Connexus Church Audio Podcast

Ever wonder where your thoughts come from? Sure, some spring from your childhood or past experiences. But could there be a supernatural force behind your destructive thinking? Jesus called Satan a liar, and today we’ll expose the lies that get planted in our heads.

Ask any professional athlete. The biggest battle is never on the field, the fairway, the diamond or rink: it’s in your mind. In part one of this series, we’ll look at what you think, and why what you think matters more than you think. Changing your mind can change your life.

When we pray, we mostly want God to change our circumstances: change this, change that, change them, change me. But real prayer will help you discover that God is not only bigger than your circumstances, he’s better than your circumstances.

When Christians pray, they pray to a personal God through a personal Saviour. Sometimes when you pray, you think you’re looking for answers. In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus shows us that what we’re really looking for is not an answer, but something very different.

Often when we go to God in prayer, we show up with a list of all the things we’d like God to do. Not only does Jesus show us how to handle that list, he shows us another couple of other lists we often neglect.

Prayer is often a battle between two kingdoms—yours and God’s. And let’s be honest, it’s hard to focus on God’s Kingdom when your life is filled with problems. Jesus shows us a practical way to put God’s kingdom ahead of ours every time we pray.

So what’s the purpose of prayer? Is it to get God to do what we want him to do? Or is it something else? Many people see prayer as a button to be pushed...but what if it’s so much more than that?

Eventually, life gets to most of us. The optimism of your childhood gives way to the realism of your twenties, which too often gives way to a growing cynicism. How do you restart? How do you believe again, hope again, trust again? This is the kind of thing God specializes in.

Every once in a while, the community sees God’s faithfulness in a visible way. When God led the Israelites across the Jordan River, they set up 12 stones as a memorial marker so they could one day tell their children about God’s faithfulness. At Connexus, we’ve also seen God’s faithfulness, and tonight, we mark it together. Marking it helps us remember it.

What makes a hero? Better yet...what would make you a hero? We look at what makes a person heroic, and why so many people think about it but so few do it.

Sometimes what seems like the end is actually the beginning. The first Easter found the disciples of Jesus discouraged, defeated and convinced it was over. If you’ve ever found yourself in that place, you need the message of Easter. When it feels like things are over—even dead—they might be just beginning. That’s the power of resurrection.

No one saw Jesus’ crucifixion coming. In a world filled with sadness, terror and heartbreak, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that God is losing. But at the very moment in which it looked like God had finally lost, God was actually securing his finest victory.

A hero’s life is always dramatic. Truthfully, most of us have a love hate relationship with drama. We are attracted to drama in other people’s lives, but we resist it in our own. Could it be possible that when we resist drama, we resist God?

If everyone’s included, then everyone’s also invited. Our church is specifically designed to include people who don’t feel welcome and you play a pivotal role in that. In this message, Carey will explain why many people are afraid to invite their friends to church and how to overcome those fears.

So is attending church the goal? Surprisingly, attending church was a completely foreign concept to the early church. You don’t attend church, you are the church. As we move into a whole new season as Connexus church, we’ll share why it’s mission critical that everybody’s involved in our critical mission—even you.

So is Christianity for everybody? What if you weren’t born Christian, or were born into another culture or faith, or have done things that you think disqualify you? Unlike most religions, the offer behind Christianity extends to everybody, regardless of who they are, where they were born, or what they’ve done. Everybody’s included...including you.

So you’re constantly on social media and enjoy binge watching your favourite series. But is all this connectedness good for you? Can anyone really have 1000 friends? Is shooting for 10,000 followers or thousands of likes even healthy? This week, we’ll explore technology’s impact family life, your life and your soul.

Money is one of the greatest stressors in life, whether you have money or whether you don’t. Financial stress is something people talk about all the time (even fight over), yet rarely talk to God about, other than to complain. Why is that? We’ll look at how inviting God into your finances can deepen your trust and finally give you the peace you’ve been lacking.

Relationships are supposed be life giving. So why are so many people frustrated and worried about their marriages, kids, friendships and relationships? Maybe you’re worried and angry because you’re expecting something of the people around you that they can’t possibly provide.

Why does the pace of life always seem to be getting...faster? How do you find the time to slow down in a world that never stops? Pace is one of the keys to winning the war against worry. We’ll look at one of the best ways to reduce stress from an ancient tradition God established thousands of years ago.

Sometimes the struggle goes well beyond worry. Many people—even Christians—end up anxious, depressed, even suicidal. What does God have to say about depression and suicide? We’ll look at one biblical figure who wanted to take his own life as we discuss a terribly difficult subject.

Do you know anyone who isn’t stressed these days or worried about something or someone? Sometimes life can be overwhelming. And the question is, where is God in the middle of it when everything looks like it’s too much? We’ll look at where to start when you feel...overwhelmed.

Jesus paints a picture of the life he would love every follower to have: a heart that’s like good soil, where God’s work grows and takes root. Will you ever get there? And if you do, what will your life look like? You might be surprised by the answers. It’s more than possible.

Consider yourself a worrier? Know someone who is? What if worry stunts your spiritual growth? Jesus said that worry, anxiety and life can choke out whatever spiritual progress you make. We’ll look at why that is and how to overcome it this weekend.

