Alliance Church

Alliance Church
  • 4.7 (15)
  • Christianity
  • Weekly

Alliance Church is a Bible-based church in Wisconsin. What is this church all about? It's simple - our vision is to connect the world with God and one another. We're ordinary people who get to be part of the extraordinary work of connecting the world with Jesus. You matter to Him and because of that, you matter to us. This podcast includes Sunday messages from our campus in Appleton, WI. Our primary teachers are Rev. Brian Episcopo, Rev. Brandon Hilstad, and Dr. Dennis Espiscopo.

  1. 1d ago

    How to Confront Someone Who Hurt You (Without Making It Worse)

    How do you forgive someone who hurt you? Not in theory, but the person whose name still tightens your stomach. Maybe you want to confront them, maybe you want to pretend it never happened, and maybe you just want the hurt to stop. In this message, Pastor Brian walks through one of the most quoted and most misunderstood things Jesus ever said: "Do not judge." People use that line to shut down hard conversations. But in Matthew 7:1 through 5, Jesus is not telling you to ignore wrong. He is telling you not to play the Judge, the one who assumes you have all the evidence. When we blow it, we have a whole list of reasons we deserve grace: our childhood, our stress, how little sleep we got. When someone else blows it, we see the outside and hand down a verdict. Pastor Brian also names the four ways most of us handle conflict. Sharks smell the smallest cut and need to deal with it right now. Teddy bears want everyone to be okay and sweep things under the rug. Turtles pull into their shell. Foxes turn every conversation around until you feel like the one who did something wrong. You will probably recognize yourself, and maybe a few people at your dinner table. Then Jesus describes confronting someone as eye surgery. It is tender work, so expect the other person to flinch. And almost the whole passage is about preparation, not technique. Before you go after the speck in someone else's eye, deal with the plank in your own. Pastor Brian tells a story about years of quietly judging other people's homes, then discovering a giant red paint stain at the bottom of his own basement stairs that every guest had seen for years. The things you walk past every day are often the first thing everyone else notices. So how does the plank come out? Only one surgeon can do it, and that is Jesus at the cross. The motive of the cross was to heal, not to hurt. The means was God absorbing the consequences of sin in Himself instead of pouring them out on us. And the mark, the target, was an open door to relationship with God. The gap between what someone did to you and what we have all done to a holy God is a speck next to a plank, and the cross is where God deals with the plank. This teaching is honest about hard situations. Forgiveness does not mean trust, and trust should be earned. Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is forgive, set boundaries, and let consequences play out. But forgiveness itself is a condition of the heart. It is business between you and God, and it does not have to wait for a courtroom, a verdict, or an apology. You cannot give away more forgiveness than you have let yourself receive. If you have been sipping God's love through a straw, Pastor Brian's invitation is to drink deeply, because the account at the cross never runs dry. The service closes with baptism stories from people who have been soaked in that same forgiveness.

  2. Oct 26

    Why Do I Believe in God but Nothing in My Life Changes?

