Wasatch Christian church podcast

Cultural change always begins with yourself….unless you or I change as Christians, we will never impact the cultural chaos.  Instead of adjusting the bible to our lives, we must adjust our lives to the bible.  When we do that, God works in and through us to impact our society.  Because when we live as God has called us to live, we stand out.  To deal with change in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul encourages Timothy to be very selective about the church leaders, to not just fill as position because its vacant, but to train and wait for the correct person.  Why?  Because the “right people” internally in the church will help self govern the fellowship of believers and keep false doctrines and unbiblical beliefs out.  We can learn much from Paul's instruction in our own church or even our own family.

The society that the young Pastor Timothy served in was insanely secular.  Therefore the Apostle Paul writes to him and urges him to live counter culture, to look and live different than those all around him.  Paul also encourages Timothy to teach the faithful how they should also live to glory God…..and that way of living is publicly, faithfully, in love, and with all humility.  Join us as we allow Paul's letter to the young pastor impact our lives for the glory of God as well.

Timothy was a young and timid pastor with a ministry in a very secular metropolitan area.  The Apostle Pauls encourages him to stand firm in his faith and to confront sin……but to confront it in love…….not like others confront sin.  Paul encourages the young pastor to put himself in the lives of those that he is ministering to in order to understand them better, to be able to love them as Jesus loves them, and to share the gospel truth with them to change their lives.  We have so much to learn from this small letter

Unity.  The bible talks about it all the time concerning God's people.  So, what is the problem, why are we not unified as one single church under Jesus. Simple…..people.  People, even with good intentions and being very sincere…..still struggle with sin's, opinions, and prejudice.  So we have the 1st church of this, the 2nd church of this, the real church of this, and so on because opinions happen and instead of unifying to glorify God, churches split.  Fortunately there is still hope in Jesus for us forgiven sinners.  We must not only have salvation, we must humble ourselves before God and put aside all those things that divide us.  In Jesus is resurrecting hope for true unity.

When it comes to suffering, God is not getting back at us…..rather, He's getting us back to Him.  This morning, we look at Resurrection Hope in times of grief, times of loss.  Mary, Martha, and Lazarus give us a very clear picture of what grief and loss looks like.  Jesus, on the other hand, gives us a very clear picture on what God's will and hope looks like.  Join us and be encouraged.

Disappointment is a terrible thing, especially when we are the one to cause disappointment. Today we look at a man who painfully disappointed Jesus in Jesus' time of emotional need. He was in the worst and last days of His life and Peter betrays Jesus. Peter carries the emotional scar of his actions and goes back to his old ways of living….that is….until Jesus meets him where he is at and restores him. If you are in need of forgiveness from the painful scars of disappointment, join us today as we receive forgiveness and grace.

The message of Resurrection Sunday/Easter is hope.  But as we read the story in the gospels, its amazing how easily hope can turn to despair…..even when the answer to everything is right in front of you.  We just don't see the answer because we are looking down.  Today, we see how God meets us in our times of despair…..not just at Easter…..but all the time.  We are never alone, He is always with us, and Jesus brings us hope.

The bible tells us that if we keep our lives only for us, and reject God, in the end, we will lose the very thing we tried to save.  In contrast, the bible also tells us that if we “lose ourselves in God”, in the end we are given the very life that we hoped for.  In this Palm Sunday message, we look at the cost of the cross.  Today we are not looking at the cost to Jesus, even though it was tremendous.  Today we are looking at the cost to us….as Christians….as disciples of Jesus.  The cost to us costs everything….but with that sacrifice of ourselves for Jesus….the end result is that we get it all back and more.  Don't make the mistake of living only for yourself, invest yourself in Jesus and see how much you can gain.

Jesus is often seen as “meek and mild” as He spoke His words of love, grace, and salvation to the world.  But Jesus is also a “disruptor” as he confronts sin and religion….whether it was at the time He ministered with the merchandisers at the synagogue…..or today when He disrupts our lives to draw us closer to Him.  He confronts and disrupts the things in our life that keep us from a deeper relationship with Him.  And this is all done in love.  We want to understand the importance of these God-disruptions in our lives.

What is something that we all have in common, but we also can't stand?  Prejudice.  In our message today we look at the damage that personal bias does and how we are called to be more Christlike and to see others in the same way that Jesus sees them.  He was crucified, died, and rose from the grave for both people like us……and for all other people.  We need to learn to mature in Christ and tear down the wall of prejudice in order to share the gospel.  Let us live lives that truly glorify Jesus.

