Captivate Podcast: Recent Episodes
Captivate Church
Whether you missed service or just want to hear the sermon again, feel free to listen when and wherever you want.
This Sunday we turned 5! We took time to PAUSE and PRAISE God as we heard some powerful parts of our story, some big wins from this last year, and some fresh vision for the future.
This Sunday we continued our series “Take The Land” and talked about how to lay down our side missions, be on God’s side not ours, and lay aside every heavy weight in life that Jesus never gave us in a message titled, “Which Side Are You On?”
In Joshua 4, the people of Israel have crossed the Jordan river on dry ground and Joshua instructs them to set up a memorial to the mighty way that God had moved. This weekend we learned that often the strength to press forward comes from remembering to look back in a message titled, “Looking Ahead. Remembering What’s Behind.”
Preparation plays a big part in our lives. We have to get ourselves ready daily to do things like go to work, but we also have to prepare for bigger things in life like having a baby. Preparation in these arenas is key and it’s no different in our spiritual lives. The problem is we often find ourselves in the middle of spiritual battles without the preparation needed to win the fight. This weekend we learned that most spiritual battles are won before you get to the battle field, where we first let God do his desired work in us in a message titled, “Battle Ready.”
Even though God has called and destined us to do great works with him, sometimes we doubt that. When we doubt, it’s not that we don’t believe in God, but we rather don’t believe in ourselves and sometimes even feel like we are in the wrong place to be able to serve God. In the second week of our series we learned that what was the wrong place without Jesus can quickly turn into the right place with Jesus in a message titled, “Wrong Place. Right God.”
What's fascinating about God is that he rarely does anything alone. God doesn't need us and yet he loves to include us. God loves having a "+1" in whatever he does in and through our lives. This week we opened our new series through the book of Joshua by unpacking Joshua’s blueprint of how to be a great “+1” to God.
There are many metaphors that God uses to describe His role in the universe. God calls Himself Father, Shepherd, Friend, Groom, King, and many others. Some of God’s titles are harder to understand, but there is one role that is easy to understand, and yet is very hard to accept. This week we looked at the challenge and comfort of God being our General.
Both comforter and provider are parts of God's person that are likely easy to understand and accept, but often we lack the practical tools it takes to experience these sides of God and the breakthrough that comes with allowing Him to take these roles in our lives. This week we continued our series by discussing what it means for God to be our comforter and our provider.
We all have misconceptions about God. Our experiences create biases in us that we often use (intentionally or not) to inform our view of God. If we want to see God clearly, with unveiled faces, it requires breaking down these ideas and learning who God truly is. This week we opened up the conversation by exploring what it means for God to be our father in a message titled, “The Prodigal Father”.
Sharing Jesus with others and inviting them to church is not always easy in the culture we live in. However, passion is the most important ingredient towards ending spiritual loneliness. This week we learned that passion is the fuel that gets us through the discomfort as we hunger and long to see those around us experience our Jesus in a message titled, “Save Your Tears”.
Friendship is a vital, but often-overlooked ingredient to living a vibrant spiritual life. True friends help keep us accountable, they offer support, and they point us back to Jesus. This week we looked at the importance of having and keeping true friends in a message titled, “True Friendship”.
Join us for service online every Sunday at 8am, 9:30am, 11am, & 12:30pm (PST).
If you’re in San Diego, join us at any of our services including our 5pm Revival Night Service!
In the ancient world of the Bible, cities had walls surrounding them to provide protection from enemies. When the wall was breached, the city was vulnerable to destruction and the only way to secure it was for people to risk their lives by literally standing in the gap in the wall and fighting the enemy. Here we learn that God calls us to stand in the gap for others. This week our panel discussed various ways we can stand in the gap for those in our lives.
Join us for service online every Sunday at 8am, 9:30am, 11am, & 12:30pm (PST).
If you’re in San Diego, join us at any of our services including our 5pm Revival Night Service!
Apathy can strip us of our spiritual fervor and cause us to never take a step forward in our walk with God. However, scripture shows us that God calls us to exactly the opposite. We are called to be risk-takers, agents of change, and to bring hope and light to an increasingly dark world. This week we learned the causes of apathy and how we can combat apathy in our own lives in a message titled, “Apathy Is Working Against Me”.
Join us for service online every Sunday at 8am, 9:30am, 11am, & 12:30pm (PST).
If you’re in San Diego, join us at any of our services including our 5pm Revival Night Service!
If you want to share how God is moving in your life through this ministry, please let us know at info@captivatesd.com!
