Broad River Podcast

Summer on the Mount — Week 7: A Community Without Condemnation | Matthew 7:1–12
Texts: Matthew 7:1–12

Jesus does not build His church by tearing people down.

In Week 7 of Summer on the Mount: A Better Way to Be Human, Jose Ramos teaches from Matthew 7:1–12, where Jesus confronts our tendency to see what is wrong with everyone else while missing what is happening in our own hearts.

This message shows that Jesus is not calling His followers to moral blindness or a life without discernment. He is confronting a harsh and condemning spirit. Kingdom community begins not with a microscope aimed at someone else, but with a mirror held before ourselves.

As Jesus moves from “judge not,” to the speck and the log, to asking, seeking, and knocking, and finally to the Golden Rule, He forms a community marked by humility, prayer, mercy, and grace. A community where truth and grace can both flourish. A community where people are corrected without being humiliated and where failure is not turned into a permanent identity.

If you have been quick to criticize, slow to examine yourself, or tempted to reduce people to their worst moments, this message is an invitation to receive the Father’s mercy and learn to give that same mercy to others. 

Broad River Church | Norwalk, CT
 Join us Sundays: 9:00 AM & 11:00 AM (English) | 1:00 PM (Español)
 Learn more or take your next step: https://broadriver.church/nextsteps

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Summer on the Mount — Week 6: Free from False Masters | Matthew 6:19–34
Texts: Matthew 6:19–34

What actually has authority over your life?

In Week 6 of Summer on the Mount: A Better Way to Be Human, Pastor Deborah Taylor teaches from Matthew 6:19–34, where Jesus talks about treasure, the eye, two masters, anxiety, and seeking first the Kingdom of God.

This message shows that money and worry often make promises they cannot keep. Money says, “I can keep you safe.” Worry says, “I can keep you in control.” But Jesus exposes both as false masters and invites us to return our trust to the Father who knows what we need and loves to provide.

This is not ultimately a message about budgets. It is a message about the heart. What we treasure shapes what we see. What we see shapes what we serve. And what we serve shapes whether we live in peace or in anxiety.

If money, worry, comparison, control, or fear about tomorrow has been sitting on the throne of your heart, this message is an invitation to seek first the Kingdom, surrender every false master, and trust the Father who already knows what you need.

Broad River Church | Norwalk, CT
 Join us Sundays: 9:00 AM & 11:00 AM (English) | 1:00 PM (Español)
 Learn more or take your next step: https://broadriver.church/nextsteps

Follow us on Instagram: @iambroadriverchurch

Summer on the Mount — Week 5: Voices of the House | Matthew 6:1–18
Texts: Matthew 6:1–18; Matthew 5:16; Colossians 3:3–4; Matthew 6:12, 14–15

What does it look like to live for the Father instead of the approval of people?

In this special Voices of the House Sunday, Sony Thelusca, Jonathan Garcia, and Fernando Rodriguez continue our Summer on the Mount series by helping us listen to Jesus’ words in Matthew 6. Together, these messages show that Kingdom righteousness is not about performance, platform, or applause. It is about living faithfully before God, pointing people to Jesus, and becoming the kind of people who extend the mercy we have received.

Sony reminds us that the Father sees what is done in secret. The hidden life is not unseen—it is seen by the One who matters most. Jonathan helps us see that visible faith is not the problem; the question is whether our lives point people to the Father or back to ourselves. And Fernando reminds us that forgiveness is not something we earn, but a gift Jesus gives—and forgiven people become forgiving people.

If you have been living for recognition, trying to manage your image, or carrying bitterness that Jesus is inviting you to release, this message is a call back to the Father who sees, the Son who saves, and the mercy that transforms us from the inside out.

Broad River Church | Norwalk, CT
 Join us Sundays: 9:00 AM & 11:00 AM (English) | 1:00 PM (Español)
 Learn more or take your next step: https://broadriver.church/nextsteps

Follow us on Instagram: @iambroadriverchurch

Summer on the Mount — Week 4: Whole Hearts | Matthew 5:21–48
Texts: Matthew 5:21–48

Jesus does not just want better habits. He wants whole hearts.

