The Well - Abundant Life Church

In this episode of The Well podcast, Pastor Phil and host Les Norman kick off season 3 by discussing how to discern God's call and live the abundant life He offers. Discerning God’s call doesn’t mean waiting for a burning bush! Sometimes people are waiting for an unmistakable epiphany from Him, but that’s not the reality of how God leads most of the time. The voice of God is found in the Word of G...

In this episode of The Well podcast, Pastor Phil, Pastor Chad, and host Les Norman talk about how the five women in Jesus’ genealogy give the story behind the story and the reason for Christmas. The virgin birth is an essential element of our salvation. Only a virgin-born Savior could be sinless and bear the penalty of our sin. Why was the virgin birth essential? Because only the death of an innoc...

In this episode of The Well podcast, Pastor Phil, Pastor Nick, and host Les Norman talk about how our hope is found in Jesus. The Hebrews would have been intimately familiar with the story of David and Bathsheba. This story would have grieved Matthew’s audience as they recounted a sad, tragic memory in Israel's history. David acknowledged his sin before the Lord when the Prophet Nathan called him...

In this episode of The Well podcast, Pastor Phil and host Les Norman are joined by Olivia Poettgen, the content writer at Abundant Life. They talk about the story of Ruth and how God is in the details of our story and redeems our grief and suffering. In the Book of Ruth, a miracle was in the making. But sometimes miracles happen so slowly and subtly that you can’t see them. The miracle in this boo...

In this episode of The Well podcast, Pastor Phil and host Les Norman talk about God’s forgiveness and Rahab’s faith in Joshua 2. Rahab was a pagan Canaanite prostitute living in Jericho. God had promised that city to the Israelites, but because they were fearful and lacked faith, they wandered in the wilderness outside Jericho for 40 years. While the Israelites lived in fear of the Canaanites, the...

In this episode of The Well podcast, Pastor Toshaun and Pastor Nick are back with Pastor Chad to talk about God’s redemptive plan for man. God’s plan to redeem and restore us to a relationship with Him is clearly illustrated through the five women Jesus’ genealogy. We often think that God uses clean, moral people to accomplish His purposes, but that is not the case. The Bible is full of stories wh...

In this episode of The Well podcast, Pastor Chad is joined by Pastor Toshaun and Pastor Nick. The pastors share how they were called into ministry and how to discover God’s call for our lives. As a believer, your primary call is to intimacy with God, not ministry. If you are trying to discern God’s call for your life, you need to draw near to Him and go where He’s leading you. Ultimately, God is c...

In this episode of The Well Podcast, Pastor Chad and host Les Norman talk about the rewards of saying yes to God. Pastor Chad and Les are joined by Pastor Bill and Jeremy, who are on staff with the Live Sent ministry at Abundant Life. They share an update on how many kids were sponsored during Compassion Sunday and their vision for sponsoring 1,200 kids in Tanzania. Pastor Bill reminds listeners t...

In this episode of The Well podcast, Pastor Phil, Pastor Chad, and host Les Norman discuss living out the gospel through Abundant Life’s partnership with Compassion International and the church plants in Peru. Compassion deeply cares about people's physical and spiritual needs and is focused on releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name. Pastor Phil shares some stories from his recent trip to...

In this episode of The Well podcast, Pastor Phil, Pastor Chad, and host Les Norman discuss some of the threats to our freedom as Christians and American citizens. In a time of high emotions, we must think biblically, not politically. Religion shapes culture, and culture shapes laws. Godly people in power bring godly outcomes. But when godly people do not influence the institutions that shape our c...

In this episode of The Well Podcast, Pastor Chad and host Les Norman talk about raising children to have a biblical worldview. It is a parent’s responsibility to raise their kids and teach them a biblical worldview. You never finish educating your kids. You need to be committed to raising them up to know God’s ways, His voice, and His word so they can develop a biblical worldview. Chad shares some...

God instituted civil authority for the peace and prosperity of society, apart from which there would be anarchy. We are called to obey governing authorities (Romans 13:1-4), but God is our ultimate authority. God’s primary purpose for human government is to protect its citizens from violent offenders. The biblical responsibility of government is to maintain order and peace in society. Paul wrote R...

