Grace City Eugene

In this first week of our series, How To Ruin Your Faith, we’re reminded that faith doesn’t usually fall apart all at once—it drifts. Like swimmers slowly carried by a current, nothing feels wrong at first. Everything seems normal. But over time, we can find ourselves far from where we started. In our walk with Jesus, drift is subtle. It shows up in small shifts—less time in Scripture, less prayer, slowly justifying things we once felt convicted about. Paul’s response in Galatians is urgent because this kind of drift can happen quickly, and often without us realizing it. In our church family, this invites us to honestly ask: where have we grown casual in areas that once mattered deeply?

As we grow together in faith, we’re called to be re-anchored in the true gospel—Jesus plus nothing. The Galatians didn’t reject Jesus; they added to Him. And we can do the same by mixing in performance, approval, personal truth, or control. But the gospel isn’t about what we bring—it’s about what Jesus has already done. When we start reshaping truth, building identity apart from Christ, or seeking acceptance over faithfulness, we begin to drift. So the question isn’t just, “Do I believe in Jesus?” but “Is Jesus enough for me?” The good news is no matter how far we’ve drifted, we’re never too far gone. Jesus is enough, and He is always ready to lead us back and re-anchor our lives in His truth.

In this powerful 2026 Easter sermon, Pastor Chris Zauner delivers a compelling message titled “Come Alive,” exploring what it truly means to be restored to life through Jesus Christ. Centered on Luke 15 and the parable of the prodigal son, this message reveals a deeper truth about our relationship with God: that you can feel far from Him whether you are running away or simply going through the motions.

This Resurrection Sunday message challenges both the spiritually distant and the spiritually exhausted. Whether you feel disconnected because of past mistakes or stuck in a routine of religious performance without joy, this sermon reminds us that God is not waiting for perfection—He is inviting us home. Through the lens of the loving Father in Luke 15, we see a picture of grace, restoration, and the heart of God who eagerly runs toward us.

Pastor Chris unpacks the tension between rebellion and religion, showing how both can lead to distance from God. But the good news of Easter is that Jesus made a way for us to come alive again. His death and resurrection paid the cost so that we could experience true relationship, freedom, and fullness of life.

This message is an invitation to stop striving, stop running, and step into the life God has already prepared for you. The question is not whether you are invited—the question is, will you come in?

If this message speaks to you, share it with someone who needs hope this Easter season.

In the final week of Escape the Trap, Pastor Chris Zauner brings a compelling and deeply challenging message on reconciliation—inviting us to move beyond simply understanding forgiveness and into actively living it out. This message presses into the reality that while offense is inevitable, remaining trapped in it is not God’s plan for our lives.

Through the words of Jesus in Matthew 5, we are reminded of the urgency and responsibility we carry in making things right. Reconciliation is not optional for those who want to walk closely with God—it is essential. Pastor Chris unpacks how many of us remain stuck in cycles of hurt, not because we are weak, but because we are untrained spiritually. Instead of avoiding conflict or hard conversations, we are called to prepare our hearts, strengthen our spirits, and respond in ways that reflect Christ.

This sermon draws a clear and important distinction between forgiveness and reconciliation. Forgiveness is freely given, just as Christ forgave us on the cross—but reconciliation requires humility, action, and a willingness to pursue peace. It challenges the common mindset of waiting for others to make things right and instead calls us to take the first step, creating an atmosphere of grace and kindness that opens the door for healing.

With honesty and personal insight, Pastor Chris shares how real healing begins when we choose to pray for those who have hurt us—not with surface-level words, but with genuine compassion. Over time, this kind of obedience transforms our hearts, restores clarity, and allows wounds to heal from the inside out.

Ultimately, this message is an invitation to stop agreeing with truth and start living it. It calls each of us to release offense, pursue reconciliation, and embrace the freedom that Jesus has already secured. As far as it depends on us, we are urged to live at peace with everyone—trusting God to work in the places we cannot control.

If you’ve been carrying unresolved hurt, tension, or offense, this message will both challenge and equip you to take your next step toward healing, wholeness, and restored relationships.

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We’ve all been hurt. Offense, betrayal, and wounds are unavoidable—but what we do with that hurt determines whether we live in freedom or remain trapped.

In Week 5 of our Escape the Trap series, Pastor Casey Olsen unpacks a powerful truth: the only way out of the trap of offense is forgiveness.

Through Matthew 18, this sermon confronts one of the hardest teachings of Jesus and reveals why forgiveness isn’t about letting someone off the hook—it’s about setting yourself free. What feels like self-protection can actually become self-imprisonment, and Jesus shows us a better way.