Decided To Follow Jesus? Download your free new believers booklet, ‘I Have Decided' here: https://rb.gy/zqj8bf
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Many times in scripture, as men and women of God ask Him to move in the supernatural, they give in the natural. They sacrifice to partner with God. This week during “Sacrifice Sunday” we had a family moment of prayer, testimonies, extended worship, and heard a word about sacrifice and partnering with God to bring revival!
Join us for service online every Sunday at 8am, 9:30am, 11am, & 12:30pm (PST).
If you’re in San Diego, join us at any of our services including our 5pm Revival Night Service!
For many Christians, our spiritual gifts seem to go unnoticed and unopened for most of our lives. But the Bible is very clear that God has given each of us Spiritual Gifts and Jesus even teaches us the importance of stewarding well what He gives us so, we can live the fullest life. This weekend we talked about defining, discerning, and deploying these gifts from God in our lives, in a message called “Don’t Wait ‘Til Christmas.”
Sloth can seem like the one sin we don't need to address as our culture seems to always be on the grind. But because our lives are so full working for the man, we often neglect our kingdom work for God. We can become so burnt and overstimulated that we miss out on our God given dreams, leading to a slothful life. This weekend we will talk about how to reawaken our dreams for God, killing the distractions, and taking a real Sabbath.
Wrath is uncontrolled feelings of anger and hate. These feelings can manifest themselves in things like impatience, revenge, slander, and even violent fantasies. Wrath is often produced by a misguided need for justice. Wrath says, “I trust my version of justice more than God’s” and gives us permission to be judge, jury and executioner. This week we’re taking deeper look as this deadly sin and how God wants to deliver us from it.
Envy is a private sin that often carries public consequences. It has the capacity to build resentment in us, while destroying our closest relationships. But the good news is, God has given us weapons to fight back through scripture.
Lust is the psychological force that produces an uncontrolled appetite. The result of lust is often our desires controlling us more than we control them. Lust is so powerful it can literally make us temporality lose our minds and do things that go against what we believe and value. This weekend we unpacked how to fight this, where it comes from, and the purposes of sex, all according to scripture.
This weekend we examined our souls for Greed. Greed is an excessive desire for more. It's an uncontrolled pursuit of unneeded things. Jesus warns us about greed and money more than anything else in the Gospels because Greed makes our souls small. But God gives us stewardship and generosity as virtues to kill greed in our lives.
This weekend we opened up our talk about the sins that "so easily entangle us" as followers of Jesus. Pride is the root of all sin and gives way to others. God's call to us to get low, because God moves and speaks in the low places.
Jesus makes it very clear what the purpose and mission of his church is: to go and make disciples of all the nations. Yet, for a lot of us today, the process of making disciples can seem confusing and vague. However, In his final words before ascending back up to heaven, Jesus gives us the steps to become disciples that make disciples and welcome people into his family both here and in heaven.
I am fired up to be preaching on why community is so important in our lives. Sometimes life is so painful it leaves us paralyzed spiritually, emotionally, mentally, etc. We all need people to take us to Jesus when we don't have the strength to make it on our own.
The Bible teaches us that the devil talks a lot, and when he talks, he lies. Lying is "his is his native language," Jesus says in John 8. When we believe these lies it can ruin our life, and I am excited to expose some prominent and popular ones this weekend in a message I am calling "Lies Leaders Listen To."
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Decided To Follow Jesus? Download your free new believers booklet, I Have Decided' here: https://rb.gy/zqj8bf
Questions: E-mail info@captivatesd.com
This Sunday we dive into a heavy topic that has caught our nation and church by storm: Deconstruction. Is there a clear definition for it? Does scripture warn us about it? Can it also be a good practice in our spiritual lives? The answer to all of these questions is "yes," and I am very excited to jump into it with you this weekend in a message I am calling "Dealing With Deconstruction."
Connect with us on Social: Instagram.com/captivatechurchsd
Next Steps: linktr.ee/captivatesd
Decided To Follow Jesus? Download your free new believers booklet, I Have Decided' here: https://rb.gy/zqj8bf
Questions: E-mail info@captivatesd.com
I am so pumped this week to welcome back one of our dear friends and part of the original team that planted Captivate, Alex, to share a Word with us. His love for the Lord and serving people have been an inspiration to so many and he's got some big things in the works that we can't wait to share. We're excited to hear what he and his wife have been up to on their journey to live out being "all in" for the Kingdom as we study Matthew 13:44 in a message he is calling "Buy the Field".
As we wrap up the series "This Verse Changed My Life" I am going to share some scripture that hasn't just changed my life 5 years ago or will change my life in the future, but is changing my life right here today. The truth is, taking a break is a good thing to do, but I also took a break because I've been very tired. And I haven't just been tired on the outside, but tired on the inside. What do we do when not just our body but our soul, mind, and spirit feel tired? This weekend I am going to share what God has been teaching me through this season.
