The Gathering at Brock

The Gathering at Brock

por Jesse Tunnell
Cristianismo
Kingdom Truths from Luke 14: Compassion, Humility, and Sacrifice
Overview Jesse opens a new series from Luke 14–16, where Jesus teaches a string of parables centered on the banquet table of the kingdom. This first message draws three convicting truths from a single Sabbath dinner — and Jesse admits upfront it's a heavy one. The loving swat he gives the church is the same one he's receiving himself. 3 Key Takeaways 1. Love and compassion trump man-made religion. Jesus heals a man with dropsy on the Sabbath while surrounded by the most religious people in the room — who are too focused on being right to see a man in need. Jesse's challenge: before casting yourself as the hero in that story, ask honestly where you'd actually fit. Religion that proves others wrong while walking past broken people is not the kingdom. "We don't need more religion. We need more Christ-like love and compassion and supernatural answers to worldly problems." 2. There is no room for self-promotion in the kingdom. God opposes the proud — and that should make us shudder. Jesse identifies three roots of self-promotion: insecurity in God's love (needing human approval to fill what only God can); unbelief in God's ability to promote you correctly; and impatience with God's timing. His honest confession: he's watched people he discipled build bigger churches and felt the pull of comparison. The answer he keeps returning to — take the lowest place and let God do the promoting. Self-promotion short-circuits the very favor it's trying to secure. 3. No quid pro quo — kingdom living is sacrificial with no expectation of return. Jesus tells his host: don't invite people who can repay you. Invite the ones who can't. Jesse applies this directly to marriages, business, and everyday relationships — calling out the subtle manipulation of conditional love and favor-trading. His personal illustration: his marriage only works because he stopped waiting for Jill to meet his needs before being the husband he's called to be. He receives acceptance from God first, and that overflows. At its root, the quid pro quo system is using God's name for personal gain — which, Jesse argues, is a much deeper violation of the third commandment than most people realize. Memorable Quote "When you live your life in a way that no one could ever repay you — in that day when you see me face to face, I myself will repay you."
16 ago 2026
39:30
Kingdom Expansion: Continued Lessons on Freedom from Anxiety - Part 2
Overview Jesse closes out the anxiety series with the final two truths from 1 Peter 5:7, picking up where he left off four weeks ago. The backpacking trip happened in between — and it shows. He comes back with sharper illustrations, fresh urgency, and a story about ugly-crying on the couch with Jill that makes the theology completely personal. This is a pastor preaching what he's living. Review: Points 1 & 2 All means all — every anxiety, small or accumulated, must be cast on God, not managed or coddled. Anxiety is a weapon — name it, don't flirt with it, and cast it specifically and continually on Jesus, not on friends, vices, or social media. 2 Closing Takeaways 1. God loves you and wants to carry your anxiety — let him care for you. The word care in the Greek means to be concerned about and to take care. Jesse draws the connection: the way God cares for you is by taking your cares. Those shoulders that carried the cross were literally designed to bear the weight of your anxiety. He makes it pastoral and raw — sharing that just months ago he called an elder in tears on his back porch saying he couldn't do the job anymore. His point isn't that pastors fall apart. His point is that when they do, Jesus is the only answer — and the elder just pointed him right back there. The invitation extends to everyone: stop being too proud or too independent to receive care. Don't tell Jesus you've got this. You don't. Neither does he. 2. This is personal — he cares for you specifically. Jesse closes with the most intimate moment in the series. At any given moment Jesus can be receiving the anxieties of six billion people and still make each one feel like the only person in the universe. From toenail fungus to terminal illness — cast all covers it. Jesse leads the congregation in saying aloud together: "He cares about me." Then he tells the story of sitting on the couch with Jill, both of them ugly-crying about things that might seem small by comparison — and feeling the tangible care of Jesus in that moment. His final image: the backpack comes off when you get to camp, and that's when the living starts. Fishing. Making fire. Filtering water for others. You can't give life to the people in your sphere when you're bent under the weight of what you were never designed to carry. Memorable Quote "Don't be stubborn or ignorant by refusing to let the cross be enough for your anxiety."
