Lifegate Church Podcast

To run our life race, God calls us fix our eyes/lives on Jesus in order to fulfill our purpose of establishing His Kingdom in the hearts of women and men through His love flowing through us! But, unless we stay hydrated we will not run long nor will we run well. What is spiritual hydration, why is it important and how do we experience it? This talk will begin your hydration experience, if you let it. 

Pastor Micah shares about our commitment to being a Christ-centered, “cross-shaped” community that expresses both truth and grace. He shares about the tension of caring well for those who have been wounded while also believing in repentance, forgiveness and restoration through Jesus. Only through the cross of Christ can believers break cycles of hurt by accepting the sacrificial love He offers us. ---NOTE: During this message, you will hear reference to the victim as not being a minor. Under Iowa law, an individual may be considered a minor if under the age of 16, 18 and 21, all depending on the context. The context to which Pastor Micah refers to the victim, who was 16-17 at the time the crime was committed (not 17 as stated in the message) as not being a “minor” is regarding the age of consent to a sexual act. In Iowa the age of consent to a sexual act is 16. Because of this, Mike was not charged with sexual assault or rape. For the context of Mike’s crime of sexual exploitation of a client by a counselor, the victim was considered a minor (under the age of 18).

Guest Speaker Lisa Bevere brings a Special Message.

Effort is an important aspect in any worthy endeavor. And while we don’t earn our salvation, we are called by Jesus to put in some effort as we run the race He’s marked out for us.

We’re kicking off a series to address some of life’s biggest questions: Why am I here? Where am I going? What should I do along the way? Scripture uses the imagery of a race, to help us discover the answers to these questions. Let’s learn how to run the race marked out for us with freedom and fruitfulness.

True freedom isn’t found in striving but in receiving the transformation only God can give. Jacob spent his life fighting—grasping for control, running from his past, and wrestling with who he was. But one encounter with God changed everything. Like Jacob, we often resist surrender because we don’t fully see who God says we are.

Science reveals that giving is like a drug. We get an emotional high from giving, it creates a positive relational bond with those to whom we give and it can even be addictive! So why don’t we all do it more? Our resistance to giving is often rooted in our lack of freedom. Let’s learn how God set us free, so that we can freely give away what He’s given us.

Jesus didn’t offer us freedom from afar, but he won our freedom by making his dwelling among us. And now as His followers, we not only benefit from his redemptive move, but we’re called to do the same for others.

The year of Jubilee is one of the most significant and inspiring concepts we see in Scripture. The promise that debts will be cancelled for the good others isn’t just what Jesus eventually did for us, but what we’re called to do for one another.