Everwell Podcast

The peace of God calls us to unity.

Forgive and you will be forgiven

This Podcast is with David Wagner on the Rhythm of Honor and Celebration. David was a pastor at Missio Dei Church in Chicago, Illinois. He is now a Senior Church Advisor for World Vision in Denver Colorado.

How the Kingdom Arrives

Trusting in God results in perfect peace.

Peace

If we would trust in the Lord, we will experience abundant peace.

In this sermon, we look at the way the Apostles' would teach the gospel. When followers of Jesus devote themselves to it, they receive life and power.

Explore the origins, content, and purpose of the Bible and learn how to approach this brilliantly designed book with greater insight and wisdom.

No more excuses or escapes, just an exchange, and change of life.Todays Passage’s are.Gen 31, Mark 2, Esther 7, Acts 2Today’s Text:Romans 2

Our bad days still have a good God. Because though our possessions are gone, we are still in God's possession.

We now live in past, present , and future victory because of Jesus. We are now called to live and labor from a place of victory through Jesus.

This sermon explores 1 Thessalonians 4, where Paul teaches the church how to live in the "in-between" time—between Christ's first coming and His return. Paul addresses three key areas: our bodies (sexual ethics), our lives (daily rhythms), and our grief (hope in resurrection). The central message is that we don't just wait for the day—we practice the day now.

Your suffering doesn't disqualify your faith. It confirms it. You haven't been pushed off the path. You're on the path. The road home just runs through territory that doesn't yet recognize Jesus as King.

The Way You Came In | The Watcher's Lantern | 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12When was the last time you actually carried the gospel into someone's life instead of just announcing it from a safe distance? Paul didn't broadcast from a platform. He came close, and that's exactly why it worked.We walk through 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 and watch how Paul brought the gospel to Thessalonica through three non-negotiable postures: courage despite recent suffering, closeness that made him vulnerable, and a calling that pointed people toward God instead of himself. We name the pull toward comfortable Christianity and distant discipleship, and we wrestle with what it looks like to spend our lives for the people God has actually put in front of us.KEY INSIGHT: You can't deliver a gospel of nearness with a life of distance. People don't become dear at a distance. They become dear through presence.TIMESTAMPS:00:00 - The Gospel Came With Courage20:27 - The Gospel Came With Closeness43:39 - The Gospel Came With a CallingABOUT THIS SERIES: The Watcher's Lantern is a journey through 1 Thessalonians, exploring what it looks like to carry Christ's light with courage, closeness, and calling in a world that needs it.#Courage #Gospel #Thessalonians #FatherlyLove #Boldness #DiscipleshipCONNECT WITH US:🌐 Website: https://www.everwellchurch.comFill out a Connect Card: https://subsplash.com/u/-2S5MH8/forms/d/184236a8-8501-48c4-b688-aaf625f0286c📧 Subscribe for weekly sermonsNext steps:🙏 Request prayer: https://www.everwellchurch.com/prayer-wall📺 Watch more sermons: https://www.everwellchurch.com/sermons🫶 Give: https://www.everwellchurch.com/givingDownload the Everwell app:• App info page: https://www.everwellchurch.com/download• iPhone (App Store): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/everwell-church/id1663089976• Android (Google Play): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.subsplash.thechurchapp.s_2S5MH8📱 Follow us on social media• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everwellchurch• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/everwellchurch• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@everwellJoin us Wednesday at 7pm in Costa MesaJoin us Sundays at 10am in Costa Mesa.

Long Live the King: Love Crucified on Friday. Crowned on Sunday.A Holy Week series through Luke's Gospel exploring the final days of Jesus. Not as a tragic ending, but as the coronation nobody expected. The crowd shouted "Long live the King" and had no idea how right they were. This is the story of a king who entered his capital on a borrowed donkey, wept over the city that would kill him, and turned a cross into a throne. Three days later, he walked out of the grave. Not as a resurrected teacher, but as the reigning King. Love crucified on Friday. Crowned on Sunday. He's still the King. And he's still alive.