9 ago 2026
30:12
Kingdom Expansion: Continued Lessons on Freedom from Anxiety - Part 1
Overview Fresh back from Pakistan, Jesse picks up where the anxiety series left off — but with new urgency. He's hearing reports of hardships multiplying in the congregation since they committed to kingdom expansion, and he's not surprised. The enemy's oldest weapons are fear, worry, and distraction. This message is Jesse putting nails in the coffin. 2 Key Takeaways 1. All means all — refuse to water down the word. The Greek word for "all" in cast all your anxiety on him is pas: each, every, any, all, everything, always. Not the big anxieties. Not just the ones you can't handle alone. All of them. Jesse uses the backpacking trip illustration again — it's not one heavy item that ruins the journey, it's the accumulation of things you told yourself were small enough to carry. A little worry about finances. A little fear about your kids. Natural parental concern. Each feels manageable. Together they make you useless for the kingdom. His charge: stop settling for any lifestyle that caters to carrying anxiety. It is not a suggestion — it is a command. 2. Anxiety is a weapon — stop flirting with it, start casting it. The Greek word for cast is epi-ripto — to throw or place upon something. Jesse is unusually direct: you cannot cast your anxieties into the atmosphere through meditation. You cannot cast them on your friends, your pastor, your social media feed, or your vice. There is only one set of shoulders broad enough — and his name is Jesus. The exchange only works when it's intentional and directional. He also unpacks the verb tense: casting is a continuous action in the Greek, not a one-time event. You will get victory over one area and the enemy will bring another. That's not failure — that's the lifestyle. Keep casting. Key Quote from Pakistan Jesse shares two phrases that stayed with him from the trip. The one that landed hardest, from Pastor Russell: "Anything that hinders or suppresses the presence of God in your life must become your enemy." Anxiety suppresses the presence of God. It cannot be tolerated, negotiated with, or managed. It must be declared an enemy. Word to the Children Jesse pauses to speak directly to the kids in the room — telling them that if they can learn now, at ages 4 through 16, to cast anxiety rather than carry it, they will be more powerful in God than any generation before them. Memorable Quote "They need to see what it looks like to live in a world full of anxious circumstances and walk in a kingdom peace that cannot be shaken."
26 jul 2026
32:02
Intimacy with God: Building a Deeply Personal Relationship with Your Father
Speaker: Mike Wiley (Guest) Episode Overview Mike Wiley opens by drawing a sharp distinction between having a relationship with God and having an intimaterelationship with God — and makes the case that the church has largely settled for the former. A retired pastor, prison ministry worker, and lifelong student of Scripture, Mike brings 57 years of marriage as his primary illustration of what intimacy actually looks like over time — and applies that framework directly to the believer's walk with God. Warm, self-deprecating, and full of personal story, this is a message that feels less like a lecture and more like wisdom from a trusted elder. 7 Building Blocks of Intimacy with God 1. Daily Commitment — Radical honesty and vulnerability. God already knows every word before it's on your tongue. The question is whether we're willing to show up with nothing hidden. 2. Immersive Scripture Reading — Not just reading, but diving in. Meditating, visualizing, praying over the text. If God has a love letter written to you, not reading it is a choice with consequences. 3. Open and Honest Prayer — Prayer is simply talking to God. Breath prayers, green lights, sunsets. If you can talk, you can pray. 4. Practice Gratitude — A grateful heart becomes a generous heart. Mike's seen enough mission fields to know that gratitude is a choice, and it changes everything. 5. Authentic Worship — Worship that flows from intimacy starts with adoration before petition. Tell God you love him before you ask him for anything. 6. Obedience and Trust — The most personal moment: Mike and his wife lost their 37-year-old daughter to alcoholism in 2012. He held onto Job 13:15 — "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him." Their marriage survived because their walk with Jesus didn't waver. 7. Compassionate Service — Love demonstrated beyond your family circle. Mike tells the story of a brash prisoner he couldn't stand — who became someone he genuinely loved after two prison ministry walks. That's what intimacy with God produces in the world. Memorable Quote "You're going to spend eternity with him. Wouldn't it be a good idea to start that intimacy right now?"
