May 18, 2025 • Chris Cannon • Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12
As we end our “Forward” series it’s time to ask the question, “What about my place in God’s plan for realizing His dream for His church?” In the bible, God compares the church to the human body. As our bodies are one body with many parts, so also the church is one body of Christ with many different parts. Every believer has a place in Jesus’ church and every believer has a role to fulfill. We’ll learn today how we can begin to discover where our spot is in Jesus’ church. When we discover our place in the body and the gifts, talents, and abilities we’ve been given to serve God and His people, we can be part of moving forward into God’s dream for His church.
Discipleship – part 3
May 12, 2025 • Dr. Kathy Wood • Matthew 11:28–30, John 12:25–26, Matthew 28:18–20, Matthew 10:32–38
This is our final podcast on “discipleship”. Today we’ll take a look at some additional things that Jesus said about following Him. And we will look at some questions – Is becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ worth it? And will it be easy to be a disciple? And, if following Jesus is difficult at times, is there any help for us!? Let’s take a look at the answers to these questions.
Going Forward in the Power of the Holy Spirit, part 2
May 11, 2025 • Chris Cannon • Ephesians 5:15–21
This week we continue looking at how we go forward in the power of the Holy Spirit. God has given Christians His Holy Spirit to be with us and in us. When we submit to the Spirit’s control and guidance in our lives then we can find the strength and power to do the things that God wants and experience the life change that He desires. When a body of believers together are living in the filling of God’s Holy Spirit they can go forward like never before.
Going Forward in the Power of the Holy Spirit, part 1
May 4, 2025 • Chris Cannon • Acts 1, Acts 2
Have you ever tried to change something in your life but just lacked the power to get it done? Overcoming a sin habit, forgiving yourself for some wrong you did, forgiving someone who hurt you, sharing Christ with another person, making your marriage better? We all know what it’s like to be up against change we want to see without the strength to accomplish it. Where do we find the power to do the things God wants us to do? Answer: the Holy Spirit. After Jesus returned to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to live in and with Christians. It’s through His strength alone that we can see the kind of life change God wants for us.
Jesus Changes Everything: From Unbelief and Fear to Faith and Courage
April 27, 2025 • Chris Cannon • John 20:19, Acts 2:22–24, Acts 1
Between the crucifixion and Jesus’ return to heaven, His followers experienced a whirlwind of emotion. From absolute heartbreak and fear to unspeakable joy. The fact that Jesus was alive and promised to return changed everything for His followers. It has the power to do that for us also. The question we must answer is, “Am I living today knowing that Jesus is alive and will return?”
Discipleship – part 2
April 28, 2025 • Dr. Kathy Wood • Luke 9:57–62, Luke 13:23–28
In our last podcast, we looked at the challenge that Jesus gave to the large crowds of people listening to Him. He challenged them to follow Him. And he told them what that meant as He discussed preferring Christ over all other people, denying ourselves, taking up our crosses daily… Following Christ requires a total commitment of your life to that end. He also talked about the narrow gate and the wide gate – both of them life choices that people make as they seek eternal life. In this podcast, we will take a look at these “gates” and the choices people make as well as why they make those choices.
Resurrection Sunday
April 20, 2025 • Chris Cannon • Luke 24:13–42
For Jesus’ followers, Resurrection Sunday was filled with wonder, awe, and confusion. Jesus had died and been buried. Now His body is gone. Angels told the women that He had risen and was alive. These same women saw Jesus and told the apostles that He was alive and was going to meet them soon. The apostles, still stunned by the death of Jesus and their broken expectations of Him, just couldn’t believe that He had risen. We all experience times of broken expectations when God’s will doesn’t make sense. Jesus’ conversation with two men in Luke 24 helps us see the role God’s word in the bible has in helping center our hearts around God’s will.
Discipleship – part 1
April 14, 2025 • Dr. Kathy Wood • Luke 14:25–35
Did you know that the word “Christian” only occurs 3 times in the New Testament of the Bible? The word “disciple” appears much more frequently and, in fact, is the word that Jesus used for those who believed in Him. So what IS a disciple? And perhaps more importantly, are YOU a disciple? In today’s podcast, we’ll take a look at those questions.
The End of the Road to the Cross
April 13, 2025 • Chris Cannon • Luke 22, Luke 23, Mark 15:6–47
Have you ever wondered what Jesus did the last week of His life before He went to the cross? What was He doing on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, before He was crucified at 9:00 a.m. Friday morning? The Bible shares that with us. The Bible also describes in detail what Jesus went through before He was crucified and what He experienced on the cross. Listen in as we learn what our Savior endured on the road to the cross.
Going Forward When the Road is Hard
April 6, 2025 • Chris Cannon • Luke 10:21–22, Luke 9:51, Isaiah 50:6–7
Have you ever had to walk a road in your life that was hard and there was no way out? No exit ramps, no u-turn opportunities, just going forward into the difficulty. We all know what it’s like to experience that kind of road. Jesus walked a very difficult road as He completed His Father’s will for His life. He knows what it’s like to struggle and suffer. As we learn how to go forward into God’s dream for His church, Jesus’ example will encourage us when the road gets hard.