    Why do I believe in God but nothing in my life ever changes? You feel something when you hear a message, maybe even a tug in your chest, and then Monday shows up and your schedule, priorities, and budget look exactly like last week. If that sounds familiar, this teaching from the book of James is for you. Pastor Brian opens with a sobering stat: the average American adult spends about two hours a day on social media, and teens closer to five. The algorithm knows outrage gets the click, so we are being shaped by whatever riles us up. What if you spent those same two hours in the presence of God, in his word, in worship, in prayer? What would that do to your inner life? From there this message walks slowly from James 1:22 to James 2:19, more Bible study than sermon. Hearing the word without doing it is self deception, a lie with a little truth mixed in. Yes, church was good and God really did stir something. But if nothing changes in your hands and feet, you have deceived yourself, and the one Scripture calls the deceiver gets Sunday off because you did his job for him. The turning point is the mirror in James 1:23 and 24. Pastor Brian points out that the Bible is not a list of things God wants you to do. It is a mirror that shows you who you are, and everything you do flows out of who you believe you are. That is why he tells his daughter she is a princess before telling her to brush her teeth, and why Romans 12:2 says transformation comes by the renewing of your mind. If you are good at worrying, you are already good at Christian meditation. Same muscle, different direction. Then James gets specific. Pure religion looks after orphans and widows (James 1:27). Favoring the man in the gold ring over the man in filthy clothes makes you a judge who takes bribes (James 2:1 to 4), because it turns an image bearer of God into a tool for your own comfort. Failing to love your neighbor as yourself is not a lack of charity. It is a lack of justice, and nobody gets into heaven on "I never killed anybody." So is faith without works really dead? James 2:14 to 17 says a faith that tells a hungry person "go in peace, keep warm, be well fed" and does nothing is exactly that. Even the demons believe there is one God, and they shudder. Pastor Brian borrows from Jonathan Edwards here: demons believe God is real, respect his power, and order their behavior around it. If that is all you have, nothing separates you from them. Kindness driven by fear of getting hit is just shuddering with better manners. What the demons lack is the heart. They have never seen Jesus as beautiful. 1 John 4:18 says perfect love drives out fear, and the law that gives freedom is the cross, where the punishment we earned landed on Jesus and mercy triumphed over judgment. You cannot control God by being good enough, and you cannot avoid him by being bad enough. He loves you. That is the heart that gets hands and feet moving.

  3. Oct 19

    What Does the Bible Actually Say About Immigration?

    What does the Bible say about immigration? It is one of the most heated questions of our time, and most of us walk in with strong opinions before we ask what God thinks. And if you have ever sat in church and felt like a stranger who did not belong, this message is for you too.In this sermon, Pastor Brian stays out of the political weeds and goes straight for the heart. He starts in Isaiah 58, where God's people were fasting, praying, and giving, and God was still grieved, because they were no longer bothered by the things that bother God. In Isaiah 58:6 and 7, God describes the fasting he wants: loosening the chains of injustice, feeding the hungry, sheltering the poor wanderer, and never turning away from your own flesh and blood. That last phrase is the scandal. God puts the hungry, the naked, and the foreigner in the same category as family, with the same urgency you would feel for your own kids.That command goes back to Leviticus 19:33 and 34, where God tells Israel to treat the foreigner among them as native born and to love them as themselves, because they were once foreigners in Egypt. In a survival of the fittest world, that was radical. Pastor Brian is honest that he does not have every policy answer. Borders matter. Keeping bad actors out matters. But before we figure out our hands and feet, our hearts have to line up with God's word. Fasting, he says, is really about auditing your loves. Not loving food less, but loving God more.From there, the message traces three defining moments. In Genesis 12:2 and 3, God promises Abraham that all peoples on earth will be blessed through him. God's people are blessed in order to be a blessing, which makes Christians a little strange: we enjoy a gift most when we give it away. In Acts 2, of all the miracles the Holy Spirit could have done first at Pentecost, he chose to let ordinary Galileans speak the good news in the languages of outsiders. And in Revelation 7:9 and 10, John sees a crowd too big to count from every nation, tribe, people, and language, gathered around one throne and one Lamb. Maybe it takes more than a 26 letter alphabet to declare the glory of God.Then Pastor Brian brings it home. If you have ever felt like a foreigner in church, like you broke every rule of heaven this week, God's eyes are on you too. Yes, your sin bothers him. It bothered him enough that Jesus went to the cross to pay for it. But his outrage was aimed at the sin that made you an enemy of heaven, not at you. Jesus moved into our neighborhood, spoke our language, took on our flesh, and carried our foreigner problem to the cross. He does not just make us citizens. He makes us members of the royal family.This teaching may not change how you vote, but it might change how you treat people, what you get outraged about, and which kingdom you actually belong to. Pastor Brian closes with a line from C.S. Lewis about carrying the weight of your neighbor's glory, a burden so heavy that only humility can bear it.

