Pursuing God with Gene Appel

Are you ready to abandon it all for the sake of the call? It’s scary to go to new places in our prayer lives, but Gene reminds us in today’s episode that God is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine when we lay it all before Him. “God, Help us to be people who keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking.” Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build communi...

 “The most satisfaction I have is the sense that God is using me.” It’s an incredible thing that the God of the universe chooses to use us for His eternal plan. As you look toward the future, are you ready to live a life of purpose fully surrendered to His will? Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shape...

 “God, I don’t know what the future holds, but here I am…LEAD ME.” The only thing more dangerous than praying this prayer is allowing it to be absent from your prayer life. David prayed in Psalm 61:2, “From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community...

Is it time to pray a prayer that takes you out of your comfort zone? Being a fully devoted follower of Jesus isn’t about playing it safe or praying for an easy life. Psalm 66:10 says, “For you, Oh God, tested us, you refined us like silver.” Pray today that God uses the circumstances in your life to make you more like Him – “God, stretch me.” Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pu...

Is there a pattern you need to break free from in your life? Throughout the Bible, people are faced with patterns they need to overcome, and their healing all begins with the “Break Me” prayer. David says in Psalm 51:17, “It is a broken spirit you want–remorse and penitence. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not ignore.” Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God,...

The Bible contains dozens of dangerous prayers for devoted followers of Christ to apply in their own lives. In today’s episode, Gene encourages us to pray a prayer that says, “God, aim your searchlight into the inner recesses of my soul and expose whatever’s inside that ought not to be there – Search Me.” Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash...

How do you pray when you want something so badly you could scream? When life’s circumstances have you at a point of desperation where it feels like there’s no way out? Jesus modeled a method for praying at these pressure points in our lives when He came to His own in the Garden of Gethsemane. In Luke 22:42, Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but your...

 Is there something in you that is blocking the presence of God? When you have access to divine power, it’s easy to confuse “needs” with “wants.” Continuing to unpack the Lord’s Prayer as a guide for our prayer lives, Gene shares the next two components of God-honoring prayer. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scri...

Is there something in you that is blocking the presence of God? When you have access to divine power, it’s easy to confuse “needs” with “wants.” Continuing to unpack the Lord’s Prayer as a guide for our prayer lives, Gene shares the next two components of God-honoring prayer. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scrip...

How do you begin your prayer time? If we aren’t careful, our prayers become a heavenly wish list. Jesus understood how we were wired, so He gave us a model with the components of God-honoring prayer when He gave us the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6. 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...

 How do you pray in a God-honoring way and not for your own agenda? James 4:3 says, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives…” Looking back on your prayer life, can you recall any prayers that might fall into the category of “prayer abuse?”  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture a...

How you pray shows what you believe about God. Sometimes God changes circumstances through prayer, but comfort on earth isn’t the ultimate goal. With open hearts and hands, keep seeking Him first this week and pray a dangerous prayer that says, “Not my will, but yours be done.”  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Sc...

Why doesn’t God give us everything we pray for? We think receiving good gifts is getting whatever we want, but God’s good gifts are about transforming us to be like Christ. Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking – and pray today that you are receptive to God’s unfinished work in your heart.  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion....

What is a dangerous prayer that you can be praying this week? Jesus knew we couldn’t have transformation in our hearts and be the kind of people God wants us to be apart from persistently and passionately requesting it from God. Over these next 21 days, Gene encourages us to go deeper in our prayer lives and submit to God’s unfinished work in us. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help yo...

Is there a RISK that God is calling you to take a step of faith towards today? In today’s episode, Gene teaches from Acts 3, when God used ordinary people, on an ordinary day, for his EXTRAORDINARY purpose. 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 destination of our lives is the culmination of the decisions that we make.” In today’s episode, Eastside’s Anaheim Campus Pastor Jake Barker share a recap of this past weekend’s message from Jonah 1-2.  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...

When their backs are against the wall and they are being chased by Pharaoh, Moses guides the Israelites to abandon their instinctual response to fear. He says in Exodus 14:13, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.” Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture a...

It’s natural when your back’s against the wall to be afraid. “If you cave into fear, and sarcasm, and worst-case scenarios in those moments, where is that going to take you?  Isn’t there a better plan?  Isn’t there a way out?” 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’...

What is it we really hope to find when we search for God? Just like the Israelites who had been waiting for years to be delivered from their slavery and oppression, many times people search for God when they want a quick-fix or an instant remedy. In today’s episode, Gene encourages us to seek to simply know God. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and...

What is holding you back from letting go completely and allowing Jesus to full take control of your life? In today's episode, Eastside's teaching pastor Mike Breaux shares a recap of this past weekend's message on how to respond to Jesus’ invitation to follow Him.  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in S...

 "When am I ready to be baptized? And how much do I need to do, know or still learn?" In today's episode, Gene answers a few common questions about baptism and reminds us that Jesus defeated death on the cross so that we could be cleansed by His power and transformed by His grace. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassio...

If you’ve ever been caught in a rip tide, you know how terrifying it can be. In today's episode, Eastside's teaching pastor Mike Breaux shares a recap of this past weekend's message on how God resues us from the cultural rip tides we so easily get carried away in.    Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in...

 “As long as I look good on the OUTSIDE, the wound I carry on the INSIDE will stay concealed.” Moses compensated for his wound in multiple ways. And although he was one of the most influential human beings to live on earth, Gene reminds us in today’s episode that Moses had many of the same struggles that we have today. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build communit...

In what ways do you stay anchored so you can live life to the full? It’s easy to follow our heart’s desires but the Bible teaches us to live differently. In today's episode, Eastside's teaching pastor Mike Breaux shares a recap of this past weekend's message and encourages us to look to the Holy Spirit to guide our lives. Galatians 5:16 Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to he...

Sometimes when facing difficult circumstances we wonder if God is even aware of what we are going through. Hebrews 4:13 says, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.” In today’s episode, Gene reminds us that God is like a loving father who can’t take his eyes off his kids. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounde...