Verve City Church: Weekly Messages: Recent Episodes
Verve City Church
Exploring the teachings of Jesus? Trying to determine whether God even exists? Or perhaps you’re a committed Jesus-follower looking for practical, relevant perspectives on Christ’s teachings and the Bible? Whatever your thoughts on church, whatever your beliefs about God, these weekly messages are for you.
At some point in life, the question changes. It’s no longer “What do you want to be when you grow up?” It becomes, “Who do you want to be when you grow up?” In this Vision Sunday message, we explore why that question matters, why Jesus’ invitation is about far more than simply believing the right things, and what kind of church we hope Verve City is becoming. What if the most important thing about your future isn’t what you accomplish, but who you become?
Moses spent his life moving toward the Promised Land, yet never entered it himself. It's one of the most surprising and poignant endings in Scripture. If life hasn't unfolded the way you hoped, if some dreams remain unfinished, or if you're learning to trust God with outcomes beyond your control, this final chapter of Moses' story may be exactly what you need.
Even great leaders have limits. At one point, Moses was carrying so much responsibility that he nearly collapsed under the weight of it all. If you're feeling overwhelmed, stretched thin, or like everyone is depending on you, this forgotten story offers a better way. You were never meant to carry everything alone.
When God finally called Moses, his first response wasn't confidence. It was excuse after excuse. Moses doubted himself, questioned his abilities, and tried to convince God to send someone else. If you've ever felt unqualified, overwhelmed, or unprepared for what life is asking of you, discover why God's presence matters more than your preparedness.
Before the miracles, before the leadership, before the burning bush, there were forty years of sheep. Moses spent decades in obscurity wondering if his best years were behind him. If you've ever felt stuck, overlooked, or uncertain about what God is doing in your life, you'll find hope in the forgotten years of Moses' story.
Most people know Moses as a great leader. What they often forget is that he started as a fugitive. After taking matters into his own hands and making a terrible mistake, Moses ran for his life. If you've ever felt defined by regret, disappointed by your choices, or convinced you've blown your chance, this story is for you. Discover how God's grace can redeem even our worst moments.
Some dads are heroes. Some relationships are complicated. Most of us have a little bit of both in our story.
We want to honor the dads, coaches, role models, and mentors who helped shape who we are. So whether you're celebrating your dad, remembering him, or figuring out fatherhood yourself, this message is for you.
Nobody wakes up one day and decides to become cynical. It happens slowly: one disappointment, one betrayal, one frustrating headline at a time. This Sunday, we’ll talk about how to protect your heart from cynicism without pretending life is easier than it is.
What if the greatest threat to your future isn't failure? What if it's success?
Not because success is bad… But because it has a way of revealing what's really happening beneath the surface.
In this message, we look at how Jesus turns our assumptions about greatness upside down and offers a better way to live, lead, and make an impact.
Whether you're chasing a dream, leading a team, raising a family, or simply trying to build a meaningful life, this conversation is for you!
Failure has a way of following us around. A mistake, a missed opportunity, a relationship that fell apart, a dream that didn’t work out; before long, what happened starts to shape how we see ourselves.
In this episode, we explore how to face failure honestly, learn from it, and move forward without letting it define who you are.
Ever feel stuck between two tough options… or overwhelmed by a decision you really don’t want to get wrong?
This week Josh continues our “How to Handle Anything” series with a message on navigating impossible decisions. How can followers of Jesus move forward when life feels unclear, emotions are high, and every option comes with tension?
Whether you’re facing a relationship crossroads, a parenting challenge, or uncertainty about what’s next in your career, this message is designed to help you find wisdom, clarity, and peace.
What do you do when someone drives you crazy, but Jesus still calls you to love them? This week we explored why love doesn’t mean becoming a doormat and how Jesus invites us to handle difficult people with curiosity, humility, and zero contempt.
This series is for all of us who've ever thought, "I wish someone would just tell me how to handle this!" No matter what life throws at you, you don’t have to face it empty-handed. Come discover honest hope, practical faith, and the kind of wisdom that actually helps you survive when life gets tough.
We're live every Sunday at 8:30, 10:15, and noon. Learn more and plan your visit at vervecity.church.
Some things are too important not to pass on.
In this special Mother’s Day message from Verve City Church, Josh Crain and Audrey Eisenberg explore one of the biggest questions every parent, mentor, friend, and follower of Jesus eventually faces: How do you pass your faith on to the next generation without forcing it, faking it, or losing heart?
Through the story of Joshua and the Israelites, this message explores the power of remembering, the peril of forgetting, and the gift of living a faith that others can actually see and follow.
Passing on faith isn’t just passing on information... It’s passing on a story, a way of life, an example of what matters most. So whether you’re raising kids, influencing students, mentoring others, or simply trying to live a meaningful life, this message is an invitation to consider: What story are you choosing to live?
📍 Verve City Church exists to help people find life by following Jesus.
If this message encouraged you, consider subscribing, sharing it with a friend, or joining us in person in Chino, CA.
Most of us have had moments of clarity. We notice the pattern, name the issue, and genuinely want life to look different. But insight alone rarely changes anyone. Real transformation happens when what we’ve awakened to becomes something we intentionally build into the rhythms of everyday life. Change is not usually dramatic, but architectural. It is formed through the repeated practices, relationships, and environments that quietly shape who we are becoming over time. Because the life you want tomorrow is hidden inside the rhythms you choose today.
One of the most confusing things about faith is this: you follow Jesus… and life is still hard. The struggles don’t disappear. The questions don’t go away. And sometimes that can make you wonder if you’re doing something wrong. This week, we’re going to talk honestly about why faith doesn’t remove struggle, and why it was never meant to. Because following Jesus doesn’t mean life gets easier. It means you don’t have to face it alone, and your pain doesn’t have to be pointless.
Life gets heavy when you’re carrying what was never meant to rest on your shoulders. In a world of pressure, noise, ambition, anxiety, and endless voices competing for your trust, it’s easy to end up living on the edge of your seat: always bracing, always striving, always trying to hold it all together. But what if the exhaustion you feel isn’t because life is too hard, but because the wrong voice is leading you?
In this message, we’ll explore Jesus’ powerful claim to be the Good Shepherd, and discover that peace, trust, and rest begin when we stop outsourcing our souls to fear, success, outrage, or self-reliance and let the right voice lead us. Because the quality of your life is directly connected to who — or what — is shepherding it.
Most of us want to change something. We want more peace, more discipline, more presence, more consistency. But no matter how strong the intention, we often find ourselves drifting back into the same reactions, habits, and patterns. Why? Because real change is harder than behavior management. Much of our lives are being shaped beneath the surface by distraction, autopilot, and thought patterns we barely notice. But before Jesus changes what we do, he often wakes us up to what is already forming us. Because the first step toward a different life is learning to see what’s been leading you all along.
Ever wish you could rewind? Before the mistake. Before that big loss. Before life got complicated.
Easter says you can’t go back. But you can start again. Jesus’ resurrection isn’t about restoring your old life. It’s about offering you a new one.
If you’re ready for something better than a do-over, join us for Easter at Verve City Church.
Real people. Real hope. A fresh start.
Luke’s Jesus forgives those who are killing him. He promises paradise to a criminal. He entrusts his spirit to the Father.
Where Mark gives us anguish and Matthew gives us apocalypse, Luke gives us mercy.
This week, we’ll see that the cross is about both what was done to Jesus and what Jesus does for others. Luke reveals a God whose final word over enemies is mercy, whose final word over outsiders is belonging, and whose final breath is trust.
Matthew records the same cry as Mark but shapes its meaning differently.
The earth shakes. Rocks split. The temple veil tears. Tombs open.
Matthew wants us to see what Mark made us feel. The cross is not merely personal agony; it's cosmic upheaval. It's a turning point in the story of the world.
This week, we’ll ask: What if the cross was the moment everything changed? What if what looked like defeat was actually the hinge of history?
Matthew shows us a God who transforms suffering. The cry that sounded like abandonment becomes the earthquake that begins new creation.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
If you were inventing a religion, this is not the line you would end with.
Mark gives us a Jesus who does not float above suffering. He does not deliver a polished speech. He does not offer explanation. He screams a Psalm into the darkness.
This week, we’ll explore the rawest of the Gospels. Mark shows us that faith is not pretending everything is fine. It's clinging to God when you cannot feel God. The cross becomes the place where lament is not weakness, but worship.
For those who have felt abandoned, disappointed, or disillusioned, Mark insists: your cry does not disqualify you.
Have you ever noticed that some Christians seem to be pretty obsessed with the end of the world?
Last week, the United States launched an attack on Iran. Throughout the past week, many American pastors stepped into pulpits explaining what this war might mean for “the end times.” Words like rapture, millennium, and apocalypse started flying around.
And here’s what’s fascinating: the system of Bible interpretation behind all of that talk is less than 200 years old. For nearly 1,800 years of Christian history, nobody read the Bible this way.
So this week at Verve City Church, we’re doing a special message called “Apocalypse Not Now.” We talk about what “rapture theology” is, where it came from, the problems it creates, and why the misunderstanding of Scripture behind it can actually distract us from loving like Jesus.
Whether you grew up hearing about the rapture or you’ve always wondered why some Christians talk so much about the end of the world, this conversation might change the way you read the Bible.
Because what you believe about the end of the world shapes how you live in the world today.
In 2024, Cal Newport of Georgetown University proposed that we have entered into a period of American life he dubs "The Great Exhaustion." Many of us feel incredibly tired, and not just physically. Mentally. Emotionally. Existentially. In Leviticus, God builds rest and reset into reality itself. Not as a rule, but as resistance. Not as religion, but as rebellion against a world that never stops demanding. This week: Sabbath, exile, new beginnings. And why “enough” might be the most radical word in your vocabulary.
Once you get behind, it's really hard to catch up. Debt doesn't magically clear. Power doesn't usually volunteer to shrink. Systems drift in the direction of protecting whoever is already winning. We all know this. So here's the surprising part: buried in one of the strangest sections of the Bible is a vision for interrupting that drift. Like a reset button built into the fabric of a society. It's bold. It's practical. And... it didn't actually work. So what went wrong? And why did Jesus later say he was bringing that vision back in a completely different way? If you're open to the possibility that following Jesus might offer more than private inspiration, this week is worth your attention.
In the first week of our new series, Blood, Guts, and Fire, we begin a journey into one of the most mysterious books in Scripture: Leviticus. Raw and intense, Leviticus confronts us with blood and sacrifice and rituals that feel foreign to our modern sensibilities. But what if God was teaching his people that nothing in this world is disposable — not our bodies, not our relationships, not even the ordinary moments we rush past? In a world that moves fast and rarely slows down to notice what is holy, this ancient book may have something urgent and freeing to say. Join us as we step into Blood, Guts, and Fire and rediscover the beauty and weight of a life that belongs to Jesus.
Relationships are messy because we’re messy. The Psalms show the pain of relational conflict and the beauty of restored connection. By understanding ourselves and others, we can build healthier, grace-filled relationships.
If Part 1 is naming anxiety, Part 2 is developing practices to move toward peace. Scripture gives us rhythms, habits, and reframing techniques that retrain our anxious minds.
Anxiety is the body’s alarm system, but many of us live with the alarm blaring. The Psalms normalize anxious feelings and Jesus reframes the way we relate to our worries.
Control is often fear dressed up as strategy. We manipulate, micromanage, and grasp for outcomes because we’re anxious about uncertainty. The Psalms bring us back to trust, surrender, and honest self-reflection.
Restlessness comes from living without a clear sense of purpose, direction, or meaning. The Psalms give voice to our internal disorientation and point us toward practices that lead to groundedness and joy.
Loneliness isn’t a modern problem; it’s a human one. Even in our hyperconnected world, people feel unseen, unknown, and isolated. The Psalms name this ache and point us toward friendship, belonging, and spiritual community.
Joy doesn’t deny the darkness; it defies it. In this week's message, we explore the overlooked Christmas stories of Simeon and Anna to discover a kind of joy that exists alongside grief, waiting, and uncertainty — a joy anchored in Jesus rather than present circumstances. What if joy isn’t about pretending everything is fine, but choosing hope when it’s not?
What if the joy you’re craving this Christmas isn’t something new, but a re-discovery of something true? Some of the earliest followers of Jesus discovered joy by remembering the stories of God’s faithfulness that anchored them when life felt overwhelming. This week’s message is for anyone who finds themselves quietly wondering whether joy can actually break into their messy, complicated life this Christmas.
Being a Christian means more than accepting Jesus into our lives. It’s a commitment to follow him, spend time with him, learn from him, and become like him. In the final week of this series, we're exploring how to live like a disciple of Jesus – learning how to obey everything he commands.
The power of grace cannot be overstated. Through the New Covenant, we each receive a new heart, a new spirit, and an eternal and abundant life. All we have to do is have faith, which is expressed by following Jesus. This week, we’ll dig into what it means to receive grace now and forever.
Many of us experience a gap between who we are and who we want to be. "What's wrong with me?" we might wonder as we struggle. We might even expect a relationship with Jesus to be full of questions like that, pointing out our flaws in sharp contrast to His high standards. But rather than burdening us with questions of shame, Jesus asks questions like: "What's wounded with you?" "What's out of alignment with you?" "What's keeping you from the life you were meant to live?" And, His teachings and example provide answers and solutions to free us from the quagmire we're in.
This special message, Ring the Bells, calls our church to stay centered on Jesus, even when faith is being distorted for political or cultural power. This message isn’t about taking sides; it’s about reminding people what it means to actually follow Christ. We’re naming the danger of a counterfeit gospel that uses Christian language to justify harm, control, or nationalism, and we’re calling people back to Jesus’ way of humility, mercy, and love. Speaking up may feel risky, but we believe faithfulness to Jesus sometimes requires courage that’s grounded in grace.
This message borrows its title and emotional heartbeat from the song “Ring the Bells” by Johnnyswim. Listen to the song here: https://youtu.be/gANVqIxyj_o
Learn more about Verve City Church at vervecity.church
When you give through the church, you become part of every story it tells. And (bonus!) generosity changes you – for the better. This week, Josh reminds us that generosity isn’t about guilt, but about joyfully investing in something eternal.