Connect with us on Social: Instagram.com/captivatechurchsd
Next Steps: linktr.ee/captivatesd
Decided To Follow Jesus? Download your free new believers booklet, I Have Decided' here: https://rb.gy/zqj8bf
Questions: E-mail info@captivatesd.com
Although King Hezekiah was a man after God’s heart, he still experienced his fair share of trials, and was broken in his own ways. His story shows us that even in difficult circumstances, prayer has the power to unlock God’s blessing and re-shape our experiences.
Connect with us on Social: Instagram.com/captivatechurchsd
Next Steps: linktr.ee/captivatesd
Decided To Follow Jesus? Download your free new believers booklet, I Have Decided' here: https://rb.gy/zqj8bf
Questions: E-mail info@captivatesd.com
If you have been in church for any amount of time, you have heard of the Holy Spirit and may know Him in theory, but a better question might be, “Do you know Him personally?” The Bible shows us the dangers of not clearly defining and understanding our relationship with the Holy Spirit, and we unpack that together this week as we look at the story of Simon The Magician in Acts 8.
Commit to End Spiritual Loneliness: captivatesd.com/commit
End Spiritual Loneliness Booklet: linktr.ee/captivatesd - Click ‘End Spiritual Loneliness’
Decided To Follow Jesus?: linktr.ee/captivatesd - Click 'I Have Decided'
Download your free new believers booklet, I Have Decided' here: https://rb.gy/zqj8bf
Questions: E-mail info@captivatesd.com
Next Steps: linktr.ee/captivatesd
Often when we think of the power of the Holy Spirit, we think of healings and miracles. This has begged the question from many: Does God still heal? We believe we serve a God who still heals and we are excited to unpack what that often looks like in our lives.
We learn in scripture that honor is truly one of the love languages of God, but it is being lost in our world. The Bible teaches us that when we honor others we honor God, which is why honor can unlock God's blessings in our lives.
About 80% of Americans say they would have some interest in attending an Easter service if invited. That's the good news. The bad news is only about 3% of the church invite the unchurched to come. With most of us feeling inadequate when it comes to sharing our faith, Wes talks about some practical and powerful ways to do this.
This week we jumped into Part 2 of our study through the book of Romans with a message called, “The Struggle is Real”. In these chapters, Paul takes a deep look at the tension of having a new identity as Christ followers and yet continually falling into sin. It's a tension that believers know all too well. Luckily, though, the Bible says that God gives us the Holy Spirit, and through Him the power to overcome the sin in our lives. The Holy Sprit walks with us, and sanctifies us.
Join us as we break down what different issues and stages of dating and relationships look like, from singleness to cohabitation.
Several weeks ago we talked about what divides the church as we broached such topics as politics, race, homosexuality, and alcohol. That was fun right? Well now we get to talk about what actually unites the church when we live on mission for Jesus together.
Have you ever asked yourself, "Is my faith real?". If so, you're not alone, and it may mean you're in a good place because this seems to be the beginning of God helping you make your faith your own. We hope you can join us this Sunday as we continue to go through the book of Acts. This upcoming week's reading will be Acts 21-25, and as you will see, it gives us a detailed account of the cost Paul was willing to pay for others to hear the Good News of Jesus and have their lives and eternities changed. Paul shows us what real faith is and the symptoms and characteristics that we will see in our lives as we live with real faith.
Sometimes we get so comfortable with worshipping our idols that God's call makes us respond in a way that we never would if He was actually on the throne in our lives.
The truth is there is a lot of division in the church today, and we will be unpacking what really divides us as we touch on subjects like politics, alcohol, race, homosexuality, and even Dodger fans.
It's wild to read about how "on-fire" the first believers were as the church began. Ask yourself these questions, “How do I become a committed follower of Jesus like that? How do I truly transform?" Well, this next week's section of Acts lays out powerfully how we truly transform and we cannot wait to share it with you!
Join us as we jump head first into the book of Acts! We believe that this study together will mess us up in the best way possible. God's on the move in our church and we can't wait to take a deep dive into Acts 1 with you as we hear a message titled, "The Church Begins." We will learn how to grab ahold of a message we are wiling to die for in order to spread it to the world that needs it.
Throughout this series we’ve been examining not only the fact that Jesus came, but also the way in which He came. In this message, we’ll be looking at how Jesus walks with us in what can be one of the most challenging things for believers to understand: when our prayers go unanswered. We’ll take a look at how God, through his infinite love and wisdom, uses things even as difficult as unanswered prayers to fulfill His ultimate purpose.
