West City Fellowship Podcast

A special message from our guest preacher Pastor Jose.

Many of struggle to read (much less understand) the Old Testament. Yet, it is a rich and exciting section of the Bible that provides great blessing. We want to spend time exploring the entire Bible, so we're starting a new series Sunday in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the Israelites to never forget where they came from - a life of oppressive slavery. Neither should they forget where they are going - to a land where they will worship the true Living God such that the world may know Him. There are many parallels here for the modern follower of Jesus. We'll discuss those in this new series called, "Enter the Land."

Jesus has taught us the difference between being a mere observer or even admirer of Jesus, and someone who is His true disciple. At the end of His message, He confronts us in love and asks us to really think honestly about which of these paths we are on? If Jesus culminated his message with this teaching, He must think it's important for us to hear.

God has wired us to need a father. Yet, we've all had differing experiences with fathers - some good, some bad, some non-existent. Much has been written about the impact our experiences with our fathers have on our lives and our spiritual health. The Bible describes God as our heavenly Father. Sometimes, this image gets twisted due to our misunderstanding of what a father should be. Sunday, we will see how Jesus teaches us about the true fatherhood of God and how it should impact how we think about God, how we respond to God, and how we minister to others in the name of God.

The bible teaches us not to be judgmental, but merciful and gracious. But it also tells us not to ignore our responsibility to make judgments, even if that sometimes leads to conflict. So how do we navigate this tension?

The DC area is full of "successful" people or people who are chasing "success." The irony is that this pursuit often robs us of the very things we think "success" will give us. Jesus teaches us some critical perspective on the topic of "success."

The Bible teaches that when we decide to follow Jesus, God begins a process of making us more like Jesus every day. So, is there anything we can do to engage the process? The answer is 'yes!'

Jesus spoke about money and possessions perhaps more than He spoke about anything. Therefore, it must be something He is deeply concerned about regarding our relationship with Him. He certainly doesn't want us to ignore the snares of greed and covetousness that could threaten us. Nor does He want us to just feel guilty about how blessed we are compared to many others. Rather, He wants to truly transform our hearts such that we are genuinely free from enslavement to money and genuinely generous with it.

Praying to God is one of the greatest privileges we have through our relationship with Jesus. Yet, for most of us, prayer is challenging. Jesus understands this and gives us a very helpful model to guide our prayer life.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls us to new spiritual heights that bring great blessing to us and to others. But He also warns us that as we begin to climb these spiritual mountains, pride and idolatry become subtle but very dangerous threats to our hearts and the blessings God wants to give us. We discuss Jesus' warnings in this message.

We all worry about the storms in our lives, but we can learn a lot when we consider Jesus' and the disciples' responses to a violent storm.

We know that it's hard enough to love people we like at times, but Jesus calls us to love our enemies in radical ways. But how do we do that? And how does this question apply to war? Is it ever justified? Can Christians participate in any way?

Jesus said that when someone slaps us on one cheek, we should offer our other cheek rather than strike back. Does this mean we are never to defend ourselves? Should we let people walk all over us?

God gave us an amazing gift when He gave us the Bible - His Word. But for many of us, it doesn't play the role in our lives that we would like it to. In this message Joe O'Leska shares his experiences learning to love the Word of God.

Have you ever felt enslaved to resentment and anger toward another person? Have you ever been ruled by sexual impulses that you wish you could control?

Sometimes the Bible says things that appear to contradict each other. For example, there are places that suggest that the Old Testament law is no longer applicable, and other places where Jesus Himself seems to say that it is. So are these real contradictions, or is there another explanation?

It's popular today to point to modern and historical examples of Christians behaving shamefully. Certainly, some of this criticism is deserved. But has Christianity had a positive impact on the world? What responsibility do Christians have to positively influence the world, and what might that look like?

What is the relationship between anxiety and suffering? James Donley explores this relationship and shares his thoughts about Jesus' command to 'not be anxious.'

All of us would like to be happy. Sometimes we have no idea how to be happy. Other times we chase things that promise happiness, but let us down in the end. In this message, we finish the Beatitudes.

All of us would like to be happy. Sometimes we have no idea how to be happy. Other times we chase things that promise happiness, but let us down in the end. Jesus gives a list of things that will help lead us to happiness - or "blessed-ness."