Westside Church

The Gospel of John: Week 3 | Jesus is not half grace and half truth. He is fully grace and fully truth, which allowed him to completely see our sin and then sacrifice himself as a perfect atonement for it.

The Gospel of John: Week 2 | The Jesus who quietly and miraculously turned water into wine, refilling what had run dry, is the same Jesus who overturned tables at the temple, bolding disrupting a system that was denying people access to God. Jesus’ peace does not mean quiet – but it does mean wholeness, justice, and joy for those who take part in it.

The Gospel of John: Week 1 | The Apostle John’s account of the Gospel differs from Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s accounts in that John’s Gospel is a personal reflection on his experience of living and serving in Jesus’ presence. John writes earnestly that Jesus, who was the living, breathing Voice of God, is on humanity’s side.

Through the humility of Mary, the obedience of Joseph, the faith of Simeon, and the joy of Anna, we are reminded that the light of Jesus cannot be overcome. We are invited to believe – and expect – that God will move powerfully now, just like he did in the past.

Advent Week 4: LOVE | We are often told that we must always move up, be more, and fix ourselves. During the last week of Advent we look at LOVE, and how it tells us a different story. Instead of climbing higher, loves descends down into our wounds. Love is a person, and he chooses to be with us.

Advent Week 3: JOY | True joy isn’t something we achieve through success, circumstances, or possessions, but a gift produced by God’s nearness. We receive it when we make room for Him in our ordinary lives, which allows us to live in child-like wonder, even in times of sorrow.

Advent Week 2: PEACE | In the second week of Advent, we reflect on peace. Jesus is a peacemaker, and as Christians, or “little Christs,” we are called to make peace wherever we go as well. Peace is not something we get from people-pleasing, arguing, or avoiding conflict at all costs – it is something we learn from Jesus.

Advent Week 1: HOPE | The Advent season begins in a way we might not expect; it begins with longing, questions, and waiting. This hopeful posture of waiting is where God meets us – so bring your aches, longings, and questions to God, and let him form a sense of hope within you.

When it comes to thankfulness and gratitude, we can find ourselves in one of three positions: unthankfulness, reasonable thankfulness, or gospel gratitude. While thankfulness is a meaningful action, gratitude is a posture — a way of being — that we find when we trust that God perfectly loves us.

Vision Part 2 | This week we celebrated Global Sunday and looked back on how God has used Westside to reach people beyond our country’s boarders. As we prepare for the new year, we are reminded that God loves the entire world — not just our corner of it — and how we are called out of apathy and into Jesus’ Great Commission.

Vision Part 1 | Proverbs 29:18 reads, “Without vision, the people perish.” For two weeks, Senior Pastors Ben and Evan are expanding upon how Life, Love, Jesus does not serve as a catchy slogan for Westside Church, but as the foundation for the Jesus-centered community being formed here.

Sunday School Week 8 | Rahab’s story reveals that God’s grace reaches beyond labels, and that even the most unlikely people are welcomed into God’s Kingdom through simple faith. Through the redemptive grace that Jesus brings in the New Testament, all are invited to trade shameful labels and identities for new life in Christ.

Sunday School Week 7 | Joseph’s story shows us that God’s silence is not His absence. When we are deep in the pit, we can trust that God will turn what was meant for evil into good, just as He did through Joseph and ultimately through Jesus.

Sunday School Week 6 | Gideon’s story is one that shows us how God often calls insecure and unlikely people to lead—not because of strength they have built on their own, but because His presence alone qualifies them.

Sunday School Week 5 | Like the widow who faithfully collected empty jars to fill with oil in a time of desperation, we are invited to ask God for help in times of emptiness, disappointment, and waiting. God alone has the power to fill the spaces that we cannot.

Sunday School Week 4 | Jonah’s story shows us that God never gives up on us—even when we actively avoid Him. While Jonah ran from the Ninevites, hating them and believing them unworthy of God’s grace, God continued to pursue them despite Jonah’s greatest efforts.

Sunday School Week 3 | David’s courage to face Goliath came from years of quiet trust in God, not sudden, violent bravado. What might look weak—a sling with a few stones, a young boy tending sheep, or Jesus hung on the cross—is where God’s power and grace shows up.

Sunday School Week 2 | Courage does not always sound like the loudest voice in the room or look like the fiercest fighter. The story of Daniel teaches us that being courageous in a broken, anxious, and compromising world can – and should – look like going to God earnestly in prayer.

Sunday School Week 1 | How we read the Bible is just as important as if we read it at all. When reading stories like Noah’s Ark from the Old Testament, it is crucial that we look for Jesus in the worldly and divine violence of each setting—Jesus is our ark, and humanity is in desperate need of a Savior.

The Ten Commandments were not given as a list of rules to earn God’s love or avoid his anger, but as guidance for how people already freed by God’s grace can live in good relationship with Him and one another.

Good & Beautiful Week 6 | In looking for the purpose that God has in store for us, we often find ourselves wandering through the wilderness of life. We can step out of this wandering by staying open to God’s voice, actively participating in our own lives, and allowing God’s grace to saturate our shortcomings.

Good & Beautiful Week 5 | At the heart of transformation in Christ is practicing real love in community—not just symbolic gestures, but humbly serving and caring for people in their brokenness, just as Jesus washed His disciples’ dirty feet.