Podcasts about pursuing god

If you’re feeling restless or weighed down tonight, you’re not alone. This biblical sleep meditation, narrated by Lonein Lara, is designed to help your body relax and your mind rest in the peace of God’s Word. Join us for a beautiful walk along Italy’s Amalfi Coast as we hear powerful Scriptures confirming the gospel of Christ in our hearts. With deep conviction, be renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit in love and hope. Abide is a Christian meditation app offering biblically grounded meditations and sleep stories to help you experience the peace of Christ and find rest for your soul. Try Abide free for 30 days and explore our premium, ad-free sleep content here: https://abide.com/peaceDiscover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us

Solomon identified five financial traps that quietly keep people stuck. Impulsiveness, buying something you don't need because the deal seemed too good to pass up. Stubbornness, refusing to follow a plan because pride gets in the way. Laziness, skipping responsibility and hoping things work out anyway. Self-indulgence, spending everything on yourself until there's nothing left. And craftiness, chasing get-rich-quick schemes instead of doing the steady work. The answer to why you never seem to have enough almost always comes down to management, not income. Generally, it isn't that you don't have enough. It's what you do have that hasn't been handled well. God wants to bless and multiply what you have, but He can't multiply what you aren't managing faithfully. It all comes down to consistency with what's already in your hands.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Income goes up and spending rises to meet it. Nicer restaurants, newer cars, better vacations, upgraded everything. None of it is wrong in isolation. But when the love of comfort quietly becomes the organizing principle of your finances, you end up with a life that looks successful from the outside and feels precarious from the inside. Solomon warned about this in Proverbs: whoever loves pleasure will become poor. He wasn't warning against enjoyment. He was warning against making enjoyment the point of money. Enjoyment is a gift. It makes a terrible master. Most of us don't actually need more income. We need to be honest about the difference between a need, a want, and a desire. So here's a practical challenge: look at last month's bank statement and label each major category. Need, want, or desire. You don't have to change everything today. Just see it clearly.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Most people want to be generous. They see a need, feel the pull, and wish they could do something. But the money isn't there when the moment arrives. Not because their hearts are closed but because their margins are too thin. Savings changes that. When a friend hits a crisis, when someone in your church loses a job and needs help with rent, the person with reserves can respond. They can say yes when God prompts them to give instead of "I wish I could." Saving isn't just self-protection. At its best it is preparation for generosity. Proverbs puts it simply: a wise person saves for the future but a foolish person spends whatever they get. So identify even five percent of your monthly income you could redirect into savings before you spend anything else. Make it a decision that's already been made before temptation arrives.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Flocks don't disappear all at once. One sheep wanders. Another gets sick. The pasture gets overgrazed. And if the shepherd isn't paying attention, he looks up one day, and the herd is half what it used to be, with no single moment he can point to when it went wrong. That is exactly how financial erosion works. It's rarely one catastrophic decision. It's the slow bleed of unexamined spending and the quiet assumption that things are probably okay. Proverbs says know the condition of your flocks. Know your income. Know your real expenses. Know your debts. Because a lack of planning isn't bad luck. It's a decision. When we fail to plan, we are essentially deciding to be surprised. And being surprised financially is expensive. So here's the honest question: do you actually know what you have?Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

