Pursuing God with Dave and Gene

In today’s episode, Gene challenges us with this:  If you are not a happy, content person in a soul-satisfying relationship with Jesus, no relationship, no man, no woman will ever make you happy. No human is capable of being the secret to your happiness. You can only ultimately find true happiness and contentment through a relationship with 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.

To experience God’s best in any of our relationships, we need the guiding presence of God’s Spirit and the wisdom of God’s word. Ecclesiastes 4:12 says, “…a chord of three strands is not quickly broken.” The presence of God’s Spirit within us is the 3rd strand. When God is part of the relationship, we are stronger, better, and able to overcome life’s storms.

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.

Gene reminds us today that we need both truth and grace in our relationships. Truth without grace is mean. Grace without truth is meaningless. We need both. Imagine how much our relationships would improve if we were to aspire to be like Jesus in this regard—a perfect balance of grace and truth.  

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.

In today’s episode, Gene challenges us to speak the truth in love, but to be gentle.We need to turn down the heat, lower our voices, and speak the truth in the most loving way possible. We need to learn to be the master of the gentle answer. 

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.

Our words of blessing have the power to shape and mold people and mark their lives for a lifetime. The truth is we all need to hear we’re believed in, appreciated, and valued. Pray that God will give you the eyes to see “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable and anything that is excellent or praiseworthy.” 

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.

Without God in the equation, our relationships may not stand the test of time or the test of selfishness for that matter. But, with God, they become a very real possibility. Today Gene reminds us that prayer is one of the building blocks for bringing the kind of change within us that will lead to better relationships. You’ve prayed, “Lord change me.” Now, pray the prayer the Psalmist prayed in Psalms 141:3 “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. 

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.

Good relationships are possible but they are not probable. In today’s episode, Gene reminds us that when we face difficulty in our relationships, we need to pray, “God, change ME,” not “God change THEM.” If you come to God humbly and in genuine submission to do His will, then this is a prayer Gene guarantees God will answer because He specializes in changing 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.

To be the radically inclusive church that Jesus died on a blood-stained cross for us to become, we must make the effort and take the initiative to build bridges of fellowship and brotherly love with ALL PEOPLE. Gene reminds us today that Revelation 5:9-10 describes a scene of people worshiping the Lamb of God around His throne in heaven singing from “every tribe and language and people and nation.”

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.

Gene reminds us today that words that tear down bring death. Words that build up and affirm, bring life. These are the words Jesus wants to hear us speaking to one another in the church. That’s why 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Encourage one another and build each other 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.

In today’s episode, Gene takes us to the book of James. James 2:8 says, “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ you are doing right.” That’s God’s dream for His church, where you love your neighbor--whether they’re rich or poor, black or white, Asian or Hispanic, Republican or Democrat, blue collar or white collar, young or old. You love them all as you love yourself.

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.