This message will challenge you to:

• Understand why unforgiveness keeps you stuck
• See how bitterness reshapes your heart and relationships
• Rediscover the power of the cross as the foundation for real forgiveness
• Take a practical step toward freedom and healing

Forgiveness isn’t easy. It’s not natural. But it is possible—when we return to the cross and remember the debt that was canceled for us.

If you’ve been carrying hurt, replaying offense, or struggling to let go, this message is for you.

Let us know in the comments: What spoke to you most from this message?

The Revenge Trap | Escape the Trap – Week 4 | Pastor Chris Zauner

In Week 4 of our Escape the Trap series, Pastor Chris Zauner unpacks one of the most dangerous spiritual traps believers face: the trap of revenge and self-vindication. When we are hurt, misunderstood, or treated unfairly, our instinct is often to defend ourselves, retaliate, or seek justice on our own terms. But Scripture calls us to a radically different response.

Teaching from Romans 12:17–19, Pastor Chris explores what it means to trust God as our defender instead of taking revenge into our own hands. Through powerful biblical examples—including Jesus before Pilate, David and Saul, and Joseph’s story of betrayal—this message reveals how choosing faith over retaliation leads to true freedom from offense.

If you’ve ever struggled with bitterness, injustice, or the need to prove yourself right, this sermon will challenge and encourage you to release your case to God and walk in the freedom Christ offers.

Key Topics in This Sermon:

• The biblical command to repay no evil for evil
• Why revenge keeps us trapped in offense
• How Jesus modeled trusting the Father with injustice
• The difference between reacting in the flesh vs responding in faith
• Why God’s justice often looks different than we expect
• How releasing bitterness opens the door for blessing and reconciliation

God promises, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” When we trust Him rather than defend ourselves, we step into the freedom He designed for us.

Watch now and discover how to escape The Revenge Trap.

In week three of our series Escape the Trap, Pastor Chris Zauner explores one of the hardest kinds of offense to deal with—being hurt by someone in authority. Whether it’s a parent, pastor, boss, or mentor, wounds from leaders can shape how we view trust, leadership, and even our relationship with God.

Through the story of David and King Saul, this message shows how David chose to trust God instead of taking revenge, even when he had every opportunity to do so. His response reveals why Scripture calls him a man after God’s own heart.

This sermon challenges us to release bitterness, lay down the “spears” of resentment and revenge, and trust God to handle justice. When we surrender our offense to Him, we can experience the freedom that comes from following Jesus as our true King.

Escape the Trap – Week 3: Offended by Authority teaches how honoring God, even in painful situations with leadership, can shape our character and lead us into deeper freedom in Christ.

In this special one-off message, Pastor Chris Zauner brings a timely and prophetic word for our final worship gathering in this space as we prepare to move into our new location. Titled “Crossing Over,” this send off sermon isn’t centered on nostalgia or simply changing buildings, but on the faith required to step from what’s familiar into what God has promised. Drawing from Joshua 3:12–17, Pastor Chris reminds us that there is always a river between promise and possession, and that God often brings His people to the edge of what feels impossible so the miracle becomes unmistakable. Israel stood before the Jordan at flood stage, not because they had missed God, but because they were standing at the threshold of fulfillment. In the same way, this moment for our church is not the end of something, but the edge of something, and the question isn’t whether we are ready, but whether we will step forward in obedience.

This sermon highlights that the water didn’t move first, the people did. The priests carrying the ark stepped into the river while it was still raging, and only then did God stop the waters. Pastor Chris challenges us to recognize that faith doesn’t wait for perfect conditions, and that miracles are often connected to movement. As a church, we’ve prayed for more capacity, more room for kingdom work, and more opportunity for people to meet Jesus, and God has answered. But answered prayers still demand faith, especially when it means leaving comfort, routine, and familiarity behind.

“Crossing Over” also reframes why we’re moving by making it clear that this isn’t about comfort, convenience, or upgrading our experience. It’s about mission. The crossing in Joshua wasn’t just for the people standing there that day, it was for the next generation and for the nations to know the power of God. In the same way, every new seat and every new opportunity represents people in our city who are anxious, skeptical, disconnected, hurting, or far from God, and this move is about reaching them. We are not crossing for ourselves; we are crossing for others, and we are crossing into a calling, not a monument.

Pastor Chris also warns us not to bring a wilderness mentality into a promise season. In Joshua 5, the manna stops after the people eat from the fruit of the promised land, signaling a shift from survival to stewardship, from simply getting through to building what God has prepared. This message calls our church to leave behind passive faith and consumer Christianity and to step into a season of intentional discipleship, service, generosity, prayer, leadership, and invitation. The invitation is not merely to attend a new space, but to consecrate ourselves and participate in what God is doing as we cross over together.

