Josh Ott's Podcast

It is hard to ask for help. It’s harder to ask for help and not receive any. Those are the moments when our hope and faith starts to slip. But even in those moments of uncertainty God is up to something. This message is all about how to grow your confidence and trust in God.

Everyone follows someone or something. Who are you following? The path to experience true happiness comes from following Jesus. But, how do you actually follow Jesus? It’s a question we often get asked. In this message we look at practical ways to actually follow Jesus.

We waste so much energy trying to justify ourselves so we feel better about our choices and fail to acknowledge that we aren’t always right. What is easier, better, and leads to more true happiness is living right. Living the way God designed us to live and following his direction for our lives. The real question is do you believe God is good? If he is, His ways are good for us. So why not let Him...

Happiness isn’t just something to know about it is something to experience. God wants you to experience all he has for you and one way to experience it is to have concern/regard for the weak. ITs backwards. To experience happiness we need less self focus and more care for others. It is simple and something we call can do and yet we all struggle with it sometimes.

Happiness isn’t a destination. It’s more like a journey. Something to be experienced along the way, every day. Hard to imagine because most of us re exhausted from carrying the heavy stuff through life. Not the least of which is brought on by ourselves. Jesus came to set us free. Freedom from the heavy...from the guilt and shame. David new this hope that moved him from heavy to free.

Happiness is something we all want. We all try to find more of it. But there is a lot of confusion when it comes to happiness. It isn’t the default. Everyone else doesn’t do it better than us. We don’t find it by eliminating bad feelings. The best stuff in life is complex. In Psalm 1 we look at the happiness isn’t progression and how to stop chasing happiness as a feeling and start being in the st...

Things are shifting. Sometimes dramatically and sometimes the shifts in life are more subtle. How can you be ready when you are standing on the edge of what’s next. As we start a new year, lessons from Joshua, who was facing the impossible and great uncertainty will help us step into whatever is next in a way that leads us to the best stuff God has for us.

No matter who you are, no matter what life has looked like, no matter how challenging the circumstances you face look, no matter what questions or doubts you have rumbling in your soul…God favors you. It’s such an important thing to know, that there’s a God who created you in His image, a God who loves you, a God who proved that love for you on a cross, a God who favors you without merit.

We actually change our world every day by what we bring to our space. That’s why we are for Schuylkill County. God is for Schuylkill County and has called us to affect our space, our towns, our streets, our relationships by what we bring into our relationships and communities. You may be thinking, who me?. Yes. We change our worlds everyday by what we bring into them. Bring joy, bring hope, bring...

We often focus on the negative in life instead of focusing on the positive. It leads to a lot of disappointment. People look at church that way too sometimes. Why is it when people think about church, they think about what church is against. We want to be known for what we are for. Way more than just being about our vision as a church these messages have such powerful application to our personal l...

Every party has one, and this one represents the critics Jesus was addressing in these parables. The scary thing is the older brother was the other lost one in the passage. His sin was hidden, his pride was out of control, he didn’t love the father just the father’s stuff. There are however a few checks we can keep in front of us to help us keep tabs on our own hearts and whoever you are God still...

Sometimes one line can change the trajectory of your day, week, or year. What is astonishing about this passage is the love the father displays for the lost son. He endures the shame , the heartbreak and the humiliation of granting this son’s request. It reminds me of Jesus and his love for us and what he endured on the cross. Jesus sees deeper than your struggle and you don’t have to talk Him int...

Lots of different people gather to hear Jesus. Both the notorious sinners and the notoriously religious. The notorious sinners were drawn to Jesus, so why aren’t they drawn to us? This message is about getting unstuck in the weeds of religion and finding the heart of God. A story about sheep to show us that the lost sheep is the object of God’s affection. Let’s be like Jesus.

Jesus ends the sermon on the mount with a lot of contrast that builds to a very important question. What are you building your life on? If you want to still be standing through the inevitable storms in life you need to build your life on something that has overcome. Build your life on Jesus and you will still be standing no matter what happens next.

We get to this amazing part of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus is describing the approachability of God. For a people who thought God was distant and and unconcerned this was a very big deal. Little did they know God wasn’t just approachable He had come to them. What do you want? It is a question Jesus asked a blind man. It is a question that makes us uncomfortable. But it is important to know...

This message talks about what is referred to as the hardest ethic from Christ - How to respond to those who hurt you and loving others even your enemies. This is so hard because wrongs hurt and deep inside us there is a call for justice, for life to be fair. Sometimes this translates into the desire to hurt the person back. The law of retribution is flawed and will sink you. Jesus shows us a bette...

What if you lived your life inside out? Everyone saw what was going on in your heart. In today’s talk we look at the inside out kingdom, a different way. Jesus is saying my way is different, this way to live is better and you need me. Those reminders are so great and when applied to life they show us a new path forward free of empty religion and full of grace.

The first message in our #BLESSED series looks at the “Blessed” statements from Jesus. What we think will get us a good life usually doesn’t. Instead what Jesus teaches us is the stuff on the inside and our spiritual journey lead to the fullness He has for us. There is a deeper kind of happy for you. It’s a journey and God cares more about your inside. Don’t miss the best stuff He has for you.

One of the things that exhausts us the quickest is the expectations and pressure we place on ourselves or others place on us. You can’t truly find rest unless you know how to deal with pressure and expectations. This messages takes a look at Jesus and 7 ways he modeled for us to deal with pressure and expectations.