Pursuing God with Gene Appel

Jesus Christ was God in the flesh who came with power. He proved that power when He was raised from the dead. His followers had seen the resurrected Lord and the results of His life, but they had no power themselves. Chapter 1, verse 5 brings us to the promise of power.  What took you through tough times? What helped you stand? It is the internal power of God, which is a confidence worth living in...

This week, we’re looking at Acts Chapter 1 and how change in life takes place. Change has a way of surprising us. Acts 1 shows us who makes that change happen and how it rolls out.  Sometimes the power to change anything happens through waiting. We have to wait for God to show up, but we don’t have to wait for his Holy Spirit.  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build...

Jesus never left His corner of the Middle East, but His message permeated almost the entire globe and continues 20 centuries after He was here. Jesus challenges His followers, including you and me, to dream great dreams, to plan great plans, to pray great prayers, and obey His great commands.  How big is your vision? Have you ever thought about what God could do through you to change our world in...

Today we’ll review two more practical suggestions for dealing with temptation.  Our short-range goal is to serve Jesus, who gave His life for us. When temptations distract us, we need to be reminded of our goal as a motivation for obedience. Not only does Jesus provide a way out of temptation, but He provides the way out of all the sins we've already committed through His death and resurrecti...

We’ve been exploring how to deal with temptation, how it’s normal for everyone, and how it comes in a variety of forms.  Temptation can be overcome. Jesus experienced the same temptations and He resisted them to prove that it could be done. Many Christians have confronted the same pressures and overcome. And we can do it too.  Today we discuss four practical suggestions to help you overcome tempta...

We are looking deeper at temptation, how it works and how to overcome it.  As we walk through 1 Corinthians 10, we see another temptation the Israelites yielded: sexual temptation. Anybody who wants to live a life of purity in our society has a constant battle to control sexual desires.  Temptations vary, so be alert. Paul puts grumbling on the same level as sexual immorality and materialism. Can...

This week, we’re exploring how to deal best with temptation. In 1 Corinthians, Paul confessed the constant struggle he had with the temptations of the world throughout his entire life. Even Jesus struggled with temptation all of His life.  If we're going to overcome temptation, we've got to see the awful consequences of sin. There are warnings in scripture about being careless in the Chr...

In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul compares the Christian life with the 40-year journey the Israelites made from slavery in Egypt to freedom in Canaan. Most of these people never were allowed to enter the Promised Land because they couldn't resist temptation. We will review lessons about how to resist temptation, which is a normal experience.    Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pur...

We are finishing a week of looking at the word pictures Paul uses to describe what will happen when we finally meet Jesus face to face. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, he pictures our lives as we bring them to Jesus on that day like a growing plant and a well-constructed house. There is one last word picture he uses: a purified temple.  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God,...

We've been in 1 Corinthians 3:9-15 looking at how we can know what type of materials we are using in the building of our own lives in preparation for Jesus’ coming.  God looks to the motives of our heart, and He knows if we are doing our job to bring Him glory. These verses ought to be a wake-up call. One way or another, we are getting closer and closer to the day Paul is talking about, the d...

We’re exploring how Jesus' second coming provided a powerful motivation for Paul and how it can do the same for us. We've been in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, and today we’ll discuss the second word picture Paul uses.  We seek quality in every aspect of our life. How much more should we seek to use quality materials to build our spiritual life? Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to hel...

When Paul talks about the second coming of Christ, he doesn't talk about trying to figure out when Christ will return; he talks about being faithful until he returns and looking forward to the rewards Jesus will bring. Paul uses three different word pictures to describe what we should be like until Jesus returns, and they can motivate us to be faithful. We’ll look at one of the word pictures...

We have long been fascinated with the second coming of Christ and the end of the world. Every generation has wondered if they were in the end times and if Jesus would return in their lifetime. Even the early church in the New Testament was concerned, because Jesus did not return as soon as they had thought He would.  We do not know when Jesus will return, but we know He will. This week we will loo...

Today is the last day of the New Testament Challenge.  The Bible has a lot to say about what heaven will be, but heaven is still beyond our wildest imagination. We were made for heaven, and when we get there, we will truly be home.  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction tha...

We are exploring heaven and all God has planned for those who trust Him. We’ve been discovering how heaven is a place of joy and laughter.  Hell is not going to be parties, friends, or fun and games for eternity; it’ll be eternal separation from God and others. Heaven, on the other hand, is anything but a boring place. Everything good in this life that we see now, will be perfect in the unseen lif...

As we continue to learn about the Kingdom of Heaven, we’ll read from Revelation.  Heaven will be a place of love, relationships, intellectual growth, discovery, rewards, exploration, productivity, and accomplishment.  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s grace i...

As we wrap up the New Testament Challenge, we will review what heaven is like.  There are so many unanswered questions on earth. But heaven is a place of relational reunions and exciting learnings. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s grace is for everyone, each...

This is the last week of the New Testament Challenge. Can you believe it? The New Testament ends with an unspeakably glorious vision of the future: the Kingdom of Heaven coming to earth, or as some theologians have put it, heaven and earth coming back together again. That’s not just good news, that’s great news.  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and...

When Paul made it to the end of his life, he wrote a last lecture from his prison cell. His last piece of words are keep pouring!  2,000 years later, we are still talking about Paul. What do you think your legacy will be?  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s gr...

We are reading Paul’s “last lecture” to Timothy this week. After Paul says to keep on no matter what, he says keep reading.  All scripture is God breathed; our lives, and our families, and our careers, and our kids, and our futures, and our finances need this book's teaching and rebuking and correcting and training in righteousness. The Bible contains guidance for living your life.  Paul also...

We are reviewing the latter part of the apostle Paul’s life.  After he is arrested in Jerusalem, one of the governors holds him at a place along the Mediterranean known as Caesarea by the sea. Paul ends up being held there for 2 years. This is where he gives his last lecture.  First, Paul says to keep on. Don't quit. Keep enduring. No matter how difficult circumstances get, with Jesus’ help,...

We are focusing on the apostle Paul this week. Initially, Paul was a committed Jew who persecuted Christians, and later became a follower of Jesus, maybe becoming the greatest proponent of Jesus and Christianity in history. In nearly every city Paul went, he would start a revival, a riot, or both, because he was so passionate about Jesus.  When was the last time you just talked to someone about Je...

This week we will look at Paul’s last lecture, which is found in Timothy 2.  Paul knew he was going to die. God had warned Him; the Spirit had told him. He knew he would make a final journey to Rome, and that would be it. Would you know just the right thing to say in your final moments? Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Ground...

We are concluding a week devoted to what made the early Christian movement explode and how any alternate vision of the church leaves you, and the rest of the world, wanting. Paul, along with Jesus and so many others, gave His life for a vision where people pursue God,  build community, and unleash compassion everywhere.  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build commun...

We are examining the expansion of the early Christian movement.  The early church wasn't just coming to a place for an hour to get some entertainment. They were "devoted to the apostle's teaching." There are two competing visions for the church that are common today, but neither are part of the original vision. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, bu...