episodes
Rock Church
Rock Church in Rockford, Illinois has been serving the Rockford community for over 70 years. We believe the best is yet to come!
"Together We Make A Local And Global Impact" pt 2 - June 6th, 2021 (Ft. Pastor Angelo Fleece) by Rock Church
Pastor Patrick McGuire speaking on our Youth Sunday where we honored our graduating seniors from the classes of 2020 and 2021. Our message is about making sure we live in a culture that honors everyone, even people we don't like or who oppose us.
Pastor Jared preaches from Acts 2:1-4 as we celebrate Pentecost Sunday. We look at how Peter was changed and became the person God needed him to be to lead the Church as it was birthed.
Annemarie McGuire and Jo Versendaal share their perspectives on motherhood and the word of God
Patrick McGuire, our Family Life Pastor, speaks today on the subject of "The Pick is In: Playing on God's Team." Our text is from Romans 1:10-16 and Romans 12:9-18. Playing on a team means that you need to understand your role, the team's culture, and where you fit within the plan. Teams are diverse and each person's job is important whether it is in the spotlight or not.
Life Often Times brings us to moments that seem Unbelievable or to good to be true. Act 2:42-47
Pastor Jared preaches a message with scriptural references to Matthew 25:14-30 and 2 Corinthians 2:14.
1 Peter 1:3-5 is our text as we look at how Jesus has made hope alive through the resurrection.
Pastor Jared continues in Luke 10:30-37 where Jesus tells us the story of the Good Samaritan. A man who was considered an enemy of the Jews but he did more to serve and care for the victim of robbers than the religious folks who passed him by.
Luke 10:25-29 is our text today. We look at the conversation Jesus has with a lawyer. He wanted to know what was the minimum he had to do to get into Heaven. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Who is my neighbor? Not just the people who think like you or look like you. Your neighbor is everyone. They could even be your enemy.
Pastor Jared continues on being loyal to the faith taking a deeper dive into 2 Timothy 1:13-14.
Pastor Marty preaches a message about how Love should make you get uncomfortable with the status quo. We take a broad look at the life of Moses. Moses was the wrong man for the job but God still used him to accomplish His purposes. Most of the miraculous things done in the Bible were done in ways that the vast majority of us would never have done. Moses wasn't special, but he was available. What is God asking you to do? Are you available?
Today we will dive into 2 Timothy 1:7 and how understanding this verse can help us to live The Overcoming Life.
Pastor Jared preaches from 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 as Paul encourages the church to overflow with abounding love.
Pastor Dan Koehler speaks on the importance of praise and worship and the sound that worship makes. Colossians 3:16 will serve as our text for this message.
Pastor Jared preaches from the story in Exodus 15. The children of Israel had just come out of Egypt and passed through the Red Sea, but then they came to Marah where the waters were bitter. How should we respond in life when the water is bitter? The Lord has a process of how to make the waters sweet again!
Jesus gave us a model of how to pray with the Lord's Prayer. However there are protections and deliverance that come along with praying this type of prayer.
Jacob went through a lot to discover what God had for him. Many times we think that were are struggling and wrestling with a person or situation only to find out that we were wrestling with God! In that moment, be tenacious and seek the Lord and his blessing.
Pastor Jared looks at the life of Paul the Apostle. Paul certainly believed he was living in the age of the end times. Paul had many struggles throughout his life but he never wavered in what he believed. His life is an example of what we should be doing when we are faced with persecution, trial, tragedy and the like.
2020 revealed a lot of things in our society. What did it reveal in you? What do you need to let go of as you move forward into a new year?
We have just completed the Advent Season. As gentile believers we need to be especially thankful that we have been included in God's plan. It is in Jesus that we have hope in the present and the future.
Text Romans 15:4-13
Pastor Jared continues the Advent series for 2020 with a message on Love. The love of God is so different than the world's view of love. It is a love that is sacrificial. It gives everything to make a way for the person it serves. God so loved the world - that he gave his son Jesus! May you experience the love of God in a greater way than ever in this season!
