Port City Community Church Podcast

Everyone would agree we live in a crazy world full of broken people and systems. We have plenty of opinions and viewpoints on the cause and the solution to our woes. The condition of our world often lures our hope. If the world gets better, then we will feel better - the state of our world determines the condition of our soul. Living this way leaves us on shaky ground with restless hearts. Sin is...

Obedience is learning how to respond to what God is doing in front of us, around us, and in us, which requires vision. Mike Ashcraft and Carson Goslee sat down and talked about the 2022 Personal Retreat and the importance of carving out moments for reflection and articulation. We want to pause and consider what the events of 2021 felt like and look forward to the future with great anticipation and...

On Christmas, as we live within the middle space of hope seen and hope fulfilled, we celebrate the arrival of Jesus and wait for His return. When Jesus says He’s “the way, the truth, and the life,” He wasn’t giving us directions to Heaven, but demonstrating the path to experiencing freedom and fullness right here and right now. Every time we forgive, love, and extend grace, we bring a bit of His h...

Forgiveness is more than a clean slate; it's the road we must travel to experience true freedom. It serves as the operating system within God's Kingdom.vIn our relationship with God, there are no borders or any "no trespassing" signs, we have complete access to Him, and therein, He has full access to us. We can offer our whole hearts to God because He has forgiven every part of it. The way of Jesu...

The haunting sense that there won't be enough drives our actions.  The prayer for daily bread is where God's faithfulness intersects with our dependency. Our willingness to trust in God's provision pushes against our natural tendencies to rely on our ability to provide for ourselves. The promise of daily bread goes beyond our basic needs and affirms His promise to provide for every purpose He...

We see what we want to see. The lens of sin's separation distorts our perspective and is the plight of life in our broken world. We see dimly through a cracked and fragmented reality while catching glimpses of how things are supposed to be. To be separated from God is to leave us endlessly wanting and chasing, but to be reconciled and restored to Him is where we find the fullness of joy. The beaut...

His name, His Kingdom, and His will collide with what we most easily and most naturally want to push - our name, our kingdom, and our will. Praying in the name of Jesus isn't a tagline to get what we want, but a posture of humility and dependency that transforms our hearts to want what God wants. It's an invitation to see and behold, where delighting in Him shapes our desires.

Prayer is not how we get God to do our will, but how our will gets shaped by His.  "Thy will be done" means that God has a purpose for every moment and circumstance we face. Our obedience isn't about us proving something to God, but the activity of God redeeming what God has intended. God never promises to change our circumstances, but He does guarantee to change us. Thus, the answer to our p...

Right before Jesus offers up the Lord's prayer, He tells us that "God knows what you need before you ask Him." In our classic, efficient, American fashion, we scratch our heads and wonder, "So, why should I bother to pray if He already knows what I am going to pray?" What fuels these feelings of futility is our low view of prayer that limits prayer to merely confession or requests. We either compi...

The future carries a weight, significance, and urgency to it. It isn't just about what happens to us in the future, but the realities we create for those yet to come. The Church in the next season will have no choice but to look very different.  We can no longer remain stuck in the wrong war. The casualty in the culture war is not the loss of an issue but the loss of a generation. There is a...

The systems we create to navigate the world around us end up bearing the weight of our hope and trust. Whatever holds this cherished position in our lives receives our attention, affection, and devotion. We break our hearts against our idols as they crumble under the pressure of our worship. But, what catches our eyes will eventually capture our hearts. This is why we need to focus our eyes on Him...

Amusement is rarely benign because boredom devastates our faith. Idle hands have nothing on an undisciplined mind. Curiosity is an instrumental faith practice that affords us space to engage with God, asking questions about one's faith and life. Embracing discovery keeps us hopeful for the future and involved in the process of learning and growing. When we fail to carry ourselves in this way, we a...