Going forward with Spiritual Growth
March 30, 2025 • Chris Cannon • 2 Peter 3:18
Spiritual Growth. Every Christian needs to grow, but are we willing to do what it takes to see it happen in our lives? As we continue our series, Forward: Moving into God’s Dream for His Church, we’re going to look at the importance of spiritual growth in our relationship with Christ. In this message we’ll learn that spiritual growth happens when we make a commitment to obey God’s command to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Practically, we experience spiritual growth from a desire to know God, as we stay connected to the company of other Christians, and as we apply what we learn to our daily lives.
Going Forward with the Gospel in the Power of the Spirit
March 23, 2025 • Chris Cannon • Matthew 28:19–20, Acts 1:3–11, Acts 2:42
From the very beginning, Jesus gave His church a special mission. His words in Matthew 28:19-20 state it exactly, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” For the church to go forward we must take the good news to the world that God has provided His Son as a Savior for all people. This week we’ll see how the Gospel message spread throughout the known world and how God wants us to continue sharing the Good News about Jesus to people today.
The Greatest Hindrance to Going Forward– Part 2
March 16, 2025 • Chris Cannon • Acts 4:32–37, Acts 5:1–11
As we continue to look at overcoming the greatest hindrance to moving forward, we’ll see how sin crept into the church from the very beginning. God clearly revealed to the believers then that sin has no place in the church body. We’ll also ask and answer the question, “How does someone step out onto the path that leads to sin against God?” Learning to recognize the pathway that leads to sin can help us avoid stepping onto it.
The Greatest Hindrance to Going Forward – Part 1
March 9, 2025 • Chris Cannon • Joshua 7, Acts 4:32–37, Acts 5:1–11
A cavity begins beneath the surface of your tooth and, if not dealt with, can become a major problem. In the same way, sin in the lives of God‘s people can lead to disaster if not addressed. This powerful passage in Joshua 7 helps us understand God’s view of sin and its impact on God’s people.
Depending on the Presence of God
March 2, 2025 • Chris Cannon • Joshua 6
What does it take to be able to do the things God wants us to? To go forward into His dream for our churches and our personal lives? Answer: The presence and power of God Himself. Today we’ll look at a well-known account from Joshua 6 where the Israelites would learn the priority of God’s presence and power as they went forward into the land God had promised them. It’s the same for us. If we’re going to move forward, we can only go with God’s presence and His power at work in us.
Praying Our Way Forward: When God’s People Pray
February 23, 2025 • Chris Cannon • Acts 12
In the early days of the church, God’s people saw exponential growth. In a matter of a few years, the church had grown by thousands of people who had come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. Was this an isolated event or can we see a move of God in our communities and church bodies like that today? In this message we’ll see the priority that the church placed on prayer and the power of God demonstrated in response. God wants to do more in our lives than we know. Prayer is one of the things that opens the door to realizing God’s dream for His church.
Praying our Way Forward
February 16, 2025 • Chris Cannon • Exodus 17:8–16, Joshua 9
What importance does God put on the priority of prayer in the lives of His people? What does it look like when God’s people pray? What does it look like when God’s people fail to pray? Maybe you’ve never considered these questions. In the following two messages in our series entitled, “Forward: Advancing into God’s Dream for His Church”, we’re going to see that God places the highest priority on prayer. In fact, cultivating a life of prayerful dependence on God is the only way forward into realizing His dream for our lives and for His church. We’ll examine two examples from God’s people in the Bible: one where they fail to pray and one where prayer is the top priority. We’re sure to gain some good insights into prayerful dependence and realizing God’s dream for His church.
The Priority of the Word
February 9, 2025 • Chris Cannon • Joshua 1:1–9
The first nine verses of the book of Joshua are the rudder on the ship for everything God will tell Israel to do to realize His dream for them in the new land. If Israel was going to succeed in realizing God’s dream for them in a new land, careful obedience to His word would have to be their highest priority. As we go forward into the things that God wants for us, His dream for this church body, the rudder on our ship is the same – careful obedience to what God has revealed to us in His word.
What is God’s Dream for His church?
February 2, 2025 • Chris Cannon • John 14:3, Revelation 21:1–5
God has a dream for His church; a foreseeable future of the church as it can and must be. God has called us to come and join Him in realizing His dream for His church. What is God’s dream for His church? Jesus said in John 14:3, “I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too.” That’s God’s dream for the church. As we journey through this series, we’re going to learn what it takes to become a church body that moves forward into realizing the dream that God has for us.
Finding Our Encouragement from One Another
January 26, 2025 • Chris Cannon • Hebrews 10:24–25
We’ve seen that God is our encourager, that we can find encouragement from God’s word, but there’s one more source of encouragement we need – one another. God created us with the capacity for relationships – both with Him and with other people. When we encourage one another, we’re joining God’s work in another person’s life to build them up through our encouragement to be who He wants them to be. That’s a great thought! That’s what encouragement is all about in the body of Christ – helping another Christian be all that God wants them to be.
