HopeUC Nashville Word of the Week

HopeUC Nashville
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Religion

By God's grace we pray that HopeUC will always be a body, a church, a family and a home that is defined by God's presence. Worshipful, missional, prayerful, generational, creative, generous, thankful, authentic and completely passionate about people responding to the message of salvation. And with a shout that resounds through every part of our lives that HOPE is a person, and His name is Jesus. The songs and teachings range from adoration to warfare, but the message is the same, the Lord alone is worthy of praise. We believe that when people see God for who He really is, they can't help but worship loudly and extravagantly. Join us from the HopeUC Nashville barn every week as our team delivers a word that builds on our four core values. The Word is our foundation, Worship is our Honor, Community is our Heartbeat and His Presence is our Passion.

  1. 2d ago

    July 19th - Generations | Generations On Fire by Elliot Rudell

    Join us in this episode as Elliot Rudell shares a fiery, vulnerable message on "Generations" and what it means to follow Jesus in a world God Himself is shaking. Drawing from 1 Corinthians 10, Psalm 78, Hebrews 12, Luke 17, and especially Joel 2, Elliot walks through Israel's story as a roadmap for ours—how God's people can see real miracles and still crash in scandal when they ignore holiness and generational covering. He tells raw stories from the Jesus Movement—radical salvations, wild outpouring, and painful collapse when older saints walked away and young believers tried to build revival without fathers and mothers. You'll hear how God uses both kindness and shaking—locusts, loss, and even global turmoil—to call His people back to Himself, and why the coming outpouring of the Holy Spirit will require a clean, holy, and unified church. Elliot unpacks the biblical command to "tell your children… and their children… and another generation," challenging older believers not to retire spiritually, and younger believers not to wait to get serious about holiness. This conversation will provoke you to: - See your life inside God's end‑time storyline, not just your own timeline.   - Embrace both the Comforter and the cross, not just spiritual "experiences."   - Stay continually filled with the Holy Spirit—"fingers in the outlet"—in days of shaking.   - Take your place, young or old, in passing on stories, warnings, and fire to the next generation. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

  2. Jul 5

    July 5th - Generations | Passing The Torch by Pastors Tom Trout, Dustin Smith, and Jordan Smith

    Join us in this episode as Pastor Dustin Smith, Pastor Tom Trout, and Jordan Smith sit down together to talk about "Generations" and how God weaves old men's dreams and young people's visions into one burning flame. Walking through Joel 2 / Acts 2 and the story of Elijah and Elisha, they explore how God is not just the God of your lifetime but the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—a 500‑year God you're part of right now. You'll hear stories of revival, miracles, and God's faithfulness across decades, and how those memories aren't meant to stay as nostalgia but to fuel faith for what He wants to do next. Together they unpack three generational roles—those who remember and tell the stories, those who steward and build the "canvas," and those who run with fresh vision—and how honor, humility, and blessing keep all three moving in step instead of in competition. You'll be challenged to break agreement with family curses, receive generational blessing, and see yourself not as starting from scratch with God, but as carrying a torch that's meant to light many others before you take your last breath. For more stories and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

  3. Jun 29

    June 28th - Keys to the Kingdom | Walking in Kingdom Authority by Pastor Dustin Smith

    Join us in this episode as Pastor Dustin Smith unpacks "keys of the kingdom" and how they unlock God's rule and reign in our everyday lives. Walking through Peter's revelation of Jesus in Matthew 16, Pastor Dustin shows how seeing Jesus clearly always comes before carrying real authority—and how God entrusts keys to those who truly know the King. You'll explore ten practical keys—revelation, faith, prayer, obedience, humility, honor, generosity, forgiveness, unity, and love—and how each one opens specific "rooms" of God's kingdom. Learn why faith is the currency of the kingdom, why most miracles sit on the other side of simple obedience, how unforgiveness is a prison we lock ourselves in, and why love is the "master key" that makes every other key work. For more stories and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