In 1923, some of the wealthiest men in the world gathered in a Chicago hotel, collectively controlling more than the entire US Treasury. Twenty-seven years later, two had died penniless, two had been imprisoned, and three had taken their own lives. They knew how to make money. None of them ever had enough to make them happy. That tells us the question "why don't I have enough?" goes much deeper than "I don't make enough." Jesus said to be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves. Shrewdness is clear-eyed, intentional thinking about money. Innocence is the guardrail that keeps shrewdness from becoming greed. Together they produce the kind of financial faithfulness Jesus was pointing toward. So before anything else, here's the honest question: do you actually know where your money is going?Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Romans 8:28 says God works all things together for good for those who have been called according to His purpose. We reach for the comfort of that first part and skip past the foundation of it. The calling isn't incidental to the promise. It's what makes the promise possible. You were foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and glorified. Five links, no gaps. And your calling sits right in the middle of a plan that was already ancient before your first breath. There will be seasons when you can't feel it, when circumstances make it seem impossible, when you wonder if you misheard. But your calling is not contingent on your consistency. It is held in place by the faithfulness of the One who issued it. You may waver. The call does not. So what is one concrete step you will take this week in response to what God has been stirring in you?Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Moses had his doubts. Isaiah felt completely unworthy standing in the presence of God. Gideon couldn't believe the call was for him. And yet God used every one of them. Because the call was never a question of whether the project could be done. It was a question of whether their faith would let God do it through them. Doubts and hesitation are normal. But too often they become a smoke screen. We don't want to say no to God, but the uncertainty keeps us from saying yes. Here's what Isaiah discovered though: when he laid his doubts before the Lord, God did the cleansing. He doesn't need you to be perfect. He needs you to be willing. Commitment costs something. But what it costs is always less than what it returns.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Wherever you are today, this biblical meditation, narrated by Lonein Lara, offers a quiet space to pause and reconnect with God. Do you love pleasure more than you love God? Meditate on 2 Timothy 3:4. Abide is a Christian meditation app that helps you experience peace and grow in your relationship with Christ through Scripture, prayer, and reflection. Try Abide free for 30 days and explore our premium, ad-free meditations here: https://abide.com/peace Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Gideon couldn't believe the call was for him. His tribe was the weakest. He was the least in his family. And God didn't argue with any of that. He didn't say you're wrong, you're actually quite capable. He simply said I will be with you. The issue was never Gideon's résumé. It was God's presence. That is the consistent logic of calling throughout Scripture. He doesn't call the equipped. He equips the called. And the equipment He provides is Himself. Most of us quietly assume the call is for somebody else, our neighbor, our Sunday school teacher, the more qualified person in the room. But the need you keep noticing might be coming to your attention for a reason. The call is not asking you to be ready. It's asking you to be willing.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Wherever you are today, this biblical meditation, narrated by Tyler Boss, offers a quiet space to pause and reconnect with God. Do you feel trapped? Meditate on Psalm 135:15-18. Abide is a Christian meditation app that helps you experience peace and grow in your relationship with Christ through Scripture, prayer, and reflection. Try Abide free for 30 days and explore our premium, ad-free meditations here: https://abide.com/peace Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Elijah had just called down fire from heaven. And then he collapsed under a broom tree and told God he had nothing left. God's response wasn't a rebuke. He let him sleep, sent an angel to feed him, and said the journey is too much for you. And when God finally spoke, it wasn't in the earthquake or the fire. It was in the still small voice. The wilderness stripped away the noise. The exhaustion stripped away self-sufficiency. God had to get Elijah quiet before He could get Elijah moving again. That pattern hasn't changed. The people most ready to hear God's call are rarely the ones standing on the mountain in triumph. They're often the ones sitting in the dust, depleted, wondering if any of it matters. So here's the honest question: have you put yourself in a position where you can actually hear Him?Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Ephesians 2:10 says we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which He prepared in advance for us to do. That word handiwork in the original Greek is poiema, the root of our word poem. A masterpiece. You are not an accident. You are not a rough draft. Built into the very design of who you are is a purpose God prepared before you ever took your first breath. So if you've been feeling that restlessness, that sense that there's something more you're supposed to be doing, don't dismiss it. That may be your original design waking up. God's call isn't just for young people figuring out their next step. It's for parents, retirees, single adults, and everyone in between who senses that God isn't finished with them yet. The question was never whether He has something for you. The question is whether you're paying attention.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

What did you think of today's message? Support the showWith Northgate Online, you can join us every Sunday live at 9:00a and 11:00a, and our gatherings are available on-demand starting at 7p! Join us at https://thisis.churchSubscribe to our channel to see more messages from Northgate: https://www.youtube.com/@Northgate2201  —If you would like to give, visit https://thisis.church/give/—Check out our Care Ministries for prayer, food pantry, memorial services and more at https://thisis.church/care—You are welcome at Northgate just like you are. Life may be going great for you or you may have hurts, hang-ups, and habits. No matter where you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome at Northgate. We value the process of journey. We believe in the transformative power of Christ. Northgate has a clear vision of transforming our homes, communities, and world by Pursuing God, Building Community, and Unleashing Compassion.—Follow Northgate on Instagram: https://instgram.com/ngatecfFollow Northgate on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisIsNorthgate/Follow Larry Davis: https://www.instagram.com/sirlawrencedavisSubscribe to Northgate's Podcast (Apple): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/northgate/id1583512612Subscribe to Northgate's Podcast (Google): https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS81ODE2ODAucnNzShare your experience with Northgate by leaving a review: https://g.page/r/CRHE7UBydhxzEBM/review...