Have you ever considered that the way God wants to use you may be greater than you've imagined? This week, we look at Jesus' pattern of multiplication to discover how personal devotion and obedience to Him naturally lead us to joyfully expand His kingdom.
This week, we're talking service. Serving is not a side activity for super-Christians; it’s a core expression of discipleship. Jesus redefined greatness as service, not status.
“Greatness in the Kingdom isn’t about the power in your fist; it’s about the towel in your hand.”
Jesus invites ordinary people into an extraordinary mission to embody his work in the world. Our new series challenges the church to dream bigger, serve sacrificially, and embrace the greater things God has in store for them and their city.
Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He left us with that mission, and the world is full of stories waiting to be transformed by hope. Every invitation matters. Every conversation counts.
Let's talk about the practice almost no one wants to do: memorizing Scripture. It sounds old-fashioned, like rotary phones and casseroles with Jell-O. But here’s the thing—when the bottom drops out, what comes to mind isn’t your favorite podcast quote. It’s something your soul remembers. A line of truth you tucked away long ago. The words we carry shape who we become. So we’re going to take this practice out of the dustbin of history and hold it up to the light. Not to show off but to stay grounded. Anchored. Loved.
Spoiler: the Bible is not a book. It’s a whole bunch of them, bound together by duct tape and divine mystery. It’s poetry and protest songs, ancient emails and cosmic dreams, and if you read it like it’s all one thing, you’ll miss what makes it beautiful. This week, we learn to study the Bible like it’s a weird, beloved collection of stories and songs and not a vending machine of inspirational quotes. It’s messier than we thought but way more human. And, therefore, even more divine.
The Bible isn’t fast food. It’s slow bread. In a world of scrolling and skimming, we’ve forgotten how to pause with a single verse, sit in silence, and let it speak to us. This week, we’ll rediscover the ancient practice of meditating on Scripture, not as an escape from life but as a way of soaking in truth that transforms us. You don’t need a seminary degree to hear from God. You just need time, attention, and a willingness to listen.
Many of us were taught that the Bible is something we have to defend against critics, culture, or even our own doubts. But what if we’re missing the point? In this opening message, we’ll explore why the Bible doesn’t need our protection — it needs our attention. Rather than smoothing over contradictions or anxiously proving its reliability, we’re invited to approach Scripture with humility and joy. This week, we’ll learn to stop defending the Bible and start delighting in it.
Yogi Bera famously quipped, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” There’s something about facing big choices that simultaneously piques our curiosity, while reminding us that we long for security and control. What can we learn from Paul’s dramatic encounter with the Lord on the Road to Damascus about what it looks like to choose Christ?
What's next when your picture of God doesn’t match your experience? In the midst of processing their own disappointment and confusion two travelers encountered Jesus on the Road to Emmaus. Their story reminds us that our journey of faith isn’t about having it all figured out; it’s about walking with Jesus until our eyes are opened to something deeper, fuller, and more alive.
Some roads you never choose: pain, loss, betrayal. But you still find yourself walking them. Jesus did too. We’re talking about how His journey to the cross meets us in our worst moments and gives us something better than just survival; it gives us a way forward.
Buckle up for a summer series through four powerful stories in Scripture! From compassion on the Road to Jericho, to resilience on the Road to Calvary, discovery on the Road to Emmaus, and transformation on the Road to Damascus, these journeys remind us what it means to follow Jesus. Each week, we’ll journey through core elements of discipleship: spending time with Jesus, learning from Him, and becoming more like Him.
For the first week of our series, we'll dive into a story that shows that knowing the right thing and doing the right thing are two different things. The story of the ambushed traveler rescued by a good Samaritan on the Road to Jericho reminds us that love is inconvenient, and offers a great road map for how the way of Jesus is radically counter-cultural.
Josiah stepped into a world already on fire. The temple was in ruins, the Scriptures were forgotten, and the people had traded purpose for idols. He could’ve coasted. He could’ve inherited the throne, played it safe, and passed the blame. But something inside him broke when he heard the words of the forgotten Scriptures. Josiah shows us what it looks like when someone refuses to be shaped by the past and decides to rewrite the future. He was young, bold, and unshakable. Perhaps the most radical thing he did was believe that change was still possible.
In the midst of global turmoil, what does it mean to follow the way of Jesus? It's not enough to just love peace – we’re called to make it by committing our allegiance to a kingdom that transcends every border. As headlines fill with conflict, polarization, and competing narratives, our primary identity is not national or political, it’s spiritual. If you’ve ever felt the tension between faith and patriotism, peace and power, this message is for you. Don’t fit in. Fit out. Be the misfit who heals the world.
Solomon is like that restaurant every TikTok influencer is raving about in LA. The reviews are glowing, the videos look incredible, the hype is off the charts. But then you go, and the food is overpriced, the service is slow, and you leave wondering what everyone else was so excited about. That’s what reading Solomon’s life feels like. You’re told he’s the wisest man who ever lived, but most of what he does feels more tragic than transcendent. He builds empires, writes poetry, marries hundreds of women, and somehow loses himself in the process. Perhaps the real wisdom in his story is found not in what he did right, but in what he got wrong. If we’re paying attention, we won’t just admire his insight, we’ll learn from his collapse.
David refuses to leave our cultural imagination, not because he was perfect but because he was profoundly human. He was a warrior and a poet, a king and a failure, a man after God’s own heart who sometimes broke God’s heart. His story lives in us. When we root for the underdog, we’re channeling David facing Goliath. When power shifts hands, we see the shadows of Saul and the rise of a shepherd king. And when we fall, when our desires outpace our integrity, we remember what David did to Bathsheba and her husband. We see our triumphs in him, and our darkest moments. Maybe that’s why we keep coming back to his story. Because somehow, in understanding David, we begin to understand ourselves.
We’re told to follow our hearts, chase our dreams, and write our own story. Self-empowerment is the language of our age. But at what point does that stop being inspiring and start feeling isolating or exhausting? This week, we’re exploring the messages behind hustle culture and radical independence — and why trusting someone wiser than ourselves might not be weakness after all.
In today’s culture, there are all kinds of ways to talk about Jesus: as a life coach, a path to success, a political symbol, or a way to guarantee life after death. But when the focus shifts from Jesus himself to what we can get through him, something subtle but significant changes. This week, we’ll look at four popular versions of Christianity in America and ask a simple but important question: are these still rooted in the way of Jesus? Or have we started to follow something else entirely?
We live in a time when spirituality, wellness, and self-optimization are increasingly intertwined. Mindfulness, breath work, energy, alignment — these practices and ideas offer people a sense of peace and wholeness. But how do they fit with Jesus? Do they complement his way, conflict with it, or do something else entirely? This week is an invitation to explore how ancient practices and modern wellness trends intersect with Christian spirituality.
Karma has quietly become one of the most accepted spiritual ideas in the West, even among people who’ve never studied Eastern religions. It’s simple, intuitive, and feels just. But is that what the world is really like? This week, we’ll explore what karma actually teaches, where it resonates with the way of Jesus, and where the two paths begin to diverge.
For many, the idea of God just doesn’t add up. Whether for logical, emotional, or experiential reasons, atheism has become a default setting, especially in the modern West. But what does a world without God actually ask us to believe? And what are the strengths and limitations of that view? This week is an open exploration of the worldview that says, “There’s no one out there… and that’s okay.”
In a global culture where pluralism is often a given, it’s easy to assume that all religions are basically saying the same thing. But is that actually true? This week, we’ll explore the core stories and claims behind some of the world’s major religions — and a few of the stranger ones, too — to see what they have in common, where they differ, and why those differences might matter more than we think.
Easter brings fun memories of egg hunts, chocolate bunnies, and baskets of goodies. But beneath it all - is Easter true? Is the story of a man conquering death and offering us freedom worth believing?
Listen to our discussion about why we choose to follow Jesus.
We read in the New Testament that God is love, and then we read other stories in the Old Testament about God bringing punishment and death and plagues. So, how do we reconcile what seems almost to be a dual personality? Does God act like Jesus dying for his executioners, or is God more like the deity who allowed an angel of death to kill the firstborn children of Egypt? The answer to that question becomes more evident when you understand that God is like a Zippo Lighter.
During the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s, Senator Howard Baker posed the question during a hearing, "What did the President know, and when did he know it?" We intuitively understand that the specific knowledge people have and the amount of time they have it can either exonerate or implicate them. What does God know, and when does he know it? It's often said that God is "all-knowing," but what is the actual content of that knowledge? Do our choices matter, or is the future set in stone? Does prayer change things, or is everything destined to play out in a predetermined way? It turns out God is like Dr. Strange.
For the last several centuries, a troubling philosophical question has haunted Christianity: If God is all good and all-powerful, why is there so much evil in the world? What's fascinating is that this question is never posed in quite this way in the Scriptures. How could Jesus and his followers expect the world to be filled with pain and still believe in a completely loving Creator God? Because they knew something we've forgotten: that God is like an empowering boss.
Honey badgers are relentless and fearless. They don't give up even when facing off against much larger animals, and they're wicked smart. When it comes to his love for us, God is like a honey badger. He will not be deterred. He keeps pursuing us and trying to help us even when we flee him, curse him, or deny him. We are invited into this ravishing love, and we are invited to share it.
Does your job feel like a calling—or just a grind? Work isn’t just a paycheck—it’s a chance to find joy and bring God glory. Scripture is full of men and women who demonstrate that even ordinary jobs can become a platform for something bigger when we invite God in. How can their examples help us find joy and purpose in our daily grind?
Our own brokenness and anxiety distorts our relationship to work and can frequently cause us to have an unhealthy relationship with it. But the Gospel of Jesus can transform HOW we work and how we THINK about work. This Sunday, we talk about how faith reshapes work, and why you were made for Monday.
Work is not just what you do—it’s who you become in the process. We live in a culture that either glorifies work or resents it. Hustle harder. Climb the ladder. Or—just survive until the weekend. But what if work was designed for something more? What if the sacred is found in the spreadsheets, the meetings, the endless to-do lists? In Take This Job and Love It, we’ll reimagine work through God’s design, not as something that drains us but as something that shapes us. Whether you’re stuck in a job you hate or obsessed with a career that defines you, there’s a better way. Work isn’t the enemy—it’s the opportunity. The only question is: will you step into it?
This week, our message is about how our culture tends to either worship work or demonize work. There's very little in-between. So we'll look at God's design for work and how it fits in our lives to make us better and make the world around us better.
Perhaps growing up, you had a mischievous uncle or friend: someone who loved you in part by kidding around with you, playing innocent practical jokes, or giving you a non-painful noogie with a whimsical glint in their eye. That was Jesus. He occasionally used his miraculous power in funny ways. He seemed to intentionally confuse his disciples at times both to deepen their thinking and, seemingly, for his own personal amusement. He loved others deeply and with good humor. This week, we'll explore the lavish love of a playful savior.
Pop-culture is saturated with superheroes, Jedi, hobbits, wizards, and things that go bump in the night. We love stories. A good story can help us make sense of our lives. A well-written character can inspire us, engage us, and make us feel like we belong. Jesus loved stories as well. His hallmark teaching device was the parable: he crafted illustrations to help us understand God and our place in God's world. This week, we'll explore the stories of Jesus that reveal so much about the person of Jesus.
Jesus himself said that others called him a "glutton" and a "drunkard." What a strange reputation for the most influential spiritual leader in the history of the world! While Jesus believed those descriptions of him were misguided, it's worth asking the question: why did some religious leaders believe this of him? Jesus seemed to believe that sometimes spiritual transformation and the most profound conversations happen over a meal or a glass of wine. This week, we'll explore the Savior who offered us life while meeting us at the party.
What picture comes to mind when you think of Jesus? Is he stoic? Self-serious? Hippy-dippy? For many of us, Jesus seems both unapproachable and unrelatable. However, the stories of Jesus found in the Gospels portray a very different Jesus than the one in our heads: joyful, funny, and welcoming. This week, we'll explore an often undiscussed attribute that seemed to be the key to several of Jesus' interactions: the cleverness of Jesus.
Rounding out our Level Up series, we’re looking at taking our rest to the next level. Join us to explore how we can prioritize true rest so that we can bring our best selves to all we do.
We hear it all the time as a casual expression in our culture: Have a little faith. He’s acting in bad faith. She’s acting in good faith. Keep the faith. Take a leap of faith. He believes on blind faith.
We praise, deride, and criticize people for having or not having faith. But what is faith? Is it always good? If you wanted to “grow” in faith, what would that even look like? And if you have a crisis of faith, does that lead to enlightenment, or disillusionment? Discover some of the ways Jesus invited us into Next Level Faith. Whether you're a mature Christian, or newly exploring faith, there's something in this message for you!
The person you’re becoming tomorrow is being shaped by the habits you practice today. No one drifts into spiritual depth, health, or mastery—it all starts with intentionality. Jesus didn’t just teach about the way of life; He lived it through a daily rhythm of prayer, rest, and purpose. This week, we’ll explore how the gospel reshapes not only what we believe but also how we live—because the habits you form today determine the person you’ll be tomorrow.
Parenting is a relentless, beautiful, heartbreaking journey of pouring yourself into tiny humans who simultaneously bring you great joy and stretch you to your limits. When we lean into this divine calling, we discover it’s more than just hard work; it’s holy work. Whether you’re a mom, a dad, a grandparent, or a mentor, let's explore how to find God’s presence and power in the midst of it all. Together, we’ll see what it means to Level Up in the sacred role of shaping the next generation.
Cynicism can build walls, brick by brick, around a weary heart. Even John the Baptist, the one who prepared the way, found himself questioning when the story didn’t unfold as he hoped. But Jesus, in His gentleness, always comes close to meet our doubts. This week, we’ll discover how Christmas calls us to lay down our skepticism and trust again in the God who makes all things new.
God wants everyone to experience His joy, no matter their starting point. This feels great when we’re receiving grace, but what about when we’re the ones forgiving, accommodating, or celebrating with family or friends who have hurt us, or failed to meet our expectations? At Christmas, we’re reminded that Jesus left His heavenly home to bring us into God’s family and invites us to extend that same grace, creating space for others to find their way home.
