Hope Wisco Podcast

Followers of Jesus are called to have a life overflowing with power, love, joy, peace, and self-control. But how do you get that life—a life filled with the Holy Spirit? Does it magically happen when you read the Bible three times, memorize 2000 verses, and go to seminary? No. You can do a lot of Jesus things, know a bit about Jesus, and be a jerk. I am sure you know some. Rather, becoming is all...

Jesus wants you to desire a life that is empowered by the Spirit. This week, we’ll see just what life can become when we are led by the Holy Spirit. Because when we’re led by the Spirit, it makes life more than just “good”-it brings real freedom

The Holy Spirit is a critical component of the Christian faith, and Jesus said that we need the presence of the Spirit in our life, but the Spirit seems mysterious and can be difficult to understand. This series will simplify how the Holy Spirit wants you to flourish in your inner life. We’ll also discover simple steps you can take to achieve that.

Daniel | Part 6: One King We all can aspire to do the right thing. We can swim with the correct currents and follow our principles when necessary… For a while. But what happens when we run into another problematic workplace? Another crisis of conscience? Another choice? Another current to go with or swim against? What happens when our desire to do right runs out?  In Daniel 6, we get a glimpse of...

We will see Daniel’s courage’s final source as we wrap up the series. It was in the future. Daniel had a vision for his future (literally). The God who rules over the world will come to rule in the world. And knowing how the story ends in the future gave him the confidence to follow and obey him today.

Daniel was brought before King Belshazzar to interpret the mysterious writing that had appeared on the wall during his decadent party. This was Daniel's chance to shine before the most powerful leaders in the kingdom. It was a moment for Daniel to be accepted into an inner circle of prestige and standing. However, Daniel becomes the party crasher when he explains that the handwriting on the wall m...

We’ve all heard it said that pride goes before a fall. But few people believe it. Why? Because the very nature of pride blinds us to its presence. Pride is the elevation of ourselves to the position God deserves in our hearts. God always brings down the proud. It is only a question of when. In this message, we’ll talk about how to recognize and get rid of pride the easy way before the consequence...

How can a Christian walk through trials without losing faith in God? In this story, we see that God not only refines our character through suffering. More importantly, we see that God walks with us through the furnace. Since Jesus suffered the ultimate furnace, we can suffer our temporary furnaces. Jesus is bigger than anything life can give. He is better than anything death can take.

Daniel was in a hopeless situation. He was about to be executed because of an insecure totalitarian king. Yet, Daniel didn’t let his circumstances change him. Instead of spending time and energy reacting with anger, fear, and insecurity, Daniel responded with humility. He invited God into the situation and could see how God’s kingdom was moving forward, even in the life of his oppressor. Through h...

Daniel weas kidnapped and forced to adapt to the pagan culture, a culture with which he did not share many values. Yet Daniel lived and served with such distinction that he stood out and received promotions. And this allowed Daniel to become a person of extraordinary influence. He accomplished this be neither assimilating into the culture, nor rejecting it, but by living distinctly within it so he...

Everything that we’ve talked about in this Hot Topics series so far is being worked through and lived out by the next generation. So, who is Gen Z? What are they like? And what can we, as the church, do to support and guide them as they become the next leaders of our world? Join us as we wrap up Hot Topics by talking about all things Gen Z.

If God is good, why does he allow bad things to happen, especially to good people? For many people, this question is the beginning of the end of faith. Or, it’s a question that never allows faith to begin at all. If God were good, wouldn’t bad things only happen to bad people and good things would only happen to good people? So why do bad things happen? And more importantly, how can you believe in...

Discover valuable insights to navigate the multifaceted struggle of depression, encompassing chemical, spiritual, and emotional aspects. This video is tailored for anyone, regardless of their religious identification, who is grappling with depression. Explore a new tool to incorporate into your life, complementing existing efforts to alleviate depression and find joy. For Christians, navigating de...

Embark on a transformative journey as we tackle the challenges surrounding conversations about the Trans community within the church. In this insightful video, we address the common issue of miscommunication due to different definitions and linguistic complexities. Discover the basics of Transgender identity and delve into relevant Bible verses that shed light on this topic. Gain valuable insights...

Jesus wanted his church to be known by love, but love is often the last thing that a gay person experiences in the church. It takes incredible courage for a gay person to attend a conservative, Bible-based church. In this message, we’ll explore the relationship between

Every culture has an identity formation process. It’s how we get a sense of who we are and what we value. What’s peculiar about the modern identity is how deeply it is tied to a person’s sexuality. We can trace the roots of this modern thinking back to Freud, and follow it through the sexual revolution of the 1960s through to the LGBTQIA movement today. What’s alarming is that while all cultures i...

We’re all shaped by our culture. But Christians are to live within a counterculture. This video is the start of a 7-week series where we are going to cover topics from LGBTQ+, to same-sex marriage to why Gen Z wants nothing to do with the church. This video is to show Christians how to respond to culture and is going to show us if we are firmly rooted in our heavenly Kingdom culture, that means th...

On paper, Christianity should be a small footnote in world history. When Jesus died, it appeared the movement had come to an end. The reason why Christianity survived and thrived for only one reason. Easter Sunday. Easter is a celebration of a historic event. An event that prompted people who had unfollowed Jesus to refollow him. It prompted thousands of people who had rejected the teachings of Je...

When Jesus was crucified, the earth descended into darkness in the middle of the day. That’s because the Son of God himself, the world’s creator, was descending into darkness on the cross. God is light, but Jesus was cut off from God, entering the darkness to give us access to God.

Over the past ten years, there has been a swell of interest in podcasts, tv series, and investigative journalism on the topic of wrongful convictions. There's something that deeply bothers us when we discover that justice has been falsely served. Before Jesus died on the cross, he appeared before a Roman Court. There was no real evidence, there was no attorney with exhibit A or a last-minute witne...

We all want to belong, somewhere. It’s human nature. Often, we think of finding a place to belong as just us fitting in with the crowd. If all we’re doing is compromising to fit in, how do we find where we can fully and truly belong? Our next story in Mark takes a look at one woman who takes a path nobody else wants her to take. We’ll see what she did and what Jesus says about what it means to ful...

The journey to the cross began with Jesus at a crossroads. Would he leverage his power for himself (as people in power often do), or would he leverage his power for us? For Jesus to have us, he had to give his life as a ransom for the life of his subjects. Jesus didn’t have to die despite God’s love; he had to die because of God’s love. That’s because life-changing love requires substitutionary sa...

This is commitment Sunday when everyone is invited to commit to generosity for the next 12 months. Commitments are challenging because they introduce a level of uncertainty. Will you be able to fully honor your commitment? What are all of the implications of following through on your commitment? Commitments are all about the future. And we are just uncertain about what the next year will bring. Su...

How would you measure love? Love isn’t measured by feeling or by desire. Instead, love is measured by sacrifice. The deeper the love, the greater the willingness to sacrifice. That’s how we know God loves us. We know that God loves us because of what he sacrificed in order to have us. Sacrificial generosity is a primary way that we express love. We sacrifice for the things and people that we love....

There’s a physical law that’s always at work. It’s the law of the harvest. You will reap what you sow. If you sow wheat, you harvest wheat. If you sow lots of wheat, you harvest lots of wheat. (It’s not too complicated.) But what most people don’t know is that the law of the harvest is also a spiritual principle. You can leverage it to your advantage, or you can ignore it to your peril. In this vi...