Podcasts about pastor sean

Matthew 18:23-35 | You Can't Keep Holding This — What They Did Was Wrong… But Don't Let It Own YOUSomeone wronged YOU, and YOU have been carrying it ever since.Let's be honest first: what they did was wrong. This is not a message that pretends the offense was small or that YOU should just act like it never happened. The debt was real. The hurt was real. But there is a question this passage forces YOU to face — not whether they were wrong, but what holding onto it is doing to YOU. Because Matthew 18 reveals that unforgiveness does not punish the person who hurt YOU. It quietly imprisons the person carrying it.There is a parable here about a man who was forgiven an impossible debt.He owed something so massive he could never have repaid it in a lifetime. He was completely out of options, facing total ruin. And when he begged for mercy, he received something he did not deserve and could never earn: the entire debt was wiped away. Every bit of it. He walked out of that room free, carrying nothing.Here is what most people miss.That same forgiven man walked straight out and found someone who owed him a small fraction of what he had just been released from. And instead of extending the mercy he had just received, he seized him, refused to listen to his pleading, and had him thrown into prison over a debt that was tiny compared to the one he had been forgiven. He held on to a small offense while standing in the freedom of a massive pardon.And what happened to him next is the sobering heart of this parable.Because his refusal to release what was owed to him did not just affect the other person — it came back on him. He was handed over to the tormentors. That is the picture this passage paints of unforgiveness: it does not lock up the one who wronged YOU. It hands YOU over to torment — replaying it, reliving it, carrying a weight that grows heavier the longer YOU hold it. YOU thought YOU were holding them accountable. YOU were actually holding yourself captive.There is something in the size of the gap — between the debt he was forgiven and the debt he refused to forgive — that will completely change how YOU see the thing YOU have been holding. Because YOU are not being asked to say it did not matter. YOU are being invited to release it so it stops owning YOU.Why was his debt forgiven? What did his unforgiveness cost him? And what does it mean that holding on may be tormenting YOU more than the one who hurt YOU?Press play — because YOU can't keep holding this. What they did was wrong, but do not let it own YOU. This message will show YOU why releasing an offense is not letting them win — it is setting yourself free.If the wound is deep and letting go feels impossible right now, YOU do not have to force it alone — reach out to us, and let us pray with YOU as God helps YOU release what YOU were never meant to keep carrying.

"I didn't really want what God wants. I wanted it my way." Pastor Sean Gleason felt called to plant his own church. God had something else in mind, a seat already ready for him. Pastor Landon Schott and Pastor Sean talk about faithfulness, submission, and killing ambition. Pastor Sean shares his journey from a psych ward to the pulpit, what it looks like to expose pride instead of hiding it, and why Instagram doesn't tell the story of favor. If you lead people who are hard to lead, or you're the one who's hard to lead, this one's for you.

Hebrews 12:1-11 | God's Correction Is Proof He Has Not Given Up on YOUThe very thing YOU have been reading as God being against YOU may be the strongest proof that He is for YOU.YOU are in a season that feels like correction — like God is pressing on something in YOUR life, letting YOU feel the weight of a wrong turn, allowing discomfort where YOU wanted ease. And it is easy to read that as rejection, as God being distant, disappointed, or done with YOU. But Hebrews 12 completely reframes what that correction actually means — and once YOU see it, YOU will stop resisting the very thing meant to save YOU.The passage names the pain honestly first.It does not pretend correction feels good. It openly admits that in the moment, it is not pleasant — it is grievous, hard, the kind of thing everything in YOU wants to pull away from. So if YOU are feeling that, YOU are not doing something wrong. That ache is exactly what the passage acknowledges. But then it exposes something underneath that ache that changes its entire meaning.Here is what most people miss.Correction is not evidence that God has rejected YOU. It is evidence that YOU belong to Him. The passage draws a direct line: a father corrects the child he claims, the child he is committed to, the child he is raising for something. And then it makes a startling reversal — it says the truly alarming thing would be the absence of correction, because that would suggest a relationship that was never really there. What YOU have been resenting as a sign God pulled away is actually the sign He is treating YOU as His own.And there is a specific promise about what the correction is producing.It does not stay grievous. This passage says that for those who stop fighting it and let it do its work, correction yields a specific fruit later — something peaceable, something righteous, something YOU could not have gotten any other way. The discomfort YOU are in is not punishment without purpose. It is a Father cultivating something in YOU that will outlast the pain of the pruning.There is something in the difference between resisting correction and being trained by it — the fruit it produces in the one who submits versus the one who fights it — that will completely change how YOU walk through this season. Because God does not correct the people He has given up on. He corrects the ones He is not finished with.Why does the passage admit the correction hurts? What would the absence of it actually mean? And what is the fruit it produces in the one who stops resisting?Press play — because God's correction is proof He has not given up on YOU. Don't resist it — this message will show YOU why the pressure YOU are feeling is not rejection, but the hand of a Father who is still committed to who YOU are becoming.

In this week's message, Pastor Sean teaches through 1 Corinthians 2:6–16, showing us the difference between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world. The message reminds us that the truths of God cannot be fully understood through human wisdom alone, but are revealed to us through the Holy Spirit. Pastor Sean emphasizes the importance of allowing the Spirit to shape the way we understand, discern, and live out our faith. It's an encouraging reminder that God has given us His Spirit so we can know Him more deeply and see our lives through the truth of the Gospel.

2 Corinthians 13:1-10 | What YOU Excuse Today… Can Grow Stronger TOMORROWThe small thing YOU keep excusing is not staying small.There is something YOU have made peace with. A habit, an attitude, a compromise, a pattern YOU tell yourself is not a big deal. YOU excuse it. YOU explain it away. YOU promise yourself YOU will deal with it later. But 2 Corinthians 13 carries a challenge most people avoid, because it turns the spotlight around — off of everyone else and onto YOU. And it reveals why the thing YOU keep excusing today is quietly getting stronger.This passage does something rare: it tells YOU to examine yourself.Not to examine everyone around YOU. Not to measure other people's faults. To look inward, honestly, and test whether what YOU claim to believe is actually genuine in YOUR own life. It is one of the most direct calls to self-examination in all of Scripture — and most people skip right past it, because it is far easier to inspect others than to turn the light on ourselves.Here is what most people miss.Whatever YOU tolerate does not stay the same size. What YOU excuse today gets a little more comfortable tomorrow, a little more familiar the day after, until the thing YOU once knew was wrong becomes simply normal — woven so deeply into YOUR life that YOU stop noticing it at all. The danger was never that YOU would suddenly fall. The danger is the slow drift YOU permit one excuse at a time, until what should have been dealt with has become a stronghold.But here is what makes this challenge an act of love, not condemnation.The whole reason for the examination is not to tear YOU down. There is a specific purpose stated at the end of this passage — a reason the hard mirror is held up at all — and it changes everything about how YOU should receive it. This is not about shame. It is about catching the thing early, while it is still small enough to deal with, before it becomes the normal YOU can no longer see.There is something in the test this passage gives — the honest question it asks YOU to sit with — that will show YOU exactly what YOU have been excusing, and give YOU the chance to deal with it now instead of later.What is the test the passage tells YOU to run on yourself? Why does the small thing grow? And what is the real purpose behind the hard mirror it holds up?Press play — because what YOU excuse today can grow stronger tomorrow. Don't let it become YOUR normal — this message will help YOU examine yourself honestly and catch the thing while it is still small enough to change.

