Core242: Recent Episodes
Pastors Max and Trish of Core Community Covenant Church
Our mission is to transform from individual believers into an authentic community of Christ followers through Biblical discipleship.
Visit our Sunday service at 3918 25th Ave Schiller Park IL 60176. Fellowship at 11:30 am and service starts at 11:45 am.
Contact us at corechurch242@gmail.com for more information.
At different times in our lives, we are called to fast by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Let’s learn what the Word of God speaks about this topic. Also, why denying of ourselves is so important to our walk with God.
We finish learning about changing our mind with always Rejoicing in the Lord. We started our last step of starting the journey in this road and its dedication. First step today is Giving.
God is not only perfect, He is steadfast. We can depend on and trust in Him at all times.
He is our constant. Life will have storms and uncertainty, he is our anchor. We can find comfort that His promises to forgive, protect, and provide. He remains steadfast despite shifting circumstances. This provides a solid foundation for faith that is no subject to the whim of some deity or random chance.
“For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”
1 Corinthians 1:25
Before we can call God good, we need to know what good is. Let’s dive into Hebrew word Tov that will help us truly see how good God is.
He is in charge of the will and purpose for you. He has all the power and authority to do whatever He wants. The faster we surrender to Him the easier it gets for us.
As we dive in to the sovereignty of God we will look into His Authority, His Will and His Devine Purpose.
In this episode we introduce how powerful God is. We first look to the scriptures to see His power over natural.
For us to reflect God, we need to know who God is. In this sermon we look at Go’s Holiness. The 3 points we going to look into are: He is pure and perfect; He is set apart; He is a “Consuming Fire”.
We can abide with God through Fellowship in 3 ways. Gathering in His name, Remaining in His love and Being made in His image.
Part 2 on Listening Prayer covered the 5 levels of mature and authentic listening that Scripture invites us to practice. May we hear, obey, and share the heart of God through the voice of the Holy Spirit.
A key part of abiding in God involves communion through prayer. Specifically, we need to learn how to listen to the Shepherd’s still, small voice as we pray rather than doing all the talking.
To abide in the Lord by being still is not a passive state but an active posture of surrender.
Our obedience reflects our faith but we need to make sure that we are obedient only to the Holy Spirit.
We abide to God through scripture. We do that by reading it, meditating on it and applying it to our lives.
Love is Faithful, Love is Kind. We look to how this aspect of love influence the way we treat the Body of Christ, His Church.
This sermon is an intro to the context and purpose of 1 Corinthians 13: how love is God’s way to build unity in the Church.
Just as Christ is the embodiment of the Father’s love, so are we to embody His love toward one another. Every facet of who we are and how we live should orient around His defining love.
Steps to Embody a Concept (study the life of John the apostle!)
- Mind: Romans 12:2
- Understand the Concept: Begin by clearly defining the abstract idea or principle you want to embody.
- Conscious Application: Don't just acknowledge the concept; consciously decide how to implement it in life.
- Heart: Psalm 139:23-24 ,
- Self-Reflection: Ask yourself questions to bridge the gap between understanding and living the concept:
- How will it change my thinking?
- How will it change my behavior?
- How will it change my understanding of the world?
- Self-Reflection: Ask yourself questions to bridge the gap between understanding and living the concept:
- Body - 1 Corinthians 12:25-27
- Express Through Action: Use your words, body language, and behaviors to consistently express the concept.
- Develop Bodily Awareness: Pay attention to how the concept feels in your body and how your body responds to living by it.
- Soul - 1 John 3:18
- Integrate into Habits: Allow the concept to become ingrained in your identity, leading to changed habits and patterns.
- Be a Living Example: Ultimately, embody the concept means to be a symbol or expression of that idea or quality in your daily life
As we dive into the values of CORE, we discover truths that are universal for the people of God, including our calling to reflect God’s purpose for us. There is a difference between function and purpose, our design reveals His intent for us to BE His people rather than DO anything for Him.
Obedience to God’s Word sets us free as we act in love, believe with trust, and confess the Truth to the world.
This is the first in our new series on the values of CORE church:
- Centering God’s Grace
- Obeying God’s Truth
- Reflecting God’s Purpose
- Embodying God’s Love
Today we discuss how God’s grace is the anchor of the Christian faith. His grace enables us to live the righteous life He desires so that the world may know Him.
God has given us so much in this world to expand His kingdom. Are we using what was given to us or just keeping it a secret. Remember that we will be held accountable.
