Believers Chapel Podcast: Recent Episodes
Believers Chapel
Messages from Pastor Rich Ryfun and the team at Believers Chapel in Cicero, NY - We believe that love starts with God, culminates with others and ends with world change. We hope this podcast encourages you. For more information about Believers Chapel, visit Believerschapel.org
We live in a world dominated by a humanistic worldview. That means we think we can perform all of life's tasks and meet all of life's needs on our own, without any sort of divine oversight. The ultimate outcome of humanism is that it leads to belief in humanity itself being God. Humans try to control all cultural development and rationalize their reasons for doing so.Think about it: We replace God with technology, medicine, government, economics, or any other thing that helps us feel we have control. Many of us don't even realize we're living under humanism, assuming it's a "them" problem when we are not truly trusting God as our creator and sustainer. But scripture tells us in Romans 8 that the mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God. When we choose to be our own governors and gods our choice leads to death, both physically and spiritually. But there is good news! If we stop ruling our lives and depend on the savior and rescuer of our souls, Jesus Christ, we will trade death for life. Anxiety is traded for peace. Curses are traded for promises. This is an example of bearing the image of Christ. As followers of Jesus, we identify with God's Spirit rather than the spirit of this broken world.Check out this heavy and much-needed message from Lead Pastor Rich Ryfun as he kicks off our series "You Bear the Image."
In our existence, we always have an unquenchable thirst for more.Something deep within us knows we cannot be satisfied by anything outside of Jesus. The greatest accomplishments bring temporary relief from our insatiable desire for more. Our highest highs and lowest lows cannot define our life as Jesus can.In John 11, Jesus reveals to his friend Martha that he has come to bring eternal life to us. When she assumes he means eternal life after death in a future resurrection, Jesus corrects her by explaining that Jesus brings true life to us now as we place our faith in him. Jesus proves this by bringing Martha's brother Lazarus back from the dead. Though everyone will die physically some day, their life is made whole and their hearts are fulfilled by the spiritual life that comes from knowing and worshiping Jesus. We are brought to life in every sense of the word through the love and work of Jesus. The word "life" finds its ultimate definition in the ministry of Jesus in our lives. That's why he calls himself "the resurrection and the life."Listen to the entire Easter message from Pastor Rich on what it means to go from death to life in Jesus!
Sometimes we get so focused on the dead, that we don't see life when it's right in front of us.Israel thought Jesus was going to save them from Rome. The reality was that Jesus came to save all of humankind from sin and death, including any Roman leader who would put their faith in Him. But Israel didn't recognize that Jesus came to bring life. They were focused on the death of their current circumstances and wanted to fix it by removing Rome as the dominant power over them. The apostle Paul says, "The mind that is set on the flesh is death, but the mind that is governed by the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:6).A man named Jairus experienced his own focus-on-death moment. When his daughter was near death, he beckoned Jesus to come and heal her, but on the way to Jairus' house a woman with a physical healing need stops Jesus' progress because she needs a miracle, and Jairus' daughter dies before Jesus can arrive. Everyone at Jairus' house loses hope. They are focused on death, but Jesus tells them that they need only to have faith. Hosanna means "Save Us." Jesus came to save us by bringing us eternal life with him, but we need to get our focus off of the death in our circumstances and onto the life offered by Jesus!
Jesus wants to bring you from death to life.The Bible tells us that sin brings death, and death brings with it a putrid smell and decaying cast over everything. This was the case with Lazarus, one of Jesus' closest friends, who had been dead for 4 days by the time Jesus finally gets to him in John chapter 11. Jesus asked for Lazarus' tombstone to be rolled away from the entrance to his grave, but everyone was concerned about the stench of decay. But Jesus isn't afraid to roll away stones in our lives. Jesus is not intimidated by the stench of our sinful messes and mistakes. Jesus is not afraid to pull us from the pits of death itself and brings us to life again.Have been ignoring the dead things in your life? Have you been letting sin and death overwhelm you and eat away at the promises God has for you? If so, it's time to let Jesus roll away those stones and call you out into the light and resurrect the promises of God once again. Let Jesus clean you up and bring you back to life again!Watch this entire message from pastor Kason as he launches our series, "Back to Life."
In 2nd Corinthians chapter 5, Paul tells us that God reconciled us to Himself through Christ. That means He took all of our sins and shame and buried them in the grave because we couldn't bury them ourselves, and He restored us into a beautiful relationship with Him again, all through Jesus Christ. But then Paul goes on to say that God gave us this ministry of reconciliation! That means people in this world can be reconciled to Christ by hearing it from you because God has given that ministry to you. Your pastor is not going to reach everybody. Some people may only experience the ministry of reconciliation through their encounters with you. That's the good news of the gospel: That God saved us through Christ, and now we can spread this wonderful news!But scripture also tells us that God is holy and righteous, and to remain in a relationship with our God Who perfectly loves us, we must submit to His will for our lives. This isn't a difficult concept to understand when we truly think it through. Parents tell their children what to do to care for them and help them live a truly healthy and fulfilled life. A parent who never challenges the selfish and nearsighted ways of their child is not showing their child love: That is its own form of abuse. When we share the good news of God's love and reconciliation through Jesus, we share both the reality of God's perfect love and the reality of obedience to God's perfect will for us.Check out Pastor Bethany's word on the significance of God's ministry of reconciliation as she continues our series, "Share God."
The word of God is a light that penetrates the darkness. How can you tell the difference between the truth and a lie? The answer is in the power of God's word. It separates truth from falsehood and pierces the darkness with its powerful light. As we begin to read and understand God's word and live our lives according to it, we become lights ourselves, transformed into beams that separate truth from falsehood. We become lights that pierce through the darkness, and Jesus warns us in the gospel of Matthew not to take a light and hide it: We have to let ourselves shine in the darkness, and as we shine, darkness cannot overcome us! The gospel of John tells us that the light of Jesus shines in the darkness, and the darkness fails to overcome it. Darkness will try to overtake you. It will attempt to drown you in fear and falsehood, but God's word will always expose the darkness and guide your path. The world needs your light! So carry the truth of God's word close to your heart and let it beam forth out of everything you say and do. It will transform communities and set people free from darkness!