19 jul 2026
51:00
How to Have Complete and Total Victory Over Anxiety, Worry, and the Cares of This World — Part 2
Episode Overview Jesse opens with a full sendoff — youth group heading to Costa Rica and Panama, women heading to a retreat, and Brad leading a team to Pakistan — before picking up exactly where last week left off. Part 2 completes the framework for permanent freedom from anxiety and lands on what may be the most practically actionable exchange in the entire series. This isn't a theoretical message. Jesse is mid-process himself, confessing that he spent pre-service worship time anxious about his cholesterol instead of worshipping, and walking the church through the exact steps he used to make the exchange that morning. Review: Part 1 Key Points 1. Do not water down the command — "do not be anxious about anything" means exactly that. Every translation, every language says the same thing. Zero exceptions. 2. Pray about everything — because the antidote to anxiety is intimacy, not effort. The Greek word for "everything" (pas) means each, every, any, all, always. God wants to talk about all of it — including things we think are too small or too shameful to bring to him. 3 New Key Takeaways 1. Thanksgiving is a gift from God and a powerful weapon against anxiety. It's easy to overlook the word thanksgiving sandwiched into Philippians 4:6, but Jesse argues it's one of the most practically powerful tools in the passage. When God feels a million miles away and prayer feels like a cold brick wall — start thanking him. Not for big dramatic things. For trash service. For a cabin in the mountains. Gratitude pulls your eyes off the object of anxiety and recenters them on God as a good Father. The result: what felt enormous shrinks. What felt distant gets closer. Anxiety loses its grip not because the problem disappears but because God gets bigger. 2. God promises his peace in exchange for anxiety — but the exchange must be real, intentional, and consistent. Jesse introduces what he calls the "palms down, palms up" exchange — drawn from Richard Foster's Celebration of Disciplines and adapted personally. Fists closed, palms down: give God the specific anxiety. Name it. Release it. Palms open, palms up: receive his peace in exchange. Jesse is disarmingly honest — he did this exact exercise during pre-service worship that morning, anxious about his cholesterol levels, before he could preach this message. His point: this is not a one-time event. The enemy will bring new anxieties. The practice has to become a lifestyle. But over time, the episodes of anxiety shorten, the returns to peace come faster, and freedom becomes more permanent. 3. God's peace will guard your heart and mind — and the word "guard" is a military term. The Greek word translated "guard" (phroureo) carries three distinct meanings: to go before in advance as a watchman; to mount a guard at the gate in the present moment; and to protect with a garrison and hem in from behind. Jesse unpacks each one carefully, then connects it to a devastating real-world story — a private security client who was assassinated while supposedly guarded, because the men on detail lacked the authority and resources the situation required. The contrast: when Christ — the anointed one, the one with total divine authority — guards your heart and mind, no weapon of the enemy can prosper. The heart is described as a treasure chest from which all of life flows. The mind is described as the battlefield of the kingdom. Both need the same guard. Memorable Quote "I will not only take your anxiety in the moment and give you my peace — I will set that peace as a guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. It'll go before you, be stationed with you, and hem you in with a garrison of angel armies." — Jesse's paraphrase of Philippians 4:7
12 jul 2026
48:21
How to Have Complete and Total Victory Over Anxiety, Worry, and the Cares of This World — Part 1
Episode Overview Jesse opens by asking the congregation to quote Matthew 6:33 from memory — and then reveals something most people don't know: one of the most famous kingdom verses in the Bible is sandwiched directly between Jesus' teaching on worry. That one observation sets the entire message in motion. This is Part 1 of a new two-part series, and it's personal — Jesse is actively being transformed by what he's preaching, not just reporting it from a distance. 2 Key Takeaways 1. Do not water down the command: "Do not be anxious about anything" means exactly that. Jesse runs the phrase through every major Bible translation — NIV, ESV, NLT, KJV, NKJV, CSB, even Spanish — and every one of them says the same thing. Nothing. Anything. Zero exceptions. He then unpacks the Greek word merimnaō — translated "anxious" or "worry" — and surfaces a definition most people don't expect: to seek to promote one's own self-interest. That reframe lands the message on everyone in the room, not just those who feel crippled by clinical anxiety. If you're oriented around your own agenda rather than the kingdom, that's the same root. His core conviction: the devil has whispered lies about worry being inevitable for so long, uncontested by the church, that believers have come to accept anxiety as a natural part of Christian life. It isn't. And the word of God doesn't get to be watered down to accommodate it. 2. Pray about everything — because the antidote to anxiety is intimacy, not effort. The verse doesn't say "worry less." It says bring everything to God in prayer. Jesse unpacks the Greek word pas — translated "everything" — and it means exactly what it sounds like: each, every, any, all, always. He then zeros in on the phrase just before the command — "the Lord is near" — and reveals that the root word for "near" means to squeezeor to throttle in your hand. God isn't a distant deity waiting to judge. He's a father who wants to be that close. Jesse recommends the book Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools by Tyler Staton, and shares how a lifestyle of talking to God about literally everything — not just spiritual matters — is currently revolutionizing his own prayer life. He illustrates it tenderly: a father who struggled to stay engaged when his kids rambled about Minecraft now drops everything when his adult son calls, because proximity changes everything. Memorable Quote "The antidote God gives us for anxiety is intimacy. Don't be anxious about anything — but instead, talk to me about everything. That's his invitation."
