Rise Community Podcast

Rise Community Church
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Religion & Spirituality
  • Updated Biweekly

The latest teaching and news from Rise Community Church.

  1. 1d ago

    Koinonia - The Deep Fellowship That Changes Everything

    What does it truly mean to belong to a church community? This message takes us deep into one of the most radical and challenging concepts in the New Testament: koinonia. Far more than the casual fellowship we might imagine, koinonia is a binding commitment to shared life, shared time, and shared resources. Drawing from Acts 2:42-47, we explore how the earliest believers were so transformed by grace that there was not a single person among thousands who went without food, shelter, or clothing. Not because leaders organized programs, but because ordinary people opened their homes, their wallets, and their lives to one another. The question this raises for us is both simple and searching: are we truly in community, or are we spectators of one another's lives? The early church did not grow because of great preaching alone. It grew because people encountered something they could not explain in the lives of those around them. That same witness is available to us today, if we are willing to move from the margins into honest, sometimes uncomfortable, deeply rewarding relationship with one another.

  2. Sep 6

    Why Church? Rediscovering the Community of Christ

    What does it truly mean to be part of a church community? That question sits at the heart of this powerful message drawn from the opening chapters of Acts. We are invited to travel back to one of the most pivotal moments in history, the 40 days between the resurrection and the ascension, when Jesus walked and ate and spoke with hundreds of followers, preparing them for something they could not yet fully grasp. The early believers were not gathered around a program or a philosophy. They were gathered around a living person. And that distinction changes everything. As we examine Acts 2, we encounter four habits that defined the earliest community of Christ: devoted learning, radical sharing, relational eating, and communal prayer. These were not casual Sunday activities. They were daily rhythms that transformed ordinary people into a living, breathing testimony that drew thousands to faith. The Greek word koinonia, often translated simply as fellowship, actually carries the weight of radical generosity, a willingness to open our lives, our time, our resources, and our hearts to one another in ways that mirror the character of God himself. This message challenges us to ask honestly whether we are experiencing that kind of community, and if not, why not.

  3. Aug 30

    [Wk16] Standing Firm on the Certainties of Our Faith - 1 John 5:18-21

    As we close out the letter of 1 John, we are brought face to face with three powerful anchors of certainty that every believer can stand on. In a world that constantly pulls us toward doubt, distraction, and spiritual confusion, John's final words cut through the noise with remarkable clarity: we know. Not we hope, not we wonder, but we know. We know that God's children are held securely by Christ himself, that the evil one cannot establish ownership over a life that belongs to God, and that Jesus came not only to save us but to remain with us through the Holy Spirit. These are not abstract theological ideas. They are living, breathing truths that speak directly into our daily battles, our moments of spiritual exhaustion, and our struggles against the pull of a world system designed to draw us away from God. The letter of 1 John reminds us that our faith is not built on secret knowledge or spiritual elitism, but on the solid, unchanging foundation of Jesus Christ himself. If we have ever found ourselves drifting, overwhelmed, or wondering whether any of this is real, these final verses are written for us. We are invited to stop living in uncertainty and start living in the confidence of what we already know.

  4. Aug 23

    [Wk15] The Sin That Leads to Death - 1 John 5:13-17

    What does it truly mean to have assurance in our faith? That question sits at the heart of this powerful exploration of 1 John 5. We live in a world of uncertainty, where very little can be guaranteed from one day to the next. Yet the apostle John, writing to a community of believers shaken by false teaching and self-doubt, insists that there is something we can know with confidence: that if we believe in the name of the Son of God, we have eternal life. Not hope for it. Not guess at it. Know it. That distinction changes everything. We are invited to stop living in spiritual panic, constantly wondering whether we have done enough or believed correctly enough, and instead settle into the rest that genuine faith offers. The message also brings prayer into sharp focus. When we approach God as a loving Father rather than a distant judge, our prayer life transforms. We are not casting spells or manipulating outcomes. We are aligning our hearts to the will of the One who knows us completely and loves us anyway. And when we see a brother or sister stumbling, our first call is not to gossip or withdraw but to intercede, to bring them before God with the same tenderness that God extends to us. Struggling with sin is not the same as being abandoned by God, and that truth alone is worth sitting with for a long time.

