Rise City Church Podcast

We all want abundant life—but we keep wandering through doors that promise freedom and leave us empty. In John 10, Jesus makes a breathtaking claim: the life your soul was created for is found through Him alone. He is the Door who welcomes you, the Shepherd who knows your name, and the Lamb who gave His life to save yours. When you are lost, He searches for you. When you are too weak to return, He carries you. When every other voice competes for your trust, He keeps calling you home. Jesus is closer than you think—and He is still knocking. Will you open the door?

We spend our lives chasing success, comfort, recognition, and even religious achievement, believing they will produce the life our souls crave. But in John 15, Jesus warns that knowledge, morality, and spiritual activity can look impressive while remaining disconnected from the source of life. Jesus reveals that the evidence of discipleship is fruit: inexhaustible joy and sacrificial love. Yet this fruit isn’t produced by trying harder. A branch cannot manufacture life. It can only remain connected to the vine, allowing the life of Jesus to flow through it. Stop striving to look fruitful. Abide in Jesus—and let His joy and love become the unmistakable fruit of your life.

What if Jesus isn’t waiting for you to get your life together—but simply inviting you to come back? In Mark 2, a group of friends refuses to let a crowded room keep a paralyzed man from Jesus. They tear open the roof and lower their friend into His presence. There, Jesus meets the man with forgiveness, healing, and a grace greater than anything that had kept him separated or ashamed. Many of us carry hidden places we are afraid to surrender. We wonder whether Jesus will receive us as we are, so we build walls and hold tightly to what feels safe. But His invitation is not reserved for people who have already changed. It is extended to every person willing to come near and trust Him with the process. Make room for Jesus. The grace that welcomes you back will become the grace that makes room for others.

What if Christianity isn't primarily about having the right answers—but walking with the One who is the answer? Thomas wants directions. Philip wants understanding. But Jesus offers them something greater than instructions or information: a relationship with Himself. The disciples do not need to solve every mystery about the road ahead. They need to remain close to the One who knows the way. In John 14, Jesus promises that He is preparing a place for His people and will return to bring them home. He is the Way who leads us, the Truth who anchors us, and the Life who transforms us. Following Jesus is not simply adopting a better way to live—it is learning to live every moment with Him. Jesus is not inviting you into an empty religion. He is inviting you into life with Him. The question is: are you merely learning about the Way, or are you walking with Him?

What if Jesus isn't only calling you to life—but calling you to let go of everything that keeps you from living it? In one of the most moving moments in the Gospels, Jesus weeps beside the tomb of Lazarus before demonstrating His power over death itself. He enters humanity's deepest pain, then does what no one else can do: He speaks life where death seemed permanent. John 11 reveals a Savior who is both powerful enough to conquer the grave and compassionate enough to stand beside us in our sorrow. Through His own death and resurrection, Jesus makes new life possible for everyone who believes. But He also calls us to leave our grave clothes behind and walk in the freedom He purchased for us. The voice that called Lazarus out of the tomb is still calling people by name. The question is: will we step into the life only Jesus can give?

What if the life you've been searching for isn't found by following yourself—but by following a Shepherd? In John 10, Jesus makes one of His most beloved declarations: "I am the Good Shepherd." While the religious leaders used their authority to exploit God's people, Jesus reveals Himself as the Shepherd who leads, protects, and willingly lays down His life for His sheep. He doesn't simply point the way to life—He is the source of it. The problem is that Scripture says we're all like sheep. We wander. We chase things that leave us empty. We return to the same destructive patterns over and over, convinced we know what's best for our lives. But the Good Shepherd never stops pursuing His sheep. He calls us by name, gives His life to rescue us, and invites us into the abundant life that can only be found in Him.

What if the greatest darkness in our lives isn’t around us—but within us? In John 9, Jesus encounters a man blind from birth. While the disciples look for someone to blame and the Pharisees defend their traditions, Jesus does what only He can do: He opens the man’s eyes. Yet the deeper miracle unfolds as the man gradually recognizes Jesus—not merely as a healer, but as Lord. John 8–9 reveals that humanity’s greatest problem is spiritual blindness. We don’t simply need better behavior, stronger opinions, or more religious knowledge. We need the Light of the World to help us see. At the cross, darkness appeared to overcome the Light. Three days later, Jesus walked out of the grave. Sin did not win. Death did not have the final word. Jesus still opens blind eyes—and those who see Him clearly can’t help but worship.

We’re all hungry for something—for love, purpose, significance, peace, or acceptance. We spend our lives trying to satisfy those longings with things that never seem to last. In John 6, Jesus meets a crowd searching for another miracle and reveals that their greatest need isn’t more bread—it’s Him. In the first of His great “I Am” statements, Jesus declares, “I am the Bread of Life.” He doesn’t offer another self-improvement strategy or a better way to live. He offers Himself as the only One who can satisfy our souls, reconcile us to God, and give us the life we’ve been searching for all along. Stop settling for what fills you for a moment. Come to the One who satisfies forever.

The world says masculinity is toxic. God says men are called. In a culture that wants men passive, distracted, and compromised, Scripture issues a different command: Be watchful. Stand firm. Act like men. Be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. This Father’s Day, we’ll look at the high calling God places on men in 1 Corinthians 16—to guard what matters, stand firm when the pressure comes, take responsibility for the people entrusted to them, and love with the sacrificial strength of Jesus. The enemy is real. The stakes are high. Your family needs you awake at your post.