Esther 6:1-11 | What Was Forgotten About YOU… Has Just Been REMEMBEREDThe good YOU did that no one ever acknowledged was never actually forgotten.YOU showed up. YOU did the right thing. YOU served, YOU helped, YOU stayed faithful when it would have been easier not to — and no one noticed. No thank you. No reward. No recognition. And over time YOU quietly made peace with the idea that it just went unseen, filed away as one more thing YOU did that nobody remembers. Esther 6 was written for the person carrying that exact quiet disappointment.Years earlier, someone had done something genuinely significant — and received nothing for it.It was real. It mattered. It even protected someone powerful. But it was never rewarded, never honored, completely overlooked, and enough time had passed that everyone had moved on. By every appearance, that good deed was gone, buried in the past, forgotten. The person who did it had no expectation that it would ever come back around.Here is what most people miss.On one specific night, someone in a position of great power could not sleep. And in that sleeplessness, records were read aloud — and buried in them was that very forgotten deed, surfacing at the exact moment it was needed most. The timing was impossible. What had been overlooked for years came up on the one night it could change everything. It was as if a hand no one could see had reached into the past and pulled the forgotten thing back into the light.And it happened at the worst possible moment for the one who meant harm.Because right as the forgotten good was being remembered, someone walked in carrying a deadly intention toward the very person about to be honored. A single question was posed — and it trapped him completely. He ended up personally carrying out the public honor of the one he came to destroy. What was forgotten was not just remembered; it was rewarded in front of everyone, at the exact moment the enemy expected the opposite.There is something in the timing of that sleepless night — the forgotten record surfacing at precisely the right hour — that will change how YOU see every unnoticed thing YOU have ever done. Because YOUR faithfulness is recorded, even when it is not rewarded, and God knows exactly when to make YOUR name come up.Why did he suddenly remember? What was the question that trapped the enemy? And what does it mean that YOUR forgotten faithfulness is still on record?Press play — because what was forgotten about YOU has just been remembered. Your name just came up — and this message will show YOU why the good YOU did in secret was never lost, and why God knows the perfect moment to bring it back around.

Esther 5:1-12 | YOUR Access Changed… But Timing Still MattersThe door finally opened for YOU — and how YOU handle it now matters as much as the open door itself.YOU prayed for the access, the breakthrough, the yes. And when it finally came, everything in YOU wanted to rush — to grab it, to blurt out the request, to move before the moment slipped away. But Esther 5 reveals something most people miss in the rush of a newly opened door: getting access is not the same as knowing the right timing to use it. And the difference between the two can decide the entire outcome.Someone approached a situation where the door had been firmly shut.To even come near carried enormous risk — approaching uninvited could cost this person their life. And then favor was extended. The door swung open. Not a small opening, either — an offer so generous it sounded like anything could be asked and granted. This was the moment. The access everyone had been waiting for was finally here.Here is what most people miss.With the door wide open and the offer on the table, this person did not rush. Instead of seizing the moment and blurting out the request, there was restraint — a decision to wait, to prepare, to set the stage rather than force the answer. And then, when the opportunity came again, there was a second pause, a second delay that made no sense to anyone watching. Why wait, when the door is already open and the offer is already made?Because timing was doing something patience alone could see.That restraint was not fear and it was not hesitation. It was wisdom — reading the moment, letting the situation ripen, positioning the request to land at exactly the right time instead of the first possible time. And while all of this unfolded, something was quietly shifting in the background around the very person who stood in the way — a downfall setting itself up precisely because the open door was not rushed.There is something in the discipline of that pause — the refusal to rush a wide-open door — that will completely change how YOU handle the next yes God gives YOU. Because access is a gift, but timing is wisdom, and the two together are what turn an open door into a completed breakthrough.Why did the request get delayed twice? What was that patience setting up in the background? And what could rushing YOUR open door cost YOU that waiting would protect?Press play — because YOUR access changed, but timing still matters. This message will show YOU why the open door in front of YOU is not a signal to rush, and how God's timing turns an opportunity into a finished work.

In this compelling message, Pastor Sean Gleason explores what it truly means to wage war against the demonic spirit of mammon, drawing from Matthew 19 and Matthew 6. He unpacks the truth that mammon is not just money, it is a spiritual master that competes directly for your love for God, and that you reveal what you truly love by what you obey. Pastor Sean challenges believers to stop rationalizing disobedience in the area of finances and to recognize that the same spirit that kept the rich young ruler from following Jesus is the same spirit keeping many believers from fully surrendering to the Lord today. Pastor Sean warns that mammon operates on both ends of the spectrum, through the prosperity gospel that makes money the point of the Christian life, and through the poverty gospel that finds spiritual pride in lack. He calls the church to reject both ditches and to walk in radical, joyful obedience through generosity, because generosity is not just a spiritual discipline, it is a warfare strategy that expands the kingdom of God and cuts off the enemy's supply line. This message challenges believers to tithe first as an act of declaring God as their first priority, to stop letting their bank statement determine whether they obey God, and to understand that mammon will never satisfy because only the Prince of Peace can meet the deepest needs of the human heart. The vision of Mercy Culture is to take people from corporate encounters with God to daily personal encounters with God. At Mercy Culture, one of our unique characteristics is that we are a presence driven church. We are not built around any person or ministry. We are built around the presence of God. Each week, you will hear a teaching from our Lead Pastors, Sean and Natalie Gleason or another leader in our community. To learn more about Mercy Culture, visit https://mercyculturewaco.com

Growing in Greatness | How to Persevere | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas

In this compelling message, Pastor Sean Gleason explores what it truly means to wage war against the demonic spirit of mammon, drawing from Matthew 19 and Matthew 6. He unpacks the truth that mammon is not just money, it is a spiritual master that competes directly for your love for God, and that you reveal what you truly love by what you obey. Pastor Sean challenges believers to stop rationalizing disobedience in the area of finances and to recognize that the same spirit that kept the rich young ruler from following Jesus is the same spirit keeping many believers from fully surrendering to the Lord today. Pastor Sean warns that mammon operates on both ends of the spectrum, through the prosperity gospel that makes money the point of the Christian life, and through the poverty gospel that finds spiritual pride in lack. He calls the church to reject both ditches and to walk in radical, joyful obedience through generosity, because generosity is not just a spiritual discipline, it is a warfare strategy that expands the kingdom of God and cuts off the enemy's supply line. This message challenges believers to tithe first as an act of declaring God as their first priority, to stop letting their bank statement determine whether they obey God, and to understand that mammon will never satisfy because only the Prince of Peace can meet the deepest needs of the human heart. The vision of Mercy Culture is to take people from corporate encounters with God to daily personal encounters with God. At Mercy Culture, one of our unique characteristics is that we are a presence driven church. We are not built around any person or ministry. We are built around the presence of God. Each week, you will hear a teaching from our Lead Pastors, Sean and Natalie Gleason or another leader in our community. To learn more about Mercy Culture, visit https://mercyculturewaco.com

Joshua 6:1-20 | Keep OBEYING… Even Though Nothing Looks DIFFERENTYou have been doing the right thing, and nothing looks like it is changing.YOU have obeyed. YOU have stayed faithful. YOU have kept showing up and doing what YOU believe God asked of YOU — and the wall in front of YOU has not moved an inch. Day after day, same obedience, same silence, same result: nothing. And a quiet voice has started asking whether any of it is even working, or whether YOU are just going in circles. Joshua 6 was written for the person at that exact wall.There was an obstacle completely shut up — no way in, no way through.And the instruction given to deal with it made no sense at all. It was not a battle plan. It was not force. It was something that looked repetitive, unimpressive, almost pointless — a simple act of obedience to be repeated over and over, with no visible result promised along the way. There was even a strange command about staying silent through the whole thing until a specific moment. To anyone watching, it would have looked like people wasting their time.Here is what most people miss.For days, they did the exact same thing, and the wall did not change. No cracks. No shaking. No sign that any of it was working. By every visible measure, the obedience was accomplishing nothing. But something was happening in the unseen that no one marching could detect — and the entire test was whether they would keep obeying through the days when nothing looked different. Most people quit somewhere in those silent days, because they measure whether God is working by what they can see.They were wrong to.Because on a specific day, at a specific moment, after all those days that looked like nothing, one final act of obedience was met with something that had been building the entire time. What had not moved in days came down in an instant — completely, all at once. The obedience that looked pointless was working the whole time. It was just working where they could not see it yet.There is something in the order of what happened — the days of silence, the one command that changed everything, and the exact moment the breakthrough came — that will completely change how YOU handle the seasons when YOUR obedience seems to be doing nothing.What was the instruction that made no sense? Why the silence for so long? And what happened the moment the obedience was finally complete?Press play — because YOUR obedience is working, even though nothing looks different. This message will show YOU how to keep putting YOUR faith to work through the silent days, and why the wall that has not moved is closer to falling than YOU think.

