Presence Church Teachings

True Christian community cannot exist without the Holy Spirit. In the final week of our Community series, Jared Nassiff teaches from Acts 4 and the radical generosity of the early church. The first Christian community was marked by one heart and mind, bold witness to the resurrection, and a willingness to give so that there were no needy persons among them. But this kind of community was not creat...

Christian community is not built on convenience. It is built on covenant love.   In week three of our Community series, Pastor Ben explores Jesus’ command in John 13: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” This kind of love is not sentimental, shallow, or easy to discard when relationships get difficult. It is the loyal, faithful, stubbornly committed love of God.  ...

Hospitality Is Not Entertaining. It Is Making Room. In a lonely and divided world, Jesus practiced a surprisingly ordinary form of ministry: He ate with people. In week two of our Community series, Pastor Patrick walks through Luke 5 and Luke 19 to show how Jesus used the table to welcome outsiders, sinners, strangers, and even enemies. The Pharisees were not mainly offended by Jesus’ theology. Th...

Community Is Hard. So Why Do We Need It? Most of us long for deep relationships, but the reality of community is often messier than the version we imagine. We want the friendship, belonging, and support. We just do not always want the inconvenience, vulnerability, and sacrifice that come with it. In this opening message of our new Community series, Pastor Ben explores why Christian community is no...

Most people want the life of Jesus. Fewer people want the lifestyle of Jesus. In this special Disciple Making Sunday message, Pastor Ben and Pastor Patrick explore Jesus' invitation to "Follow me" and challenge the idea that Christianity is merely about believing the right things. What if spiritual formation is not automatic? What if every person is being shaped by something? And wha...

What if spiritual warfare is less about dramatic encounters with evil… and more about the quiet lies shaping your everyday life? In the final message of our Ephesians series, Pastor Patrick explores Paul’s teaching on the Armor of God and why the deepest spiritual battles are often fought in the realm of identity, desire, fear, and truth. This sermon unpacks: the ancient idea of “acedia” or spirit...

Social media tells parents to protect their child’s emotions at all costs. Other voices say children simply need stricter discipline. The workplace rewards power, status, and control. Culture swings between permissiveness and domination, while families quietly wonder: How are we actually supposed to lead people well? In Ephesians 6, Pastor Ben explores Paul’s teaching on children and parents, slav...

In a world caught between #TradWives on one side and the #Manosphere on the other, how should Christians think about marriage, gender roles, and leadership in the home? With cultural controversy all around us, Pastor Ben unpacks the often-misunderstood passage about submission in marriage, showing how Paul subverts worldly power dynamics with a radical call to mutual, voluntary submission out of r...

What you’re exposed to changes you. In Ephesians 5 , Paul draws a hard line between darkness and light. He contrasts the self-indulgent lifestyle of your former life with the self-sacrificial example of Jesus. Pastor Ben unpacks how sexual immorality, greed, and careless speech aren’t random sins, they’re distortions of our deepest desires. This message gets honest about: Why our culture is so inc...

You can know everything about Jesus and still not actually know Him. In Ephesians 4, Paul describes a kind of transformation that goes far deeper than information. It is not behavior modification. It is not learning more facts. It is becoming an entirely new person. Guest speaker Pastor Phil Wiseman from Table Church challenges a common problem in modern Christianity: we have settled for knowledge...

What if the problem with the modern church isn’t a lack of gifting… but a lack of equipping? In this message, Pastor Ben walks through Ephesians 4 and reframes what the church is actually meant to be. Not a cruise ship where people consume. Not a battleship where a few lead and everyone else follows. But something far more powerful. A church where every person is equipped. A church where leaders s...

What actually makes a church good?   Not production. Not size. Not preferences. In Ephesians 4, the apostle Paul points somewhere deeper. A good church is marked by humility, gentleness, patience, and a fierce commitment to unity.   In this opening message of our new series Ephesians: The Good Church , Pastor Patrick unpacks what it means to “walk worthy” of the calling we’ve been given and why th...

What do you do when something doesn’t make sense? Most of us ignore it. Move on. Assume there’s a normal explanation.   But what if there’s a moment in history you can’t explain away?   This message explores the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus—not as blind belief, but as something worth investigating. From skepticism to curiosity to belief, the invitation is simple: Come and see.

