The Beloved Church

This past Sunday, we had Toran Scott, the Lead Pastor of our sending church, here with us to give the message. We looked at a word that makes many of us flinch: obedience. Jesus says we remain in His love by keeping his commands, and that this leads to a peace the world can’t give and a joy no one can take away. So why do we hesitate? Often it’s fear of failure, love of our own autonomy, or a quie...

This week we'll make a shift in our series to looking more practically at how to abide. It begins with dependence. When Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing,” he invites us to let go of the pressure to be strong, impressive, and self-sufficient and instead embrace the humility and vulnerability of a child who depends on their Father. As we learn to depend on Him for everything—from the br...

We were joined by Dr. Gary Burge as he helped us understand the background context and imagery of Jesus' invitation and instruction in John 15. It doesn’t matter where you’re planted. What matters is where you’re grafted. When it’s Jesus, the true vine, we flourish. Text: John 15 _____________________________________ Learn more about The Beloved Church: https://www.belovedgr.church/ Subscribe to T...

Jesus invites us to make our home in him– to abide through dependence, trust, and obedience. This Sunday we'll consider another posture we settle for instead: spiritual apathy. In a world where we can be surrounded by the things of God yet spiritually distant, we'll be challenged to recognize the distractions and “bubbles” we look to for life and healing, and to ask: Do we truly want to be made we...

___________________________________ Learn more about The Beloved Church: https://www.belovedgr.church/ Subscribe to The Beloved Church | / @ belovedgr.church Follow us on Instagram | / thebelovedchrch Follow us on Facebook | / thebelovedchurch Opening Heaven for the next person to fall in love with Jesus. #TheBelovedChurch #AustinPresnell

What does it actually mean to abide in Jesus? In John 15, Jesus invites us to make our home in him—to depend on him, obey him, and discover the fullness of joy that comes from life with him. This message begins our Home series by exploring the difference between knowing about Jesus and actually experiencing life with Jesus. Whether you’ve followed Jesus for years, feel spiritually stuck, or are si...

What is shaping your family? In Deuteronomy 6:4–7, we see that the spiritual formation of our families starts with God forming us. Before we can impress the love of God on the hearts of our children, we must first allow Him to capture our own. This week in Formed: Family , guest speaker Adam Kasper, Family Pastor at TLC, challenges us to consider what we’re modeling at home and how the everyday mo...

What does it look like to be formed by Jesus? In 2 Peter 1, we’re reminded that God has already given us everything we need through His power and promises. Our role isn’t to earn what He’s given us—it’s to participate in it. In this message from our Formed | Life series, we explore three ways we can participate in the life Jesus is forming in us: Make Jesus Home Work the Garden Open Heaven God has...

We were made for community. Whether we have a wide circle of friends or just a few close relationships, we all have a desire to know others and to be truly known. But what if community is more than something we simply want? What if it’s essential to who God created us to be—and an important part of how He forms us to become more like Jesus? In this message, we explore what authentic biblical commu...

This week, Toran walks through the book of Joel and what happens when the “locusts” of life leave us feeling stripped bare. He reminds us that pain can become an invitation to return to a God who is gracious, compassionate, and abounding in love—and who can restore even the years we thought were lost. ______________________________________ Learn more about The Beloved Church: https://www.belovedgr...

This past Sunday we sat with the book of Malachi and watched as God brought accusation after accusation to His people. Each time, they denied it, defended themselves, and dismissed what He was saying. Beneath every excuse was the same question: Does God really love us? But Malachi reminded us that God's correction has always flowed from His love. Time and again, He told His people, "Enough is enou...

God isn't impressed by worship that stays inside church walls but never changes the way people live. In Amos 5:21–24, God speaks with some of the strongest language in the prophets, rejecting worship that ignores injustice and brokenness. As D.A. Carson writes, "One purpose of worship is to come to know God so well that who He is and what He does become concrete realities in our persons and behavi...

God loves people you'd rather write off. On Sunday, we dove into Jonah's anger in chapter 4—rooted both in a sense of injustice (that God would spare wicked Nineveh) and wounded pride (his prophecy of destruction didn't come true). Through the object lesson of a dying plant, God exposed how Jonah grieved a plant more than 120,000 people, revealing his lack of compassion. The sermon contrasts this...