The Christmas Story sheds so much light on how deeply our Heavenly Father wants to enter in and heal what’s troubling us most in life. We'll see that when we learn to rely on God in the midst of adversity, a faith is built within us that God can use to help change the world around us.
Too often, we give our life fighting for something that Jesus already gave His life to fight for. Listen in as we talk about how to live knowing that our earthly status does not affect the significance that God has placed on our lives.
The truth is, we are surrounded by darkness in our culture. But we know that light always overcomes darkness! We will talk about what it looks like to live as “light” for Jesus in a dark world so others can see him high and lifted up.
We are continuing our series, “The Forgotten Ways” with a message called, “Unity.” Our culture and its leaders are doing a poor job of this right now and the truth is, the unity of the church is not much better.
In this message we will look at how unity over our Jesus will be how the world will truly see Him and know He’s alive. Listen in as we unpack more of it with you.
Vulnerability can be hard for us, but in church we often do not get the healing we really need because we do not come as the person we really are.
This message is called "Unfiltered" where we learn what filters we often use with each other and how to take them off. Listen in as we unpack it more with you.
This weekend we have our first "Commitment Sunday" in our End Spiritual Loneliness Project as we, the people of Captivate, together lay sacrifices before God and ask him to use them in a powerful way!
Jesus teaches us in the book of Lue that offense, or being hurt by others, is unavoidable. And the enemy would want nothing more than to use those moments of offense, or pain, to drive you out of relationships and community and into loneliness.
There is hope though! Although we can’t fully avoid offense, Jesus lays out a very specific game plan to help us defend agains allowing the pain of offense to take root in our lives and become bitterness.
Join us this week as we continue our series, End Spiritual Loneliness. This week we will discuss how the enemy uses loneliness to have victory in our lives. As the enemy leads us away from God he loves to tell us we deserve things that lead us away from our destiny. Temptation is all around us, and this week we will talk about exposing it in a message called "Temptation in Isolation."
Join us this week as we kick off our brand new family project, End Spiritual Loneliness. End Spiritual Loneliness is our new anthem for this season. It’s a vision from God, that we not only want to talk about, but act on. Today we will talk about 3 ways we will make space as a church over the next 2 years to help invite people into heaven here and in heaven.
Join us this week for a new message titled, Miracles are His Memorials! This weekend we turn 3 years old as a church and we get to thank God for all he has done in this past few years! It's wild to think that half of our existence has been in a pandemic, and yet in many ways we are stronger than ever. When a family goes into a crisis together, with God they come out stronger. This Sunday, we’ll be sharing the story of Captivate, how we got here, and the miracles God has laid out in our midst along the way. Today’s message is called "Miracles are His Memorials" as we practice a Biblical practice to look back with gratitude in order to move forward with God.
Join us this week as we close out our series, Every Corner! We believe revival is something God wants to bring to everybody’s life. Through the way Jesus lived and the example He set for us, He shows us that our lives are not about what we accomplish but who we impact. In the story of Jesus healing the demoniac, He gives us the recipe for revival and proves how nobody is ever too far gone to experience revival in their own life and then share it with those around them.
Join us this week as we continue our series, Every Corner! It's interesting in life that you can look at the same exact thing as someone else but see something completely different. Jesus longs for us to see those around us as he sees them so we will be as motivated as he is to pray for, serve, and invite them into God's family.
Join us this week as we continue our series, Every Corner! Sometimes we begin our career, our family, or our home with great goals and values. But it can become easy to pick up other, yet lesser, goals and prizes along the way. From time to time it becomes critical to recall why you started what you started to begin with. In this week's message, hear about how God wants to recalibrate our scoreboards, or how we evaluate wins in our life.
We often give the most of our care, time, and effort to the wrong things but we will not discover purpose until we get passionate about the things God is passionate about. We will continue the talk this week as we discover what kind of passion it takes to literally draw in the attention and presence of God.
Our Mission as a church is to "Captivate Every Corner of San Diego with the Love of Jesus." We do this one Corner Card, one family member, one co-worker, one neighbor at a time. Tune in as we unpack how to reach those God has called us to!
What we learn in Scripture is that God has given us the tools to combat anxiety... all we've got to do is put them on.
The people who are fulfilled most at the end of their life sought God the most throughout their life.
Join us this week as we conclude our series, The Prosperity Gospel, with a message called, “Stress vs. Sacrifice”.
If God is first in your life, everything can come into order. If God is not first in your life, nothing can come into order.
Love is often best proven not by our actions after we agree but by our actions after we disagree.