Home. It's a word that can elicit feelings of comfort, rest, and safety. At Christmas-time the word may spark memories of brightly colored packages under the tree, the nostalgic smell of hot cocoa, or the pleasure of extended time with family. As we get older, we don't just enjoy home — we become home for someone else: neighbors, friends, children, co-workers. But the responsibility of providing a sense of home for others can leave us longing for the simplicity of home as a child: where we felt safe, secure, warm, and a childlike confidence that we'd be taken care of. This Christmas season, Verve City Church invites you to come home for the holidays: to discover in Jesus the childlike sense of wonder and acceptance when the world seemed simpler and your load seemed lighter.
Family is the place meant to hold us, but so often, it’s where we feel broken, misunderstood, or left out. Jesus whispers a truth that steadies the soul: God’s family is open to all who lean into His will. This week, we’ll look at how Christmas invites us to a deeper belonging—a family built on grace and a home that never lets go.
In the last week of our Boundless series, we'll reflect on the security believers have in God's love. Paul asks, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" and answers: No hardship, suffering, or power can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
Join us for our final look into Romans 8, a powerful reflection on the life of the Spirit and the assurance of God’s enduring love for believers.
In the third week of our Boundless series, we’re looking at what God has in store for our present and future. Join us for the continued dive into Romans 8, a powerful reflection on the life of the Spirit and the assurance of God’s enduring love for believers.
In the second week of our Boundless series, we’ll explore our identity as followers of Jesus. What does it look like when we allow God’s boundless love to transform our hearts and our lives?
Following Jesus isn’t about following a bunch of rules; it’s about allowing God’s boundless love to transform your heart and your life. What would it look like to live for future glory… now?
Join us Sundays in November to dive into Romans 8, a powerful reflection on the life of the Spirit, the hope of future glory, and the assurance of God’s enduring love for believers.
Our Halloweekend message is a look at one of the spookiest stories in the Bible: The Witch of Endor. Note: This message is PG-13 for some adult themes and general spookiness!
In the final week of our True North series, we're exploring how the Holy Spirit guides us toward Jesus, grows the fruit of love in our hearts, empowers us for ministry, and distributes spiritual gifts and talents among us to help build up the Body of Christ.
Our True North series is a look at the compass within us all, a profound calling that cuts through the noise and confusion. This week, we're looking at another fundamental truth: God does not love us because we are good; God loves us because He is good.
In a culture addicted to noise, speed, and endless options, it’s no wonder so many of us feel lost, pulled in a thousand different directions. We’re bombarded with messages about who we should be, what we should want, and where we should go. But what if there’s a compass within us all, a more profound calling that cuts through the noise and confusion? This journey isn’t about escaping the chaos but finding clarity within it. Join us as we explore the pursuit of a life lived on purpose – a life aligned with your True North.
We have a tremendous capacity to innovate and create. That power can be used for good—to care for each other and the world—or it can be used in destructive ways to oppress and dehumanize others. The lesson of Babel is the tremendous damage that can occur when humans devalue one another and God.
Series Overview:
If you grew up in the United States, you were likely handed a few Bible stories as a child — Adam and Eve, Noah and a boatload of animals, a tower of Babel stretching to the sky. The stories were filled with memorable characters and vivid scenes. In many cases, even though we grew up, our understanding of these ancient stories never did. But what if we reexamined them as adults? What lessons could be unlocked? What depths would we discover? Join us to explore the Lost World of the Bible and take a fresh look at some of the unforgettable stories from its opening pages.
Many Christians have mistaken Jesus’ call to service as a rebuke against aspiration. In a special message for VIP Night, Josh challenges us to achieve greatness – together.
On Aug. 24, we welcomed all VIPs -- VERVEY IMPORTANT PEOPLE! -- to share a special night of worship, vision-setting, opportunities to get involved this fall, and a sneak peek of our September series, At the Movies.
A defining attribute of God is that he brings order out of chaos. The flood narrative is a hyperbolic theological story that helps us understand the pain of a chaotic world and the heroic lengths God will go to to establish the order required for human flourishing through his relational covenant. Whatever chaos is currently pervading our lives, we are invited to trust in the God of Noah to bring healing and calm.
Series Overview:
If you grew up in the United States, you were likely handed a few Bible stories as a child — Adam and Eve, Noah and a boatload of animals, a tower of Babel stretching to the sky. The stories were filled with memorable characters and vivid scenes. In many cases, even though we grew up, our understanding of these ancient stories never did. But what if we reexamined them as adults? What lessons could be unlocked? What depths would we discover? Join us to explore the Lost World of the Bible and take a fresh look at some of the unforgettable stories from its opening pages.
Understanding Cain and Abel's story reveals our deep-seated human struggles with comparison, accountability, and the choices that shape us. Cain’s actions show how sin has evolved from an external influence to an internal force that wreaks havoc in our lives and the world. The Mark of Cain leaves us asking the question, can God do anything about the desires we give into that make a mess of our lives and the world?
Series Overview:If you grew up in the United States, you were likely handed a few Bible stories as a child — Adam and Eve, Noah and a boatload of animals, a tower of Babel stretching to the sky. The stories were filled with memorable characters and vivid scenes. In many cases, even though we grew up, our understanding of these ancient stories never did. But what if we reexamined them as adults? What lessons could be unlocked? What depths would we discover? Join us to explore the Lost World of the Bible and take a fresh look at some of the unforgettable stories from its opening pages.
Adam and Eve were perhaps real people, but they were far more than that. They serve as archetypes for us: Their failure is our failure, and there are consequences for our sin and brokenness. But God is not content to allow our story to end in tragedy. Rather, from the very beginning, he goes about setting a plan in place to redeem who we are and restore what we've broken.
Series Overview:
If you grew up in the United States, you were likely handed a few Bible stories as a child — Adam and Eve, Noah and a boatload of animals, a tower of Babel stretching to the sky. The stories were filled with memorable characters and vivid scenes. In many cases, even though we grew up, our understanding of these ancient stories never did. But what if we reexamined them as adults? What lessons could be unlocked? What depths would we discover? Join us to explore the Lost World of the Bible and take a fresh look at some of the unforgettable stories from its opening pages.
What can we learn from one of the wisest guys who ever lived? Plenty! In the final message in our Voices series, Audrey explores practical ways to acquire and apply more WISDOM.
Series Overview:
Verve City Church's July series, Voices, features practical perspectives for everyday living. Join us each week for a message on blessings, comparison and wisdom.
Guest speaker Adam Smith teaches a message about comparison – and how we can manage feeling like "the other" by focusing on our relationship with Jesus.
Series Overview:
Verve City Church's July series, Voices, features practical perspectives for everyday living. Join us each week for a message on blessings, comparison and wisdom.
Guest speaker Mike Obadja challenges us to redefine our relationships in the context of following Jesus with "The Culture of Blessing."
Series Overview:
Verve City Church's July series, Voices, features practical perspectives for everyday living. Join us each week for a message on blessings, comparison and wisdom.
In this online-only message, we explore a few final questions in our Any Questions series. Where are dinosaurs in the Bible? Were Adam and Eve real people? Are all other religions wrong, or do they use different language to point to the same reality?
Series Overview: Faith and doubt make excellent dance partners. In this series, we’ll explore some of YOUR biggest questions about life, faith and God. Each week, we’ll tackle a different theme: After You Die, The Bible & Science, The Validity of Faith, and a wrap-up Grab Bag.
In the last week of our Any Questions series, we squeezed in as many of your awesome questions as we could -- including the topics of good and evil, misogyny in the Bible, infertility, and church scandals to name a few.
Series Overview: Faith and doubt make excellent dance partners. In this series, we’ll explore some of YOUR biggest questions about life, faith and God. Each week, we’ll tackle a different theme: After You Die, The Bible & Science, The Validity of Faith, and a wrap-up Grab Bag.
How can we know if God, Jesus and salvation are real? How do we reconcile the loving Christian God when there have been and are so many other world religions? Can we trust a book as old and disputed as the Bible?
Series Overview: Faith and doubt make excellent dance partners. In this series, we’ll explore some of YOUR biggest questions about life, faith and God. Each week, we’ll tackle a different theme: After You Die, The Bible & Science, The Validity of Faith, and a wrap-up Grab Bag.
Does science affirm or contradict Christianity? How can a scientist interpret the book of Genesis pertaining to how the world was created? How does evolution relate to the Bible? Were Adam and Eve real people?
Series Overview: Faith and doubt make excellent dance partners. In this series, we’ll explore some of YOUR biggest questions about life, faith and God. Each week, we’ll tackle a different theme: After You Die, The Bible & Science, The Validity of Faith, and a wrap-up Grab Bag.
What happens when you die? Where do you go? And what happens to the people we care about?
Series Overview: Faith and doubt make excellent dance partners. In this series, we’ll explore some of YOUR biggest questions about life, faith and God. Each week, we’ll tackle a different theme: After You Die, The Bible & Science, The Validity of Faith, and a wrap-up Grab Bag.
When Jesus chose disciples, he invited them from all over the political spectrum. Their allegiance to Jesus transcended their opinions about how the world's governments should be run. How do Christians make a positive difference in the places they live while remembering that their primary citizenship is in the Kingdom of God?
Series Overview: Verve City Church won't tell you who to vote for. We won't tell you which policies to support or which politicians to be outraged at. But we need to have an entirely necessary and honest conversation about politics. For some, politics has become their religion. Others have lost relationships with friends and family members over a difference in political opinion. This is a great series to invite someone to sit with you. Let’s explore together: How can followers of Jesus thoughtfully maintain their Christian witness in a fractured political environment?
Perhaps you've heard someone say, "I just don't know how someone can be a Christian and a Democrat." Or, "I just don't know how someone can be a Christian and vote for that candidate." Embedded into those statements is the critical issue: there's something they don't know. In week five of Party Crashers, Verve City Church will explore why different Christians vote differently while deriving their values from the same Christian faith.
Series overview:
Verve City Church won't tell you who to vote for. We won't tell you which policies to support or which politicians to be outraged at. But we need to have an entirely necessary and honest conversation about politics. For some, politics has become their religion. Others have lost relationships with friends and family members over a difference in political opinion. This is a great series to invite someone to sit with you. Let’s explore together: How can followers of Jesus thoughtfully maintain their Christian witness in a fractured political environment?
Christianity once had more cultural influence in the United States than it now does because more people identified as Christians. What happened? Why did people start walking away from Christianity in the 1990s? While the answers to that question are complex, the Church's grab for political power played a significant role. The Church wasn't silent; the Church was loud about the wrong things.
Series overview: Verve City Church won't tell you who to vote for. We won't tell you which policies to support or which politicians to be outraged at. But we need to have an entirely necessary and honest conversation about politics. For some, politics has become their religion. Others have lost relationships with friends and family members over a difference in political opinion. This is a great series to invite someone to sit with you. Let’s explore together: How can followers of Jesus thoughtfully maintain their Christian witness in a fractured political environment?
In our polarizing times, faith and politics seem to be leading more to rage than actual change. It's discouraging, disheartening, and disappointing. But Sarah Bauer Anderson believes it doesn't have to stay this way. Civility is not a pipe dream. Nuance is not unrecoverable. Peace is possible. And it can all start right here, right now, with us.
Series Overview: Verve City Church won't tell you who to vote for. We won't tell you which policies to support or which politicians to be outraged at. But we need to have an entirely necessary and honest conversation about politics. For some, politics has become their religion. Others have lost relationships with friends and family members over a difference in political opinion. This is a great series to invite someone to sit with you. Let’s explore together: How can followers of Jesus thoughtfully maintain their Christian witness in a fractured political environment?
When political division shows up not only on the campaign trail but also at our dinner tables, we wonder: Can we be part of a better way? Michael Wear says "yes," offering a distinctly Jesus-centered approach to politics that results in healing rather than division, kindness rather than hatred, and hope rather than despair.
Series Overview: Verve City Church won't tell you who to vote for. We won't tell you which policies to support or which politicians to be outraged at. But we need to have an entirely necessary and honest conversation about politics. For some, politics has become their religion. Others have lost relationships with friends and family members over a difference in political opinion. This is a great series to invite someone to sit with you. Let’s explore together: How can followers of Jesus thoughtfully maintain their Christian witness in a fractured political environment?
Was the United States founded as a "Christian nation?" Can any nation be a "Christian nation?" Is the concept of a "Christian nation" any more realistic than a "Christian bicycle" or a "Christian breath mint?" Exploring the teachings of Jesus and the history of "Christian" imperialism, we'll discuss the incompatibility of the way of Jesus and the way of Empire.
Series Overview: Verve City Church won't tell you who to vote for. We won't tell you which policies to support or which politicians to be outraged at. But we need to have an entirely necessary and honest conversation about politics. For some, politics has become their religion. Others have lost relationships with friends and family members over a difference in political opinion. This is a great series to invite someone to sit with you. Let’s explore together: How can followers of Jesus thoughtfully maintain their Christian witness in a fractured political environment?
"I can't." "I should." "Nobody likes me." "I'm such an idiot." "I'm a dumpster fire." For many of us, the negative talk in our lives is focused less on other people and more on ourselves. While it's healthy to understand our strengths and weaknesses, constantly disparaging ourselves can become a self-fulfilling indictment and a confidence killer. How can we be humble without being humiliated? How can we think of ourselves less without thinking less of ourselves?
Series overview: Remember the time that person said that thing to you and that was twelve years ago and you occasionally think about it and it still makes you feel bad? That's the power of words. What we say to one another, what we say about one another, and what we say to ourselves have the power to build, destroy, or overly inflate our egos.
The way we see and experience others reveals less about them than it does about us. And when we “call it like we see it,” what we say is a reflection of our soul. We can laugh at ridiculous one-star reviews, but don’t we all fall into the trap of spreading negative gossip sometimes? How can adjusting our mindset change the words we say and restore a sense of calm and peace in the midst of our chaotic lives?
Series overview: Remember the time that person said that thing to you and that was twelve years ago and you occasionally think about it and it still makes you feel bad? That's the power of words. What we say to one another, what we say about one another, and what we say to ourselves have the power to build, destroy, or overly inflate our egos.