  4. Jun 23

    June 21st - Keys to the Kingdom | Jesus' Call to the Disqualified by Shane Willard

    In this episode, Shane Willard takes us into the Jewish world of Jesus to show Him as a real first‑century rabbi—and what it means to actually live under His yoke today. Shane explains how rare the title "rabbi" was, what a "yoke" is (a way of interpreting and living Scripture), and why Jesus was recognized as a rabbi "with authority" (s'mikah). With that authority, Jesus could offer His own yoke—easy and light—and overturn heavy, harmful interpretations that crushed people. Instead of choosing the best students from rabbinic schools, Jesus goes to the lake, calling fishermen and a tax collector who had already been told they weren't good enough. His simple words "follow me" re‑qualify the disqualified and invite ordinary people to carry His way into the world. Shane then shows Jesus' yoke in action: with the woman caught in adultery, Malchus in the garden, and Jesus on the cross. Rather than using Scripture to stone or disqualify, Jesus fulfills it through mercy, restoration, and radical love—even for His enemies.  This message calls us back to the real Rabbi Jesus: to be covered in His dust, to be known for love more than opinions, and to treat people the way He treated people—healing instead of harming, qualifying instead of canceling, and letting His cross‑shaped love shape how we read the Bible and live every day. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

  5. Jun 15

    June 14th - Keys to the Kingdom | Faith Over Comfort by Pastor Dustin Smith

    In this episode, Pastor Dustin shares a passionate, practical message on faith as a "key to the kingdom" in a culture of comfort, convenience, and quitting when it gets hard. Preaching from Hebrews 11–12, he reminds us that faith isn't just what we believe but what we *do*—a real, costly substance. It's impossible to please God without faith, yet many of us try to follow Jesus at "safe speed," clinging to comfort and control instead of obeying when He says "go." Dustin uses the picture of the "bride of Christ"—the church—as something costly but worth it, like a groom who sacrifices time, money, and comfort to pursue the one he loves. Jesus gave everything for His bride, and we honor Him by investing our lives into His church, where so many of our stories began. From Hebrews 12:1–2, he calls us to "strip off every weight" and "the sin that so easily entangles" so we can "run with endurance" by keeping our eyes on Jesus. Dustin names five common "weights" that quietly choke faith: - **Apathy** – delaying obedience, living in neutral instead of acting like Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, or Peter.   - **Comfort & success** – not sinful in themselves, but deadly when safety becomes more important than obedience.   - **Complaining** – agreement with the wrong kingdom, spreading unbelief and offense.   - **Disappointment** – especially around unanswered prayers and loss; it can harden into unbelief when God doesn't move our way.   - **Weariness & isolation** – long battles that make us tired and pull us away from the very community meant to strengthen our faith. In this context, Dustin identifies the "sin that so easily entangles" as **unbelief**—staying put when God says "go," calling fear and self‑protection "wisdom." The way forward is not obsessing over our weakness but fixing our eyes on Jesus, "the author and perfecter of our faith." Like Peter on the water, we don't sink because of the storm but because we shift our focus off Jesus. This message is a call to lay down apathy, comfort, complaint, disappointment, weariness, and unbelief, and to become a people who keep saying "yes" to God—even when it's costly and we may never see all the fruit in our lifetime. In a hyper‑individual age, Dustin also calls us back to *community faith*: there are no isolated disciples in the New Testament. Faith is born, strengthened, and sustained in the family of God, the bride of Christ. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

  6. Jun 7

    June 7th - Keys to the Kingdom | Endurance As Worship by Rick White

    In this episode, Pastor Rick shares a honest, practical message on endurance as a "key to the kingdom" in a world obsessed with ease, speed, and instant results. Preaching from Hebrews 12, James 1, and Galatians 6, he unpacks the Greek word *hypomone*—to "stay under pressure without collapsing"—the same word used for Jesus enduring the cross. Life, Rick reminds us, is more like a marathon than a sprint, yet many of us try to live the Christian life at sprint-pace, running on highlight moments instead of stable, daily obedience and biblical depth. Through his own story of being overwhelmed by responsibility, learning to care for his body, and watching God provide in tight seasons, Rick shows how trials can either crush us or grow us. We contrast a victim mindset ("life is happening to me; I can't help it") with a kingdom mindset ("Jesus, how do I partner with You and grow in this?"), and see how small daily decisions quietly shape who we become over years. Rick also addresses shame honestly. Shame is a terrible fuel for life, but a powerful signal that something inside needs healing. From Romans 5, we're reminded that while we were still weak and ungodly, Christ died for us. You may feel like you're failing, but you don't have to stay there. In Jesus' hands, conviction and even shame become doorways into transformation, not a life sentence. This message invites us to become people of *hypomone*—men and women who can carry the weight of life and calling without collapsing, because our eyes are fixed on the One who endured first. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

  7. May 26

    May 24th - Beatitudes | Blessed In Dependence by Pastor Dustin Smith

    In this episode, Pastor Dustin shares a bold, practical message on the Beatitudes and what it truly means to be "blessed" in a world that celebrates strength, success, and self-sufficiency. On a hillside under Roman rule, Jesus shocks His listeners by blessing the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the hungry, the merciful, the pure, the peacemakers, and the persecuted. Brad shows how this upside-down list confronts our pursuit of "enough"—enough money, success, influence, and control—so we don't have to need anyone, including God. Rooted in Matthew 5 (with insights from the parable of the talents, Isaiah, Nehemiah, and voices like Dallas Willard and N.T. Wright), Brad reminds us that the doorway into the kingdom is not achievement, but surrender. The Beatitudes are not just nice sayings; they form a journey of transformation and paint a portrait of Jesus Himself. We explore how poverty of spirit leads to real dependence, how meekness is strength under control, why hunger for righteousness moves us from passively wishing things were different to actively partnering with God, and how shifting from consumer to producer breaks a poverty mindset in every area of life. This message is an invitation to trade Western independence for kingdom dependence—and to live the kind of "blessed" life Jesus actually described. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

  8. May 19

    May 17th - Beatitudes | Trusting His Presence by Brad Bichsel

    In this episode, Brad shares a practical, story-driven message on living aware of God's presence in everyday life—not just in church services or "spiritual highs," but in family chaos, travel, work, and uncertainty. Through funny and honest stories about awkward Christmas gifts, a Lego monorail with his grandfather, and a trip to Uganda with young kids where everything seemed to go wrong, he shows that the real gift is never just the present itself—it's the *presence*: time with a Father who is with us, teaching, guiding, and working even when we feel like we've missed it. Rooted in Psalm 139, Psalm 23, John 14, and a C.S. Lewis quote, Brad reminds us that we can't escape God's Spirit—"even there" His hand will guide and support us. The challenge is not whether God is near; it's whether we slow down enough to remember, pay attention, and say "thank you" for the ways He has already been faithful. We explore how to trust God's leading when life feels messy, how gratitude helps us stay awake to His presence, and why following the Good Shepherd is better than trying to control the path ourselves. This message is an invitation to bring your busy, imperfect days to Jesus and walk away with a fresh awareness that He is with you—before you, behind you, and all around. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

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Ratings & Reviews

5
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About

By God's grace we pray that HopeUC will always be a body, a church, a family and a home that is defined by God's presence. Worshipful, missional, prayerful, generational, creative, generous, thankful, authentic and completely passionate about people responding to the message of salvation. And with a shout that resounds through every part of our lives that HOPE is a person, and His name is Jesus. The songs and teachings range from adoration to warfare, but the message is the same, the Lord alone is worthy of praise. We believe that when people see God for who He really is, they can't help but worship loudly and extravagantly. Join us from the HopeUC Nashville barn every week as our team delivers a word that builds on our four core values. The Word is our foundation, Worship is our Honor, Community is our Heartbeat and His Presence is our Passion.

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