Destination Church Spokane Podcast

In 1 Corinthians 12:9-10 we discover the next three gifts of the Spirit: faith, healing, and miracles. While every Christian is given a measure of faith, the spiritual gift of faith is an abundant measure of faith, often for a specific situation. It enables the believer to trust God for much greater things than he or she otherwise could. Gifts of healing are divine remedies given freely by the Spi...

Words of wisdom and words of knowledge are two distinct gifts God gives by His Spirit, so how do they work within a church? Today we look at how these two gifts function well in a local church and why we need them. God gives these for various reasons, and we'll look at three of them: to protect, to partner in healing and encouragement, and to prepare His people to advance God's purpose i...

If anyone in the church should be disqualified, it's the Corinthian church! But that is not how Paul approaches their immaturity and misuse of spiritual gifts. By the grace given to them by God they do  not lack in spiritual gifts. After all, a gift wouldn't be a gift if it could be earned. These gifts include wisdom, healing, prophecy, teaching, and many more. Paul affirms that each and...

This Sunday we celebrate four years together as the Destination Church family! We believe God spoke very clearly to us about Hillyard, and placed us here on purpose with purpose. Our mission statement is, "Helping people become joyfully devoted ambassadors of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to the glory and delight of God our Father.' Just what does it mean for us to be am...

Learning how to rest well is vital to healthy life! Thought the culture all around us may not instill this, Jesus claims that we really can know true rest, and that we can find it in Him. This God-ordained rest will lead to God-ordained blessing that supersedes anything we could have produced on our own. "Come to me," Jesus says. "Learn from me. I will give you rest."

The church was never intended to be domesticated. We are called to be a healthy people together on mission in the world around us. A healthy church family is learning to live: upward in powerful prayer for one another and for the world around us; outward as we partner in Christ's mission to "seek and save the lost"; and inward to one another, extending Christ to each other. In the f...

How would you describe a healthy church family? One that gets along? Meets every Sunday? Has small groups? In James 5:13-18 we discover several underlying traits that a heathy church family will value: to be gatherable, God-focused, Guided, God-powered, gracious, vulnerable, and exercising the power of prayer. A healthy church like this becomes an atmosphere of faith where expectancy for God to mo...

When others know that our "yes" means "yes," and our "no" means "no," we are actually representing the trustworthiness of Christ to them. When our words and actions match up because of our integrity, there is no need for no additional oaths to make them so. When our word is trustworthy, our testimony about Jesus will also become more trustworthy to others as...

Jesus is coming back! But we don't know when, so as we wait for Jesus we need to have patience. See how a farmer waits, after he has tilled, sowed, and watered. Even while nothing is happening he knows that the seed is growing and the harvest is coming. The harvest will come at the right time, and so will Jesus. In the mean time, we are learning to be patient - with one another! It's in...

Being wealthy is not a sin!  However, we as people often tend to store up our treasures, and let them corrode or tarnish through selfish and unwise use. Wrongly withholding our resources from God and from one another, opposing God's will for our finances, our time, and our skills is destructively sinful. The good news is this: there are right ways, not just wrong ways, to harness wealth! So w...

We all face big life decisions:  financial, business, relational, etc.  "Do I take the job, the promotion? Do I make the big move? Do I marry this person? Do I have this baby?" These decisions have enormous impact on the trajectory of our lives, shaping our future and the future of others. God wants us to make our plans wisely, submitting them to Him in the context of a prayerful and tru...

What we really want is not always good. If we're really honest, what often dominates our minds, motivates our actions, and causes division among us is our own selfish desire.  Sometimes we may want God's blessing more than we want God! Desire for power, control, comfort, or approval can destroy our unity and sideline our prayers, but God's purposeful desire is for a faithful people...

Jesus deserves our worship. We praise Him, not just because we feel good or life is going well; we praise Him because he is deeply and truly worthy. Biblical worship and praise is not driven by our emotional ups and downs, yet as we give ourselves to praising our worthy God our emotions follow our praise. God promises that those who seek Him will find Him; God reveals Himself to us when we praise...

Biblical wisdom is revealed by example, so the best teaching should be observable. Our submission to Jesus and the gentleness that comes with wisdom from him speaks powerfully to those around us, influencing their lives in a positive way. This Godly wisdom is not bitter, jealous, or selfish, and is not seeking its own gain. God's wisdom is pure and leads to peace, gentleness, mercy, and selfl...

Our words matter, and we are responsible to God for them. James reminds us that teachers, such as himself, will be held accountable and to a stricter judgment for the things they say. James also recognizes that sinning through the words we say is all too common. The tongue may be a small part of the body, but it is powerful, igniting fires of life or death with far-reaching consequences. If our wo...

Faith without Christ-like action is impotent! While our works cannot save us, they definitely are a testament of our faith. Faith is revealed by action; it is impossible to demonstrate faith without it. Saying "I have faith", provides no proof by itself. However, living like Jesus becomes proof of our faith to others. Faith without works is as dead as works without faith; they belong tog...

Rich and poor alike are: equals in Christ, carrying the same family name, and heirs of the kingdom of God together. Treating others differently because of their status or monetary situation is contradictory to the royal law of Jesus and is sin. In James 2:1-13, James challenges the church to treat each other without bias, prejudice, or special favor. Instead, we are called to love one another and...

It can be easy to have a short temper,  speak too quickly,  and to ignore what God has been speaking into our lives. The book of James says that as believers we are called to live differently. We are challenged to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. The true listening to which James is referring is not just a high volume of information passing in one ear and out the other, but an...

Every good and perfect gift is from God, and God has given us all gifts. Being the good Father He is, He has blessed us all in many ways and has also given us gifts of faith though hardship. Sometimes we may question if these gifts are actually good. We may even ask, "Do I really want this gift?" or "Do I really want to need faith?" James reminds us that God is the source of al...

Believers in humble circumstances can boast in their exaltation, James writes. They are a part of God's royal family and this is cause to celebrate. Greatness in this family is found in service, to God and one another. And the wealthy believers?  They can boast in their humiliation. Their earthly status and wealth is temporary in the eyes of the Kingdom. They can still celebrate when they are...

Making wise decisions, especially under difficult circumstances, is no small challenge. Living a normal Christian life in the face of temptations and trials demands wisdom! So how do we acquire wisdom? Thankfully we don't have to do it on our own. James encourages us to go right to the source. God wants us to ask for wisdom and he will gladly give it! So, how then does He want us to ask? With...

God's people everywhere will face tests and trials. The book of James says we are to consider it joy when we do. How are we supposed to have joy when terrible things happen? Certainly not by pretending nothing is wrong! We are called to lead our emotions and thoughts into a God-perspective on our circumstance. While we will certainly go through trials, we don't have to live as if hardshi...

Preserved for us through John's gospel, Jesus makes multiple claims and promises, including the promise of eternal life for all who place their trust in him. Anyone can make a promise like this, but can he deliver on it? This is an important question, and a key reason Christians today celebrate Jesus' resurrection. We believe he is who he claims to be, and he can do what he says he can d...

Why were so many people gathered to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday? The reason according the John's Gospel, is because Jesus had recently raised a man back to life! In this story of Lazarus, we learn much about how God leads us still today: through great trials, into ever-deepening faith, out of death, and into abundant life! 

When we hear a verse saying "pray on all occasions," is God's will for us that we pray constantly without ceasing, not even to eat or sleep? No, that would be an impossible task! God's will for us is to live in the Spirit, in unity, praying together and in all seasons, a nd to pray according to the season we are in. We are challenged to pray appropriately according to what is h...