Hope Wisco Podcast

People are waiting longer than ever to get married. Dating has become a relationship destination within our culture – a place to just exist. But the purpose of dating is to bring glory to God while evaluating the other person and your relationship. In this message we’ll talk about when to move forward in a dating relationship, or when to bring it to an end with marriage or with a breakup. Use the...

Many people act as if singleness is a disease to be avoided. The Biblical authors recognized it as the most important time you have to become a healthy and whole person. There’s a divine reason why we all start out single. Wise people see the essential benefits and priorities of being single.

There’s more to great relationships than what pop culture teaches us, namely, more relationships, but less love. More sex, but less intimacy. But if you don’t identify and aim of a better relationship target, you’ll likely end up in the same place as everyone else. So instead of taking whatever comes with relationships, what if you chose a preferred target and then took deliberate aim at where you...

In the early 20th century, cocaine was put into products as a way to stay alert. Tobacco companies advertised that doctors used their products to sway customers to believe that their addictive products were safe to use. What we might not notice is that cell phones, social media platforms, and information are the cocaine and tobacco companies of this generation. They are addictive. They can be harm...

Living in the 21st century has given us so much awareness – awareness of everything that there is to do, see, experience and accomplish. We have more options and more opportunities than anybody before us. And it’s not just schedules that are busy. Even our unscheduled time is busy. Moses has something to say about making the most of your life. Considering how much he accomplished in his life, he h...

A few of us are old enough to remember a thing called “boredom”. That was from an era before we had infinity in our front pockets. Today, there’s almost no place to be alone with your thoughts anymore. Our minds have been conditioned to avoid silence and deep reflection.

In 1967, a Senate subcommittee was told that by 1985, the average American would work only 22 hours a week for 27 weeks a year. Well, we can maybe give them an “A” for effort? It would have been impossible for them to imagine the frenetic pace of life today – a pace that is suffocating our souls. Let’s pull back the curtain and see how society led us to the place of busyness – and recognize the to...

Is your life going according to script? Mary had a script written out for her life. She would get married. Love Joseph. Have babies. But like us, her life didn’t exactly go according to script. And the changes to her script were unsettling. But her response to the new script she was handed is both instructional and inspirational. When life doesn’t go according to script, grace and truth don’t allo...

The end times banquet is a theme we see throughout scripture. Isaiah prophesied about this banquet roughly 700 years before the birth of Jesus (Isaiah 25:6-9). It is a beautiful picture of how God will have a feast for people from all over the world at the end of the age. At the time of Jesus, there was much debate over who would participate in this feast. Isaiah’s prophesy became quite unpopular...

God’s grace means there is unearned, unearnable, undeserved forgiveness for us all through Christ. And what’s more-we all need it! Often, we don’t recognize just what is being offered to us in Jesus, or what He’s really done for us. Without considering where we have been, and where Jesus meets us, we then judge others who we think are “really bad”. We resist the continued gracious hand of Jesus in...

Grace is the part of the character of God. God is unconditional love! Who wouldn’t love that? Who doesn’t love receiving grace, even it if is just from the people around us? WE all need some grace. But real grace –God’s grace -is never alone. It’s always accompanied by truth. And that’s what makes grace unsettling. When a person receives grace AND truth, it doesn’t allow the person to remain the s...

It’s our third biggest weekend of the year! We’re going to raise and give away as much money as we can 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. In fact, that’s THE fruit of repentance that John th...

When life is easy, that doesn’t often help create great faith. We don’t always know what we believe until our faith is tested. It’s the unexpected, the stressful, and even the tragic events of life that end up being a significant factor in faith development –either for good or for bad. What’s the factor that determines if a trial grows or erodes faith? It has to do with what the person already bel...

It’s hard to tell your story of faith without mentioning some people who helped you along the way. That’s because God designed faith to best grow in community where there are other people to help you deepen your faith in God. This Sunday we’ll discover how this plays out in your life as a Christian.

A great relationship is built on trust. A great relationship with God is built on faith. Jesus taught that there are certain habits that, if practiced regularly, will deepen your trust and faith in God. This Sunday we’ll discover that daily habits and spiritual disciplines can make all the difference when it comes to your faith.

Jesus frequently gave his disciples roles and responsibilities that they were not ready to handle. And he did it for a reason. He knows that when we are given a role in his Kingdom, and it’s beyond our ability to fully handle, it will stretch our faith. We usually think that “ministry” is something for professional clergy and church staff should handle. That’s a shame. God has equipped everyone to...

If believing things was enough to make a difference in life, we would all be fit, wealthy, disciplined and well rested. But our problem isn’t a lack of information. Our problem is a lack of application. It’s one thing to believe and enjoy practical teaching. But gaining knowledge is not enough to grow our faith—applying it is. And when your obedience intersects with God’s faithfulness, your faith...

Great visions are born out of great values. This means that a value based vision isn’t really a value based vision until you’re willing to pay the price to pursue it. Nehemiah was slandered. He was misunderstood. His reputation was at risk. None of that mattered when compared to the vision he was pursuing. We’ve done a lot of work in this series about identifying and clarifying a vision for your l...

Nehemiah faced opposition to his vision. Some opposition came from outside – from area warlords. Some opposition was internal – from his own people. Nehemiah recognized that the different forms of opposition were a direct threat to his vision. So what does Nehemiah do when his vision is threatened? Just two things: he prayed, and he took immediate action. He prayed as if it all depended on God. He...

Nehemiah’s vision was so large, there was no way he could pursue it by himself. He needed an entire city to buy in to his vision of the future. What about your vision? Odds are, it’s not something you can complete by yourself. You might need just one other person to buy in. Maybe you need a thousand. Fortunately for us, Nehemiah put on a master class on how to cast a compelling vision, and how to...

Just because you have a passion doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s time to change the future. But it does mean that it’s time to start praying and planning. Nehemiah had a broken heart and a conviction that something must be done for the city of Jerusalem and for God’s glory, but he didn’t do anything until he had spent three months in prayer and planning, waiting for the right opportunity to move...

Clear visions matter. A clear vision for your life will infuse it with passion, motivation, purpose and accomplishment. Vision is powerful because as humans, we crave clarity. In fact, if you don’t have clarity for your life, you’ll be easily swayed by people who do have clarity, even it they intend to use you for their own agenda. That’s why vision is critical for predicting your future. But gain...

Our biggest flaws are flaws we usually cannot see in ourselves, or we cannot overcome by ourselves. That’s where David was. He needed the fearlessness of Nathan to return him to his senses. When David was confronted his sin, he quickly recognized the full extent of his idolatry. His heart was absolutely broken. It was broken by the consequences of what his sin created. But more than that, he was b...

Today is an episode from David’s life that transcends the Bible itself. In the course of a chapter, David becomes a liar, and adulterer, and a mass murderer. Why? Sin is deceitful, and David was deceived into thinking that he was the True King. The Sin beneath David’s sins was idolatry. His worship was no longer for the True King, but created things. What we learn is that even a converted member o...

Are your beliefs about God fully aligned with God as he actually is? The answer will show up in your “halleluiah”. Your halleluiah will be drawn to idolatry until you come to terms with God’s holiness. Just as water and fire cannot exist together, neither can God’s holiness and human sinfulness exist together. And this brings us to the Ark of the Covenant. It was of utmost importance to David to b...