Most of us spend our lives trying to hold everything together. We carry the pressure to succeed, provide, lead, and figure it all out. Yet beneath all that effort is a deeper reality: we were never created to live independently from God. From the beginning, humanity was designed to thrive in His presence, not apart from it. Tune in as we discover how Jesus restores what self-sufficiency has stolen. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are invited into a life of daily dependence, deeper intimacy, and greater purpose. As we learn to pray, listen, and respond to God’s leading, we’ll find that the strongest people in God’s Kingdom aren’t the most capable—they’re the most available.

The greatest evidence that Christ is changing us is not what we know, but who we are becoming. Paul calls the church to put on the clothing of Christ: compassion for the hurting, kindness without harshness, humility that values others, gentleness that uses strength to serve, and patience that bears with imperfect people. These qualities are not optional extras—they are the visible marks of a community shaped by the gospel. As believers learn to forgive as they have been forgiven, allow Christ’s peace to settle disputes, and let God’s Word make itself at home in every area of life, the church becomes a powerful witness to the world. We become a storefront of the kingdom, displaying the beauty, goodness, and grace of Jesus to everyone who walks through our doors.

Every life leaves something behind. The question isn’t whether we’ll shape the next generation—it’s what we’ll shape them toward. In a world competing for the hearts, minds, and identity of our kids, it’s easy to focus on our own race and forget the baton in our hand. But the Kingdom of God has always advanced through generations of ordinary people who chose to pass faith forward. Jesus is still building His Church, and He invites us to join Him in raising up the next generation of disciples, leaders, and world changers. Tune in as we explore why the Christian life is a relay race, what it means to intentionally form faith in our homes and church, and how our ceiling can become their floor. Together we’ll discover how a legacy rooted in Jesus can echo far beyond our lifetime.

Once your soul tastes Heaven, Earth will never fully satisfy again. In Colossians 3, believers are called to “set your hearts on things above” because Jesus is coming again in glory, and that future reality changes how we live right now. Jesus came giving humanity a taste of the world as God intended it to be. Every miracle was Heaven leaking into Earth. Every healing was Christ declaring war against the curse. And because we belong to that coming Kingdom, Paul says sin should begin tasting bitter to us. The old self no longer fits who we are becoming. This message is about learning to put the old life to death, fixing our hearts on Jesus, and becoming people who carry the culture of Heaven into a broken world.

Some seasons feel like flourishing. Others feel like shaking, pressure, heat, and crushing. But throughout Scripture, olive oil was never produced without pressure—and neither are we. In this deeply encouraging message from Colossians 2, we learn what it means to be rooted in Christ, built on Him as our cornerstone, and formed through every season of life. If you’ve drifted, grown weary, or wondered whether God is still working in your story—He is not done with you yet. The same Jesus who meets us in our weakness is still building, restoring, healing, and producing fresh oil for His purposes. Your roots are not wasted. Your story is not over. And His grace is still enough today.

Pain changes people. It exposes what we believe, tests what we trust, and leaves us searching for hope that can actually hold us together. In this message from Colossians, we’ll explore how Paul endured unimaginable suffering without losing heart—and why the Gospel gives us strength to hold fast even in our darkest seasons. Jesus is not distant from suffering; He entered into it. He carried the weight of humanity’s brokenness, endured the cross, and overcame death so that one day suffering would finally cease. Until that day comes, God is still working in the middle of our pain, shaping our character, strengthening our faith, and revealing to the world the mystery of the Gospel: Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Breakthrough and battle often arrive together. As people stepped into new life in Jesus, opposition followed—but that’s not defeat, it’s confirmation the Kingdom is advancing. Colossians 1:13–14 reminds us that we’ve been rescued from darkness and brought into the Kingdom of the Son He loves—this is our identity and our victory. From that place, Paul prays we’d be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, walking in a manner worthy of the Lord—bearing fruit, growing in Him, and being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might. This is how we endure. We don’t avoid the storm—we move through it together, grounded in truth, focused on pleasing the King, and empowered by His strength to press forward.

In a world pulling us in opposite directions, how do we stay anchored? The church in Colossae faced two distortions—diluted faith (Jesus + the world) and distorted faith (Jesus + religion). One softens truth to fit culture; the other adds pressure to earn what grace already gives. Both drift from the center. So Paul doesn’t say “try harder”—he lifts their eyes to Jesus and calls them to hold fast. Because it’s not the sincerity of our faith that saves us, but the strength of the One we trust. A church that holds fast is marked by faith rooted in Jesus, love poured out toward His people, and hope anchored beyond this world. It resists compromise without losing compassion, and pursues truth without losing unity. It loves the Bride, stands with other gospel churches, and lives “Kingdom down, not culture up.” Fix your hope on what’s ahead, and it will reshape how you live now. Hold fast to Jesus—and become a people who bring heaven to earth.

We spend our lives chasing what feels secure—building bigger barns, stacking up more, trying to create a life that finally feels enough. But what if everything we’re building is pointed in the wrong direction? In this message, special guest Randy Alcorn reframes our understanding of wealth, not as something to own, but something to steward. Jesus doesn’t just challenge where we put our money—He exposes what has our heart. Because wherever our treasure goes, our heart is already following. Through the lens of eternity, we’re invited into a better way to live—not for the temporary “dot” of this life, but for the unending “line” that follows. In Christ, we don’t give out of guilt, but as a response to grace—a joyful reorientation of our lives toward what truly lasts. This message calls us to loosen our grip on what won’t last and live open-handed, trusting the One who gave everything for us, and discovering that real life—the kind Jesus offers—is found not in keeping, but in giving.