Freedom Fellowship

The gospel is not about trying harder, doing more, or earning God’s approval. It is all grace.

In Galatians 2:11–21, Paul confronts Peter for allowing the fear of man and religious pressure to compromise the truth of the gospel. His message is clear: we are not justified by our works, our religious performance, or our ability to keep the law. We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ.

At the heart of this passage is Paul’s powerful declaration:

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” — Galatians 2:20

The Christian life isn’t about working harder to produce fruit. It’s about abiding in Christ, surrendering ourselves to Him, and allowing His life to work through us. Jesus has already paid the price in full.

If righteousness could come through our own effort, Christ died for nothing. But we can’t pay the debt ourselves. Salvation is a gift of grace, received by faith.

In this message, Pastor Landon encourages us to stop trying to earn what Jesus has already freely given, to stand firmly in the truth of the gospel, and to live the crucified life—trusting completely in Christ.

Key Scripture: Galatians 2:11–21

Jesus paid it all. Don’t frustrate the grace of God. Receive it, walk in it, and live by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave Himself for you.

Speaker: Pastor Landon Churchill

Why does God allow suffering—and what does our suffering reveal about Him?

In this deeply personal message, Pastor Timothy explores grief, loss, broken relationships, and the tears that often accompany a life of faith. Beginning with the story of Stonewall Jackson and moving through the lives of Abraham, Joseph, David, Hezekiah, Josiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Jeremiah, we see that strength and sorrow are not opposites. Some of the strongest men of faith in Scripture were also men who wept.

The message ultimately brings us to John 11 and the death of Lazarus. Jesus knew resurrection was coming. He knew the tomb would soon be opened. Yet when He stood alongside Mary, Martha, and those who were grieving, Jesus wept.

Our suffering is not evidence that Christ has abandoned us. He meets us in it. And as He carries us through grief, loss, disappointment, and pain, He can use those experiences to make us more tender toward others and better equipped to enter into their suffering with the love of Christ.

We may not understand every reason for suffering in this life, but we can trust the One who stands with us in the midst of it.

Guest Speaker: Pastor Timothy

Date: 10/4/2026

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Pastor Seth teaches from 2 Corinthians 1 on suffering, comfort, and the unity God desires within the body of Christ.

Paul writes that God is “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,” who comforts us in our tribulation so that we can comfort others. Pastor Seth challenges us to see that biblical comfort does not always mean being rescued from suffering. Often, God strengthens and sustains us in the middle of it.

Drawing from Scripture and some of the most difficult seasons of his own life and ministry, Seth shares how God has used loss, trauma, grief, and hardship not only to deepen his dependence on Christ, but also to open doors to minister to others who are hurting.

At the heart of the message is Jesus’ prayer in John 17: that His followers would be one. Our suffering does not have to isolate us. When we bring our burdens into the body of Christ, God can use them to create unity, bring healing to others, and point people to Jesus.

Pastor Seth also encourages believers to remember their “memorial stones”—the moments when God has proven faithful in the past. When the next difficult season comes, those testimonies remind us that even when we do not understand what God is doing, He is still with us.

We may not receive every answer. The pain may not immediately disappear. Sometimes faithfulness simply means showing up, trusting God one day at a time, and remembering that we were never promised a life without suffering—we were promised His presence through it.

When someone we love is suffering, what does it look like to truly comfort them?

Teaching from Job 16 and 2 Corinthians 1:3–4, this message examines the difference between being a source of Christlike comfort and becoming what Job called a “miserable comforter.” Job’s friends began well—they showed up, sat beside him, and shared in his grief. But when they began speaking, their assumptions, accusations, and lack of grace only added to Job’s pain.

Through Job’s suffering, we’re reminded that we won’t always understand why someone is going through a difficult season, and we don’t need to have every answer. Sometimes the greatest ministry is simply being present, listening well, choosing our words carefully, and pointing people toward the goodness and sovereignty of God.

