Hope Wisco Podcast

Everyone wants to be good at money because money is a central aspect of our lives. And how good you are with money will have a direct impact on your ability to flourish as a human being. Money can be a source of stress or a source of joy. The difference will depend on your ability to get better at money. Jesus invites us to be rich toward God. Not because God needs riches but because he wants us t...

At some point, you’ve probably wanted to improve your health. To eat less sugar, to lose a few pounds of fat, to gain a few pounds of muscle, to stop smoking, to start exercising. If that’s true, there’s probably also some point at which you failed or regressed in your effort to be healthier. The problem wasn’t that you didn’t know how to be healthier. Perhaps the problem had to do with why you wa...

Normal parents are consumed with what they want for their children, and what they want from their children. Better parents are consumed with what GOD wants for their children and from their children. Ultimately, they are children of our Father in Heaven. So better parents have a bigger goal with raising children

We spend about half of our waking hours at work. It is a major part of your life. However, about 80% of Americans report that they are unsatisfied in their current jobs. Why are we so unhappy with work? The reason why is that we don’t have a very good theology of work. Discovering God’s “why” for work will make your work better and make you better at work

We live in a time where we are more connected than ever. Yet we are possibly lonelier than ever. A person might have 1000 friends on social media, have friends that live all over the world, but not have someone to call for a ride if their car breaks down. We need to find a way and a place for better friendships to begin. Thankfully the start to better friendship and belonging is closer than most p...

Bigger isn’t better. Better is better. Yet we often confuse the two. We’ll begin the series by talking about that the path to better is down, not up. The way to become first is to become the worst. That’s the path of Jesus.

Some stories are too good to be true. Christmas seems to fall into that category. That’s why some people dismiss religion without thinking critically and looking closely at it. God is constantly drawing people closer to him. He wants us to come and see. In the story of the Magi, we see three different responses to this invitation – and the one response that will infuse your life with joy.

Many of us have picked up nicknames in our past. Some are terms of endearment. Others are labels of mockery. Many times, people aren’t even aware of the nicknames that others have given them behind their back. Well, Jesus had someone in his family tree who had a notorious nickname. She was known as “Rahab the prostitute.” Yet, Matthew doesn’t rush right past that fact. Rather he makes sure that we...

While everyone’s family has their share of issues, the family tree of Jesus is filled with some particularly shady characters. The first we come across is Judah. While Judah would eventually become a respected name in Jewish culture, his past contained a very dark secret. By contrast, his brother, Joseph, was a very good and vitreous man. Yet, despite Joseph’s “goodness,” God chose Judah—sin and a...

While everyone’s family has their share of issues, the family tree of Jesus is filled with some particularly shady characters. The first we come across is Judah. While Judah would eventually become a respected name in Jewish culture, his past contained a very dark secret. By contrast, his brother, Joseph, was a very good and vitreous man. Yet, despite Joseph’s “goodness,” God chose Judah—sin and a...

Luke begins his gospel with the famous story of Christmas. His story includes the angels, the shepherds, the wonder and awe of the well-known Christmas story. Matthew, by contrast, begins the Christmas story with…wait for it… a genealogy. What many of us pass over as dull and tedious was anything but dull when Matthew’s original audience read his story because they knew the backstories of all the...

Why do you sometimes struggle to do what you believe is true? Why is there incongruence between your convictions and your consistency in following your convictions? This question matters because you will never experience a sense of peace or wholeness if there is incongruence within yourself. Contemplative prayer and meditation can help. This kind of prayer can help to close the gap between your in...

In a growing relationship with God, a person must speak and listen. This is a central theme running all the way through the Bible. If you never hear from God, you could be too distracted to listen. This message will show the ancient way to listen to God’s voice in prayer through Lectio Divina. We will learn to Read, Meditate, and Pray.

Pre-written prayers teach us how to talk to God, but it's important to grow into praying our own words, laying our hearts open before God to increase self-awareness and align with His heart. God invites us to bring all that's in our lives to Him

Talking to God can feel awkward, but it's how we build a relationship with our Creator. When Jesus' followers asked how to pray, he gave them a simple model to follow. We now call it the Lord's Prayer or Our Father. This prayer outlines how to start a daily prayer habit. The goal isn't to sound holy but to spend intentional time with God. Through persistent prayer, we can discover meaning, guidanc...

t’s one of our biggest weekends of the year! We will raise and give away as much money as possible to support our partner charities, The Lake Area Free Clinic, Family Promise, The Bethany Recovery Center, The Oconomowoc Food Pantry, and more! Why? Because we’re rich! And people who are rich in this present world are to be rich in good deeds. That’s THE fruit of repentance that John the Baptist ide...

If a relationship will be brought to full reconciliation, it won’t happen until the (more) mature person decides to make a move in the direction of the relationship. As we wrap up the series, we’ll put together all of the steps we have covered, along with a new one, that are needed to bring the relationship back together. It includes forgiving from the heart, owning your slice, making the first mo...

It’s easy for all of us to point out the wrong that someone else has done to us. It’s a little more challenging to point out the ways we have been wrong. But reconciliation only has a chance when you begin by identifying our owning your slice of the blame pie. You might be 50% responsible for the broken relationship. You might only be 5%. But restoration begins with owning your slice of the pie… a...

Is reconciliation always a good idea? What about egregious sins? What about the people who have deeply hurt us and they’re not sorry that they did it? In the Bible we learn that there are some people are to be avoided – even after you forgive them. There’s an important distinction between forgiveness and reconciliation. Wise people let go of all resentment and anger to forgive. Wise people also re...

If you have a wound, it will either get infected or it will heal. There’s no third option. The same is true when someone sins against you. Your inner life will either heal, or it will get infected. But there’s some misinformation about forgiveness that can keep us from practicing it. In this message, we’ll address some common myths about forgiveness, and uncover exactly what forgiveness is and how...

We live in a culture that gives honor to people who portray themselves as victims. As a result, we’re becoming experts at casting ourselves as victims and telling ourselves stories that put us at the center of injustices. But if we allow ourselves to be easily offended by others, it indicates that we aren’t aware of how offensive we ourselves are. Not just to others, but specifically to God. But w...

When it comes to repairing relationships, many of us will need to unlearn some unhealthy behaviors. Many of us learned, or assumed, that in relationship conflict, we need to convince, coerce, convict or control. People have tried to do this to you, and perhaps you’ve tried to do it to other people. But every time a person uses the 4 C’s, incredible damage is done to the relationship. So, when a re...

Every year, fewer and fewer Americans believe that Hell is a real place. It is understandable why. Usually, Hell’s most vocal advocates are questionable at best, saying that anything from watching Harry Potter to playing Pokémon gives you a direct ticket to everlasting torment. It doesn’t help that books, movies, and television shows have often displayed cartoonish depictions of Hell led by a guy...

Heaven | Episode 2 Heaven is not a place where our spirits float around in this ethereal realm while angels strum harps around us. Heaven will be a physical place of joy and delight. While we can’t experience that in full now, we can create glimmers of it when we work for the healing of this world. It is a rehabilitation of the Genesis curse. Heaven waits to come down and make a new earth.

Heaven is a place for good people, right? Well, if it is a place for good people, then how good do the people have to be to go there? Are there rules you have to follow? All the time? Is there a checklist you have to cross off? Do you have to make up for your bad deeds? What if you miss out by only one good deed? How good is good enough to go to Heaven?