ConnectUs Church Audio Podcast

There are many ancient books that did not make it into the final 66 books of the Bible. Some version of the Bible still include these books. Plus, we don't have the original manuscripts and the Bible wasn't written in English. There seems like too many places we could be off. Are we?

What is the Bible? On one hand it's a simple question to answer. But today we are going to dive into the important intricate details that will strengthen your faith. The Bible reveals a very real God who is at work in your life and you can build your life on it!

Starting is hard, but finishing is super important. You have to make it to the end. Finish strong. Hang in there. Grow. Develop!

Rockstars request no brown M&M's. The details matter. The small details of your life help you develop. In Numbers 19, the cow needs to be a red heifer. It needs to be sacrificed in a particular with in a particular place. The people involved in the sacrifice also have specific details to be aware of.

Numbers 17 & 18 highlight important pieces of a puzzle that help us understand how to be right with God. God created a system that the Israelites had to follow and that Jesus accomplished perfectly. Now we trust in Jesus for salvation.

You are incredibly important. Without you, the mission suffers. You bring something unique and special. Without you everyone is missing out. Numbers 16 highlights how important embracing your role is to development.

How did collecting sticks lead someone in Numbers 15:32-36 to face the death penalty? This story illustrates for us how important even the smallest decisions are. When we don't get it right, Jesus is our perfect sacrifice.

How you relate to the leaders in your life greatly impacts development. Numbers 12 gives us wisdom for how to engage with our leaders, especially when we find reasons to think they aren't doing a great job.

What happens to your faith when life doesn't go the way you expected? When things get a little difficult? Instead of connecting our relationship with God with the circumstances in our life, connect with God personally and allow him to develop you through the high times and the low times.

The fresh life giving water of Jesus is better than anything else. It satisfies! And yet, we are so tempted to turn to other things, and when we drink from that well, it ends up horrible.

70-93% of all communication is nonverbal. Our bodies say a lot. Just think about all the time, money, and energy you put into your appearance this week! Body Language - Message by Denny Foreman.

God loves to show off and show up any other gods. In the story of the Exodus, God so clearly eliminates the Egyptians gods and sets himself up to be THE GOD that was on Israel's side.

God created and designed sex to be a great thing! In our culture today sex might be one of the easiest things to turn into an idol. It's something that we put so much effort, energy, resources, and focus into. It also quickly becomes the source of our identity. Don't you want to get to know the amazing God that created something so creative as sex? Super Practical - Next time you are alone in a room just acknowledge out loud, "hey God .. I see you here.. thanks for being with me."

Family is absolutely essential to society. It's God's beautiful design. But we so easily turn a good thing into a god thing. We miss the opportunity to live a transformed life when we just take patterns of thinking and behaviors from our families and just naturally repeat them. God is inviting you into His spiritual family and to allow that transform your blood family. Hey - today before you go send a text or call everyone in your family. Really, do it!

We often think of self centered people as those who are always talking about how great they are. But from my experience, a lot of self centered people are the exact opposite of what we'd think. They are never good enough. Things are always bad. They don't want to be known or seen. Life is going to throw numerous roadblocks in your way and a healthy view of self that comes from Jesus will help you satisfy your deepest longings.

Nothing competes for our worship like money and it makes a terrible god. It will always leave you wanting more. But Jesus tells us not to worry about it. He knows us. He loves us. And He promises to take care of our needs.

Why would anyone exchange the opportunity to drink life giving water with stale water that doesn't satisfy? Yet human nature is constantly looking for idols we can try to control in order to get what we want. But no matter how hard we try or where we look, no god will be what God can be for us. Message by Jordan Wertz.

What do you love more than reaching people? We put so much love into the things that make us feel good that we forget about God's heart for people. The finale of the book of Jonah challenges us to reach our city because God cares so very much for every person. Even the people that disagree with us or don't live or believe like us. We have to be able to set our comfortable preferences aside in order to partner with God in His work in the city around us.

Sometimes the people who know the most about God and spend a lot of time around God related things are actually the furthest from Him; and it's almost impossible for them to see it. They are so worried about what God is going to do to "them" that they miss what God wants to do in their own life.

The entire city of Nineveh turning to God is one of the greatest miracles in all of history. It also presents a great challenge to those who call themselves followers of God.The terrible, no good, Assyrians, are held up as the example to follow contrasted with the supposed prophet, Jonah.

Jonah is inside the fish. God meets him in the depths of despair. God hears his prayer! Don't think that your situation is too far gone for God to use you and work in your life.

Who are you? What are you doing here?  Who is God? And what is He doing?  It's ironic who chooses to worship God in the story of Jonah and who continues to run away. These questions might help lead you to choosing to worship.

You might know Jonah as the story about a guy getting eaten by a big fish. We start this story today. Jonah was told to go to Nineveh. His enemy. He refused to go. In fact, he ran in the opposite direction. He seems to always be doing the exact opposite of what you would expect a "man of God" to do. But while he was trying to run from God, God met him there. Maybe God is trying to get your attention to see the amazing grace He has for you - and your enemies.

Jesus is alive! That means it's possible for you to experience a sense of joy regardless of what you are experiencing in life. Have your experiences of life determined your quality of life? May today be a new start and new beginning and may you experience JOY!

