Compassion Church's (SJ) Podcast

Podcast Synopsis In Week 3 of One Hit Wonders , we meet Benaiah—a man mentioned in a short list of David’s mighty warriors who went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. Benaiah did not get an ideal moment. It was a pit. There was a lion. And it was snowing. But he responded with courage to what was in front of him. His story reminds us that faithfulness is not always dramatic, but it...

Podcast Synopsis In Week 2 of One Hit Wonders: The People, Places, & Passages We Miss , we looked at Shiphrah and Puah, the Hebrew midwives in Exodus 1. They show up briefly, but their courage leaves a lasting mark. In a moment when Pharaoh’s fear led to oppression and violence, these women feared God and chose life. They did not have obvious power, status, or control, but they still had agenc...

We kicked off our summer series, One Hit Wonders: The People, Places, & Passages We Miss , by looking at two women who are only mentioned briefly in Scripture: Lois and Eunice, Timothy’s grandmother and mother. We do not know much about them, but we know this: they passed down a sincere faith to Timothy. Their faithfulness helped shape a young leader who would later be mentored by Paul and ser...

Who should we trust? In a world filled with opinions, influencers, teachers, podcasts, videos, and competing voices, John tells us not to believe every spirit but to test them. In this week's message from 1 John 4:1–6, we return to our original question: "Will the Real Slim Shady Please Stand Up?" How do we recognize what is true and who is worth following? John offers two tests. Fi...

In this week’s message from 1 John, we explore one of the central claims of the entire letter: God is love. Not love as sentiment or vague niceness, but love made visible in Jesus. John tells us that God’s love becomes complete in us as we love others—both those inside the church and those outside it. Which means following Jesus is not simply about believing the right things about Him, but learnin...

After several weeks of talking about who Jesus is, antichrists, truth, sin, and counterfeit versions of Jesus, 1 John shifts direction in an encouraging way: “See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!” In Week 5 of Love and Light, we explore how John reminds us of the assurance we have.  We are God's children. The goal or outcome of followin...

In Week 4 of our series Love and Light through the letters of John, we wrestle with one of the most misunderstood words in the Bible: antichrist. What does John actually mean when he uses that word? Is he talking about one future figure, many antichrists already present in the world, or both? And what does any of this have to do with anointing, Jesus as “the Christ,” and our calling as followers o...

In Week 3 of our First Epistle of John series Love and Light , we wrestle with a big question: What does it actually mean to know God? John challenges the idea that knowing God is just about information, belief, or even getting all the right answers. Instead, he says knowing God shows up in how we live—how we obey, how we love, and what shapes our desires. We look at how obedience is not about rul...

In Week 2 of our First Epistle of John series Love and Light , we move from asking Who is the real Jesus? to asking What does it actually look like to follow Him? John makes a bold claim: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. That means faith cannot stay theoretical. Fellowship with God is never separated from how we live. This week we look at what light does—it gives life, it guid...

Week 1 of our new series in First Epistle of John starts with a simple but important question: Will the real Jesus please stand up? There are a lot of versions of Jesus people create—American Jesus, Prosperity Jesus, Soft Jesus, Rulebook Jesus, and more. But John writes to remind us that Jesus is not someone we reshape in our own image. John says, “We have heard Him. We have seen Him. We have touc...

We all know the story of the prodigal son—the one who runs, the one who returns, the one who is welcomed home. But what if the story doesn’t end there? In this final week of The Unfinished Story , we turn to the older brother—the one who stayed, the one who did everything right… and the one who still finds himself outside. Jesus leaves the story unresolved, forcing us to ask a deeper question: not...

Easter is a story we think we already know. Jesus is risen. The end… or is it? This week, we stepped into Luke 15—the story of the prodigal son—and found ourselves in a different kind of Easter story. One where coming home doesn’t start with getting it together, but with getting honest. One where grace interrupts our attempts to earn our way back. And maybe most surprising of all… the story isn’t...

In Week 2 of An Unfinished Story , we step into the beginning of a story most of us think we know—the story of the prodigal son. But before anyone comes home, someone has to get lost. We look at how the younger son’s pursuit of freedom—on his own terms—actually leads him into a different kind of captivity. And if we’re honest, it’s not that unfamiliar. Sometimes we wander because we want control....