Jesus is the one who found us dead in the ground and with joy went to the cross to pay it all for us.
Jesus gives us a glimpse of what a Kingdom of God is like in Matthew 13. Before we can get into understanding the parables, we need to prepare ourselves for the word from God, the good seed.
Healthy fear of the Lord helps protect us through obedience and leads us toward holiness. We can approach the Lord with confidence only because of His grace.
In part one of this teaching, we look closer on how fear of the Lord is needed in our spiritual life. As the Holy Spirit guides us toward the fear of the Lord, it leads us to the worship God deserves from us.
Holy Spirit power helps us proclaim the kingdom of God, to be born again and be transformed into a life showing fruit of the Spirit.
As we continue to explore the various attributes of the Holy Spirit, we compare our human knowledge with the revelation that comes from God alone.
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Ephesians 1:17
Building off of Isaiah 11:2 and symbols throughout Scripture, this new series highlights the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. In this first teaching, the Word attests to His divinity and sevenfold nature (as seen in Revelation). Then we start with His first attribute, specifically as “the Spirit of the Father.”
The vine nourishes, supports and holds the branches together. We just need to remain through the Word, Love and Obedience.
Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of the Law, revealing the Way to, the Truth about, and Life with the Father. Rather than rules and rituals, He invites us to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit as the only true path home.
How do we identify toxic church leadership? In John 10, Jesus states that He is the Gate and the Good Shepherd. In this teaching, we discuss bad shepherds: the thieves and robbers who skip over the gate and harm the sheep.
This sermon wrestles with a hard teaching of Jesus as the living bread: sent by God from heaven and providing eternal life by offering up his own flesh and blood.
The final attribute in the series points to God’s justice. If He didn’t judge rightly, all of His other attributes would be undermined.
Before we can know the great attribute of Gods forgiveness. We must understand what we are seeking to be forgiven for.
This sermon covers the fifth attribute of God found in Exodus 34:6-7: faithfulness. In Hebrew, emet means truth, trustworthy and faithful. God is faithful even when we are not! We should always respond by trusting Him and His word.
In this next teaching on the attributes of God from Exodus 34:6-7, we discuss some aspects on how God experiences and expresses anger.
God gives us favor and grace before we even realize how much we need it. Not because we deserve it, but because He desires the best for us.
From Exodus 34:6-7, we look at the first of 7 attributes of God, compassion. God shows compassion as sees us, hears us, and acts on our behalf. In response, we should be transformed into people who do the same for others.
The last letter to the churches in Revelation brings some strong warnings, but there is still hope! Beware of apathy, pride, and spiritual ignorance, instead seek the Lord for growth, humility, and insight.
The letter to the church at Philadelphia reminds us to patiently persevere, stay true to God’s word and not lose faith even when we feel weak.
The letter to the church of Thyatira reminds us to hold fast to the Word of God, to test so called “prophets,” and to resist any influences that blend Christian practice with other spiritual “truths”.
The letter to Church of Pergamum in Revelation 2 warns us of the dangers of compromise and conforming to the world.
We learn from the early Church of Smyrna how to face our afflictions and the need to stand firm in the face of trials like poverty, slander, suffering, and demonic attacks.
We can learn from the early church what we should and should not do. The letter to Ephesus in Revelation 2 reminds us to resist false teaching and idolatry but not to fall into legalism or salvation by works. Remember your first love!
Praise God to find favor in order that He can save others so they too can praise Him. This is how the Church will spread to become all we were meant to be.
Becoming the Church requires us to persevere together (not in isolation) through times of suffering as well as success. Like the early church, we should do so with sincerity and joy.
Becoming the Church as God intended means we work toward unity in mind and heart, sharing resources and caring for one another out of our overflow.
In order to truly become the Church, we need to reclaim a posture of holy fear, respect and reverence for the awesome power of our God.
In the example of the early Church, we should devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking bread and prayer. Not as passive observers or in isolation, but as an intentional community.
Our final sermon in this series, we look at Jesus command to wait on the Holy Spirit for power, direction, and His return. In a world where waiting is a lost skill, we are called to be still and eagerly expect His return.
In the same way Jesus was sent to the world by the Father, He sends us out as ministers of reconciliation. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are called to forgive.
To preach is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To witness or to testify is to share how the Gospel of Jesus Christ has impacted your life. There is power in our testimony. In this episode we discuss what testimony is, does, costs and the power in it.