When people always seem to get their way and you are left with the short end of the stick it's easy to get mad, frustrated, depressed, and disappointed. But why live that way when you can instead experience JOY!?

The gospel is for everyone and everyone has to make a decision. Some will say no, others will need more time, and some will say yes. What will you say?

God is seeking you. He created everything so that you would seek Him. He is going to use anything, including the popular "poets" of the day, to get your attention and draw you in.

God has created every person to be a worshiper. We all worship many different things. At some level, behind everything that you worship, God is desiring you to worship Him. He knows that is best for each of us because He made us that way!

Acts 17:16-34 we find the account of Paul's visit to Mars Hill in Athens, Greece. Paul was on a mission to get the good news of Jesus to the people in this great city. Are we on mission to get the same good news to our city? Mission To Mars Hill - Part 1. Message by Jordan Wertz.

There is so much power in forgiveness. It just might lead to reconciliation. We all know the pain that our mistakes and bad choices inflict on ourselves and the people around us. If we take responsibility for our actions and deal with ourselves honestly we just might see relational miracles happen in our life.

This might be one of the most scary things humans do. Which is why many don't do it and miss out on what God does through it. When was the last time you told someone about the real you and confessed your sins to them? It's super hard, and super worth it!

Saying "I'm sorry" is hard to say in general. Now try saying that to God! We sometimes think that if we follow God better then we will need to say "I'm sorry" to Him less. But confessing our sins more to God is actually a mark of a maturing follower of Jesus.

It is so difficult to take responsibility for our choices and bad beliefs. Saying "I'm sorry" is some of the hardest words to say. We are so good at coming up with reasons to back up why we did what we did. Instead of trying to justify ourselves Jesus invites us to trust Him and let him Justify us.

If you are wondering what God has next for you, you've come to a place where we can be real and honest with one another. We don't have it all together. We hope you realize you are not alone, and that Jesus wants to transform your life.

Today we celebrated God's faithfulness through 2 years of ministry at ConnectUs Church!

10 spys said no and only 2 believed they could walk into God's promised land. They were looking at the same facts, they had the same promise, but ended up in two completely different places. What do you have to believe in order to walk into God's promises for your life?

Are you believing God's Word more than anything else? We can have so many great experiences that build our faith. Then, in the next moment, we feel like God is far from us. These experiences challenge us to consider where our hope really is. Message about Elijah from Denny Foreman.

If you just believe everything will be ok... right?

Have you ever wondered why its so hard to change something you do? You think this year will be different for all the right reasons and then it turns out to be the same old thing. We can't forget that our beliefs must change to align with God's promises that we are seeking to live into. We must believe.

What are you believing this year?  

***2 Things For You To Do During Our Online Service***  

1. Connection Card - connectuschurch.org/connect 

2. Sign up for 14 days of how to study your Bible - https://www.connectuschurch.org/14-days-of-bible-email-sign-up  

2 more things to do this year 

1. Participate in a Next Step Group 

2. Engage with a small group  

2 things to do today 

1. Answer: What are you believing heading into 2023? 

2. Answer: What is something you believed to be true but found out that it wasn't?  

Join us next week (Jan 8) as we kick off our new series "The Mistake of Believing." 10am at Reel Cinemas

We are so familiar with Christmas that we just might miss Christmas. There was probably no one more familiar with Jesus than his mother; yet even His mother needed to trust in her son to be her savior! Are you trusting in Him?

What would it take for you to believe that your brother was the Son of God? No matter how many times they claimed it to be true it just couldn't be, right? You've grown up together. You know your brother better than pretty much everyone else. That was James, the brother of Jesus' story until something happened and He actually believed. Do you know what happened?

You can be so close to Jesus and miss it. You can even be blood relatives to Jesus and miss it. Don't miss Christmas.

The Saturday between Jesus' death and resurrection was a day no one believed Jesus was who He said He was. They had hoped everything He said was true but the circumstances on that day said otherwise. We know Sunday came so embrace Saturday. What's your Saturday?

The difference between staying because you have to versus staying because you want to. One is prison. The other is transformation.

God wants all of you. He gave everything He had to get you. Will we respond in faith and trust Him in all ways, including with our money? God knows it is hard; so, he invites us to put him to the test. Will you do it?

Ananias heard of the many terrible things Saul did and God was calling him to go to him and minister to him. Ananias did not want to go. God commanded him to go. He found Saul was blind too. God did the transforming work.

Teach Jesus. Don't Be A Jerk. Strive for Contentment. Kill Them With Kindness. Hold On To The Gospel. Give Generously. Message by Scott Greening.

Church is a wonderfully complex thing. It's people of all different life stages and ages coming together united in Jesus. This complexity brings up many challenging scenarios. How do you know what is the right thing to do? Where do you turn for answers? - Also known as the 1-800-CHURCH-ADVICE sermon.

It's so easy to do but don't neglect what God has given you.

Stop waiting and start fighting for authentic faith. Don't let the fact you are young be an excuse for not living out your faith. You faith is set on the great hope of Jesus Christ. Don't place your hope anywhere else. Sermon recap of John's Message on Sunday.

God has so much good news for you! All throughout history people were waiting for the Savior. Today we look back and worship Jesus for all that He did for us. It's incredible. Unfortunately, some people don't teach the good news the right way. Message by Jordan Wertz.