Circuit Riders Podcasts

Zach Nash speaks on Philippians 3:7-14, as we explore the importance of hungering for a deeper relationship with God. Zach unpacks how this is shown in Paul’s life through his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, and the transformation that Paul had throughout the rest of his life as a result. Zach also explains how fasting is connected to spiritual hunger and why we should do it more often. He explains that as we deny our flesh and sacrifice our earthly desires, we develop a spiritual hunger for Jesus that can only be satisfied by knowing Him more. Fasting isn’t simply missing a meal, it is giving something up in order to get closer to Jesus. And as we get closer to Jesus, the hungrier for more of Him we get. He ends the sermon by praying for an impartation of more hunger over everyone who wants it.

Zach Nash unpacks Philippians 3:1-11, emphasizing Paul’s central theme of the surpassing worth of Christ and calling out false sources of worth. Zach begins by breaking down the gospel, and how Christ’s sacrifice for us is our defining attribute. He emphasizes that righteousness can’t be attained through personal efforts or works and any gospel that says otherwise is false. He concludes by urging everyone to root their identity in God, rather than self or worldly things.

Chase Cofer preaches on Philippians 2:12-18, breaking it down verse by verse and thought by thought. He highlights Paul’s main message: that God isn’t a distant and angry taskmaster, but rather a loving Father who wants us to live in joyful obedience for the benefit of the world and ourselves. He emphasizes the danger of straddling the line between sin and righteousness, and that ultimately we must have a fervent desire to flee from the line and embrace more fear of the Lord. Chase reminds us to rejoice in our relationship with God no matter the circumstances we are in. He ends the night by leading the room in an exercise of joyful repentance and eruption of praise!

Nick Brennt preaches on Philippians 2, exploring the fundamental question “What is your operating system?”. Drawing from Paul’s call to unity among the Philippians, Nick dissects the significance of unity in our modern lives. He emphasis that when we, as believers, stand united despite our differences, we bear witness to the transformative power of Jesus. He reflects on if the operating system of our hearts and minds is fueled by love and unity, or by selfishness and division. Nick explores the different ways that we allow our operating system to become hijacked by the world, and asks the listener to reflect on the health of their own operating system. He ends the message by having the listener declare that they choose the operating system of love!

Zach Nash launches our Philippians series with a powerful message from Philippians 1:1-11. Despite Paul’s imprisonment, he radiates joy throughout this whole book, teaching us that joy transcends circumstances. Zach reminds us that in the midst of our trials, God draws near to us and brings breakthrough, even when we don’t believe it. Zach shares some of his testimony of God’s provision and deliverance, demonstrating how to wage spiritual warfare through prayer and Scripture. He concludes with verses to cling to in times of need, reminding us of God’s promise of breakthrough.

Nick Brennt speaks on Acts 19 and how we can bring the same breakthrough to our culture that Paul brought to ancient Ephesus. He explains how Gen Z tends to swing between two extremes when it comes to changing culture-hyper activism or apathy and hopelessness. He breaksdown the downfalls of both extremes and explains why they don’t ultimately work to change culture. Nick explains the difference between behavior modification (which is what religion and activism seek) and heart transformation. Heart transformation can only come from the Gospel and knowing the Truth about who Jesus is! Nick then spends the rest of his message explaining how to actually see breakthrough and revival in your local area-through prayer, ideation, gathering your team, and finding the “neutral places” to gather the lost. He ends the night by sharing what society looks like when there is genuine revival and heart transformation takes place.

Derek Mack speaks on Acts 17 and gives more context to where and who Paul is preaching to in this chapter. Derek explains how ancient Athens and our modern day culture aren’t too different-we’re both obsessed with self. He outlines 10 beliefs of Selfism and where we see this in our own lives. He then highlights how Paul spoke a bold gospel of repentance to everyone around him and was mocked for it. Derek asks us if we are moved, like Paul was, at the brokenness of the world around us. He warns against preaching a watered down Gospel to make it more attractive, and asks us to step out boldly when we speak about Jesus. Derek ends his message with 4 questions to reflect on after hearing this message.

Zach Nash speaks on the change that we go through when we behold God. He reads from Acts 7-9 and talks about how Saul/Paul can’t fathom a Messiah who would sacrifice himself. He highlights how the only thing that could change Paul’s mind was an encounter with Jesus. Zach implores us to look upon the same transformative power of Jesus and become renewed by His Word. He provokes us to die to ourselves and let the power of God’s grace and mercy change our ways of thinking. He highlights 3 main areas we need to change our mindsets on and breaks down practical ways we can do this.

