Parker Ford Church's Podcast

Did you know you're a vacuum cleaner? That's right! Humans are vacuums. We suck up the things around us. This is God's design. We are meant to be filled. We are designed by God to be filled with...well...God. But what if He's not the thing that is filling us up? We are still going to be filled by something. What fills you? Thankfully, in Christ, we get to choose God. The Holy Spirit fills every follower of Jesus.

When Jesus died, the disciples thought it was game-over. However, that early Sunday morning gave new hope! This Easter Sunday, we’ll run to that empty tomb alongside Peter and we’ll watch Thomas stare in belief at Jesus’ wounds. Both of these disciples’ lives were forever changed because of the resurrection. Come discover the hope and invitation Jesus still offers us today! 

Today we will be continuing our series, "We Believe"… taking a look grace,  what it is, and the impact of God’s grace on our lives. Because of His grace there is a way in which we are to live! 

You probably have never thought of yourself as a priest before, right? Don’t worry, you don’t have to order a clerical collar or clergy robe. But 1 Peter 2:9 calls us royal priests! We are accepted, valuable, capable, and forgiven because of the love and ultimate sacrifice of our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ. This Sunday, we’ll unpack some spiritual sacrifices that we can all offer as royal priests. 

The New Testament uses a number of illustrations to describe the relationship of God to the Church. Some of the key ones are: Family, Flock, Temple, Body, and Bride. Every person who is in Christ is a part of the Bride of Christ. We believe that God's relationship to, and love for, His Church is an     essential belief for followers of Jesus. 

We are the body of Christ, so what now? 1 Corinthians 12:14-27

We are continuing our We Believe series as we explore why We Believe We are Created by a Creator to Create.  We will exercise our own creativity, look at the theology of God and man as creative beings, as well as hear from a few artists within our church who will share how creativity has impacted their spiritual formation. 

For those who place their faith and allegiance in Jesus, the future is filled with tremendous hope! This life is only the beginning. Join us this Sunday as we take a peek into eternity and the new creation. What we believe about eternity  determines how we live today!  

Revelation implies a revealer. Revelation means that something hasn't been found by a work of discovery, it's been shown and uncovered by a revealer. God has revealed Himself through His Word. And through His Word God has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Spirit. Here we enter into the deep and pivotal great mystery of Christianity - the Trinity. God is One, revealed in the three persons of the Trinity. To be a Christian is to enter into the threefold, Triune fellowship of Father, Son, and Spirit.

It's best to describe the Word of God using terms that the Word of God uses to describe itself. The Word of God is inspired, holy, and authoritative. If you examine the English word authority, you'll see that the root word is "author". To have authority is to be connected to the author. Jesus, is the author and perfecter of our faith. We build our believing faith, allegiant faith, and obedient faith on His authority.

 We cannot build a stairway to heaven, or find God with our own philosophies and thoughts. But God is a God who speaks through revelation and has not left us in the dark. To reveal means to "uncover." God has revealed and uncovered His nature to us through His Word. This comes to us through the Living Word, the written Word, and the Word proclaimed in and through the life and words of the church. In this week's teaching we'll continue to unfold this beautiful, three-dimensional vision of the Word of God, overlaying it with a three-dimensional picture of faith.  

This week we kick off a brand new series titled "We Believe." Sunday's teaching will include an overview of the new series and an introduction to the first topic - We believe the Word of God. As we explore this first level question, we'll see that God's Word is first and eternally a person - Jesus Christ.

Malachi 4:4-6- We are talking about how to disciple generations! We look at what holds us back from cross-generational discipleship and how we at PFC will live out cross-generational discipleship. 

Bryan Hoke, Brethren in Christ

The kindness and gentleness of Jesus leads us to repentance. Repentance is the first step of faith. The gentleness of Jesus ushers us into this life of faith. Unfortunately, time and again, we fail and misrepresent the faith in a way that is neither honoring nor reflective of who Jesus is. In his gentleness, Jesus invites us back into a reinvigorated faith, with Christ who is our standard of faith, enthroned in the center. As we abide in Jesus, he continues in every season to produce his fruit in us.

This week we are going to look at Bearing His Name with Kindness and Goodness. What are these fruits of the Spirit and how should I think about them, as well as live them out? Jesus gives us some great examples of what this looks like. 

Peace and Patience are two fruits of the Spirit that Christians are expected to bear out in their lives. We are to show a patient love toward others while the peace of Christ rules in our hearts.  We have the perfect example of both fruits in Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, as He demonstrates patience toward mankind “that all might come to repentance.”

We begin our Advent series by looking at first two fruits of the Spirit – love and joy! We’ll see how Jesus’ incarnate life, including the Christmas story, embodies these fruits. He is love. He is joy. We, as Jesus’ followers, claim His name so let’s bear His fruit! 

We, the redeemed of God, are referenced as a holy nation. Using this lens, we’ll look back at the tribes of Israel that were one people, whether they wanted to be or not. The vastness of God’s Kingdom guides us into worship and humility that comes from being part of something bigger than ourselves. But there is work to be done. 

Our Vision at PFC is pretty simple, but it's not always easy to live out. Our vision as a church is to develop as followers of Jesus, equipped to live out the way of Jesus within our cultural context. Our vision could be summed up like this: "We do life with Jesus, so that we can live life like Jesus." We bear the name of Jesus. We are followers of Christ. We are Christian. Our call is to live as apprentices of Jesus and bear His name in the world.