We are not called to hoard the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.God has called us to walk into dark places in this world and shine the light of God's forgiveness and love. We have the hope of the world in our hearts, and the worst thing we can do is keep that hope to ourselves. As the world becomes increasingly dark and hopeless, it's easy to look on with frustration and disgust and throw up our hands, condemning everyone. But God does not respond that way: He sees those trapped in darkness and desires for them to hear the truth and be led into the light. People are not God's enemy, the devil, and his demons are. The Bible tells us in Luke 19:10 that Jesus that the reason he came to earth was to "seek and save the lost." That means Jesus does not look at hopeless people trapped in darkness with contempt: He looks at them with hope and eagerness, because they are the very people he came to save. Jesus has prepared for us a lifetime of being saved, healed, sanctified, and made whole, and God has tasked us to share this salvation with others fervently.Listen to our Lead Pastor Rich Ryfun expound on one the importance of sharing God as we continue in this sermon series based on our 3 purposes as a church!
The gospel of Jesus is life to those who need it.Humans have choices. We can choose life or choose death. God in his great sovereignty has given us the ability of free will. You can choose to do good or choose to do evil. Deuteronomy chapter 30 tells us that God places before us choices of life and death, blessing and cursing. This is very closely tied to the ancient story of Adam and Eve, where God gives them the ability to choose life from the tree of life or choose death from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Think about how incredible this is! God allows us to be in a relationship with Him, the infinite and all-powerful God of the universe wants to be in a relationship with US! This instinctively means that we have a choice: We can choose to be in that relationship with God or we can walk away from it, acting within our God-given free world. Ever since Adam and Eve stepped away from their relationship with God by choosing evil, mankind has been dealing with the consequences of sin and death. But the gospel of Jesus, who takes that sin away, brings life to us, and we need it!Check out this powerfully deep message from Lead Pastor Rich Ryfun on the significance how important it is to share the reality of the gospel.
Whatever you fill your life with is going to pour out into everything you do.How you spend your time creates deposits for your future, and what you invest in will seep into every other facet of your life. The apostle Paul tells us in Galatians chapter 5 that when we invest time and energy into our earthly desires, they produce a hunger for earthly, temporary, and often sinful things. But when we invest ourselves in eternal, godly things, our spiritual nature grows and matures. So what are you full of? What are you investing yourself in? What seeps out of you every day?Check out the latest message in our series "Know God."
Did you know that 70% of America's population claims to believe in God, and identifies as some sort of Christian in faith? In reality though, the number of people who claim to understand what it means to personally Know God is significantly smaller. Unfortunately, so many people misunderstand what it means to be a Christian: They don't know the joy and fulfillment of personally knowing God and having a real relationship with Him. Perhaps you are a person who believes in God but haven't been experiencing the joy of truly knowing God. Perhaps you grew up around religion but never went deeper. Perhaps you spent years going to church, and even serving in ministries, but the church left you burned and hurt, wishing you hadn't opened yourself up to those moments of vulnerability. Whatever your situation, God wants you to truly KNOW Him. People make mistakes, and our fallen, broken world can scar us, but none of these things should stop us from living in complete fullness and joy in knowing our God, our Creator, our Savior and Friend. Watch this talk as Pastor Rich teaches us how to continue seeking a real relationship with a God Who fully knows us in a world that tries to break us.
Fully understanding God is impossible. That's why only God can do the impossible.There are some incredibly hard questions we all have about the existence of God: "How can God have always existed?""How is God able to hear everyone and everything all at once?""How does God have the ability to command His perfect will yet still give us free will?"The fact is, we can only offer pieces of an answer to these questions because God is beyond our finite ability to fathom. But the Bible tells us that we will find God if we search for Him. If we seek God, He will draw us closer to HIm. If you want to begin a relationship with God, or find peace amidst some of life's hardest questions about God, the place to start is by seeking Him. God LOVES IT when we come to Him, even if we're coming to Him with our doubts and struggles. God can take your punches, so seek Him.Check out the entire message from Dal Whelan as he cracks open our new series "Know God!"
In God's kingdom, you play an integral role that cannot be replaced.The Apostle Paul uses the analogy of a human body with many parts to explain how God wants all of us to work together in Christ. No part of the body can claim it is more important than any other part, because each body part fulfills a unique function for the whole body. The eye cannot claim superiority to the ear. The hand cannot claim it does not need the foot. Every part participates for the greater good of the holistic body.Do you know where your purpose is in God's body, which is the Church? Do you know how God has called you to meet the needs of others in the body in a way that only you can? God specifically designed you to make a difference in a way that is unique to His design for you. If you haven't discovered who you are and how God designed you, it's time to explore His plans and purposes for you and pursue them! If you know how God has designed you but you haven't been working together with the body of Christ, what are you waiting for?! Check out this highly important and powerfully true message from Pastor Rich on the Body of Christ!
How much FOMO do you have? What are you most afraid of missing out on? We all experience FOMO at some point: We don't want to miss out on something spectacular. But have you asked yourself what God is most concerned about you missing out on?Aside from heaven, the Bible actually tells us what God most wants us to not miss out on: It's the power and influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 tells us that no one has comprehended the deepest things of God, but now God has revealed such things by His Spirit. All of the greatest plans, truths, purposes, and adventures that God has in store for us are revealed in our lives by the Holy Spirit of God.The Bible also tells us that our bodies are the new temple of the Holy Spirit, and that means our body and soul is sacred ground where the Holy Spirit can dwell, flow, and operate through our lives. Check out this powerful message from Lead Pastor Rich Ryfun as he wraps up our sermon series "Flourish" by talking about thriving in the Spirit.
There are two common mistakes we can make when trying to change and be obedient with our lives: (1) We can depend too much on ourselves and forget to trust God for our transformation and growth in holistic health.(2) We can depend so much on God to transform us that we sit back lazily and pray for God to fix everything while we continue to make horrible decisions regarding our health and spiritual wellbeing.The truth is that a healthy WILL is the key to a healthy SOUL. That means we CHOOSE things that bring us into complete obedience to God and complete health for our body, soul, and spirit. David modeled this for us well when he said, "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God" (Psalm 42:5).David exemplified what a healthy will looks like by turning to God with his grief and pain and ending his hope and solutions in the character of God, and we will live with a healthy soul when we can submit our will like David did!Check out this timely message from Pastor Bethany as she continues our series "Flourish" and dives into what it means to have a healthy soul.