Luke 18:1-8 | Silence Is Not Proof That YOUR Prayer Has Been DENIEDYou have been reading the silence as a no. It may be the biggest mistake YOU could make right now.YOU prayed. YOU waited. And when the answer did not come, YOU started filling the quiet with the worst conclusion: that God heard and said no, that the door is closed, that YOU should stop asking and accept it. But Luke 18 was told for one specific reason — to keep the person in exactly YOUR position from making that exact mistake. Because the silence YOU are misreading as denial may only be delay.There is a parable here that begins with the reason it was told, stated up front.It was given so that people would always pray and never lose heart — never faint, never quit, never give up in the waiting. And that tells YOU something before the story even starts: the danger this parable was designed to protect YOU from is not that God won't answer. It is that YOU will stop asking right before He does.Here is what most people miss.The story centers on someone who kept coming back with the same request, again and again, even after being turned away at first. She was refused. Delayed. Given every reason to conclude it was hopeless. And yet the very thing that finally moved the situation was the one thing most people abandon too soon. What broke through was not connections or leverage — it was a quality YOU can carry into YOUR own praying starting today.And then comes the comparison that changes everything.Because the one she kept appealing to was not even a good person — he was unwilling, unjust, and had no reason to help her. If persistence could move someone like that, a "how much more" follows about YOUR heavenly Father that dismantles the idea that God is reluctant to answer YOU. There is even a promise here about how quickly God responds to those who cry out to Him day and night — and it is not the slow, grudging picture YOU have been imagining.But it ends with a question that lands directly on YOU.Because at the end of the parable, the real issue is exposed — and it is not whether God will answer. It is whether He will still find faith in the person who was waiting. That question is the whole point of putting YOUR faith to work: will YOU still be believing, still asking, still standing when the answer comes? And there is something in what it means to diligently seek God — to search, to crave, to keep requiring the promise — that reveals why the delay was never the denial YOU feared.Why was the parable told? What was the quality that finally broke through? And what is the question Jesus leaves hanging over everyone who is waiting on an answer?Press play — because silence is not proof that YOUR prayer has been denied. Don't misread the delay — this message will show YOU how to keep YOUR faith at work in the waiting, and why the answer YOU stopped expecting may be closer than the silence made it feel.

Psalm 119:104-105 | The Light YOU Need Will Meet YOU at the Next STEPYou have been waiting to see the whole path before YOU take a single step.That is why YOU feel stuck. YOU keep asking God to show YOU the full picture — the destination, the timeline, how it all works out — and because He has not laid the entire map in front of YOU, YOU assume He is silent, and YOU refuse to move. But these passages reveal how God has always guided His people, and it is almost the opposite of what YOU have been waiting for.The Word is described as a very specific kind of light — and the detail most people miss is what that light actually covers.It does not flood the whole road. It does not light up the destination, or the mile after that, or the year after that. It illuminates one specific place: the ground right in front of YOU. And that placement is not a limitation — it is the entire key to why YOU do not need the whole map. God designed the light to fall exactly where YOUR next step is, and no further. On purpose.Here is what most people miss.The light does not shine ahead of YOU to convince YOU to move. It meets YOU as YOU move. Most people are standing still, demanding to see step ten before they take step one — and that is exactly why they never see anything. The light is tied to the step. Take the step YOU can see, and the next one becomes visible. Refuse to move until YOU can see it all, and the path stays dark no matter how long YOU stare.And there is something these passages say about what happens the moment the Word enters.It gives light. It gives understanding. It becomes a guide that makes YOU wiser than YOUR enemies, a shield around YOU, a truth that sets YOU free, and even a source of healing sent to deliver YOU. All of it flows from the same place — the Word YOU let in. But none of it activates while YOU are frozen, waiting for a map YOU were never promised.Because YOU were never meant to see the whole journey. YOU were meant to trust the One holding the light, one step at a time.Why does God light only the next step? What happens the moment the Word enters YOU? And what is the step in front of YOU that the light is already touching right now?Press play — because YOU don't need the whole map. The light YOU need will meet YOU at the next step, and this message will show YOU how to move on the light YOU already have instead of waiting for the map YOU were never going to get.

Joshua 1:5-9 | YOUR SUCCESS IS GUARANTEED — God Already GUARANTEED It — but YOU Still Hold the KEYGod has already guaranteed something over YOUR life that most people never fully receive.Not a maybe. Not a someday. A flat, unshakable guarantee — that YOU would prosper, that YOU would succeed, that what YOU set YOUR hand to would come to pass. YOU may be reading that and thinking it sounds too bold to be true for YOUR situation, because YOUR life does not look guaranteed anything right now. But these passages make the promise plainly — and then they reveal the one thing standing between the guarantee and YOU actually walking in it.The promise itself is staggering.Someone was told, in the face of an assignment far bigger than he felt ready for, that no one would be able to stand against him as long as he lived — that he would not be failed, not abandoned, and that success was not a possibility but a promise. It was as close to a personal guarantee of success as Scripture ever gives. And that same guarantee is echoed in another passage with an unforgettable picture of a life that does not dry up, does not wither, and prospers in everything it does.Here is what most people miss.The guarantee was never unconditional. Attached to it — in both passages, said two different ways — is a single key. One specific thing YOU are responsible for, one thing that activates the promise or leaves it dormant. And here is the part that catches most people: the key is not a huge, complicated list of demands. It is one simple, repeatable thing that YOU control completely — and most people skip right over it while claiming the promise attached to it.That is why two people can be handed the exact same guarantee and only one of them walks in it.The success was guaranteed by God. The key is held by YOU. And when YOU understand what that one thing is — the small daily action both passages tie the entire promise to — YOU will stop waiting for success to happen to YOU and start doing the one thing that unlocks what God already promised.Because the tree that never withers, the life that prospers in everything, the person nothing can stand against — none of it is random. It all traces back to the same key. And it is a key YOU can pick up starting today.What is the guarantee, exactly? What is the one key both passages attach to it? And why do so many people claim the promise but never turn the key?Press play — because YOUR success is guaranteed. God already guaranteed it — but YOU still hold the key. This message will show YOU the one thing that unlocks everything God has already promised over YOUR life.

In this compelling message, Pastor Sean Gleason explores what it truly means to fight mental warfare as spiritual warfare, drawing from Mark 9 and 2 Corinthians 10. He unpacks the truth that much of spiritual warfare begins in the mind, and that what culture calls mental illness, the Bible often calls demonic. Pastor Sean challenges believers to stop waging war in the flesh through medication, diagnosis, new age practices, or other substitutes, and to pick up the spiritual weapons that God has given them. Pastor Sean shares his own powerful testimony of years of depression, suicidal thoughts, and torment from childhood, culminating in a miraculous deliverance while simply encountering God in a daily moment of worship and prayer. He challenges the church to stop seeking one-time deliverance experiences and instead build a life of daily encounters, because one encounter with God can set you free but daily encounters with God will keep you free. This message challenges believers to renew their minds practically by writing down their lies and asking God what He says about them, memorizing the word of God, exposing their thoughts to others in authentic community, and doing the opposite of what the enemy tells them to do. The goal is not just to be free from the yoke, but to outgrow it so it can never return. The vision of Mercy Culture is to take people from corporate encounters with God to daily personal encounters with God. At Mercy Culture, one of our unique characteristics is that we are a presence driven church. We are not built around any person or ministry. We are built around the presence of God. Each week, you will hear a teaching from our Lead Pastors, Sean and Natalie Gleason or another leader in our community. To learn more about Mercy Culture, visit https://mercyculturewaco.com

In this compelling message, Pastor Sean Gleason explores what it truly means to fight mental warfare as spiritual warfare, drawing from Mark 9 and 2 Corinthians 10. He unpacks the truth that much of spiritual warfare begins in the mind, and that what culture calls mental illness, the Bible often calls demonic. Pastor Sean challenges believers to stop waging war in the flesh through medication, diagnosis, new age practices, or other substitutes, and to pick up the spiritual weapons that God has given them. Pastor Sean shares his own powerful testimony of years of depression, suicidal thoughts, and torment from childhood, culminating in a miraculous deliverance while simply encountering God in a daily moment of worship and prayer. He challenges the church to stop seeking one-time deliverance experiences and instead build a life of daily encounters, because one encounter with God can set you free but daily encounters with God will keep you free. This message challenges believers to renew their minds practically by writing down their lies and asking God what He says about them, memorizing the word of God, exposing their thoughts to others in authentic community, and doing the opposite of what the enemy tells them to do. The goal is not just to be free from the yoke, but to outgrow it so it can never return. The vision of Mercy Culture is to take people from corporate encounters with God to daily personal encounters with God. At Mercy Culture, one of our unique characteristics is that we are a presence driven church. We are not built around any person or ministry. We are built around the presence of God. Each week, you will hear a teaching from our Lead Pastors, Sean and Natalie Gleason or another leader in our community. To learn more about Mercy Culture, visit https://mercyculturewaco.com