What are the Good News? What is the Gospel? How do you share it with those who don’t believe? What is the difference between sharing the Gospel and disciplining?
We not only need to teach Jesus commandments but also how to obey them. We glance through over 50 commandments of Jesus in the Gospels and focus on 2 Timothy 3:16 for guidance of how to teach someone to obey them.
List of the scriptures for the commandments can be found here
https://iblp.org/what-are-commands-christ/
As we go and make disciples we must first baptize them. In this teaching we explore the two kinds of baptism that we find in scripture. First the that John the Baptist proclaimed, which was Baptism of repentance and forgiveness. The other one was the one John said will happen through Jesus which was the Baptism by the Holy Spirit.
Join us as dig deep into the the 5 commissions that Jesus shares with the disciples through all the Gospel's and Acts.
In this episode, we study Jesus’ vulnerable prayers and intense struggle in the garden of Gethsemane (at the Mount of Olives) just prior to His betrayal.
Welcome to Episode 100! Today we take a hard look at the difficult text in Mark 11. Why did Jesus lash out in a fit of rage at the temple? Why did He curse the fig tree? It wasn’t even the season for figs! Let’s dig deeper into Jesus’ apparent anger issues.
We continue our journey with Jesus as He, after being anointed, enter Jerusalem as the King of Kings. Sadly this does not lead to celebration but lamentation.
A Biblical perspective on the calling of women in Christ, by Rev. Dr. Trish Kholodenko.
Join us as we journey with Jesus as He spends the last days before the cross. We start His journey in John 11 as we see Jesus show His love for Lazarus but also seals His fate with the Jews who want to kill Him.
In this special episode, Pastor Max and Trish wrestles with a Biblical perspective for Discipleship. This teaching is from the 7th annual Christian Biker Unity Summit.
In this teaching we answer 3 questions about this command.
How do we love ourselves?
Who are our neighbors?
How do we love our neighbors?
We break down the Hebrew word that is used here Moed and look into the 3 meanings behind it. We find a way to love God with our Strength, our Wholeness or Completion in Christ and in Power of the Holy Spirit.
Before we can love God with our soul we need to know what that is. We look deep into the Hebrew word nephesh that is used in this verse for soul. We also explore the 5 aspects of a human being and how we love God with all of them.
How do we love YHWH with our heart? Let’s look at what the Word says about our heart and how we can bring it to worship.
Before God gave the Israelites the commandments, He reminded them why He should be their God. He was the one who saved them from Egypt, provided for them in the desert and leading them to the promise land. In this episode we remind through the scripture why YHWH should be our God and how he loved us first. Because of His love we should love Him and surrender to Him.
The word HEAR in the Bible is call to action. Join us as we dig into the word about importance of Doing what God is telling you, Consequences of not following Gods instructions and what is involved in hearing God better.
This is the last and the most challenging commandment that we will study. We will see how our cover or desires start from our heart and if our heart is not focused on the Lord it can lead us to a path to evil.
In court, your testimony can lead to someone’s death. In your Christian life, your testimony about what God has done can bring someone to eternal life or death. Make sure it is true.
You would think this would be a simple commandment to follow but we fail each and every day. Find out how we steal from others, self and God. Thank God for His grace and mercy.
Why is the sanctity of marriage so important to God? We look at physical, emotional and spiritual ways we in danger of falling into adultery. Be advised, we will be talking about sexual content.
What is murder and what does the Bible say about it. It’s a complicated explanation to a simple statement.
We as parents must honor God with our lives so that we will be worthy to be honored by our children. Our legacy is not about what we did but what God did in and through our lives.
Our Heavenly Father wants us to Rest, Rely and Remember in the time of Sabbath. Join us as we talk about what Sabbath looks like in the life of a Christian and why it is still important.
What is His Name and how do we keep it Holy? The key Hebrew word Nasa changes what this commandment really teaches us about God and our relationship with Him.
Lets get into what Exedus 20:4-6 teaches us as believers. Is there anything in our lives that we make an idol in our lives and separate us from true God. Or do we put God in a box and try to make Him into our image instead of us trying to be made in His.
We know that we should love God and love people. Problem is that how do we do it. We start our journey of going through the steps that God gave us in the Ten Commandments.
In this episode our sister Eileen teaches us on the blessing of the forgiveness by our Father and importance of us forgiving those around us.
Join us as our core member Christina, teaches us on being content with our daily bread and what bread stands for.
“Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done, on earth as it is not in heaven.” We have one of our own core members teaching this week on this great verse.
We like to make things complicated and make them our way. Jesus gave us exact instructions on how to pray. Still, we like to do our own thing. Join us as we dive deep into the power of Lord’s Prayer that is going in Matthew 6:9-13
What is salvation and when do we know we are saved? What does being sanctified means and how does it look like? All these things will lead to the answer of, AM I SAVED.
“After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.””Genesis 15:1 NIV
are your feet grounded in what the world gives you or in the Gospel of Peace. Join us as we dive into the next piece of the Armor of God.
Nothing makes us righteous but the Lordship of Jesus Christ over our lives. Dive into this weeks study on Breastplate of Righteousness to find out more.
To stand firm in our faith we need to know what the truth is. Make sure that we don’t fall to the attacks that facing our truth trough traditions, false teaching and temptations.
Stand strong, stand firm, stand on the victory of the Lord. Join us as we dive into the Armor of God.
Join us as we finish the sermon series on Spiritual Gifts. We continue to see how each and every gift is needed in the body of Christ for Gods glory.
Only by Gods grace and His Holy Spirit can we be successful in these important positions in the. It’s of Christ.
Looking deeper at the importance of using Holy Spirit gift of discerning to guísese your life and understand His will. Trigger warning ⚠️ Biblical truth about gift of tongues in the church and why we are so off.
If you praying for the rain, are you bringing your umbrella? Join us as we look into gifts of Faith, Healing and Miracle Power.
Why are these gifts important in our church and what do they look like? God has a calling and great accountability toward those who walk in this calling.
Let explore together these gifts of the Spirit. Making sure we separate the position in the church and the gift
As we begin our study on Spiritual Gifts we wanted to dive into what Spiritual Gifts really are and why God gives them to us.
What is real persecution of the church and why we should be happy about it. Let’s dive into our last teaching of the beatitudes.
Just like Jesus sent out His disciples to spread His peace in the world we must do the same. Let’s take our feet that are fitted with the Gospel of peace and bring peace to earth by sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Where and how can we see God? Join us as we discuss Matthew 5:8 “ blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God”
Jesus reminds us and the Pharisees that “He require mercy and not sacrifice” from Hosea 6:6. Let’s show mercy so we can hear “Well done my good and faithful servant” and not be the one who hears “ you wicked servant “ like in Matthew 18
Those who desire relationship with God over anything this world has are blessed. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” Matthew 5:6
Meekness is not weakness but full surrender of our free will to God and the Holy Spirit power.
“The second beatitude builds on our mental recognition of our poverty of spirit by adding an emotional response of sorrow. “- TOW Project
Join us as we dive into Matthew 5:3. Let’s look at what it means to be Blessed, to be Poor in Spirit and what is the Kingdom of Heaven.
How do you love in Spirit and how do you show God our love? We look at the sinful woman in Luke 7 and try to learn from her. Let’s see what Jesus had to say about her actions and love.
The joy and happiness that the world gives will fade away but the joy that comes from God is everlasting. Join us as we learn how to cultivate Gods joy in our lives.
For on to us a child is born…Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6.
I did not come to bring peace but a sword Matthew 10:34
What we do during our long suffering can bring us to a closer relationship with God. Patience that the Holy Spirit gives us is an active time of Trust, Transformation and Work leads us to be more like Jesus Christ.
Kindness that the Spirit of God gives us is not just being nice but a kingdom minded actions for Gods glory.
Why do you call things good? And why doing good must be a Spirit led action. Let’s dive in and see what the Bible tells us about Goodness.
As we try to reflect who God is we must show gentleness to those around us. Gentleness is not only time when you put God first but also others before you. Join us as we look at how Jesus demonstrates gentleness in John 8:1-11
The fruit of the Spirit Self control is not about you having more control but about you surrendering your control to the Holy Spirit.
This is our final teaching for Season 1 (44 episodes) of our Core Catalysts Series based on Acts 2:42-47! Yay! Thank you for growing with us - up next… Season 2: Core Character
Drums? Organs? Dim lights or fog machines? Unless we sing to the Lord in Spirit and Truth, our worship will sound like a resounding gong that even auto-tune can’t fix.
Throughout history, Christian tradition has held various opposing views on music and dancing. In this episode we take an honest, Biblical look at how these practices were intended through form & function to communicate praise to God.