Most importantly, the comfort God gives us isn’t meant to stop with us. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1, God comforts us in our trials so that we can comfort others with the same comfort we have received from Him.

In this message:

Key Scriptures: Job 2:3–13; Job 16:1–5; Job 42:7–8; 2 Corinthians 1:3–4; James 5:11; Luke 22:31–32

If you have been comforted by God, you are equipped to comfort someone else. The church needs believers who will come alongside the hurting—not as miserable comforters, but as people who strengthen others with grace, truth, prayer, presence, and the comfort of Christ.

What if the storms we face aren’t simply obstacles to survive, but places where God teaches us to trust Him more deeply?

Through three powerful passages—Mark 4, Matthew 14, and Acts 27—this message follows a progression of faith through suffering. We see the disciples overwhelmed by fear as a storm fills their boat, Peter stepping out onto the water toward Jesus, and Paul standing firm in faith during a violent storm and eventual shipwreck.

Each storm reveals something about trust.

The disciples looked at the waves and forgot who was in the boat with them. Peter trusted Jesus enough to step out of the boat, but began to sink when his attention returned to the storm. Paul, having experienced God’s faithfulness through countless trials, was able to trust God’s promise even when everything around him appeared to be falling apart—and his faith became an encouragement to everyone around him.

Our own suffering can work in much the same way. Trials expose what we’re holding onto, remind us that we cannot control everything ourselves, and teach us to depend more fully upon Christ. One trial prepares us for the next. One storm gives us a testimony of God’s faithfulness that we can carry into another.

As 2 Corinthians 1 reminds us, the God who comforts us in our tribulation equips us to bring that same comfort to others.

Key Scriptures: Mark 4:35–41; Matthew 14:22–33; Acts 27; 2 Corinthians 1:3–10; Psalm 23; Psalm 34:4; Philippians 4:6–7

The storms will come. The question is where we will fix our eyes when they do.

Jesus is still in the boat. He is still calling us toward Him. And even when the ship breaks apart, His promises remain.

Take heart. Do not be afraid. Trust the One who has authority over the storm.

In this message from the Freedom Fellowship Fall Retreat, the Hampton Twins of TwinFactor share personal stories about suffering, perseverance, and discovering the comfort of God in some of life’s hardest moments.

Drawing from their experiences as pastors, hunters, and leaders of Hunt the Truth Ministries, Chad and James explain how our love for God can change the way we view hardship. Just as a hunter is willing to endure cold, rain, exhaustion, and setbacks because of a passion for the hunt, our love for Christ gives us strength to keep going when life becomes difficult.

The message turns to 2 Corinthians 1:3–4, where God is described as the “Father of mercies and God of all comfort.” Through deeply personal stories—including a cancer diagnosis early in marriage and a severe battle with rheumatoid arthritis—they share how suffering taught them that God’s comfort is more than simply making pain disappear. He uses those moments to call us near to Him.

When suffering comes, our natural response may be to question God or run away. But His invitation is to draw near, open His Word, worship, and allow Him to be present with us in the pain.

The Hampton Twins also share the heart behind their book, 100 Days of Strength for Hunters, and a simple lesson that applies far beyond the outdoors: Keep hunting. Don’t quit when the storms come. Keep seeking God, keep returning to His Word, and keep pursuing Him through every season.

In this deeply personal message from Psalm 88, Pastor Azi Onama walks through one of the darkest psalms in Scripture—a prayer that ends without an immediate resolution, yet still demonstrates what it means to cry out to God in the middle of suffering.

Psalm 88 gives words to seasons of depression, loneliness, exhaustion, and spiritual darkness. Pastor Azi shares from his own experience with depression and explores an important question: Do we love God for who He is, or only for what He can do for us?

Looking at the experiences of Job and the words of Charles Spurgeon and C.S. Lewis, the message ultimately points to Jesus. In Gethsemane and on the cross, Christ experienced anguish, loneliness, and darkness, yet endured because of the joy set before Him.

