Southside Church

There’s a difference between believing in God and actually trusting Him. And one of the clearest places that difference shows up is in how we hold our money.

In this message Pastor Mike Mannes continues our journey through the book of Acts and lands on the third posture, give. But this isn’t really a sermon about money. It’s a sermon about trust. Because underneath every act of generosity is one simple belief. My God is a giver, not a taker.

Mike takes us back to a moment he witnessed as a fourteen year old, standing behind his dad as he wrote a check for far more than a grieving widow was asking for a horse trailer. He didn’t understand stewardship yet, and he didn’t even trust God yet. But he knew his dad did, and that small moment began to change his life. From there he unpacks two truths that reshape the way we hold everything. God is a giver worth trusting, and this is His world, so when we handle His resources His way, we walk right into His blessing.

Whether you have a little or a lot, the question doesn’t change. Are you too broke to give, or too broke not to trust Him? And maybe the one that lingers longest is this. Who is standing behind you, watching how you live, and what story will they tell one day?

We are living in the loneliest, most isolated culture in human history. Most of us feel it, even when we never say it out loud.

In this message Pastor Mike Mannes continues our journey through the book of Acts with the second of four postures that open our lives to God. Gather. It sounds simple, but it cuts against everything our culture says about being strong and self-sufficient. Because needing people isn’t weak. Admitting that we need people is actually wisdom.

Drawing from the early church, the story of five friends who cut a hole in a roof to get their paralyzed buddy to Jesus, and a sobering roadside moment that reminded him what really matters, Pastor Mike makes the case that we were never meant to do life on our own. The enemy prowls like a roaring lion, and he goes after whoever has wandered off alone. But something happens when we gather to worship, to serve, and to build real friendship. You make a difference, and you are made different.

People matter more than you think. More than the stuff we chase, more than the opinions we hold, more than almost anything. God brings the power. We bring the posture.

Think about the last thing that genuinely brought you joy. A restaurant, a show, a trip you took. What’s the first thing you did? You told someone. That instinct to share what we love is closer to the heart of following Jesus than we might think.

In this message Pastor Phil Hills continues our journey through the book of Acts and lands in Athens, where the apostle Paul stood among a thousand idols and told a truer, more beautiful story than any the world around him was living by. The gods of that day had to be appeased, begged, and served, and they loved no one. Paul introduced the city to a God who came not to be served but to serve. A God who loved people so much He stepped into our world and laid down His life for us.

Here is the heart of it. So many of us are settling for so little, and so are the people we love. You don’t change the world by winning arguments or by being impressive. Paul wasn’t even a good speaker. You change it by telling a truer and more beautiful story, and by letting the quality of your life match the words you say.

So let your heart break a little for the people who don’t yet know Him. Then tell the story as well as you can, imperfectly and honestly. Even the moments you blow it can point someone to Jesus, when you’re willing to own it. It was never your eloquence that changes anyone. It’s the story, and the God at the center of it.

We are living in anxious times. We track our sleep, our steps, our screens, every variable we can get our hands on, quietly believing that if we just control enough of them, nothing bad can reach us or the people we love.

But we can't control it all. And underneath the effort, the fear keeps growing.

In this tender and deeply honest message, Pastor Corinne Mannes names the question so many of us carry without saying it out loud. Why are we all so afraid? She opens up about a tragedy her family witnessed years ago, the day she came face to face with how small she really is, and the surrender that grew out of it. Not surrender to a God she didn't know, but to one she had learned to trust.

Here is the heart of it. When we look at a broken world to decide whether God is good, we come away with the wrong answer. It's like standing in front of a vandalized painting and blaming the artist. To see who God really is, you don't look around you. You look at Jesus. You look at the cross. Because the thing we fear the most, He has already faced, and He beat it.

So today the invitation is to make an exchange. Give Him your fears and your need to control everything, and receive the peace He promises. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.

The message of Jesus is still the most compelling thing in the world. So why does the church in the West feel like it is shrinking rather than growing?

In this message Pastor Mike Mannes continues our journey through the book of Acts with a claim that reframes everything. It was never a power problem. It is a posture problem. The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is as alive and at work today as ever. What has shifted is us.