Eric Dykstra joined our team about a year ago in maintenance. He has a gift for discipleship and prophecy. Today he is bringing a message on what joy looks like and how you can experience it not only during this season, but every day!
Pastor Jared continues the 2020 Advent Series with "Activate Peace." Peace is something we need in our lives daily. Scripture references - Luke 2:8-14, Romans 5:1, Psalm 103:12, Isaiah 41:10, John 14:27, John 16:33, Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 26:3-4, Philippians 4:6-9, Romans 14:19
Our Associate Pastor Dan Koehler kicks off the Advent season for 2020. This week the message is on Hope. Hope is not just about the past, but also carries into our present and especially into our future as Christians. The Blessed Hope of the Christian faith is that Jesus will return and we will spend eternity with Him! Hope transforms our view of everything.
Pastor Jared continues looking at the life of Elijah and his prayer life. What happens after a great victory? Sometimes our biggest challenges and failures come right after we have won a major battle. How we finish is just as important as how we start and what we do in the middle. James 5:17-18 is our main text we will follow along through 1 Kings 19.
Pastor Marty Pierce shares from God's word how to combat our struggles in life. Many times we want to avoid the struggle, however that often leads to making the struggle worse. Scripture passages are from Jeremiah 29, 42-43 and Habakkuk 1-3.
Pastor Jared finishes his series on the 23rd Psalm. Scriptures referenced: Psalm 119:68, Mark 10:18, Psalm 145:7-9, Psalm 107:1-2 and Hebrews 8:6
Pastor Jared continues the message series in the 23rd Psalm as the Lord transitions from the Shepherd to the Host.
We continue our series in the 23rd Psalm looking at the comfort and presence that comes from the Lord no matter what place we find ourselves in.
Pastor Jared continues his series on the 23rd Psalm this week looking at how the Lord is the restorer of our souls.
Pastor Jared continues in Psalm 23 looking at the rest that the Lord provides. We observe Holy Communion at the end of the message.
Pastor Jared changes course from where he originally planned to preach today. We go to Psalm 46:10. Looking at how to be still and know He is God!
Pastor Jared looks at 2 Kings 6 - giving us a reminder that our vision needs to look beyond what our natural eyes can see.
Pastor Marty Pierce gives us a different way to look at our response to the pressures of life from 2 Corinthians 4. Towards the end of the message a song from Hillsong Worship is played called "New Wine" written by Brooke Ligertwood. Music played is within compliance of Rock Church's CCLI Streaming license # 20380976
Pastor John Sprecher looks at three different types of faith. Two of them are easy to latch onto and a third is more in line with how God would direct our lives.
What is the biblical model for resolving conflict within the church? How does it apply to our every day lives? What does Jesus and Paul say about it?
Luke 7:1-10 Taking a look at Jesus and his conversation with the Roman Centurion who understood how authority works.
Mike Tartaglia shares a message reminding us to remember the basics of our faith and to see how those basic tenets will carry us through to the end.
Pastor Dan Koehler preaches this week on who we as the church need to be not only in times like we live in currently, but that we should be like this all the time.
Today Pastor Jared looks at how change in our lives is not always a bad thing. In fact it just might be God ordained! Judges 6 is our text for the day.
Attitude isn't just a feeling. It's a direction. Like when you are in a plane. If your attitude is pointed in the right direction you will get to the place you are supposed to be going. If your nose is pointed at the ground, you are probably going to crash. If your nose is pointed up too high you are probably going to stall and crash. Romans 12:2 is our main passage of scripture for the day.
Pastor Jared talks about why change can be difficult and how we should navigate through those changes life throws at us. 1 Corinthians 2:14 and John 8:31-32 are the main scripture passages for this week.
Pastor Jared continues his series on the War of Words looking at famine. Are you in a dry place spiritually? How do you survive? How can you thrive? What can you do to be sustained? Amos 8:11, 1 Corinthians 2:13-14, John 4
In part one of this two part series Pastor Jared looks at how the enemy tries to destroy us with a flood of challenges in our life and how we can lean on the word of God to help us achieve victory! Psalm 105:40-41, Psalm 69:1, 1 Corinthians 10:4
Pastor Jared takes a look at relationships and the health or lack thereof that can come from them. We start in John 4 with the woman at the well. Her encounter with Jesus changed her forever!