Lethal injection by religion.  Religion vs a relationship with Jesus is one of the most damaging deceptions that keeps people from living in freedom in salvation in Jesus Christ.  Its subtle and easy to buy into.  We can slide into religious thinking so easily because its so well accepted…..but its deadly.  In the message today we look at how Jesus approached religion and why it is important to be aware of its deception and to stay away from it at all cost as well as helping others out of its shackles.

When the devils temptations and subtle tactics don't work, he turns to a more frontal assault.  The good news is that Peter and Paul give us direction on how to overcome the attacks through Jesus.  No one is immune from struggles or pain, but we do have a choice in how we respond to the struggles and pain.  We can allow them to beat us or divide us…..or, as the bible states, we can overwhelmingly conquer them.  We need to remember that often in our worst times of struggle, God does His best work.

The spiritual battle rages on all around us and sometimes it is so subtle that we both carry it on for generations and propagate the deception ourselves.  As we continue our study of this spiritual battle, we look at the deception today of traditions and of keeping thee status quo.  Its as real today as it was in the time of Christ.  The problem is, tradition and keeping the status quo often keeps us from a real, thriving, dynamic relationship with Jesus.  We need to be aware of the deception and we need to be “in” and “live out” the Word of God in the bible.

There is a diabolical battle that is going on for our world that is completely unseen.  It's a spiritual battle that is going on all around us.  John 10:10 tells us about this battle. The apostles Peter and Paul warn us about this battle.  And Ephesians 6 instructs us to attire ourselves in spiritual armor.  As Christians, we need to be aware of this spiritual battle and how the devil tries to distract us from fighting it.  Join us in our new series as we become aware of the spiritual battle and how to fight it.

The story of Nehemiah is an amazing one as we look at the highlights today.  This man was called by God to rebuild; to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem that stood as a symbol of God's protection and provision.  The people had neglected it and allowed it ruin to continue is to get worse.  No action, until Nehemiah, was made by the people to rebuild the wall.  It was a symbol of their relationship with God. Second, Nehemiah was to call the people to a spiritual rebirth from the complacency of their lives.  In that, God had done His part, now it was time for the people to do their part, to take action. In the end, the wall is rebuilt, sadly the people choose to stay in spiritual complacency, but Nehemiah's life is change.  This book is a challenging book to us that also calls us to get out of our complacency and to do something about our spiritual lives and our relationship with God.

Service.  It's a foundational part of the Christian life and runs completely counter-culture to our American lifestyle.  Even in the church, service is often overlooked. Why?  Often because we believe that we've earned the money and resources that we have and that many don't deserve what we might give them.  Today we look at both the biblical importance of serving and the motivation as to why we should serve. Its Christlike and it's a proof of our salvation.  Join us today as we get “kingdom minded.”

Confession is one of the foundations of the Christian faith.  Through confession to Jesus, we come to salvation.   In continued confession to Jesus, we grow in our spiritual maturity.  Although confession is not practiced often, it is something that we need to make a daily part of our relationship with God.  For hidden sin makes us run from God expecting condemnation.  God forgives our sins and want us to have freedom in life and freedom in our relationship with Him.

“Back to the basics” is our theme in January as we turn our attention to the foundations of the Christian faith.  We want to have those “basic” so involved in our daily lives that it bothers us when they are not there.  This week we look at the importance of daily spending time with God in the bible.  Ironically, most people know the bible is important, but most people also don't make time to invest the bible in their lives.  The hope for todays message is to change that irony that we know intellectually the importance of the bible, but we also change our ways to make time for the bible in our daily lives.  Join us as we hear God's voice through His word….in the bible.

Starting the new year is like starting on a long hike in the mountains.  Its important to know that you are starting at the correct trailhead, because if you don't, you won't make it to your destination and you'll be lost.  As we seek to know God's plans for us this new year, we want to go “back to the basics” of the Christian life.  We want to make sure that we are founded and grounded in the elementary things of being a Christian, so that as we mature, we do not get off track.  And the bible tells us to build our lives on the solid foundation of God, not on the emotional shifting sands of feelings. Today we remember the importance of prayer in the daily life of the follower of God.  Join us and set this year on the right path from the very beginning.

