Belay Church Podcast

In this opening message of the Thankful for the Cross series, Pastor Paul Durbin walks us through the first of four reasons we can be deeply thankful Jesus went to the cross—He paid our ransom. Using the heartbreaking story of the Chibok girls taken by Boko Haram, Paul paints a vivid picture of what captivity really looks like and why no personal payment is ever enough to set us free. He unpacks five realities every Belay'er needs to grasp: without Christ we are captives, no personal payment is sufficient, Jesus Himself became our ransom, love for the captive (not the captor) drove the payment, and we must choose to walk free. This message is a warm, honest invitation to stop loving our captivity and start walking in the freedom Jesus already purchased.

In this closing message of the Life Under the Sun series, Pastor Paul Durbin walks us through Ecclesiastes 11-12 and unpacks Solomon's four final words of wisdom: just ship it, invest early, savor the poetry, and fear God. With honesty, humor, and real-life stories, Paul reminds us that God has placed something unique in each of us that the world needs, that saying yes to Jesus early changes everything, that growing older is a gift worth embracing, and that a healthy reverence for God quiets every other fear. It's a call to stop waiting for perfect conditions and start living fully alive to the One who made us.

In this message from the Life Under the Sun series in Ecclesiastes 9–10, Pastor Paul Durbin walks us through Solomon's honest look at life on planet earth—where no one escapes death, hard work doesn't always win the day, and a little folly can spoil a whole lot of good. Paul reminds us that life is hevel, a vapor we can't grasp, and the wisest thing we can do is trade what we can't keep for what we can never lose. Along the way, he shares the stories of Officer Eric Talley, Philip Henry, and Jim Elliot, and lands on three takeaways: work as an act of worship, live like purity is worth it, and move forward with a sharp ax.

In this message from our Ecclesiastes series, Greg Seymour walks us through chapters 7 and 8, exploring three honest realities about life under the sun: death is certain, no one is truly righteous, and no one can fully grasp what God is doing. He invites us to live life backwards—letting the certainty of death shape how we live right now, letting go of our schemes to earn our way to God, and humbling ourselves to trust the Artist who sees the whole picture. The teaching lands squarely at the cross, where Jesus steps into our hevel world and offers the righteousness, perspective, and eternal life we could never get on our own.

In this message from the Ecclesiastes series, Pastor Paul Durbin walks us through chapters five and six, where Solomon keeps circling back to the Hebrew word hevel—smoke, vapor, something you can see but can't grab. If everything in life slips through our fingers, what's actually worth pursuing? Paul points to the counsel of three older, wiser men—his own 85-year-old dad, missionary C.T. Studd, and Solomon himself—who all land in the same place: live your life to the glory of God with Jesus at the center. From there, Paul unpacks five heart postures from these chapters that help us do exactly that.

In week two of our Ecclesiastes series, Paul Durbin walks us through chapters three and four, unpacking four things in every human heart: a sense of eternity, a deep craving for justice, a struggle with sin, and a longing for relationship. These inner realities are more than quirks of being human—they're signposts pointing us straight to God. When we stop ignoring them and start following where they lead, we find hope for eternity, justice satisfied in Jesus, freedom from sin, and the relationship our restless hearts were made for.

Greg Seymour kicks off a series through Ecclesiastes by unpacking the Hebrew word hevel—often translated "meaningless," but really closer to vapor, smoke, or breath. Life is real and tangible, yet it slips through our fingers just as quickly as it comes. Greg walks us through the teacher's thought experiments on pleasure, wealth, and wisdom, and honestly shares his own year of wrestling with the hevel of his dad's rapid decline into dementia. In the end, Greg points us to Jesus—the bread of life and living water—who steps into our brokenness and is the only true fulfillment for the deepest longings of our hearts.

In this message, Pastor Paul Durbin returns to the relationship series with the one skill he says he left out—love. Drawing from John 1:14, he unpacks what it means that Jesus came "full of grace and truth," and offers a working definition of love: relating to others from the intersection of grace and truth, neither diluted to make room for the other, each expressed to its fullest extent. Using a simple four-quadrant grid, Paul walks through the three counterfeits—legalism, license, and lawlessness—and invites us into the upper-right quadrant where real love actually lives.

In this final message from the book of Jonah, Pastor Paul Durbin walks us through the seven heart adjustments God is inviting each of us to make. Using a backpack illustration from a recent hike near Aspen, Paul shows how the same care we take to fit a pack to our body is the care God takes to shape our hearts. From perspective to mission, this message reminds us that Jonah isn't really a story about a city—it's a story about a patient God shaping one stubborn heart, and it's an invitation for us to let Him do the same in ours.

In week three of the Jonah series, Pastor Paul walks us through Jonah chapter 3 and highlights how God is a speaking God who invites us to respond. He unpacks the Hebrew word hafach—which can mean either "demolished" or "turned upside down"—and shows how Nineveh chose transformation over destruction. Paul reminds us that God gives second chances, reroutes our missteps, and always keeps His word. The invitation is simple but powerful: hear God, respond in faith, and let Him turn your life beautifully upside down.