Eternity Church Podcast

An Easter Sunday sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. So much can happen in a week, and Holy Week is no exception. The joys of Palm Sunday seem to melt like snow with each passing day. The shouts of “Hosanna!” and exuberance of the crowds fade with every passing hour. By Thursday, the masses have drifted away, the exclamations have grown still. Jesus and his disciples ascend the stairs into the upper room, and in that sacred space, Christ’s suffering begins. Picture the moment as He washes the feet of James and John, Andrew and Matthew. Then Jesus washes the feet of Judas. Christ’s love is so great, despite knowing what is to come, He still takes up his betrayer’s feet and cleans them. At the table, Jesus gives thanks for the bread and the cup—broken and poured out symbols of his sacrifice—and shares them with Simon and Thomas, with Peter and Thaddeus. Jesus offers the bread and cup to Judas. In the upper room, Jesus takes the symbols of his suffering and prepares us for the Garden. He sets our eyes on his cond

A Sunday morning by Youth Group Members and Pastor Brett Deal. Imagine if you heard someone was raised from the dead. What would your reaction be? Would it change the way you see the things in your life that need healing? Sure, may you have heard bits and pieces of miracles: crippled limbs restored, blind eyes opened and deaf ears healed. Over the years you’ve heard here and there about a man’s daughter raised to life at her wake, or a window’s only son who was revived at his own funeral procession (Mark 5:21-43, Luke 7.11-17)! But this resurrection is different. The girl’s body was still at home, the man not yet buried. But this, this man named Lazarus was dead and entombed for four days before Jesus went to the grave and called to him. Not only did Jesus bring Lazarus back to life, He also made an astonishing claim: “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11.25)! With these words and with the living proof of Lazarus standing witness before a shocked world, word spread everywhere. As people gather

A Sunday sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. On Ash Wednesday we said, “Sometimes it helps to start in the middle.” Now in the blink of an eye, we find ourselves in the heart of Lent. Hours turned to days; days blurred into weeks. Where we may have started out with big plans to fast and pray, dedicating special times to step back and devote ourselves, we find time flowed through our hands like sand. In case you feel the stress and strain of the days gone too quickly by, hear those merciful words again: Sometimes it helps to start in the middle. Walking through these weeks, we’ve immersed ourselves in the songs of the Lord’s Servant found in Isaiah. We’ve rejoiced at His promised arrival. We’ve given thanks that He is the anointed One, beloved of God our Father who comes to restore us and redeem the nations. We’ve sought to draw near to Him amid His suffering, for we know He suffers for our sake. He has met us in the middle. In the center of our Lenten season, how would God our Father direct our response to J

A Sunday sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. Of all the Servant Songs found in Isaiah, the fourth is the best known. In it we begin with the triumphant voice of God pointing our eyes towards His Servant, and we end rejoicing in His glory. But this isn’t why most of us know this song found in Isaiah 52.13-53.12. We know this prophetic hymn because of what it sings to us in the middle. In the heart of Isaiah’s song, we find God’s Servant, not in victory or revered, but as a man of suffering familiar with pain. What began in loud voice and rejoicing and ends in celebration encloses the reality of agony and affliction. In the heart of Isaiah’s song, we find God’s Servant who was pierced for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquity. In these short verses we find a Savior who personally knows our most profound pain and deepest despair. How do we understand this? How do we take this truth to heart? K.J. Ramsey once wrote, “Suffering is not a detour or a delay but the place where Love finds us. Suffering is a place

A Sunday service by Pastor Brett Deal. When I was in middle school, my older brother had just started university. A friend of his loaned him a couple CDs and encouraged him to give them a listen. I’m not sure if he ever did, but I know I did. At that age, I was always looking for new music. Do you remember being like that? When life felt like the dawn, light casting out in every direction across a new horizon. Life itself encouraged us to explore and discover.  Growing up on an island off the coast of Africa, I knew of only four distinct types of music. There was the strong Congolese rumba that infused the worship in our church and set my feet dancing. Then there were the R&B soundtracks local bars played outside my window that lulled me to sleep. And at home there was my parents' music: Dad’s country music and Mom’s southern gospel. Those were the four corners of my musical world. Then I learned there were other kinds of music! That day I set out like a sonic Stanley in search of my own melodic Livingst