  5. Aug 16

    [Wk14] Victory, Identity, and the Life Found in Jesus - 1 John 5:4-11

    What does it truly mean to overcome the world? The answer might surprise us. Drawing from 1 John 5, we explore a vision of victory that looks nothing like the world's definition. It is not about accumulating success, avoiding struggle, or retreating into a safe religious bubble. It is about allegiance, a deep, daily commitment to align ourselves with God even when the path ahead is unclear. The sermon unpacks the idea that biblical faith is not blind trust or empty religious language, but something closer to a soldier's allegiance, trusting and acting even when we do not fully understand the orders. We are challenged to examine the things we have quietly measured victory by, our bank accounts, our relationships, our social standing, and ask honestly whether any of those things have ever brought lasting fulfillment. The message calls us back to something more solid and more freeing: an identity rooted not in what we achieve but in who we belong to.

  6. Aug 2

    [Wk12] The Command to Love - 1 John 4:19-21

    Before we ever loved God, He loved us. In the closing verses of 1 John 4, John reminds us that God's love is the source of every genuine act of Christian love. As we grow in our understanding of Christ's sacrifice, His love transforms our hearts, reshapes our relationships, and becomes visible in the way we love one another. This message is an invitation to stop striving for God's approval, rest in His love, and allow that love to overflow into every area of life.

  7. Jul 19

    {Wk11] Perfect Love Casts Out Fear - 1 John 4:15-18

    What does it mean to truly know that God loves us, not just as a fact we recite, but as a reality that reshapes how we live? In this deep dive into 1 John 4:16-18, we explore one of the most profound theological truths in all of scripture: God is love. This is not a sentiment for greeting cards or coffee mugs. It is the very nature of God himself, and when that love takes root in us, nothing stays the same. We look at how John builds his case throughout this letter, returning again and again to love as the clearest visible evidence that God is genuinely at work in a believer's life. The invisible God becomes visible through us, through the way we treat one another, through the way we extend grace in hard moments, and through the way we reflect his character into a watching world. We also wrestle honestly with why so many of us struggle to receive this love, how our upbringing, our wounds, and our circumstances can distort our picture of God. And yet the cross stands as God's eternal, unchanging declaration that his love is real and that it is for us. This message invites us to stop measuring God's love by our circumstances and to anchor our confidence in what Christ has already accomplished.

  8. Jul 12

    [Wk10] Have You Seen God? - 1 John 4:12-15

    This weeks' message invites us to reconsider where we've been looking for God. Drawing from 1 John 4:12-15, we're reminded that while no one has ever seen God in His fullness, He is actually all around us—in the sprouting seed, the comforting of a crying baby, the healing of a broken heart, and every act of love we witness or perform. The sermon challenges our tendency to search for God only in grand, spectacular moments while missing the thousands of daily opportunities to experience His presence. At the heart of this teaching is the Greek word 'agape'—unconditional love that is not merely a feeling but a deliberate choice and action. When Scripture declares that God is love, it means God embodies patience, kindness, protection, hope, and perseverance. Through Jesus, this divine love was made manifest, and remarkably, we are invited to continue that manifestation. Like a seed that contains everything needed to become a fruit-bearing tree, God's love was planted through Christ's sacrifice, and we are the fruit that grows from that tree. The Holy Spirit makes this seemingly impossible standard of love actually achievable in our daily lives, transforming the impractical into the practicable and empowering us to love when our human nature falls short.

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The latest teaching and news from Rise Community Church.

Information

  • Creator
    Rise Community Church
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2026
  • Episodes
    435
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Rise Community Church