Branches HB Podcast

In this message, Andrew Barris encourages us through the scriptures, affirming that when God brings us into His family He also gives us a family resemblance. Though grace is freely given, as children of God we must pursue Christ-likeness with tenacity and avoid nurturing our sin nature. A truly personal relationship with God will result in increased personal transformation as we become more and more like our Father.

Do we know the Lord so well that we can recognize the counterfeit? This week, Brock Snook asks the hard questions as we study 1 John 2:18-29 and the deception that tries to lead us astray. Unlike the many voices surrounding us that claim to know the "real" truth, we have received the Holy Spirit who is truly the only teacher we need to make sense of God's Word and His plan for our lives.

Continuing our series in 1 John, Andrew Schey points out that though we are in the world, we are not of it. As followers of the way of Jesus, we are the salt of the earth and light of the world, enabled by the Holy Spirit to love one another as Jesus first loved us. But what does it look like to love the people of the world without loving the world itself?

In this message, Andrew Schey teaches from 1 John 2:12-14, as John the apostle reassures Christians of their salvation, dismissing false teaching that would cause doubt and affirming they are truly saved in Jesus’ name and really know God. The challenge in this affirmation is for Christians in one life stage or another to take hold of the salvation given to us and to forge ahead in confidence and strength as we support one another in Christian community.

As we dive further into 1 John, Andrew Schey reminds us that spiritual maturity consists of living as Jesus lived, expressing our love by obeying his commands. So often, however, our own vision of success and prideful ignorance borne out of hatred cloud our ability to love others as Jesus loves us. Thus we must start with love first, in all things, in order to truly mature in Christ.

How do we relate to sin now that we’re forgiven? In this message, Brian Sumner explains that there's only one aspiration for the Christian: to walk in the light. But the truth is, we won't land at 100% light even if we try to avoid the darkness. That’s why we have fellowship with other believers to help us on our journey and an advocate in Jesus Christ who covers us - yesterday and today.

In the first message of our new series in the letters of John, Andrew Schey sets up the context for the letters and explores the importance of truth, how truth is disregarded today, and how the historical veracity of the claims of the Bible are important to for us 2,000 years later. The goal of John's opponents was to spiritualize everything and thus allow them to do whatever they wanted, much like today when facts are fluid and the truth seems unknowable. Rather than an isolated, mystical experience, however, John reminds us that Jesus is real - what is recorded in the gospels actually happened - and that reality comes with a responsibility to purify ourselves of OUR truth in order to grasp and live out THE truth.

In the concluding message of our Health & Wealth series, Andrew Schey sets up a true vision of health and wealth in God using Ephesians 2:1-10. Despite the empty vision of success that the world is chasing, God did not execute His wrath but redeemed us instead, lavishing us with His kindness and incomparable riches. He gives us everlasting life for FREE so no one can boast and we're released to do good works that He created in advance for us to do. Looking ahead, we should be continually asking God to open our eyes to the reality that what we have in Christ so eclipses the world's version of health and wealth that it no longer interests us.

Andrew Schey exposes the pursuit of experience as a cycle of impermanence, in which we sleep, eat, and drink, saying tomorrow is going to be better than today but nothing ever changes. Because experiences are feelings, they are inherently fleeting; chasing a feeling will always be grasping after the wind. Jesus invites us to build realities where we're tangibly denying ourselves and preferring to serve others, in communion with God and with people, resulting in a deep well of feelings that come from TRUE experience.

"Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." In this message on materialism, Andrew Schey echoes the words of Jesus to wake us up to the reality that a life spent pursuing possessions is a life chasing after a lie. Our desire for more, whether motivated by self-satisfaction or fear, competes with our desire for God and leaves us unprepared for eternity. Instead, life is found through generosity and personal responsibility for the least among us.