The Bridge Austin

What fills your heart and mind? Is it personal ambitions, relationships, plans, or desires? When you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, He wants all of you. He wants to fill up your heart and be the center of your life. As Pastor Chris will challenge us in today’s message, this doesn’t mean life stops, and you spend your entire life reading the Bible and attending worship services. It does mean that every aspect of your life becomes an opportunity for giving honor and gratitude to God.

Where does your faith come from? Were you always destined to believe? Find out the answer to these questions and more in today's episode of Discovering the Jewish Jesus.

For many teens, the drive to fit in or feel worthy can shape almost every decision they make. Beneath the surface, those struggles often trace back to deep questions of value, trust and belonging. Today, Mark sits down with two Heartlight residents who each share their journeys through perfectionism, insecurity and the desire to be loved. For Emily, her struggles with anxiety and perfectionism started as early as 7 years old. She talks about feeling pressured to perform in every aspect of life, often seeking validation from others at the expense of her own well-being. Tune in for honest conversations about the power of validation — and the hope of finding true worth.

Want to learn more about the Heartlight program? Go to heartlightministries.org today!

Parenting Today's Teens is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be, visit parentingtodayteens.org. 

Spending decisions aren’t just financial—they reveal what, and whom, we value. That was the central insight Dr. Kelly Rush shared in today’s conversation on Faith & Finance, where she unpacked the Old Testament story of Jonah through the lens of money and stewardship.

Dr. Rush, Professor of Finance and Financial Planning at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, explained that Jonah’s story isn’t only about a prophet running from God. It’s also a revealing case study in how financial choices often mirror the condition of the heart. Her core conviction is simple but challenging: every spending decision is a spiritual decision.

According to Dr. Rush, money functions like a mirror. It reflects what we care about, what we trust, and what direction our hearts are moving. That principle, she noted, is woven throughout Scripture—and Jonah provides a surprisingly clear example.

Many readers miss the fact that money appears twice in Jonah’s short book. The first instance comes right at the beginning. When God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah runs in the opposite direction. Scripture tells us that he paid the fare to board a ship to Tarshish. Dr. Rush noted that this is one of the few passages in the Bible where the cost of travel is explicitly mentioned. The detail matters. Jonah didn’t just flee spiritually—he financed his rebellion. Running from God came at a financial cost.

That decision didn’t affect Jonah alone. When God sent a storm, the sailors were forced to throw their valuable cargo overboard to save their lives. Dr. Rush emphasized that poor stewardship rarely stays contained. Our financial and spiritual misalignment often impacts others—families, churches, workplaces, and communities. At the same time, she noted, faithful stewardship creates ripple effects of blessing.

The story then turns. In Jonah chapter two, inside the fish, Jonah repents. He cries out to God and vows obedience. This time, Dr. Rush explained, Jonah’s “payment” isn’t money but repentance and follow-through. When Jonah’s heart is realigned, his response changes as well. Repentance redirects both priorities and spending.

Dr. Rush connected that pattern to modern life. Faithful follow-through today, she said, looks like honoring a budget, keeping commitments to generosity, giving as worship rather than obligation, and acting with honesty and integrity in saving, investing, and repaying debt. These practices aren’t merely financial—they’re spiritual expressions of trust and obedience.

Budgets, Dr. Rush explained, tell a story. They put dollars and cents to what we prioritize and reveal whether we’re seeking God’s Kingdom or quietly running from Him. That can be uncomfortable—but it’s also hopeful. Jonah’s story is full of second chances. God didn’t give up on Jonah, and financial mistakes don’t disqualify us either.

Dr. Rush closed with a practical starting point: begin with prayer, intentionally place generosity at the top of the budget, invite wise counsel, and remember that spending decisions are always spiritual decisions. 

Money tells a story—but by God’s grace, it can be a story shaped for His glory.

• When I think of investing, I think of putting money into something that helps it grow. If I buy a stock that doesn’t pay dividends, it can feel more like a speculative bet—just hoping the price goes up. Even if I’m a passive investor and don’t benefit until I sell, does owning that stock actually help the company grow in a meaningful way, making it more of an actual investment rather than a bet?

• Faithful Steward: FaithFi’s Quarterly Magazine (Become a FaithFi Partner)
• Wisdom Over Wealth: 12 Lessons from Ec

For years, Christy Osborne turned to wine to manage grief, a struggling marriage, and the pressures of motherhood, only to feel trapped in her habits. In desperation, she cried out to Jesus—and through His grace, began a journey of healing, finding new strength in Scripture and healthier ways to face life’s challenges. She shares her story as a testimony of God’s peace, redemption, and the lasting hope found in Him.

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Our attitudes may have a profound effect on our lives right now—but it doesn’t end here! Dr. Robert Jeffress teaches that the way we respond to life’s circumstances will have consequences that extend all the way into eternity.

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Questions in this episode:

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God wants to do the impossible through you. Not the hard, not the unlikely, He wants to do the impossible through you. The question is, how does that work? What do you need to do to in order to experience that kind of life changing breakthrough? Chip answers those questions in this message.

Five questions about breakthrough:

1. What is a breakthrough?

Three key definitions:

• An offensive thrust that penetrates and carries beyond a defensive line in warfare.
• An act or instance of breaking through a barrier.
• A sudden advance.

2. Is there a biblical pattern for breakthrough?

• Great need
• Great sin
• Great bondage
• God's compassion
• God's judgment
• God delivers

3. How did Jesus teach His disciples to experience and be agents of breakthrough?

• Announce the “Good News!” -Mark 1
• Defeat evil
• Bring healing
• Lead by example

4. Is there historical precedent that breakthrough can happen in our day?

• The entire book of Acts
• List of Church-Age believers

5. How do you experience the first step of breakthrough?

• BELIEVE that God is good.
• EMBRACE that it’s God’s will to do the impossible in you and through you.

Assignment:

• Read over Psalm 23, inserting your name in the blanks, at least once each day this week.

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Additional Resource Mentions

• I Choose Love Book
• Daily Discipleship - Psalms of Hope

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Hope in the Night - Keys for Living