Public Church

Sometimes misunderstood Scripture leads us to disappointment. We may be disappointed with Jesus when we try to do all of the right things but our reality is much different than we had hoped for. We often dismiss the need to trust that God is working His best even when we don’t see it. What are the steps we can take to begin to trust in Jesus’ love? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

When it comes to generosity, there is a difference between admiration and application. We often hear stories of generosity that inspire us, but we walk away and do nothing. What is the disconnect between our desire to be generous and actually doing it? Through a scene in Jesus’ life, he reframes generosity to reveal our root issue. If we deal with the root issue, we will find that generosity is a key part of a love that people can’t shake. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

This series is dedicated to everyone who doesn’t follow Jesus or those who don’t really know where they stand with Jesus. Sadly, Jesus followers often make it too difficult for them to follow Jesus by our failure to love like Jesus. In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus teaches us about unaffected love, and he demonstrates it towards the author, Matthew, and us. If we don’t follow Jesus, will we stop trying to shake his love and embrace it? If we follow Jesus, will we begin to love like he has loved us? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

Some of us love change; others hate change. However, all of us like change that we view as beneficial, and change is inevitable for Jesus followers. Part of following Jesus is changing to become more like him, and Galatians 5:22-23 is a litmus test that indicates whether we are becoming more or less like Jesus. Will we apply the litmus test to measure our change? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

Research shows that anxiety and worry are on the rise in our culture, but we don’t have to live as captives to anxiety. Jesus gives Philippians 4:4-9 to us an anchor in the storm. Will we lean in to the solution he offers? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

In Matthew 11, Jesus calls everyone who labor and are heavy laden to follow Him and He will give them rest. Join us this week as we are challenged to trust Him with with what we don’t control. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

In our series finale, we discuss wonder, an emotion marked by admiration or awe, and we see how important it is. If we lose the wonder, we vacate the road to immeasurably more. Therefore, we look at a scene from Jesus’ life where some walked away and others decided to stay. Those who continued to follow him never lost their wonder, so we pray that we do the same well beyond this series. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

There is a danger to immeasurably more—that we go big and never come back to dig into the details. God’s pattern, throughout the Bible, shows that the road to Immeasurably More is paved by details. Are we willing to do some roadwork? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

We get distracted so easily, and we often dismiss our lack of focus as harmless. In reality, our tendency to get distracted is one of the reasons we are the problem with immeasurably more, and distractions are dangerous. They can lead us to mediocre, uninspiring lives or even wreck our lives. Nehemiah was a leader who displayed intense focus, and in Nehemiah 6, he shows us how to avoid the trap of distraction. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

God has immeasurably more planned for us, yet so often we get in our way. In Philippians 4:11-13, Paul gives us the secret to being content, to be unchanged by our circumstances. Through his words, we can stop wasting so much time trying to control what is “uncontrolable” and begin to get out of our own way. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

Have you ever felt disappointed by Jesus? Have you felt let down by him? To address our feelings, Jesus wants to lead us to a paradigm shift where we realize that following Jesus is more than a moment…it’s actually every moment. Ephesians 3:14-21 is a prayer of invasion, a prayer inviting Jesus to invade every moment of our lives. Will we be daring enough to pray this prayer? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

As we begin a new series, immeasurably more sounds incredible but unattainable. Romans 7:14-8:3, we discover the problem to immeasurably more and the solution. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

God promises a harvest. Have you stayed long enough to plant a seed? Maybe the problem is not with where you’re building - but how long you’ve been building. It’s time to build the boat. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

In this talk, we look at the first talk given at the first church in Acts 2:22-41. Peter confronts all who listen confronting them with their own sin. But, he then offers them the beautiful hope of redemption through Jesus. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

Waiting and joy don’t seem to go together because waiting prolongs everything, including our search for joy. However, Christmas is one big waiting game, and we are reminded that some things are worth the wait as we see the joy on people’s faces as they open gifts. As we discuss our main character, Simeon, we discover that he experienced joy in the waiting and determined that God is worth the wait. Could we also find some benefits to waiting through his story? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

In times of adversity we can still experience joy. Looking at the life of Joseph, who seemed to be surrounded by adversity and could have taken the easy way out, we see that joy comes from choosing obedience over logic. Our adversity gives us the opportunity to experience God’s healing in a way that we may not have been able to experience otherwise. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

Jesus’ birth was announced in Luke 2:10 as bringing great joy to all people, so why do we struggle with joy around Christmas? Why do we seem to be exempt from the “all people” who receive great joy? As we wrestle with how to find joy, we see a rhythm displayed by the shepherds and Mary that can help us find joy in Jesus’ presence. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

As we kick off the Christmas season, we read the Christmas story from Luke 2 with our children, which is so special and provides some laughs. For both our children and adults, we have a Jesus connection that ties in the whole Gathering and challenges our approach to the holidays. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

As we close our series, we discuss a statement made by Paul in Philippians 2:17 that many in his original audience would have to considered crazy. By examining Paul’s supreme value, we see that he isn’t crazy, but he is an example to learn from. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message

Remembering that we are people who serve people not a place, this 'Poured Out' series is a lifestyle marker for our gathering as we are reminded of WHO put this place together and WHY we are here. We will dig into Luke 9:10-17 as we look to Jesus as the example and source for what a poured out life looks like. To live a poured out life, we must place ourselves in position to be poured in and to be poured out. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apublicchurch/message