What does it mean to truly belong to a team where grace comes before performance? This powerful conclusion to the Colossians series challenges us to see the Christian life not as a solo journey, but as a team game where Christ is the center that holds everything together. Drawing from Colossians 3:12-4:18, we're reminded that our identity in Christ comes before our instructions—we are chosen, holy, and beloved before we're ever asked to do anything. The passage beautifully unpacks what it looks like when a community puts on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, not as individual virtues, but as team characteristics that bind us together in love. The imagery of putting on a jersey resonates deeply—we don't become Christians by trying out for the team, but by accepting that grace has already called our name. When Christ's peace rules in our hearts like a referee making the final call, we stop demanding our preferred outcomes and start trusting God's wisdom. The challenge extends into our homes, workplaces, and ordinary relationships, reminding us that the gospel isn't proven in abstract theology but in how we treat each other when we're tired, frustrated, or overlooked. We're called to be salt that makes others thirst for Christ, living in such a way that our ordinary faithfulness makes the extraordinary love of God visible to a watching world.

What if the Christian life isn't about becoming something new, but learning to live like you already are?Most of us approach faith like a self-improvement project. Try harder. Do better. Climb toward holiness through sheer willpower. But Paul flips the script in Colossians 3. He says we've already been raised with Christ. Our identity is already secure, hidden with Christ in God, the most protected place in the universe. The real work isn't transformation through effort. It's learning to wear the new clothes that fit who we've already become.We explore the beautiful image of a wardrobe, drawing on C.S. Lewis's Narnia, where stepping through the wardrobe turns children into kings and queens. We look at how good things like careers, relationships, and success become dangerous when they become ultimate things. The Greek word epithumeia reveals that sin isn't just wanting bad things. It's wanting good things too much. And you can't defeat that through willpower. You need what Thomas Chalmers called "the expulsive power of a new affection." Only by falling more in love with Christ can we be freed from lesser loves. This isn't behavior management. It's heart transformation. Like turning a horse into a winged being.KEY INSIGHT: You don't need more willpower to change your life. You need a new center. Only a deeper love can expel a lesser one.

What if the exhaustion we feel isn't from doing too little, but from centering our lives around the wrong things? This powerful exploration of Matthew 6:25-33 challenges us to examine what truly sits at the center of our existence. We make tens of thousands of decisions daily, yet rarely ask ourselves: what kingdom am I actually seeking? Jesus doesn't just command us to seek first the kingdom of God as another item on our spiritual to-do list. Instead, He reveals that the kingdom is the very environment our souls were designed for. Through the parable of the treasure hidden in a field, we discover that transformation happens not through gritted-teeth discipline, but when something so valuable enters our vision that it naturally reorders everything else. The man in the parable sells all he has with joy, not obligation. This is the invitation before us: to recognize that we've been trying to fit God into lives already shaped by fear, ambition, and control, when the truth is our lives are meant to fit into His kingdom. When we trust God with heaven but not with Monday, with eternity but not with rent or reputation, we reveal where our real center lies. The kingdom offers us a life no longer held together by anxiety, but organized around trust in the King who already came near to us.

In “Seek First the Treasure,” we explored Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:19–24 and the critical question of where we place our treasure and attention. Jesus does not ask if we treasure something, but where we treasure it. The central truth is this: you can build your life on what can be taken, or you can build your life on what cannot.Jesus invites us to examine our calendars, our finances, and our attention, because these reveal what we truly treasure. Earthly treasures are always vulnerable. Like thieves that steal not only possessions but also peace, time, and joy, what we build our lives on can quietly master us.The good news is that Jesus treasured us so deeply that He gave everything on the cross, positioning Himself between two thieves to purchase us as His treasure. The gospel is not about trying harder to love God, but about letting ourselves be loved by God. When we grasp that we are His treasure, our hearts begin to reorder, our attention begins to heal, and rival masters begin to loosen their grip.Takeaways from the message:Name your treasure honestly. What would genuinely upset you if you lost it? What consumes your thoughts, time, and resources?Reclaim your attention deliberately. Attention is never neutral. What we focus on forms our souls. Redirect your gaze toward Jesus, who brings light rather than darkness.Choose one costly obedience joyfully this week. Practice generosity, create space for silence and solitude, or release control where a rival master has taken hold.

This message confronts us with a profound truth: we are always being formed by something. Whether we realize it or not, our lives are being shaped by what we worship—money, power, beauty, efficiency, or the endless scroll of our phones. The call to 'seek first the kingdom of God' isn't about adding more religious activities to our already busy lives. Instead, it's an invitation to walk with Jesus in the midst of our ordinary, messy existence. Drawing from Matthew 4, 11, and 28, we see Jesus offering three simple yet transformative invitations: follow me, learn from me, and live with me. Discipleship isn't about becoming spiritual Navy SEALs who have mastered every Bible verse and spiritual discipline. It's about proximity—learning a way of life by staying close to Jesus, watching what He does, and moving with Him. The beautiful paradox is that Jesus doesn't demand we clean ourselves up first. He called fishermen while their nets were still in their hands. He runs to the prodigal son before any confession is made. The Christian life isn't about trying harder; it's about training better by allowing Jesus to rearrange what's already in our lives around His presence and love.

