Have you ever felt like Jesus was absent at the time you needed him the most? Have you ever unknowingly placed limitations on Jesus’ ability to deliver you from your difficult circumstances? This week, we are pausing our current series Letters From Jesus to have a conversation around Dr. Tara Jenkin’s message from Sunday. In her message entitled, “Thriller,” Dr. Jenkins detailed the narrative of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead found in John 11. We will discover that Jesus desires to move in our life to ultimately display the glory of God and to demonstrate His faithfulness.

Life with Jesus is a marathon, not a sprint. Every day, we should be striving to grow closer to Jesus. Spiritual growth takes time, and in spite of our best efforts, it will not happen overnight. In this episode, Pastor Christian digs deeper into Jesus' letter to the church at Sardis approximately 2,000 years ago. Jesus challenged the early Christians to not give up growing in their faith and to finish what they had started. This challenge for spiritual growth remains for us today.

We love to receive recognition and rewards for accomplishments we have achieved. From athletic achievements to career successes, rewards are symbols of victory and acknowledge the hard work and discipline required for the accomplishment. In this podcast, Pastor Christian discusses the future evaluation of our deeds both good and bad and the rewards we can receive for our life on this earth.

The church at Pergamum was immersed in a culture that was absorbed by the worship of knowledge, false god’s and Caesar. Jesus wrote the church a letter and challenged them to be victorious by remaining true to his name without renouncing their faith. This same challenge exists for the church today. In todays podcast, Pastor Christian challenges us to guard our hearts closely so that Satan cannot establish a throne.

The church at Smryna was known for the suffering they experienced because of their faith in God. Jesus wrote a letter to encourage them to endure until the end so that they would receive the victor's crown. This week on the podcast, we will discover that following Jesus is not always easy and may bring trials and suffering. However, we should embrace and endure our suffering so that we will also receive the reward of eternal life with Jesus.

The distinguishing trait of the church at Ephesus was that they had lost their first love and that they were simply going through the motions of "doing" church. In this episode, Pastor Christian continues his series entitled "Letters From Jesus" and challenges us to avoid simply going through the motions of our faith.

This week, Pastor Christian launches a new season of Activate podcasts at Journey Church International. We will begin a dialogue about our series entitled "Letters from Jesus." In this series we will take a closer look at the seven letters that Jesus wrote to the early churches found in Revelation 2-3. In this episode, Pastor Christian will show us through the life of John, the author of Revelation, that our "spirit to receive" must be greater than our desire to retreat when life is not meeting our expectations.

In our final podcast of the season, Pastor Christian discusses the lessons we can learn from Ehud, the second Judge of Israel. We will learn that God will often use our perceived disadvantage for His divine advantage. We learn that an ounce of faith can produce an ocean of results. Finally, we will discuss how God can use our faith to signal others to follow.

Pastor Christian shares his reflections on the past week at Student Camp in Florida. We also discuss Sunday's message titled "Just Keep Swimming" as we continue to study the book of Judges and learn from the heroes of our faith. Pastor Christian explains why forward movement is so important in our walk with Jesus.

The ancient history book of Judges provides a vivid description of the cycle of sin for the nation of Israel. If we aren't careful, the same cycle can be a picture of our lives spiritually. This week we begin to discuss themes from the book of Judges and the powerful lessons we can learn from the past so we can know how to live today.