Mission Church: Teaching Podcast

"The gospel is less about how to get into the Kingdom of heaven after you die, and more about how to live in the Kingdom of heaven before you die." - Dallas Willard God calls us to love, and if we focus on how we are called to live here on Earth, we will embody the love of Christ as much as we can through practical and spiritual ways. Love connects. Love pulls up a chair. Love extends the table. L...

We've all got a comfort zone. But, as we learned today, we can have compassion or we can have comfort, but we can’t have both. Through our BE. FOR. campaign, we are asking you to be compassionate toward some of the most vulnerable people in our area. The working poor, the fatherless, and the trafficked need our help. It will require courage, but if we look at the life of Jesus, we can find courage...

In every direction we look, we see difficult, complex, and challenging issues plaguing our world and communities. So, we have a choice: What is our response in the midst of a wounded world? Jesus taught us that love is not complacent, it's compassionate. That is why we are choosing to help some of the most vulnerable people in our city, the working poor, the fatherless, and the trafficked. We can’...

In 2018 we began our journey of Never The Same. Over the last two years, we experienced transformation like we never could have imagined as we built, funded, and moved into 82 Stratford Drive. We are so grateful to everyone who has been a part of this journey and today we celebrated everything that God has done through Never The Same. Never the Same is done but God’s work in and through this churc...

Today we were blessed by a powerful message from author and speaker, Aubrey Sampson. She walked us through Psalm 23 and showed us that our good shepherd, God, is not a shepherd waiting for us to mess up so that He can beat us back into submission. Rather, He is a good shepherd that is nurturing, protective, and does not leave us.

Most of us are probably familiar with the verse, "I can do all things through him who gives me strength." Well, today Dan Ruta gave us some insight into the verse that actually comes before this one, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or i...

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" - Philippians 4:4 Paul mentions joy as a noun or verb 15 times in the Bible. If we want to safeguard what matters most, Paul says, we've gotta understand joy and joy in action, which is to rejoice.

“Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. Do you plan to build a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.” - Saint Augustine Humility is the foundation of all other virtues. Today, as we dive into Philippians 2, we learn that as God’s children, humility is a choice but not an option.

Whether it be in our marriages, relationships, or in churches, putting Jesus first leads toward deep and abiding unity regardless of circumstance. When we stop living our lives aimed at Jesus, we will leave a wake of brokenness and damage in us, around us, and behind us. Seeking Jesus first together leads to an enduring and resilient unity.

Fear has become a common part of our culture. The only way to combat that fear is to import courage, and thankfully, we can find that courage through Jesus.

No matter who you are and no matter what you did last week or last night, there is a God-given purpose for you. But, contrary to cultural belief, your purpose is for you but it is not about you. The life Jesus lived and modeled was not an inward-focused, inward-facing kind of life. And ours shouldn't be either.

Your perspective is how you see and interpret the world around you. Simply put, it's what you look most intensely at. Just like Moses, we need to look back at the faithfulness of God and then move forward in faith. You get to choose what you "most intensely look at". Will you look at the faithfulness of God or the brokenness of this world?

The definition of perseverance is, "a continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition." Moses persevered. In order for you to move forward, you have to do the same. Pain is transmitted into bitterness or transformed into perseverance. The choice is yours, which will you choose?

We are relational beings made in the image of a relational Creator. That's why we believe that the way forward is in with people. We know, you might be saying, "But people are crazy! I'm better off alone." While that might be true, or maybe the "easy" way, it's not how we were created to live.

When Moses was desperate to know the way forward, we read in Exodus that he went up the mountain to God. Now, there aren't any mountains in Illinois, but that doesn't mean that we can't go up. If we want to go forward, we have to first go higher.

How do you move forward when there is neither a path nor precedent? The good news is that there is a way forward. The bad news is that you have to willingly follow the guide. We are in the middle of a disciple making moment and this message is a challenge to all of us who call ourselves Christians to ask the question: "Am I a disciple?"

Persistence in anything while living in today's instant and on-demand culture should be admired. There's nothing wrong with 'instant' of course, however, it can cloud our perception of so many things that still require, well, time. The final parable in this series applies this thought on persistence to a simple story about an unjust judge, a feisty widow, and a God who loves us and longs to hear o...

You have a purpose; to be salt and light to the world around you. We lost you at "salt" and "light" didn't we? Well, it's more of an analogy used by Jesus to help us understand our intended function as humans. But HOW? How do we become what we're meant to be? You've got to be in Christ, in community, and on mission. Tune in as we unpack this crucial parable!

What is love? Sorry, we know that question just dropped Haddaway's 90's tune into your brain, but try to stick with us! Seriously, how do you define love? The answer to this profound question is, not surprisingly, found in a parable Jesus shared about a father whose son had shattered their family bond beyond repair. What else can we say? It's up to you... to press play.

Ownership. When you read that word, what comes to mind? The home you own? Your car? That sweet Pokémon trading card collection you still have? The question we're looking at today is, "What do you do with what you've been GIVEN?" Here's the thing, according to Jesus, EVERYTHING we "own" has been given to us by God. Thankfully we don't have to figure out what to do by ourselves. There's a parable, J...

The Parable of the Sower has less to do with dirt and more to do with the condition of our hearts. The master storyteller, Jesus, positions four different types of soil as the competing receptivity levels in our hearts to the Gospel of grace. So, what kind of heart is beating in your chest? Let's dig around in the dirt and find out!

Stories are approachable. They just are. From bedtime favorites to page-turning bestsellers, everyone can get on board with a story. Maybe that's why Jesus chose simple stories (or parables) as his preferred method of teaching? And here's the thing; these simple stories are layered with profound meaning. Meaning that can help unlock a way of living you may have only read about in... well, stories.

Dudes, this ones for you! Tune in as Co-Founding Pastors Jon Peacock and Tommy Bowman, along with Dan Ruta sit down for a candid conversation on how “acting like men” doesn’t necessarily mean you have to order all the bacon when you’re at a restaurant. (Although that’s not a horrible idea!)

We've all heard the cliché, "I'll pray for you." at some point in our lives. (If you haven't, don't worry, it won't be long.) However well-intentioned, we think it's safe to guess the mental response to this simple sentence goes something like this: "No you won't. And if you do, what is that really gonna do for me?" Well, the Book of James comes to a stunning conclusion as we're confronted with tw...

There's a war within us that is raging. The struggle between what we want, how to get it, and where God is leading us. Like a boxer in a ring, we need to learn the correct stance to experience victory in our lives. Oh, and, it's not the left-hook you're expecting.