Our words hold surprising power to shape our identity, our environment, and our friends. We get to decide whether to wield that power well or to wield it haphazardly. The words we choose, the tone we use, and even our body language can intentionally or inadvertently build up or tear down. So, how do we become people who are filled with words of grace, truth, and gratitude in a world that's so often cynical and despairing?
Series overview: Remember the time that person said that thing to you and that was twelve years ago and you occasionally think about it and it still makes you feel bad? That's the power of words. What we say to one another, what we say about one another, and what we say to ourselves have the power to build, destroy, or overly inflate our egos.
Celebrated at Easter, Jesus’ resurrection is a central event for Christianity… which means Jesus’ death is also at the center of our faith. But why did Jesus have to die? And what does the answer reveal about God?
Jesus was compassionate toward the outcasts of society and brutal toward highly respected religious leaders. He disrupted their religious festivals, called them snakes, and warned their followers to avoid modeling their lives after them. Why does Jesus seem outraged by the most revered of religious leaders rather than the greatest of sinners?
Series overview: When we think of Jesus, we often think of his kindness, gentleness, and tenderness. We think of his graciousness toward sinners, his generosity toward the poor, and his healing of the sick. So what do we do about the stories of Jesus that come crashing into all our Jesus stereotypes – stories where He seems wild, angry, unfair, or even brutal? Could this savage side of Jesus cause us to love him even more?
Jesus invites a man to follow him and then seemingly refuses to let him bury his own father. Is Jesus being unreasonable? Does he lack compassion for this man's family? What do we learn about the mission of Jesus as we discover the mindset of Jesus?
Series Overview: When we think of Jesus, we often think of his kindness, gentleness, and tenderness. We think of his graciousness toward sinners, his generosity toward the poor, and his healing of the sick. So what do we do about the stories of Jesus that come crashing into all our Jesus stereotypes – stories where He seems wild, angry, unfair, or even brutal? Could this savage side of Jesus cause us to love him even more?
Jesus wasn't fair. How does His radical unfairness offer a surprising example of how we should act toward others? Could unfairness be a model for how we can make the world better?
Series Overview: When we think of Jesus, we often think of his kindness, gentleness, and tenderness. We think of his graciousness toward sinners, his generosity toward the poor, and his healing of the sick. So what do we do about the stories of Jesus that come crashing into all our Jesus stereotypes – stories where He seems wild, angry, unfair, or even brutal? Could this savage side of Jesus cause us to love him even more?
A Gentile woman asks Jesus for help. He first ignores her, and then seems to insult her. What's going on here? Why does Jesus seem so...un-Jesusy in this story?
Series overview: When we think of Jesus, we often think of his kindness, gentleness, and tenderness. We think of his graciousness toward sinners, his generosity toward the poor, and his healing of the sick. So what do we do about the stories of Jesus that come crashing into all our Jesus stereotypes – stories where He seems wild, angry, unfair, or even brutal? Could this savage side of Jesus cause us to love him even more?
The church is called to step boldly into the future, working toward the renewal and reconciliation of all things. This must never devolve into an end-times-oriented, doom-and-gloom, ejection theology, but should rather be a hope-filled vision of what could be if more people chose to attach themselves to the Kingdom of God.
Series overview: Throughout history, the Christian church has occasionally lost its way, becoming distracted or obsessed with money, political power, or cultural relevancy. But at its best, the church has been a beacon of grace, acceptance, and holiness — a spiritual refuge for the broken-hearted and a light illuminating the way to God for those far from Him. How can the Church, the Bride of Christ, stay true to the purpose and assignment that Jesus gave her? Because when the Church looks like Jesus, the church is lovely.
Join Verve City Church in person (14670 Ramona Ave., Chino, CA) or streamed on YouTube at 8:30, 10 & 11:30am PT on Sundays.
As we grapple with the call of the church to live out the great commission and the great commandment, how are individual Christians - and the Church as a whole - uniquely positioned to unleash radical generosity as a blessing in our communities and around the world?
Series Overview:Throughout history, the Christian church has occasionally lost its way, becoming distracted or obsessed with money, political power, or cultural relevancy. But at its best, the church has been a beacon of grace, acceptance, and holiness — a spiritual refuge for the broken-hearted and a light illuminating the way to God for those far from Him. How can the Church, the Bride of Christ, stay true to the purpose and assignment that Jesus gave her? Because when the Church looks like Jesus, the church is lovely.
Join Verve City Church in person (14670 Ramona Ave., Chino, CA) or streamed on YouTube at 8:30, 10 & 11:30am PT on Sundays.
In the second week of our series about the Church as the Bride of Christ, we'll explore how churches serve as missional communities. What do we mean by "mission," and how do we differentiate the good things a church CAN do the missional things a church MUST do?
Series Overview:
Throughout history, the Christian church has occasionally lost its way, becoming distracted or obsessed with money, political power, or cultural relevancy. But at its best, the church has been a beacon of grace, acceptance, and holiness — a spiritual refuge for the broken-hearted and a light illuminating the way to God for those far from Him. How can the Church, the Bride of Christ, stay true to the purpose and assignment that Jesus gave her? Because when the Church looks like Jesus, the church is lovely.
Join Verve City Church in person (14670 Ramona Ave., Chino, CA) or streamed on YouTube at 8:30, 10 & 11:30am PT on Sundays.
Throughout history, the Christian church has occasionally lost its way, becoming distracted or obsessed with money, political power, or cultural relevancy. But at its best, the church has been a beacon of grace, acceptance, and holiness — a spiritual refuge for the broken-hearted and a light illuminating the way to God for those far from Him. How can the Church, the Bride of Christ, stay true to the purpose and assignment that Jesus gave her? Because when the Church looks like Jesus, the church is lovely.
Join Verve City Church in person (14670 Ramona Ave., Chino, CA) or streamed on YouTube at 8:30, 10 & 11:30am PT on Sundays.
This week: Many Christian leaders and spiritualists have written about the two halves of life available to us. The first half is largely about identity and personal security while the second half becomes more about contributing and shedding your ego. So how do people scale this second mountain? How do we follow the pattern of Jesus in giving our lives away?
Series Overview:
Your life can dramatically change for the better, but there is no silver bullet. It’s a pathway to walk rather than a habit to implement. It’s a whole-life pursuit rather than a life hack to learn. In this series, we’ll look at how Jesus modeled and enabled a spiritual pathway that teaches us how to live a good life at every stage, from youthful ambition to old age.
Our worldview, values, and religious beliefs don't typically change until our current paradigms don't work for us anymore. We encounter suffering, grief, or cognitive dissonance and we realize that our way of understanding the world doesn't hold explanatory power for our experiences. How do we make sense of the world when the world stops making sense?
Series Overview:
Your life can dramatically change for the better, but there is no silver bullet. It’s a pathway to walk rather than a habit to implement. It’s a whole-life pursuit rather than a life hack to learn. In this series, we’ll look at how Jesus modeled and enabled a spiritual pathway that teaches us how to live a good life at every stage, from youthful ambition to old age.
The human ego prefers just about anything to suffering, changing, or dying. In fact, many people adopt a religious tradition in hopes of avoiding such painful experiences. But the way of Jesus has always understood this terrifying and liberating truth: resurrection can only come after death. Jesus told us we would experience trouble in this world (John 16:33). How do we leverage our suffering to grow and transform?
Series Overview:
Your life can dramatically change for the better, but there is no silver bullet. It’s a pathway to walk rather than a habit to implement. It’s a whole-life pursuit rather than a life hack to learn. In this series, we’ll look at how Jesus modeled and enabled a spiritual pathway that teaches us how to live a good life at every stage, from youthful ambition to old age.
Some older people inspire the young people who know them, and some serve as a cautionary tale. How do we become more kind, generous, and patient as we age? How do we avoid becoming cynical, embittered, or resentful?
Series Overview: Your life can dramatically change for the better, but there is no silver bullet. It’s a pathway to walk rather than a habit to implement. It’s a whole-life pursuit rather than a life hack to learn. In this series, we’ll look at how Jesus modeled and enabled a spiritual pathway that teaches us how to live a good life at every stage, from youthful ambition to old age.
Most things aren’t for everyone. But Christmas reminds us that Jesus IS for all of us! His birth represents the reality of God’s love. Through his birth, life, death, and resurrection, Jesus justifies our joy; reminds us that we’re not alone; and gives our lives hope and purpose.
This week:
The shepherds were near the bottom of the socio-economic ladder of first-century Jewish society. The wise men were likely wealthy gentiles, perhaps astrologers or kings. These two groups of men could not have been much more different than they were. And yet both groups needed Christmas so much that the angels themselves proclaimed the arrival of Jesus in spectacular fashion.
Whether you’re a “glass is half-full” or “glass is half-empty” kind of person, Christmas comes every year just the same. And underneath the shiny trappings of another holiday season, we can find ourselves feeling oddly empty, unfulfilled, and even disappointed. But what if the birth of Jesus was actually world-changing for optimists, pessimists, and realists alike? What if all of us could experience a better version of Christmas this year?
Every generation thinks that the generation behind it is the worst generation ever. There are significant psychographic and value-driven differences between different generations that lead them to listen to different music, vote differently, watch different television shows, and purchase different products. But Boomers, Xers, Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha all have at least this in common: they all need Christmas.
This week:
As disciples, we choose to be with Jesus, learn from Jesus, and ultimately - become like Jesus. The final message of our Jesusy Life series explores the power and beauty of a life lived like Jesus.
Series overview:
The way of Jesus isn’t primarily something you believe but someone you become. So how do we become the people Jesus invited us to be? How do we become Jesusy?
This week:
Most of us have a favorite life hack (or two!) because we're all looking for easy ways to make our lives better. Following Jesus seems harder than most of those hacks... But what would it actually look like for Jesus' teachings to totally transform our lives? What if we could learn from Jesushow to have true rest, peace, and joy?
Series overview:
The way of Jesus isn’t primarily something you believe but someone you become. So how do we become the people Jesus invited us to be? How do we become Jesusy?
This week:
From free overnight shipping to on-demand entertainment, we’re immersed in an age of seemingly inescapable expectations of speed and efficiency. As followers of Christ, how can we adopt a set of low-tech, ages-old spiritual practices that hold the key to a more productive relationship with God and others?
Series overview:
The way of Jesus isn’t primarily something you believe but someone you become. So how do we become the people Jesus invited us to be? How do we become Jesusy?
Week 1:
We make plans for all kinds of things: working out, saving for our kids' college tuition, accomplishing work goals, binge-watching Netflix shows. But while many of us would like to develop our spiritual lives, few of us make a plan to do so. What if there were a proven way to become more shaped by Jesus?
Series overview:
The way of Jesus isn’t primarily something you believe but someone you become. So how do we become the people Jesus invited us to be? How do we become Jesusy?
Week 4
The Gospels are full of stories where Jesus heals people: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed. These miraculous healings continue in the book of Acts and throughout the ministries of the Apostles. Are these stories credible? And if so, does God still heal today?
Series Overview
Dragons, sea monsters, fairies, gods, and… Jesus. How can our modern sensibilities reconcile myths and mystery, fantasy and faith? What if the world is more mystical than it seems? And what if that reality could change our lives for the better?
Week 3
The New Testament speaks of spiritual gifts that God has given to his Church: evangelism, teaching, serving, leadership, wisdom, administration, healing, and many more. How are these spiritual gifts different from our natural talents? What is the expectation of individuals and churches to use these gifts? And what are some of the dangers and potential pitfalls of using your spiritual gifts as a Christian leader?
Series Overview
Dragons, sea monsters, fairies, gods, and… Jesus. How can our modern sensibilities reconcile myths and mystery, fantasy and faith? What if the world is more mystical than it seems? And what if that reality could change our lives for the better?
Week 2
Christians believe in one God who exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But what does that mean? And how are we to understand the Holy Spirit? Who is he, and what does he do? And what does it mean to be "filled with" the Spirit?
Series Overview
Dragons, sea monsters, fairies, gods, and… Jesus. How can our modern sensibilities reconcile myths and mystery, fantasy and faith? What if the world is more mystical than it seems? And what if that reality could change our lives for the better?
Week 1Not long ago, much of the world believed in dragons, sea monsters, fairies, and gods. The earth was filled with mystery: dark forests, endless oceans, unexplored lands. Today, these notions feel foreign to our modern sensibilities and endearing in their naivety. We have explored the globe, we have unlocked the human genome, and we have launched into outer space. So what are we to do with the worldview of Jesus — a worldview that included unseen spiritual realms, angelic and demonic beings, and the ability of God to miraculously intervene?
Series Overview
Dragons, sea monsters, fairies, gods, and… Jesus. How can our modern sensibilities reconcile myths and mystery, fantasy and faith? What if the world is more mystical than it seems? And what if that reality could change our lives for the better?
This is part 1 of 2 of a discussion of the message from Sunday, September 17: The Dark Knight. For copyright reasons, we cannot livestream or publish these services, so through September we’ll share discussions like this about the movies and messages.
Perhaps the most thought-provoking superhero film ever made, The Dark Knight was released in the aftermath of September 11 and the global war on terror. The questions it poses are as old as the biblical texts themselves: are people inherently good or evil? Do we live in a world of order or chaos? Does good win in the end, or are we destined for darkness to fall? In conversation with perhaps the oldest text in the Bible, the book of Job, we'll examine these questions.
SERIES OVERVIEW:
Movies often reflect our common struggles, hopes, and dreams. Join us for At the Movies, as we discover how these powerful stories intersect with profound truth for our everyday lives.
Each week, our message will feature clips from a particular movie and draw parallels to stories and principles found in the Bible. We’ll also have a themed lobby experience each weekend, complete with free popcorn and other concessions, photo ops, and interactive surprises the whole family will enjoy.
This is part 2 of 2 of a discussion of the message from Sunday, September 17: The Dark Knight. For copyright reasons, we cannot livestream or publish these services, so through September we’ll share discussions like this about the movies and messages.