5 jul 2026
41:10
Eternal Investing: A Biblical Framework for Money, Stewardship, and Kingdom Currency
Speaker: Ralph Doudera (Guest) Scripture: Matthew 6:1 / Matthew 19:21 / Matthew 25:14–28 / Luke 6:35 / Luke 19:12–26 / 2 Corinthians 5:10 / 1 Corinthians 3:12–15 Episode Overview Ralph Doudera is not a pastor — he's a successful investment manager who spent decades wrestling with Jesus' teachings on money before restructuring his entire financial life around the kingdom. This is less a traditional sermon and more a candid, story-rich testimony from a man who has lived the tension between Mammon and the kingdom firsthand — been arrested for shoplifting as a tithing Baptist kid, made a fortune in life insurance targeting wealthy clients, retired early at 40, had a conversation with God on a mountaintop in West Virginia, and came back to work. Forty years later, he's still at it — and his eternal net worth now far exceeds his earthly one. 3 Key Takeaways 1. Jesus talked about money more than almost anything else — and he boiled it down to three things. Ralph spent time at Regent University doing what few Christians do: taking a green highlighter through all four gospels and marking every reference to money, wealth, gold, silver, and Mammon. His one-page summary: you must choose between God and Mammon; wealth is deceitful like a fishing lure; and there are real rewards and penalties at the judgment seat of Christ based on what you did with what you were given. Mammon isn't money itself — it's the worldly system of wealth that causes people to make decisions based on price rather than the Lord's direction. 2. Stewardship means asking "what would the Master want?" — not "what's mine." Ralph draws a sharp distinction between a servant (who is present with the master) and a steward (who manages the master's property in the master's absence). The word mine no longer applies. Using the parable of the minas, he lays out the stakes: one servant multiplies tenfold and is given authority over ten cities; another does nothing and loses even what he was given. Ralph's honest self-assessment framework — am I a one-mina Sinatra servant humming "I Did It My Way," or a ten-mina servant waking up singing "Reign in Me?" — is one of the most disarming moments in the message. 3. Kingdom currency is the only currency that survives death — convert before you leave. Using a vivid illustration from Ethiopia, Ralph describes trying to spend local currency before boarding his flight home, knowing it would be worthless once he landed. The parallel: wealth not converted to kingdom purposes before death earns no eternal credit. He shares the story of a woman who gave away her children's college fund after hearing him speak twenty years ago — and called him back two decades later to report that her kids were fine, she had funded the entire Swahili translation of the Jesus Film, and she had just inherited several million dollars she wanted him to invest. The Lord, Ralph says, multiplies loaves and fishes with whatever you give him. Memorable Quote "Everything that is not given is lost." — Mother Teresa, quoted by Ralph
28 jun 2026
1:04:30
Lessons About Kingdom of Heaven Expansion from Matthew 11 — Part 2
Episode Overview Jesse opens with a rich continuation of last week's message, picking up where the review of John the Baptist left off and pressing into what it actually means to take hold of the kingdom. Two stories from Jesse's week as a cop — a knife disarm in a bathtub and praying for a sick kid on a Saturday Sabbath — become the unexpected illustrations that make the theology land. Review: Part 1 Key Points 1. Disappointment is inevitable — refuse to be offended at the king. John the Baptist, the greatest man ever born of woman, questioned Jesus from prison. The lesson: kingdom life will disappoint you. Don't let it make you bitter. 2. Don't settle for a powerless life. Jesus answered John's doubt not with argument but with fruit — the blind see, the lame walk, the dead are raised. The church should do the same. 3. The kingdom is a kingdom of honor. Even when John wavered, Jesus chose to honor him publicly. We're called to do the same with each other — refusing to let a person's current weakness eclipse their kingdom value. 