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The Find & Follow Jesus Podcast

The Find & Follow Jesus Podcast

Di: Buck Creek Community Church
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Presented by Buck Creek Community Church

Copyright 2026 All rights reserved. Catechesi ed evangelismo Cristianesimo Spiritualità
Episodi
  • Revelation 1

    Revelation 1
    Aug 31 2026
    Revelation 1:1-20 Rev. Christopher Hall Revelation: All Things New buckcreekchurch.org SUMMARY 1. HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE Ever try to explain a dream the next morning? I'm at school, except it's the John Ball Zoo, and I'm in a Godzilla costume that's more of a car, driving through Grand Rapids. In the dream it all makes sense. Out loud it's ridiculous. Welcome to the next three months. Imagine seeing into heaven, the unseen, the mysterious beyond, then trying to put words to it for people who weren't there. That's Revelation. No S. Vern Poythress says you can sum up its message in one sentence: God rules history and will bring it to its consummation in Christ. You will not understand every detail, and you don't need to. Jesus wins. That's the big idea. Revelation 1:3 says blessed is the one who reads it aloud, and blessed are those who hear and keep it. Our author is John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus. Eyewitness to the murder. Eyewitness to the resurrection. Eyewitness to the ascension, to 120 scared nobodies becoming a global church, to letters telling him his friends were being killed one by one. Now ninety years old, on a rock in the sea, cut off from the people he loved. And the audience? Us. The post-apostolic church. Blessed are those who hear, he says, not blessed are the seven churches. Revelation describes earthly events from a heavenly perspective, for you. 2. HOW WE GET IT WRONG Two ditches. Some of us are drawn to the fantastical and want charts, graphs, blood moons, and this year's antichrist. Others write the book off as too weird and check out. Both miss it. A lot of it comes down to getting the genre wrong. "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is documentary history. Ask what it's about and you say, a boat sank. Bingo. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is not that. Memorable, powerful, and I have no idea what Galileo and Fandango are doing in there. Revelation is apocalyptic literature, closer to a picture book than a puzzle. Apocalyptic doesn't mean the end of everything, it means an unveiling. So let Scripture interpret Scripture. John leans on the Old Testament constantly, and where he doesn't tell us what a symbol means, he's usually pointing back there. Why lampstands? Zechariah. And verse 20 tells us straight out that the seven lampstands are the seven churches. What's not okay is running to the news to decode John. The giant locusts aren't Apache helicopters. They're Exodus and Joel. Medical students get told when you hear hoofbeats, don't expect a zebra. Same rule here. Watch the numbers too. Three is the heartbeat of the book, Father, Spirit, Son. Dragon, beast, false prophet. Seven means completeness, and it's everywhere. They're symbolic, not a census. And we get "tribulation" wrong. John calls himself our brother and partner in the tribulation. He's not describing something scheduled for later that the church gets airlifted out of. He's in prison, at ninety, after they boiled him in oil, and his friends are dead. Tribulation is any time the church suffers. Believers in China meeting in homes. Believers who could be beheaded for preaching. 3. HOW JESUS GOT IT RIGHT Then John turns around and sees Him. Hair white as snow, eyes like fire, feet like burnished bronze, voice like rushing water, a sword from His mouth, face like the sun. This is the friend he used to lean against at dinner. The Son of Thunder falls down like a dead man. And what does Jesus say? "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades." They tried to end Him and He came back holding the keys. The doors are wide open. He's the one who loves us and freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." He's coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him. That's the star of this book. In heaven the victory is already finished. On earth we're still living the story out. 4. HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND? Fear not. Not because suffering isn't real. We know generational poverty, disease, divorce, homelessness, and we've buried people this year. Death is still fighting battles in a war it already lost. We need hope, and this is where it comes from. When I was a kid I got separated from my mom at Meijer and hid inside a circular clothes rack, which was a genius plan except for the part where nobody could find me. Not knowing if the one in charge is coming back for you is a terrible feeling. He is coming back. That changes how you live today. Deeply loved, fully forgiven, and every injustice you see is temporary. And if you're not with Him, take this series in. You'll see Jesus. John wasn't actually alone on that island. Christ was with him the whole time. I wonder how often we think we're alone while He's right there. So let's walk through this book together, trusting that God rules history ...
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    45 min
  • Matthew 7:12-29 "The Path That Looks Wrong" Sermon on the Mount