Perhaps the most thought-provoking superhero film ever made, The Dark Knight was released in the aftermath of September 11 and the global war on terror. The questions it poses are as old as the biblical texts themselves: are people inherently good or evil? Do we live in a world of order or chaos? Does good win in the end, or are we destined for darkness to fall? In conversation with perhaps the oldest text in the Bible, the book of Job, we'll examine these questions.
SERIES OVERVIEW:
Movies often reflect our common struggles, hopes, and dreams. Join us for At the Movies, as we discover how these powerful stories intersect with profound truth for our everyday lives.
Each week, our message will feature clips from a particular movie and draw parallels to stories and principles found in the Bible. We’ll also have a themed lobby experience each weekend, complete with free popcorn and other concessions, photo ops, and interactive surprises the whole family will enjoy.
This is a discussion of the message from Sunday, September 10: Ferris Bueller's Day Off. For copyright reasons, we cannot livestream or publish these services, so through October we’ll share discussions like this about the movies and messages.
Weirdly enough, Ferris Bueller's Day Off mostly isn't about Ferris Bueller, but about his friend Cameron. Cameron has been swimming in so much fear and anxiety that he's become incapable of truly living his life. By the end of the film, the old Cameron dies, and a new one rises up out of the water, ready to own his choices and face his biggest fears. It's as he takes responsibility for his life that he realizes he has the power to change his life.
Cameron's journey acts as a stand-in for the one Jesus invites us to take: seeing where our life is heading without him, and choosing to follow him instead. "Life moves pretty fast; if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
SERIES OVERVIEW:
Movies often reflect our common struggles, hopes, and dreams. Join us for At the Movies, as we discover how these powerful stories intersect with profound truth for our everyday lives.
Each week, our message will feature clips from a particular movie and draw parallels to stories and principles found in the Bible. We’ll also have a themed lobby experience each weekend, complete with free popcorn and other concessions, photo ops, and interactive surprises the whole family will enjoy.
This is a discussion of the message from Sunday, September 3, which highlighted Ford v Ferrari as part of the At the Movies series. For copyright reasons, we cannot livestream or publish these services, so through October we’ll share discussions like this about the movies and messages.
At its core, Ford v Ferrari is the story of how friendship can help us learn the value of acting while thinking of the consequences to others. We are each on a journey from selfishness to increasing selflessness, and Jesus perhaps encapsulated that best with his teaching that self-sacrificial love should be the norm for his followers.
SERIES OVERVIEW:
Movies often reflect our common struggles, hopes, and dreams. Join us for At the Movies, as we discover how these powerful stories intersect with profound truth for our everyday lives.
Each week, our message will feature clips from a particular movie and draw parallels to stories and principles found in the Bible. We’ll also have a themed lobby experience each weekend, complete with free popcorn and other concessions, photo ops, and interactive surprises the whole family will enjoy.
This is a discussion of the message from Sunday, August 27, which highlighted Cars (2006) as part of the At the Movies series. For copyright reasons, we cannot livestream or publish these services, so through October we’ll share discussions like this about the movies and messages.
Released in 2006, Pixar’s Cars gives us insight into our egos: how they can be puffed up, painful, busy, and fragile. Reading from 1 Corinthians 3:21-4:7, we’ll discover that as long as we are seeking validation from our accomplishments or the cheers of others, we’ll never be fully satisfied with the life we’re living.
SERIES OVERVIEW:
Movies often reflect our common struggles, hopes, and dreams. Join us for At the Movies, as we discover how these powerful stories intersect with profound truth for our everyday lives.
Each week, our message will feature clips from a particular movie and draw parallels to stories and principles found in the Bible. We’ll also have a themed lobby experience each weekend, complete with free popcorn and other concessions, photo ops, and interactive surprises the whole family will enjoy.
This week:
At some point in your life, you likely encountered the Bible. You took a literature class in college and were assigned a few chapters to study. Or you grew up going to church and often heard passages read from its pages. Or a parent or relative gave you a copy of the Bible as a gift. Or you saw a shirtless man at a football game who had emblazoned his chest and belly with "John 3:16." But whatever your encounter, it's likely you had questions. When approaching Scripture, the goal isn't to do away with our questions, but to ask interesting ones. What can we ask of the Bible in order to get something helpful out of it?
Series overview:
Though the Bible is perhaps the most influential religious text in human history, even Christians often know very little of its origins. How did we get the Bible as we know it today? How has it been interpreted over the hundreds of years of its existence? And what questions should we bring to this ancient text if we're interested in the power it may still have to transform us today?
This week:
Maybe you were taught every verse in the Bible has one clear meaning. Or maybe you were taught nothing in the Bible is literal and every story finds its meaning in allegory. No matter what, to engage with the Bible at all is to interpret the Bible, and for the past two thousand years, people have had diverse views on Biblical interpretation.
Series overview:
Though the Bible is perhaps the most influential religious text in human history, even Christians often know very little of its origins. How did we get the Bible as we know it today? How has it been interpreted over the hundreds of years of its existence? And what questions should we bring to this ancient text if we're interested in the power it may still have to transform us today?
This week:
Jesus called us to “bear much fruit,” but in the face of our modern, fast-paced, complicated lives, how do we live that out? It turns out the secret to cultivating more good fruit in our lives is simple and sweet.
Series overview:
Any of us who have walked through a difficult season know that “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” is easier said than done! As Jesus followers, how can we maintain a positive outlook when things aren’t going our way? Can trials or setbacks actually reinvigorate our faith? Join us for a refreshing reminder that life’s unexpected circumstances might just be a way God leads us to discover fresh blessings, new opportunities, and even better outcomes than we had hoped.
This week:
Most people seem wired to resist change, and yet from ancient times, people have grappled with the irony that “change is the only constant in life.” Why is that? When God doesn't change our circumstances in the way we might want, how can Jesus' example help us see our lemons as an opportunity to embrace the new thing God’s trying to do or show us?
Series overview:
Any of us who have walked through a difficult season know that “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” is easier said than done! As Jesus followers, how can we maintain a positive outlook when things aren’t going our way? Can trials or setbacks actually reinvigorate our faith? Join us for a refreshing reminder that life’s unexpected circumstances might just be a way God leads us to discover fresh blessings, new opportunities, and even better outcomes than we had hoped.
This week:
When life gives us lemons, is "making lemonade" really the best solution? How can faith help us respond in a better way? The Bible is filled with amazing examples of how God loves being extra – more loving, more powerful, more merciful than we could possibly imagine. Here are five helpful tips for how you can respond when you face unexpected or unwanted circumstances in life.
Series overview:
Any of us who have walked through a difficult season know that “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” is easier said than done! As Jesus followers, how can we maintain a positive outlook when things aren’t going our way? Can trials or setbacks actually reinvigorate our faith? Join us for a refreshing reminder that life’s unexpected circumstances might just be a way God leads us to discover fresh blessings, new opportunities, and even better outcomes than we had hoped.
This week:
Mindset matters. When circumstances aren’t in our favor, we can still control our outlook and take responsibility for our actions/reactions. Do we grumble about the conditions we face, or do we see obstacles as an opportunity to grow in our faith or our relationship with God? Guest speaker David Crain considers the Bible story of three men who defied expectations and took a courageous stand, choosing to worship God even when it appeared that choice might cost them everything.
Series overview:
Any of us who have walked through a difficult season know that “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” is easier said than done! As Jesus followers, how can we maintain a positive outlook when things aren’t going our way? Can trials or setbacks actually reinvigorate our faith? Join us for a refreshing reminder that life’s unexpected circumstances might just be a way God leads us to discover fresh blessings, new opportunities, and even better outcomes than we had hoped.
This week:
A few weeks ago (June 18) we spent time talking about the idea of blessing: we will typically bless people to the extent that we feel blessed in our inner being. In this online-only message, Josh further explores the story of Jacob, discusses the four reasons we often don’t feel blessed, and reminds us that God is often present where we least expect to find Him.
Series overview:
Since 1938, Harvard Medical School has been conducting a long-term study of 724 men aimed at answering the question: "What makes a good life?" They tracked how people lived, loved, and worked in their twenties and thirties, and then studied how their lives turned out over the following decades. These researchers have determined the single most important trait of “Happy-Well” elders is healthy relationships. As one researcher puts it, “Happiness is love. Full stop.” For anyone who is interested in beginning, maintaining, and deepening the relationships they have with others, we will find much wisdom in the teachings of Jesus and in the Scriptures he believed in.
This week:
You were young and impressionable and still figuring your life out. And someone said an unkind thing to you. And it was years ago, and it was really no big deal, and you’ve totally moved on. Except that you kind of haven’t. Because all these years later: you still remember the thing they said. We have the power to curse people in ways they will remember forever. How do we choose instead to live a life of blessing?
Series overview:
Since 1938, Harvard Medical School has been conducting a long-term study of 724 men aimed at answering the question: "What makes a good life?" They tracked how people lived, loved, and worked in their twenties and thirties, and then studied how their lives turned out over the following decades. These researchers have determined the single most important trait of “Happy-Well” elders is healthy relationships. As one researcher puts it, “Happiness is love. Full stop.” For anyone who is interested in beginning, maintaining, and deepening the relationships they have with others, we will find much wisdom in the teachings of Jesus and in the Scriptures he believed in.
This week:
The average person will spend 90,000 hours at work over the course of their life time. That’s 90,000 hours of labor, projects, meetings, TPS reports, KPI reports, strategy sessions, and hard conversations. So how does a follower of Jesus bring their whole self to work? How do they see their labor as sacred while building relationships, pouring into others, and serving as spiritual leaders amongst the people they’ll spend a huge chunk of their lives with?
Series overview:
Since 1938, Harvard Medical School has been conducting a long-term study of 724 men aimed at answering the question: "What makes a good life?" They tracked how people lived, loved, and worked in their twenties and thirties, and then studied how their lives turned out over the following decades. These researchers have determined the single most important trait of “Happy-Well” elders is healthy relationships. As one researcher puts it, “Happiness is love. Full stop.” For anyone who is interested in beginning, maintaining, and deepening the relationships they have with others, we will find much wisdom in the teachings of Jesus and in the Scriptures he believed in.
This week:
Great Britain recently appointed a “Loneliness Minister.” The U.S. Surgeon General released a warning in May of 2023 that loneliness poses risks as deadly as smoking. It feels like we’re more connected and more isolated than we’ve ever been before. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Series overview:
Since 1938, Harvard Medical School has been conducting a long-term study of 724 men aimed at answering the question: "What makes a good life?" They tracked how people lived, loved, and worked in their twenties and thirties, and then studied how their lives turned out over the following decades. These researchers have determined the single most important trait of “Happy-Well” elders is healthy relationships. As one researcher puts it, “Happiness is love. Full stop.” For anyone who is interested in beginning, maintaining, and deepening the relationships they have with others, we will find much wisdom in the teachings of Jesus and in the Scriptures he believed in.
This week:
Where and how you start the story determine the kind of story you are telling. But they don’t determine how that story will conclude. What did Jesus say about the end of our lives and the end of the world? Where is all of this leading and how do we determine our purpose in the midst of it?
Series overview:One of the most unchallenged beliefs in Western culture is that life is about finding happiness. There is an ancient alternative to living for happiness, however: to live for meaning. To “live for meaning” means not that you try to get something out of life but rather that life expects something out of you.
Is it possible that there is something about the way of Jesus that holds a fundamental key to unlocking our own sense of purpose in the world?
This series revolves around two fundamental questions: (1) What is Christianity? (2) How does Christianity teach us to live with meaning, purpose, and joy?
Why does the Christian church exist? What is its purpose? Why belong to one? Wouldn’t it be easier and less mess to simply invest in a more individualistic faith? It turns out that Jesus had a bold, beautiful plan for the church that we’re invited to execute.
The Bible is not a guide to parenting. While it contains principles for raising children, it never attempts to give step-by-step instructions for how we should pour into the next generation. There is, however, much to be learned about parenting from the examples of Jesus and countless other Christian leaders who have spent their lives raising up future generations.
This Week:
Understanding the grace of Jesus requires us to acknowledge our faults and our sin. As Donald Miller once wrote, “Grace only sticks to our imperfections.” Thankfully, those imperfections are not the end of our story.
Series Overview:
One of the most unchallenged beliefs in Western culture is that life is about finding happiness. There is an ancient alternative to living for happiness, however: to live for meaning. To “live for meaning” means not that you try to get something out of life but rather that life expects something out of you.
Is it possible that there is something about the way of Jesus that holds a fundamental key to unlocking our own sense of purpose in the world?
This series revolves around two fundamental questions: (1) What is Christianity? (2) How does Christianity teach us to live with meaning, purpose, and joy?
Is it crazy to believe in angels, demons, or some kind of “devil” figure? What did Jesus seem to believe about the existence of a spiritual realm? And even if any of those things are real, what implications does that have for us?
While the word has lost most of its weight and is often said with a wink and a smile, “sin” points to a deeper darkness that we are all familiar with if we’re honest: our human propensity to make a mess of things and our inclination to make good things into ultimate things. View the discussion guide and recommended resources.
This week:
Where and how you start the story determines the kind of story you are telling. So what kind of story are you living? Why are you here and what is your purpose? The origin story of the universe that Jesus believed is so different from our common understanding that it almost seems divine.
Series Overview:
One of the most unchallenged beliefs in Western culture is that life is about finding happiness. There is an ancient alternative to living for happiness, however: to live for meaning. To “live for meaning” means not that you try to get something out of life but rather that life expects something out of you.
Is it possible that there is something about the way of Jesus that holds a fundamental key to unlocking our own sense of purpose in the world?
This series revolves around two fundamental questions: (1) What is Christianity? (2) How does Christianity teach us to live with meaning, purpose, and joy?
You probably know that Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead. Yet that’s not the way the world works: dead things stay dead. But what if death doesn’t have the final word? What if that reality could change the way we live?
This week:
Anxiety lies to us. It's a schoolyard bully taking advantage of our vulnerabilities. It can feel like an unstoppable force. But in the greatest sermon ever, Jesus taught us to confront the lies of anxiety with the truth of God's goodness.
Series overview:
You can’t understand how good Michael Jordan was if you’ve never watched a video of him playing. You can’t comprehend the commanding stage presence of Taylor Swift if you’ve never sat in the crowd. You can’t appreciate the world-shaking message of Jesus if you’ve never studied his most audacious sermon.