1 Samuel 16:1-13 | What They OVERLOOKED in YOU… God Has Already SEENThe thing people never noticed in YOU, God has already seen.YOU have been passed over. Left out of the room where the important decisions were made. Not considered for the thing YOU quietly knew YOU could do — while others who looked the part got picked first. And after enough of that, YOU start to believe the verdict of the people who overlooked YOU: that maybe there really is nothing special here, that maybe they saw YOU accurately and YOU are exactly as forgettable as YOU felt. 1 Samuel 16 was written to overturn that verdict.Someone had been sent to find a person of great destiny — and the search started with all the obvious candidates.The impressive ones were brought forward first. The tall one, the strong one, the one who looked exactly like what everyone pictured. And the one who seemed the most qualified — the obvious choice by every human standard — was rejected. Not for a flaw anyone could see, but for a reason that exposes how differently God evaluates a person than people do.Here is what most people miss.A principle was spoken in that moment that explains every time YOU have ever been overlooked. People look at one thing; God looks at something entirely different — something on the inside that no one screening YOU from the outside can even see. And based on that unseen thing, the search kept going past every candidate the family thought was worth presenting.Because the one who was actually chosen was not even in the room.He had not been called in. No one thought to include him. While the important ceremony was happening, he was out doing ordinary, unglamorous work — so overlooked that his own family did not consider him a candidate worth mentioning until they were directly asked if anyone else existed. He had to be specifically sent for. And when he finally walked in, the One who sees what people miss said, without hesitation, that this was the one.What everyone else overlooked, God had already seen the whole time.And the moment he was recognized, something came upon him that marked him from that day forward — a shift that had nothing to do with the approval he never got from the people who left him in the field. There is something about how this overlooked one was chosen, and what he was carrying that no one detected, that will completely change how YOU carry the times YOU have been passed over.Why was the obvious choice rejected? What is God looking at that people cannot see? And what did He already see in the one everyone left out?Press play — because what they overlooked in YOU, God has already seen. This message will show YOU why being passed over by people is not the same as being passed over by God — and why the thing no one noticed in YOU may be exactly what He chose YOU for.

Royal Generosity | God Multiplies What You Release | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas

Matthew 7:24-29 | What YOU Built on Before It Came Is What MATTERSYou have been treating the storm as the problem. It was never the problem.When the pressure hit — the loss, the crisis, the season that shook everything — YOU assumed the storm itself was what YOU needed to survive. So YOU have been fighting the storm, praying the storm away, waiting for the storm to pass. But Matthew 7 quietly reveals something that changes the whole way YOU see what YOU are going through: the storm was never the deciding factor. Something else was.Two people built two houses. And then the exact same storm hit both of them.Here is the detail almost everyone misses: the rain, the floods, the winds — they came against both houses equally. The wise builder was not spared the storm. He got the same rain, the same flood, the same beating winds as the one who fell. So if both faced the identical storm and only one house stood, then the storm was never what determined the outcome. It only revealed what was already there.Here is what most people miss.The thing that decided everything was settled long before the first drop of rain ever fell. It was done in the calm, when no one was watching, when there was no pressure and no reason to think a storm was even coming. One of them did something in that quiet season that the other skipped — and that single difference, invisible until the storm exposed it, is the entire message. What YOU build on before the storm comes is what matters.And there is a sharp distinction in this passage about what that foundation actually is.It is not simply hearing the right things. Both builders heard the same words. The difference between the house that stood and the house that fell came down to one specific thing done with what they heard — and it is the exact thing most people leave out, which is why so many who know all the right things still collapse when the pressure comes. What that missing piece is will change how YOU spend YOUR calm seasons from now on.Because your storm is not the real problem. The foundation under YOUR life is what is being tested — and these passages point to the one foundation that outlasts everything, the one thing that does not fade, wither, or pass away no matter what beats against it.What was done in the calm that made the difference? What is the one thing most people leave out? And what is the foundation that never falls, no matter the storm?Press play — because what YOU built on before it came is what matters. This message will show YOU why the storm was never YOUR real problem, and how to build YOUR life on the one thing that cannot be shaken.

John 21:11-19 | Your Comeback Moment — What Tried to END Your PURPOSE… Is Your TURNING POINTThe thing that tried to end YOUR purpose is about to become the turning point of YOUR comeback.YOU have a moment in YOUR past that felt like it disqualified YOU. A failure, a fall, a season where YOU let yourself and maybe others down — and ever since, YOU have believed it quietly closed a door on who YOU could have become. YOU still show up, still try, but underneath there is a sense that YOUR real purpose got forfeited back there, and YOU are just living in what is left. John 21 was written for the person carrying that exact belief.Someone in this passage had failed in the worst possible way not long before.He had denied, under pressure, the very One he loved most — publicly, repeatedly, at the moment it mattered most. It looked like the end of his calling. How could someone who folded like that ever be trusted with anything again? He had every reason to believe his purpose was over and his best days were behind him. And then he was invited to breakfast.Here is what most people miss.The setting of this restoration was not random. There was a specific detail in the scene — something about where it happened and what was burning there — that quietly mirrored the exact place of his failure. It was as if the whole moment was designed to take him back to the site of his worst mistake, not to shame him, but to heal the very thing that had wounded him. And then came a question.He was asked the same question three times.Not to interrogate him. Not to rub it in. There was a precise, deliberate reason it was asked exactly three times — a number that lined up perfectly with something in his failure — and by the third time, it grieved him. But each time he answered, he was handed something back that he thought he had lost forever: not just forgiveness, but an assignment. A commission. A purpose that was not smaller than before, but larger.What tried to end his purpose became the doorway to his greatest calling.And then he was told plainly to do the one thing that had gotten complicated after his failure — to follow. His comeback was not just being forgiven; it was being re-sent, re-trusted, and re-commissioned to do more than he ever had before. The failure did not shrink his purpose. In God's hands, it became the turning point that launched it.What was the detail in the setting that mirrored his failure? Why was the question asked three times? And what was he commissioned to do the moment his purpose was restored?Press play — because what tried to end YOUR purpose is YOUR turning point. This is YOUR comeback moment — and this message will show YOU how God takes the very failure that looked like the end and turns it into the beginning of YOUR greatest assignment.

As we begin our journey through 1 Corinthians, Pastor Sean teaches through 1 Corinthians 1:1–9, reminding us of who we are because of what Christ has done for us. The message highlights God's grace, His faithfulness, and the spiritual gifts He gives His people as they wait for Christ's return. Pastor Sean emphasizes that our confidence is not found in how well we have it all together, but in the faithfulness of God who has called us into fellowship with His Son. It's an encouraging beginning to the series, reminding us that God is faithful to complete the work He has started in us.

Honor The Seed | It Starts in Your Heart | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas

In this episode, Pastor Sean and pastoral intern David discuss pastor Sean's latest sermon from Romans 13:8-10 from our sermon series through the book of Romans.Watering Seeds is a ministry of Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Asheville, NC. You can learn more and hear our sermons on our website: ⁠www.covenantreformed.net/sermons⁠. You can also find our sermon recordings on ⁠Sermon Audio⁠.

