Journey of Faith Messages Podcast

As we gather a spiritual support team for 2025, it may be exciting to think of all of the ways we can encourage and challenge each other.  However, we may quickly recognize that our efforts to help others are limited – we’re busy, we’re weak, and we don’t know any more answers than anyone else.  Before those moments come, it is important to recognize that our true benefit to others comes fro...

What kind of people would help us the most as we commit to growing spiritually in 2025?  Who would be the perfect members of a spiritual growth team, and how to we find those people?  In this second week of our 4-part series, we’ll look closely at the qualities Jesus was looking for as he assembled his first disciples and learn how we can build the best team for our own spiritual journey. Watch Fu...

Pursuing God cannot be a journey we take on our own. For as much as we’d like to fly solo, none of the personal and spiritual growth goals we may have for 2025 will be reached without the support, challenge, and encouragement of other people. But who should be on our support team? What does it look like to assemble the spiritual friends and family we’ll need to focus on God and get closer to him t...

Ever feel anxious about the unknown? The story of 12-year-old Jesus getting ‘lost’ at the temple is surprisingly relatable. His actions show us how to navigate uncertainty with confidence, trust, and a sense of purpose. It’s a powerful reminder that even in life’s most confusing moments, there’s a way to grow and find peace. The post Sabbath Sunday 2024 appeared first on Journey of Faith .

Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary are three people who responded to life-changing news with heartfelt songs of faith and joy. These ancient songs remind us to pause and reflect on God’s faithfulness, even in silence, and to open our hearts to His mission with joyful anticipation. Join us as we uncover how their stories invite us to trust God’s plans and embrace hope this Christmas season. Watch Full...

What should we do when we see injustice all around us?  This is the question asked by the ancient prophet Malachi. He saw his country worn down immoral leadership, financial recklessness, and abuse of power. God answered him with the promise of a brighter future. This week, we’ll explore God’s promise of a coming “Sun of Righteousness” and look at what we can do to be part of the solution to the p...

Isaiah, an aged Hebrew Prophet, is gazing into the horizon and sees his nation and people facing a dark future. He knows he won’t be there to remind them of God’s presence and love. Weighed down by the darkness before him, Isaiah is given a message for God’s people: “Comfort my people.” This week, we’ll look the pinnacle of Isaiah vision for the future, the role of a coming Suffering Servant and K...

Sometimes things appear to be at their worst, right before they get better. There’s an old saying that ‘it’s always darkest before the dawn.” We live in a dark world, full of disappoints, hurts, and fears about the future. What helps you have hope when the world is looks dark? How can we face this darkness with hope of a coming dawn? This week, we begin a four-week series where we’ll explore what...

As the period of exile came to a close for God’s ancient people in the Bible, they were reminded of how God had walked them through even their darkest of times.  How can we do the same?  How can we root ourselves in God’s love and guidance, and celebrate his presence with others?  This week we’ll read a famous story of a prophet named Ezra in the Bible as he and his people are overwhelmed by God’s...

One minute, the things of life are falling into place and you’re gaining momentum.  The next, a curveball comes your way that forces you to rethink your whole life plan.  Where is God in those moments of unexpected complication?  How does he respond to the breakdowns and pitfalls of our lives?  Can God use us, even when we’re facing situations and challenges, we didn’t plan for?  This week we’ll r...

In a world where disagreement is common, it can be easy to use our morals and values as a tool to insulate ourselves from others.  God’s plan for his people is quite the opposite: his desire is that by living out his values, we’d be able to share his love and comfort with everyone.  This week we’ll see how an ancient young prophet from the Old Testament, Daniel, went from being a scholar in captiv...

Have you ever had the feeling that you’re a stranger living in a strange land? Have you ever felt like you’re not quite at home in today’s culture?  These feelings can be small annoyances, but they can also lead to major worry and anxiety as we seek to live in a world that can seem hostile or uncaring. During this 5-week series, we’ll explore a period of biblical history in which God’s...

