Monday Morning Collision With Pastor Russ

What if your comfort zone is keeping you from making a difference in someone else's life? In this episode of Monday Morning Collision, Pastor Russ challenges us to look beyond our schedules, preferences, and personal convenience to recognize the needs of people around us. Drawing from Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, we discover that compassion isn't just something we feel—it's something we do. Following Jesus sometimes means allowing someone else's needs to interrupt our plans. Are you willing to be inconvenienced for the sake of someone else? This week's collision challenges you to move beyond good intentions and take one intentional step toward making a difference.

What if the interruption you’re trying to avoid today is actually the moment God wants to use you? In Acts 3, Peter and John were simply going about their day when they encountered a man everyone else had learned to walk past. Spirit-empowered living isn’t limited to what happens in church—it changes the way we see and respond to people in everyday life. In this episode of Monday Morning Collision, discover how an unexpected interruption might become a divine opportunity when you surrender your schedule, notice the people around you, and allow the Holy Spirit to work through you.

You can learn from your past, but you can’t live there. Peter couldn’t undo his denial, rewrite what happened, or go back and make a different choice—and Jesus never asked him to. Instead, Jesus gave him two words: **“Follow Me.”** In this Monday Morning Collision, Pastor Russ Jones explores the difference between learning from your past and allowing it to control your present. Your failures, regrets, and missed opportunities may be part of your story, but they don’t have to determine your future. **You don’t need a different past to have a different future. You just need to follow Jesus from here.**

How well do you really know yourself? Peter was convinced he knew exactly what he would do when the pressure came—but Jesus knew Peter better than Peter knew himself. In this Monday Morning Collision, we look at the uncomfortable gap between our intentions and what pressure actually reveals about us. Failure doesn’t have to define you, but it can expose where you’ve been depending on your own strength. Sometimes the most important thing Jesus can show us isn’t how strong we are—it’s where we’ve been trying to be strong without Him.

What if the place you call “safe” is really just familiar? In Matthew 14, Peter had to choose between staying in the boat—where he knew what to expect—or trusting Jesus enough to step into something he could not control. In this episode of Monday Morning Collision, we take Sunday’s message into Monday and ask a challenging question: What has Jesus already asked you to do that you keep postponing? Faith isn’t just believing what Jesus can do; faith becomes visible when what you believe changes what you do. Stop calling familiar safe. It may be time to get out of the boat.

What if the thing you’re asking God for requires you to become someone who can carry it? In this episode of Monday Morning Collision, Pastor Russ explores Jesus’ words to Peter, “I will make you,” and what they reveal about spiritual growth. God isn’t only interested in changing our circumstances—He is developing our faith, character, humility, and capacity for what He wants to do through us. Maybe the stretching you feel today is preparation for what God wants to entrust to you tomorrow.

This week on Monday Morning Collision, Pastor Russ challenges us with a powerful question: What if you are praying for God to do something He is asking you to do? Sometimes God answers prayer by calling us to act—to make the call, send the text, encourage someone, or simply show up. Discover how prayer should move us beyond good intentions and into obedience, and consider who God may be placing in front of you this week.

What are you holding too tightly? In this episode of Monday Morning Collision, Pastor Russ explores the line between our responsibility and God’s responsibility. Discover why surrender isn’t giving up—it’s giving over—and how to keep planting, trusting, and waiting when all you can see is dirt. Do what obedience requires, then let God handle the rain.

What happens when you ask God what He wants—and His answer interferes with what you want? James 4 challenges us to move beyond asking God to bless our plans and learn what it really means to surrender them. In this Monday Morning Collision, we confront the tension between self-determination and submission, the danger of mistaking opportunity for God’s will, and the uncomfortable truth that sometimes we already know what God wants—we just don’t want to do it. The question isn’t simply, “Will God bless my plans?” It’s **“Who gets the final say?”**

What if the thing you’re asking God to defeat is something you’re still giving access to? In this episode of Monday Morning Collision, Pastor Russ takes James 4:7 beyond Sunday morning and into the choices we make every day. We’ll look at the difference between resisting temptation and continuing to feed it, why submission to God comes before resistance, and how small compromises can become powerful patterns. The question for Monday is simple but challenging: What am I allowing in my life that is making it harder for me to follow Jesus?