3 New Key Takeaways 1. You've been invited into something incomparably superior — stop settling for less. Jesus says the greatest man ever born of woman is less than the least person in the kingdom of heaven. That's not a slight to John — it's a declaration about the magnitude of what Jesus is inaugurating. A sovereign timeline shift has occurred. The kingdom of heaven is now on the earth and available to every believer. Jesse's challenge: why are we still living for kingdoms that will burn when we've been invited into one that cannot be shaken? 2. The kingdom won't take hold of you — you have to violently press into it. Jesse spends significant time on Matthew 11:12, studying the Greek word biazō — to crowd, force, or press oneself into — alongside Luke 16:16's parallel passage. His conclusion: two Christians sitting in cubicles next to each other, both saved, both going to heaven, can live completely different lives depending on whether one has decided to forcefully press into the kingdom as their primary reality. It won't happen by accident, passivity, or waiting for the perfect moment. He illustrates this with a vivid story of pressing through fear and noise during a tense knife crisis on the job, then pivots to how the same pressing-in posture applies to kingdom opportunities every day. 3. The kingdom is supernatural — stop trying to perceive it with natural logic. When Jesus says "if you have ears, let him hear," he's not talking about physical ears. The kingdom cannot be processed through religious intellect or worldly reasoning — that's why the disciples walked down the mountain having just seen Moses and Elijah, and still asked about Elijah coming first. Two personal stories seal the point: Jesse prays for a sick child on a Saturday morning and within thirty minutes the child is up asking for a granola bar; then he prays through text for his son in the Navy facing a crisis at 6 AM, and it's resolved in fifteen minutes. His point isn't that he has it figured out — he freely admits ten thousand failures — it's that he's learning to stop switching to carnal thinking the moment life gets hard. Memorable Quote "The kingdom is my life. I'm always looking, I'm always ready, and I will press into it at any given moment."
21 jun 2026
51:17
Lessons About Kingdom of Heaven Expansion from Matthew 11 — Part 1"
Episode Overview Jesse opens with one of the most memorable sermon illustrations in the series — asking a bearded volunteer named Jeremy to sit in a chair, remove his shoes and socks, and allow the congregation to imagine the moment they will one day stand before Jesus, touch his scarred hands and feet, and look into his eyes of fire. The entire message flows from that image: what will you give him in that day? From there, three kingdom lessons emerge from Matthew 11, built around John the Baptist's crisis of faith in prison and Jesus' disarming response. 3 Key Takeaways 1. Disappointment and discouragement are inevitable in kingdom life — refuse to be offended at the king. John the Baptist gave everything — years in the wilderness, social isolation, his entire life's mission — to prepare the way for Jesus. His reward was a prison cell. And from that cell, he sent his disciples to openly ask Jesus if he was even the right guy. Jesse uses this as the framework for one of the most personally vulnerable moments in the series: the death of his own mother to cancer while his mother-in-law was healed of the same disease. His honest testimony — not one moment of offense toward God — isn't presented as boasting but as the fruit of a two-decade commitment to stewarding small disappointments well. His practical counsel: sacrifice your personal expectations on the altar of total surrender, because the man who doesn't fall away in the small offenses won't fall away in the big ones either. 2. Don't settle for a powerless lifestyle — the kingdom is a matter of power, not talk. When John questioned him, Jesus didn't argue theology. He pointed to fruit: the blind see, the lame walk, the dead are raised. Jesse applies this directly — the most powerful thing the church can say to a critical, social-media-saturated culture isn't a better argument, it's the overflow of supernatural power through kingdom living. He introduces a personal commitment he and a close friend have made: every single day, find at least one person to pray for and release the kingdom to. He then shares the five discipleship principles of Brother Yun — the Chinese pastor who spent over a decade in prison for the gospel and now leads a network of millions — including the famous fifth principle: always be ready to run from the police. Jesse's conclusion: there is no valid excuse for a powerless Christian life when Jesus has promised that rivers of living