Encountering Jesus

Pastor Daniel Goulding · Sep 18, 2023

In Acts 9, the dramatic conversion of Saul of Tarsus — history's most zealous enemy of the church turned its most powerful evangelist — reveals that when someone truly encounters the risen Jesus, their entire purpose is reoriented. God does not simply adjust problems or promise prosperity; He remakes a person from the inside out, shifting their worldview, their values, and their mission. That transformation is not merely personal: changed people become change agents, and God's strategy for reaching cities, families, and the world flows through them.

Pastor Caleb McMains · Jul 6, 2022

Through the names Yahweh Rapha — the Lord who heals — God reveals that His deepest concern is not fixing our external circumstances but transforming our hearts and souls from the inside out. Drawing on the Israelites' bitter-water crisis in Exodus and Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman in John, Pastor Caleb shows that true healing comes not through explanations or perfect outcomes, but through a personal encounter with Jesus, the living water, who took the bitterness of life upon Himself on the cross so that we could be made whole — regardless of what we face.

Pastor Scott Rodgers · Feb 10, 2019

Walking through John 9, Pastor Scott Rogers shows that a genuine encounter with Jesus produces real, visible life change. The man born blind could not explain the theology of his healing, but he could not deny what had happened to him: 'I was blind, but now I see.' The sermon calls followers of Jesus to approach Him with humility and obedience — the same posture the blind man took — and to hold firmly to what they know God has done in their lives, even when they cannot answer every skeptical question about faith.

Pastor Daniel Goulding · Jun 18, 2018

Drawing from the full story of the woman at the well in John 4, Pastor Daniel argues that human beings are perpetually searching for purpose, meaning, and satisfaction — and that we sabotage ourselves by either chasing worldly substitutes or deferring real obedience to a fantasized future. Jesus' declaration 'I am the Messiah' shattered the woman's 'someday' thinking and instantly transformed her into a bold witness. The same pattern applies to every believer: genuine satisfaction comes from knowing God personally and then stepping out of comfort to share that good news with the broken people already placed in our lives.