A Sunday sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. Sometimes it helps to start in the middle.  You don’t have to be a lasagna-obsessed cat to hate Mondays. Come to think of it, Tuesdays can be pretty rough too. Beginnings can be difficult to get going. It’s like New Years. Future firsts of January sparkle like diamonds against the past year’s midnight, but then the alarm goes off for work on January 2, and that ten pounds isn’t going to lose itself. Perhaps that is one thankful reason Lent doesn’t start with a Sunday mass or an early Monday morning alarm. It starts in the middle of a Wednesday. It seems counter-intuitive in the best possible way. Lent doesn’t begin on the first of the new year, but later, as we trudge slowly and hopefully from the bitter cold of winter toward the refreshing coolness of Spring. The forty days of Lent don’t have to frustrate us like new year’s resolutions or feel like a dour and needless imposition on our time. Each day leading toward the cross can be a single step, a special moment of sel

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. Have you ever had a lightbulb moment? That second in time when the complex unsolvable challenge before you seamlessly fell into place. It’s the “AHA!” that breaks the silence and confusion with enthusiastic joy. It’s the cartoon of a cat downcast and under a cloud when his face brightens, his arms shoots into the air and a lightbulb appears illuminated above his head! Lightbulb moments didn’t begin with the invention of electric light. People have had epiphanies for as long as there have been people! For the mathematician Archimedes it was “Eureka!” as he shot from his bath and ran through the city shouting “Eureka!” (meaning I found it!” in Greek) when he finally found out how to solve the question that plagued him. Before the lightbulb, which could bring illumination into the darkest nights, people had to wait for dawn. We still use this language. “I was really wrestling with this situation, and then it dawned on me!” At times like this, when we find ourselves

A Sunday morning sermon by Peter DuMont. This Sunday we will be looking at Jesus’ baptism and his victory over temptation in the desert. In the former we see his obedience to the Father’s command, and entering fully into his incarnational task. In the latter, we see his humanity on full display, laying aside his divinity in order to hunger, and thirst, and continue to obey the will of the Father.   Jesus becomes our example in journeying toward God, the firstborn of many brothers and sisters reconciled to God.  Let’s come to worship this weekend filled with wonder at God among us in Jesus Christ, inaugurating a new work of reconciliation between God and humankind.

A Sunday morning sermon by Dorothy Hood. There is something so beautiful about reading Scripture together with others, to hear the words of God spoken through prophets and people, priests and kings. Before Elise and I started our family, I decided the first words I wanted our newborns to hear were our loving prayers over them and the words of the Scripture. For each one, we sensed a particular life-verse and a psalm that helped us receive each unique child. It was a way for the Lord to prepare us for how we should parent each little life toward maturity. Along with a special verse and a psalm to sing over them, I read one of the John the Baptist passages (thankfully, all four gospels share about the wilderness waymaker and we had four children). Over each one of our children, I foresaw God’s invitation for all of us to repentance and to make the way for others. Truly, if we are made in the image of God with the capacity to know Him and the capability to represent Him to others, then the words of John the Bap

A Sunday sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. “God is not afraid to take risks.” — Joe Kapolyo There are things that seem so obvious. Things that we take for granted until someone points them out. Many of those things that pass in and out of our days unnoticed have a lot to do with where we grew up and the cultures that shaped us: the sounds of our words, the sense of freedom, the way we view time. Reading Matthew 2.19-23, our passage for this Sunday, Zambian Bible scholar, Joe Kapolyo is convinced “God is not afraid to take risks.” His fresh perspective is like warm tea on a cold winter day. It radiates through our chests. Reading the words of the Evangelist, Kapolyo is convinced God is not afraid to take risks based on the evidence: “He trusted teenagers with his son. He did not shield his son from the ravages of political life. But in all these things His will was fulfilled.” This perspective renews not only how we view the life and ministry of Jesus Christ while He walked and talked and made His dwelling place

