Pursuing God with Gene Appel

Here’s my prayer for us - that when we come in here and we gather together, that we have the same spirit as the first church and instead of coming together for entertainment , we come to Pursue God together. 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 ever...

God’s dream for His church has always been that it would be a place where walls come down. We experience His best when we are in community with others, no matter their political views, favorite sports teams, or economic status. 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...

Have you noticed that almost everything in life is better when you do it together with others? The Bible tells us that we are made in the image of God…we are hardwired by God to experience His best in community with others . 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...

Maybe for the first time, as a result of our pursuing God together this week, it has become clear to you that you are in a spiritual fight, and the struggle is real.  Let me remind you of 1 John 4:4 The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and sh...

Even with all of the spiritual armor from Ephesians 6:13-18 in place, you still shouldn’t be trying to overcome the Evil One and all of his attacks all by yourself. We were made to be Overcomers when we stand together! 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...

Ephesians 6:13-18 give us the tools to fight the enemy. (NLT) …Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 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...

Satan uses five strategies to keep us in bondage. As a result, we are warriors in a fight with him, a very real battle, not against flesh and blood, but against the Devil’s evil rulers and authorities. Listen tomorrow for weapons to fight back. 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 co...

Many of us are oblivious to the fact that we are in an INVISIBLE STRUGGLE for our lives, our families, our finances, our kids, our marriages, our futures, for our nation, for our church…. And even though we can’t see this spiritual struggle, #TheStruggleIsReal. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped...

This week, we’ve been talking about loving people enough to respond to both their physical and spiritual needs …. Because until you start seeing those who are in need through God’s eyes; and hearing the cries of those in need through his ears, you will never grow to spiritual maturity.  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Ground...

When you feel stuck in your spiritual journey, it could be that you are not giving yourself away. You want to get unstuck?  Find someone else to refresh today and you’ll be on your way to getting unstuck. 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 everyon...

We are not haunted by a failure to love – but God is! Jesus wants us to be moved by the needs of the world and of His church. Ask God for vision to see the needs beyond ourselves. 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 episode invites y...

God’s love is concerned about the whole person – their spiritual needs and their physical needs. God’s love is a holistic love. Ours should be also. 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 episode invites you to discover God’s presence a...

1 John 3:17 says that if anyone has material possessions and sees his brother or sister in need but has no pity on them… how can the love of God be in that person? Let us look beyond ourselves to see others in need. 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...

The Apostle Paul experienced trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword. Yet he was able to emphatically say, “None of these can separate us from the love of God.” This still holds true today. 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...

If God is for us, who can be against us? This is one of the Biblical questions asked and answered in Romans 8:31-33. 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 episode invites you to discover God’s presence and activity in your life.

God foreknew me, He predestined me, He called me into a grace-filled love relationship with Him.  But wait, there’s more! He justified us. Simply put, “justification” is just an act of grace. It’s God saying to you and to me that now because of your relationship with Jesus, you’re worth something. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compass...

We find five ways God affirms His love for us in Romans 8:29-30. God foreknew you, and then because of His love for you, He predestined you....He began building into you the character of His Son. So, chalk up another undeniable affirmation of His great love for us! Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and sh...

God is the initiator of the love relationship He has with us. His love increases our capacity to love Him and to love others. So, it follows that the more we are rooted and grounded in the assurance of God’s love for us, the better we will be able to love God and love people. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scrip...

You might not feel loved by your family, by your spouse, by your boss, by the people you thought were your friends, but you are loved with everlasting love….by the all-powerful, all-everywhere, all-knowing God of the universe. 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’...

It’s especially challenging to love people in the present when you’ve been hurt by them in the past. Forgiveness, letting go of our offenders and their offenses, is ultimately an act of faith, trusting that God will bring justice to our offenders, in his time and in his way. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Script...

Loving actions require energy. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do, like Jesus did throughout his ministry, is to rest and replenish your physical, emotional, and spiritual tanks. Go to bed earlier, eat healthier, get some exercise, and stay in shape. Put some breaks into your schedule, like Jesus. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unle...

The Bible has a simple test to see how we’re doing in the love department - Consider others better than yourself. That’s how Jesus treats us. Nothing can separate us from his love. 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 episode invites...

On this New Year’s Day let's set our sights on loving people better. Growing to love people like Jesus loved people is the most important character quality we could aspire to develop in the coming year.  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 eve...

There is only one gift that will not only be meaningful to you and others not just 10 years from now, but 1,000 years from now. After Jesus was born an old prophet named Simeon looked at this baby and said to God in Luke 2:30, “For my eyes have seen your salvation.” Salvation is the only gift that lasts forever. It’s the only gift that you can receive this Christmas or give this Christmas that wil...

There’s one last thing that we can learn from the life of Joseph. He was a good man who was fully engaged with Jesus. A lot of guys are around during the birth, but when the religious stuff, the spiritual stuff happens, they hand off that to mom’s department, but not Joseph.   Joseph was quite a man, wasn’t he? If you’ve been tracking with us these past few days, then you have some clarity as to w...