God created humans to be complete, holistic beings. That means that everything in our design was created "good" (Genesis 1-2) and that everything in our design should operate in harmony: Body, soul, and spirit. So why do we have an epidemic of anxiety, depression, and suicide in our hemisphere today? Could it be that we are not treating our bodies with honor and care, and it's effecting the rest of our being? This month we are knocking down some of the largest barriers to living the healthy and joyous life that God has for us by going to the root of the problem; a toxic lifestyle. As we fast and pray over the next 21 days, we are going to examine what it means to Flourish in body, soul, and spirit, and how we can honor God by caring for and honoring our bodies with daily habits and god-honoring choices. As followers of Christ, we are called to care for and respect God's good creation, and that starts with our own bodies.
Happy New Year!Ever wondered what God would tell you if you could just sit Him down and ask Him exactly what He wants you to do with this next year? Well, we're not going to tell you the answer to that, because we don't know. However, God has a powerful vision for this house, and we're excited to share with you everything God has put on Believers Chapel's heart for this ambitious upcoming year. Join us a Pastor Rich reflects on the miracles God accomplished through us over 2022, and how we are stepping into greater things by faith as we step into 2023.
Christ came as the perfect image of God; a beautiful picture of who are were designed to be.The Bible tells us that we were created in the image of God. God's goodness is imprinted in our DNA. But our sin has made it so we cannot live up to this perfect design. Something within us always ends up distorted, imperfect, or broken. It's as if God created us as a brilliant white canvas on which we have the joy of painting our lives, but we make a mess of our art no matter how much we try to get it right. We can't remove the splotches of mistakes on our canvas.But this is why Christ came to earth. God is the author. The original, true artist. Only God can create in us a new canvas, and model perfectly for us how to paint our lives with the beauty God intended for us. Jesus is the perfect image of God, who became human and lived among us, a bunch of broken images and poor reflections of God. Jesus took upon himself all of our brokenness and gave to us all of his obedience and holiness.Listen to Lead Pastor Rich's entire message on "God With Us as the son of God" as he continues our Christmas sermon series "Immanuel: God With Us!"
God promises to meet your needs when you prioritize Him.Scripture is full of promises from God for us. But one promise we struggle with all too often is God's promise to meet our needs when we live generously. Do we have the ability to give to God without fear of having enough ourselves? In 2 Corinthians 9, the apostle Paul encourages us to share our resources in spreading God's kingdom and meeting the needs of others. God EXPECTS us to hold a posture of generosity. When we do, God promises to provide for us whatever we need and provide it abundantly. There is no dollar amount or quota in acts of kindness that God expects. Instead, God compels us to constantly meet the needs of others, to give, to serve, to share, and to love generously. Do not worry about having enough, because God promises to care for you in every way you need to be cared for. Check out this compelling message on generosity from Pastor Rich as he shares how God has provided for us as a church over the years, and how our church has provided for so many others thanks to God's faithfulness.
How we define ourselves carries far more weight than we recognize. Names are important to God and are powerful indicators of who we will become. How we identify ourselves will have major consequences on how our future will turn out.
In Mark 5, Jesus confronts a man living in a graveyard who has lost his name. He is now identified by the demons who possess him and the chains that bind him. But chains cannot solve this man's problems, because you cannot solve spiritual problems with human solutions.
This man was defined by his problems. God does not define us by our sins or struggle. God sees the human He created: A human God wants to be defined by the purpose and love God always intended for him. This man lost his identity and was defined by his issues until he met Jesus. Are you defined by your issues? It's time to take your name back. Check out this message from Pastor Kason on the power of our real identity.
What is the secret to being content?
Can we be okay if my life is not what we want it to be? The apostle Paul tells us he learned the secret to being content no matter what his circumstances are. While in prison, he writes to his church community in Philippi, " I rejoiced greatly for your gift... Not that I am in need... For I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need" (Phil 4:10-11).
Paul learned that we can be content because Jesus is enough. We do not rely on our wealth, talents, status, or opportunities. Our contentedness is not contingent on our desires being met. If we expect to find contentment by reaching a certain level of accomplishment in society or buying the right things, we will never find it. But when Jesus is the center of our life, contentment comes naturally regardless of life's circumstances. There will always be "if only" moments, and the temptation to want "a little bit more," but nothing in this world is enough. Only Jesus brings contentment.
Check out this thanksgiving message from Pastor Bethany on Philippians chapter 4!
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Some tastes are acquired tastes. You don't understand how wonderful something is until you've experienced it for yourself. In Psalm 34:8, David writes, "taste and see that the Lord is good." David wanted to convince everyone who would one day read his words that they should experience the goodness of God for themselves, that they could understand how everything else in the world pales in comparison to the goodness of God. David wrote these words right after he barely slipped away from death: King Saul was chasing David in hopes of murdering him. But David saw his deliverance as evidence of the incredible goodness of God.
Many of us have experienced the goodness of God in our own deliverance. We've seen God save our marriage, deliver us from drugs, heal our broken bodies, and provide for us in times of destitution. David wants us to recognize how God continues to rescue, save, and provide for us until we will spend eternity with Him, enjoying our ultimate deliverance and salvation in His presence. True goodness comes from God, and there is nothing else like God's goodness. Taste and see for yourself!
Listen to the entire message from Pastor Rich on the goodness of God.
The presence of God brings dead things back to life.
Why do we find excuses to keep God at a distance and only spend marginal amounts of time with Him then? Ezekiel 47 depicts a world where God's presence flows like a river, spilling into salt water and turning it fresh. Animals, plants, and fish will thrive by this river, because God is a God Who brings life to desolate places. But when it comes to living fully alive, we're struggling, and it's because we're not living in the presence of God, we're living in our own world with our own strength and spending time everywhere else imaginable but in His presence. We're living half-lives without the fullness and fulfillment of God's presence.
Think of your own daily routine: How much time are you spending with God daily? Who gets your attention when your day starts? Who gets your attention when it ends? Where does God sit in your priority list? Who is really the closest person in your life?
Today is the day you reorient your life around God, not the other way around.
Check out this message from Pastor Rich today on the significance of spending time in the presence of God.
