Arise Church Denver Weekly Messages

Do you love your job? Are you excited to wake up every morning and put your nose to the grindstone? If you answered 'yes,' then you are a rare species. You are part of the lucky 20 to 30%. But even if you do love your job, we all can admit that some days are just plain hard. Grueling. Some days overwhelm in how mundane the task seems. Other days overwhelm in how enormous the problem seems. There’s a four-letter word we could use to describe it: (No, not that one.) TOIL. Toil is the word used at the beginning to describe the curse we face in our work on this fallen planet. And it is the word Solomon uses to talk about the apparent meaninglessness of being a working man or woman. So is there a solution? That’s what this message is for.

James Corden, host of the Late Late Show and known for his Carpool Karaoke, chased every pleasure he could upon his arrival into celebrity. Yet after constant drinking, partying and nights sleeping, “In beds, I’d never slept in before, with girls I’d never met before,” he admitted that “The longer it went on, the emptier my should felt.” Like Solomon before him, James Corden discovered what all of us do if we chase after pleasure…that we “can’t get no satisfaction.” If you want to know the solution to this problem of pleasure, this message is for you.

A week is made up of 10,080 minutes. We spend around 80 of those minutes focused on faith each Sunday. But what about the other 10,000? That's what this podcast is for.
 
 In this first episode, Sawyer Trapp and Matt Wolf dive into some of Solomon's proverbs where we learn how death actually makes living better.

Join Stapleton Church this Sunday, May 5th as we welcome Beth Ann Erickson a missionary from Stapleton Church who serves in Tartu, Estonia. She is currently in the U.S. on home assignment. In the service on May 5, Beth Ann will share an update with the church and then that evening at 6:30 pm, we will be hosting a dinner to further celebrate her work and hear more about her vision for the future in Estonia.

Pleasure. Success. Relationships. Money. Religion. We pursue all sorts of things in our lives to find meaning. Yet, if we are honest with ourselves, to paraphrase a great Irish poet, we still haven’t found what we're looking for. This week we start a series through the book of Ecclesiastes, “The truest of all books” according to Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick. In this series, we will learn from Solomon’s search for meaning, which in turn helps us with our own.

Did it really happen? That is the question we will address in this Easter message. Because if Jesus’ resurrection didn’t happen, “We are of all people most to be pitied,” as Paul once wrote. But if it did happen…well that changes everything.

Ezekiel had one of the most bizarre yet amazing encounters with God in the whole Bible. You’re not gonna wanna miss it.

If we are honest, many of us often feel disqualified or unequipped to be used by God. We know God calls people and uses them for His mission, but why would He want to use me? 
 
 In our Encounter with God this week, we look at Jeremiah's call and see that even the great prophet Jeremiah felt unqualified to be called by God and will find out how God responds to Jeremiah's insecurities and roadblocks to his calling.

Imagine standing in the very throne room of God. How would you feel in the presence of the Holy? Isaiah encountered God in just that way. Discover the profound impact of God’s holiness on our lives.

Is God only good in good times? Are we only thankful or blessed when we feel his favor? Then what do we do when the storms of life come? This Sunday, learn from the story of Job, who encountered a God in the storm so we can figure out how to make it through the harshest storms.

Does God speak today? If so, how do I hear his voice? These questions have dogged people for millennia. In this message, learn how to hear God speak as we examine the prophet Samuel’s first encounter with God.

Have you ever wondered what it would look like to personally encounter God? There are countless stories throughout the Bible of people who actually did and went on to share their stories. Join us this weekend as we go back to the beginning to look at one of the most stunning encounters with God in the entire Bible.

How much will it cost? When it comes to following Jesus, we all know that is will cost us something. Will I have to give this up? Am I required to change that? Do I need to go there? Asking the cost is an important question when it comes to faith. But it’s not the only question. In fact, perhaps the better question is: what will you gain? As we conclude our Kingdom Vision series, learn to see the incredible value of the Kingdom.

Many in our nation have a perception that Christianity is dying. And we do see churches that die. You can find doctor’s offices in old church buildings. You can even go clubbing in one here in Denver. Churches are dying. Denominations are dying. In entire regions of our country and nations in the world the influence of Christianity seems to be receding. But the Church is far from dying. God's Kingdom is in fact growing. Discover more this Sunday and learn some exciting things we are doing to be a part of that growth.