Public Church

“Church people” can easily participate in fake love. Perhaps you walked away from Jesus or his church because you experienced love laced with hypocrisy. That’s why Paul’s words in Romans 12:9-10 are so vital—we must love authentically. He also tells us how to do that in our everyday lives, even with people who are hard to love.

This series focuses on helping us see intersections between Jesus and our everyday lives. We begin with Romans 12:1-2 to set the tone for the series and evaluate some common moments in our lives.

Shame and guilt are the twin sisters of destruction in a believers life. Shame = feeling bad about who we are, and guilt = feeling bad about what we do. What we must remember is that Jesus never intended for us to live a life of shame and guilt. Jesus buried our guilt and shame and gives us a way to fight this complex emotional, mental, and spiritual daily reality.

As we long for the end of Covid-19, we can easily long for normal, which is actually a trap. When did normal become labeled exceptional? As Andy Stanley says, “Aspiring for normal is not inspiring.” Jesus invites us to aim higher than normal as we take a very practical look at our habits.

During this season our hearts are being revealed. Will we face our hearts, even when it’s not pretty? To face our hearts Jesus invites us to self evaluate in these four areas: mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Let’s be authentic as we reflect. Recorded live from our Fighting to Flourish event.

Antoinette Miles is a leader in our community, and Jesus has been using her powerfully ever since he brought her to Cleveland. She challenges us to be kingdom citizens who affect our culture, and we hope you are challenged and inspired just like we were!

How do we respond when we aren’t where we want to be, but we are exactly where God knew we would be? Paul finds himself in that situation in Athens, Green in Acts 17. Through Paul’s example, we end our series by discussing our method as a witness.

As we study Jesus’ life, we need to pay attention to words and function. In an incredible scene from his life in Mark 10, noticing what he says and what he does illuminates our mindset as a witness.

As we talk to people about Jesus, eventually someone will ask something like, “What is this Jesus business all about?” In other words, what is the core message of Jesus followers? Today, we discuss how to answer questions like that.

Lindsay Powell, our Producer for the day, sets the tone for our new series by sharing part of her story of becoming a Jesus follower. Then Todd Stevison challenges us with our role as Jesus followers.

Jesus gave us his marching orders in John 13:34-35 as he told us to love just as he has loved us. In other words, we become love displayed. Wouldn’t it be helpful to know if we are loving like Jesus in our everyday lives? In 1 Peter 4:9-11, Peter provides metrics to guide us to evaluate ourselves in the arena of love. Will we reflect on our everyday actions and refine to become more like Jesus?

As a follow-up to Sunday’s Gathering, Josh and Julia Morrison plus Cory and Kristen Arp continue their conversation about parenting. They go deeper into the specifics of their families and give practical insights into how they parent.

A way we live out our vision is to help you understand that following Jesus directly impacts how we parent. Therefore, today is a conversation with Josh and Julia Morrison plus Cory and Kristen Arp about parenting. If you are not a parent, early on Josh shares why this conversation is still beneficial to you. We invite you to check out Part 2 on our Podcast, which will be released on Tuesday.

When we think about our lives prior to March 2020, we can feel some nostalgia and a lot of discouragement. We could use something to aim towards, partially because there is no timetable on Covid-19, which means we can’t just aim for a specific date when it ends. Peter, the leader of Jesus’ 12 disciples, provides a focal point for us.

The world needs to see Love Displayed now more than ever. Jesus’ love is best displayed when family, the church, shows His love to others by displaying unity and humility, especially in times that are uncertain. When the thought of this is overwhelming we must look to the cross for a clearer perspective.

Many of us feel pressed and crushed by this season, so today we empathize. We sit in our pain because Jesus can handle our emotions. Gently, Jesus shows us a path forward. We are faced with this question: will we trust the King?

Chris Walker and Todd Stevison have a conversation about the beauty and benefit of wrestling with God and his Word, especially pertaining to justice. Chris is on staff with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the wisdom he brings is needed for us to remain in the wrestling.

Racism between Jews and Gentiles is a theme of the New Testament, and in Acts 10, Jesus actively fights against this racism in the life of Peter, one of the premier leaders of the early church. As we see the beginning of Peter’s transformation, we are challenged to evaluate ourselves.

So many of us are thirsty for justice, so does Jesus have anything to do with our thirst? That leads to another question: What version of Jesus are we following or rejecting? We begin to wrestle with this question, and from the start, we must be willing to admit that there are some gaps between our version of Jesus and the version Jesus revealed in the Samaritan village. As we wrestle, we will add...

This series is filled with tension. The topic is so tense that often we just avoid it. Jesus’ church should be a group of people who wade into the tension because that’s what Jesus did. Today, we dive into John 4 to see how Jesus waded into the tension because fighting against racism and for justice is central to the Gospel.

The gospel is the story of Jesus, the good news of Jesus. What is the full scope of the Gospel? What is the holistic Gospel? If I surrender to Jesus, does the Gospel just grant me a ticket into heaven, or does it truly impact my everyday life, including how I interact with people who are different than me. Does the Gospel have anything to do with racism, or is racism just a peripheral issue? We di...

What does the church look like as we reopen? What does church look like between now and a vaccine? What does the church look like in the midst of a much-needed movement for justice and equality for black lives? Many of the specific answers will reveal themselves over time IF we follow the instructions given by a first century church expert. His guidance transcends any external circumstances.

In a world filled with injustice, inequality, and racism, the church must lead the way in fighting for justice, for equality, and to end racism. In this moment, we need to recenter ourselves on Jesus’ approach as expressed in one of the oldest, maybe even the oldest, pieces of literature in the New Testament, Philippians 2:5-11. This ancient text is incredibly relevant and leads us forward.

One of the difficult aspects of this season, especially reopening, is our inability to get our hands around the situation. This is especially difficult for those of us who like to control. In our series finale, David displays remarkable trust with a situation that he could have manipulated but chose to leave in God’s hands. His trust can inspire us to trust in the midst of this season and really a...

Most of us know this feeling, and Psalm 51 is a guide to repentance, which means walking away from our sin and walking in a different direction. (This is an addendum to our talk titled “The Scenes We Want to Delete”, so you can watch it or listen for more context.)