Pursuing God with Dave and Gene

The people closest to us often get the least unconditional acceptance from us. We hold our highest expectations for the ones we love most, and pull back when they fall short. But that's not how God treats me. Psalm 145 reminds me He's gracious and compassionate, meeting us where we are. Accepting someone doesn't mean approving of everything they do. You can speak hard truth while still making it clear they belong in your life. So ask yourself today: when the people closest to you make a real mistake, do they come to you, or do they hide it?

Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God’s presence and activity in your life.

If you ask people what they most want from the people closest to them, it usually comes down to one thing: to be understood. Not fixed, not corrected, not molded into someone else's image, just truly seen for who they are. This week we're drawing from Psalm 145, one of the richest portraits of God in all of Scripture, to explore what it means to love someone well. God knows exactly how each of us is formed, and He relates to us accordingly. When we take the time to understand the people we love, watching them, asking questions, listening without rushing to fix, we free them to grow in the direction they were actually designed to go. So here's the question worth sitting with today: who in your life needs to feel understood, and what would it take for you to really see them?

Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God’s presence and activity in your life.

Tomorrow you're going to write a new chapter in your story, and the only real question is what kind of pen you'll be holding. All week in Exodus 14, we watched two million people stuck between the Red Sea and an army, caught in the cycle of fear, sarcasm, and worst-case thinking. But I've decided to throw in with Moses and plant my flag with the fear-not, stand-firm, expect-God's-help crowd. When I look back at everything God has already pulled off, parting waters and raising the dead throughout history, I can't find a single reason to believe He won't show up for me now. So what's the Red Sea in front of you, and which pen are you going to pick up?

Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God’s presence and activity in your life.

When my back is against the wall and I'm out of options, what I really believe about God gets exposed. The Israelites found that out fast, pinned between the Red Sea and an army with nowhere to run. But notice what God told them in Exodus 14:15: quit crying out, quit circling the problem, and move. He didn't take them around the thing they feared. He took them through it. And that's usually where the miracle is, on the other side of the one step we keep refusing to take. So what's the thing you've been too afraid to step toward, and what would it look like to expect God's help and move today?

Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God’s presence and activity in your life.

When fear takes over, it has a way of making me forget what's actually true. The Israelites felt it the moment they were trapped between the Red Sea and an army closing in, and I've felt it myself, lying awake at night wondering if I'd misread God on the biggest decision of my life. But in Exodus 14:13, Moses laid out a better plan: fear not, and stand firm. I can let go of my fear because I have a God who will never let go of me. So, where have you been circling in fear, and what would it look like to stand firm today?

Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God’s presence and activity in your life.

Be honest: do you make better or worse decisions when you're afraid? Yesterday, we named three things that show up when our backs are against the wall: fear, sarcasm, and worst-case thinking. Today, we slow down and look at how they feed each other into a cycle that never takes us anywhere. Jesus put it plainly in Matthew 6:27, asking who of us can add a single hour to our life by worrying. So what would it look like to name the pattern the moment it starts?

Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God’s presence and activity in your life.

What are we gonna do now? That's the question a lot of us are asking as financial pressure and uncertainty keep piling up. This week we're looking at the Israelites trapped at the edge of the Red Sea in Exodus 14, a moment where fear, sarcasm, and worst-case thinking took over. Here's what I keep coming back to: fear and faith are both about what we can't yet see. So when the pressure hits, which one will we let lead?

Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God’s presence and activity in your life.

Loving others compassionately is the natural overflow of loving God completely and seeing yourself clearly. And one of the most tangible expressions of that love is what you do with your money. Spending wisely, saving consistently, and giving generously aren't just financial habits. They're a living sermon about what you actually believe. When the people watching your life see all three working together, they learn something no class can teach. What financial habit do you want to build, not just for your own sake, but for theirs?

Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God’s presence and activity in your life.

Before you can love your neighbor well, you have to love yourself accurately. That means holding two things in tension: understanding how uniquely made you are, and understanding how ordinary you are. When you affirm the people in your life for who they actually are, you free them from searching for acceptance in the wrong places. And when you help them see their ordinariness honestly, you open the door to the grace they actually need. Who in your life needs to hear both truths from you today?

Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God’s presence and activity in your life.

The most powerful legacy you can leave isn't a speech or a lesson. It's a life. When the people around you see faith woven into ordinary moments, generosity practiced consistently, and God treated as genuinely central, they're learning something no conversation could fully teach. Today we explore what it looks like to leave a legacy of loving God completely, not just by saying it, but by living it in ways the people watching your life can't miss. What is your life actually teaching them right now?

Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s grace is for everyone, each episode invites you to discover God’s presence and activity in your life.