Advent tells the truth about the human condition. We wait. We ache. We hope. We long for God to come close. Christmas answers that longing with a single breathtaking declaration: Christ is born, and because of His birth, something new can be born in us.The Advent series "BORN: Christmas Life Begins" explores how the birth of Jesus gives new life to the deepest parts of our souls. The manger is not simply a moment in history. It is the doorway through which God enters the human story and invites us to see the unlikely places where hope, peace, joy, and love are born.

Advent tells the truth about the human condition. We wait. We ache. We hope. We long for God to come close. Christmas answers that longing with a single breathtaking declaration: Christ is born, and because of His birth, something new can be born in us.The Advent series "BORN: Christmas Life Begins" explores how the birth of Jesus gives new life to the deepest parts of our souls. The manger is not simply a moment in history. It is the doorway through which God enters the human story and invites us to see the unlikely places where hope, peace, joy, and love are born.

Tired of measuring your faith by output and activity? This message on Philippians 3:1–16 invites you to trade performance for grace and fix your eyes on Jesus.

This week’s message calls us to live as citizens of heaven in a world that’s lost its way.From Philippians 1:27, we see what a life worthy of the gospel looks like—a life of consistent character, courageous unity, and even costly love.It’s not about striving for perfection, but about reflecting Christ in how we live, speak, and suffer.So ask yourself—does your life bring heaven a little closer to earth?

This message explores holy grit through Paul’s letter to the Philippians. True resilience does not come from willpower but from God’s grace. Grit begins with gift not grind. Paul’s story in Acts 16 illustrates this as Lydia a slave girl, and a jailer were all transformed by the same gift of grace. Our identity in Christ comes before our activity for Him. Faith is about receiving, not striving. Joy and peace flow not from hustle but from resting in God’s gift. Holy grit is strength that grows out of grace.

This sermon calls us to release our grip on outcomes and open ourselves to God’s shaping work in us. Joseph’s story shows how the Lord weaves His purpose through seasons of loss, delay, and even betrayal. What looks like a setback becomes the soil where transformation takes root. Jacob’s cross-handed blessing over Joseph’s sons reminds us that God’s ways often overturn human expectations, bringing life and favor from unexpected directions. In a world fractured by division, we are urged to live as peacemakers whose allegiance is fixed on Christ above all. The invitation is not to cling to a plan, but to cling to a Person—the risen Jesus—whose grace alone can change hearts and reorder lives.

In this message, we're reminded that God's presence is the ultimate gift, far greater than any earthly outcome. The story of Jacob and Joseph in Genesis 45-46 teaches us about trusting God's guidance, even when entering unfamiliar territory. Just as God promised to be with Jacob in Egypt, He promises to be with us in our own 'foreign lands' - whether that's a new job, a challenging relationship, or an unexpected life change. We're encouraged to be 'pilgrims' in this world, grateful for God's provisions but always aiming for the better country He has promised. This perspective shift can revive our spirits, helping us see beyond our immediate circumstances to the eternal hope we have in Christ. As we navigate life's journey, let's remember that our true home is not in this world, but in the new Jerusalem that God is preparing for us.

In this powerful message, we're reminded of God's unwavering promise to work all things together for good. The central theme revolves around Romans 8:28 and Jeremiah 29:11, emphasizing God's faithfulness even in our darkest moments. We're challenged to look at our life's journey - from our earliest memories to our highest and lowest points - and recognize God's hand at work. The story of Joseph serves as a poignant example of how God can use even the most painful experiences for a greater purpose. This message encourages us to trust in God's plan, even when we can't see the full picture. It's a call to embrace our struggles as opportunities for growth and to believe that God is shaping us to be more like Christ through every experience.

This sermon explores the transformative power of surrendering our life outcomes to God, using Joseph's story as a central example. It emphasizes how our deepest wounds can become instruments of healing and salvation for others when we allow God to reframe our narrative. The sermon encourages believers to embrace vulnerability, forgiveness, and trust in God's providential plan, even amidst suffering and betrayal.