Petaluma Christian Church: Recent Episodes
Petaluma Christian Church
When praying for wisdom, look out for God's 3rd way that both demolishes rival gods and makes Him your security.
Jesus bore Gehenna for us so that we'd have to endure only the peripheral heat -- and added bonus: that peripheral heat produces in us a saltiness by which we can influence the world.
No one experiences the preciousness of Jesus like those who surrender to him what's most precious to them.
spiritual evil is often viewed as simple or primitive and "nowadays we know better."
The Bible presents a more complex understanding of evil...and how it might be addressed.
Parables about a lamp, a measure, a harvest, and a mustard bush. What do they have in common? Surprising goodness designed to lead us back to Jesus for more.
In this parable we see the factor that distinguishes getting Jesus from not getting him.
Why am I here? Why am I listening to this?
Jesus helps us figure out why it is we came to hear from him in the first place and gives us a precious gift in response.
We talk honestly about the significant obstacles to obedience that happen to show up in these passages.
Risk living like God's Kingdom can break through any time, any place to right some wrong.
God puts in us a little weakness, sprinkles into our lives some wickedness, limits our contributions because he cares about our souls.
A song for those who feel worn down by the constant war of words in this strange and alien world.
It's a constant temptation to lean on either our performance or our circumstances to define our trajectory. The apostle Paul recommends a better, third option.
Jesus replaces the soul-crushing law with the higher standard of love - but even higher grace when we fail at that too.
Romans 7:7-25
God equips us to not only remain faithful to our spouse but to find maximum pleasure in our spouse.
Proverbs helps us figure out if we effectively listen to others and to God - and hints at a new way to respect your ear.
Right words, right time, right occasion.
Proverbs gives wisdom for the timing and execution of speaking into occasions of self-sabotage and relational conflict.
How to make your first word a gracious word - and do it in a way that's relational (not mechanical).
We shouldn't be surprised that we feel fragmented and distracted in our work - but something can be done about it.
God gives practical wisdom for both over-workers and those who struggle to work -- turns out they share the same mistake and the same solution.
Despite what you may have heard, the Bible isn't "black and white" about every issue in life. God knows life is complicated, nuanced, and often operates in the "grey." So He gave us the wisdom of Proverbs - to make great decisions in the Grey of Life.
Proverbs 4:1-19
Belinda Carlisle said it best, "Heaven is a place on earth." The truth that God will one day bring heaven to earth as His final place of rest and rule can do something remarkable in our lives now - make us much more tender than we would be otherwise toward the earth, toward cities, toward difference and toward suffering.
Why can't we go straight from grace to glory, from new to perfect, from trusting to Jesus to being with him forever? Instead, you and I live in this uncomfortable tension where we get new life alongside healthy doses of pain and suffering.
Hear God's purpose behind this often uncomfortable part of His story.
Find yourself, Find the Father, and Find others through Jesus' parable of the prodigal son.
After man messed up, why did it take so long for God to send Jesus? We (mankind) had to realize how deep the mess-up goes. Pastor Ryan makes sense of the Bible from Genesis 3 to Jesus and what our role is in this part of God's story.
God has a story in which He's reserved a role for you.
Find out how you can join in His Story beginning... at the beginning. Genesis 1-2.
For all of us who've grown cynical about what is true anymore, Jesus gives us a way forward to submit to truth and talk about it with our neighbor.
Matthew 2 chronicles targeted violence toward a group of children from which God did not exempt His own Son.
Discover why you can trust that God is there amidst senseless violence.
The American church, like Peter, seeks to win against competing kingdoms – whether secular or conservative-religious. Jesus, however, shows us a different way to win.
Trust is refined through failures (a.k.a. scatterings) and tribulations - and Jesus gives us two wonderful resources for both.
Jesus calls us to love both God and neighbor but most of us err strongly toward one or the other.
Discover how to be someone who does both well.
Jesus is the portal between heaven and earth - dropping to us deposits of life that are a guarantee of perfection to come.
4 ways God uses the wicked reality of death to transform our lives for our good and His glory.