Christmas is more than just the birth of our Savior, it is Gods saving an unfaithful people and the fulfilment of God's promises.  We often make promises and break them, but God never does.  Join us as we celebrate all that God had done for us in the gift of Hi Son. Merry CHRISTmas everyone!

Love.  It is the most powerful thing.  And when God ushered love into a tired and weary world with the birth of Jesus, not only did it change history, it changed our lives.  The love of God is a radical, unfair thing.  And yet, God first loved us so that we could love others.  Join us this morning as we consider Godly love, and the gift that it is, over what the world calls love.

Todays Advent theme is joy.  Not joy as the world offers, but Joy as only Jesus offers, it's a different joy, a real joy.  But what if I've been a Christian or in church for a long time and don't sense this joy.  Well, great news for you as we address this question also.  The joy of Jesus is always there and readily available.  Often times, we need to adjust ourselves before God to experience it.  Join us as we share the true joy of the CHRISTmas season!

As we celebrate the second Sunday of Advent, we focus on peace.  The birth of Jesus ushered in peace to our world, but not as the world defines peace.  Since the birth of Jesus there have been wars, bloodshed, tyranny, and the such.  So, what is this peace the bible speaks of?  Well, it's a spiritual peace that happens in salvation.  The peace that Jesus brought was one of our reconciliation with God.  We have peace in knowing that we are no longer enemies of God, but now have a right relationship with Him.  Join us as we reevaluate our understanding

We enter the season of Advent as we focus on hope.  Hope for a weary world, hope for weary people, we all need hope.  The prophet Isaiah prophesied of a coming messiah which gave the Jews hope.  That prophecy and hope was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus.  We celebrate that and the second coming of Jesus which gives Christians even more hope.  Therefore, let us not just have hope. In salvation in Jesus, let us BE the hope for those who need it.

Our final message in our series on overcoming struggles.  Today we take a more introspective view on overcoming the things that challenge us in the context of our faith.  Reality is, either we are a slave to the things that overcome us…..or we make those things a slave to our will.  And it is fear or control issues that often keep us from overcoming our issues.  Join us as we see the power of salvation and God's word and how the transforming power of Jesus is so essential to all that we do.

Often times the bible hits us right where we live.  And it seems confrontive, but it is actually all in love to grow us from spiritual infancy to maturity.  To change our mindset.  To make us more Christlike and enable us to have those things the bible talks about; courage, contentment, and abundant life.  In our series about facing the issues that hold us back, we look at two issues that are very real in the American church; issues of dealing with our ego and our physical health.  In salvation, we are called to die to ourselves, but sometimes our old sinful ego rears its ugly head, and it breaks relationships and keeps us from growing spiritually.  Fortunately, the bible gives us a remedy for our ego.  In the same fashion, the bible speaks to how we treat our physical bodies as they are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Some of our temples are in need of drastic repair!  Join us today as we look at God's word, and spiritual wisdom to overcome the issues in life that hold us back.  Let us overcome and learn to be truly free in Jesus!

Today we pause in our current series to be reminded of and pray for the persecuted church across the world. As Americans, we really do not understand what it is to go through real persecution, especially for our faith.  And to realize that it is not just missionaries or adults that go through the persecution, but often young children that choose to live for Jesus and come under immense pressure for their choice.  Join us today as we take the focus off of us, and we look to intercede for those around the world that pay a huge price for their salvation.

We continue in our series of facing the issues in our lives.  Todays topics focus on not learning from the issues in our lives and not controlling our thought life.  These are internal issues, but they manifest themselves in our lives in fear, doubt, anger, loneliness, and disabling ourselves.  They cause us to make bad relationship choices or to distance ourselves from others.  Things God never intended for us to do.  Join us today as we look at the biblical approach to overcoming these issues and truly living a joyful-free life.

Faith can be messy as God calls us to transform and conform to His likeness.  We face struggles, and yet in spite of how we feel, God calls us overcomers.  This morning we look at 2 more of the top 10 issues are that we deal with; our view on finances and our comparing ourselves with others.  Join us as we lean into God's work and learn together how to overcome the issues that face us.

We often struggle with fear, doubt, relational wounds, or living in the past.  But that is not where God would have us to live. Biblically, there is a very different picture of the Christian life.  So why do we not experience the abundance and joy?  Reality is, because we will not face our issues or the things that haunt us.  This new series encourages us and gives us simple steps to overcome these negative things.  Join us as we apply biblical principles to live the abundant life.