Matthew 26:31, 33-35, 69-75 | Your Failure Is Not FINAL — What YOU Did in a Weak Moment… Does Not DEFINE YOUThere is one moment YOU wish YOU could take back.A moment YOU are not proud of. A time YOU caved, YOU stayed silent when YOU should have spoken, YOU did the very thing YOU swore YOU would never do. And YOU have carried it ever since — replaying it, defining yourself by it, quietly convinced that this one failure is the truest thing about YOU, and that it disqualified YOU from everything YOU could have been. Matthew 26 was written for the person carrying that exact weight.Someone made a bold promise in a moment of confidence.He meant it with his whole heart. He was more sure of himself than anyone in the room — certain that no matter what came, he would never fall, never fold, never fail. And he was told, plainly and in advance, that before the night was over, he would do the exact thing he was swearing he would never do. He refused to believe it. He doubled down. He was that certain of his own strength.Here is what most people miss.When the pressure actually came, it did not come from an enemy or a threat to his life. It came from ordinary people, in ordinary conversation, in a moment when no one was forcing his hand. And one after another, under almost no pressure at all, he did the very thing he had promised he never would — not once, but three times, each one worse than the last. It was a complete collapse. And then a single, ordinary sound in the distance broke him wide open, because it meant every word of the warning had come true.He went out and wept like a man whose story was over.And if that were the end of the passage, it would be one of the most crushing failures in all of Scripture. A man defined forever by the worst thing he did in his weakest moment. But here is what YOU need to know, and what this message is really about: that failure was not the end of his story. Not even close.Because the man who failed that night is not remembered as a failure.What happened to him after this moment — how he was restored, what he was entrusted with, and the way God used the very person who had fallen the hardest — is the part that changes everything about how YOU see YOUR own failure. God did not erase what he did. God did something far greater with it. And the distance between the man weeping in the dark and the man he became is the exact distance God is able to carry YOU.What was the promise he broke? What was the sound that shattered him? And what did God do with him after the failure everyone would have written him off for?Press play — because YOUR failure is not final. What YOU did in a weak moment does not define YOU, and this message will show YOU what God is still able to do with a life that has fallen.

What if your life was meant for more than just you? Looking at the story of Samuel, Pastor Sean explores what it means to recognise and respond to the call of God. You are called as someone, called for something, and called to someone. Discover how making space for God, staying sensitive to His voice, and saying yes can lead you into the purpose and mission He has prepared for your life.

Matthew 14:22-33 | YOU DON'T NEED PERFECT CONDITIONS — What God Said Is Enough to Take the Next StepYou have been waiting for the conditions to be right before YOU take the next step.YOU keep telling yourself YOU will move once things settle down — once the storm passes, once the fear lifts, once it finally feels safe. So YOU wait. And the conditions never quite cooperate, and the step never quite gets taken. But Matthew 14 reveals something YOU may have completely overlooked: YOU already have the one thing YOU actually need to move — and it was never the conditions.The scene opens in the worst possible conditions.It was the middle of the night. The wind was against them. They were straining, exhausted, far from shore, and nothing about the situation said this is the moment for something extraordinary. And it was right there — in the dark, against the wind — that someone came to them in a way that made no natural sense and terrified everyone who saw it. Then a word was spoken that settled the fear in an instant.Here is what most people miss.One person in that boat did not ask for the storm to stop. He did not wait for calm. He asked for one thing — a single word, an instruction — and the moment he received it, he did something no one has any business doing in conditions like that. What he had was not better weather. It was not a guarantee. It was just a word. And that word turned out to be more than enough to take a step that should have been impossible.The conditions never changed. He moved anyway — on the strength of what was said.But then something shifted, and it is the most important detail in the whole account. The moment he took his attention off of what he had been given and put it back on the conditions around him — the wind, the waves, the impossibility of it all — something began to happen that had not happened while his focus was in the right place. What changed was not the storm. What changed was where he was looking.And even then, what reached out to catch him reveals something about God YOU need to see when YOUR own focus slips.Because the whole point is this: he never needed perfect conditions. He needed the word. And the word was already enough. What YOU have been waiting to feel, waiting to see, waiting to have handed to YOU before YOU move — YOU may already be holding the only thing that actually matters.What was the word he asked for? What happened the moment his focus shifted? And what is the one thing YOU already have that is enough to take YOUR next step?Press play — because YOU don't need perfect conditions. What God said is enough to take the next step, and this message will show YOU why the thing YOU have been waiting for was already given.

Following Jesus is all about change. In this message, Pastor Sean invites us to take an honest inventory of our head, heart, tongue, and hands, asking where God may be calling us to leave behind old ways and put on the new self.

Acts 3:1-11 | What Has DEFINED YOU for Years… Can Still CHANGEThere is something that has defined YOU for so long, YOU have stopped believing YOU could ever be anything else.A condition. A limitation. A label someone put on YOU — or one YOU quietly accepted about yourself. It has been true so long that it stopped feeling like a circumstance and started feeling like YOUR identity. It is how people know YOU. It is how YOU introduce yourself in YOUR own mind. And YOU have made a kind of peace with the idea that this is simply who YOU are now. Acts 3 was written for that exact belief.Someone in this passage had been defined by one thing his entire life.He had never known anything else. Every single day he was carried to the same place, set down in the same spot, and known by everyone as the same thing — the one thing that had limited him from the very beginning. It was his whole identity. Nobody expected anything different from him, and after a lifetime of it, neither did he. He was not even hoping to be changed. He was only hoping for a little help to get through another day.Here is what most people miss.When help finally stopped in front of him, he was told to do something before anything else happened — a simple instruction that shifted his attention and his expectation. And then he was told plainly that the small thing he had been asking for all his life was not what he was about to receive. What he was offered instead was something he had never once thought to ask for — because it was so far beyond his limitation that it had never even entered his mind as possible.Then came a command that made no sense for a man in his condition.He was told to do the very thing everyone knew he could not do — the thing that had defined him from birth. And in the instant he was lifted up, something happened in his body that had never worked before. Strength arrived where there had never been strength. The identity he had carried his entire life changed in a single moment, and what he did next — how he responded — is the picture of what happens when God changes the thing YOU thought would define YOU forever.But the detail that lands hardest is the reaction of the people who knew him.They had seen him in the same place, in the same condition, for years. And when they saw him now, they could barely reconcile it — they knew this was the same person, but everything that had defined him was gone. That is what YOU have to see for yourself: what it looks like when the thing everyone knew YOU by is no longer the thing that describes YOU.What was he told to do first? What did he receive instead of what he asked for? And what happened the moment the thing that defined him was gone?Press play — because what has defined YOU for years can still change. YOU won't stay like this — and this message will show YOU why the label YOU have worn the longest does not get the final say over who YOU become.

In this compelling message, Pastor Sean Gleason explores what it truly means to engage in spiritual warfare, drawing from Matthew 28 and Ephesians 6. He unpacks the truth that principalities are high-ranking demonic spirits that reign over regions, cities, and nations with the primary goal of blinding the minds of unbelievers from seeing the light of the gospel. Pastor Sean challenges believers to be aware of the spiritual realm without becoming obsessed with it, keeping their focus fixed on Jesus who holds the highest authority. Pastor Sean walks through the history of Waco, revealing how the city has partnered with principalities of dishonor, covetousness, the orphan spirit, and false religion, and calls the church to unseat each one by lifting up the highest authority. He warns that every act of disobedience surrenders spiritual authority to the enemy, while every act of obedience partners with Jesus and reclaims ground. This message challenges believers to understand that you unseat principalities not by binding and rebuking in your own name, but by lifting up Jesus, repenting of any partnership with the enemy, speaking His name, and boldly preaching the gospel everywhere you go, because the great commission was never meant only for the pulpit. The vision of Mercy Culture is to take people from corporate encounters with God to daily personal encounters with God. At Mercy Culture, one of our unique characteristics is that we are a presence driven church. We are not built around any person or ministry. We are built around the presence of God. Each week, you will hear a teaching from our Lead Pastors, Sean and Natalie Gleason or another leader in our community. To learn more about Mercy Culture, visit https://mercyculturewaco.com

In this compelling message, Pastor Sean Gleason explores what it truly means to engage in spiritual warfare, drawing from Matthew 28 and Ephesians 6. He unpacks the truth that principalities are high-ranking demonic spirits that reign over regions, cities, and nations with the primary goal of blinding the minds of unbelievers from seeing the light of the gospel. Pastor Sean challenges believers to be aware of the spiritual realm without becoming obsessed with it, keeping their focus fixed on Jesus who holds the highest authority. Pastor Sean walks through the history of Waco, revealing how the city has partnered with principalities of dishonor, covetousness, the orphan spirit, and false religion, and calls the church to unseat each one by lifting up the highest authority. He warns that every act of disobedience surrenders spiritual authority to the enemy, while every act of obedience partners with Jesus and reclaims ground. This message challenges believers to understand that you unseat principalities not by binding and rebuking in your own name, but by lifting up Jesus, repenting of any partnership with the enemy, speaking His name, and boldly preaching the gospel everywhere you go, because the great commission was never meant only for the pulpit. The vision of Mercy Culture is to take people from corporate encounters with God to daily personal encounters with God. At Mercy Culture, one of our unique characteristics is that we are a presence driven church. We are not built around any person or ministry. We are built around the presence of God. Each week, you will hear a teaching from our Lead Pastors, Sean and Natalie Gleason or another leader in our community. To learn more about Mercy Culture, visit https://mercyculturewaco.com