This past Sunday we invited Evan Hoekzma to launch our new series in the book of Hosea by looking at God's relentless love for His people. Through Hosea's marriage, we see a powerful living picture of God's relationship with Israel—and ultimately with us. Even when we chase after other things for our hope, security, or satisfaction, God's love never stops pursuing us. We were reminded that spiritu...

This past Sunday, Sara Krieg from The Local Church walked us through the stories of Bartimaeus and Jesus in Gethsemane, reminding us what it looks like to come before God in prayer. Like Bartimaeus, we can boldly bring God our specific requests. And like Jesus in the garden, we can surrender our desires to the Father's perfect will. Prayer isn't about choosing between asking and surrendering—it's...

This week we explored why we keep praying when answers seem delayed. In Luke 18 and 1 Kings 18, we see that perseverance in prayer isn't about convincing God to act—it's about trusting the God who already promised He would. One of the most challenging questions from the message was: How do I make sure my perseverance in prayer isn't performance in prayer? The answer is found in God's character. We...

In this past Sunday's message we explored the vital connection Jesus makes between forgiveness and powerful, effective prayer. We invited people to reflect on where there might be un-forgiveness in their heart. Text: Mark 11:20-25 _______________________________________ Learn more about The Beloved Church: https://www.belovedgr.church/ Subscribe to The Beloved Church | https://www.youtube.com/@bel...

This past Sunday, we considered two ways of approaching God in prayer — as a customer versus as a child. While customers come to God transactionally, hiding their weakness and leaving when dissatisfied, children come with open arms, bringing their truest selves and trusting their Father's intentions even when they don't get what they want. In Luke 11, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit himself — who e...

Jesus’ approach to prayer as a certainty for life in his kingdom and as something that was necessary—like sleep. Why? Consider Matthew 6:6 “Christians often complain that their private prayer is not what it should be. They feel weak and sinful, and their hearts are cold and dark. It is as if they have no faith or joy in what little they have to pray about. They are discouraged and kept from prayer...

Somewhere between what Jesus promised and what we’ve experienced… there’s a gap. In the Gospel of Luke the disciples saw that gap too. They watched Jesus pray—and realized whatever He had with the Father, they didn’t have yet. So they asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Not how to say words, but how to actually enter into it . Maybe the problem isn’t that Jesus overstated the power of prayer… may...

This week, we will look at the Festival of Tabernacles, in which the Israelites celebrated how Yahweh dwelled with them during their time in the wilderness, and provided them all that they needed as they journeyed towards their permanent home (The Promised Land). Now, from the inside of the Promised Land, the Jews would practice this feast to remember both God's Presence and Provision. Then Jesus...

We welcomed our guest speaker Dave McGovern with us on Sunday. Dave is a clinical mental health counselor and formerly the family pastor of our sending church TLC. Humans are shaped by stories. We are the only beings in all of creation who make meaning through stories of the past, present, and future. We are shaped by both external and internal stories. Every day, we are faced with the choice of l...

The Feast of Trumpets is a wake-up call. In this message, Austin Presnell unpacks how this biblical festival points to repentance, spiritual alertness, and the return of Jesus. It’s a reminder to stop drifting, get right with God, and live ready—because the trumpet will sound. _______________________________________ Learn more about The Beloved Church: https://www.belovedgr.church/ Subscribe to Th...

Atonement reminds us of something we don’t naturally live from—that we don’t have to carry the weight of our sin, our shame, or our striving to make things right. God has already made a way. Where we tend to hold onto guilt or feel the need to fix ourselves, atonement invites us to receive what Jesus has already finished. In our lives, this can look like actually letting go of the quiet pressure t...

Learn more about The Beloved Church: https://www.belovedgr.church/ Subscribe to The Beloved Church | https://www.youtube.com/@belovedgr.church Follow us on Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/thebelovedchrch Follow us on Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/thebelovedchurch Helping the next generation fall in love with Jesus. #TheBelovedChurch #AustinPresnell