Nobody loves to wait.  In our instant gratification society waiting is a challenge for us.  But for Christians, one of the ways that God tests our faith is through delays and making us wait.  Why?  So, we can depend upon Him.  But waiting is risky because when we wait on God, we have to give up our control of the situation.  We don't get the answers we want.  And we have to be okay with that.  Join us as we look at how God matures us by teaching us faith in times of waiting.

The bible speaks to us tremendously about money.  Jesus also had a lot to say about money.  Why?  Because how we handle money has a direct correlation to the maturity…..or lack of maturity….in our spiritual life.  There is nothing wrong with having money, or even being rich, that is not the issue.  The issue centers around how we deal with money and what drives our decisions concerning what we do with our money.  Money is probably one of the easiest things to become an idol in our lives…..and that's why Jesus and the bible speak so much about the issue.  Fact is….God tests us in our attitudes towards money.  As Christians, we need to understand what God expects us to do with our finances in order to glorify Him and grow in spiritual maturity.

God testing our faith is a good thing as it is always for our good.  We fear tests, we get anxious about tests, we don't like tests.  But when God tests our faith through demands, His goal is for us to grow in Godliness.  What we need to do is to change our perspective on the testing's that God gives us.  When God tests us with demands, the first thing we need to do is ask ourselves a question…..”who do I trust more?”  Meaning God or myself.  Join us as we dive into changing our perspective on life to see things the way God sees them.

God tests our faith through difficulties.  Our challenge is to see these events as God sees them, and not from our typical worldly point of view.  God tests us to grow us, and as the bible states; to grow us in perseverance, endurance, perfection, maturity, and completeness.  Its all about doing things Gods way in faith, once we learn to see things in God's way in faith.  Join us today as we learn to have a biblical perspective on the trials and struggles that we grow through.  It's all good in God!!!

Nobody likes tests, but the reality for Christians is that God does test our faith, and it is for our good.  We begin a new series this morning on 4 ways that God tests our faith.  Today we look at the reason “why?” God would test our faith and its for our good.  It time, as Christians, to take on a biblical view of tests, trials, tribulations, and temptations.  Grab your bible and walk though it with us as we learn why God's tests are for our good.  Its life changing!

When Christians ‘collide' with the worldly culture it should not be a surprise and it is not a bad thing.  It actually shows us that we are living our faith. Anytime a single match is lit in a dark room….the shadows run.  And the more light in the room, the less darkness there is.  The bible tells Christians that they are a light in a darkened sin filled world…..so the two cannot mix.  But the most important thing to remember about ‘colliding' with our culture is this….we must do all things in the love of Jesus.  We must see others through His loving eyes, we must serve others through His love, and we must minister to others through His love.  Our lives are to be solely about the love of God.  Therefore, with each momentary decision, we must ask ourselves, “Is this action for God…..or against God.”

The truth of Jesus and His gospel message collide with the so-called ‘truths' of our world and the culture.  That is why it is so important to hold tightly to the real truth of Jesus.  Our culture will try to temp us to believe in false truths, worry over unrealistic fears, and water down our faith….and if we are not careful, we can end up like many Christians who no longer have a fervor for our relationship with Jesus, the church, or the truth.  Fortunately, it is not too late to turn back to Jesus and ground ourselves on His truth.

When we live for Jesus, we collide with the culture of our world.  But that is not a bad thing, it shows that we are truly living for Christ….as the Apostle Paul stated, we are to fight the “good fight.”  Last week, in our series, we looked at standing firm for Jesus.  This week we look at being transformed in Jesus after salvation.  We can't just “stop” doing bad things, we must also “start” doing good things.  Join in listening, applying, and living out the transforming message of the gospel!

Since the beginning, the Christian faith has been on a collision course with the culture that it exists within. The values of the world do not align with the values of the Faith. The priorities of the world do not align with the priorities of the Faith.  We Collide!

Three encouragements from Jesus' sermon on the mount to overcome loneliness.  The problem is, they are not our first thought or reaction when it comes to overcoming the attitude of loneliness.  They are also counter culture.  But these three remedies, when done consecutively, will help us to change our attitude from loneliness to joy……and therefore…...the effort is completely worth it!

Step two in getting over loneliness.  Loneliness is not a bad thing, in fact it is an alarm going off telling us something is wrong and we need to deal with the issue.  Most importantly, we need to deal with loneliness God's way.  That is what makes all the difference.  We can put a “band aid” on loneliness by filling our lives with things and other people, but that never fixes the problem.  Join us today as we see how God calls us to deal with loneliness once and for all.