A Sunday message from Pastor Brett Deal. Have you ever noticed all the dreams and visions in the Bible? Dreams in the Bible are like a new car. Before you bought it, the make and model were novel; perhaps there was a rare sighting here or there, but it was infrequently found in the wilds of America’s highways and byways. But the minute you drove that car off the lot, everybody and their mother is driving the same one! Some of this could be chalked up to distraction. We are so busy shuffling all kinds of other information in our minds that observing the vehicle zooming past us is less of a priority than what we need to get at the store or what remains to be done before we can call it a day. Our age of distraction isn’t really that different from that in the Bible. All the deep concerns of our time were present in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, just without newer technological advances. In the Bible, when people were overwhelmed with apprehensions and perturbations, too distracted to hear the still sm

A Sunday sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. I don’t think it would be shocking to anyone if I said we live in an age of distraction. Some distractions fly at us, outside of our control, leaving us harried and bewildered. Others we invite in and give special places of honor in our lives. These diversions can serve us like pressure valve releases, allowing built up stress and strain to burn away. Surely some distractions are valid, important even. We all need a break when the weight of the world feels like it's crashing down on us: a call from a loved one, a movie with friends, an afternoon nap. Some distractions, however, spread and expand and seemingly take over our lives! What once was a passing fancy can leave us sidelined in our own lives. For example, Amy Herman once observed, “Portable technology is not just a sensory distraction; we allow it to be a sensory substitute.”  Technology and innovation can be such a blessing! Through it, we see the faces of family thousands of miles away and warm ourselves in the

A Sunday sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. Living, as we do, on the other side of Advent, we are drawn in by Matthew as he introduces us to Jesus. Last week we met the Christ child through the experience of Joseph. What incredible faith that Joseph must have had, even in his late teens/early twenties, to receive a dream from God and set his life in obedience to that revelation! This week, we step back and see the men and women that went before this remarkable man, the adoptive father of Jesus the Messiah. In Matthew 1.1-17, the Evangelist tells of Joseph’s genealogy. He tells us of the mothers and fathers that brought forth new life, new generations, into the world, each newborn babe born into the consistent chaos of this world. Some were born to barren parents, others to kings and queens. Some were born in times of great promise while others were taken shackled into exile. Some were born to women and men of great renown, others…not so much. And through it all, we find at the end of this genealogical thread throu

A Christmas Eve sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. What a beautiful Advent season we’ve had together at Eternity! We’ve gathered around the bonfire (or at least that’s what the zealous boiler has made it feel like some days!) and heard the great stories passed from generation to generation. We watched as the Evangelists, Luke and Matthew, took their place by the campfire and began to unpack the good news again. Our children sparked our imaginations as Mary and Joseph made their way to the manger. It was our children that caused us to lift our eyes toward the heavens as the angelic host proclaimed the gospel to the shepherds and their sheep. And into the symphony of praise, our friend Peter gave voice to Zechariah and Mary’s songs. What a blessed Advent, indeed! Listening to Luke, we’ve experienced the nativity from Mary’s perspective. We’ve journeyed the bumpy roads with her to visit Elizabeth, then rambled into the City of David. This Christmas Eve, we join with Matthew in turning our attention to Joseph’s perspe

A Sunday sermon by Peter DuMont. It has been said that Time is an ingredient in any great dish. A skilled cook knows how to use time (and temperature) to transform, refine, and blend ingredients. God uses time in a similar way in the masterpieces he is forming in the world.  This Third Sunday of Advent, we will engage with three people waiting within Advent time.  Luke 1:39 finds Mary, Elizabeth, and Zechariah waiting on interrelated promises from God. As they come together, the Holy Spirit moves powerfully in their midst, bringing forward exclamation, song, and prophetic words, expressing great joy at the work of God.    Interestingly, joy comes through different means for each person involved, but their journey into joyful waiting speaks to our journeys and points to the work of God that is unfolding within our own seasons of waiting. May the Spirit move in us this week, and meet us powerfully in our worship on Sunday, as we move toward Christmas.