It is never too late to turn away from sin and choose Jesus.
As people become more inclusive and seek to be less offensive, the topic of human sin has become somewhat unpopular. Yet the bible is decisively clear that sin is something we all struggle with, and if we do not choose to turn from sin and obey Jesus, we will regret it in every aspect of our lives.
Sin and spiritual forces of darkness manipulate us into choosing shallow immediacy over genuine happiness. They manipulate us into choosing bitterness over forgiveness, and selfishness over relationships. We can avoid talking about sin all we want, but tat won't resolve the reality that sin exists, and it will destroy our eternity with God if we do not confront it in our own lives and choose to follow Jesus over our own sinful paths.
Check out this message from Elder Gary Bell on the subject of sin as he wraps up our series on Thought Pollution.
God wants to flood your life with His presence.
God's presence brings hope, healing, provision, and fulfillment. Everything we need and everything we want becomes truly evident in God's presence. Being with God in relationship makes us whole. We run dry when we try to force fulfillment without God being our sole source of supply. God's presence is like a river that flows, carrying every source of goodness and joy within it. When the river of God's presence flows through our lives, we are completely satisfied by it in every way. But when we depart from God and distance ourselves from Him, everything that flows from the river of His presence flows around us, and we miss out on all He has for us. Jesus tells us in John 15 that he is the vine and we are the branches, and when we remain in Him, we will bear good fruit.
Your life will overflow with all of God's goodness the more you remain in Him. God wants you to be overflowing with His goodness. He doesn't desire us to be starving for hope and purpose and provision. God's heart is to satisfy you in a relationship with Him and to meet every need you have as a result of that relationship.
Check out this much-needed message from Pastor Rich as he continues our series on Thought Pollution!
The further you are from God, the more you will try to take God's place and control everything.
Some of us are willing to try anything to be noticed. To feel accepted and loved. We will conform to any scene or thought group and attempt to redefine ourselves if it makes us feel love and closeness with others. Many people do this with pain. We use our anxiety and our trauma to garner sympathy and attention in hopes that we will find a new identity that makes us feel important to others.
In the end, though, all of these attempts to redefine ourselves and take control of our situation leave us broken and unfulfilled, always lacking in what God really has in store for us. Because God is our Creator, He alone can define who we are and what is good for us. When we try to take control of where our identity, love, and goodness comes from, we end up making things so much worse. The closer we are to God, the more we understand ourselves. And the closer we are to God, the more we can enjoy real intimacy and love with others.
Check out this power-packed message from Pastor Joey as he continues our series on Thought Pollution!
A moment of reflection can save us from a lifetime of regret.
There's a popular lie out in the world today that insists we will find happiness if we follow our own hearts. In the movies, that sounds great, but in reality, that leads us nowhere. The popular moniker, "live your truth" is actually a big lie. We think it will bring us fulfillment and make us happy, but we just end up anxious, exhausted, and self-obsessed with no satisfaction in sight.
In the bible, king David gives us a great example of what this looks like. He was spending time where he shouldn't have, looking at a woman he had no business looking at, and found himself pursuing exactly what he wanted by taking the woman for himself. David's decisions resulted in murder, pain, and devastation, not happiness or fulfillment.
Check out this thought-provoking message from Pastor Bethany as she continues our series "Thought Pollution."
You might think you can handle carrying the opinions and values of society around you while also prioritizing God's purpose for your life, but in the end, God gets pushed aside, and life takes over.
It's a lie that we can live up to the world's expectations and still live close to the heart of God, following Jesus. There is no real relationship between the world's priorities and God's. The apostle Paul puts it this way, "What do righteousness and wickedness have in common? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? Come out from them and be separate says the Lord. Let us purify ourselves."
God created us to be perfectly content and fulfilled by being with Him constantly. We find ourselves bombarded with stress, anxiety, and hopeless expectations as soon as we try to compromise our proximity to God with proximity to the values of this world. It's not just busyness, it's thought pollution: We cannot live immersed in the world and continue to live close to the heart of God.
Check out this awesome message from Pastor Rich as he continues our series "Thought Pollution!"
You might think you can handle carrying the opinions and values of society around you while also prioritizing God's purpose for your life, but in the end, God gets pushed aside, and life takes over.
It's a lie that we can live up to the world's expectations and still live close to the heart of God, following Jesus. There is no real relationship between the world's priorities and God's. The apostle Paul puts it this way, "What do righteousness and wickedness have in common? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? Come out from them and be separate says the Lord. Let us purify ourselves."
God created us to be perfectly content and fulfilled by being with Him constantly. We find ourselves bombarded with stress, anxiety, and hopeless expectations as soon as we try to compromise our proximity to God with proximity to the values of this world. It's not just busyness, it's thought pollution: We cannot live immersed in the world and continue to live close to the heart of God.
Check out this awesome message from Pastor Rich as he continues our series "Thought Pollution!"
As human beings in the 21st century, we are constantly bombarded with ideas, suggestions, political narratives, moral virtues, and entertainment. Our brains weren't designed to compound the amount of information we dive through every day. Yet here we are, trying to keep up with trends, ideas, and media. At some point, we're going to find our life empty and hollow, despite being bombarded with information. We are told by God to guard our hearts, for it is the wellspring of life.
We can try to void being too busy, but the danger is more than simply avoiding busyness: The danger lies in trying to keep all of the world's expectations and information in our heart while still keeping God the most important thing in our lives. Thought pollution is when our thoughts appear to be on the right track but are pressed by competing ideas and values of the world today.
Check out this valuable, needed message from Pastor Rich as he kicks off our new series, "Thought Pollution."
As human beings in the 21st century, we are constantly bombarded with ideas, suggestions, political narratives, moral virtues, and entertainment. Our brains weren't designed to compound the amount of information we dive through every day. Yet here we are, trying to keep up with trends, ideas, and media. At some point, we're going to find our life empty and hollow, despite being bombarded with information. We are told by God to guard our hearts, for it is the wellspring of life.
We can try to void being too busy, but the danger is more than simply avoiding busyness: The danger lies in trying to keep all of the world's expectations and information in our heart while still keeping God the most important thing in our lives. Thought pollution is when our thoughts appear to be on the right track but are pressed by competing ideas and values of the world today.