Loneliness has been called, “the malady of our age” and “the leprosy of the West”.  Loneliness is a massive issue, especially since the isolation times from Covid.  The reality is that God created us to be in relationships, healthy relationships with Him and others.  But if we struggle with the attitude of loneliness, none of our relationships are healthy…..and neither are we.  Thank God, the bible gives us direction on overcoming loneliness in our own lives.  Today we look at 1 of 3 biblical exhortations on overcoming loneliness.  Remember, Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted!

Judas Iscariot left his mark on history for all to know about.  1 man, 1 decision, 1 lasting consequence that is still well known by both saints and sinners.  So, what is the lesson of why this man is still written about in the bible?  Is there any life application for us from his life?  And why would Jesus call this man to be an apostle anyway?  Today we answer all these question and seek to align ourselves with the will of God.

The 11th apostle called by Jesus, Judas the Son of James was a man that seemed to live in obscurity.  Very little is sated about him in the bible and even church history.  And yet, this man serves as a tremendous example for Christians to aspire to.  Just because there is not much stated or known about this man does not mean that he was insignificant or hand no impact upon our world as an apostle.  Join us today as we dive into the life, character, and faith of this man as he compels us to grow in our likeness and relationship with Jesus.

Have you ever met someone so obstinate that they just drove you crazy?  Someone so single minded and strong willed that you wondered if God could even change them?  Well, introducing Simon the Zealot, one of the last of the apostles.  Zealously can be a good thing if going in the correct direction, but if zealous with the right intentions and wrong actions, a little misguided perhaps, it can be a very destructive thing.  See how Jesus takes this zealot of a man and transforms him into an amazing evangelist.  See how Jesus “tames the wild beast” of a man and how He can change us also.  No one is beyond God's reach or transforming power.

Today we visit the 9th apostle called by Jesus, James the son of Alphaeus.  His place in the apostolic team is very interesting.  In a world of entitlement, self-promotion, self-expression, and the need to be notices.  This apostle challenges how we choose to honor Jesus by serving Him by serving others.  His story is so refreshing and we can all learn a lot from who he was and how he served.  Join us as we look at this man's amazing ministry.

We all know about this apostle, the one we are studying today…..Thomas.  But we know him as who?  Yes, doubting Thomas.  This apostle has had to live with this for some 2000 years, but there was more to Thomas than just doubt.  He had his great moments of faith as we will look at today.  But even more impacting, is why would Jesus choose a doubter to be one of His apostles?  We will answer this crazy question today.  Join us as we learn from the apostle Thomas.

Matthew, or Levi, is the seventh apostle listed as being called by Jesus.  The life that he allowed others to see was one thing, but the inner reality of Matthews heart was another thing.  We are often like Matthew, looking one way to everyone around us, but feeling something very different on the inside.  The inside is the part that Jesus sees and speaks to.  Join us as we look at the amazing transformation that Matthew went through when he met and followed Jesus.  This is encouraging because Jesus can do the same transformation in our lives as well.

This morning we look at the sixth apostle, Nathaniel.  Nathaniel was seeking God with all his heart, but he still had an issue.  He was subject to prejudice.  Prejudice blinds men's eyes from the truth because it's rooted in feeling not fact, in opinion not reality.  We too can struggle with prejudice.  But how to we deal with this subjective issue in our life?  Join us as we look at the life change in Nathaniel as he meets Jesus.

Phillip.  The fifth of the twelve apostles.  Prayed over by Jesus, chosen by Jesus.   Mentored by Jesus.  But…..to much a “seeing is believing” guy.  Phillip struggled with only seeing what was in front of him and was quick to point out the problems.  It took him quite a while to learn to be a man of faith.  Gracefully, Jesus was patient with him.  This is good news for us because we too struggle with truly trusting God in all situations, we often see the overwhelming impossibility and problem.  Join us as we learn from Phillips life and make ourselves available for God to change us!

We dive into the life transformation this morning of the fourth apostle called by Jesus, and that is John.  John not only wrote several books of the New Testament, but he also allowed Jesus to transform his life from a “Son of Thunder” to and man of truth and love.   John's transformation is encouraging to us, because if Jesus can bring forth that much change in John, then Jesus can do the same in us.  Jesus can take what little we have to offer, and make us great for His glory.  Join us as we see John's transformation from a narrowminded ambitious man to a servant of God.