Wonder Church

In this Easter message, Pastor CJ Witkoe teaches from John 20:11–16 and the powerful moment when Jesus calls Mary by name at the empty tomb. Mary had seen the signs of the resurrection, but what changed everything was not just evidence or miracles. It was a personal encounter with the risen Jesus.

“See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey…” — Matthew 21:5

Palm Sunday isn’t just a moment in history—it’s a deeply personal invitation.

In this message, Pastor CJ Witkoe explores the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and asks a powerful question:

Did Jesus choose the cross… or was He forced into it?

The answer changes everything.

Through the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 and the events of Matthew 21, we see that Jesus didn’t just accidentally fulfill prophecy—He intentionally chose to fulfill it. From riding on a donkey to remaining silent before His accusers, Jesus actively stepped into God’s plan.

And that reveals something profound:

What He couldn’t control reveals His identity (He is God).
 What He chose reveals His character (He is love).

The bottom line of this message is simple—but life-changing:

Your choices reveal your character.

And Jesus’ choice?
 He chose to come for you.

In this sermon, you’ll discover:

👑 Why Palm Sunday prophecy is both miraculous and intentional
📖 How Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies—and why it matters
🔥 The difference between divine identity and chosen obedience
💧 How God pursues us before we ever pursue Him
❤️ Why your relationship with Jesus starts with His choice—not yours

While we often think of faith as us searching for God, Scripture flips the story:

Jesus came to you first.

“We love because He first loved us.” — 1 John 4:19

Before you ever reached for Him,
 before you ever believed,
 before you ever cleaned up your life—

Your King was already on His way to you.

📖 Scripture: Matthew 21:1–5, Zechariah 9:9, Luke 24:44, Romans 5:8
🎙️ Message Title: Your King Comes to You
📅 Occasion: Palm Sunday

“Why are you cast down, O my soul… Hope in God; for I shall again praise him.” — Psalm 42:11

What do you do when you’re still struggling… even after everything you’ve learned?

Psalm 42 ends with a powerful, repeated declaration that cuts through despair, doubt, and exhaustion:

Hope in God.

In this message, Pastor CJ Witkoe unpacks one of the most important spiritual practices in the Christian life—leading your soul when it feels like it’s falling apart.

Because the truth is:

It’s not over… because God’s not done.

This verse isn’t a quick fix or a denial of pain. The psalmist is still downcast. Still in turmoil. Still struggling. But instead of giving up, he speaks truth to his soul again—and again—and again.

Why? Because repetition forms habits, habits shape lives, and lives determine destinies.

In this sermon, you’ll learn:

🧠 What it means to practice true “soul leadership” (without denying your pain)
 🔁 Why spiritual repetition is essential for growth and maturity
 🔥 How to keep going when you’re tired of “learning lessons”
 🙏 What it actually means to “hope in God”
 💡 Why hope isn’t wishful thinking—but confident trust in God’s unfinished work

When your soul loses hope, there’s no strategy, discipline, or effort that can fix it.

Only hope in God can restore the soul.

No matter what your story has been up to this point—
 no matter how far you’ve fallen, how long you’ve struggled, or how tired you feel—

God has the final word.

📖 Scripture: Psalm 42:11, Galatians 6:9, John 1:16
🎙️ Series: Psalm 42
🧭 Message Title: Hope In God

“I say to God, my rock: ‘Why have you forgotten me?’” — Psalm 42:9

Have you ever asked the question most believers are afraid to say out loud?

“God… where are you?”

Psalm 42 takes us into one of the darkest moments of the psalmist’s spiritual journey. What begins as a thirst for God becomes a painful question: Has God forgotten me? Surrounded by enemies and mocked with the haunting challenge — “Where is your God?” — the psalmist wrestles honestly with doubt, suffering, and the silence of heaven.

In this message, Pastor CJ Witkoe explores what Scripture teaches about those seasons when God feels distant and why that feeling doesn’t mean He’s absent.

The powerful truth at the center of this passage is:

When God feels far away, He is really on His way.

In this sermon, you’ll discover:

💧 Why spiritual thirst is essential for discipleship
 ⚔️ The three enemies every believer faces — within, around, and below
 ✝️ How Jesus experienced abandonment so we could be adopted
 🧠 Why the enemy attacks your soul through doubt and accusation
 🔥 How to see spiritual battles from God’s perspective
 🕊️ Why wrestling with God is part of real faith

When the psalmist asks, “Where is your God?”, Scripture gives us three answers:

• He was on the cross — securing our salvation.
• He is with us in the battle — empowering us to endure.
• He is coming soon — bringing justice, healing, and restoration.

If you’re in a season where God feels distant, this message will remind you that your struggle is not the end of the story. God has not forgotten you — and the darkness will not have the final word.