Pastor Jared wraps up his series on Prayer and focusing on the immutability of God. Looking first at 1 Timothy 2:1 and wrapping around to the book of Jonah.
Pastor Jared continues his message series on Prayer with part one of the Power of Prayer. We will look at 1 Timothy 2:1, and reference Jeremiah 32.
Pastor Jared continues the series on prayer with a look at the purpose of prayer. We transfer our burdens to the Lord and our goal should be to not pick them back up. 1 Peter 5:6-7 and Psalm 55:22
Today was a special day for Rock Church. Our sister church Banner of Truth International joined us for a combined service and as the Holy Spirit began to move Pastor Jared gave an exhortation that spoke to the hearts of many in both congregations. Let it be a rhema word for you as well!
Pastor Jared looks at how Jesus made prayer a priority and also where Daniel prayed and was answered but there were challenges in the way of his prayer being answered.
Pastor Dan talks about how much more God can accomplish in us as we work together as a body.
Pastor Jared wraps up the 2019 Advent Series looking at how Jesus came into the world in the middle of what looked like to the natural eye a big mess. He also wants to come into our mess.
God doesn't always work on our timetable. Trust is something we must learn to do even when it's more difficult than we thought it was supposed to be.
When life throws us a curveball what is our response? In our confusion can we still be obedient to God's call?
Have you ever been in a place where you felt like God was silent in your life? Think about this. God was silent in the Bible for 450 years! Then all of a sudden showed up in an old barren priest's family. Things changed pretty radically after that. Let's see what God does after being quiet.
Pastor Marty starts the Advent series for 2019 on the topic of God With Us In The Unknown. Sometimes God gives us specific instructions to carry out a plan and other times he doesn't give us all the information and sometimes we don't get anything other than a directive to go. How do we deal with what God has asked us to? How do we work through our questions? What should our response be? We will begin with Mary's response to Gabriel and look at a few other people throughout scripture that failed and succeeded in life while they struggled through the process.
Pastor Jared finishes the series on Nehemiah with this message about finishing what you start and dealing with the distractions that try to come back in and thwart what was accomplished.
Pastor Jared shares vision about improving our Wednesday night ministry opportunities to be more conducive for congregational engagement as well as evangelical outreach. Isaiah 43:18
We continue through the book of Nehemiah looking at chapter 9 and the people are walking through repentance.
Looking at the response to reading of the law. How should we as Christians respond to the word of God?
Pastor Emeritus John Sprecher returns to the pulpit on Labor Day weekend to share with us a message on the purpose of the church (us - not the building or the organization).
Pastor Jared continues to look at Nehemiah 8 - moving from construction to instruction.
Moving from construction to instruction from God's word. The wall is built. Now it's time to look back at what God directed his people to do.
John 10:10 - The thief comes to steal kill and destroy, I came that you may have life and to the full.
Pastor Jared leads the church in Holy Communion and dives into Hebrews 12 - Looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith...
Bill Johnson, a member of our congregation, and head of Overflowing Grace Ministries shares a message with Rock Church about finishing strong.
How did Nehemiah deal with distractions that were meant to keep him from finishing the task that God had called him to?
Pastor Jared looks at Nehemiah's response to his people being oppressed and what a Christian's response to oppression should be today.
Our Children's Pastor Patrick McGuire shares a message about giving our all to what God has called us to do. All in, All out, til All done
Pastor Jared looks at how we can apply Nehemiah's determination in our own lives. In spite of opposition he still continued to do what God had called him to do. Stay the course!
Pastor Jared takes a look at how to apply what many others have deemed a chapter to skip over in a great book about restoring and rebuilding foundations in your life spiritually and physically.
Resurrection Sunday - John 11 - Jesus is the resurrection and the life! What is the implication for us today?