Drawing from Acts 1:8 and the astonishing weirdness of the early church, the kind that made people stop and take note that these ordinary men and women had been with Jesus, Pastor Mike introduces the first of three postures that open our lives to God. Go. Not just the few called across the world, but all of us, right where we already are. As you go to work, to school, to the gym, to your family, be ready to go.

He is honest about why this feels scary, and gentle about where the courage actually comes from. You don't beat fear by running from it. You step into it. Perfection was never the prerequisite. God brings the power. We bring the posture.

Have you ever caught yourself just going through the motions? Heart beating, lungs breathing, days passing, and yet somewhere along the way you stopped feeling truly alive.

In this message Pastor Mike Mannes zooms in on the centerpiece of the book of Acts, the moment Jesus tells a ragtag, exhausted group of followers, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. They had every reason to walk away. Instead, every one of them said, I'm in. And Pastor Mike makes the case that the very same invitation is being extended to you.

He unpacks why grace is unlike anything else in human history. You are not saved by what you do, but by what Jesus has already done. And he offers a picture that reframes the whole journey. You are not a raft that just drifts, and you are not a motorboat straining to control what you never could. You are a sailboat. God brings the power. You bring the posture.

Is your life perfect, easy, and fun all the time? Probably not. But there is a life on offer that is so much more than existence. The glory of God is a human being fully alive. And the best is yet to come.

Somewhere along the way, we stopped being able to stand beside people who see the world differently than we do. Different politics, different opinions, and suddenly we decide we can't be on the same team.

In this message Pastor Mike Mannes picks up the story in the book of Acts, where the early church faced the very same divide between insiders and outsiders. He draws a clear line between unity and its imposter, uniformity. Unity is all kinds of different people pulling together to build something beautiful. Uniformity says you can only belong if you are a carbon copy of me. One of those builds a church. The other tears it apart.

Then Pastor Mike walks through the ancient words of the Apostles' Creed to name what actually holds followers of Jesus together. You are not an accident, you are His idea. Jesus defeated death by facing it. No matter how low you go, the end of yourself is the address of Jesus.

Because in the end, there is far more that should pull us together than could ever tear us apart. And the best is yet to come.

When you lay your head on the pillow at night, does a quiet question ever rise up? Isn't there more to life than this? More than winning, more than pleasure, more than money, because somehow it never quite fills you.

In this message Pastor Mike Mannes picks up the story in the book of Acts and makes a simple, bold claim. The more we're all aching for is Jesus. Drawing from the moment the early church discovered the gospel was never meant for insiders only, he reminds us that the church exists to reach the lost, not cater to the convinced. And the good news underneath it all is this. You don't have to change to earn God's love, but His love will change you into the truest version of yourself.

Then Pastor Mike makes a turn you might not expect. The best moments of your life were rarely the comfortable, easy, endlessly fun ones. They asked something of you. So instead of chasing a life that's only comfortable, he invites us to live open handed, to be the kind of people who give themselves away for others.

Because when you do, you discover the beautiful, upside down truth at the heart of it all. The best is yet to come.

What if there was one simple habit, backed by decades of research, that led to stronger relationships, a more meaningful life, and a deeper sense of hope?

There is. And it might surprise you. It might even trigger you a little.

What do you do when hope starts to feel foolish? When you've prayed for the same thing so long that believing for it feels naive, even a little scary?

Most of us have something like that. A situation we've quietly filed away. A prayer we stopped praying because it hurt too much to keep hoping. In this message Leah Derksen gently makes the case that we serve a God of miracles, and that even when every earthly reason for hope is gone, hope is not lost.

She shares the story of Abraham and Sarah from Romans 4, and a tender, personal story of a friend who chose to believe when the news could not have been worse. What stays with you isn't a flashy miracle. It's the quiet courage of choosing to hope. As her friend put it, it feels scary to hope, but we are choosing to hope.

So maybe this is your invitation to take the thing you've lost hope for off the back shelf, dust it off, and bring it to God. We believe. We pray. And we trust Him with the outcome.