Check out this valuable, needed message from Pastor Rich as he kicks off our new series, "Thought Pollution."
We all like to hold on to things in this life. We seek treasures and pleasures, health and wealth, and everything else that pines for our attention. But Jesus warns us that giving ourselves away to Him is the only way to live.
In Mark chapter 8, Jesus tells his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.”
Jesus is asking us today to give our lives away to Him. If we try to hold on to our lives and live for ourselves, we will actually lose everything.
Jesus said these words as he was on his way to the cross, about to give his life away for us. Jesus was the perfect example for us of what it looks like to give our lives up for God, because Jesus obeyed His heavenly Father by doing the very same thing.
At the end of the day, every wordly pleasure we can wrap ourselves in will leave us empty and naked in this life, not contributing to anything we can take into eternity.
Check out this thought-provoking message from Pastor Rich as he wraps up our series, "Upside Down Kingdom."
We all like to hold on to things in this life. We seek treasures and pleasures, health and wealth, and everything else that pines for our attention. But Jesus warns us that giving ourselves away to Him is the only way to live.
In Mark chapter 8, Jesus tells his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.”
Jesus is asking us today to give our lives away to Him. If we try to hold on to our lives and live for ourselves, we will actually lose everything.
Jesus said these words as he was on his way to the cross, about to give his life away for us. Jesus was the perfect example for us of what it looks like to give our lives up for God, because Jesus obeyed His heavenly Father by doing the very same thing.
At the end of the day, every wordly pleasure we can wrap ourselves in will leave us empty and naked in this life, not contributing to anything we can take into eternity.
Check out this thought-provoking message from Pastor Rich as he wraps up our series, "Upside Down Kingdom."
This series is based on Jesus’ teachings that move counter-cultural to the values and wisdom of the world around us.
What does it mean when Jesus says, "the first shall be last and the last shall be first?"
Jesus often made statements that seemed contradictory to how the world around us works. But Jesus understood something no one else did: The Kingdom of God operates in a manner completely different from this physical world. When Jesus' disciples get into an argument about which one of them is his greatest disciple, they try to undermine each other by asking Jesus to allow them to sit at his right hand in heaven someday. But Jesus claims that the greatest disciple is the one who serves in the most humble position. The person who is considered "least" in the world's eyes is the greatest in God's kingdom. Those who follow Jesus do not walk in the ways of this world anymore. They live by a set of principles established by heaven for eternity.
Check out this life-changing message on the realities of God's kingdom as Pastor Rich kicks off our new sermon series "Upside Down Kingdom."
Jesus does NOT WANT ANYONE to go to hell.
Jesus knew, believed, and warned us of the realities of hell. It is a real place. And God's desire is that no human would reject Him and choose hell over a relationship with Him. 1 Peter 5 tells us God's will is that no human would perish in hell.
Scripture tells us that one day God will cast the devil and his followers into hell for eternity. Those who choose to follow the devil will end up with him in eternal punishment. Some people wonder if hell in the Bible is literal or figurative. The fact of the matter is, if hell is figurative, it is immeasurably worse than what the Bible even describes. God has done everything for us by paying for our sin and repairing the way back to Him through Jesus. All we have to do is choose Jesus.
Prep your heart for this serious message as pastor Rich shares on the realities of hell as we continue our series on heaven and hell.
If this message about hell has urged you to learn more and you would like to learn how to take your next step in rebuilding your own relationship with God, we would love to talk to you! You can text 315-444-2100 and speak to a pastor right now.
Have you ever thought about what we are actually going to do in heaven?
Despite false assumptions presented by pop culture, the bible tells us that in heaven we will have beautiful things to experience. We will have bodies, our senses, our personalities, talents, and unique characteristics given to us by God. Many of our interests were given to us by God, and scripture reveals a heaven where our unique design still plays a role in eternity.
Check out this fascinating message by Pastor Bethany Skarupa as we continue our series on Heaven and Hell.
If this message about heaven has inspired you to learn more and you would like to learn how to take your next step in your own faith journey, we would love to talk to you! You can text 315-444-2100 and speak to a pastor right now.
One day, God will make the world as it should be. We call that Heaven.
Heaven is so much more than just some far-off place that people go to when they die. The Bible gives us incredible depictions of the reality of Heaven. Revelation 22:3 tells us that someday when God returns to make everything right again, there will no longer be a curse on anything in the universe. Heaven will be perfect, literally.
Heaven is not some place where all of our earthly desires are given to us. In fact, your desires will be completely different in heaven because you will be sinless. You will be perfectly fulfilled. Heaven is also not Jesus and a bunch of naked babies flying around singing with harps. It is not a boring place. There are many inaccurate depictions of heaven in our society, but the Bible gives us an objective reality of what Heaven is like.
Heaven is a place that consumes us with every good promise from God. It strikes us eternally with awe and wonder. Heaven's beauty is beyond mortal comprehension, and its glory is limitless. Check out this inspiring message by Pastor Kason on the glory and wonder of Heaven!
If this message about heaven has inspired you to learn more and you would like to learn how to take your next step in your own faith journey, we would love to talk to you! You can text 315-444-2100 and speak to a pastor right now.
The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom
Some people like to think that “fearing God” simply means “respecting God” or being in awe of God. While that’s partly true, it’s not the whole truth. The incredible justice and righteousness of God gets left out of some of our depictions of God because we don’t like dealing with the fact that we are all accountable to Him, and being on the wrathful side of God means we have to face up to things in our lives that don’t belong there. But if we’re going to accept the truth, we need to accept that God’s love and God’s justice are both equally part of His character. We can water down our understanding of God to make it suit what we want, but that doesn't make it true.
Check out this week's heavy message from Lead Pastor Rich Ryfun as he kicks off our new sermon series, "Heaven and Hell."
If this message resonates with you and you would like to learn how to take your next step in your faith journey, we would love to talk to you! You can text 315-444-2100 and speak to a pastor right now.
God’s heart is for mercy.
Every day we are faced with small moments where we can compromise our faith or trust God and stay close to Him. In the story of Abraham’s nephew, Lot, he made small decisions based on greed and personal gain, and those decisions led to compromise.