  4. Oct 12

    Is Hoarding Money a Sin? Why Saving Isn’t the Problem

    Is it a sin to hoard money? Most of us would say no. Saving is responsible, and helping the poor is a nice thing to do when the budget allows. But what the Bible says about generosity is heavier than that, and in this sermon Pastor Brian walks straight into it.It starts with a Saturday trip to Menards and a question from Pastor Brian's son Elias, who is seven. It becomes a bigger one: who is Jesus shaping us to become? This fall, the answer keeps landing on a word we rarely connect to money. Justice.In Isaiah 1:17, God looks at people who are praying, fasting, and worshiping hard and tells them what he actually wants: seek justice, defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Righteousness and justice sit side by side more than fifty times in the Old Testament. Neglecting the poor is not a missed chance at charity. It is a wrong that needs to be made right.Pastor Brian gives two reasons. First, you do not own your stuff. If you cannot take it with you when you die, you are managing it for an Owner who has said what he values. Second, in Matthew 25, Jesus says feeding the hungry and visiting the prisoner are the evidence that we belong to him, not the way we got in. Then he says something staggering: I was there. To neglect the vulnerable is to withhold from the King himself.This is not a guilt trip or a political speech. God does not love the poor more than the rich. Zacchaeus gave away half, kept his job, and Jesus said salvation had come to his house. Proverbs 13:22 calls it righteous to leave an inheritance for your grandchildren. And work is not the curse. Genesis 2:15 puts Adam to work in the garden before sin ever enters. Toil is the curse, making money for its own sake until you feel empty and cannot name why.In Exodus 16, God rains down manna for people who have nothing and still asks them to gather it every morning. Everyone had enough, and whatever anyone kept until morning rotted. Hoarded money does not stink in your wallet, but it starts to rot somewhere in your life. Deuteronomy 15 goes further. Cancel debts every seventh year. Do not be hardhearted or tightfisted. Do not even think, "the seventh year is near, so why bother." Be openhanded. Who lives like that?People who remember. Deuteronomy 15:15 says, remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. Guilt cannot fuel that kind of generosity. Grace can. Blessed are the poor in spirit, Jesus says in Matthew 5:3, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. If you are middle class in spirit, Pastor Brian warns, you probably will not care much about the poor materially. But if you have been broken over your own spiritual bankruptcy and watched God refill your empty cup, generosity starts to feel natural. And before you get tightfisted with people whose poverty came from their own bad choices, remember why the cross happened at all. We were sinful and unwise too. It ends at the communion table, so we can leave and do likewise.Where has generosity felt hardest for you lately?

  5. Oct 4

    Where God Actually Is (And Why You Keep Missing It)

    What does God actually think about Christians who worship vibrantly on Sunday but ignore the vulnerable the rest of the week? It is one of the most jarring questions in Scripture, and Pastor Brian walks the church into it head on. Full seats. Hands raised. Tithes up. Prayer and fasting strong. And God, says Isaiah, cannot stand it. This sermon kicks off a new teaching series at Alliance Church on biblical justice, what it is, who it is for, and why Scripture is so unflinching about it. Pastor Brian opens with Isaiah 1:11 through 17, where God tells his people he hates their offerings, cannot bear their worship, and refuses to hear their prayers. Why? Because they neglected the vulnerable. Learn to do right. Seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless. Plead the case of the widow. Then he gives one of the clearest working definitions of biblical justice we have heard. An expression of God's love, doing what is right for the good of another, especially the vulnerable. The poor. The outsider. The victimized. The powerless. The weak. The needy. He also explains why Christians uniquely see this as justice, not just charity. One, we do not own what we have, we manage it, so misusing it against God's priorities is theft. Two, all sin ultimately offends God, not just a human neighbor. Three, every person reflects the image of God equally, so unequal concern for people different than us is injustice against that image. Then Pastor Brian takes the church to Matthew 25:31 through 46. The sheep and the goats. Jesus hands us the actual script of the most eternally significant moment in our lives. I was hungry. I was thirsty. I was a stranger. I needed clothes. I was sick. I was in prison. And whatever you did or did not do for the least of these, you did or did not do for me. He notes something most people miss. Both the righteous and the perishing say the exact same thing. Lord, when did we see you? Nobody realizes how much the vulnerable mattered to God. Then he lands it in the gospel, where it has to land. The point is not to go home and check a list. The point is to let the cross blow you away. We were the spiritually bankrupt. We were the powerless. We were in prison for our sin. Jesus moved into our neighborhood and gave up everything so that we could become citizens of heaven. The more deeply you receive that grace, the more naturally you spend yourself for the vulnerable. If you have ever felt distant from God, or wondered what Christianity is actually supposed to look like in real life, this teaching from Pastor Brian is a hard, honest, hopeful starting point.

