Pursuing God with Dave and Gene

Why Abraham? Today we look at the surprising beginning of God’s nation-building plan and the pattern we see throughout the Bible: God chooses the weak and the unlikely to accomplish His purposes. If you’ve ever felt too old, too broken, or too ordinary to be used by God, this conversation is for you.

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.

Today we’re looking at God’s covenant with Abraham and the three promises that set His rescue plan in motion — land, nation, and blessing. From Abraham to Jesus, we see a promise-keeping God at work. What promises are you holding onto 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.

From the very first pages of Scripture, God reveals that brokenness is never the end of the story. After sin enters the world, God covers Adam and Eve’s shame through the sacrifice of an innocent life, offering an early picture of redemption that points directly to Jesus. This moment in Genesis foreshadows the cross, where Christ would ultimately bear our guilt and restore what sin had broken. As we close the first week of the Old Testament Challenge, we’re reminded that God’s plan to redeem the world was never an afterthought. No matter how broken life feels, God is already at work, offering forgiveness, hope, and new life through Jesus.

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.

After sin fractures God’s good creation, the story of Noah reveals a powerful truth: brokenness is not the end of the story. Even in judgment, God is at work to heal, restore, and begin again. Through the flood, we see both the seriousness of sin and the mercy of a God who refuses to abandon His creation. From the earliest pages of Genesis, God paints windows of hope, including the first promise of a coming Savior.

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.

Genesis 3 reveals the moment God’s good creation fractures through deception, disobedience, and sin. By tracing Satan’s tactics from the garden to the brokenness we still experience today, we see how guilt, shame, fractured relationships, and a broken world entered the story. Yet even in judgment, hope remains. Through Noah’s story, Scripture reminds us that God still seeks, shows favor, and offers redemption, pointing us to hope that persists even when everything seems shattered.

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 does it mean to be made in the image of God? God calls creation good, but humanity very good, revealing that people are intentional image bearers created for a relationship with Him and with one another. Through the story of Adam and Eve, we see God’s design for community, purpose, and trust, along with the ongoing question of who defines good and evil in our lives. 

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.

Creation begins with one foundational truth: God is the starting point of everything. Week 1 of The Old Testament Challenge starts with Genesis 1 and the powerful reality behind the Bible’s opening words, “In the beginning, God.” 

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.

Discover how expressing your uniqueness with passion and extending love with devotion helps people move from attending church to truly belonging. Learn why meaningful connection, small groups, and intentional relationships are essential to building a spiritual family.

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.

Explore six practical expressions of love that strengthen God’s family, including selflessness, zeal, joy, prayer, generosity, and hospitality. Discover how lived-out love creates deeper connection, unity, and spiritual growth in the church.

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.

Discover how genuine love helps people truly connect in God’s family. Learn why sincerity, integrity, and friendship are essential marks of real love and how extending love with devotion creates a church where people belong and grow.

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.