📖 Scripture: Psalm 42:9–10, Matthew 27:46, Romans 7–8, John 16:33
🎙️ Series: Psalm 42
🧭 Message Title: When God Feels Far Away

“My soul is cast down within me… Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls.” — Psalm 42:6–7

There are moments in life when everything stops.

Loss.
 Heartbreak.
 Death.
 Divorce.
 The collapse of something you thought would last forever.

Psalm 42 speaks directly into those seasons—the deep dark places of the soul where pain isn’t surface-level but goes all the way down. In this message, Pastor CJ Witkoe explores how the psalmist navigates overwhelming grief and spiritual darkness and discovers a powerful truth:

Our deep souls need a deep God.

Through vivid imagery of raging waterfalls, crashing waves, and the depths of the ocean, Psalm 42 reveals that the storms we face are not outside of God’s control—they are His waves and His breakers, and they are held under His authority.

In this message, you’ll discover:

🌊 Why the deepest pain can shape the deepest faith
 🧭 How remembering God’s past faithfulness anchors us in present darkness
 🙏 Why speaking to your soul isn’t enough—we must also cry out to God
 🔥 How suffering often becomes God’s tool for transformation
 ✝️ Why Jesus is ultimately the way through the deepest dark

From the story of Jonah to the sorrow of Christ in Gethsemane, Scripture shows us that darkness is never the final chapter. The night may feel overwhelming, but the promise remains:

Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.

If you are walking through a season where the waves feel too big and the darkness too deep, this message will remind you that you are not alone—and that the God who commands the storm is with you in the boat.

📖 Scripture: Psalm 42:6–8
🎙️ Series: Psalm 42
🧭 Message Title: The Way Through the Deep Dark

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God…”

In this powerful and deeply practical message, Pastor CJ Witkoe explores one of the most overlooked spiritual disciplines in Scripture: leading your own soul.

Psalm 42 isn’t just poetry—it’s a masterclass in soul leadership. The psalmist doesn’t ignore his despair. He doesn’t suppress his emotions. He doesn’t pretend everything is fine. Instead, he speaks directly to his soul and calls it back to hope.

And so must we.

In this message, you’ll discover:

🧠 The difference between self-talk and soul-talk
 💔 Why your soul may still be operating from childhood wounds
 🧩 The difference between integration and disintegration
 🔥 Why self-care is not the same as soul care
 🙏 What it actually means to “hope in God”
 🎵 How praise prevents grief from becoming despair

The Hebrew word for soul — nephesh — refers to your inner being: the seat of your emotions, identity, and longings. It’s the glue that holds your mind, heart, and body together. And yet, many of us neglect it, misfeed it, or allow it to run chaotic and unled.

Psalm 42 makes a shocking assumption:
 You can know your soul—and you can lead your soul.

When the psalmist says, “Hope in God,” he isn’t denying pain. He’s confronting it. He’s reminding himself that while he may have reasons to be downcast, he has greater reason to rise.

You may have reasons to be cast down.
 But you have more reason to be raised up.

If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, confused, resentful, or spiritually dry, this message will help you realign your inner life with God and rediscover the strength that comes from praise—even in grief.

Because grief is healthy when praise is a part of it.
 Because hope is choosing to wait with expectation.
 Because your soul was made for communion with God.

📖 Scripture: Psalm 42; Romans 5:3–5
🎙️ Message Title: Soul Leadership
🧭 Theme: Inner life, hope, praise, spiritual maturity

“My tears have been my food day and night…” — Psalm 42:3

Grief isn’t weakness.
 It isn’t failure.
 And it isn’t something to rush past.

In this powerful message from Psalm 42:3–4, Ben (Youth & Young Adults Director at Wonder Church) unpacks a surprising truth: grief is a gift that draws us closer to the heart of God.

The psalmist describes tears as daily food and remembers seasons of joy that now feel distant. He feels mocked. Forgotten. Overwhelmed. And yet—this lament becomes worship. This sorrow becomes intimacy.

In this sermon, you’ll discover:

💧 Why tears can be a form of spiritual nourishment
 💔 How grief exposes what we truly love
 🙏 Why God doesn’t waste our sorrow
 🔥 How pain can deepen—not diminish—your faith
 ❤️ What it means to encounter God in seasons of loss

Psalm 42 reminds us that lament was written for corporate worship. That means grief was never meant to isolate you—it was meant to bring you into deeper communion with God and His people.

The bottom line:
 Grief is a gift—not because it feels good, but because it pulls us toward the heart of God.

If you’re walking through loss, disappointment, unanswered prayers, or spiritual dryness, this message will help you see your sorrow through a different lens—and discover the nearness of God in the middle of it.

📖 Scripture: Psalm 42:3–4
🎙️ Speaker: Ben – Youth & Young Adults Director
🧭 Series: Psalm 42

“As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.”

