Pursuing God with Gene Appel

When you look at the details surrounding the very first Christmas, you can’t help but see that it was a very blue season  for Mary and Joseph. While all the artists beautifully portray peaceful images of Nativity scenes on Christmas cards… the reality is Mary and Joseph were under significant physical, emotional, and financial stress. Today Gene shares how to comfort others who are experiencing a...

For the many who may be about to experience a blue Christmas, Gene challenges us to focus on Psalm 34:18, which says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Whatever has you blue this Christmas season—Gene wants you to know God is close to you. He sees your heartache. He cares about your pain. This week Gene is sharing how He heals and saves those who a...

In today’s episode, Gene challenges us  to identify our style… and then, in the power of the Holy Spirit, use it. Let your light shine in a way that God has wired you to share the Good News about Jesus.  All around us are thousands of people who need to hear about the grace and hope of Jesus!  But they need to hear it authentically from someone who walks and talks and shares just like you. Pursuin...

Some people need logic and rational answers to their questions. Today Gene shows how to do that style of sharing. The Relational style of sharing is where you take advantage of the relationships you already have with people you work with; people in your family or in your extended family, and you are able to leverage your established relationships and create opportunities for meaningful conversatio...

Everyone can be a fruitful witness by simply inviting others to ‘come and see.’ Invite a friend, coworker, or neighbor to church. If you don’t feel very articulate, or you feel awkward about explaining what’s happened to you, you can be very effective just by inviting people to come and see someone else explain Christianity. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build co...

Gene teaches that there are six ways of sharing the Gospel. Most of us are not the ‘in your face’ type like the Apostle Peter. Many of us will be most effective by sharing our own story among our own people. He calls it the “Life-story approach.” There’s also the serving style of sharing. Helping others without asking for anything in return. Except maybe an invitation to attend church! Pursuing Go...

This week, Gene promises to lower our freak-out factor and build our courage in sharing Jesus the way God wired each of us.. Because spiritually impacting other people is not being weird, looking foolish, or having all the answers. 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...

Today we look at the story of the widow in the Gospel of Mark who only gave about 2 cents, but Jesus commended her for giving sacrificially. We are reminded today God doesn’t measure generosity by the size of your gift…He measures generosity by the size of your sacrifice. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture...

In today’s episode, Gene challenges us with this: Considering Abraham’s example, what is the one thing that prevents you from being fully surrendered to God? WHAT IS YOUR ISAAC? 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...

Not only did God provide an animal for the sacrifice in place of Isaac, more than 2,000 years later, God provided His son as the perfect sacrifice in our place. When you really grasp that God has not withheld His Son, His only Son, the Son that He loves, FOR YOU, what possibly could you withhold from Him? Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash...

Abraham had the faith to believe that God is good and that God is powerful. We are reminded in Hebrews 11 that Abraham believed God could raise Isaac from the dead. Today Gene challenges us to think about the faith of Abraham—How can his faith inspire our faith? How does Abraham’s example inspire us to trust and obey? Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community...

Today Gene tells the story in Genesis 22 of how God tested Abraham by telling him to take his son, Isaac, and sacrifice him on an altar. This is the son Abraham had waited 25 years for! Genesis 22 is the first time we read the word “LOVE.”  God uses it to describe the great love of a father for his son that he must offer up as a sacrifice. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursu...

In today’s episode, Gene asks the question: “What if we all decided today to live with less financial fear and more faith in God and His Word?  What if we decided to stop being obsessed with how I can get more and instead addressed a more important question:  Why do I have so much?” God promises to: “Throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enou...

A faith-filled follower of Jesus fully trusts God’s economic promises. Today, Gene challenges us to put the principles of sowing and reaping (tithing) to work in our personal finances and see what God does. 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 every...

The reason we have more is so we can be a blessing and give to others. But money fears escalate when faith in God dissipates. Gene reminds us today of the verse in 2 Corinthians 9:6, “Whoever sows seeds sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows seeds generously will also reap generously.”  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash comp...

Deep down most of us want to be generous, but the biggest obstacle is not greed but fear. We don’t trust in God to take care of us, so we hold on too tightly to what we have. Today Gene challenges us to consider the reason God has gifted us with so much.     Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by...

Today Gene discusses the subject of money and our fear regarding never having enough. Our financial fears reveal where we’ve put our hope and where we’ve put our faith. There are just two options: Either we’re going to put our hope in wealth/money or we’re going to put our hope in God. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounde...

2,000 years ago Paul instructed his protégé Timothy to “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God. (1 Timothy 6:17 NIV) Today Gene challenges us with the question: where is your hope? Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion....

In today’s episode, Gene talks about the importance of giving back to God what is already His. Here are the words of Jesus, “Give, and it will be given to you…a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap.” Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by East...

What do you think is the best way to live life? To live with a mindset that your bag is cursed with holes or, to live with the mindset that your basket is blessed by God.  Which mindset walks by faith?  Which one walks in fear? Which mindset will have God’s blessing? Which mindset does your Enemy, the Devil, want you to live with? Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, bu...

Rich people are plagued by discontentment. The more a person has, the more they want. Today Gene warns us: if God ever blesses you and if you ever get rich, your appetite for stuff is going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. 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’...

Today Gene asks the question, “What is rich?” Most wealthy people live in denial. They would say, “I’m not rich.” The truth is, If you make $45k total household income a year, YOU ARE IN THE TOP 1% of the wage earners in the world! 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 can set you free from a lifetime of sin. No matter what is in our past, grace is greater than our sin. In today’s episode Gene urges us to examine our hearts and say ‘Yes’ to God’s offer of free grace and the forgiveness of sin through faith in Jesus Christ. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture a...

When you say ‘yes’ to God’s offer of grace through Jesus, you get so much more that you don’t deserve. Gene reminds us that when we experience God’s amazing grace, we become His child - His workmanship. We become God’s friend. We are His masterpiece. Because of grace, we become God’s vessel shaped by His skilled hands for His purposes.   Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue...

Many of us think we have to earn God’s approval through our actions. But God wants us to know his grace, mercy, and forgiveness that is a free gift because of Jesus’ death. We don’t have to earn it or deserve it. 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...