In this episode of The Well Podcast, Pastor Phil, Pastor Chad, and host Les Norman discuss the next figure on the National Monument to the Forefathers: Morality. Morally, our society reflects the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the church reflects the life of Lot in Genesis 19. Lot knew God, but he fully embraced Sodom’s immoral culture. Romans 3:23 tells us that the wages of sin is deat...

In this episode of The Well Podcast, Pastor Phil, Pastor Chad, and Les Norman talk about the new sermon series, Hope for Us. Even though we live in a deeply divided world and people feel hopeless, there is hope for us in the gospel! Romans 1 gives us the four steps to abandoning faith in God: Truth suppression. God’s demotion. Man’s promotion. Moral destruction. Many people fool themselves into th...

In this episode of The Well Podcast, Pastor Chad, Pastor Kyle, and Pastor Jonathan take a deep dive into the practical applications of Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13 offers a long list of ways believers can take their next step to look more like Jesus. The pastors talk about how to live these out and answer the question, “What does the Bible say about hospitality?” Hebrews 13:1-3 calls believers to be hos...

In this episode of The Well Podcast, Pastor Phil, Pastor Chad, and host Les Norman talk about the symbolism of Mount Zion and Mount Sinai in Hebrews 12. Mount Sinai is an example of religion. It’s all about your efforts to reach God. God’s standard is perfection, but we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). It’s impossible for you to bridge the chasm between your sin...

In this episode of The Well Podcast, Pastor Kyle, Pastor Toshaun, and host Les Norman unpack Hebrews 12:12-17 and how believers should apply it to their lives. Hebrews 12:14-17 makes us hold up a mirror and do some self-introspection. We all have areas of our lives where we need to lighten the load. Unnecessary weight slows us down and keeps us from fulfilling the call God has placed on our lives....

In this episode of The Well podcast, Pastor Phil, Pastor Chad, and Bart Cox continue their conversation about running with endurance. They talk about the idea of “laying aside every weight” that the author presents in Hebrews 12:1. You cannot run with endurance if you’re not working to endure things. You have to train to prepare. Part of that training included taking any unnecessary weight out of...

In this episode of The Well, Pastor Phil and Pastor Chad are joined by Bart Cox, the Senior Executive Pastor at Abundant Life. Pastor Phil and Bart just got back from a hiking trip in the backcountry of Glacier National Park, and they’ve got lots of stories to share! Bart shares a story about the biking accident that led to his joining the Abundant Life staff and the history of his friendship with...

In this episode of The Well Podcast, Pastor Chad and Les Norman are joined by Kyle Worsham, the Online Pastor at Abundant Life. Kyle shares the heart behind the church house movement and how we can live sent in our communities. Living sent doesn’t require training or a program. There are lost people all around us. All you need is your story and a willing heart to be used by God. Our obedience, as...

In this episode of The Well Podcast, Pastor Phil, Pastor Chad, and host Les Norman recap what God did at Revival Weekend. They also talk about the examples of Moses, Abraham, and Sarah and what they teach us about obedience by faith. Abraham, Sarah, and Moses obeyed God by faith. They did not know where He was taking them or when they would see the fulfillment of His promises, but they obeyed by f...

In this episode of The Well podcast, Pastor Phil, Pastor Chad, and host Les Norman talk about how to live by faith during the last days. Hebrews 11:5-7 recounts the faith of Enoch and Noah. Enoch set an example for how we should walk with God in the last days, and Noah showed us what it looks like to work for God. If you want to see God move in your life, you must put your faith into action. Faith...

In this episode of The Well podcast, Pastor Toshaun and Pastor Nick join host Les Norman to talk about the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11. Faith is not a feeling; it’s more than an emotion. Your emotions aren’t meant to govern you but to guide you. Many people lead a feelings-based life, but that isn’t the type of life God wants us to live. In Christ, our feelings are transformed into righteous...

In this episode of The Well podcast, Pastor Chad and Pastor Kyle discuss how to grow in your faith and provide practical tools for reading the Bible, praying, and finding community. Hebrews 10:22-25 calls Christians to do 3 things to continue growing in their faith: Draw near to God. Hold fast to the confession of hope without wavering. Consider one another. Knowing how to grow in your faith and d...

In this episode of The Well podcast, Pastor Phil and host Les Norman talk about overcoming temptation. We will struggle with sin and temptation, even as born-again believers. The question is, when your flesh cries out for you to give it something that does not honor God, what will you believe? When you struggle with temptation, you must believe that what God says is true, no matter what you see. G...