  6. Sep 27

    The Reason More Never Feels Like Enough (Even When It Is)

    Why does more money never actually feel like enough? You get the raise, the house, the promotion, the number in the account, and then the goalpost quietly moves again. Pastor Josiah takes on that exhausting cycle head on, using one of Jesus's sharpest parables. And the man Jesus calls a fool in it looks, on paper, like someone we would celebrate. This sermon continues an Alliance Church teaching series on money and generosity. Pastor Josiah opens with what hikers call the false summit. That moment on a climb when you put your head down, push hard for the peak you can finally see, only to discover another ridge behind it. That is how most of us live financially and emotionally. If I could just get there. And then there moves. Then he takes the church to Luke 12:13 through 21. Someone in the crowd interrupts Jesus to referee a family inheritance fight. Instead of settling it, Jesus goes underneath the argument and names three things about the man in the parable that most Christians never see in themselves. One. Greed. More never feels like enough. Ecclesiastes 5:10 says it plainly. Those who love money will never have enough. Greed is not about how much is in your bank account. It is about what has your heart. The antidote is gratitude. Two. Selfishness. Blessings were never meant to stop with you. Pastor Josiah uses a genius illustration from a plumbing disaster in his first home. A concrete pad was pressing down on the pipe, blocking the flow, causing dirty water to back up into his tub. When God's blessing stops with you, the same thing happens spiritually. God moves resources through us, not just to us. 1 Timothy 6:17 and 18 makes it clear. Three. Foolishness. Full barns can still belong to an empty soul. The rich man in the parable prepares for retirement, plans, saves, expands, and then God says, tonight your life is required of you. Then who gets it? Not because he was wealthy. Because he chased what he could not keep while ignoring what he could not lose. He closes with the story of Ali Hafed and the diamond mines of Golconda. A man who sold his content, prosperous farm to chase diamonds elsewhere, died broke and hopeless in Barcelona, while the man who bought his land found the biggest diamond mine in history sitting right in the creek on that same property. The treasure Ali was looking for was already at home. Pastor Josiah lands it in the gospel. The richest thing you can have is a relationship with God, and it is not hidden. Jesus paid the way to that relationship on a cross. Do not spend your life chasing what you cannot keep while neglecting what you cannot lose.

  7. Sep 20

    How Much Should a Christian Actually Give to Church?