Where is God showing us that we’ve compromised our faith and placed ourselves in precarious positions that lead to harm rather than the protected places God prepares for us? This morning Elder Gary Bell talks with us about the warning signs of slipping away from God through compromise, and the need to keep our focus on God’s plan in even the small things in life, before they lead us away in big ways.
If this message resonates with you and you would like to learn more about what it means to know Jesus, we would love to talk to you! You can text 315-444-2100 and speak to a pastor right now.
You can’t win if you’re tied up
You were not an accident. God always planned for you, and He always had a purpose for you. In the trenches of spiritual warfare, we often lose sight of that purpose. We get entangled in things that derail God’s design for us and hold us back, tear us down, and stop us from moving forward in God’s purpose. But the bible tells us God will sustain us and help us to finish what He started in us.
So how do we go from being weighed down by sin and spiritual attacks to thriving in our God-given purpose? We have to let go of the burdens we’ve become accustomed to carrying. We grow attached to our burdens and start to identify with our struggles until we can’t tell our hardships and our personal identity apart. God desires to take our burdens if we will have the faith to let Him take them.
Check out this amazing message from Pastor Rich this morning on breaking ties that hold us back in spiritual warfare.
If this message spoke to you and you would like to learn more about what it means to know Jesus,, we would love to talk to you! You can text 315-444-2100 and speak to a pastor right now.
There is power in your obedience to God.
In spiritual warfare, people usually think of demon possession, miracles, healings, and angels and demons fighting in a cloud over our heads. While spiritual war is a reality, that's a very narrow understanding of what spiritual warfare is.
Everything we do in life participates in spiritual warfare, and our obedience to God is our greatest weapon in that battle. When we are operating in obedience to God, we find ourselves secure behind God's borders, with the fullness of His kingdom backing us. But when we choose our own path and disregard obedience to God, we find ourselves stuck behind the borders of the kingdom of darkness and vulnerable to everything that the evil kingdom has to throw at us.
Check out this timely message from Pastor Joey as we dive into week 2 of our series, "In the Trenches."
We are all engaged in a war, and it isn't waged with human weapons. There is a spiritual battle taking place every day, and we are in the trenches. The apostle Paul tells us that he continues to strive every day until he can attain the prize God has for him in Christ Jesus. He does not simply participate in life, he strives to win.
By the power of the Holy Spirit, we fight the powers of darkness and the devil, and we fight to win. We fight for our families, we fight for our spouses, and we fight for our future.
Check out this powerful start to our sermons series "In the Trenches" by Pastor Rich.
Sometimes it takes a long time to see the benefits of living out God’s design for your life. You can grow weary in doing what God wants for you, seeing others around you propel themselves into the life they want while not caring about what anyone else thinks, and here you are growing weary trying to do what’s right.
But remember the reality behind what you see: God rescued you from a life of self-serving, never-satisfying, day-to-day grinding cycles. Those things leave us empty, and our lives are wasted on them. Don’t fall into the trap of making excuses for going back to your old ways, just because you’re tired of doing good. God promises us that we will reap a harvest if we do not give up, and God sees what we cannot see. He knows what others waste their life on and what we strive for in order to serve him!
Check out this timely message from Pastor Rich on continuing in God's plan for your life.
You will not value the ways of God until you fathom the love of God.
Over the last several decades, younger generations have become completely unfamiliar with biblical language about God and what it means to serve him. Postmodernism says we are supposed to pursue every desire of our hearts, and that we are not morally good until we allow ourselves to sample every aspect of self-expression until we find fulfillment. But God's ways are ultimately far more fulfilling than our desires and our attempts at discovering our most authentic self,
Check out this message from pastor Joey on Acts 17 and how Paul shared Jesus with a community that was completely unaware of who God is and how much He loves them.
If you struggle with guilt and shame over past mistakes, or over wrongful actions performed against you by someone else, you are not alone.
When you enter into a relationship with Jesus however, He frees you from guilt. He released you from shame. He makes you a new person, healed and whole, unshackled from the weight and pain of our sins, and the sins committed against us. There is no real way to remove the heavy burden that shame puts on us. We make a mistake, and we feel like that mistake identifies our entire being, That mistake defines us, so why bother feeling like we're worth anything?
In this message, Jon Barnes tackles the lies used to convince us we have to drown in our shame and guilt and shows us in scripture how God removes our stains and renews our hearts when we trust in Him!
If this message on identity has made an impact on you and you would like to talk to someone about how you can discover a real identity in Jesus, we would love to talk to you about it! You can text 315-444-2100 and speak to a pastor right now!
On this Sunday, Pastor Steve WIlliams of MFI (Ministers Fellowship International) joins us to talk about the increasing tension in the world around us, and how we as the Church are to view the circumstances as we carry the light of the power of Jesus Christ in us. From our identity as image-bearers of God, to our place as redeemed citizens who now live in God's kingdom, Steve reminds how we are shaped by God, and how the world around us can find hope by viewing God's work in our lives!
MFI Regional Conference was held at Believers Chapel this year, and we had the privilege of hosting several incredible ministers, with Pastor and Speaker Steve Williams staying another day to share with us on Sunday morning!
If God had a Facebook page, your picture would be all over it!
You are God's dearly loved child, and he adores you even more than a mother adores her children. Have you ever felt the warm air of Summertime hit you in the morning after several long months of a freezing winter and a dreary spring? That's like the incredible feeling you get when you recognize God's love for you, and you accept it, letting it consume you. The bible contains several passages of scripture that compare God to a motherly figure, caring for, nurturing, and protecting His children, you and me! The entire book of Ephesians in the Bible explains that when you put your faith in Jesus, you identify as a citizen of God's kingdom, and you are able to walk in His love, letting His love define who you are.
Check out this message on Ephesians 5 from Pastor Bethany on Mother's Day as she continues us in our series on "Authentic Self."
We cannot change enough about ourselves to solve our identity issues: We have to discover our benefits as citizens of heaven.
When you travel internationally, going through customs can be a pain. You are expected to prove your citizenship, and certain rights and privileges come with your citizenship. The same is true of your citizenship in heaven when you choose to follow Jesus. After hundreds of rules and commandments could not solve our issues as humans, Jesus came to earth and lived a perfect life in our place, creating a new kind of human existence that could solve our identity issues. When we embrace the reality of Jesus' victory over sin, we are not bound to sin and its rules any longer. Those issues lie dead on the cross where Jesus was crucified,
Check out this message on Romans 8 from Pastor Kason as he continues us in our series on "Authentic Self."
