Illuminate Community Church

Around the world, whether on the political stage between national leaders, between family members and neighbors, in the family unit between husband and wife, and even children and siblings, the world longs for peace. So much so, that we celebrate whatever moments it shows itself, and recognize great men and women who help usher it. As we'll learn from Pastor Jason Fritz, peace is a gift of God, gi...

Joy: an emotion that resides deep in your soul, produced by the Holy Spirit when focusing on Jesus. Pastor Jason Fritz talks about how the Christmas story gives us the power to overcome our fears through the Joy of the Lord. 12/3/16

The first installment of our "Advent" Series, Pastor Jason Fritz will take us into the character of Jesus Christ - the Word manifest - who was in the beginning and dwelled with God and is God. The story of Christmas is one of redemption, written for the world to hear! Here's one incredible facet of God: His love for us knows no bounds.

Thank you for tuning in! Defining who God is also defines the faith by which we live by - the essentials. But whose testimony and whose voice stands above others? How do we know the difference between the voice of God in the midst of all other voices? John points out that this testimony of God comes by the "spirit, the water, and the blood." Listen in as Pastor Jason Fritz elaborates this text.

President of Phoenix Seminary, author, and Pastor Darryl DelHousaye delivers the finishing verses of 1 John 4. As Christians, we know that God is love, and that God loves us, and that we love God. But the question to address is, "How does anybody ELSE know?" How is anybody else going to know that there is a thing called love, and that God is the author of love, and that God loves THEM?

In our study, we find the specific type of love that God exemplifies through Jesus - the basis of our faith. Pastor Jason Fritz breaks down the kind of love that is "the act in the best interest of another person, often given to those who are unlovable." In the letter that has only 5 chapters, John writes the word "love" 44 times. The truth is we can't give what we don't have, and so in order to l...

Coming off of our Advent Series and continuing into our study of 1 John, Pastor Jason Fritz takes us into the pastoral urging and guidance of the Apostle John to his followers on how to differentiate between false teachers and the true Gospel of God. With huge applications to today's environment, the patterns of Satan's attacks are still relevant: many of Christ's followers can be led astray with...

Our identities in this world can have a profound affect on how we experience life and how we experience others. Here, Pastor Jason Fritz covers 1 John 3, as the Apostle John talks about what it means to live under God's family. Everyone on the planet is in one of two spiritual families. Your family identity makes you, you. Love is the birthmark of God's family members.

This week, guest speaker Pastor Steve Johnson brings us back in after the "Saturday Night Life" mini-series into our study of 1 John. Written by the Apostle John at an estimated age of 80 to 100 years old at the time, this week covers foundational principles we - as Christians - should use to gauge whether or not we're doing what we're supposed to be doing as believers.

Sometimes a preacher or teacher in the church will assume the identity of a Christian but in fact they are not. The result is that people are led astray. So how do we avoid being deceived? John gives us help.

Pastor Jason Fritz speaks on the power focusing on God over your circumstances and not loving the world.

Continuing from last week's study in the book of 1st John, we look into the difference between knowing about God... and knowing God. The differences might seem trivial, but when played out in the course of a believer's life, the act of actually knowing God through fellowship and obedience to Him, we can see that the difference is actually very stark. This difference is actually the heart of Christ...

The Apostle John combating false doctrine spread by the Gnostics wrote the Gospel of John. As bad theology was splitting the church John writes 1John to remind us the importance of showing Christ's love to each other. Jason Fritz breaks down the first 4 verses of the book.

"Communing with God" Fellowship with others is critical to live the life God has planned for us. Pastor Jason Fritz explains the history of why John wrote this passage and how it applies to our life today. 1 John 1:5-7 "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness...

This week we wrap up the Sermon on the Mount. In a form true to His nature, Jesus continues to call out the religious elite for their role in leading people away from the true Godhead. Jesus is the Way, and the only way.

It is often quoted "Judge not, that you be not judged." What did Jesus mean when he said that? Pastor Jason Fritz explains the difference between condemning and observing, the importance of living a holy life in this regard, and the importance of living in community. Matthew 7:1-6 "Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you...

Prayer and fasting is one of the most essential Christian disciplines. Through it, one comes to grips with the magnitude and omnipotence of the Lord we serve. Those who pray find doors that are opened in their lives, ones that are inexplainable in any other sense and can only be credited as a God-ordained event. But how are we supposed to pray? Well, in a sense... the same way Jesus prayed. Fortun...

As we continue in this passage on the greatest sermon ever preached - the Sermon on the Mount - we find Jesus talking about generosity and about how we view our treasures. How does God want us to give, in what manner, and how does He want us to view our possessions on earth? Listen in as Pastor Jason Fritz draws a clearer picture on this topic

This week, we continue into Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, as He talks about the power of loving others in action above and beyond what anyone else would do. By loving those who hurt you you are showing God's love to them. Listen in as Pastor Jason Fritz elaborates on these verses.

This week, we continue into Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, as He talks about the power of our words. The book of Proverbs has a number of things to say about the benefits and blessings that our words are capable of giving, as well as the destruction it can leave in its path. Jesus warns us that everybody will be held accountable for every careless and idle word we speak. But aside from merely speakin...

Our society and culture has an increasingly easier access to hyper-sexualized things. It seems that those things which were meant for good - from God - have been counterfeited with a more base, perverse interpretation of intimacy. Satan has taken the beauty of a sexual union meant for the marriage between man and woman, and has turned lust into a snare which is a real minefield. Listen in as Pasto...

Greatness. For most people, finding oneself in the midst of great people could be an alluring joy in life. For others, being great in this world could be all there is to life. Great with your finances, great with others, great influence in your workplace, with associates, with friends and family. This isn't a concept that was foreign in Jesus' day. In fact, Jesus had some very powerful things to s...

Jesus confronts the very core of the human condition, and the way to both restore and renew relationships as one does who is from the Kingdom of Heaven. We read about Jesus' appeal to not regard either oneself as superior to others, or others as inferior to oneself. Rather, we're called to see both ourselves as dependent on God's abounding mercies, and others as having exceeding worth, first to Ch...

Thank you for tuning in this week! This week we see Jesus correcting one of the greatest obstacles that prevent people from attaining godliness: man-made religion, man-made righteousness. Listen in as Pastor Jason Fritz discusses in detail how Jesus confronted the Pharisees and Saducees, the stout religious leaders of their time. Learn why it's our relationship and heart that God wants, as opposed...