On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and quoted the prophet Joel: in the last days God will pour out His Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Of all the texts he could have chosen, he chose that one. And when the Holy Spirit came, women were in that room and filled with the Spirit alongside the men. The early church gave roles based on gifts, not gender. Priscilla taught men at a seminary level. Lydia launched the first church in Philippi. The four daughters of Philip preached and prophesied. Sin had disrupted what God originally designed. But Jesus came to restore it. Galatians 3 puts it plainly: there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. So women, God knit you together with gifts and talents this world and this church desperately need. Be all who God made you to be.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Welcome back T&J fam! This week start on a slowly and more somber note. Marty has not had the best week and it becomes Josh's responsibility to lift the spirits. We fail in that attempt and just talk about shoes for a while. Then, Josh sees if Marty can list the 10 Commandments and questions what there purpose is in scripture. This leads to a discussion on conviction, guilt, and shame and what factors into people changing. We discuss repentance and how we should be turning towards God, but sometimes are just pursuing God because we are actually trying to avoid Hell and Satan. Feel free to drop us your thoughts to the address below. Enjoy! tattoosandjesuspodcast@gmail.com

Some men carry an arrogance about women that is simply wrong. Others leave all the spiritual work to the women in their lives and call it fine. And many women have spent years carrying false messages that labeled them small, insignificant, and second-class. None of it lines up with Jesus. He was the most powerful man who ever lived, and he used that power to lift women up, not hold them down. That's the standard. So here's a word for the men: treat your female colleagues, your wife, your daughters, the way Jesus treated women. Spiritual work is men's work too. And here's a word for the women: you don't need to shrink. God made you, gifted you, and loves you. He wants you to be a dangerous tool for good in this world. Don't buy the lie that says otherwise. Be who God made you to be.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Rabbis in Jesus' day taught that it was better to burn the Torah than teach it to a woman. Jewish men prayed, thanking God they hadn't been made a Gentile, a slave, or a woman. A devout rabbi wouldn't even speak to a woman in public. And into that world steps Jesus. He speaks with a Samaritan woman at a well. He travels with women. He counts them among his closest friends. And then at the single most important moment in all of human history, when the greatest announcement ever made needed a messenger, he chose women. In a culture where women couldn't even serve as witnesses in a legal proceeding, Jesus trusted them to be the first eyewitnesses of the resurrection and the first to carry the news that he was alive. As Dorothy Sayers wrote, it is no wonder women were first at the cradle and last at the cross. They had never known a man like this.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Before sin entered the world and corrupted everything, God made something clear. He created human beings in His own image, male and female, blessed them both, and told them both to fill the earth and rule over creation together. Not the man over the woman. Both of them over creation. Co-regents. And that word helper used to describe the woman? It's used throughout the Old Testament to refer to God himself. Helper doesn't mean assistant. It means someone without whom you cannot do what you were made to do. The ruling of one man over one woman wasn't God's design. It was the result of the fall. Marriage was never meant to be a duo but a trio: God, husband, and wife, ruling over creation together as one. So how does knowing that men and women were made equally in the image of God, designed from the very beginning for a shared life and shared purpose, change the way you see yourself and the people around you?Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

In some churches today, women still can't serve communion. In the church Gene grew up in, men made the financial and leadership decisions while women washed the baptism robes and decorated for Christmas. Many women, not just from the culture around them but from the church itself, have received the message over and over that they are small, insignificant, and second-class. That message is not from Jesus. Paul writes in Galatians 3 that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female. That is not a peripheral verse. It is a declaration at the very heart of the gospel. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. Any message that tells a woman she is less valuable, less capable, or less welcomed by God is not a gospel message. It is a contradiction of it. This week, we're looking honestly at what Jesus really said about women, and it might surprise you.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

