Weekday Podcast

In this episode of the Weekday Podcast, we dive into the powerful words of 1 Samuel 2:30, where God promises to honor those who honor Him. Pastor Chuck draws a compelling parallel between the thrill of competition and the deeper, more meaningful pursuit of honoring God in everything we do—win or lose. Whether you’re chasing victories in sports or facing challenges in life, the reminder is clear: true success isn’t about the outcome, but about how we honor God along the way. Tune in for an encouraging message on the value of honoring God, regardless of the highs and lows we encounter.

Hey everybody, and thanks so much for joining me on today's weekday podcast. You know, the Old Testament writer in 1 Samuel chapter 2, verse 30 says this: "But now the Lord says, for those who honor me, I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed."

Wow, that is a mouthful. "But now the Lord says, for those who honor me, I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed."

You know, one of the things that I've always enjoyed in life is competition. Because competition produces winners and champions and folks who, well, lose and aren't champions. There's something fun. There's something challenging about it all. All types of competition does that. And with that comes awards and honors. 

When we compete, honor is not our goal. Our goal is to win whatever it is. If you're in a fishing tournament, catch fish. If you're in a football game, to win the game. If you're in a foot race, to win the race. But when we're honored, no matter what it is that we're competing at, it feels pretty doggone good.

I mean, I've had times when I've lost and I've felt like crud, and I've had times when I've won and I've felt like I was on top of the world. There's something healthy about all of that. And I really do agree with the fact that we should try to honor God in all that we do to have success. And it doesn't matter whether we won or we lost.

I love it when you see the athletes who give all the glory and honor to God when they win, but then they're silent when they lose. And I think to myself, God teaches us as much when we lose as God does when we win. The question is, are we willing to learn from him in both cases?

But think about what today's verse says: God will honor us. That alone is like, wow, with a capital W. I cannot think of anyone I'd rather be honored by than the God who hung the moon and the stars, the God who spoke the world into creation, who spoke me into creation, who said, let there be light, and there was light.

And the rest of this verse is even more remarkable. I've never despised God. It is amazing that even the ones who do despise God are not despised by God. They are lightly esteemed. This shows God's love and mercy and his goodness to mankind. 

Honor God today and watch him honor your life, my friend. This is one of the things that I love about the Lord. He loves us all, and yet he draws close to us even when we are heartbroken, when we have felt like we've lost, because we can't make him not love us. But for those that honor him, he says he will honor. 

Today, my friend, don't go out to honor for the sake of believing that that causes you to be a winner, but go out and know you've won because God loves to honor you.

"But now the Lord says, for those who honor me, I will honor." What a wonderful and glorious thing. So let us love him today because he first loved us.

In today’s Weekday Podcast, Pastor Chuck shares a powerful message on finding true hope in a world full of uncertainties. We often look for hope in relationships, jobs, or material things, but as Pastor Chuck reminds us, sustainable hope is only found in Jesus. He tells the story of Michaela, a young woman who faced immense challenges but lived her life with hope rooted in Christ. Her life and passing are a reminder that real hope isn’t just about the future—it’s living and active, and it’s available to us today. Pastor Chuck walks us through how we can embrace this hope by acknowledging our need for Jesus, believing in His sacrifice, and confessing Him as our Savior. No matter what you’re facing, Jesus is the bridge to hope, healing, and purpose.

Hi, everybody. Pastor Chuck here with another weekday podcast. I want to talk today about finding hope.I n a world full of radical uncertainties, where can you find true hope? I think, man, if you could bottle that and sell it, you'd be worth a billion dollars tomorrow. 

I'm here to tell you that our ultimate hope, my friend, is found in Jesus. I think sometimes we try to find hope in a relationship with other humans, and you get a dose of it maybe. Or sometimes we find hope in, wow, if I just had that job or if I just had that home. The truth is we need sustainable hope.

I told you in a sermon recently about a young lady that I had the great privilege of preaching her funeral. Her name is Michaela. She passed away at 20. She had great challenges. She wasn't expected to live past two. She'd never walked before in her life. I was able to say inside of her funeral, where literally dozens and dozens and dozens, I mean literally 40 plus people gave their life to Christ in a funeral. But I think the genuine story is the fact that Michaela was the sermon. Because I was able to say, think about this, because of her faith in Christ alone and finding hope, she worshipped freely. 

She was a sassy little girl. She couldn't communicate terribly well, but she was super bright. She graduated from high school, was in college. And it's interesting when she drew her last breath here on earth, she drew her first breath in heaven because that's where her hope was found in Christ Jesus.

So friend, listen, Michaela had hope and her hope was found in the Lord Jesus. First Peter 1 says, "blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." Our hope friend is in Christ and it's living and it's active.

Michaela was able to walk for the first time in her first breath in heaven on streets of gold. Can you imagine people who had known her and had never seen her walk or communicate well and to be able to experience that in heaven? That's hope, my friend.

Now you might be saying, well, Chuck, that's awesome, but how do I get this hope? Well, it's relatively simple actually. It starts with recognizing our need for Jesus. We all fall short of God's glory according to Romans 3, but Jesus bridged that gap for us. I mean, he did that through his death and his resurrection.

So you say, well, Chuck, how do I get this hope? Well, think about this as maybe like a super simple one, two, three. One, I need to acknowledge forgiveness. It's my sin and your sin that caused Jesus to give his life up, but he did it willingly. I need to believe that Jesus died for me and he rose from the dead as payment for all that sin for the whole world. And then confess, I believe Jesus raised from the dead because I need him to be my Lord and my savior because he's the only one that can be. It's kind of simple. And once you take that step of faith, you're not alone because Jesus promised us he'll never leave us, he'll never forsake us.

So remember, friend, hope in Jesus isn't about just the future. It's about right now, today. With Jesus in your life, you have hope for healing, for restoration, for purpose. No matter what you're facing, no matter what you're in the middle of, Jesus is your bridge to hope. So today, I hope that you can embrace this hope. I pray that you can embrace this hope, that you'll let Jesus be your bridge, your peace, your everything.