water will flow from those who drink of him. 3. The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of honor — be relentless in valuing every member of the body despite personal offense. When John's disciples walked away, Jesus turned to the crowd and called John the greatest man ever born of woman. No mention of the betrayal. No airing of the wound. Jesse breaks down three specific moves Jesus makes: he refuses to let John's moment of weakness eclipse his kingdom value; he remembers and recounts John's sacrifice and faithfulness; and he publicly honors John behind his back. Jesse closes with the most transparent moment of the message — confessing that he has repeatedly dishonored people in the church in private conversations with his wife, and has repented for it again that very morning. The kingdom of honor doesn't come naturally. It has to be chosen, stewarded, and practiced — and it starts with living honorably yourself so others don't have to fight through your immaturity to give you honor. Memorable Quote "Two decades ago, God said to me — Jesse, become unoffendable. And I made a commitment: I will not be an offended person towards you."
14 jun 2026
50:32
Jesus Is Alive: Back to the Gospel
Speaker: Brad Crawford Scripture: Hebrews 2:14-15 / Romans 6:1-6 / 2 Corinthians 5:17 / Galatians 2:20 / Colossians 3:1 / Ephesians 2:1-6 / Romans 8:11 Episode Overview Brad opens with what he calls a "one point sermon" — and that one point is simply this: Jesus is alive. What follows is one of the most theologically dense and passionate messages in the series, walking through the full arc of crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and ascension — and making the case that every believer didn't just witness these events, but actually experienced them with Christ. Brad's energy throughout is unmistakable — equal parts teaching, preaching, and personal testimony — closing with a string of remarkable healing stories from the church's work in Cuba, India, and Pakistan. Key Takeaways 1. "It is finished" means exactly what it says — death, sin, and Satan's authority are done. Brad walks through Hebrews 2, making the case that when Jesus breathed his last on the cross, he was exhaling the very breath of life that was first breathed into Adam — and with it, the corrupted human nature that had reigned since the fall. Death isn't something believers wait to experience victory over someday in heaven. It was already defeated at the cross. 2. You were crucified, buried, and raised with Christ — not symbolically, but actually. Using Romans 6 and Galatians 2:20, Brad argues that the Christian life doesn't begin at the cross — it begins at the resurrection. When Jesus rose, he became the first person "born again," receiving a new kind of life (Zoe, the eternal life of God) rather than the corrupted life of Adam. And per Romans 8:11, that same resurrection life — the Spirit that raised Jesus — now lives in every believer. This isn't a future hope; it's a present reality. 3. The gospel isn't about what we do for God — it's a response to what he's already done. Brad reframes the whole Christian life around this single shift: we don't need to perform to get God's attention or approval. Everything — prayer, sacrifice, obedience — flows as a response to a finished work. He illustrates this with the story of Brother Yun, a Chinese pastor tortured and imprisoned five times for the gospel, whose legs were miraculously healed and who walked out of a maximum-security prison — a testimony Brad uses to show what deep conviction in the resurrection actually produces in a person. 4. Sin, sickness, and fear no longer have to define your life — because they've already been defeated. Brad's closing charge is that the church has too often "glorified human weakness" instead of proclaiming the destruction of that weakness through the risen Christ. The answer to sin isn't more focus on sin — it's focus on the finished work of the cross. He caps the message with a series of healing testimonies from international mission trips: a boy's blindness healed in Cuba, a stillborn baby revived in India, a paralyzed girl healed in front of a crowd in Pakistan, a man healed of leprosy, and a woman in the congregation healed of chronic back pain during a prayer time. Memorable Quote "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me... I was crucified, I was buried, and I was raised with Christ." — Galatians 2:20
7 jun 2026
1:17:08
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