If God had a Facebook page, your picture would be all over it!
You are God's dearly loved child, and he adores you even more than a mother adores her children. Have you ever felt the warm air of Summertime hit you in the morning after several long months of a freezing winter and a dreary spring? That's like the incredible feeling you get when you recognize God's love for you, and you accept it, letting it consume you. The bible contains several passages of scripture that compare God to a motherly figure, caring for, nurturing, and protecting His children, you and me! The entire book of Ephesians in the Bible explains that when you put your faith in Jesus, you identify as a citizen of God's kingdom, and you are able to walk in His love, letting His love define who you are.
Check out this message on Ephesians 5 from Pastor Bethany on Mother's Day as she continues us in our series on "Authentic Self."
If this message on identity has made an impact on you and you would like to talk to someone about how you can discover a real identity in Jesus, we would love to talk to you about it! You can text 315-444-2100 and speak to a pastor right now!
Welcome to Believers Chapel, where we gather to have a personal experience with God!
Easter is the greatest event to take place in human history. It is the week where Jesus Christ acted as a substitute for our sins by dying on the cross. He died in our place when we deserved death, but death had no claim over Him because He never sinned, and God rose Him from the dead, defeating death! Join us as we celebrate this beautiful reality on Easter Sunday with worship and a message from Pastor Rich on how God redeemed us from our blindness and sin through Jesus's victory.
If this Easter message has made an impact on you, and you would like to talk to someone about how you can have your own relationship with Jesus, we would love to talk to you about it! You can text 315-444-2100 and speak to a pastor right now!
Have you been hiding from God?
We were created beautifully in the image of God. We had a design, specifically as image bearers representing God among His creation. But as we experience life in this sinful world, fear, anxiety, anger, depression, greed, envy and shame all begin to seep into the cracks of our life and it changes us. It transforms us and distorts our sense of self. After being exposed to these vices so many times, we begin to lose sight of our authentic self.
Without sin, it was easy to live in the beautiful image God created for us, but when humans chose to put themselves above God and allow sin into their hearts, they lost their identity. We have all done this. Every human being has turned their back on God, including you and me. But there is a way to rediscover our lost identity and be free from the effects a sinful life has had on our sense of self. That way is accepting the love and grace of Jesus, making Him King in our hearts. Check out this amazing message from Pastor Rich on continuing us to rediscover our "authentic self."
If this message on identity has made an impact on you and you would like to talk to someone about how you can discover a real identity in Jesus, we would love to talk to you about it! You can text 315-444-2100 and speak to a pastor right now!
Identity is received, not achieved.
Your sense of identity will impact every other decision you make in life. We often make our desires, our "sovereign self" as Tim Keller calls it, the driving force of our identity. We focus on our deepest desires, and they can define our happiness and who we think we are. We make our identity all about "living our best life" or discovering our "authentic self" and shape our identity around these ideals. But what happens when our goals, our dreams, our aspirations get blocked? What happens when things change and shift, and we discover certain goals are not attainable? Does our identity crumble?
And in spite of what the culture around you wants you to think, achieving your loftiest goal does not fulfill you. It does not complete your identity-it lets you down. Your deepest desires could be blocked, or they could end up being unfulfilling. In truth, we need to discover a deeper, truer sense of who we are, and the answer is in the God Who created us. Our identity must be defined by Him and who He says we are.
We have an identity crisis in America today. We are consumed with how others perceive us, and it has become so natural that we hardly notice it anymore. Media, culture, or other social systems and structures tell us who we are supposed to be. Their words and expectations create a silent pressure that forces us into a mold and shapes our identity.
But God never intended our identity to be shaped by these forces. God created you to be a child of His, close to Him, personal with Him, and DEFINED by His love for you. All humans were created in God's image. The world around us tells us who we are allowed and not allowed to be, but we don't have to listen to the world. We don't have to listen to voices that bring shame, guilt, anxiety, condemnation or conformity. We can find our identity in God as His child, created in His image and designed to be in a loving relationship with Him. Join us in a series of messages that expose the lies of broken identities all around us and seeks to rediscover what it means to be authentically ourselves, created by God in His image.
In our modern western way of life, we all have on thing in common when it comes to authority: We don't life it. We don't like someone else being in charge of our life, our decisions, our happiness, etc. We think authority equates to a form of slavery, where we cannot rule our own personal kingdoms. But the Bible gives a very different depiction of authority.
God values authority, and He personally created systems and structures of authority so that we could be protected when vultures circle us, so that we could be corrected when our mistakes consume us, and so that we can be supported when adventure lies ahead of us. Check out this message from Pastor Kason on the value, role, and absolute need we all have for authority in our lives.
If this message has spoken to you and you're ready to take the next step in your relationship with God, we would love to talk to you about it! You can text 315-444-2100 and speak to a pastor right now!
Augustine believed that evil was simply the absence of God's goodness. Anything less than God's truth is evil. We have all been duped into substituting God's truth for a lie at one point or another. One of the reasons many of us have chosen to follow Jesus was because we were tired of being duped by sin and lies. We wanted God's truth. So we decided to allow God to expose the darkness and deception in our hearts and show us a better way.
In this message, Pastor Rich challenges us to allow God to come in again and expose the sin in our lives. As a perfect and loving Father, God wants to correct us and save us from these self-destructive lies that creep in to our hearts.
If this message has spoken to you and you're ready to take the next step in your relationship with God, we would love to talk to you about it! You can text 315-444-2100 and speak to a pastor right now!
One glaring question we have to ask ourselves when we look around our church is, "Where are all the young people?" Statistically, Millennials, often called the "nones," have drifted away from the practice of going to church, and have no problem being unaffiliated with any religious group. The next generation, Generation Z, has followed this pattern even further, drifting away from church and not practicing their faith in any traceable or visible way, if they are practicing it at all. This forces us to go back and examine what Church really is supposed to be, and whether or not we all need to be participating in Church. What does church offer for younger generations today? Does God care if we're all a part of an actual local church? Can't we serve God without going to some physical building every week or being in a bible study? Guest Speaker Verna Reid challenges us in this message to take a hard look at the value of Church, and how we can address the change in religious practices among younger generations today.