Join us for Church at Home as we uncover what it looks like to define the wins and successes in our lives with an eternal perspective.
Join us as we continue our series, Holy Spirit Come, as we discover how our view and perspective of the Holy Spirit determines the how we interact with Him.
The Holy Spirit of Power yields fearlessness. Having fear is not wrong, but partnering with it is.
The evidence of the Holy Spirit’s movement in your life is less about a feeling and more about fruit.
In church, we don't come together because we like all the same things, we come together because we need the same person.
Faith is not a denial of reality. It is a belief in a deeper reality than the one you can see.
Join us this week as we explore what it looks like to move from a life guided by our actions and performance to a life guided by the passion of our heart. We’ll learn that as we dive deeper into an intimate relationship with Jesus, and let our passion for Him direct us, our actions and our direction will follow.
Join us as we walk through what it looks like to be a close friend, let others in close, and also how to get close to God in a difficult time.
In times like these, it's easy to wonder, "where is God?" Join us as we unpack Psalm 23 and discover how near God really is.
This week we're talking all about Spiritual Disciplines, and how we turn God's principles into practice.
When we worry as much as the world does, we show them that believing in God is no better than not believing in Him.
A panel of Captivate's pastors and staff answers your questions about God's design for dating, marriage, and sex.
Our culture tells us that your identity is based on your activity, but with Jesus your identity is based on eternity.
We define our purpose based on what we're good at. But God defined his purpose in us based on what we cannot do without Him.
More important than ensuring presents are under the tree, is ensuring your family knows we get to experience his presence because he came to die on a tree.
Your life is not meant to be lived earning a seat for yourself. It's meant to be lived preparing a seat for them.
You were never meant to fix your shame because God is not in love with your ideal self, but he is in love with you.
Even though we still struggle with sin, we are not defined by our sin but by our savior. We’re not nearly as much sinners as we are saints.
Unless God has taught you about generosity, it doesn't matter how much money you make - it won't be enough.
You will finally be able to say yes to God when you can finally say no to the things less than God.
We do not come together because we like all the same things, we come together because we need the same person.
Worship is not a feeling or an experience. It is a choice; something we can say yes to even on our hardest day.
If we aren’t attracting the same kinds of people Jesus attracted we might not be preaching the same message that Jesus preached.
Could there be a greater reward in heaven than seeing all the people you brought with you?
At a hospital, you don’t get judged for being sick, but you also don’t leave without getting better.
Owners tend to accomplish what they couldn’t previously because their passion eventually drives them to overcome.
You were the joy which He endured the cross for. He becomes our joy as we endure life with Him.
The voice you listen to will become the voice you follow. And the voice you follow will become the life you live.
When it comes to our God dreams, we have to pray like it’s up to God, but work like it’s up to us.
It’s hard to move forward with God when we fail to look backward at what he’s already done.
Often our greatest weakness is just our greatest strength headed in the wrong direction.
As fathers, more importantly than teaching your family to get up on their feet in life, is to show them how to get down on their knees in front God.
In God’s kingdom, true victory doesn’t come in the moment we see success, but in the moment we surrender to God.
God’s hope to you today is not to give you everything you think you need but to be free you from the notion you need anything besides him.
Through the cross, Jesus takes the nails out of our lives to prove that what once held us can no longer hold us. We’re free.
The question is not if you are in the father’s house, but if you have the father’s heart.
We close out Love That Lasts with a panel of our staff answering your questions on dating, marriage, and sex.
Love says, “I will sacrifice my life to give to you.” But lust says, “I will sacrifice your life to get from you.”
God didn’t design one person for you, he designed you to be with one person. How will you choose?
Often when God tries to lead us into who we are in Christ, we refer him to who we were in our past. Leave it in the water.
Jesus poured out his soul unto death for us. Is there anything too precious not to give Him?
We all need someone around us who finds the positives of Jesus inside of the negatives of life.
You’ll never have the privilege to see someone’s healing until you are first willing to hear their struggle.
Everything about following Jesus in the New Testament is about gaining the faith to take what he has done for us in private, and making it public so that others can get in on it too.
A life with Jesus will never satisfy until he is no longer an accessory to our life but becomes the entirety of our life.
Prayer is less about talking and more about listening. What we have to say to God isn't nearly as important as what God has to say to us.
The Gospel is not Jesus died so we could have more. The Gospel is Jesus died so we wouldn’t need any more.
It would be a shame to live your whole life playing a game that won't matter. Is what you're currently counting on going to last?
Could there be a greater reward in heaven than seeing all the people you brought with you?
It's called death by distraction. It's not that you are dead, but you are living like it because you've allowed the distractions of life to keep you from that which you were made for.