Even when God seems distant, we can still pray. Even when we cannot understand what He is doing, we can still obey. And even in our darkest hour, we can take courage knowing that Jesus entered the darkness Himself.

Scripture: Psalm 88; Matthew 27:45–46; Hebrews 12:1–2; 2 Corinthians 1:3–6

Pastor Landon opens the Freedom Fellowship Fall Retreat by laying a biblical foundation for understanding suffering and how followers of Jesus can respond when life doesn’t make sense.

Scripture never promises a suffering-free life. Jesus tells us that we will face trouble, trials, loss, persecution, and seasons when we simply don’t understand what God is doing. But Christianity gives us something greater than an explanation for every hardship: a suffering Savior who promises never to leave us.

Throughout this first session, Pastor Landon challenges us not to allow our circumstances or feelings to redefine who God is. Feelings can change. Circumstances can change. God does not change.

When suffering comes, the battle isn’t only about what is happening to us—it’s also about what we believe while it is happening. Instead of allowing fear, loneliness, pain, or confusion to control our thinking, Scripture calls us to take our thoughts captive, renew our minds, meditate on what is true, and bring our questions directly to God.

“I may not understand what God is doing, but I can know who God is.”

From the story of Job to the Psalms, Romans, Corinthians, and the promises of Jesus, we’re reminded that God remains faithful in every season. We may not understand everything He is doing, but we can trust everything He has revealed about who He is.

And our suffering is not the end of the story. Revelation promises a day when God will wipe away every tear, and there will be no more death, sorrow, crying, or pain. Until that day, we can run to Jesus, trust Him in the battle, receive His comfort, and eventually share that same comfort with others.

Whose approval are you living for?

Continuing our study through Galatians, Landon takes us from Galatians 1:10 into chapter 2, where Paul makes a powerful declaration: if his goal were still to please people, he could not be a bondservant of Jesus Christ.

Paul’s own testimony demonstrates that freedom. He had the religious credentials, reputation, zeal, and approval of others, yet none of it could save him. Then grace interrupted his story. Jesus transformed a persecutor of the church into a preacher of the very gospel he once tried to destroy.

We also look at Paul’s time in Arabia and the way God repeatedly uses wilderness seasons throughout Scripture. Waiting isn’t necessarily wasted time. The desert can strip away the audience, expose what we’re truly thirsting for, deepen our dependence upon God, and prepare us for what He has ahead.

Then in Galatians 2, Paul refuses to compromise the gospel when others attempt to add circumcision and the law to faith in Christ. There can be flexibility over preferences, traditions, methods, and styles—but when the gospel itself is at stake, Paul says they would not yield “even for an hour.”

The message comes back to one simple reality:

Because we belong to Christ, we don’t need to spend our lives managing everyone else’s opinion of us. We can receive correction, walk in accountability, pursue unity, love people deeply, serve those in need, and still remain firmly anchored to what Christ has said.

The prayer is no longer, “Lord, make everyone approve of me.”

It becomes:

Speaker: Pastor Landon Churchill

Today at Freedom Fellowship, we begin our journey through the book of Galatians, one of Scripture’s clearest declarations of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Galatians 1, Paul wastes no time defending the good news: salvation is not Jesus plus our works, religious traditions, church attendance, baptism, morality, or anything else. It is by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross.

“Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” — Galatians 1:4

The gospel is good news because Jesus has done what we could never do for ourselves. He gave Himself for our sins, rose from the dead, and offers forgiveness, reconciliation, freedom, and new life.

But Paul also gives a serious warning: the gospel must not be changed. Adding something to Christ as the basis of our salvation doesn’t improve the gospel—it distorts it.

Throughout this message, we look at Paul’s calling, the grace of God, Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection, the danger of “another gospel,” and why believers must remain grounded in the truth of Jesus Christ.

As we begin Galatians, one verse will anchor our study:

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.” — Galatians 5:1

Speaker: Pastor Landon Churchill

Date:9/20/2026

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