If this message challenges you to make a stronger connection with church, and ultimately with God, we'd love to help you do that. You can text us at 315-444-2100, or send us a message on social media or on our website, and a pastor will walk you through the next step you need to take!
You can find more from the Chapel in Cicero Here -
Website: https://www.believerschapel.org
Instagram: @your_chapel
Facebook: YourBC
Videos and More: https://vimeo.com/believerschapel
Church is not a building. It is not a tradition we squeeze time for on Easter and Christmas. Church is God's plan to live with us here on earth and spread his message of love to the world.
In this message, Pastor Rich talks about 5 things the Church does for all of us. The Church helps clean us up, it helps equip us,, it provides us covering and support, it gives us a place to live out our purpose, and it builds us up to fulfill God's purpose.
Check out the message and start seeing Church in a whole new way, as an integral part of your life!
When you give your life to Jesus, you receive the Holy Spirit, who takes care of everything you need to succeed!
The Holy Spirit is our source of wisdom, guiding us to all truth and helping us navigate the most difficult of life's circumstances. The Holy Spirit is our source of power, emboldening us to challenge injustice and face fear with faith. The Holy Spirit is our source of conviction, training us in righteousness and challenging us to run from immoral choices that sift us further from intimacy with God.
Everything we need in this christian life we live is given to us through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We cannot survive if we are not engaging the powerful work of God's Spirit in us and pursuing the help and hope He offers. In this message, Pastor Rich brings to life four key gifts that grow in us when the Holy Spirit takes control of our life and becomes our number one source.
If you're interested in knowing more about God's transforming work in your life, we'd love to talk with you. Text or call us at 315-444-2100, or send us a message on social media, or on our website! We would love to talk with you.
God saves us from our sin. We are like children who fall in to a pit of sludge, with God pulling us out of the pit and saving us. But when we're pulled from the pit, we still smell like sludge!
The next step? God needs to clean us off. In Ephesians 5, the apostle Paul explains that marriage between a man and a woman is a relationship where husbands are commanded by God to present their wives before Christ washed and cleansed, holy and blameless. This is an example of what God desires for all of us: God wants to cleanse us, wash us, set us up as holy and blameless just like Him. We are presented before God not just as a person saved from the pit, but as a person cleaned off and made beautiful again.
If we aren't careful, we will find ourselves missing the pit of sludge, flirting with the idea of sticking our foot in it again, and maybe going even further back in to it. But God asks us to keep ourselves washed, cleaned off, avoiding the pit and living in His awesome holiness. This is the most rewarding and fulfilling way to live, and we can experience it for ourselves if we will give up the sludge for God's holiness.
If you're interested in knowing more about God's transforming work in your life, we'd love to talk with you. Text or call us at 315-444-2100, or send us a message on social media, or on our website! We would love to talk with you.
What does it mean to be honest with God?
It starts with allowing God to be honest with you. There are areas in our life we want God to fix, or transform on our behalf, but what about the areas God is trying to improve in us that we don't want him to touch? For the rest of the world it is easy to create a highlight reel that only shows what we want people to see. But with God, there is no highlight reel. Either we give Hi everything, even the things we don't want Him to touch, or we push Him out and stifle His influence in our life.
In this message, Dan Whelan gives us a perspective on deep honesty and intimacy with God. We have the opportunity to be truly vulnerable with God and trust Him to be gentle yet radical with our hearts, but only if we're willing to trust Him with all of it, even the areas we don't want to uncover and deal with.
If you're interested in knowing more about God's transforming work in your life, we'd love to talk with you. Text or call us at 315-444-2100, or send us a message on social media, or on our website! We would love to talk with you.
We're walking in the new in 2022!
New Years resolutions are great, but they don't go very far if we don't take inventory of our lives and see what doesn't belong. You cannot walk into the new if you aren't willing to let of the old.
In the bible, God created a group of people, called the Israelites, and set them apart to live only for Him, cutting out anything in their lives that is not a direct command from Him. Eventually God's people Israel found themselves in slavery under the nation of Egypt because they began to worship gods belonging to the Egyptians. As God set them free from slavery, they had to leave behind their old idols and walk into the promised land God promised them. Similarly, we have to trust God by walking into the destiny He has for us and leave behind the old ways of life that do not reflect God's destiny for us.
Transitioning into God's plan and leaving behind our old plans can be a lot of work, and we don't always see the eternal value in giving up our current life for something better, but if we ever want to embrace the New Start God has for us, we have no choice but to abandon the old and step into the new. Check out this amazing word from Pastor Bethany on stepping into the new in 2022!
The story of Hope in the bible is a story where Jesus radically intervenes in a world of darkness, shining like a powerful light that chases darkness away. That story is true, and embodies our situation when we agree to abandon our broken and sinful life and trade it for God's fullness and goodness.
Sometimes the darkness in our world is too much, and we don't know how to overcome it. We want Jesus, but we can't get our minds around the possibility that things can be better. But Jesus is the answer to every feeling of hopelessness and despair. There is a real community of people who have been changed by God's love, and you can find healing and belonging in that community to help you accept hope God has for you, and escape those places of darkness.
In this talk, Pastor Kason reveals the need to leave behind our hopeless and sinful lifestyles to accept the hope God has for us in Jesus, and also discusses the moments in our life when we can't seem to fathom a choice outside of hopelessness and anxiety, pointing us back to Jesus, who can overcome any darkness!
The bible tells us that "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." It is so easy to misplace our hope in things that cannot make us happy, or in things that satisfy only temporarily. But God instructs us to take our pain, our weakest moments, and our bad attitudes, and speak to them that our hope remains in God's promises.
How often do we find ourselves walking around complaining that we aren't satisfied, and that things in life seem hopeless? In times of complaining and in times of real sorrow and trouble, God's hope is unshakable if we keep our attention on Him. That is why the bible tells us that our Hope in God can never be taken from us: It depends on God Himself, who is perfect, not on temporary things that waste away and cannot fulfill us.
Where have you been placing your hope? Have you allowed the things of this world to steal it away? Or are you trusting God to carry you through, even when circumstances are challenging and your attitude is stressed? Pastor Rich has just the right word for you today.