What did you think of today's message? Support the showWith Northgate Online, you can join us every Sunday live at 9:00a and 11:00a, and our gatherings are available on-demand starting at 7p! Join us at https://thisis.churchSubscribe to our channel to see more messages from Northgate: https://www.youtube.com/@Northgate2201  —If you would like to give, visit https://thisis.church/give/—Check out our Care Ministries for prayer, food pantry, memorial services and more at https://thisis.church/care—You are welcome at Northgate just like you are. Life may be going great for you or you may have hurts, hang-ups, and habits. No matter where you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome at Northgate. We value the process of journey. We believe in the transformative power of Christ. Northgate has a clear vision of transforming our homes, communities, and world by Pursuing God, Building Community, and Unleashing Compassion.—Follow Northgate on Instagram: https://instgram.com/ngatecfFollow Northgate on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisIsNorthgate/Follow Larry Davis: https://www.instagram.com/sirlawrencedavisSubscribe to Northgate's Podcast (Apple): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/northgate/id1583512612Subscribe to Northgate's Podcast (Google): https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS81ODE2ODAucnNzShare your experience with Northgate by leaving a review: https://g.page/r/CRHE7UBydhxzEBM/review...

When John Fawcett loaded his possessions onto a moving cart to leave the small congregation he had served for seven years, he began his goodbyes. And then it was too much. He unloaded the cart and stayed. He never left. He died there fifty-four years later and wrote a hymn that captured what he felt: Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. Joined in heart, and the hope to meet again. That is the hope of Christian relationships. But here's the foundation underneath all of it: you can only build this kind of relationship if you are in Jesus. Without that, even the deepest bonds are still temporary. With it, every friendship formed in the body of Christ carries the promise of eternity. So take an honest look at your church community. Are you knowing people, loving them in action, and genuinely concerned for their well-being? Pick one relationship this weekend and decide to invest in it more deeply.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive. Most of us would nod along quickly, but very few of us have actually built our lives around it. The word blessed here doesn't just mean happy. It means deeply satisfied, living in the fullness of what you were created for. The giver is the one living the richest life. Paul never stopped being concerned for the Ephesian elders, even while he was away. His concern wasn't just emotional. It showed up in his teaching, his warnings, his prayers, and ultimately his sacrifice. That's what genuine concern looks like. It builds something in a person that outlasts your presence. So think about someone in your life right now who might be feeling slow and low and stuck. Not just a passing thought or a prayer from a distance. What would real, active concern look like for that person this week?Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Four donkeys shared a pasture but kept to their own corners, eyeing each other with suspicion. Then the weather turned foul. Cold, wind-driven rain with nowhere to shelter except with each other. By morning, all four were huddled together. In a crisis, mutual jealousy and strangeness were forgotten. We need that kind of breakthrough in the church, but we shouldn't need a crisis to get there. The Ephesian elders walked thirty miles just to see Paul one final time. He wept over them, prayed for them, and loved them deeply. That's love in action. And if our love isn't in action, it's worth asking whether it's really love at all. So think about someone in your church community toward whom your love has been more talk than action. A phone call. A text. Showing up. What would one concrete step look like this week?Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Paul said to the Ephesian elders: "You know how I lived when I was with you." That statement only works if you've actually spent real time together. Over three years, they had come to know him as a servant, a teacher, an evangelist, and a sacrificer. And he knew them just as deeply. That kind of mutual knowledge is what made their farewell so emotionally raw. It's also what makes real community possible. But you'll never get there if your involvement is limited to darting in five minutes before church and heading straight for the car when the final song is over. Here's the challenge: stay fifteen extra minutes this weekend. Introduce yourself to someone you don't know. Get into a small group. Grab coffee with someone this week. Just one step. Because the eternal relationships God designed us for don't happen by accident.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

The person sitting next to you at church this weekend is someone you'll be spending eternity with. That new believer who doesn't know anybody yet needs you to reach out. And that Christian you've had a sharp disagreement with, the one you've criticized behind their back, God is probably going to tell you to spend the next thousand years with them and work it out. The relationships we build in the body of Christ aren't just for a season. They're eternal. Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 is one of the most emotionally raw moments in all of Scripture. Three years of deep ministry together, and now a final goodbye, he knew was permanent. That kind of bond doesn't happen by accident. So think of one person in your church community you've let distance grow with. Because if you're going to spend forever together, building something real now seems like a pretty good place to start.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