Know anyone who’s hard hearted? Given how hard life can be, most of us struggle with keeping your heart open at some point. Believe it or not, that’s a spiritual issue. We’ll look at what causes a hard heart and how to recover from it. An open heart changes all of your relationships, especially your relationship with God.

Sometimes Jesus teachings just don’t seem to make any sense. And yes, preachers can say that. We’ll look at one that is perplexing and frustrating but ultimately can give you hope. In the process, we’ll look at why where you are doesn’t need to be where you end up.

So what if someone knew everything? Everything. Would they hate you? Reject you? The truth is Someone does know everything. And He loves you. The question is, how do you respond?

Because of our sin, so many of us spend our time isolated from God and from others. We run. We run because we believe the lie that we can’t be fully known and fully loved. And yet as we run from God, we discover something utterly astonishing. That while we were running from God, he was running to us.

Is there a pattern you follow every time you mess up? There actually is. But what if that pattern actually makes things worse, even when you think it’s making things better? Genesis 3 reveals a 5-fold pattern that mirrors the exact pattern almost everyone follows… a pattern that ultimately leads to self-destruction, unless you do this one thing.

What do you do when you make a mistake? You want to do what almost every politician and leader does when they make a mistake—you try to cover it up. In the process of covering up our mistakes, we cover up something else. Something far more significant, and something far more tragic.

It’s one thing to battle the monster, but how do you defeat him? A lot of the battle goes on in your mind. And it goes on in your bank account. So is defeat possible? Yes, although the answer may surprise you and even discourage you before it liberates you.

So you’re battling entitlement in you, but you’re also trying to fight it in your kids. Nobody likes an entitled, ungrateful child. But practically, in a culture that has so much, how do you raise kids who are truly grateful? This week, we’ll uncover an important principle from scripture and practically apply it to raising kids today.

What do you value? And more importantly, why do you value it? Often, the belief that what you’re pursuing has greater value than what you have drives the sense of entitlement most of us feel. But what if the monster has caused you to overvalue what you’re chasing?

When is enough...enough? You take a little more each time, but you still don’t feel satisfied. Enough always seems to be changing, doesn’t it? Why is that? Maybe it’s because you’re friends with the monster. Understanding how the monster works is the first step toward containing it.

How can you have a perfectly good God and still have evil? This question has bothered people for thousands of years. It probably also really bothers you. Why do bad things happen to good people? And where’s God amidst the mess that far too often is life?

Between the Crusades, the Inquisition, abuse, scandals and so much more, why would anyone choose to be part of the church? It’s a great question. Maybe God was trying to do something different in the church...something that could touch your life personally

For some strange reason, many Christians today are known for their judgment more than for their love. This is almost criminal, as Jesus said that the defining hallmark of his followers should be love. Why is that? And what’s stopping Christians and the church from changing?

Almost everyone is comfortable with the idea of heaven. But few people—including Christians—are comfortable with the idea of hell. Why, after all, would a loving God send people to hell? We’ll explore that subject and what it says about the character and heart of God...and what it says about you.

Did everything start 6000 years ago, or 13 billion years ago? With so much debate swirling around creation and evolution, how do you know what to believe? We’ll look at who’s right, who’s wrong and the limits of the debate.

Most people would agree that Jesus is a good moral teacher. But do we seriously have to believe that he rose from the dead? That’s he’s God? Is there any convincing evidence that Jesus rose from the dead? Actually, there’s more than you think.

It sounds so strange. God loved us so he sent his son to die for us. Really? Why did Jesus have to die. And why did anyone have to die for us? Are things really that bad? What does Jesus’ death say about God’s character?

It’s pretty widely believed in our culture that there are many equally valid paths to God. To each his own. But Christianity makes a radical claim: that Jesus is the only way to God. Isn’t that far too exclusive? What about different cultures and different beliefs?

Can you really trust a book that was written thousands of years ago by multiple authors? And even if it was helpful then, does the bible still have relevance now? The answers to this age old question may surprise you.

Do you have a unique contribution to make? You likely do. But what is it? Part of that is finding out what you’re best at. We’ll show you three questions that can help you identify what you’re uniquely equipped and maybe even called by God to do.

Is work life-balance possible? Maybe. But what if that’s not the best way to live? We’ll see how the most effective people rarely shoot for balance. They shoot for something radically different. And if you do it could change so much in your work, your family and your life.

Accomplishment itself isn’t always enough. In fact, most people experience some kind of let down after they accomplish a even an astounding goal. Even astounding accomplishment can leave us with an unsettling feeling that there’s something more. What is it? When you discover it, it changes everything cover it, it reprograms your life.

So many people are frustrated with the lack of progress they make in life. It’s especially confusing since so many of us feel like we’re so busy. How can you have that much activity and yet have so little productivity? We’ll look at some practical, biblical strategies for getting more accomplished.

It’s New Year’s. You’ve got goals. Resolutions. Some will be easy. But there are probably one or two issues that seem too big for you to tackle. What do you do with those? We’ll ask a question that can lead you to an answer that just might change everything for you.