Jesus wants to elevate us into a higher story through his full identity. Victor through voluntary suffering. That's our way also.
Every person - even followers of Jesus - has an occasional doubt that seems to come out of nowhere and starts cycling through our minds.
One man listening closely to Jesus gives some great advice about calming our doubts.
Jesus explodes the expectations of the Galilean Jews with a simple but liberating message.
Do you want a little healing or the whole thing? A little Jesus who fits with your program or whole person renovation?
Faithfulness does not come from an offering, but from a sacrifice.
Guest Speaker Jim Jessup, Director of Church Relations at William Jessup University.
Jesus crosses ethnic, social and religious boundaries to satisfy people who don't know they are looking for him.
Jesus' teaching about new birth gives us a very practical way to initiate spiritual conversations with others.
How does something we merely love turn into something end up worshipping? Find out how and what Jesus does to help extricate us from slavery to an idol.
It's okay to not even know exactly what you are seeking in life. If you hang around Jesus, He promises to show you in time.
Exploring the question of identity & purpose from a question presented to the most immediately influential figure of Jesus' day - John the Baptist.
Perhaps what we want isn't so much an 'airtight' argument for Christianity but an 'airtight' person.
Christmas Eve Devotional.
John's Christmas tale starts way earlier than shepherds and a manger. John's Christmas points our longings to a time we suspect we were intended for...and beauty we suspect was intended for us.
Your story can set Jesus apart when moral and religious talk blurs together. Learn how to organize and share your story from the story of the Apostle Paul.
God still speaks to individuals today - just not usually for oneself but for others.
Seven realities for passing along something God puts on your heart for others.
Some are curious to hear more about Jesus while others are outspoken skeptics. However, what do you say to people already occupied with life, having never given God a passing thought?
As we see through the lives of Lydia, Paul, and some slaveowners, the good news about Jesus challenges us to take temporary losses for a far greater gain.
The reality is you or someone you care about will one day leave a local church.
Wise reasons for leaving a local church. Also, some wisdom both for how to leave the family of God better off than you found it and for how to leave well.
The most prepared we can possibly be for the best possible conversation we may ever have is after that last song on Sunday.
How to prepare our hearts & make the most of opening up on Sundays.
When we gather together on Sundays, what is it that we are walking into and how might we practically prepare for it.
Guest Speaker: Kelly Graham
God graciously forgives us and helps us even when our own sins cause our circumstances.
The importance of clarifying for not-yet and new believers what is most important as a follower of Jesus. Important not just for their lives but for our hearts - in the ongoing fight against the deadly doctrine of legalism.
Sometimes the unchurched and irreligious remind the church who we're supposed to be.
Sent (not just gather) to win hearts (not culture wars) with truth and power (not just one or the other).
Because of our fallen world and fallen nature, our hearts cling toward 'sameness' (ie. people who look, talk, and think like me). The early church witnessed how radical inclusivity of those very different from them needed: Jesus, repetition, and pioneers.
Training for sharing the good news about Jesus with friends, neighbors, co-workers and family.
Our cities will take the church seriously when the good news is both spoken and served – through acts of mercy and justice.
Acts 6:1-7
Sharing one's faith is hard enough, but then to get mocked, rejected, shunned for doing so...the worst.
This episode we explore: What is genuine persecution? Once we experience it, how do we get up off the mat and keep going?
Two of the hardest acts as a follower of Jesus are sharing one's faith & asking a sick person if you can pray for them for healing. But when done in tandem, it can be a powerful force.
From the pattern set by the first responders to Jesus, we too can adopt the most fulfilling life rhythm of them all - Gather & Go.
From Peter's example, we can learn to explain how a radical experience of God connects to the person & work of Jesus in a way that makes sense to people in our time and culture.
The Book of Acts is the history of first responders to Jesus and His good news. Each week we take a look at two connected actions that these first responders make in response the person and message of Jesus. In doing so, we can glean some principles of how the church ought to respond to Jesus in our particular time and culture. This week: Wait and Work.
Speaker: Ryan Oelschlager