What did you think of today's message? Support the showWith Northgate Online, you can join us every Sunday live at 9:00a and 11:00a, and our gatherings are available on-demand starting at 7p! Join us at https://thisis.churchSubscribe to our channel to see more messages from Northgate: https://www.youtube.com/@Northgate2201  —If you would like to give, visit https://thisis.church/give/—Check out our Care Ministries for prayer, food pantry, memorial services and more at https://thisis.church/care—You are welcome at Northgate just like you are. Life may be going great for you or you may have hurts, hang-ups, and habits. No matter where you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome at Northgate. We value the process of journey. We believe in the transformative power of Christ. Northgate has a clear vision of transforming our homes, communities, and world by Pursuing God, Building Community, and Unleashing Compassion.—Follow Northgate on Instagram: https://instgram.com/ngatecfFollow Northgate on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisIsNorthgate/Follow Larry Davis: https://www.instagram.com/sirlawrencedavisSubscribe to Northgate's Podcast (Apple): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/northgate/id1583512612Subscribe to Northgate's Podcast (Google): https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS81ODE2ODAucnNzShare your experience with Northgate by leaving a review: https://g.page/r/CRHE7UBydhxzEBM/review...

The Purpose of Pursuing God by Jacques Jacobs

Powerless is not a terrible place to end up. It's actually the beginning of something. The Bible teaches that by admitting weakness you access strength you never had before. Not your strength. God's. When you finally release your white-knuckled grip on the problem and say "I can't do this," that's when He can. Think about the person who spends three hours assembling furniture before looking at the instructions. The pile of mysterious leftover hardware grows, and the bookshelf leans slightly to the left. The moment the instructions come out is the moment actual progress begins. Not because they're magic, but because the admission that you needed them was the thing blocking everything else. The cycles that have repeated themselves in your life can change. But only when you stop trying to be your own solution.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

The road to recovery always starts with the same admission: I am powerless. That's not a defeat statement. It's the most liberating sentence you may ever say. Here's what makes it so hard though: we settle the biggest question of existence with God and then spend the rest of our days trying to manage everything else on our own. Good intentions aren't enough. Willpower isn't enough. You need a source of power beyond yourself. You were made to need God, and admitting that isn't weakness. It's the door to everything.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

"I can handle it. I can stop the spending, the drinking, the gambling, let go of the hurt, any time I want." What we're really saying is: I'm quite capable of being God myself. And that's actually humanity's oldest problem. It goes all the way back to the Garden. The desire to call the shots, control the image, manage the pain, fix the problem without any outside help. But here's the hard truth: if you could handle this, you would have already. If you could get out any time you wanted, you'd be out by now. The fact that it's still there is the evidence. We don't change when we see the light. We change when we feel the heat. Pain is God's megaphone. So ask yourself honestly: has your attempt to control this situation been making it better or worse?Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

David committed adultery, had the woman's husband murdered, and told himself he was doing just fine. It took a friend named Nathan, someone more committed to truth-telling than to keeping the peace, to say: you've sinned and you don't even know it. And here's the remarkable part: David didn't fire back. He humbled himself and said, you're right. He later wrote that his dishonesty had made him miserable and filled his days with frustration. Most of us have surrounded ourselves with mirrors that only show our best angle. And we've been walking out the door for years with something on our face that everyone else can see and nobody will say. So ask yourself honestly: have you been living in a straitjacket and calling it fine?Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

In this series our foundational thought is that when we are filling empty, we have to remember that God is the only one who can truly fill us. This doesn't stop the temptation to try and be filled by the world though. Last week we talked about our minds, this week we are talking about our eyes. What we fill our eyes with matters. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" Matthew 6:22-23. Our eyes are a pathway to our hearts and the direction we walk in. Vision brings direction. We have to understand that our vision as humans will often lead to wanting the world's desires, which our fading, but pursuing God's vision leads to true life. Pursuing God's vision requires us to trust Him with our lives. Ultimately the vision you see is the version you will be - Key Verses // Matthew 6:22-23 - For Sermon Notes, the Connect Card, and our other online resources: https://linktr.ee/Celebrationchurchlive

The twelve steps come right out of Scripture. The Bible is the original recovery manual. And the steps to recovery are always the same regardless of what you need recovery from. So here's the honest question: what has you in a straitjacket? The thing you can't shake, can't quit, can't stop thinking about. From the outside you look fine. But inside something is wrapped around you that you cannot get loose from. The gap between how you appear and how you actually feel is its own kind of exhaustion. Honesty is the beginning of everything. Name the thing.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

A man had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. And before healing him, Jesus asked him something that seems almost strange: do you want to get well? It's as if Jesus was highlighting the man's own responsibility in the matter. He had to choose. Here's what most people miss: when you break the unhealthy cycles in your own life, your children will not have to unlearn what you had to unlearn. You hand them something different. Something better. So do you want to get well? Because one move this week in your most important relationship could be the beginning of something you haven't seen in a long time.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Most of us have never been given practical tools for handling conflict well. Start with prayer,  designate a time and place for a talk, not a debate.  If you feel stuck, seek advice from someone who has the kind of relationships you actually want, not someone who will just take your side. If things still aren't resolving, consider counseling. So this week, pick one of these tools and identify one relationship where you could put it into practice this week.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

04-19-26 What does Pursuing God's heart look like? How can we pursue his heart? What is God's heart? Tune in and feel after the Holy Spirit with this Sunday's message.