Once upon a time, a Jewish rabbi stood on the side of a mountain, projected his voice to a multitude of people gathered beneath him, and delivered a sermon that changed the course of human history. In one brief sermon, Jesus taught about subjects as wide-ranging as prayer, justice, care for the needy, handling the religious law, fasting, judging other people, salvation, and much more. If we believe Jesus was inviting people into the best life possible, it’s worth studying the way he described how that life should look.
This week:
Christians all over the world are taught that prayer is important. Even people who don’t consider themselves to be affiliated with a particular religious tradition sometimes find themselves praying in the midst of heartache. Does prayer “work?” And if it does, what does it accomplish? And if it accomplishes anything, how do we actually pray?
Series overview:
You can’t understand how good Michael Jordan was if you’ve never watched a video of him playing. You can’t comprehend the commanding stage presence of Taylor Swift if you’ve never sat in the crowd. You can’t appreciate the world-shaking message of Jesus if you’ve never studied his most audacious sermon.
Once upon a time, a Jewish rabbi stood on the side of a mountain, projected his voice to a multitude of people gathered beneath him, and delivered a sermon that changed the course of human history. In one brief sermon, Jesus taught about subjects as wide-ranging as prayer, justice, care for the needy, handling the religious law, fasting, judging other people, salvation, and much more. If we believe Jesus was inviting people into the best life possible, it’s worth studying the way he described how that life should look.
Our church has always existed to help people find life by following Jesus, and that remains our mission today. We believe God goes where God is wanted, and we deeply and prayerfully desire to be a vibrant, passionate faith community in which more people will find their lives transformed by Jesus in the years ahead. In this special message, Lead Pastor Josh Crain shares vision for the next five years, along with a couple of exiting changes on the horizon.
This week:
Making snap judgments is human nature, right? Judgments keep us safe and help us organize our world into all sorts of helpful categories... But what's the difference between judging critically and judging harshly? How can we avoid letting our moral standards become a trap of hypocrisy? Jesus modeled how we can find fulfillment by living with humility and gentleness.
Series overview:
You can’t understand how good Michael Jordan was if you’ve never watched a video of him playing. You can’t comprehend the commanding stage presence of Taylor Swift if you’ve never sat in the crowd. You can’t appreciate the world-shaking message of Jesus if you’ve never studied his most audacious sermon.
Once upon a time, a Jewish rabbi stood on the side of a mountain, projected his voice to a multitude of people gathered beneath him, and delivered a sermon that changed the course of human history. In one brief sermon, Jesus taught about subjects as wide-ranging as prayer, justice, care for the needy, handling the religious law, fasting, judging other people, salvation, and much more. If we believe Jesus was inviting people into the best life possible, it’s worth studying the way he described how that life should look.
This week:
When someone hurts us, our impulse is to get them back. We want to get even because even feels fair. But it doesn’t end up feeling good. In fact, it doesn’t end at all. We get sucked into a never-ending cycle of retaliation. Jesus did His best to give grace to those who treated Him the worst. What made Him think this counter-intuitive strategy would make a difference? And why did He insist His followers do the same?
Series overview:
It’s impossible to understand how good Michael Jordan was if you’ve never watched a video of him playing. You can’t comprehend the commanding stage presence of Taylor Swift if you’ve never sat in the crowd. You can’t appreciate the world-shaking message of Jesus if you’ve never studied his most audacious sermon.
In one brief message, projected to a great multitude of people gathered on a mountain side Jesus taught about subjects as wide-ranging as prayer, justice, care for the needy, judging other people, salvation, and much more. His words that day were so surprising and so powerful, they altered the trajectory of human history. If we believe Jesus was inviting people into the best life possible, it’s worth an in-depth look into the life he invited us to live.
This week:
In the beatitudes, Jesus taught that the people who are often at the bottom of society are actually blessed beyond their wildest imaginations. The world has struggled to believe him ever since. How might grasping the beginning theme of his sermon on the mount change the way we see God, ourselves, and the world around us?
Series overview:
You can’t understand how good Michael Jordan was if you’ve never watched a video of him playing. You can’t comprehend the commanding stage presence of Taylor Swift if you’ve never sat in the crowd. You can’t appreciate the world-shaking message of Jesus if you’ve never studied his most audacious sermon.
Once upon a time, a Jewish rabbi stood on the side of a mountain, projected his voice to a multitude of people gathered beneath him, and delivered a sermon that changed the course of human history. In one brief sermon, Jesus taught about subjects as wide-ranging as prayer, justice, care for the needy, handling the religious law, fasting, judging other people, salvation, and much more. If we believe Jesus was inviting people into the best life possible, it’s worth studying the way he described how that life should look.
This week:
Genius violates the status quo; it challenges deeply held beliefs and values. Genius is original; it sees the world from a perspective that didn’t exist before. Genius is transformative; it leaves its mark and divides the world into “before” and “after.” Genius is transformative, but it’s not typically transferable. Jesus was a genius. But perhaps the defining, world-shaking characteristic of his genius is that it’s contagious.
Series overview:
You can’t understand how good Michael Jordan was if you’ve never watched a video of him playing. You can’t comprehend the commanding stage presence of Taylor Swift if you’ve never sat in the crowd. You can’t appreciate the world-shaking message of Jesus if you’ve never studied his most audacious sermon.
Once upon a time, a Jewish rabbi stood on the side of a mountain, projected his voice to a multitude of people gathered beneath him, and delivered a sermon that changed the course of human history. In one brief sermon, Jesus taught about subjects as wide-ranging as prayer, justice, care for the needy, handling the religious law, fasting, judging other people, salvation, and much more. If we believe Jesus was inviting people into the best life possible, it’s worth studying the way he described how that life should look.
This week: How Christians Can Shape Culture
We can condemn culture, we can critique culture, we can copy culture, and we can consume culture. But none of that changes it. The only way to shape culture is to create culture. Jesus did it. The early church did. We can do it, too.
Series overview:
Are you interested in learning more about the kind of life Jesus invited us into? Do the teachings of Jesus feel like they get drowned out or confused by all the groups, influencers, politicians, and churches that claim him as their spokesperson? Join us for an immensely practical series exploring the way of Jesus. We’ll discover it’s both counter to the secular culture we live in, and counter to the religious culture many of us are familiar with.
This week: How to Make Peace in an Anger Culture
We see it in airplanes, at ballgames, in social media feeds, and on political talkshows: people are angry. Increasingly, our culture is fed a steady diet of fear and outrage and we feel justified when we lash out at others. Jesus called his followers to be peacemakers. How can we shape the culture more than the culture shapes us?
Series overview:
Are you interested in learning more about the kind of life Jesus invited us into? Do the teachings of Jesus feel like they get drowned out or confused by all the groups, influencers, politicians, and churches that claim him as their spokesperson? Join us for an immensely practical series exploring the way of Jesus. We’ll discover it’s both counter to the secular culture we live in, and counter to the religious culture many of us are familiar with.
This week: How Nationalism Warps Faith
Almost every nation that has ever existed believed God, or the gods, was on their side. Powerful kings, queens, dictators, and politicians have consistently shown a knack for tapping into religious fervor in order to further a political agenda. How has nationalistic fervor warped the faith of Christians who came before us? And how can we keep it from happening again?
Series overview:
Are you interested in learning more about the kind of life Jesus invited us into? Do the teachings of Jesus feel like they get drowned out or confused by all the groups, influencers, politicians, and churches that claim him as their spokesperson? Join us for an immensely practical series exploring the way of Jesus. We’ll discover it’s both counter to the secular culture we live in, and counter to the religious culture many of us are familiar with.
This week: How to Lose a Culture War
In 1991 James Davison Hunter wrote a book and titled it with a phrase for what he saw playing out in America’s fights over abortion, gay rights, and religion in public schools: “Culture Wars.” In 2014, CNN published an article by Rachel Held Evans entitled “How Evangelicals Won a War and Lost a Generation.” What does thinking Jesusly help us discern about the way Christians have engaged with American culture over the last 100 years? And how should Christians engage going forward?
Series overview:
Are you interested in learning more about the kind of life Jesus invited us into? Do the teachings of Jesus feel like they get drowned out or confused by all the groups, influencers, politicians, and churches that claim him as their spokesperson? Join us for an immensely practical series exploring the way of Jesus. We’ll discover it’s both counter to the secular culture we live in, and counter to the religious culture many of us are familiar with.
This week: How to Think Jesusly
The earliest Christians encouraged followers of Jesus to take every thought captive to Christ, to put on the mind of Jesus, and to have the same mindset of Christ. Which begs the question: how did Jesus think? What was unique about his thought patterns and worldview that might shape our own?
Series overview:
Are you interested in learning more about the kind of life Jesus invited us into? Do the teachings of Jesus feel like they get drowned out or confused by all the groups, influencers, politicians, and churches that claim him as their spokesperson? Join us for an immensely practical series exploring the way of Jesus. We’ll discover it’s both counter to the secular culture we live in, and counter to the religious culture many of us are familiar with.
This week: How Culture Shapes Us
Christians say they want to live more like Jesus. Even non-Christians say that want Christians to live more like Jesus. So why don’t they? It’s time to explore two of the most challenging barriers to living the life Jesus has invited us into: the culture in which we live and the culture in which Jesus lived.
Series overview:
Are you interested in learning more about the kind of life Jesus invited us into? Do the teachings of Jesus feel like they get drowned out or confused by all the groups, influencers, politicians, and churches that claim him as their spokesperson? Join us for an immensely practical series exploring the way of Jesus. We’ll discover it’s both counter to the secular culture we live in, and counter to the religious culture many of us are familiar with.
Student Pastor Greg Morton offers thoughts on how our intentional moments with God and in connection with our faith community can shape us in the New Year ahead.
Week 3 -
For many of us, Santa Claus embodied the magic of Christmas when we were children: a selfless, timeless being who rewarded good behavior with lavish gifts. But where did our modern-day understanding of Jolly Old St. Nick come from? And how is he perceived around the world? And what does any of that have to do with Jesus?
Series overview -
Ever wondered why some of our cherished Christmas traditions are so…cherished? It’s kind of weird that we put ornament-adorned trees in our homes and immerse our neighborhoods in lights and deck our halls with boughs of holly, all while waiting for a chubby old man ensconced in velvet to break into our homes via chimney. How did all of that start? And what does it mean? And why does it matter? We’re going to pull all of it apart and then put it back together in surprising and delightful ways as we spend this December Reconstructing Christmas.
Week 2-
Bright whites, multicolored bulbs, incandescent string lights, icicle LEDs… Christmas lights strung from our rooftops are a sure sign of the season. One of the most famous fictional characters of Christmas even has a light-up nose that saves Santa! What if we could see all these lights as more than seasonal whimsy and, instead, a reminder of a beautiful truth that dazzles beyond anything we could create?
Series overview -Ever wondered why some of our cherished Christmas traditions are so…cherished? It’s kind of weird that we put ornament-adorned trees in our homes and immerse our neighborhoods in lights and deck our halls with boughs of holly, all while waiting for a chubby old man ensconced in velvet to break into our homes via chimney. How did all of that start? And what does it mean? And why does it matter? We’re going to pull all of it apart and then put it back together in surprising and delightful ways as we spend this December Reconstructing Christmas.
Each Christmas season millions of Americans place trees in their homes — draped in lights, engulfed in ornaments, a bundle of beautifully wrapped gifts gathered beneath the branches. It’s a beloved tradition with a complicated origin. What if a guided tour of the Christmas story meant you’d never look at a Christmas tree the same way again?
Series overview:
Ever wondered why some of our cherished Christmas traditions are so…cherished? It’s kind of weird that we put ornament-adorned trees in our homes and immerse our neighborhoods in lights and deck our halls with boughs of holly, all while waiting for a chubby old man ensconced in velvet to break into our homes via chimney. How did all of that start? And what does it mean? And why does it matter? We’re going to pull all of it apart and then put it back together in surprising and delightful ways as we spend this December Reconstructing Christmas.
Week 5 - "Be 1 of 11"
Jesus founded the Church and invited each of us to play a role in it. But what is the church? What is its’ purpose? And what role, if any, are we invited to play in it?
Series overview:
The hit television show Ted Lasso took the world by storm because of its positivity, humor, and the charm of its lead character. A number of internet articles even compared Ted to Jesus: the guy is just full of love. And yet for all of his folksy charm, perhaps lovable Ted Lasso just scrapes the surface of the kind of life that Jesus invited us to live. This series explores the folksy wisdom of Ted Lasso and the timeless teachings of Jesus.
Week 4 - "Be You"
We can expend so much energy trying to be other people that we never become the best version of ourselves. How do we become satisfied with the life we’re living and stop spending so much time pining for the lives of others?
Series overview:
The hit television show Ted Lasso took the world by storm because of its positivity, humor, and the charm of its lead character. A number of internet articles even compared Ted to Jesus: the guy is just full of love. And yet for all of his folksy charm, perhaps lovable Ted Lasso just scrapes the surface of the kind of life that Jesus invited us to live. This series explores the folksy wisdom of Ted Lasso and the timeless teachings of Jesus.
Week 3 - "Be Curious Not Judgmental"
Most of us grew up hearing the adage, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” And yet we make snap judgments about people we encounter every day. Jesus - and Ted Lasso - had a knack for connecting with people by asking questions. What attitudes and practices can we develop to encourage health and new understanding in our relationships?
Series overview:
The hit television show Ted Lasso took the world by storm because of its positivity, humor, and the charm of its lead character. A number of internet articles even compared Ted to Jesus: the guy is just full of love. And yet for all of his folksy charm, perhaps lovable Ted Lasso just scrapes the surface of the kind of life that Jesus invited us to live. This series explores the folksy wisdom of Ted Lasso and the timeless teachings of Jesus.
Speaker: Audrey Eisenberg
Week 2 - "Be a Goldfish"
How do we move on from a painful past? It’s a common misconception that goldfish only have a 10-second memory. While the science doesn’t back it up, goldfish are often used as a metaphor: we’ll be happier if we don’t dwell on the bad experiences of our past. How does Jesus teach us to find the strength to learn from our previous pain and forgive those who have wronged us?