Why does faith feel strong one moment… and shaky the next?   In Matthew 21, the same crowd that shouts “Hosanna” for Jesus will soon cry “Crucify Him.” What changed?   In this Palm Sunday message, Pastor Ben Mueller walks through the Triumphal Entry and exposes a hard truth: we often follow Jesus as long as He meets our expectations. When He doesn’t, our trust can start to unravel. This sermon get...

Why is humility so hard and why does it matter so much?   In Week 6 of Wisdom in the Desert , Pastor Ben walks through Philippians 2:5–11 and shows how the way of Jesus flips our definition of greatness upside down. In a world built on self-promotion and proving yourself, Jesus shows a better way. It is a life marked by surrender, identity, and going low.   If you have ever wrestled with insecurit...

What would you do if the fate of the world rested on your decision? In Week 5 of Wisdom in the Desert , Pastor Ben explores what it really means to live with wisdom in a world full of noise, opinions, and competing voices. Through a powerful Cold War story and the teaching of James 3, this message reveals the difference between earthly wisdom that leads to disorder and heavenly wisdom that produce...

Do you own your stuff, or does your stuff own you? In this sermon, Pastor Ben Mueller opens Matthew 6:19–24 and confronts the pull of consumerism, materialism, and mammon in a culture always pushing the next upgrade, the next purchase, and the next promise of security. Jesus warns that earthly treasure decays, that our hearts follow what we treasure, and that no one can serve both God and money. T...

In this message from our Wisdom in the Desert series, Pastor Ben explores Elijah’s wilderness moment in 1 Kings 19 . After experiencing one of the greatest victories in Scripture on Mount Carmel, Elijah collapses into fear, exhaustion, and despair. Yet it is in that wilderness, far from the noise of crowds and miracles, that God meets him with a gentle whisper . Drawing from the wisdom of the Dese...

Most people will travel thousands of miles to taste great food. But how far will we go to taste the presence of God? In Week 2 of Wisdom in the Desert , Pastor Darren Waite explores Psalm 84 and the deep spiritual longing described as “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord.” From the Desert Fathers to the sons of Korah, Scripture reveals that those who hunger for God discover str...

What if the loudest thing in your life is keeping you from hearing God? In Week 1 of Wisdom in the Desert , Pastor Ben invites us into the “wilderness," a place of intentional separation where God humbles, tests, and reshapes His people. From Israel’s 40-year journey (Deuteronomy 8) to Jesus’ 40 days of fasting and temptation (Matthew 4), we see that the desert is not an escape from reality, but a...

What does it look like to live boldly for Jesus when you face opposition, even if that opposition is social, not physical? In the final week of our Beatitudes series, Pastor Ben Mueller explores Jesus’ words: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness…” (Matthew 5:10–12) and connects them with Paul’s final encouragement to Timothy: “Do not be ashamed… join with me in suffering...

Pastor Ben Mueller confronts a hard question for our moment: how should Christians respond to an increasingly violent world? Starting with a troubling trend in a late-2025 poll, Ben traces the “birthplace of violence” in Scripture, from Cain and Abel to Lamech’s escalating revenge, and shows how humanity keeps trying (and failing) to manage conflict through retaliation or domination . Against that...

In this message from our Beatitudes series, Pastor Ben Mueller addresses one of Jesus’ most surprising promises: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). Speaking honestly about grief, loss, and mourning, Ben explores how Jesus does not rush past pain, but meets it with promise. Drawing from Matthew 5 , Luke 4 , and Isaiah 61 , this sermon shows how Jesus inaugurate...

In this message, Jared Nassiff opens the Beatitudes by reframing what “blessed” actually means and who Jesus declares as truly fortunate in the Kingdom of Heaven. Teaching from Matthew 5:1–12 , Jared traces the language behind makarios and its Old Testament background ( ashrei ), showing how Jesus overturns cultural definitions of “the good life” and announces that the Kingdom belongs to the spiri...

Jesus did not arrive announcing comfort, success, or religious prestige, He proclaimed a kingdom that turns expectations upside down. In this message, Pastor Ben introduces the Beatitudes by exploring Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom of God, how that kingdom breaks into the world, and who it is truly for. Through Scripture, history, and cultural illustration, this teaching invites a reexaminatio...