Iowa City Church Podcast

At the height of Jesus' ministry in Galilee there was this particular scene when the crowds were approaching him (and the disciples), in what looked like a "sea of wheat". In that moment, Jesus says these words: " The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. " ~ Matthew 9:37-38 The disciples of course are thin...

The first part of the book of Acts begins with Jesus' final command to his disciples. Here's a refresher if you've forgotten. " But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. " ~ Acts 1:8 Was Jesus serious? I know, it's a strange question but hear me out. To command his disciples t...

Jesus tells this story about how God is like a shepherd looking for his lost sheep.  " Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me;...

Giant redwoods are the most massive individual trees on earth. The redwood can grow to 270 feet tall and 25 feet in diameter. You might think that something that huge must have an incredible root system that goes down deep in order to stand that tall. This is not the case at all. The redwood tree has no tap root and remarkably shallow roots—only five or ten feet deep. It seems to violate the laws...

The book of Acts introduces us to the birth of what we often refer to as the church. This fledgling community of Jesus followers are modeling God's Kingdom through their love, generosity, fellowship and disciple-making; the residents of Jerusalem are taking notice! Then seemingly out of nowhere a very disappointing event happens, very similar to that moment when your brand new vehicle gets a scrat...

Acts chapter four begins with a very tense moment. Two key leaders of this still relatively small group of Jesus followers have been arrested by the governing Temple officials. There is a sudden pause in the enthusiasm for following Jesus as Peter and John now have to stand in front of the power brokers of the city.  In this pivotal moment for the first disciples, we pay close attention to their r...

When Jesus told his disciples they were to be his witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8), do you think he was serious? Do you think he believed such a mission could be accomplished? Of course he was serious...and most certainly he knew the ends of the earth was a reachable goal! The early disciples believed he was serious too, and as Acts chapter three opens we see two apostl...

When one begins a new job, class or project there is this understanding that to be successful one must develop a rhythm, or routine to discipline oneself so as to accomplish the task.  For example you show up to work on time, turn in your assignments when they are due, or make sure and follow the step by step directions. Simple, right? Not always as many of us can attest. Sometimes we just lack di...

Here's the challenge:   How do you convince someone to do something? Now, I'm not including parents, coaches, or bosses--you have certain advantages you can leverage. For this challenge I want you to focus in on how to convince your peers; co-workers, friends and family members to do a specific something (the actual something is up to you). After some research, here's a potential strategy one coul...

For a lot of Christians, there is this desire to want to be in a deeper relationship with God and experience the power of the Holy Spirit. The usual way most people approach this goal is through more in depth Bible study, a new book by a Christian author, more spiritual experiences through worship, or a more stringent pursuit of spiritual disciplines. All of these are good, and helpful, however th...

Most of us at some point in life (usually in a season of chaos) stop and ask the question:  What on earth am I here for?  There  are a lot of different places to try and find the answer to that question. With today's technology one could use artificial intelligence like ChatGPT, there's always the old reliable Google and of course the trusted public library. However, even in that vast collection o...

Greed. It's a difficult stronghold to overcome because the truth is, greed is hard to see in the mirror. It's really easy to see in other, but for ourselves...not so much. However, recent studies from over last decade, substantiate this claim: " Zogby recently conducted a large benchmark poll in which respondents identified "greed/materialism" as the number one "most urgent problem in American cul...

So, you're trying to sleep, and it's well after bedtime. But you're tossing and turning and unable to get comfy. You notice you're replaying  the same scenario in your head . Some vision of tomorrow, of what might happen, how a hope could be dashed. If you've had this experience, you're far from alone. Researcher Lucas LaFreniere, Ph. D. said, " This is what breaks my heart about worry. It makes y...

A recent CBS news story asked this very important question:  Why is everyone so angry ? The story states: " According to a poll taken just before the pandemic, 84% of people think Americans are angrier than a generation before and 42% admitted that they themselves were angrier. But what makes us so angry? We asked online and logged more than 200 answers. Money was number one, with 32 responses men...

As some point, every single one of us believed something to be true only to later discover that it was completely false. A classic example would be [ spoiler alert ] the existence of Santa Claus. For many people when they were younger, they believed with all their heart in this existence of Santa. Their entire understanding of Christmas was based upon the jolly elf delivering presents to every chi...

The book of Revelation (notice there is no "s" on the end) is one of the most misunderstood books of the Bible. It is not a book that describes how the world is going to end nor is it written scare people (though there are some scary images). Revelation is a book written to give hope and encouragement to Christians who were facing hardship and persecution in first century Asia Minor. The main mess...

One can't have a discussion regarding The Big Picture of the Bible without talking about God's Kingdom. From Genesis to Revelation, God's Kingdom pops up (though subtle at times) everywhere. Then, when Jesus arrives on the scene it literally becomes his main preaching point through out his ministry: " The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!...

A woman in Sunderland, England nearly leapt to her death in 2018 from Wearmouth Bridge, very well known as a place where people come to end their lives. She now returns to that site regularly to post messages encouraging others who are having a rough time to get help. Paige Hunter, now 21, says that when she was a teenager suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, she found herself standing a...

The fine-tuning of the universe is shown in the precise strengths of four basic forces. Gravity is the best known of these forces, and the weakest, with a relative strength of 1. Next comes the weak nuclear force that holds neutrons together inside an atom. It is 1034 times stronger than gravity but works only at subatomic distances. Electromagnetism is 1,000 times stronger than the weak nuclear f...

Listen to guest preacher David McCoy continue with part six of our sermon series, The Big Picture. 

Evan Osgood, the student ministry pastor from Antioch Christian Church continues our sermon series in part five of The Big Picture.

In middle school there was a very sophisticated way to determine if someone wanted to be boyfriend/girlfriend: We sent a note. Not just any old note mind you. The note was usually discreetly carried by an entrusted friend who would deliver the precious cargo while avoiding the scanning eyes of the teacher. The note simply read:  Do you like me?  Below were a series of boxes. One box indicated  YES...

There's a well-known story about a famous violinist who took his $3.5 million Stradivarius onto a platform of a Washington DC subway and started playing music. He was dressed in a T-shirt and a ball cap. Joshua Bell was accustomed to playing for packed concert halls and getting paid $1,000 a minute. During his 43-minute solo concert in the subway a total of 1097 people passed by. But only seven pe...

My wife Suzi loves puzzles and is a master at putting them together. Me on the other hand, when I look at a pile of jigsaw puzzle pieces, immediately thinks, " Chaos! " This is why I'm so amazed at how Suzi opens a puzzle box, and immediately employs her meticulous strategy, and within a handful of hours, has assembled a beautiful picture...with every piece in it's place! The Bible opens with thes...

So many of us do it: You get into bed, turn off the lights, and look at your phone to check social media one more time. Before you know it, you've spent hours incessantly scrolling through X, Tik-tok or Reels...a bottomless doom-and-gloom of negative information, thoughtless antics and cheap entertainment.    This habit has become known as doomscrolling--the act of consuming an endless procession...