The Gospel message, with everything pointing to Jesus, is simple, yet at the same time utterly complex. It interrupts and disrupts what we know, ushering in something new. Due to its refractory nature, we have to take on a posture of humility and curiosity to allow this message to shape our view of the world and how we see ourselves. Wrestling out the implications leads to more insight and underst...

Sometimes God feels aloof and hidden, like a mysterious wizard behind a curtain. We wonder in frustration why God makes it so challenging to get to know Him. If God would clearly lay out who He is and what He wants from us, we assume it would lead to our unquestioned obedience and a stronger relationship. But, deep down inside, this motivation to know God isn't to further a relationship but to ful...

Our values are t he ideas and principles that inform how we interact with the world around us. But, as broken human beings, sometimes the surface level becomes more important than what is happening underneath or inside our hearts. Over time, as our values from the world shape our picture of Jesus, He appears less and less like a King. Because when Jesus looks like us, He isn't all that powerful. J...

The words inside the Sermon on the Mount conflicted with the worldly values of the times. But, here's the thing: very little has changed over the years. The same agenda pushed by culture in the days of Jesus is present today.  Fight for the spotlight, indulge until you are satisfied, never show weakness, and always remember to look out for your interests.  So, what supposedly awaits us i...

Living a life of faith at home takes place through intentionality and investment, defined by humility and servanthood. We make time for others and breathe worth and value into those around us. We desire to be a home where everyone feels welcome. Imagine if we were the place in town that people flocked to, not because of all the bells and whistles, but because of the loving, humble, and Jesus-cente...

When the cycles of pride and fear continue to spin, people can feel trapped and held captive. Breaking free seems impossible, but the message of Christ's forgiveness and mercy unlocks hope and freedom. The gates of hell can't resist the ways of Jesus and His love. It is this message that we carry with us wherever we go and in whatever we do. Jesus gave us the keys to His Kingdom to bring freedom t...

Jesus is forming and making us into a place where He resides and reigns. Creating a space like this requires something from us. Within a thriving community, there are clear expectations, a strong foundation, and a common good. The foundation and force of this movement is the reality that Christ reconciled us to the Father. A place like this doesn't happen accidentally but arises due to a shared se...

If home is where the heart is, we want our heart to reflect Christ and Christ alone as a community. As for our house, we desire to be a formative community with a redemptive activity that works for the good of God's purposes in the world. A shared hope centered on Christ (LIFE WITH GOD) combined with a shared experience (TOGETHER) leads to a shared burden (THE WORLD).

We often forget how life-giving having a place to call home is to our soul. Home energizes and invigorates. It refreshes and refocuses. Everyone longs to find a place to call home. In our divided, chaotic, and polarized world, fewer and fewer places exist that provide a measure of hope and peace. When people think of Port City, we want them to feel at home and know they belong. Creating a space li...

As you enter any new season, the most important thing is what you believe and where you set your mind. Why? Because what gets your attention will ultimately demand your affection. God designed your mind to awaken your heart. The war for your soul takes place on the battlefield of your mind. You fight back by attacking anything that undermines God's work in your heart.

Whatever you seek first will likely determine what you see first. But, unfortunately, very few of us pause and consider where we set our eyes. Instead, we run to one thing after another, looking for fulfillment. Christ invites us to something different: to remain, dwell, and abide. The measure of eternal life is not where you end up but by the experience of life with God right here and right now....

Temporary things will never lead to long-term satisfaction. When we search for fulfillment in all the wrong places, we only find shame, disappointment, anxiety, depression, and regret. We’ve been running to dry wells our whole lives hoping for a drink to quench our thirst. But, unfortunately, doing so leads us further away from the thing we need the most. Only Jesus can ultimately satisfy. Christi...

Being born again is the starting point - not the finish line. When we view Christ's offer of eternal life as merely a ticket into heaven, we miss out on more than we realize. Inheriting eternal life isn't about what we get when we die but what we rightfully possess in the present moment. We draw eternal life in the same way we draw our physical energy: we breathe it in.