Pursuing God with Dave and Gene

Jesus launched His ministry amid some big challenges, but He was anchored with a strong sense of who He was and what His purpose was.

Never underestimate the comfort we get from our routines. We lean so far into our routines that our brain gets to shut off while we do them, which can take us away from following Jesus.

When you come to Christ, your identity is a forgiven, washed, accepted, radically loved child of God. You are a new creation, so let God’s truth move you beyond business as usual. 

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.

Jesus walked into His ministry full of confidence, peace, passion, purpose, and focus. He would launch it knowing who He was, why He was here, and what He wanted to accomplish. 

This challenge should remind you of who you really are and increase your ability to walk with confidence and clarity each day. 

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.

We’ve been exploring this week how Jesus launched His world-changing ministry.

What would change in your life if you started seeing temptation not as proof of your failure, but as an opportunity to experience Jesus's understanding and power in a fresh way? 

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 His baptism, Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days. When He's at His weakest physically, Satan shows up with temptations. 

What's your wilderness? What's testing your faith right now? Are you trying to power through it on your own, or are you standing firm on God's Word like Jesus did?

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.

Week 2 of our New Testament Challenge will give you a greater sense of God’s activity and presence in your life. 

When people were waiting for a Messiah, but they had a very specific image in mind, and Jesus wasn’t it. But Jesus was baptized, it helped establish his identity and He asked 3 questions: Who am I really? Why am I here? What's my real purpose?

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.

We’ve completed our first week of episodes for our New Testament Challenge, and we’re taking a close look at the texts.

Heaven had been a place of absolute safety for Jesus. But then He became a defenseless little baby. Yet Jesus is the defining mark of all history. He is the hope of the oppressed. He sparked the greatest revolution ever begun. He offers the greatest gift ever given.

It’s time to let go, open the door, and let God love. Letting go unleashes the power of God in your life.

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’ll look at Jesus as a baby.

John calls Jesus “The Word,” an intentional choice for the audience of the day. Jesus of Nazareth wasn’t just a good person; He was God in the flesh.

He is fully human and fully divine, working with God to restore the relationship with broken people like us. Everything we need is found in Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem’s manger.

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 explore the delivery of Jesus. Joseph and Mary have an unusual delivery story. 

God offers you salvation, friendship, and new life if you’ll let go and throw the door open. Jesus doesn’t kick the door in; He says if anyone will open the door and come to Him, He will fellowship with them.

Have you let go and opened the door? Whether we open it for the first time or keep opening it wider, the choice is ours. 

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.

It all starts with the birth of Jesus. We’ll look at this story in three parts: the conception, the delivery, and the baby. Today we’ll talk about the conception.

As we review this story, we’ll look at 3 aspects: the lower story, what’s happening right in the text and in the lives of the people; the upper story, the bigger picture of what God is trying to accomplish for His purposes; and the application to our lives, what God wants us to take away from this text.

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.

During the next 10 weeks, we will be doing an overview of the New Testament.

Jesus was not a political figure, never held public office, never wrote a book, never traveled far, and was relatively uneducated. Yet, Jesus’ impact has only increased since His death. 

This week, we’ll look at Christmas and how the birth of Jesus represents the day heaven decided to let go.

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.