John 11:32-34, 36-47 | What Looks Beyond REPAIR… Is Not Beyond JESUSYou have looked at the same situation long enough to wonder whether anything can still change.Maybe YOU have prayed, waited, hoped — and watched it move in the opposite direction. The damage feels too deep now. The delay feels too long. And a part of YOU has started to wonder whether it is finally time to accept that this is simply how the story ends.John 11 was written for the person carrying that exact weight.By the time help arrived, everyone involved had already reached the same conclusion: it was too late. Too much time had passed. The situation was, by every visible measure, finished — past the point where anyone believed anything could still be done. And the words spoken out loud in that moment are the very thing YOU have quietly believed about YOUR own situation: if only He had come sooner.But that is where most people misread the whole thing.Here is what most people miss. Before anything changed on the outside, something moved on the inside of the One who showed up — a reaction so deep it surprised everyone watching. It reveals something about how God feels toward what YOU are facing that changes everything about how YOU carry it. Most people rush past this detail because they are focused on the problem. It may be the most important part.And there is a moment that matters even more.He gave an instruction that made no sense given how far gone the situation was — a command that drew an immediate objection from the people standing there, because by then the situation was not just bad, it was past the point of no return, and everyone knew it. What He said back to that objection is a sentence YOU need to hear over YOUR own impossible situation.Then He spoke to the very thing everyone had already grieved and buried.And what happened next — what came out, and the strange instruction He gave the moment it did — is the part YOU have to see for yourself. Because it proves that the timing YOU have resented, the delay that felt like abandonment, was never God being too late. It was setting up something no one in that place thought was still possible.This is not about pretending the damage is small. It is about discovering why what looks beyond repair does not get to decide what is still possible with God.What was the reaction beneath the surface? What was the sentence spoken over the objection? And what came out when He spoke to the thing everyone had already given up on?Press play — because what looks beyond repair is not beyond Jesus. We are going into John 11 to uncover why YOUR situation is not too far gone.

Daniel 6:16-27 | The Place Meant to BURY YOU… Will Become Your TESTIMONYSomething was designed to end YOU — and instead it is about to become YOUR story.That is hard to believe while YOU are still inside it. Right now it does not feel like a testimony. It feels like a trap. It feels like the thing that was set up to finish YOU is doing exactly what it was meant to do. YOU can feel the walls, the seal, the sense that this situation was engineered specifically against YOU — and every part of YOU is bracing for it to be the end. But Daniel 6 tells the story of a place meant to be a grave that turned into a platform.Someone was thrown into a place designed for one purpose: to end his life.It was sealed. A stone was rolled over it. Every human safeguard was put in place to make sure there was no escape, no rescue, no chance. The people who set the trap had thought of everything, and by every natural measure, it was over. He was shut inside the very thing built to destroy him, and the door was closed on him for the night.Here is what most people miss.While he was inside the place meant to bury him, something happened that no one on the outside could see. He was not devoured. He was not destroyed. Something intervened in the dark — quietly, completely — and shut the mouth of the very thing that was supposed to consume him. The trap was full of death, and yet death could not touch him. Not because he was strong enough to fight it, but because something stronger stood between him and the thing meant to end him.The place did its worst. It changed nothing.And here is where it turns into a testimony. The one who had reluctantly sealed him in could not sleep all night — and came running at first light, calling into the sealed place, desperate to know if the God this man served had been able to do the impossible. And the answer that came back from inside the grave changed everything. Not just for him. When he was lifted out without a single mark on him, the very people watching — including the most powerful person in the land — were so undone by it that the deliverance became a message sent to an entire kingdom.What was meant to bury him became the reason a whole nation heard about the living God.There is a detail in this passage about what was found on him when he came out — and about what the place of intended death produced — that will completely change how YOU see the situation that was set up against YOU. Because the same place that was meant to be YOUR ending may be the exact place God turns into YOUR loudest testimony.What shut the mouth of the thing meant to destroy him? What was found on him when he came out? And what is God about to turn into a testimony in the very place that was meant to bury YOU?Press play — because the place meant to bury YOU will become YOUR testimony. You're coming out of this — and this message will show YOU why what was set up to end YOU may be the very thing God uses to broadcast His power over YOUR life.

How To Prosper | Position Yourself for Blessing | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas

Luke 1:26-37 | What YOU Can't FIGURE OUT… God Already KNOWS How to DoYOU have been stuck on the same word for a long time now: how.How could this ever change? How could it possibly work out from here? YOU have run the numbers, traced every path, looked at it from every angle YOU can think of — and there is no version of it that adds up. The math does not work. The road does not exist. And because YOU cannot figure out the how, YOU have quietly moved YOUR situation into the file marked impossible.Luke 1 is about the exact moment someone hit that same wall.She was handed a promise so far beyond natural possibility that there was no honest way to receive it without asking the obvious question. It could not happen the normal way. There was no mechanism for it, no precedent, no path she could see. So she asked it plainly — the same question YOU have been asking: how can this be? It was not doubt. It was the honest response of someone staring at something that made no natural sense.Here is what most people miss.The answer she received was not a formula. It was not an explanation she could follow step by step, not a plan she could understand and then execute. The answer was essentially this: the how is not YOUR part. A power beyond her would accomplish what she could not, in a way she did not need to comprehend in order to receive. She was never asked to figure it out. She was asked to trust the One who already knew how.The "how" was never her assignment. It was His.And then she was given something to steady her — a sign, proof that the impossible was already in motion somewhere close to her. Someone in her own family, in a situation everyone had labeled hopeless and finished, was already living evidence that the thing called impossible had quietly become possible. God did not just tell her it could happen. He showed her it already was.The whole passage lands on one sentence YOU need to hear over YOUR situation right now — a declaration about what is and is not possible with God — that reframes every "how" YOU have been unable to answer. Because the thing YOU cannot figure out is not the same as a thing that cannot be done. YOUR inability to trace the path does not mean there is no path. It just means the how belongs to Someone bigger than YOUR understanding.What was the promise that made no natural sense? What was the answer to "how"? And what is the one thing YOU have been calling impossible only because YOU cannot figure out the way?Press play — because what YOU can't figure out, God already knows how to do. This message will lift the weight of the "how" off of YOU, and show YOU why the thing YOU called impossible was never too hard for God.

Luke 10:1-11 | Someone's Answer Is Connected to What God Put in YOUYOU have quietly asked at least one of these three questions. Maybe all three.Does my life really matter? Why am I even here? Can God actually use someone like me? YOU may have never said them out loud, but YOU have felt them — in the low moments, in the ordinary days, in the seasons where YOU wondered if YOUR life added up to anything. And the enemy has been happy to let YOU keep believing that the answer to all three is no.Luke 10 answers every one of them at once.Because in this passage, ordinary people — not superstars, not the famous few, just regular followers — were chosen and sent out ahead of the Lord Himself, into towns and places that were waiting for something they did not yet have. They were not sent to observe. They were sent as the answer. Whole communities had a need, and the people carrying the solution to that need were ordinary men and women who probably wondered if they were qualified to carry anything at all.Here is what most people miss.They were told to go with almost nothing — no extra supplies, no backup plan, no impressive resources. Because what they carried was not in their bags. It was in them. What towns needed was not something they had to go purchase or produce. It was already deposited inside them, placed there by God, waiting to be poured out on the people they were sent to. The answer someone else was desperate for was connected to what God had already put in them.The same is true of YOU.There is someone whose breakthrough is tied to something God placed in YOU — a word, a gift, a resource, a presence, an act of obedience that only YOU are positioned to deliver. YOU have looked at what YOU carry and called it ordinary. Heaven calls it an assignment. And someone out there is waiting on the thing YOU have been overlooking in yourself.There is a pattern woven all through Scripture — one this passage sits right in the middle of — where God chooses to meet needs through ordinary people who simply made themselves available. Not the most gifted. Not the most resourced. The most willing. And every one of them discovered that the thing already in their hands was exactly what someone else's answer required.What were they sent to carry? Why did they need so little to do so much? And what has God put in YOU that someone else's answer is already connected to?Press play — because someone's answer is connected to what God put in YOU. This message will answer the three questions YOU have been quietly asking, and show YOU why God can — and wants to — use exactly what is already in YOUR hands.