Why You Have to Put Your Own Oxygen Mask on First | Pursuing God With Gene AppelEvery flight starts with the same instruction before takeoff: put your own oxygen mask on before helping others. Your relationship with God is the oxygen mask. What you receive from that relationship, the patience, the humility, the spirit of reconciliation, is exactly what you have to give to the people at home. You can't manufacture it on your own. But here's the good news: you don't have to. When you're reconciled to God through Jesus, His Spirit goes to work on the inside, creating a genuine desire not just to be at peace with God but to be at peace with others. So if your relationships are worn down and you're exhausted from trying to hold them together in your own strength, start here.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Most of us handle conflict the way we were taught, even when what we were taught wasn't healthy. There are four styles that show up again and again. The Eskimo, where nobody talks about the tension and everyone just waits for it to thaw. The Cowboy, where you square off and start firing verbal bullets that wound but never resolve. The Escape Artist, who disappears into distraction or shutdown until everyone forgets what the fight was about. And the Manhandler, where physical force or intimidation takes over when the pressure gets too high. Here's what all four have in common: they're rooted in self. They protect, express, numb, or dominate. None of them make space for the other person. None of them move toward reconciliation. So which one do you default to? Awareness is the first step toward change.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Every significant relationship in your life will face a moment of conflict. Marriage, family, friendships. It is not a question of if but when. And without practiced emergency procedures, things spiral fast. Most of us revert to the only conflict management style we ever witnessed, usually whatever was modeled in our families growing up. Even if that script was unhealthy, it's the one we know. But God isn't patching you up. He's restoring the original. And when that restoration begins in you, you start seeing the people around you differently. Not as the damage they've caused, but as people God is also trying to restore. So here's the honest question: what emergency procedures do you actually have in place for when conflict shows up?Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

The Sabbath was never meant to be a burden. Jesus said it was created for our good. The fourth commandment has two instructions buried in it: take time off, and begin worshipping. Not one or the other. Both. Tony Campolo put it simply: we leak. You fill up, burn through it by midweek, and by Friday, you're running on empty. God knows that because He made you. And His solution is a weekly rhythm of rest and worship built right into the design of human life. It's like a tune-up, an oil change, a full tank, every seven days. The wagon trains that mocked the Harrison family for stopping to rest on Sundays didn't arrive first. The Harrisons did, and their animals were in far better condition when they got there. Stopping isn't falling behind. It's how you stay in it for the long haul.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

By Friday afternoon, a lot of us are emotional messes. We just can't see it. Everyone around us can, but we're too depleted to notice. The warning signs are there, though: irritability, impatience, self-pity, loss of perspective, and a vulnerability to temptation. When you're physically tired, your body sends signals, and you want to sleep. But emotional depletion is harder to detect and harder to admit. Dallas Willard pointed out that Jesus was busy but never in a hurry. He took strategic breaks, slipped away to the mountains, and leaned into the rhythm of rest. Dallas's prescription for spiritual growth was simple: ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. Hurry is the enemy of peace, love, joy, and passion. So, when was the last time you truly rested? Not caught up. Not powered through. Actually rested.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

God worked six days creating the world, and on the seventh, He stopped. Not because He was exhausted. God doesn't get tired. He stopped to enjoy what He had made. And if God rested even though He didn't need to, it tells us there is more value in rest than just recovering from physical exertion. Moses says in Exodus 31 that God was refreshed. The literal translation suggests He refreshed Himself. And we are called to imitate that. Here's what trips most of us up, though: we treat rest like a reward for finishing everything on the list. But it's a command, not a prize for productivity. The universe keeps spinning even if you stop. You are not essential, just significant. And there is real freedom in knowing the difference. So is there a day in your week you can genuinely call a rest day, not a catch-up day, not an errand day, but a day of actual renewal?Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

