Westview Church Podcast

Dorothy Sayers once wrote about envy saying, " It begins by asking, plausibly, ‘Why should I not enjoy what others enjoy?’ and it ends by demanding, ‘Why should others enjoy what I may not?’” That's the discontented progression of this "respectable sin." Where do you look at others' rejoicing not to share in their rejoicing but with sinful longing? Listen to Pastor Brett's exhortation for more.

John Lennon's song "Imagine" begins "Imagine there's no heaven / It's easy if you try / No hell below us / Above us, only sky / Imagine all the people / Livin' for today." That worldview works ... until it doesn't. When suffering and hardship comes, how well will "livin' for today" work? We're pointed to something far better in 1 Peter 1:6-9 when we are grieved by various trials. Listen to Pastor...

When sinful anxiety takes hold of your thoughts and emotions, how do you respond? Continuing to mull over what it is that you are anxious about fails to take into account your inability to resolve the issue. Rather, we can pray and entrust those burdens to our Father in Heaven who has broad shoulders to bear them. Listen to Brian Wiseman's exhortation for more.

Pickles are preserved through canning as the flame heats the water to boiling and the jars are sealed in the water. We ought to take hope in the midst of exile knowing that just as we have been caused to be born again by God's great mercy, so he will keep us by that same mercy. He preserves us by guarding us with the flame of his power through the boiling water of our faith. You have faith in Chri...

"Doctrine" can sound academic, stuffy, unrelatable. But "doctrine" is just what the Bible teaches, and we should never settle for a shallow understanding of what God has revealed in the Bible. The Bible is academic and devotional, challenging and rewarding, transcendent and imminent. We should dig in to doctrine. Listen to Pastor Haakon's exhortation for more.

When you’re paddling in the front of the canoe and not responsible for navigation, you can feel like you’re expending a lot of energy to go somewhere but aimless in where you’re going. At the beginning of this new series in 1 Peter, we’re given orientation to where we’re going in the midst of our exile as Peter points to our hope in the Triune God. Listen to Pastor Brett’s sermon on 1 Peter 1:1-2...

The “honeymoon phase” of a new purchase, relationship, or experience can be an enjoyable time period, but it can also mask underlying issues. As a church, we’ve enjoyed wonderful unity in the midst of a very unified year in the world. But may such unity not merely be a phase but the Spirit’s work among as we press on toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Listen to...

A common theme in novels and movies is for the conflict to look the bleakest just before the final victory arrives. Those stories are written that way because that's how God writes the greatest story: the Son of God dies in apparent defeat just before being risen to ultimate victory. It is the same pattern as the final vision of Daniel is communicated. God's people have reason to hope in the face...

Do you use your Christian freedom more like a pass or a shovel? Do you view your freedom as the ticket that gives you the license to do something? Or do you view your freedom to do this or that as a Christian as a tool that will be constructive and build up? Listen to Pastor Haakon's exhortation for more.

Climb to the top of Yosemite Falls, all 2,500 feet of it, and you'll find at the top no guardrail or fence. Only the foolish walk up to the edge and peer over. But if there was a fence deeply anchored in the granite, that would change things. Daniel 11 reveals God's meticulous sovereignty over the future to be like a fence on a lofty overlook—it provides confidence where only fear and anxiety woul...

Who appreciates a the scent of a rotting fish or spoiled fruit? Why then would we speak words that do not give grace to those who hear us? Our speech can do so much good and so much harm. We ought to give more attention to what we say and what we choose not to say. Listen to Brian Wiseman's exhortation for more.

In our materialistic society, the mantra "science is real" lends to a worldview that says the supernatural is a fairy tale for children. But even a peacock or the human eye captures wonder that point beyond this world. And the struggle we are in with suffering and sorrow likewise extends beyond this world. There are unseen actors at work influencing the course of human history. Listen to Pastor Ha...