    Matthew 7:12-29 "The Path That Looks Wrong" Sermon on the Mount
    Aug 12 2026
    The Path That Looks Wrong Rev. Christopher Hall Practicing the Way of Jesus: Sermon on the Mount buckcreekchurch.org ----more---- HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.… Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father.… Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.… And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand” (Matthew 7:12–16, 21, 24, 26). Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount with the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated. But this sermon is not a list of religious rules. Jesus is describing a lifestyle. He gives us two gates, two paths, two trees and two foundations. One path is wide, easy and popular. The other is narrow, difficult and often lonely. Yet life is found on the narrow path because that is where Jesus is. Jesus also tells us to examine the fruit of those we follow. Do they resemble Him? Are they humble, merciful, pure and willing to sacrifice? Good fruit grows from roots planted deeply in Jesus. HOW WE GET IT WRONG The wide path looks better from the entrance. It promises pleasure without sacrifice, comfort without obedience and spirituality without a cross. False prophets offer the same thing. They talk about God and quote Scripture, but promise health, wealth, power and safety. Jesus calls them wolves. We should not condemn people or look down on them, but Jesus commands us to examine the fruit of those who lead His church. Wolves scratch, bite and devour. We should not give them our trust or a platform. The most frightening warning is directed at people who call Jesus “Lord.” It is possible to do religious things in Jesus’ name while never knowing Him. Bad fruit includes gossip, slander, selfish ambition and a trail of wounded people. We may talk about the narrow path while walking the wide one. The truth is, none of us consistently lives the Golden Rule. We look out for ourselves. We avoid difficult people. When someone wrongs us, we wait for them to make things right. Jesus tells us to go to them, forgive them, restore them and forgive them again. That sounds painful because it is. The narrow path always costs something. HOW JESUS GOT IT RIGHT Jesus allowed us to walk all over Him. The Creator stepped into His creation and allowed Himself to be rejected, mistreated and killed. He did not wait for us to find Him because He knew we never would. He came looking for us. He gave Himself for every time we chose pleasure over obedience, comfort over sacrifice and ourselves over others. Jesus lived the Golden Rule by treating us the way He deserved to be treated. When offered wealth and power, He refused. When given the choice between escaping and obeying His Father, He chose the cross. We did not take His life. He willingly gave it because that was what we needed. His narrow path led to a grave. Then He walked out of it. Jesus does not merely make bad people better. He makes dead people alive. He is not simply a teacher whose advice we may accept or reject. He is Savior and Lord. The King who possesses all authority used that authority to serve His enemies. He came to us, lived for us, died for us and rose for us. That is a King worth following. HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND? “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22). If Jesus is Lord, hearing Him means obeying Him. But obedience is not how we earn His love. We obey because we have experienced it. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). His love fills us until it overflows toward others. That love turned a ragtag group of nobodies into a movement that outlasted the Roman Empire. Not through military power, but through sacrificial love. So let’s help one another remain on the narrow path. When someone wanders, go to them. Encourage good fruit by strengthening good roots. Speak the truth in love. Let one another lean in as we stumble forward toward Jesus. Taking up a cross means dying to ourselves: less of me and more of Jesus. The Golden Rule puts others first because that is what Jesus did for us. Jesus offers two choices. Choose His path and you receive suffering and sacrifice now, but Jesus and eternal life in the end. Choose your own path and you may receive comfort and pleasure now, but eventually everything runs out. A palace built on sand still falls. Jesus offers His path or yours, a house on rock ...
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    39 min
  • Matthew 7:1–6 "Judging Others"