How quickly do you respond to good advice? In this final week of our GET WISE series, we’ll look at the story of King Josiah – a sixteen-year-old who had a heart for God and a quick response to wisdom.  We’ll see how he prioritized God in his life and how we can do the same. Watch Full Service Story Project Discussion Guide The post Respond Quickly to Wisdom appeared first on Journey of...

We are people who like to be prepared and in control.  In fact, there’s almost nothing that will interrupt our lives as much as situations that turn out to be different than our expectations.  How, then, do we process God’s directions that might look different than our life plan?  How can we navigate the moment when God’s instructions shake up our expectations?  This Sunday we’ll learn from the st...

Making decisions is challenging! And the bigger the decision, the more pressure!  How can we learn to grow in our decision-making ability? This week, we begin a new series of messages called Get Wise.  We’ll be looking at three leaders in ancient Israel who responded to advice in very different ways and the impact they had. And we’ll start this Sunday with the story of King Rehoboam. We’ll see how...

When we think of the benefits of successful leadership, the list seems obvious: money, fame, power, control.  But what if there was something even more valuable, more life-giving than any of the worldly rewards we usually chase?  This week, we’ll finish up our exploration of the greatest kings of the Bible and see how they pursued wisdom above all other goals. Watch Full Service Story Project Disc...

The are many dangers that can tank our leadership: bad decisions, pride, over-extension, even bad luck.  But what if the greatest danger to our leadership was something completely avoidable?  What if it’s the comfort and idleness that our growing leadership brings that could be our greatest undoing?  This week we’ll explore a famous biblical leader’s fall from grace, what seemingly-insignifi...

When it comes to leadership, they say it’s “lonely at the top.”  But the truth is, it can be lonely as we grow in leadership at any stage.  The pressure to become a breakout star, to rise above others, and to achieve self-made success can leave us cold and isolated.  But what if the key to real leadership wasn’t flying solo, but developing rich and supportive friendships?  This week we’ll take a l...

Climbing the ladder of leadership and success is exhausting.  And we’ve all heard the horror stories about the stress and fickle rewards that wait for us, even if we reach the top.  So, what if there was a different path to becoming a person of powerful influence – a path that didn’t come at the cost of our families, our standards, and our own sense of wholeness?  As we kick off this new fall seas...

Who is your leader?  Not at work, or school, or home… but over your whole life?  Who do you look to for wisdom and warnings about how to live your life? As we finish our three-week series in the Old Testament book of Judges, we’ll see how this dark season in Israel’s history ended with a movement away from God, not toward God. We’ll see what their story can teach us about keeping our hearts...

Someone once said: “Knowledge is learning from your mistakes; wisdom is learning from other people’s mistakes.” This week in our series from the Old Testament book of Judges, we’ll explore the story of one of the Bible most tragic leaders – Samson.  We’ll discover that it is better to follow God’s desires, than our own… and we should live with the end of our story in the front of our m...

What does it mean to be “called” by God?  We sometimes have this image in our minds that people who are called by God have a heroic certainty about their calling, make big decisions all by themselves… and are impervious to big mistakes. But the stories of the Bible give us a different picture. As begin our three-week series in the Old Testament book of Judges, we’ll look at one of the most c...

You’ve hit the wall. You’re out of energy. The obstacle is too big to overcome. Maybe it’s a work, in a relationship, a health crisis, or in your relationship with God. What do you do when you are facing a battle that is too big for you to fight? In our last message of our series, The Great Rescue, we’ll look at the story of the Battle of Jericho, and unlikely military victory that can remind us o...

We are all told to plan the future, but it’s easy to be so invested in the future that we miss what God has for us right in the present.  This is especially difficult when “the present” isn’t what we would like it to be. How can we thrive in the present without getting ahead of ourselves. This week, in our series The Great Rescue, we’ll look at the story of God miraculously providing food for the...

We live in an instant culture. We are used to quick results and fast changes. When things are slow or take time, we assume something is wrong with us or the system. But some of the most important events in life require great patience.  In this second week of our four-week series called The Great Rescue, we’ll spend time in the story of “Passover.”  We’ll see how this long night of waiting for God’...