Series overview:
The hit television show Ted Lasso took the world by storm because of its positivity, humor, and the charm of its lead character. A number of internet articles even compared Ted to Jesus: the guy is just full of love. And yet for all of his folksy charm, perhaps lovable Ted Lasso just scrapes the surface of the kind of life that Jesus invited us to live. This series explores the folksy wisdom of Ted Lasso and the timeless teachings of Jesus.
Series overview:
The hit television show Ted Lasso took the world by storm because of its positivity, humor, and the charm of its lead character. A number of internet articles even compared Ted to Jesus: the guy is just full of love. And yet for all of his folksy charm, perhaps lovable Ted Lasso just scrapes the surface of the kind of life that Jesus invited us to live. This series explores the folksy wisdom of Ted Lasso and the timeless teachings of Jesus
Week 1 - Be Lieve
The story of Jesus invites us to step into a particular set of beliefs: about Jesus, about God, about the world, and about ourselves. But is this particular set of beliefs…believable? How does “belief” even work? And what might cause us to re-examine everything we thought we believed?
Okay, real talk: if the Church is to be a force for good in the world, what is your role? What is Jesus inviting you to do with your time, your talent, and your treasure? And how do we hold on to HOPE when we find ourselves surrounded by the cynicism of a troubled world around us?
While the New Testament spends a great deal of time telling the stories of early Christian missionaries, another major theme emerges: many of the first Christians understood the Gospel as something that is also very local. What if the Gospel is more powerful than we imagine, and more pertinent than we know? What would happen if we began to see our lives as a platform for the Gospel?
This message feature guest speaker, Pastor Mike Obadja.
In the first half of the 20th century, Christianity in America was embattled by a controversy that seemed to pit two of the church’s goals against one another: battling for souls versus battling for society. For the last one hundred years, churches have fought over whether it is more important to emphasize “Gospel proclamation” or “Gospel demonstration.” The fact that many churches outside of the United States have seemed to see no contradiction between saving souls and serving society did little to lower the temperature of the argument. What if the way of Jesus isn’t “either/or” but “both/and”?
We enter into our marriages with hopes, dreams, and desires that then become our spouse’s expectations. When we are blind to this reality, trying to make sense of our disappointment can brutalize a relationship and end in criticism, defensiveness, stonewalling, and contempt. Armed with knowledge of this dynamic and the example of Jesus, how can we revive and renew our marriages, friendships, and relationships?
Jesus taught that “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” And the church has been arguing about what he meant almost since he said it. For people walking through divorce, the counsel they receive from their Christian friends can sometimes be painful and feel judgmental. For Christians struggling through a challenging or toxic marriage, Jesus’ command can feel stifling. How can putting Jesus’ words into their first-century context help us understand what his teaching means for us today?
Our culture plays a significant role in how we think about sex and dating. But what did Jesus teach about sexuality as it relates to our discipleship and how do his teachings affirm or push back against our cultural understanding? How can Christians honor God and others with their bodies while living in a hookup culture?
What’s one of the biggest differences between good relationships and strained relationships? Bidding. We are bidding for each other’s attention in large and small ways all the time. How we respond to the bids of others will largely determine the quality of the relationships that we have.
This week’s feature is THE IMPOSSIBLE! Starring Tom Holland, Naomi Watts, and Ewan McGregor, this film about a family attempting to reunite following a devastating tsunami has much to teach us about God’s relentless love.
If you've ever experienced regret, then this week's message will HIT HOME! Field of Dreams is a movie about baseball, and family, and dreams coming true... but above all, it's a movie about wishing we could have a "do over" and how we can experience freedom from our past mistakes.
Jurassic Park is about a lot of things: dinosaurs, evolution, technology, survival. But at it's core, Jurassic Park is a film how our desire for control can sometimes lead to our ruin or to the ruin of others. This week we explore the power Jesus demonstrated for us when he willingly gave up control in order that we might be rescued.
Next week At the Movies: Field Of Dreams!
Plan a visit here: http://inlandhills.com/planavisit
Each year we revisit the vision of Inland Hills Church and what it looks like to connect people to Jesus in a post-Christian culture. How can we as a faith community meet our friends, families, and neighbors in the places they are while living out the vision God has for our lives?
Present experiences can lead to future transformation. This is a message both about youth and about you. The next generation is wrestling with many questions, but are these questions so different than the ones we are asking ourselves?
Our human desire for “greatness” can lead us to do some pretty crazy things! What’s Jesus’ idea of greatness, and how can we follow His teaching and example of loving God and loving others? A personal journey through foster care offers one lens for understanding how we can put “both/and” loving into practice.
Heart conversations can be hard conversations, but they are necessary to confront the false statements and narratives we tell ourselves. You can not change what you do not confront. When we are not transparent with our words and our thoughts, they become a hiding place and create disconnection.
When we're freaking out about something, we often want other people around us to support us by freaking out too. But the presence of calm doesn't mean the absence of care. Jesus was often calm and walked at his own pace, even when those around him were not. Our fears pressure us into wanting more control. But the opposite of fear is love, not control. God loves you, and he has good surprises for you.
When we first put our faith in Jesus we are usually hyper aware of our need for him. But as he begins to transform us there can be a tendency to forget where we came from and to begin judging those outside of the church who don't live like us. Sometimes we’re so thankful for who we are that we forget who we were. Josh Crain kicks off our weekend teaching series, Voices: Practical Ideas for Leading a Jesus-centered Life
Today, Josh Crain closes out our teaching series called Bringin' Home the Bacon. Sometimes we need to stop and celebrate the things that God is doing in the midst of our community. Because of your generosity we have seen people commit to Jesus, lives transformed, and communities blessed this year. We celebrate today because your giving is changing lives.
Two things are true: it’s your money. And it’s not your money. It’s your money, so you should find ways to spend it that delight you and make your world a more enjoyable place. And it’s also all a gift that you steward as it flows to you and it flows away from you. The great wisdom teachers found in the Scriptures are constantly giving us two paradoxical instructions about money: 1) grab hold of it because it’s yours and 2) let go of it because it’s not.
Josh Crain**
If we push past the discomfort of talking about money, we’ll discover a powerful truth: money is always teaching you. Money can act as a mirror, reflecting and exposing the narratives and resentments we have. If we shift our mindset around finances, we’ll discover there’s a wealth of wisdom and understanding to be found.
Jesus is usually admired as a good moral teacher even by those who deny his divinity. But is “good moral teacher” a category we can place Jesus in? Did he claim to be God? Is it possible he was crazy? Did his first followers radically alter the message that he preached? Did he actually rise from the dead? The goodness of God and the validity of Christianity hangs on the answers to these questions.
The tragedy of the Uvalde shooting this past week, along with the recent shootings in Laguna Woods and Buffalo, are a horrific reminder of the brokenness of our world. Our hurting nation and communities need the message of Jesus more now than ever before... but has the institution of “the evangelical church” lost its influence due to its own leaders’ mess-ups and cover-ups? What will it take for the Church to lead a revival in our communities... and what role do we have as individuals to truly mimic Jesus’ humility, love, and grace as we seek to share the life-saving truth of the gospel?
Every commercial we see reinforces the same message: the good life is just a purchase away. We could finally be happy if we had a bigger house, a nicer car, a newer phone, a more luxurious dining room set...the list is endless. Which is kind of the point. Increasingly, sociologists and psychologists are discovering that there’s a real emotional and relational cost to have a mindset of constant accumulation as a pathway to personal fulfillment.
Jesus taught the opposite: he said that generosity was the key to living a happy and free life. Jesus even challenged some of the religious leaders of his day by pointing to what seemed to be a paradoxical problem: they were giving their money away, but they weren’t actually generous.
Which of these opposing narratives do we choose to put our trust in? Do we live in a world of scarcity as the advertisers would have us believe? Or do we live in a world of abundance as Jesus taught? And how would our lives be transformed if we chose to trust in Jesus’ vision of the world?
We all want to be masters of our own destinies. We all want to feel in control of our lives. The idea of autonomy is attractive. It makes life feel ordered and predictable. But our desire for autonomy can stand in the way of faith. One of the biggest barriers to belief in God is that we don’t want to believe because we don’t want to need anyone. But what if autonomy is an illusion?
Don’t let the illusion of autonomy stand in the way of a relationship with your heavenly Father. Don’t be turned away from God by the prospect that his existence means you’re guilty, accountable, and wrong. Acknowledging your sin and reaching out to God doesn’t lead to condemnation. It opens the door to forgiveness, relationship, and truth. Romans 5:8; James 4:8-10
This message "I Do" is the final week of our series "Who Needs God" at Inland Hills Church. We invite you to check out the rest of the series, and subscribe to our channel so that you never miss a new message!
People are migrating away from religion at an unprecedented rate—Christianity in particular. Once upon a time, people believed religion offered solutions. Today, many people view religion as the problem.
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We all want to rid the world of injustice. But we can only recognize injustice if we know what justice is to begin with. But maybe the best way to rid the world of injustice is to rid the world of God. We don’t always agree about what is just. So, who gets to define justice if not God? When God is gone, injustice leaves with him because justice leaves with him.
If anyone had a reason to stop believing in God because of injustice, it was Jesus. The one who stands at the center of all we believe was treated extraordinarily unfairly. The one who taught us all people have inherent value was executed. The one whose definition of good and just informs your definitions of good and just was treated unjustly. Evil and injustice are not arguments against the existence of God. They are evidence of our need for his mercy and grace. Scripture references: 1 John 4:7-8; John 12:47; Luke 18:7-8
Are you caught between doubt and despair because you’ve been trying to worship the
bodyguard god, on-demand god, boyfriend god, guilt god, anti-science god, gap god, or
angry-Old-Testament god? If big-G God has lost his appeal because you’ve mixed him up
with a gaggle of little-g gods who don’t exist, then how can you know what God is really
like?
If you could see God just once, wouldn’t it settle your fears, give you assurance, and
motivate you to hold firm in your faith? If you want to know what God says, listen to
Jesus. If you want to know what God is up to, watch Jesus. If you want to have a closer
relationship with God, follow Jesus. John 14:7-11; John 4:24; Luke 11:2; 1 John 14
Do you find some of the Bible’s stories about God unsettling? Do you ever wonder how you can trust Jesus if it requires you to believe everything in the Bible is true? Does Christianity seem like a fragile house of cards that may tumble down in the face of scientific or archeological discovery? Before you abandon your faith, it’s worth exploring this question: What if the Bible isn’t the foundation of the Christian faith?
Before the Old and New Testaments were combined and called the Bible, the debate about the Christian faith centered on an event, not a book. We believe Jesus rose from the dead, but not because the Bible says so. We believe because of the testimony of eyewitnesses who gave up everything— including their lives—because of their confidence in Jesus. 1 Corinthians 15:13—14
Everyone has religious doubts. Certain things about God are unsettling. Our circumstances can make God seem distant or vengeful. Science can make God seem unnecessary. Those doubts can cause us to abandon faith. But maybe our perspectives are wrong. Maybe the gods we abandon never existed to begin with.
More Americans than ever are backing away from religion . . . and God. Not because
atheism is attractive, but because religion is unattractive. Religion is seen as the problem.
It’s thought of as a source of conflict and violence. So, it’s worth asking the question: Who
Needs God?
We’re supposed to share the gospel of Jesus. But how do we do that? Is it all up to us individually or do we get graded as a group project? If I really, really want my friends to follow Jesus, is there something I can do to help that along? Great questions. Let’s think through some answers together.
Having looked at partial gospels as being unsatisfying, we turn to secular narratives — beliefs about reality that most cultural institutions hold as truth — and find that they are ultimately unsatisfying as well. What we need isn’t a partial gospel or an unsatisfying cultural narrative. What we need is Jesus and the gospel he proclaimed. And it’s what our friends need as well.
When we think about inviting other people to participate in faith, we need to ask: what specifically are we inviting them into? We are surrounded by competing gospels. In week one, we’ll describe five different gospels versions that are often taught in the United States: 1) the evangelical gospel 2) the reformed gospel 3) the social justice gospel 4) the political gospel and 5) the prosperity gospel. The power of each of these is that they all contain some truth. But what if the good news of Jesus is actually better than any of them?
Community can be beautiful, but it’s also messy. How do we bring our whole selves into a group of people? Our strengths, our weaknesses, our doubts, our certainties: these are some of the elements that make up who we are. How do we trust that other people can handle all of that, and how are we able to handle all that others may bring? What does community look like when we disagree? When we see things differently? Is it even possible that these differences can make us better together?
Great community and friendships appear to be all win: who doesn’t want a group of people to be known and loved by? But a fuller understanding of community recognizes something more: community requires sacrifice. If we truly are better together, how will we have to reorient our lives, our time, and our ideologies in order to build the community that our souls so desperately need?
We weren’t built to live life alone. We’re social creatures who flourish most when we are together: celebrat-ing, eating, partying — together. But also: struggling, mourning, questioning — together. Our challenge is that building true community around us is both necessary and difficult. How can we live our lives and engage with other people in such a way that we become better together?
The Scriptures speak constantly of human flourishing: it’s God’s desire that we live well and connect well relationally with him and with others. But what happens when we don’t? The Old Testament book of Daniel contains multiple stories that point to a singular point: human beings lose their humanity when they don’t connect with God. Tragedy occurs when created beings lose touch with their creator.
There’s a fascinating story in the Hebrew Scriptures about idolatry: what happens when we take a good thing and make it an ultimate thing. An entire nation is coerced into bowing down to a golden image that represents the empire and the king, but three young men choose to resist. What kind of faith does it take to go against the flow? To be surrounded by people engaged in unhealthy and ultimately destructive behavior, but to choose to do otherwise? And what role does God play in our lives when we resist the allure of ultimately misplaced allegiance?
Life is full of suffering, pain, and disappointments. Rearing kids is hard; work is hard; aging, sickness, and death are hard. The Hebrew Bible tells the story of Daniel and of the great disappointments and challenges (even threats to his life!) that he faced.Daniel’s story teaches us that our greatest struggles can lead to our greatest breakthroughs... and that the point of suffering is often the point of transformation. Daniel’s story ultimately foreshadows the cross of Jesus, who paradoxically teaches us that dying to self is how we truly live.
