Christ Church IL Podcast

Welcome to Week 7 of our Explore God series where we will look at the question "Can I know God personally?"  This week, Campus Pastor Ben Dockery will be breaking down ways that you can know God personally.

Welcome to Week 6 of our Explore God series where we will look at the question “Is Christianity too Narrow?”  Our special guest Jared Alcantara who is the Associate Professor of Preaching at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary in Waco, Texas joining us this week to help us unpack this question.

Welcome to Week 5 of our Explore God series where we will look at the question "Is the Bible Reliable?  Anson Hanbury, one of our pastors on staff, will help us explore this question.

In week 4 of our Explore God series, listen as our special guest pastor, teacher and writer Steve Carter helps us to unpack this question "Is Jesus really God?  

In week 3 of Explore God series.   Listen as Syler Thomas looks at the question "Why does God allow pain and suffering?"

In Week 2 of our Explore God we are fortunate to have bestselling author, international speaker, and leading strategist in evangelism Mark Mittelberg who will be looking at the question "IS THERE A GOD?"  He has written multiple books such as "The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask (with answers), The Reason Why Faith Makes Sense, and Becoming a Contagious Christian”.

Welcome to Week 1 of our Explore God series. Listen as we ask 7 questions over the next 7 weeks and explore these with a variety of guest pastors.   Today we are fortunate to have  author, speaker, and ordained pastor Skye Jethani. He served for 11 years as an editor and executive with Christianity Today, and before that he was a teaching pastor in Wheaton, Illinois. He’s the author of seven books...

Listen  as Ben Dockery speaks from I Peter 3:15 to inspire us to engage in discussion about the major questions people have in the bible. Be prepared to to explore your life, your purpose and how God might fit into that.

We are in the fourth week of Advent in our series “And He Shall Be Called” where we have been focused on what we can learn by exploring the names and titles of Jesus. Listen as Anson Hanbury unpacks the title of  Jesus Christ: “the Firstborn” as he teaches from Colossians 1:15-20.

We are in the third week of Advent in our series “And He Shall Be Called” where we have been focused on what we can learn by exploring the names and titles of Jesus. Listen as Mike Woodruff comments on three uncommon references to Jesus that go largely unappreciated with a hope that a greater understanding of the titles will lead you toward worship, as well as greater confidence in the Bible.

We are in week 2 of our Advent series:  And His Name Shall Be Called. Did you know one of the names or titles that refers to Jesus is "Life"? This morning our LF campus pastor, Ben Dockery will be looking at John 6 where Jesus refers to himself as the Bread of Life, and he will be challenging us to define our lives in light of this claim Jesus makes to be the life.

Join us as we kick of Advent with our series "And His Name Shall Be Called".   As you may know, there are lots of different names and titles for Jesus and also metaphors used to describe who He is and what He has done.  In this series, we are going to explore these different names...names like Son of David, Lamb of God, Jesus the Messiah,  and better understand the mystery and wonder of...

Listen as Syler Thomas looks at a passage from the Gospel of Mark, where something unexpected happens at a Thanksgiving type celebration, something that has implications for what our relationship with God should look like.

This week we are on commandment nine, which is on lying. And I would be lying if I said it’s an easy one and you’ll escape unscathed!  The pursuit of truth is a big task; telling the truth is hard. There is much to learn from Christ – who is truth.

Many of us feel that just because we are not actively “stealing” and walking out of stores with items that are not ours...that we have this commandment down pat.  Jesus, who had a lot more to say about money than he did about sex, said some pretty surprising and disruptive things about stealing. Listen as Mike Woodruff breaks down the 8th Commandment - Thou Shall Not Steal.

Thank you for joining us in week 8 of our study in the 10 commandments called:  What if?  Conversations for a Better World.  This week, we are actually jumping forward to the 10th commandment…You shall not covet. Listen as Mike gives focus on what this commandment means, and he asks the tough question... “what if we were content?”

Commandment #7..."You shall not commit adultery". This is pretty straightforward, right? Well, in the real world this is a much more involved and deeper commandment than it appears on the surface. Listen as Mike Woodruff breaks down this commandment.

We are continuing with What If? Conversations for a Better World and today we get into the first law that sounds like a law that should be on the books! Don’t murder. Can anyone name the first five?  No Gods but God, no idols, do not take his name in vain, remember the Sabbath, honor your parents. And now, listen as Mike Woodruff talks about “do not murder”. Download the study guide here: http://c...

In week 5 of our series on the Ten Commandments, we look specifically at Exodus 20:12  “honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Listen as Mike Woodruff dives in to family relationships, and brings a specific focus on honor...something that we find less and less of in our culture. Download the study guide here: http://christchurchil...

Today we live longer, retire earlier, have a huge leisure industry and have more vacation days. And yet, we are working more hours and are more stressed out.  It is not surprising to read that we report being tired, even exhausted, in part because most people are proud of their busyness.  In week four of the What If? Conversations For a Better World series, listen as Mike Woodruff breaks down the...

Thank you for joining us in Week 3 of our What If? Conversations for a Better World series, a ten-week series stemming from the 10 commandments. This week, week we hit upon another commandment that most people miss the weight of what God is trying to communicate to us. Number three. It’s one people think they know – “Do not take the name of the Lord in vain” – but it’s so much bigger than most peo...

Last week we kicked off our new Fall Sermon Series with a study of the 10 commandments...presented with questions centered around WHAT IF we lived by God's rules? This week, listen as Mike Woodruff looks at the second commandment which focuses on idols. We read in Exodus 20:3 - 3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me. So we ask ourselves, what would it look like if your “God” was GOD?

Welcome to our new series – What If? Conversations for a Better World. Through the next 10 weeks we are going to explore what our life – what our world – would look like if we followed God’s loving direction. Our focus is on the Ten Commandments and the idea that they are a gift to us that leads to freedom and human flourishing. If you think of the Ten Commandments as old and outdated, heavy and h...

God has given us a wonderful framework for us to base our decisions, goals and aspirations upon, commonly known as the 10 Commandments. Listen as Mike reflects upon what this gift of wisdom means to us...and he also breaks into the “rules” of the game.