We laugh about being too busy, like it makes us important. We brag about not having a day off in three weeks. We cram our vacations so full that we come home needing to rest. And somewhere along the way, we started believing that the busier we are, the more honorable we are. But God knew from the very beginning that we couldn't run on all eight cylinders seven days a week and still be productive. That's why He built a recharge day into the design. Think about your phone at 5% battery. It still functions like normal right up until it doesn't. And sometimes we play chicken with it anyway because plugging it in feels like a hassle. That's exactly how most of us treat rest. We push until we have nothing left to give. So if you're someone who feels guilty when you stop, the fourth commandment has something important to say to you today.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Most of us have an owner's manual tucked somewhere in the glove compartment. It tells us when to change the oil, rotate the tires, and run the inspections that keep the vehicle running well over the long haul. We follow it because we know what happens when we don't. Here's the thing: the Bible is God's owner's manual for His creation. And the fourth commandment is essentially His maintenance schedule for your life. Take time off. It sounds simple on the surface, but there's a depth to it that speaks directly into the rhythms of modern life. The commandment actually addresses two extremes, too much work and too little, and the Bible has something honest to say to both. So which extreme are you more prone to? Because that's where this week's conversation begins.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Paul writes in Ephesians 5 to make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. He's not just talking about productivity. He's saying the battle for your time is a battle for your heart and soul. Every moment is an opportunity, and once it passes it can never be repeated. There's a story of someone who crossed paths with a woman who had just found out her neighbor died alone, unnoticed for days. He offered a few polite words and moved on to the next thing. The next day Colossians 4:5 showed up in his reading: make the most of every opportunity. It cut deep. So here's the question worth carrying into your weekend. Is there a relationship you've been meaning to invest in? A conversation you've been postponing? A step of faith you keep putting off? Later has a way of never arriving. Now is what we actually have.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Jesus taught multitudes, had dinner with all kinds of people, talked with the poor, the blind, beggars, and tax collectors. And yet we never read that He rushed anywhere. What was His secret? He arose early and slipped away to a place of solitude to pray. Over and over again. Without that daily discipline, we live an unexamined life, busy but not reflective. Paul puts it bluntly in Ephesians 5: “Wake up.” The easiest thing in the world is to drift through life with no discipline. You can have a perfectly good plan written on a perfectly good calendar and still ignore it. Discipline is what moves you from knowing what you should do to actually doing it today. It's not glamorous. But it's the difference between a life that feels reactive and scattered and one that feels intentional and full.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Most people trying to get a handle on their time will sit down, number their priorities one through six, put God first, family second, career third, and call it a plan. But a numbered list doesn't help you navigate the real trade-offs of a real day. Nobody walks up to you with your spouse in one hand and a business contract in the other asking you to choose. Life is full of smaller decisions than that. Paul says in Ephesians 5 to start by understanding what the Lord's will actually is. And here's a thought worth sitting with: God never asks more of us in a given day than we are capable of doing. If you're constantly frustrated for lack of time, maybe you're trying to do more than He's actually asking. The goal isn't to dominate in one area of life. It's to do well across all of them.Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Paul says in Ephesians 5 to be very careful how you live. That word careful implies thought, planning, and advanced decision-making. But most of us are falling into one of four traps that quietly steal our time without us noticing. Procrastination convinces us there's always tomorrow, until suddenly there isn't. Laziness shows up not just as inactivity but as great initiative with no follow-through. Workaholism locks us onto career achievement like a fighter pilot with target fixation, oblivious to everything we're losing in our peripheral vision. And having no plan at all leaves us with a long list of things we always meant to do but never got around to. Real change starts with an honest assessment. So which of these four patterns do you most recognize in yourself?Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.

Thirty years ago, social scientists predicted that technology would automate enough of life that we'd be searching for ways to fill our free time. Then came microwaves, dishwashers, cell phones, laptops, voicemail, and AI. And yet here we are, more pressed for time than ever. The apostle Paul had his own crushing demands, planting churches, writing letters, traveling, being imprisoned, and in Ephesians 5 he cuts straight to it: be careful how you live, making the most of every opportunity. He makes clear that people fall into one of two categories, those who invest their time wisely and those who spend it foolishly. That's a helpful diagnostic. Before anything can change, you have to honestly assess which category you're operating in most of the time. So where is your time actually going? Not where you wish it was going. Where is it actually going?Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside's conviction that God's grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God's presence and activity in your life.