"Cancel culture" disciples us to play up any semblance of victimhood and glory in being offended. That is not the way of following Christ in all of life. Christian, we ought to entrust ourselves to a faithful Creator when we suffer according to God's will and glory in overlooking offense. Listen to Pastor Zach's exhortation for more.

Much attention in Daniel 9 is given to the last four verses, however when we look at the chapter in full, we see more of God's purpose in revealing a mysterious vision about 70 "weeks." God answered a prayer about a promise of 70 years, and he was going to do far more than one prophet could ask or imagine in fulfilling that promise. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Daniel 9 for more.

In the midst of a month dedicated by our culture to celebrating sin and rebellion, the temptation might not be to cave and go with the flow. Rather, we may be inclined to apologize for God's Word and standard for human sexuality. We ought instead to love the standard, and love what God has created. Listen to Pastor Haakon's exhortation for more.

When you've got sinus pressure that last a few days, it feels like it never end. How much more so when walking through far greater suffering? Daniel 8 was revealed and written for your encouragement. God knows the future, reveals it as he wills, and sets the limits and parameters of the suffering his people will experience. Take hope; your suffering is not boundless and unending. Listen to Pastor...

"Home is where the heart is" yet Jesus says our heart is where our treasure is. "Home" can so easily become our greatest treasure. Even as we seek a "home" as a church, we must be watchful to not let a place take prominence. After all, it is not the things in the presence of the Lord that provides the fullness of joy, rather we are made full of gladness with his presence. Listen to Pastor Brett's...

The last half of Daniel is pretty weird—let's be honest. But this type of writing, "apocalyptic," is intended to encourage us to persevere in the midst of suffering and sin in this world by seeing that God reigns over all and will be victorious. Yet as we come to the end of Daniel 7, we see that such a grand vision does not instantly change our circumstances, and we lament. Listen to Pastor Brett'...

As we pray for God to call new disciples to himself—the great task he has commissioned us for (Matthew 28:18-20)—we too often can go about it as though such a work is entirely dependent on us. Such a work is not dependent on cleverly devised myths or words of eloquent wisdom or lofty speech and wisdom. Rather, it is depend on God, so we pray. Listen to Pastor Haakon's exhortation for more.

Of the currently top 150 worship songs played in churches in the U.S., zero are songs of lament. Contrast that with a third of the Psalms. Lament is a necessary practice in following Christ because we live in a sinful and broken world, and expressing our sorrow to God is the right way of handling such difficulties. Listen to Max Kozak, pastoral resident at Cities Church, expound on Psalm 43 to hel...

The weightlifter who actually holds up the full weight is the one who feels the pressure of the weight, not the one who attempts it but fails. When we pray, "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil," we have a hope that we will bear up under the weight of trials, temptations, and the ways of the Evil One because we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. Listen to Pastor Brett's exhortation...

Ships used to attempt to sink a submarine by dropping an explosive called a "depth charge." It wasn't just a device dropped in the ocean at random but deployed with a purpose. Daniel—and all the elect exiles—are "depth charges" not just waiting in exile but sent there for the glory of God. And such deployment may require disobeying the government. Listen to Pastor Zach's sermon on Daniel 6 for mor...

Whether sins or debts, Christians ought to be ready to forgive because of how much we have been forgiven in Christ. We've breathed in deeply of the grace of God and need not hold that breath in. As we continue in our prayer focus, listen to Pastor Haakon's exhortation that we would be increasingly shaped by the gospel.

A day is coming when the Lord will require of us our soul; he will hold us to account for our actions. We can go on for some time thinking we are perfectly free to do as we will—we can enrich ourselves or seem to have great power over our lives—yet God will see to it that it is plain that he holds our breath in his hand. God is meticulously sovereign over all things. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermo...

Asking for "daily bread" can get turned to presuming to know what it is that we need rather than a request for God to provide the sufficient and necessary grace for today. In God's providential wisdom, there may be good cause for him to give a stone when we ask for bread or a snake when we ask for fish. Listen to Pastor Brett's exhortation for more.