A Sunday teaching by youth from Eternity: Chadwick, Kezzie, Daphne, Ruby. This Advent we gather around the fire, listening to the storytellers and watching the children play. There is something so real and refreshing about watching children play. Our days can become so encumbered with hurry and worry. And then, against the glowing light of the fire, we see the children around us. Some are engrossed in the words of the storyteller; some are carefully crafting masterworks of art from that loose thread you’ve been meaning to fix;…still others are off spinning like tops! Ah, the bliss of innocence! This week we have the distinct joy of being led by our young people in worship. The children of our church will direct us in our songs of praise and worship. They will guide us in prayer. They will revitalize our recollection of the nativity story, just as the angel’s song enlivened the shepherds in the fields! Our youth will lead us in the study of God’s Word. They will challenge us to receive the witness of Scriptur

A Sunday sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. Have you ever noticed how much life can become like a helium balloon? We look full and light from the outside, almost bursting at the seams, but it only takes the smallest piercing of the surface to deflate us. Depending on how we approach the season of Advent, it can either be a cherished time of expectancy or a pin that punctures our false sense of certainty. This week, I invite you to explore how uncomfortable it can feel to enter Advent and what we risk by exposing the helium in our spiritual life at Christmas. Find encouragement in Tish Harrison Warren's new book, Advent, where she writes:  “When I feel the emptiness—the loneliness, meaninglessness, futility, and loss—present even in my very good life, I rush to fill it. Winds of emptiness echo in a hollow moment of my day, and I run to distraction. I stuff my waking moments with busyness, social media, words, work, and consumption. These can be cheap attempts at creating my own sense of fullness.” As strange as it

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. Just a few short weeks ago we set out from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to walk the camino across Northern Spain. As our traveling companion and spiritual guide, we took John's first letter. It has comforted and challenged us on the journey. He has soothed our fears and embraced us in God’s love. He has also raised questions and ideas we would have preferred he didn’t bring up while we walked the pilgrim’s path. And, with the cathedral in Santiago on the horizon, we have arrived at the close of the Apostle’s letter. Reading his words in 1 John 5.13-21, we ask ourselves the same questions that we started out with, this time from a place of earnest hindsight rather than wishful thinking:Are we hearing the Word when we gather together?Are we confessing the Word with our brothers and sisters in Christ as well as those who have yet to know Jesus as Lord?Are we incarnating the Word everywhere we go?Are we abiding in the Word, being in the presence of the Lord and radiating

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. I love to walk dirt paths. Maybe because it feels like home. It feels good to walk the way we know so well. Once a year when I was a kid my family would leave our little coastal home on the second floor of the church in Malabo and go to Moka (pictured below), a little village high up the island’s small mountain range. At 4500 feet above sea level, I could feel my thin blood freezing in my veins! Surely the temperate 50 and 60 degree days weren’t sooo cold, but my tropical soul could hardly take it! Our family would pack up our warmest clothes and drive up the mountain to a little apartment with no electricity or running water. We would bring lots of D batteries for the cassette player and wood to keep us warm. At night we’d sit and sing by the fire, heavy layered. But during the days, I would venture out into the hills and fields, and walk the muddy trails between towering cane and rolling leafy greens. The movement kept me warm in my fleece jacket as my mind env

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. There is something special about spending time with the Apostle John. The more time we spend reading his letter to the church of Ephesus and remembering his years of discipleship walking and talking with Jesus, the more one word stands out clearly: love. John is the beloved disciple in the Gospel. His beloved-ness in Jesus transforms how he sees himself and how he relates to others. The more we read his letters, we see he was often very black and white in his thinking. He uses contrasting themes like love and hate, darkness and light, sin and salvation with little gray area. We would expect nothing less from someone nicknamed a son of thunder with his brother James (Mark 3.17). Years of manual labor at sea fishing probably left his heart as calloused as his hands and feet. It is amazing then to see how John’s time with Jesus transformed the way he saw those around him. He still saw things in black and white; he understood a clear contrast between right and wrong,