GARDEN CHURCH Podcast

Doing something is different than wanting to do something. I order to live a life in the way of Jesus, we have to reshape the way we do life. This includes the way that we incorporate practices of Jesus. These practices take many shapes and forms but ultimately are rooted in the person of Jesus. Listen, as Pastor Darren walks us deeper into Intentional Spiritual Formation, as we discuss the import...

We as humans are constantly being formed by the world around us. If we are not careful, we will be shaped to look more like the culture of the world, while thinking we are moving more towards Christ-likeness. Listen as Pastor Darren helps us set up a paradigm that will help us live lives of intentional spiritual formation. This will be our foundation to practice the way of Jesus, by being with Jes...

With the start of each new year, there comes an overarching sense of reflection of the past year, and the hopeful planning of the year to come. Pastor Bill walks us through his reflection of becoming more like Jesus, and why because God is always there in the midst of victories and failures we are called to tune our hearts to him and his voice. Listen as we start this new year off with a new sense...

Christmas has become so familiar to us. However, when we take a closer look at the Christmas story, we realize that Jesus' birth is anything but familiar. Join us as Pastor Darren helps reintroduce us to the Christmas story, as the radical arrival of the Messiah, Jesus.

"I have to get to this meeting. I have to make sure I can post this. I have to make sure I have time for my family, friends, and myself." Our culture is constantly moving us into a space that is marked by hurry, and it is stretching us thin and wearing us out. In order to thrive in the midst of the 21st century, we need to adopt the lifestyle and pace of our God and Rabbi, Jesus. Listen as Pastor...

John Rinehart joins us in his second message at Garden Church on the practicals of generosity. In order to live a life that is rooted in the generous God of the Bible, we need to make drastic shifts in our day to day. We do not want to be people marked by how much we earn, but by how much we give. Join us in learning practical ways to implement a generous lifestyle.

Because YAHWEH is so generous and loving, his people should be just as generous and loving. God has been so good since the beginning of creation, the redemption of His people, and the continual outpouring of His Spirit. Once we truly understand this about God, we can then live out a radically different life marked by generosity. Listen as our guest speaker, John Rinehart, walks us through the 'The...

In order to be a redemptive presence in today's world, followers of Jesus have to go deeper. It takes more than just being with Jesus and becoming like him, we are also called to do the things that Jesus did. We are a living and breathing representation of Jesus' ministry in the 21st century America, meaning we are to be continuing his ministry here and now. Join us as Pastor Darren lays out this...

A product of being with Jesus, is becoming like Jesus. Pastor Darren describes how we need to reshape the environments that we are in to make sure the product is Christ-likeness. Listen with us as we continue to radically reshape our lives in order to take part in Jesus' upside-down kingdom.

During a power outage Pastor Darren did an impromptu sermon all around the Hebrew word Selah. We constantly need holy pauses to reflect and contemplate how God is working in us, where is God taking us, and who is God forming us to be? Listen as we refocus Garden Church through this Selah.

During a power outage Pastor Darren did an impromptu sermon all around the Hebrew word Selah. We constantly need holy pauses to reflect and contemplate how God is working in us, where is God taking us, and who is God forming us to be? Listen as we refocus Garden Church through this Selah.

Pastor Darren begins our series Practicing the Way of Jesus as we look to the first principle of discipleship, to be with Jesus. Currently, we are constantly pulled in multiple directions every day, work, family, friends, the gym, and Netflix. When can we have time to be with Jesus? In order to live the life that Jesus calls us into, we also need to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus. This means a radic...

Discipleship to Jesus is more than just attending a Sunday service. True Discipleship is marked by accepting the call to be with Jesus, to be like Jesus, and to do what Jesus did. Pastor John Mark Comer of Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon helps us end our "Garden Church" series as we transition into a year-long series entitled "Practicing the Way of Jesus."

Our current age is plagued by the lie that "material things will make you happy, and the more you have will only make you even happier." This idea is completely foreign to Jesus and should be alien to his followers. Pastor Darren walks us through the value of Simplicity as a way of life that should be prevailing in our church, a life marked my simple living so that we may live abundantly generous...

What is God's primary way of moving forward the Kingdom? Generosity. God is a generous God that models giving wholeheartedly. Pastor Darren continues our value series, Garden Church, with the introduction of our fifth value - A life committed to extravagant generosity. Join us as we walk through this value together in order to bring God's generous love in our every day lives.

We as Garden Church want to live a life moved by compassion. Pastor Bill helps us wrestle with the difficulty of living a compassionate lifestyle in our modern age. Where the world, culture, friends, and even family are so inward focused, how can we possibly begin to take a step for those who are "others" to us? Listen and learn how we can invite those who are "other" to us, into the present Trini...

In Romans 12:1-2, Paul urges the church to offer their lives as living sacrifices to God, which is pleasing to God. However, in order to live a life pleasing to God, it needs to be filled with God and dedicated to God. This can only happen when the Holy Spirit invades our lives, our everyday and normal lives. Our guest, Alan Scott, guides us in our third value "being empowered by the Holy Spirit,"...

In Romans 12:1-2, Paul urges the church to offer their lives as living sacrifices to God, which is pleasing to God. However, in order to live a life pleasing to God, it needs to be filled with God and dedicated to God. This can only happen when the Holy Spirit invades our lives, our everyday and normal lives. Our guest, Alan Scott, guides us in our third value "being empowered by the Holy Spirit,"...

As we continue in our Value Series, Garden Church, Pastor Darren walks us through our second value - A Life Rooted in the Scriptures. The Bible has been ignored, abused, misread, and misused by people outside and within the Church. We want to create a culture that values the Scriptures and properly handles them, while also having our lives firmly rooted in its teachings.

With the launch of house churches, Pastor Darren led us into the start of a new sermon series, Garden Church: Essentials for Kingdom Life. This series' intention is to go over our values as a church, and how these values are what we believe every Christian should embody at Garden Church. The first value is, a life shared with loving family. The church is a family founded on the life, death, and re...

As Pastor Darren closes our vision series, Bring Life. He discusses what he wants Garden Church to be known for, Power + Love. We believe that in order to be a church who makes a lasting impact on the city, that church needs to be marked by unconditional love, and God's unmistakable power. This is the way that the early church operated, and this is the way that we want to bring life into Long Beac...

"Here as in Heaven." For more information visit : garden.church

"Here as in Heaven." For more information visit : garden.church

We experience warfare on two fronts. The first comes from the flesh, or our sinful nature. The second comes from legalism and making our faith influenced by culture. Pastor Darren helps us discern these two realities that oppose our Discipleship to Jesus, and helps us navigate past these two strongholds. Join us as we finish our Battle Ready series in the book of Galatians.

God has authority over everything, everywhere, and everyone. This includes that which we call, the demonic. However, we as followers of Jesus have also been given authority from God, thus giving us the power against the demonic. Pastor Darren walks us through the story of the man possessed by 'Legion', and then teaches us how we can learn to live lives worthy of opposition.