Psalm 42 opens with one of the most honest and vulnerable cries in Scripture—a soul desperate for God in a dry and weary land. In this first message of our Psalm 42 series, Pastor CJ Witkoe explores what it means to have a blessed thirst—a longing for the living God that refuses to settle for spiritual stagnation.

Psalm 42 is a lament—written for public worship by the Sons of Korah. That means this wasn’t private journaling. It was sung. Repeated. Prayed together. Because while circumstances change, human emotions don’t.

In a world full of distractions, idols, and “stagnant water,” this message asks a piercing question:

Are you thirsty for God—or just a version of Him that fits your comfort zone?

In this sermon, you’ll discover:

💧 Why biblical thirst imagery matters in a desert context
 🌊 Why our souls can’t survive on stagnant spirituality
 🔥 The difference between cultural Christianity and the living God
 🏜️ How apathy slowly replaces pursuit
 🙏 Why discipleship requires intentional drinking
 💍 What spiritual drift has in common with marriage drift

From Mount Baker stories to the Golden Calf, from dehydration statistics to Jesus’ invitation in John 7:37, this message calls us back to a raw, relentless hunger for God.

Not a God we redefine.
 Not a God we domesticate.
 Not a God we schedule.

But the living God.

“Give me God—or I will die.”

If your soul feels dry… distant… or spiritually numb, this message is an invitation to pursue again. To linger. To press in. To drink deeply.

📖 Scripture: Psalm 42:1–2, John 7:37, Exodus 32
🎙️ Series: Psalm 42
🧭 Theme: Spiritual thirst, lament, worship, encounter with God

Bring Others With You | CLIMB Series — Finale

“You won’t find Jesus inside the tent of your comfort zone.”

In the final message of the CLIMB series, Pastor CJ Witkoe calls the church beyond personal growth and spiritual endurance into something even bigger: mission. The climb was never meant to be solo. The summit was never meant to be private. If Jesus has changed your life, the invitation is clear—bring others with you.

Drawing from Hebrews 13:10–14, this message reveals a powerful truth:
Jesus suffered outside the camp—outside the systems of comfort, control, religion, and predictability—to make us holy by His blood. And if we want to truly follow Him, we must be willing to step outside the camp too.

In this message, you’ll discover:
 ⛰️ Why ministry and comfort zones don’t coexist
 🔥 What it really means to “go to Jesus outside the camp”
 👣 Why obedience is our responsibility—and results belong to God
 🧭 How fear of rejection keeps us from miracles God has already prepared
 🕊️ Why discipleship always requires movement, risk, and surrender

From mountaineering stories to real-life gospel moments, this sermon challenges us to stop walking past miracles—and stop walking past people Jesus deeply loves. Whether in friendships, marriage, parenting, church life, or everyday conversations, everything becomes an instrument of Kingdom advancement when we leave the tent of comfort behind.

This isn’t about hype or pressure.
 It’s about obedience.
 It’s about presence.
 It’s about saying, “Jesus—you’ll find me outside the camp.”

📖 Scripture: Hebrews 13:10–14; Matthew 28:19–20
🎙️ Series: CLIMB
🧗 Message Title: Bring Others With You

If you’ve been climbing faithfully but quietly, this message will stir your heart toward mission—and remind you that the climb was never just about you.

Mark the Summit | CLIMB Series — Week 4

“Not that I have already obtained all this… but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
 — Philippians 3:12–14

What if the reason you feel empty isn’t because you failed…
 but because you reached the wrong summit?

In Week 4 of the CLIMB series, Pastor CJ Witkoe challenges us to confront one of the deepest human struggles: giving everything we have to reach a goal, only to arrive and realize we still haven’t arrived. Careers, success, influence, financial stability—even spiritual accomplishments—can feel like summits until we stand there and sense something is still missing.

The problem isn’t effort.
 The problem is direction.

In this message, you’ll discover:
 ⛰️ Why human achievement can never fully satisfy an eternal soul
 🎯 What Paul meant when he said he had not yet “attained” what Christ wanted for him
 ❤️ The difference between sinless performance and complete formation
 📍 How Jesus redefines the summit from success to calling
 🔥 Why striving gives way to purpose when Jesus marks the summit

Paul reminds us that knowing Christ and living His purposes are not assumed — they are pursued. Jesus didn’t just forgive us; He possessed us so that we could become everything we were created to be. When He marks the summit, the climb is no longer about proving ourselves — it becomes about responding to His call.

Sometimes, reaching the true summit means going down first — letting go of past accomplishments, redefining success, and starting over with Jesus leading the way.

📖 Scripture: Philippians 3:12–14; Galatians 6:9
🎙️ Series: CLIMB
🧗 Message Title: Mark the Summit (Week 4)

If you’re tired of chasing goals that don’t fulfill, this message will help you stop striving, rediscover your calling, and let Jesus define what you’re really climbing toward.