Some stories wrap up neatly. Others leave you hanging. In Luke 15, Jesus tells what might be His most famous story—but it doesn’t behave the way we expect. Before we ever get to the “prodigal son,” we’re invited into two smaller stories about things that are lost… and then found. A sheep. A coin. Both pursued. Both valued. Both leading to joy. But underneath it all is a deeper tension—because not...

Guest Speaker: Meagan Gottcent We wrapped up our You Will Be: Here, Near, Hard, Far series with guest speaker Meagan Gottcent , who helped us rethink what it means to be a witness. Too often we imagine witnessing as having the right arguments or the perfect words. But Scripture points us toward something different — a witness shaped by love. Drawing from 1 Corinthians 13 and the model of Jesus, th...

What does it look like to care about people and witness to those who are far from us — culturally, geographically, or spiritually? In Acts 17, Paul shows us that witness doesn’t start with arguments or winning debates. It begins with understanding people, listening to their stories, and helping them see how their story connects to God’s bigger story. Some people believe. Some people want more time...

Before Paul ever went far, someone had to step into the hard. Saul wasn’t just different — he was dangerous. Feared. Risky. The kind of person the church avoided. But Ananias obeyed when it would have been safer to stay home. Barnabas advocated when it would have been easier to keep distance. Witness takes risk. Witness takes relationship. The gospel reaches the “far” because someone is willing to...

This week we move from “near” to “hard.” In Acts 8, the gospel moves into Samaria—a place of centuries-old hostility—and then into the desert, where Philip meets an Ethiopian eunuch: powerful, devout, and very different from him. The Spirit pushes the early church beyond comfort, beyond tribe, beyond assumptions. What if our biggest barrier to witness isn’t fear… but contempt? What if the Spirit i...

Witness doesn’t stop where you are. It moves. In Acts 9, Peter travels to nearby towns—not just to convert strangers or non-believers, but to strengthen disciples and restore community. He heals Aeneas. He raises Tabitha. He shows up. And as he does, many come to believe. Because witness isn’t only about what we say. It’s also about how God works in us and through us. Witness—both our words and ou...

Jesus doesn’t say, “You should try to be my witnesses.” He says, “You will be my witnesses.” (Acts 1:8) In this first week of our new series, You Will Be: Here • Near • Hard • Far , we begin where the disciples begin—waiting, wondering, and asking the wrong questions. What does it actually mean to be a witness? Before we apply it, we step into the world of Acts and learn how the people who first h...

What does it really mean to rest—and why does it matter so much? In the final week of Add to Cart , we look at rest not as a rule to follow, but as a way of life rooted in creation, shaped by liberation, and fulfilled in Christ. From Genesis to Jesus, we explore how rest helps untangle our worth from productivity, forms trust in God as our source of security, and invites us into a rhythm that lead...

What happens when success doesn’t deliver the security it promises? In this message, we look at Saul’s story and Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 to explore how easily our worth becomes tied to achievement, approval, and performance. Together, we’re invited to rediscover a deeper truth: our value is not earned but given, and while purpose can bring meaning to life, it does not determine our worth—prayer...

oney shapes us—whether we realize it or not. This week in Add to Cart, we talked about how money is like lemons, how it trains our hearts, and how generosity isn’t about being told what to give—but learning to trust God as our source. Generosity doesn’t just help others. -It protects us (think content vs. corrosive) -It serves as a bridge (think community not isolation) -It retrains what we value...

We live in a world that trains us to believe more will finally settle us. More money. More stuff. More control. And without even noticing, those messages start to shape what we trust and how we live. In the first message of Add to the Cart , we look at Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 and Paul’s reflections on contentment in Philippians 4. We talk about how the things we reach for can quietly become our...

Herod responded to the birth of Jesus with fear, control, and violence. But the light still came—and it kept shining. In this final message of our Cranky Christmas series, we reflect on what it means to face the darkness without being consumed by it. As we begin a new year, we're invited to respond not like Herod, but like the others in the Christmas story—people who trusted, followed, waited...