The sermon closes with a practical and powerful commissioning moment as the church is asked to write down at least five names of people who don’t know Jesus or are disconnected from the church, committing to pray for them and intentionally invite them into the next season, leading into Easter. Together, we lift these names to the Lord, believing for salvation, baptisms, prodigals coming home, softened hearts, and a city that recognizes the mighty hand of God. This is our moment to step into the river, trust the Lord to make a way, and move forward with faith as we cross over.

Week 2 of our Escape the Trap series, “When Life Feels Unfair,” features guest pastor David Hermes from Hope Valley Church in Denver, Colorado, delivering a timely message on learning to live unoffendable in a world where wrongs are real.

Using the story of Joseph in Genesis and focusing on Genesis 45:5–8, Pastor David explores the difference between life simply going wrong and the deeper pain of being truly wronged, and how unprocessed offense can quietly poison your heart and limit your ability to walk in God’s calling.

Through Joseph’s journey from betrayal to purpose, this sermon invites you to name the pain honestly, stay faithful to Jesus when you feel overlooked or misunderstood, process hurt with wisdom instead of spreading it, and refuse retaliation while trusting God’s justice and redemption.

Ultimately, the message points beyond Joseph to Jesus, who endured every test perfectly and offers freedom from the trap of offense, restoring peace, clarity, and joy. If you’re carrying resentment, heartbreak, disappointment, or the weight of injustice, this word will help you find an escape into healing and new life through the power of God.

Pastor Chris Zauner launches week one of our Escape the Trap series with a sobering message called The Snare of Offense. In a world where hurt, conflict, and relational strain feel unavoidable, this sermon exposes the hidden danger of offense and why Jesus treated forgiveness as a matter of spiritual warfare, not just emotional health.

Starting in Luke 17, we see the disciples stunned by Jesus’ command to forgive again and again, to the point that their response is simple: “Increase our faith.” Pastor Chris unpacks why this command felt harder than the miracles they witnessed, and how that same struggle shows up in us today. From Matthew 24, he traces the progression Jesus warned about in the last days: offense that grows into betrayal, hatred, deception, and love growing cold. This isn’t just something happening “out there” in culture; it’s a threat that can take root inside the church, inside families, and inside our own hearts if left unresolved.

Through Proverbs 18 and 2 Corinthians 10, this message explains how offense builds walls that feel like protection but become strongholds that imprison the one who carries them. Pastor Chris paints a vivid picture of what happens when love stops flowing, comparing the Sea of Galilee’s life-giving overflow to the Dead Sea’s stagnant emptiness, and challenges believers to recognize when self-protection has replaced Spirit-empowered love. He also clarifies the biblical meaning of “offense” as skandalon, the trigger of a trap, revealing how Satan uses the bait of offense to pull believers into captivity and keep them from flourishing in God’s purposes.

This sermon ends with a call to respond, not with passive reflection but with a decision to stand against the spirit of offense, reject isolation, and choose freedom together as the family of God. If you’ve been carrying bitterness, withdrawing to protect yourself, or feeling your love grow cold, this message is an invitation to repentance, forgiveness, healing, and renewed agape love through the power of Jesus who came to set captives free.

The Snare of Offense is a wake-up call and a doorway to freedom. As you watch, ask the Holy Spirit to expose what’s hidden, soften what’s hardened, and help you live unoffendable as you learn to escape the trap.

In week 4 of The Mission series, Pastor Chris Zauner delivers a powerful and challenging sermon titled The Church’s Mission, calling the church to wake up, look up, and recognize what God is already doing all around us. Preaching from John chapter 4, Pastor Chris unpacks Jesus’ words to His disciples that the fields are already white for harvest, confronting the mindset of delay, procrastination, and spiritual distraction that often keeps believers from living on mission.

This message explores what it truly means to see the world through the eyes of Jesus, to feel the urgency of God’s kingdom, and to understand that mission is not an optional activity of the church but the very identity of the church. Drawing from the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, this sermon challenges cultural assumptions, comfort zones, and excuses, reminding us that God often works through unexpected people and inconvenient moments to bring about eternal transformation. Pastor Chris emphasizes that the harvest is not a future event but a present reality, that discipleship should change how we see people, and that God invites every believer to take part in sowing and reaping together.

This sermon is a call to action for anyone longing to live with purpose, engage their faith beyond Sundays, and join God in His mission right now. Whether you feel distracted, discouraged, or unsure where you fit, this message will encourage you to lift your eyes, step into the mission, and trust that God is already at work in your life, your community, and your generation.