    How much should a Christian actually give? It is one of the most quietly awkward questions in Christian life, and Dr. Dennis Episcopo answers it with a framework that will keep you thinking all week. There are four levels of giving in the Bible. Most Christians never make it past level one. This sermon continues an Alliance Church teaching series on money and generosity. Dr. Episcopo opens with a story from Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, when Twins manager Tom Kelly walked out to the mound and left a tired veteran in with the words, Jack, it is just a game. Then he makes the turn. What we do at church is not a game. The stakes are eternal. Made even more real by the fact that his own mother went to be with the Lord this week at 97 years old. Everything gets real at a funeral. And that changes how a person handles everything, including their wallet. Then he anchors the message in 2 Corinthians 5:16 through 20. Christians are ambassadors of reconciliation. Nothing in the life of a Christian is superficial. Everything is strategic. How you parent, how you work, how you spend your free time, and yes, how you handle your money. Then Dr. Episcopo walks through the four levels. One. Duty giving. 2 Corinthians 9:7. This is the plate passing, guilt driven, I have to put something in reflex. It is the lowest floor. It is not what God wants, because he loves a cheerful giver, not a reluctant one. Two. Thanksgiving giving. Psalm 107 and 116. Giving because you are stunned by what God has done in your life. You saw the cross. You saw the answered prayer. You cannot help but respond. Three. Tithing. Percentage giving. Ten percent off the gross, not the net. Not a law, but a biblical pattern that levels the field between the wealthy and the working class. Leviticus 27. And notably, Jesus himself endorsed it in Luke 11 when he told the Pharisees to keep tithing without neglecting justice and the love of God. Four. Sacrificial giving. Luke 21, the widow's two coins. He says this rarely happens, but when the Holy Spirit taps a believer's shoulder and says, give it all, and they obey, the whole room feels it. This is the highest level. Then Dr. Episcopo lands the whole sermon in one sentence. There are people in the world who think, I own my money. And there are people who understand, I own nothing. I am a manager. God owns it all. Which one are you? If you have ever felt guilty, confused, or numb about giving, this teaching is one of the clearest starting points you will find.

  8. Sep 14

    The Real Reason God Hasn't Given You More Money Yet

    What does the Bible actually say about money? It is one of the most searched, most anxiously carried topics in modern life, and Pastor Brian steps into it with unusual honesty. 63% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Money is the number two reason for divorce. And Jesus talked about it more than almost anything else.This sermon kicks off a new teaching series at Alliance Church on what Scripture teaches about money. Pastor Brian opens with 1 Timothy 6:10, carefully. The Bible does not say money is the root of all evil. It says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Greed is a heart problem, not a bank account problem. Some of the most generous people he knows are wealthy, and some of the most consumed people he knows are broke. Greed is agnostic to your net worth.Then he walks through Jesus's parable of the shrewd manager in Luke 16:1 through 13. The whole thing hinges on one truth most Americans have never fully absorbed. You do not own your money. God does. You are the manager. He is the rich man. That is not a metaphor. It is the setup of the entire parable.The uncomfortable downstream is honest. If God owns the money and we manage it by our own priorities instead of his, that is not just poor stewardship. It is stealing. He uses the picture of a money manager who takes your account and buys himself a Ferrari with it. That is exactly how it lands with God when we ignore his priorities with what he has entrusted to us.Then he goes to the heart of it. What does God actually want your money invested in? People. Eternal treasures. Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves (Luke 16:9). Christians should on paper be some of the wisest stewards of wealth on the planet, because we know the Owner and what he cares about.Here is the sentence that reframes the whole conversation. Money does not change you. Money reveals you. Luke 16:10 and 11. Whoever can be trusted with little can be trusted with much. If you cannot steward the little you have right now, why would God give you more?Pastor Brian closes at the cross with 2 Corinthians 8:9. Jesus was rich, but for our sake he became poor, so that through his poverty we might become rich. That is the deepest motivator to actually open your budget with your spouse this week and ask, God, how am I managing your money?If you have been anxious about money, ashamed of your finances, or unsure what the Bible actually teaches on this, this teaching from Pastor Brian is one of the most freeing places to start.

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Ratings & Reviews

4.7
out of 5
15 Ratings

About

Alliance Church is a Bible-based church in Wisconsin. What is this church all about? It's simple - our vision is to connect the world with God and one another. We're ordinary people who get to be part of the extraordinary work of connecting the world with Jesus. You matter to Him and because of that, you matter to us. This podcast includes Sunday messages from our campus in Appleton, WI. Our primary teachers are Rev. Brian Episcopo, Rev. Brandon Hilstad, and Dr. Dennis Espiscopo.

Information

  • Creator
    Alliance Church
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    383
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Alliance Church
  • Show Website
    Alliance Church

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