That's Grace Podcast

Every year, Easter comes around and we hear the stories of Jesus being crucified, dying, being buried in the tomb, and then miraculously raising from the dead. But maybe to you, these stories seem a little far fetch. You very well might believe in God and have grown up in church, but now that you’re an adult you have your doubts about how much is fact or fiction. The good news is that you’re not alone. in fact, one of Jesus’ very own disciples felt this way. This Easter, Pastor Sean focuses the Easter story on how a man named Thomas responded to the death and miraculous resurrection of Jesus and shows us how even if you feel distant from God, are on the fringes of religion, or still have your doubts, you are the one person that God would want to speak to today.

How do you think your life would look differently if you began to have regular, personal communication with God? Now this isn’t the same thing as telling others our thoughts and prayers are with them. I’m talking about real, genuine, heart to heart talks with God about your decisions, your circumstances, your hurt, your joy, and your desires. In the last week of this series, Pastor Sean talks about how a God’s desire for your prayer life is never to stop, but rather you hit the pause button on the conversation. In this teaching, we also learn 3 things that a healthy prayer life is and how we can begin to apply this habit of prayer to our lives.

In last week’s teaching, we discussed how prayer is supposed to be a performance we put on for God, but a conversation we are beginning. But if prayer is a conversation, how are we supposed to hear from God? How are we to know when He answers, if He answers, or what is His answer to our prayers? Are we supposed to listen for an audible voice telling us what to do? Is it possible for us to mistake God’s answers to us? In this week’s message, Pastor Sean gives us three ways that God speaks to us, but before we can even go that far, we need to answer an important question. Do we REALLY want to hear what God has to say and will we obey what He is telling us?

Imagine it’s a special occasion like a birthday or anniversary and you receive two cards, both from people you care about. One card contains words written by an author and holds only a signature from your loved one. However, the other card is filled with a hand written notes. Which one would you find to be more meaningful. Most of the time our answer would probably be the one with the original, hand written words. Well what if God viewed our prayers the same way? Many of us approach prayer feeling like it is something that needs to be recited back to God. Some beautiful words that someone else came up with. But in this week’s message, Pastor Sean shows from the Bible how the prayer God is the most interested in hearing from you, is the one straight from your heart. In this teaching, we see 3 truths about prayer that could completely change the way you pray and interact with God.

Prayer is one of those things that we kind of do without thinking about why we do them. We know the Our Father and have other prayers memorized, but what’s the point? We probably all would say that prayer is important in the life and faith of a Christian, but you’ve probably prayed before and felt like God never answered. Did He not hear you? Was He too busy? Or did He just not care to answer your prayer? In today’s teaching, Pastor Sean talks about why we are supposed to pray and what difference does it really make.

So far this series, we’ve looked at how God has used the picture of adoption to describe His relationship with us and we’ve looked at our responsibility to look out for those who are most disadvantaged. In week three of this series, Pastor Brian talks about why God wanted to adopt us. To rescue us is one thing but to adopt is something different. Why did God choose to do this and how does this change how you interact and see God in your life? Adoption changes everything. We are now considered family and have all the rights and responsibilities of family members. But at the end of the day, it’s your choice whether you live like a family member or not.

Adoption might be one of the most beautiful and powerful expressions of love that we know. To choose to love another, to make them your own, and to allow yourself to be inconvenienced so that you can make their life better. It’s no wonder that God uses this metaphor to describe His relationship with us. While we were distant from God, with nothing to offer Him, He chose to pay a price in order to adopt us into His family. In the first week of this series, Pastor Sean talks about how not everyone is God’s child. Adoption is something that is offered to all, but not something that everyone accepts. Find out what it means to be adopted by God and what God has planned for you if you are already adopted by God.

After looking last week at the picture of adoption that God uses to describe His relationship with us, we look at what role God has asked us to play in defending the weak and helping those who are most disadvantaged. We see in James 1:27 that the purest form of religion in the sight of God is the care of orphans and widows and refusing to allow the world to bring you back to the things you once worshipped. In just our state alone, there are 10,000 children in the foster care system and about half of them are in group homes. Pastor Sean talks about how you might not necessarily be in a position to foster or adopt, we know from the Bible that God calls His followers to not turn a blind eye to the problem and do something! Find out in this week’s teaching how God might be asking you to step out and advocate for those most disadvantaged.

What would your life look like if you experienced joy in your life every single week?What if you could be joyful no matter whether you were having a good week or a bad one? How would that change your life? How would that impact those around you? And what does it look like to have real joy in the midst of difficult times? Those are some tough questions to answer aren’t they? The Bible actually has a lot to say about experiencing joy and even so far as to say that God enjoys when we enjoy life. In this week of our series Framily, Pastor Stephen talks about how God has designed us to live a life full of joy and what the Bible has to say about living a life that reflects joy even when our circumstances are tough.

Last week, we learned about the kind of love that God asks His followers to show to others. An unconditional, selfless, proactive love. A love that loves even when love is not shown back. But for many of us, it’s tough just keeping our own life together let alone have the mental, physical, and emotional capacity in order to love and give to others in the way that God asks us to. If you find yourself in this place in life right now, this week’s teaching is for you. Pastor Sean talks about why we often find ourselves exhausted, overworked out, with no margin left to give anyone else and gives us 4 tips to find a more healthy rhythm to carry you through the seasons of life.