In Week 4 of Summer on the Mount: A Better Way to Be Human, Pastor Kevin continues through the Sermon on the Mount and teaches from Matthew 5:21–48, where Jesus talks about anger, lust, truth-telling, retaliation, and enemy love.

But Jesus is not giving random commands or simply making the rules harder. He is moving beneath the surface. He is showing us that sin is not only an action problem—it is a heart-formation problem. What shows up in our lives reveals what is being formed in our hearts.

This message invites us to ask a deeper question: not only “What did I do?” but “What is being formed in me?” Jesus exposes the roots beneath the action, redirects the reflexes of the Kingdom, and calls us into the wholeness of the Father.

If you have been trying to manage the outside while hiding the inside, this message points to the mercy of Jesus, who comes near to restore us from the inside out.

Broad River Church | Norwalk, CT
 Join us Sundays: 9:00 AM & 11:00 AM (English) | 1:00 PM (Español)
 Learn more or take your next step: https://broadriver.church/nextsteps

Follow us on Instagram: @iambroadriverchurch

Summer on the Mount — Week 3: Deeper Than Rule-Keeping | Matthew 5:17–20
Texts: Matthew 5:17–20

What does Jesus mean when He says He came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it?

In Week 3 of Summer on the Mount: A Better Way to Be Human, Pastor Kevin teaches from Matthew 5:17–20, one of the hinge passages in the Sermon on the Mount. Before Jesus talks about anger, lust, truth-telling, retaliation, and enemy love, He shows us how to understand His relationship to the Law and the Prophets.

This message helps us avoid two opposite mistakes: lawlessness and legalism. Jesus does not lower the standard and make obedience optional, but He also does not hand us a new system of religious performance. Instead, Jesus fulfills the story, honors the Word, and forms in His people a righteousness that goes deeper than outward rule-keeping.

If you have ever imagined God measuring your life with a spiritual scoreboard, this message points to better news: Jesus fulfilled what we could not fulfill, forgives what we could not fix, and gives us His Spirit to form in us the life we could never produce on our own. 

Broad River Church | Norwalk, CT
 Join us Sundays: 9:00 AM & 11:00 AM (English) | 1:00 PM (Español)
 Learn more or take your next step: https://broadriver.church/nextsteps

Follow us on Instagram: @iambroadriverchurch

Summer on the Mount — Week 2: Salt and Light: The Visible Kingdom | Matthew 5:13–16
Texts: Matthew 5:13–16

Jesus does not bless us so we can disappear. He blesses us so His Kingdom becomes visible.

In Week 2 of Summer on the Mount: A Better Way to Be Human, Pastor John continues through the Sermon on the Mount and teaches from Matthew 5:13–16, where Jesus calls His people the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

This message shows that Kingdom identity comes before Kingdom activity. Jesus does not say, “Try to become salt” or “Try to become light.” He says, “You are.” The people Jesus blesses are the people Jesus sends into the world as a visible sign of the Kingdom.

If you have ever wondered how ordinary faithfulness can make an invisible God visible in a visible world, this message is a reminder that a restored life becomes a visible witness. Salt creates thirst. Light gives direction. And good works point beyond us to the Father.

Broad River Church | Norwalk, CT
 Join us Sundays: 9:00 AM & 11:00 AM (English) | 1:00 PM (Español)
 Learn more or take your next step: https://broadriver.church/nextsteps

Follow us on Instagram: @iambroadriverchurch

Summer on the Mount — Week 1: The Upside-Down Good Life | Matthew 5:1–12
Texts: Matthew 5:1–12

What if the life the world calls blessed is not actually the good life?

In Week 1 of Summer on the Mount: A Better Way to Be Human, Pastor Kevin begins walking through the Sermon on the Mount by looking at the Beatitudes. Before Jesus teaches about anger, desire, prayer, money, anxiety, or obedience, He begins with blessing. He answers the question everybody is asking in some form: Who is really living the good life?

This message shows that the Beatitudes are not a ladder to climb so we can earn God’s favor. They are an announcement that the Kingdom has come near. Jesus blesses people the world does not know what to do with: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the hungry, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted.