Countless millions have testified to the spiritual depth and importance of the Bible, and it is the most-read and most-translated book in human history. Yet in the recent west, reading the Bible has fallen out of favor (not to mention reading in general). Do you have a Bible or two on your shelf that are just collecting dust? Are you intimidated by this influential and important, but not easy-to-read ancient collection of Jewish and Christian writings? The main book discussed in this episode is the stepladder you need to reach the Bible’s rich and life-giving contents: Sean Finnegan’s Read the Bible for Yourself. It’s part of a new, three-book series of books published by Living Hope International Ministries (LHIM) for disciples, those who have been convinced that following Jesus is the only way to live, and who want to follow his footsteps in loving God and our fellow humans. The authors are three well-known unitarian Christian pastors whom I respect and unreservedly recommend (see the links below). In this new interview, Pastor Finnegan and I discuss this some of the very different genres of the biblical books, his new book, and the other two books in this series. Links for this episode: Pastor Sean Finnegan @ UCA Youtube Living Hope Community Church, Latham, New York Restitutio Podcast Finnegan, Read the Bible for Yourself Pastor Will Barlow @ UCA YouTube Compass Christian Church, Louisville, Kentucky Barlow, Explore What We Believe Pastor Victor Gluckin Living Faith Christian Church, Warwick, Rhode Island Gluckin, Follow the Way of Jesus This week’s thinking music is “Midnight Relax Blues Jazz” by Auroson Music.

3 John 1:1-15 | What YOU've Done for Him… Still MATTERSThe quiet things YOU did for God did not go unnoticed.YOU may think they did. YOU served when no one was watching. YOU gave when it cost YOU something. YOU opened YOUR home, YOUR time, YOUR resources to people who could do nothing for YOU in return — and then YOU moved on, never expecting anyone to remember, half-wondering if it even made a difference. And somewhere along the way, YOU started to believe that the faithful things YOU do in secret simply disappear into the air.3 John was written to someone exactly like that.It is a short letter, easy to overlook, written to a person whose whole life was marked by quiet faithfulness. He was not famous. He was not a leader with a platform. He simply took care of people who were doing God's work — strangers, travelers, servants of the Lord passing through — and he did it with a kind of love that asked for nothing back. He probably had no idea anyone had noticed.Here is what most people miss.His quiet faithfulness had been reported. The very people he served had gone and told others about his love — his kindness had traveled ahead of him and reached ears he never intended it to reach. What he thought was private had been seen. What he assumed was forgotten had been remembered and celebrated. And he was told directly that what he was doing genuinely mattered to God — that his care for God's servants was, in fact, faithfulness to God Himself.What YOU do for God's work, God receives as done for Him.But this letter does not stop there. Because it also holds up a warning — a sharp contrast, in the form of someone who did the exact opposite. Someone who loved position more than people, who refused to help, and who even pushed out those who tried to. Two people in the same short letter, remembered forever for opposite reasons — and the difference between them is a question this message will put directly to YOU.There is a specific line in this letter about what those who keep doing good actually prove about themselves — and about the reward attached to a life of quiet faithfulness — that will completely change how YOU see every unseen thing YOU have ever done for God.What was reported about him? What was the warning? And what does the good YOU do quietly actually prove about whose YOU are?Press play — because what YOU've done for Him still matters, and it did not go unnoticed. This message will show YOU why YOUR quiet faithfulness was seen, remembered, and received by God as done for Him.

Break The Coat | Let the Living Water Flow | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas

Philippians 4:10-19 | YOUR Needs Are Not Bigger Than God's SUPPLYYOU have been measuring YOUR need — and it keeps looking bigger than anything that could meet it.That is where the fear lives. YOU add it up. YOU look at what YOU have against what YOU owe, what YOU need against what is coming in, and the gap looks impossible. And the longer YOU stare at the size of the need, the more convinced YOU become that this is the one thing too big for God to cover. But this passage says YOU have been measuring the wrong thing.Philippians 4 ends with one of the most quoted promises in the entire Bible — and one of the most misunderstood.Because most people hear it as a nice sentiment: God will take care of you. But look at what the promise is actually measured against. It does not say God will supply according to the size of YOUR need. It does not say according to what is realistic, or what is left over, or what makes sense on paper. It says according to a completely different measure — a source so vast that the size of YOUR need becomes almost irrelevant next to it.The supply was never tied to the size of YOUR problem. It is tied to the size of His riches.Here is what most people miss. Before that promise is ever given, the person writing it shares a secret he had to learn — a way of living that most people never discover — that allowed him to be completely steady whether he had everything or almost nothing. He was not writing this from a place of abundance. He was writing it having known real lack. And the secret he learned in those seasons is the exact thing that unlocks the promise for YOU.But there is something else — a specific condition surrounding this promise that most people skip right over.This famous promise of supply was not spoken into a vacuum. It was attached to something specific these people had done — a way they had partnered, participated, and given into the mission of God when no one else would. The promise of "all your needs supplied" came directly on the heels of their willingness to be part of what God was doing. And that connection is the key that most people miss entirely when they claim this verse.There is a link in this passage between what YOU pour out and what God pours back — and between the secret of contentment and the promise of supply — that will completely change the way YOU look at both the need in front of YOU and the riches behind it.What was the secret he learned? What is the supply actually measured against? And what is the condition attached to the promise most people quote but never fully receive?Press play — because YOUR needs are not bigger than God's supply. This message will show YOU what the promise is really measured against, and why the source behind it makes YOUR biggest need look small.

Luke 8:1-3 | God Didn't Bring YOU This Far Just to WATCHYOU have been on the receiving end for a long time. God is about to move YOU to the other side of it.YOU know what it is to be helped. YOU have been carried, healed, provided for, rescued more times than YOU can count. And somewhere along the way, without meaning to, YOU settled into the role of the one who receives — watching what God does, grateful for it, but standing on the sidelines of the mission itself. As if YOUR job was to be blessed, and someone else's job was to build. But God did not bring YOU this far just to watch.Luke 8 reveals something about how God works that most people have completely overlooked.There is a detail in this passage that quietly corrects a belief a lot of people hold without ever questioning it. The most powerful ministry that ever walked the earth — one that healed the sick, multiplied food out of nothing, and had the very Son of God at the center of it — was sustained in an ordinary, surprising way. Not by miracles falling from the sky every morning. By people. By ordinary people who had been touched, choosing to give from what they had.Here is what most people miss.God could have provided for that mission any way He wanted. He could have made money appear, made provision fall like rain, removed every need supernaturally. But that is not the pattern He chose. Instead, He moved on the hearts of people whose lives had been changed — and invited them to become part of what He was doing. The very ones who had been healed became the ones who carried the mission forward. What they had received turned them from spectators into partners.And here is the part that will surprise YOU: it was not only about money.Some gave financially. But others gave something else entirely — a home, a meal, a place to stay, an act of service, something practical they already possessed. Across these passages, ordinary people used the ordinary things in their lives — their resources, their homes, their hands, their time — to sustain a move of God. Not one of them did something flashy. But without them, the mission would not have gone forward the way it did. Their part mattered more than they ever knew.That is the truth God wants to settle in YOU. There is a role only YOU can fill in what He is doing right now — and it is built out of exactly what is already in YOUR hands. YOU were not just meant to benefit from the move of God. YOU were meant to be part of it.What was the surprising way the greatest ministry was sustained? What did ordinary people give? And what has God placed in YOUR hands that He is inviting YOU to use for something bigger than YOURSELF?Press play — because God did not bring YOU this far just to watch. This message will show YOU why YOUR part matters, and how the very things already in YOUR life are exactly what God wants to partner with.