Michael Koulianos comes to speak about Jesus. He reads out of 1 Corinthians 2 about how we cannot rely on our own skills and talents to lead, but we must rely on the message of Jesus above all else. Michael tells us that the power of God has never and will never move past the cross and we must do the same. He calls out the different appearances of Jesus throughout the scriptures and commands us to find Jesus for ourselves in the scriptures. This is so that we can live out a lifestyle of dying to ourselves and living in the fullness of Christ in our lives.

Sam Storms talks about the power of partnering with God in prayer to influence the world around us. He reads about the testimony of the early Church in the book of Acts and their desire to devote themselves to prayer, and how we must also follow suit. Sam tells us that our language while praying must change to match the prayers that God is praying. He gives us 10 reasons why our prayer is so important and calls us to engage in a deep pursuit of a personal prayer life.

Nick Brennt speaks on the Church community and our purpose as members of the Church. He confronts the modern culture which tries to change and reject the church and calls us higher in representing Jesus as a church. Nick addresses the way we isolate ourselves from others and end up in distress and challenges us to engage and take part in what Jesus is doing in the church. He recalls several facts about the early church and calls us to invest in building the church like the believers in the book of Acts.

Zach Nash speaks on the significance of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection; and how life truly is hopeless without the Gospel. He reads scripture throughout the New Testament that highlights how significant Jesus' life is for us. He then emphasizes how God reconciling Himself to us is incomplete without the Good News of Jesus. He talks about how we must put Jesus at the center of our hearts-replacing our selfish desires for His selfless love. Zach ends the message by encouraging us to give Jesus full lordship over our lives and trust in his sovereign plan for us.

Derek Mack speaks on the character and nature of the Holy Spirit, and what He does. He first explains the difference between hearing about God and having head knowledge versus knowing Him personally, which can only come from developing a relationship with Him. Derke goes through the Old and New Testaments to point out the attributes and Godhood of the Holy Spirit. He then explains our need for the Holy Spirit in our life: to guide us, lead us, and bring us closer to the Father. He ends the message with a reminder that the Holy Spirit is our comforter and that He is always with us when we walk through the valleys of life.

Zach Nash continues the series on the book of Acts talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He shares his own experience encountering the Holy Spirit for the first time in Teen Challenge. He clarifies some of the misconceptions about the infilling of the Holy Spirit and explains why it's so important for us. It's an important message for us to allow God's Spirit to fill our lives and treasure his Spirit in us.

Nick Brennt begins a new series on the book of Acts, seeking to build faith not only in God but also the Holy Spirit. He reminds us how often we can often put trust in our own plans and strategy but forget our need for the Holy Spirit. That it's our response to God's leadership that activates us, but it's the declaration of the Christian faith to be utterly dependent on God. It's a call to radically seek and desire for the Holy Spirit to speak in our lives and submit to his leadership.

In the first Monday Nights of the year, Yasmin Pierce shares on Jesus’s resurrection power to those that believe in Him. She highlights how in modern culture we medicate our afflictions when we need revival, which is only found in Jesus. It’s a wakeup call for Christians to pray and believe in Jesus for resurrection in our generation.

Carlton Bates shares a special message about receiving our identity from God, continuing our series on friendship with Jesus. He goes all the way back to the beginning of scripture to unpack the original struggle with identity in the garden of Eden. He states that knowledge does not equal power, and that our identity comes from beholding the one who made us. It’s a powerful message about letting go of our own works and performance to get our identity and receiving our identity from God. 

Derek Mack continues on the series of friendship with Jesus illuminating how we get to experience Jesus as our shepherd. He unpacks Psalm 23 and how shepherds will take their sheep into the wilderness to lead them to green pastures, and how that relates to our relationship as God's sheep. God meets us in the valleys of life, and it's the joy of a Chirstian experience that we get to embrace to be led and guided by him in the low places.

Zach Nash begins a new series on the character of Jesus and teaches about our ultimate privilege, knowing Jesus and being known by Him. He brings us into Matthew 7:21-23 to show us God is not interested in our works, but rather a deep personal relationship of knowing who we are. This is important because our ability to discern the presence of the Lord wherever we are is based out of our ability to know his voice.

Nick Brennt finishes the series on the fruit of the Holy Spirit on self-control and self-mastery. He emphasizes that mastery over yourself is one of the most important fruits of the Holy Spirit that we get to receive and teaches us that the worldly value of self-control is different from a follower of Jesus, which can only come from beholding the Father and surrendering ourselves to Jesus. Nick challenges the modern believer to let go of striving for self-control by ourselves, and to receive the love of Jesus and let him be your master.