It is not an easy thing to own our past and move toward something better. It takes courage to lead and influence people who have seen both our triumphs and our failures. The Gospels contain a peculiar story that has far-reaching implications for us today: what do you do when Jesus asks you to influence the very people who have seen you at your worst?
Most of us are raised to be "brave," but only in a way that doesn’t involve risking rejection or failure. This can lead us to avoid anything resembling vulnerability, which involves uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure. But the life of King David has a lesson for us: it is only in opening ourselves up to God that he can lead us to new heights.
“In this world,” Jesus tells us, “you will have trouble.” We will all walk through pain, suffering and loss. It will make us bitter, or it will make us better. How is it that our character can be forged in the crucible of conflict? The Hebrew Scriptures contain the story of Daniel: a man who was stolen away from his home country at an early age and who continued to develop the strength of character to defy a king and point a nation to God. This week at IHC: “Old Faithful”
You want to make a difference in the world, but it feels like the ever-consuming hustle of life just keeps getting in the way. The Hebrew scriptures contain the story of a man named Nehemiah, who became laser focused on a single task: rebuilding the walls around the city of Jerusalem. To accomplish his task, he overcame obstacles familiar to all of us: fear, distractions, and criticism. How do we develop a vision for our lives that is so clear and so compelling that it helps us overcome the challenges we are certain to face as we seek to accomplish our purpose and influence those around us?
We looked at the Apostle Peter this week as one of the Bible characters who exemplifies the importance of “The Leader Within You.” If you’re looking to influence others, it’s pretty helpful to start with an understanding of “self leadership.” How are you leading your life in a way that models honesty, determination, and a sense of your unique purpose?
There’s a massive conversation in our culture around masculinity: what does it mean to be manly? How are we raising boys to become “good” men? What role(s) should men play in our society? Are some forms of masculinity as we’ve traditionally defined them actually harmful? And if I define myself as a follower of Jesus, what does my allegiance to Christ have to say about manhood?
What’s your role in God’s plan? It’s one thing to consume a religious product... But it’s life changing to contribute to a team that’s making a difference. To be part of the Church is to be part of the team of people Jesus has assembled to impact the world!
We all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves; to make a difference in the world around us. If you’re a follower of Jesus, YOU hold the answers to the biggest questions the world is asking. And as part of a church, we can be on mission together to share the Gospel with the Chino valley in ways that none of us can do on our own.
Scriptures remind us that anger is not inherently a problem, and it can even be helpful in some cases. As followers of Jesus, how can we respond to our anger in a way that demonstrates our desire to be more like Jesus in what we say, and do, and think?
There has been a dramatic uptick in feelings of anxiety over the past decade, especially amongst young adults. While some anxiety levels can be extreme and are best resolved through professional therapy, Jesus modeled a way of living that can help break the cycle of worry and fear that drives much of our anxiety.
Many of us have experienced a sense of tiredness - of “languishing” - this past year. Maybe you’ve found yourself saying, “I can’t even…” when you think about facing one more challenge, one more disappointment, or one more monotonous day. Take heart! You’re not alone, and this week’s message encouraged us to consider how we can model our response based on how Jesus himself lived.
We all face expectations, and we may even feel like we’re managing the needs of our families, workplaces, and friends pretty well. But what does it look like to find a renewed purpose and vulnerability as we respond to Jesus’ invitation to live differently?
Many parents have been led to believe that creating a godly home environment will guarantee their kids grow up to be faithful followers of Jesus. But, while training up our children in the way of Jesus is undoubtedly a worthy goal, the Scriptures never guarantee our faithfulness will result in a particular outcome.
When it comes time to make a major decision, many of us experience a heightened interest in discovering God’s will. “If God has a blueprint for my life, how am I supposed to determine what that is?” we may wonder. Join us tomorrow to see what Scripture teaches about God’s plan & purpose for your life.
Well-meaning friends, and even pop-culture, sometimes offer comfort in tough times with the old adage, “Everything happens for a reason”... but have you ever thought about how that saying comes up short when measured against Scripture and what we know of the goodness of God? What would it look like to challenge that notion, and perhaps replace it with a fresh understanding?
Does faith fix everything? Check out this message in our series, Bad Religion, as we tackle this misconception and look to see what the scriptures show us instead.
“What is the nature of the world?” -- a great question humans have grappled with for centuries. God’s answer, through Jesus’ resurrection, gives us great hope that our best days may have, in fact, just begun!
Following Jesus changes what our heart wants. Pastor Josh workshopped three common struggles this week - anger, worry, and lust - as practical reminders that Jesus invites us not to a life of rule-following, but to a life of transformation.
Associate Students Pastor Greg Morton took us back to the Old Testament this week to see how from the very beginning of His relationship with the Israelite people, God’s plan was to share his love with everyone. The bottom line for our lives as modern day Jesus followers? “How we love and include others is a direct representation of how we worship God.”
What new thing is God doing in your life? The Apostle Peter serves as an example of how sometimes we wrestle with reclaiming the old, while embracing the new. IHC’s 30th Anniversary gave us an opportunity to look back on God’s faithfulness, and to celebrate the ways He’s inviting us forward as a faith community.
Despite some of the ways pop culture or even religious traditions have encouraged us to understand it, the book of Revelation was written to encourage persecuted Christians that regardless of what the scoreboard might currently say, God will win in the end. This message of hope is for us, too - that God will renew, restore, and reconcile all things.
The latest New Year, New Testament message from 1 Peter reminded us that our present suffering pales in comparison to the “wonderful joy” we have ahead of us. Pastor Tim Celek’s message provided some much-needed encouragement for whatever challenges you’re facing - or about to face - this week.
“Faith is not certainty, and faith does not speak the language of definitives.” But the author of Hebrews reminds us of a long history of those who have gone before us as examples of faithfulness. Their stories remind us that when we fix our eyes on Jesus, we can run the race set before us with renewed courage and strength!
If you’ve ever found yourself thinking something like, “At least I’m not as bad as * those * people!” you might be on a slippery slope toward becoming an “Accidental Pharisee.” What are some common pitfalls, and how can we be mindful to avoid them?!
If you're reading along with our New Year, New Testament challenge, you've probably had some questions along the way! Hear from Pastor Josh as he unpacks a few biggies we've encountered: "What is predestination?" "Does God save or condemn arbitrarily?" "Can I lose my salvation?"
Take a moment to hear this week’s encouraging reminder that we find purpose, forgiveness, and humility when we find life by following Jesus!
This week’s New Testament readings gave us a great opportunity to talk about the importance of understanding context - the specific time, place, or situation of a particular section of scripture - when we consider how the Bible applies to our lives.
If you’ve chosen to follow after Jesus, Heaven and Earth collide no matter where you go! Whether you're scrolling through Instagram, going to the gym, or grabbing some take out, you’re showing up with the presence of God!⠀
This week’s message led us to a special time of celebrating Communion together and remembering that our lives can change forever if we allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives.
New Year, New Testament | Part 1 | Josh Crain
“Why should you read the Bible?” If you want to understand God, you’ve got to understand Jesus, and Jesus himself points us to the authority of scripture as an important way to understand the freeing grace God has for each of us.
As we turn the page on 2020, continue to lean into God's timeless truths going into 2021.
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This week’s “Christmas at the Movies” features the 1946 Oscar-nominated classic, “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Join us to look back in time for a Jesus-centered reminder that our lives matter to others!⠀
More than just pranks to stop the bad guys, a look at Home Alone led us to explore Jesus’ teaching about forgiveness in Matthew 18.
We learned some great things from Jesus’ interaction with a Canaanite woman this week, as well as from Buddy the Elf!
Pastor Mark Lee joins us to conclude our Comfort Food series by speaking on the idea that God is not content to leave us where we are.
Don’t miss Pastor Tim Kuhl’s fresh take on “The Good Samaritan” as a great way to start your week. Bottom line: God is a different kind of hero, and He’s got compassion for you!
Do we trust God and delight in his presence? How does our worry and anger define us? Check out Week 1 of Comfort Food, with an encouraging message from long-time friend of Inland Hills, Pastor Eric Heard.
Jesus showed us how much love can cost when he gave his life on the cross. Understanding a “kingdom ethic” can lead us to respond to this critical question: What does love require?
Bible verses could be used to support either a Republican or Democratic view… but to THINK DIFFERENT means that Christians should probably be a little uncomfortable with some of the positions of the candidates for whom we choose to vote. Check out the third part of our series: “How Christians Become Democrats & Republicans.”
In the midst of modern calls for justice that often seem at odds even with each other, how are we to live out the justice to which we are called as followers of Jesus? What exactly IS "Biblical Justice," and how do we apply that lens in our everyday lives?
“Losing the Culture War” kicked off our new series, “Think Different*.”
*A worthwhile, non-gross, highly-helpful, utterly necessary conversation about faith & politics.
Sometimes it can feel like life is just one thing after another! With all of the challenges swirling around us, what are Christians supposed to do? Check out the final message in our Spark series, where Pastor Josh concluded that we are called to share hope, to “Make a Difference,” to pour our lives out for the sake of others.
Do you ever feel like you’re stuck? …Like your past decisions or mistakes are making it difficult for you to move forward? Check out this week’s message to consider how Jesus invites us to “Find Freedom.”
Spark, Part 2: We were created on purpose, for a purpose. How do we faithfully lean into God’s purpose for our lives?
Spark, Part 1: Christianity offers a direct, personal, love relationship with the Creator God. How did we get here, and why does it matter?
It's Not About The Fish, Part 3: The book of Jonah ends on a cliffhanger: Jonah is so furious that God chooses to forgive Nineveh that he longs for death. God challenges Jonah, essentially asking him if he loves the Lord enough to offer a message of salvation to even his greatest enemies. Perhaps God is asking us the same question
It's Not About The Fish, Part 2: The least likely outcome of Jonah’s 8-word sermon to the Ninevites is exactly what happens: they repent and dress up their animals. God’s compassion for even the worst of sinners in this story is inspiring. And perhaps unsettling.
It's Not About The Fish, Part 1: Not many people would volunteer to be swallowed alive by a giant fish, but what if the alternative was sinking to the bottom of the sea? Sometimes we endure a harrowing experience only to realize in hindsight that it led to our own redemption.
The Good Life, Part 3: Some things change; some things never change. The same ancient practices that helped our spiritual ancestors connect to God can continue to guide us today. We just need some assistance from a special Helper.
The Good Life, Part 2: Healthy relationships require trust: a belief that the other person wants the best for you. Many of us struggle to connect personally with God precisely because we aren’t convinced we can trust him.
The Good Life, Part 1: Healthy relationships require trust: a belief that the other person wants the best for you. Many of us struggle to connect personally with God precisely because we aren’t convinced we can trust him.
This week, we are excited to hear a special message from our very own Pastor Jim Lewis! Jim will be sharing some insights about building a life with Jesus as our foundation and teaching through some of his personal life experiences from when he was a bricklayer.
The Church The World Needs, Part 3: The church the world needs must be unbundled from nationality, political ideology, or Facebook likes. Jesus didn't come to take sides; he came to take over.
The Church The World Needs, Part 2: The church the world needs must be unbundled from nationality, political ideology, or Facebook likes. Jesus didn't come to take sides; he came to take over.
The Church The World Needs, Part 1: The Church of Jesus was entrusted with a gift for the entire world. So why have we been guilty of keeping it to ourselves? Or of becoming prideful that we've been entrusted instead of burdened to pass it on? And what is at stake when the church doesn't fulfill its mission?
Surfing In The Storm, Part 3: In what could have been a moment of despair, Paul and Silas praise God while sitting in prison. It is a resolute belief in the God who holds the future that seems to give them peace in the present. When the storm rages around us, can we find hope in the eternal God Jesus points us to?
Surfing In The Storm, Part 2: Jesus prayed that the church would be ONE. He seemed to know as he prayed that remaining as ONE would be the greatest challenge that the church faced. We’ll look closely at the first major church crisis in Acts 15 to see how they remained as ONE church while wrestling with the difficult issue of who gets to be considered a Christian.
Surfing In The Storm, Part 1: The first Christians came from different backgrounds and ideologies, yet displayed uncommon unity and purpose. How can we affirm the good in the world, push back against the bad, and choose to forge a new way forward in the name of Jesus?
A Skeptic's Guide To Christianity, Part 4: A Skeptic's Guide to Christianity concludes with an all Q&A message shaped by submitted questions. If you've ever wondered about faith or Jesus or dinosaurs or anything in between... this message is for you.
A Skeptic's Guide To Christianity, Part 3: Christianity stands apart from all other religions. So how can we remain faithful to demonstrating Christ's love when coming to an impasse with someone whose religious views differ from your own?
With injustice, conflict, and violence erupting all around us, the church has a role to play in setting an example of uncommon unity in a fractured world. In the aftermath of George Floyd's death and nationwide protests, how can we pursue a Jesus-centered way forward?
A Skeptic's Guide To Christianity, Part 2: Science and religion are often presented as opposing points of view. In reality, we can learn a lot about God from both!
A Skeptic's Guide To Christianity, Part 1: Injustice and pain are all around us. It's clear God never promised a life without difficulty and suffering... but why does a loving God allow His people to go through tough times?
How To Survive Your Family, Part 4: A call for the church to always be thinking 3 generations deep. While parents have a particular calling in their lives to raise their children, the community of God is called to invest in future generations collectively. We have often failed to do so.
How To Survive Your Family, Part 3: Don’t ever buy the lie that there is anything abnormal, weird, unfortunate about being single. In the kingdom of God that can be a gift. Marriage is honorable; singleness is also honorable.
How To Survive Your Family, Part 2: Sometimes we have to kill off and bury being right and the power and juice that comes from being right in order for forgiveness to happen. The willingness to bury something in order to forgive it makes forgiveness the ultimate act of love.
How To Survive Your Family, Part 1: Jesus redefines family away from bloodlines and toward disciples who follow him with their whole lives.