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Genesis 40:13-23 | What Made YOU Wait… Is Setting Up Something GREATERYOU thought the wait was over — and then it got longer.That is the part that almost broke YOU. It is one thing to wait. It is another thing entirely to think YOUR breakthrough has finally arrived — to see the door crack open, to feel the shift coming — and then watch it slip away and leave YOU exactly where YOU were. Forgotten. Overlooked. Still waiting, after YOU were so sure the waiting was done. And that second stretch of waiting is the one that makes YOU wonder if God forgot about YOU entirely.Genesis 40 ends in exactly that place.Someone had done everything right. He used his gift, helped someone in their moment of need, and did it with excellence and integrity while still stuck in his own hard place. And he made one simple request: when things turn around for you, remember me. It was reasonable. It was deserved. And the person he helped walked straight out into their breakthrough — and completely forgot he existed.The one connection that could have set him free forgot all about him.Here is what most people miss. That forgetting was not a failure of his breakthrough. It was the protection of a much bigger one. Because if he had been remembered right then, he would have gotten a small, quiet exit — a favor, a footnote, freedom through a side door. What the delay was actually doing was holding him in position for a moment that had not arrived yet — a moment so much larger that the early exit would have completely disqualified him from it.The wait was not punishment. It was placement.And there is a specific detail about the timing of what came next — how long the additional wait lasted, and the exact moment his name finally came up again — that reveals something staggering about how God uses delay. He was not forgotten. He was being saved for a door so much bigger than the one that closed that the whole painful wait suddenly made sense in a single moment.Because the thing that made him wait was quietly setting up something greater than the thing he originally asked for.There is a reason God let the first door close. There is a reason the wait got longer right when it should have ended. And once YOU understand what that delay was actually protecting, YOU will stop reading YOUR wait as rejection and start seeing it as preparation for something bigger than what YOU have been asking for.Why did the door close? How long did the wait actually last? And what was the delay setting up that a quick exit would have cost him?Press play — because what made YOU wait is setting up something greater. This message will show YOU why the delay that felt like being forgotten may be the very thing positioning YOU for a door far bigger than the one YOU thought YOU lost.

Genesis 39:19-23 | What Looked Like PUNISHMENT… Became YOUR PROMOTIONYOU are being treated like YOU did something wrong when YOU didn't.That is one of the hardest places to stand. YOU kept YOUR integrity. YOU did the right thing. And instead of being rewarded, YOU got demoted — sent to a lower place, handed a harder season, treated like a punishment that YOU never earned. And everything about it screams that this is the end of YOUR story: unfair, undeserved, and going nowhere but down.Genesis 39 is the passage that redefines that exact moment.Someone had just been thrown into the lowest place available — punished for a crime he never committed, sent to a dungeon on the word of a lie, with no trial, no defense, and no one to speak for him. It was the bottom. By every appearance, it was punishment in its purest form: unjust, humiliating, and final. Anyone looking at his life in that moment would have said God had abandoned him.But something went down into that low place with him.Here is what most people miss. The prison did not become a place of despair. It became a place of rising. In the very location that was meant to bury him, favor found him again. The person in charge began to notice something different about him, and step by step, he was given more and more responsibility — until the one who was thrown in as a prisoner was quietly running the entire place. The punishment had become a position.What looked like the bottom was actually a training ground.Because the skills he built, the trust he earned, and the character that was formed in that low place were the exact things he would need for the enormous thing God was preparing him for next. He did not know it yet, but the prison was not a detour away from his destiny. It was the direct road to it. The demotion was disguised preparation.There is a specific reason everything he touched in that place began to prosper — a single factor named in this passage that had nothing to do with his circumstances and everything to do with what was with him — and once YOU understand what it was, YOU will stop measuring YOUR season by how low it looks and start looking for the thing that followed YOU into it.What went into the prison with him? Why did everything he touched there succeed? And what if the punishment YOU are enduring is actually the promotion YOU have been praying for, in disguise?Press play — because what looked like punishment became a promotion. This message will show YOU why the low place YOU are in may be the exact place God is positioning YOU to rise — and what has to be with YOU for it to happen.

Reset Your Soil | Rooted Strength | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas

The Old Testament set clear expectations for what the Messiah would do. Although Jesus did not fulfil many of these expectations, we have good reason to believe he will when he returns because of his resurrection from the dead. The messianic prophecies of the Old Testament set our expectations for what the Messiah will do. 1.      He will righteously rule over the kingdom of Judah forever from Zion (1 Chron 17:12, 14; Jer 23:5; Dan 7:14; Mic 5:2; Zech 9:9; Ps 2:6; 110:2). 2.      He will descend from Israel, Judah, Jesse, David, and Bethlehem (Num 24:17; Gen 49:10; Isa 11:1; 1 Chron 17:11; Jer 23:5; Mic 5:2). 3.      He will bring lasting peace, safety, and care for the people (Jer 23:6; Mic 5:4-5; Zech 9:10; Ps 72:7). 4.      He will judge the people fairly and execute justice, especially for the needy (Isa 11:4-5; Jer 23:5; Ps 72:2, 4, 12-14). 5.      He will have dominion to the ends of the earth, even over the nations (Dan 7:14; Zech 9:10; Ps 2:8-9; Ps 72:8-11). 6.      He will bring abundance of grain and fruit and prosperity for the people (Ps 72:3, 6, 15-16). 7.      He will be famous and renowned to the ends of the earth (Isa 11:10; Mic 5:4; Ps 72:17). 8.      He will be a son to God and God will be a father to him (1 Chron 17:13; Ps 2:7). Jesus's ministry was full of messianic activity, including preaching about the kingdom of God, teaching people how to live in the kingdom, healing the sick, raising the dead, and restoring outcasts back to God. However, his most direct messianic claim occurred when he rode a donkey into Jerusalem at his triumphal entry. Although his crucifixion publicly undermined his messianic claim, his resurrection was how God vindicated him as the true Messiah. Thus, we look for his return to fulfill what remains of his messianic destiny. Pastor Sean uses the Bible version NRSVueThe post The Gospel 6: Jesus, Resurrected Messiah first appeared on Living Hope.

In this special Presbytery Sunday service, Pastor Sean Gleason leads Mercy Culture Waco through a powerful time of prophetic ministry, drawing from 1 Timothy 4 and Acts 13. He unpacks what presbytery is, explaining that it is a council of mature spiritual leaders who prayerfully and prophetically affirm the calling of God on a person's life through the laying on of hands and prophetic ministry. Pastor Sean reminds the congregation that prophecy is not reserved for a select few, but that every believer can hear the voice of God and that prophetic words from leaders serve to confirm what God has already been speaking in your personal daily encounters. Through visiting pastors Brandon and Nellie from the Fort Worth campus, the church witnessed powerful prophetic ministry over several individuals and couples, with words centered on faithfulness, fruitfulness, the removal of fear and hesitation, intercession, boldness, and the call to step forward into what God has already prepared. The congregation also received a corporate prophetic word declaring that a new wineskin and new wine are coming to Waco, a season of soul winning, more oil, more presence, and a greater hunger to share the gospel with the city. The vision of Mercy Culture is to take people from corporate encounters with God to daily personal encounters with God. At Mercy Culture, one of our unique characteristics is that we are a presence driven church. We are not built around any person or ministry. We are built around the presence of God. Each week, you will hear a teaching from our Lead Pastors, Sean and Natalie Gleason or another leader in our community. To learn more about Mercy Culture, visit https://mercyculturewaco.com

In this special Presbytery Sunday service, Pastor Sean Gleason leads Mercy Culture Waco through a powerful time of prophetic ministry, drawing from 1 Timothy 4 and Acts 13. Visiting pastors Brandon and Nellie Grulé from the Fort Worth campus minister prophetic words over several individuals, couples, and the congregation, with themes of faithfulness, fruitfulness, clarity, new seasons, and the courage to step into calling. Pastor Sean reminds the church that prophetic words from leaders serve to confirm what God has already been speaking in the secret place of your daily encounters. Through words submitted over individuals and couples, the congregation witnessed powerful prophetic ministry centered on stepping forward in calling, the removal of fear and white noise in daily encounters, the breathing of new life into dry and weary places, and the Lord publicly honoring faithfulness that had gone unseen. The Waco campus also received a corporate prophetic word declaring that a new wineskin is required for the new wine being poured out, that more oil, more souls, and more victory are coming to the city, and that a season of soul winning and hunger for the gospel is at hand. The vision of Mercy Culture is to take people from corporate encounters with God to daily personal encounters with God. At Mercy Culture, one of our unique characteristics is that we are a presence driven church. We are not built around any person or ministry. We are built around the presence of God. Each week, you will hear a teaching from our Lead Pastors, Sean and Natalie Gleason or another leader in our community. To learn more about Mercy Culture, visit https://mercyculturewaco.com