Josh Ott's Podcast

Some things wear you out faster than others. Dysfunction is one of those things. It always flares up at the worst possible moments and it exhausts us on the inside. Whether it is the dysfunction of detour from God’s design, disruption from God’s plan or disappointment the fix is to find a new rhythm and space for rest. Moses had four fortunate spiritual practices that helped him find the rest and...

Rest is something God commanded us to do but we struggle to find new space to really rest and so many of us are tired on the inside. This talk looks at a Psalm King David wrote in the midst of despair. This is the reality and reminder we need as we all look to find rest.

Waiting for anything is hard. It’s especially hard when waiting for matters of the heart. This message looks at the last encounter between the disciples and Jesus recorded in the book of John. Don’t fall back into what is comfortable or busy when you get restless. Look back and see how far God has brought you. Let your past trigger grace and reframe your future. God loves you and new beginnings aw...

Thomas is a disciple who had a misunderstood moment stick, labeling him throughout history as “Doubting” Thomas. Thomas is a lot like us. We are more than a bad or unfortunate moment. We are free but not always doing great. The question is: Do you believe God is good? Let your questions be a catalyst to examine your faith and come out the other side stronger.

There is a finality to the language “it's over”. A helplessness. It sucks the hope out of life. But Jesus didn’t say "it’s over", He said “it’s finished”, and the difference in those words equals a whole lot of hope. The hope nothing can steal from you.

It is easy to lose things in translation. We get caught up in the buzz of the right now, what we need right now, what life looks like right now and we miss what God is doing in our lives. That is why it so important to go to the source and the source is Jesus. He’s whats missing when we miss peace and hope and joy.

The irony of grace is that we have it offered to us and we don’t take it, or we take it but don’t live in it. Instead we sit thinking more or better of the same broken stuff will fix our lives. Jesus offers us a new life, a full life. Time to stop holding on to things that hold us back and start trusting Him and stepping into the best life He has for us.

God’s purpose in Jesus was for you. This message looks at the mechanism of Grace the cross. Where free for us wasn’t free at all. Jesus cuts the distance to pull the barriers down and make a way for us to be restored through His sacrifice for us. He is the way, the truth and the life.

There are things in life we don’t want to talk about but probably should. Sin is one of those things. The conversation about sin in church, maybe in your past is usually one absent of grace. That’s a huge problem. The bottom line is sin (not just yours, all of ours) wrecks things, but God’s grace is way bigger. This message points to our need for grace and doesn’t just stop there, it celebrates gr...

Good News. It is hard to see when things get difficult. We get so distracted by all the bad news. Grace is like that. It is really good news that gets lost in the shuffle of religion and our efforts to prove ourselves. Grace is beautiful and crazy and it is God’s unmerited, unearned, and undeserved favor toward us. He loves us unconditionally.

The hard part is finishing strong. If you are struggling to get started, are stuck or failed somewhere along the way it should be encouraging to know that it’s not how you start it is how you finish that matters. Paul is teaching Timothy how to finish strong as he lives out an example for us all while he nears the end of his life. 7 ways to finish strong!

It is hard to have confidence and courage during difficult times, especially when Jesus doesn’t feel close to you. Most of us don’t feel like we have really big mountain moving faith, but Jesus never said we had to have big faith, just little faith. Keep focused on Jesus. Your little faith and His big Grace will always equal rescue.

Life is full of seasons. Some easy, some hard, all carry a burden. You can’t let a season of your life steal your hope. Even when things aren’t going well you can learn to bear up under the burden of a season and live well. This message is how to make it through the season you find yourself in.

I would rather be better than worse but often it feels like the choices in life are between a bad situation and settling for less than what we hoped for. The secret to finding hope in anything is learning to disconnect your satisfaction from your situation. It is learning the state of, the spiritual practice of contentment. This message readjusts our misconceptions about contentment, helps us sour...

Sometimes the mess is the problem. The mess keeps us from experiencing hope and joy. The mess in our heart usually starts small but easily distracts us from what we need most. Jesus went to the temple and flipped the tables. He was passionate about the house of God where people would worship and find the hope they needed. Jesus cleared the mess so people could see God and find the new life He has...

You can find hope in anything because Jesus is better...Jesus is still King. Everything eventually runs out except for what is connect to Jesus. Let him flip your life and fill it up. Time to trust Jesus with every area of your life. Jesus is...

Don’t make comfort your goal for this new year. Comfort is nice but it can also be a trap. There is a much better goal for your new year. The better goal is to step into the best life God has for you even if it means following Jesus when you are uncomfortable.

Maybe you feel like you are out of options, out of time, or don’t have anything significant to offer. Great news! God is enough for you and he can use your “nothing” to do something amazing in your life.

Waiting for a promise can be hard. What starts as excitement quickly turns to agitation, pessimism and even disappointment. The stakes go up the more we want what we are waiting for. It can become a physical experience as we try to keep ourselves faithful in the season God has us in right now. It can be an emotional experience as we try to remind our heart of the things God has promised us and it...

You can’t understand a moment without understanding the bigger story…the context. Meaning gets lost without the context. Purpose gets lost without the context. But, when you really see the whole context of the Christmas story you can find a bigger context for your story. You find your meaning. You find your purpose. Don’t let the a story that may be a little too familiar to you loose its meaning....

Gifts are an important part of a lot of our Christmas traditions. A gift can tell you a lot about the person receiving the gift but even more about the gift giver. Unfortunately a lot of the gifts we give have a short shelf life before they are stuck in a drawer somewhere forgot, or unused. Our faith can be like that. We can take this amazing gift God has given us in Jesus and treat it like it is...

We all have things we have to get past in life. Maybe it is a heartbreak or wound form your past. Maybe you struggle to forgive someone or you have been holding onto anger. Sometimes we are faced with the reality that life isn’t turning out how we expected it to. Life is less than ideal. A lot of space in life is like that and we need to get past it to move from less than ideal to the blessings Go...

It’s easy to have our anxiety triggered when our plans get interrupted and we are anticipating conflict. The bigger our plans the harder they fall. But what if you could move from anxiety to adoration? Mary did. She had room enough to trust God even without all the answers. You can move from anxiety to adoration too. This messages looks at a few things to understand about God that will help get yo...

Lots of different things can lead to our hearts becoming hardened. It is something that can happen to all of us. You can tell when it starts to happen because you become less patient and more apathetic. Jesus knows what your heart needs and He is on the full send to get your heart back to where it belongs.