Anger is not inherently wrong. It is God-given emotion that signals the need for change. We should make a shift and trust God for justice.
As we live our life of praise toward our God, we should not separate secular and spiritual activities in our lives. We discuss how we can praise God in all we do by surrendering it to Him.
Is it possible to honor God through either Celibacy and Sexuality? Join us as we try to navigate this topic Biblically and honestly without sidestepping. Due to the sensitive nature of this content, episode is for mature audiences - parental guidance recommended for younger listeners under 18.
On this episode we explore how we can praise God through balancing between Security and Sacrifice.
On this episode we explore the importance of boundaries in our lives according to God. We closely look into the balance of Feasting and Fasting, Working and Resting.
Amazing things happen when we focus our prayer in how great our God is and less in how great our problems are. Explore with us the importance of being thankful in our prayer time.
We dive into 1 Corinthians 14 to see how worship service should look like according to scripture.
If we want to find the Creator, we need to stop the business and be in His creation. We discuss how we can get closer to God in worship through time spent in nature and in creative expressions.
Key verses:
Matthew 11:28-30
Matthew 6:26-28
From the beginning God wanted every aspect of who we are to worship Him. We need to not just let Him be part of our spiritual life but mental, emotional, physical and relational.
Join us as we talk about Gods plan for us as a whole creation.
Key verses:
Luke 10:27
1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19-20, 10:23,31
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Proverbs 3:3-6
Psalm 119
How does Spiritual success looks like? Is it possible to have too much success? And Is it really easier to praise God in time of success or do we forget His blessings? Join us as we explore perseverance in success.
Key verses:
Proverbs 30:8-9
Philippians 3:4-16
The reality that the coast to know Gods will is being a living sacrifices, our true spiritual worship.
Key verses:
Romans 12:1-2
Hosea 6:6
Psalm 51:17
Amos 5:21-24
Join us as we explore how we persevere in service.
Key verses:
Matthew 20:28
John 13:12-17, 34-35
Galatians 6:2-10
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Colossians 3:23-24
We discuss the reality of our suffering as believers and how we can persevere through it Biblically as a body of Christ.
Key verses:
Romans 8:18-21
Romans 5:3-5
Habakkuk 3:17-19
Join us as we explore what perseverance is and what it’s for.
Key Texts:
Acts 2:46
Ephesians 4:11-16
Hebrews 12:1-2
Join us as we discuss how to share our testimonies and point people to God.
Key Text:
John 14:9-12, 26-28
John 15:26-27
Revelation 12:11
Join us as we discuss 5 types of crowns promised in Scripture for those who persist in the faith and enter into The Kingdom… crowns we will ultimately lay at Christ’s feet.
Key Verses:
1 Corinthians 9:25-37
1 Thessalonians 2:19
2 Timothy 4:8
Revelation 2:10
1 Peter 5:4
On this episode we start our study on the spiritual talents and gifts.
Key verse
Matthew 25:14-30
1 Timothy 1:5:6
Join us as we discuss how we can redeem time and find the Lord in all circumstances. That will help us freely share the time that He has given us.
Key verses
Ephesians 5:15-17
2 Peter 3
Colossians 4:5
Romana 13:11
Join us as we explore what it means and how to share in the body of Christ.
Key verses
Acts 2:42-47, 4:32-35
Philippians 3:10-11, 4:10-14
James 2:15-16
John 6:9
1 King 17:7-16
On today’s podcast, we discuss remaining in the Lord! We have a choice to walk away from the Lord or to remain in his presence.
John 15
1 John 4
Join Core as we discuss what it means to receive the Holy Spirit.
Key texts:
Acts 2,8,9,10,19
Join us as we discuss the third step in the rebirthing process after cleansing and committing: consecrating. We will explore what true holiness and consecration mean and how that shapes our actions.
Key passages:
Genesis 2:3
Ephesians 2:1-10
Colossians 2:20-3:17
Join Core Community Covenant Church as we explore the commonly known phrase “born again” and unpack what it means to be vessels for the Holy Spirit.
We dive into Psalm 51 to see how true repentance frees us to connect to God through the Holy Spirit.
On this episode we focus on one of the most important things we have to offer to the world, God’s love.
In this episode we continue to look into confession but focusing more on how to receive confession from other believers.
In this episode we look into the importance of confession and repentance in our Christian life.
In this episode we realize the power behind keeping the sabbath as God intended for us.
In this episode we explore Gods desire for us to find simplicity in the treasures we hold in this world.