If you have been chasing a version of blessing built on success, control, comfort, image, or comparison, this message is an invitation to let Jesus redefine the good life—and to come to Him honestly, poor in spirit, hungry for righteousness, and ready to receive.

Broad River Church | Norwalk, CT
 Join us Sundays: 9:00 AM & 11:00 AM (English) | 1:00 PM (Español)
 Learn more or take your next step: https://broadriver.church/nextsteps

Follow us on Instagram: @iambroadriverchurch

The God Who Sees the Overlooked | Genesis 29:30–35; 49:29–31
Texts: Genesis 29:30–35; Genesis 49:29–31; Matthew 1:1–3; Revelation 5:5

What do you do with the pain of not being chosen?

In this powerful standalone message, Pastor Kevin walks through Leah’s story and shows how God works through overlooked people, wounded places, and stories marked by rejection. Leah was present, but not preferred. She was in the family, but living with the ache of comparison. And yet the God of Scripture saw what others overlooked.

This message traces the movement from Leah’s pain, to Judah’s birth, to Jacob’s final words, and ultimately to Jesus—the Lion of the tribe of Judah—who entered the rejected place to redeem rejected people. It is a reminder that human preference does not determine divine purpose, and being overlooked by people does not mean you have been overlooked by God.

If you have ever felt passed over, unseen, unchosen, or defined by rejection, this message points you to the God who sees, remembers, and writes redemption through the very places others dismissed. 

Broad River Church | Norwalk, CT
 Join us Sundays: 9:00 AM & 11:00 AM (English) | 1:00 PM (Español)
 Learn more or take your next step: https://broadriver.church/nextsteps

Follow us on Instagram: @iambroadriverchurch

The Freedom We Find Together | Father’s Day + Small Group Sunday
Texts: Exodus 6:6–7; Ephesians 1:17–18

Every family has patterns.

Some are funny. Some are familiar. And some are painful—patterns of fear, anger, silence, shame, isolation, or pretending everything is fine when it really is not. In this Father’s Day message, Pastor Kevin shows that the gospel is not just about being forgiven one day. It is about being brought out, set free, redeemed, and formed into a new people.

Drawing from Exodus 6 and Ephesians 1, this message reminds us that salvation can happen in a moment, but freedom is often walked out over time. You can know Jesus and still carry old patterns. You can be saved and still feel stuck. But Jesus did not come just to forgive us so we could limp through life until heaven. He came to set us free.

This Small Group Sunday message is a practical call to bring things into the light, stop trying to get free alone, and step into the kind of community where healing and freedom can grow. Because at Broad River, we believe people know God in weekend worship—but they find freedom together. 

Broad River Church | Norwalk, CT
 Join us Sundays: 9:00 AM & 11:00 AM (English) | 1:00 PM (Español)
 Learn more or take your next step: https://broadriver.church/nextsteps

Follow us on Instagram: @iambroadriverchurch

Come, Holy Spirit — Week 4: There’s Water. Why Wait? | Acts 2:1–13, 37–41
Texts: Acts 2:1–13, 37–41; Matthew 3:13; Matthew 28:18–19; Romans 6:3–4

Baptism Sunday is not a normal Sunday with a little water at the end.

In Week 4 of Come, Holy Spirit, Pastor Kevin closes the series by showing how perfectly Baptism Sunday fits with the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit who fills us does not leave us hidden. The Spirit who leads us does not leave us passive. The Spirit who seals us does not leave us silent. The Holy Spirit gives ordinary people courage to publicly belong to Jesus.

This message walks through Acts 2 and answers five questions people often have about baptism: why should I be baptized, what does baptism mean, how should I be baptized, who should be baptized, and when should I be baptized. Along the way, Pastor Kevin reminds us that baptism is not about religious performance or spiritual perfection. It is an outward sign of an inward decision, a public picture of the gospel, and a first step of obedience for redeemed people.

If you have trusted Jesus but kept putting off baptism, this message is a clear, joyful, biblical invitation: there’s water. Why wait? 

Broad River Church | Norwalk, CT
 Join us Sundays: 9:00 AM & 11:00 AM (English) | 1:00 PM (Español)
 Learn more or take your next step: https://broadriver.church/nextsteps

Follow us on Instagram: @iambroadriverchurch