    Matthew 7:1–6 "Judging Others"
    Jul 27 2026
    JUDGING OTHERS Rev. Christopher Hall Practicing the Way of Jesus: Sermon on the Mount buckcreekchurch.org Christian means "little Christ." If we're little copies of the real thing, Christians should be the most forgiving, gracious, non-judgmental, kind, upright, least offendable people on earth. Should be. Of course, there's this little hiccup. Reality. We do things we don't want to do because of Jesus — He is so good, and invites us to follow His narrow path, trading our desires for His. We're made in God's image. We chose lives apart from Him instead, and deserve hell. He stepped into our neighborhood, lived a perfect life in our place, died on a Roman Cross to win us back from darkness, and walked out of His tomb offering eternal life. He forgave us, commissioned us, and loves us so deeply He will never forsake us. In response: Forgiven people forgive people. Loved people, love people. HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE V1: Judge not, that you be not judged. Krino means to scrutinize, evaluate, or pronounce a verdict — don't sit on the panel deciding who is superior. We still pursue God's law and the beatitudes. But we don't get to be the judges who issue condemnation, because Jesus didn't condemn us when perfectly justified to. V2: With the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. James 4:11-12: we observe behavior, assume character, categorize — and assume God agrees with us. "But who are you to judge your neighbor?" There's no integrity to that. Matthew 7:3-5 pictures a 2x4 in our own eye while we point at a sliver in someone else's: "First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." Before you do anything beyond observing it — stop. This is pride that impairs our view of ourselves. Assume your own sins are more grievous than anything they do. HOW WE GET IT WRONG The world calls Christians "Judgmental," "Hypocritical," "Angry." Painful — and there's a kernel of truth. Judgmental is self-righteousness: making our life look better by comparing it to others'. Hypocritical: saying one thing, living another. Angry: we're harsh with fellow Christians, letting feelings drive us rather than reason. Jesus never — not once — spoke in judgment against the unrighteous sinners He ministered to. Except the self-righteous religious who abused God's message. V6: "Do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you." Be prepared to be attacked — the gospel offends, and most will reject it. We'll want to write people off as "them" — that's God's job. Observing sin isn't sin. Assuming God agrees with your verdict is judging. REDEMPTION He lived perfectly for us, died for us, gives us His righteousness, adopts us into God's family, and empowers us by His Spirit. Perfectly justified to condemn us, He doesn't. He loves you. John 3:17: "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." He did not come to condemn. He came to save. He knows the grimy secrets in your heart, yet leans in rather than stepping away in disgust — gentle with the broken and stumbling. He came to remove the 2x4 from your eye, because He adores you, as is. Confess our sin and bring it into the light. Pursue reconciliation with those you've judged, assuming you're in the wrong and Jesus is right. We're all stumbling together toward Jesus, who holds, corrects, and heals us. If anyone condemns you, know this: the God of the universe does not. He says, "You're Mine. I choose you. Warts and all. I'm making you white as snow because I forgive you." HOW DO WE RESPOND? Being a Christian isn't pretending to be good — it's admitting you're bad. Jesus came for people who are messed up. First step: tell God we're sorry for our judgments, condemnation, hypocrisy, anger. What He does TO us He desires to do THROUGH us — if He shows us grace, we're to show grace to each other. Not yet a believer? Don't be surprised when Christians mess up — grace changes how we live, but not overnight. Withhold condemnation. Lead with grace. Be humble. Forgive. People don't need another friendly church — they need friends who practice the way of Jesus. Transformation takes time. Exercise judgment, but don't condemn. Earn someone's trust before you address their sliver — time and trust build that bridge. Don't waste time on anger. Pray for them with sincere love, and remember what God has forgiven in you. 1 Corinthians 16:14: "Let all that you do be done in love." Otherwise, you're simply a loud gong. Inscribed on the wall of Mother Teresa's children's home in Calcutta: People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered — forgive them anyway. Be kind anyway. Succeed anyway. Be honest and frank anyway. Build anyway. Be happy anyway. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you've got anyway. In the final analysis, it is between ...
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    48 min
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