Faith is the power of Prayer

How to R.E.S.T. in Prayer

Pray and Not Lose Heart

How to Pray Like Jesus - Easter 26`

Easter and New Year's look similar from the outside, both feel like a fresh start, a chance to finally get it together. But there's one massive difference: New Year's is all about what you're going to do. Easter is about what's already been done.

In this episode of After the Message, Chad unpacks what actually happens after someone comes to Christ. and why so many believers are still living like they're in the grave even after Jesus called them out of it. Using the moment Jesus raises Lazarus, Chad draws one of the sharpest distinctions in the series: Lazarus was already raised when Jesus said "unbind him." The resurrection was real. The grave clothes were still on.

That's the picture of a believer who knows they're saved but is still walking around bound by old mindsets, old hurts, and old debts they were never meant to carry.

This episode is for anyone who keeps taking two steps forward and two steps back and wonders why the blessings of God feel just out of reach. The problem isn't your standing with God. It's what your soul is still wearing.

What if the most dangerous place in all of Scripture isn't a battlefield or a moment of temptation, but a worship service?

In this episode of After the Message, Chad unpacks one of the most sobering moments in the Gospels: Palm Sunday. The crowds are celebrating. The palm branches are waving. The praise is loud. And Jesus is weeping.

Not because they rejected Him, but because they were right in front of Him and still missed Him entirely.

Using Jesus' parable of the two sons in Matthew 21, we confront the gap between what we say to God and what we actually do and asks the question most of us would rather avoid: Are you the son who says yes and never goes, or the son who says no, changes his mind, and actually shows up?

This episode is for anyone who has been doing all the right religious things and still feels like something is off. It's a challenge to stop honoring God with your lips while your heart stays right where it is and a reminder that the will of the Father is accomplished not by the one who says the right thing, but by the one who actually goes.

We all carry that question somewhere on the inside. When will it be enough?

A woman in Mark 5 knew that question by heart. Twelve years of suffering. Twelve years of the world's solutions making her worse. One moment of reaching for Jesus that changed everything.

Pastor Chad unpacks what it looks like to stop making Jesus a resource and start making Him the source.

The question is not what is your situation. The question is who is your source.

After the Message is a weekly podcast where Bold City Church pastor Chad Swaringen goes deeper into Sunday's message unpacking the text, sharing what was happening behind the scenes, and saying the things that didn't make it to the pulpit. This week we're in our Encountering Jesus series and we're camped out on Matthew 8 and the centurion. Two things the Holy Spirit kept bringing back to the surface Sunday is authority and faith. We unpack why the centurion understood the power of authority when nobody else did, what it means that Jesus only marveled twice in all of scripture, and what it looks like to walk home before your circumstances confirm anything. If you've ever wondered whether God's word is actually for you, this episode is for you.

She came to the well at noon to avoid everyone. Jesus met her there anyway. In this episode we go deeper into week two of our Encountering Jesus series — the woman at the well. We unpack why Jesus revealed himself as the I Am to an outcast before he revealed it to anyone else, and what that tells us about how grace actually works. Then we get honest about something most of us do without realizing it — coming to God with a list of our works instead of the work of Christ. The billionaire stepfather story will make you rethink everything. Same grace. Come boldly. Hebrews 4:16.

Repentance might be the most misunderstood word in the church. For most of us it means feeling sorry enough until God forgives us. But that's not what the word means — and it's not what Jesus was asking for. In this episode we go deeper into week one of our Encountering Jesus series and unpack what repentance actually is in the Greek — metanoia, a change of mind. We talk about the walls we build to protect our hearts, why those same walls keep out the blessing of God, and what it actually looks like to tear them down. This one got personal. Come ready.