Southside Baptist Church Podcast

The Psalms are the hymns of ancient Israel. Jesus and His disciples would have sung them in worship and as they traveled the dusty roads of ancient Palestine. Their words were even on the lips of Jesus as He hung on the cross. The lyrics that brought so much hope and joy to Jesus continue to inspire His followers today. Join us each Sunday in August as we listen to a mixtape of Psalms that call us to aspire for joy.

Some Christians have been accused of being so heavenly-minded that they are no earthly good. Others seem to deny the reality of heaven and live as if this world is all there is. The Gospel is a guardrail preventing us from making either mistake. Join us for the final sermon in the Essentials series, where we will learn how our beliefs about the future shape our lives today.

The Church is always a work in progress. From the missteps and mistakes of Jesus’ disciples to the latest church scandal, humans have continuously brought our brokenness into the church. Yet, despite our failures, Jesus said He would build His church, and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Join us for part 8 of Essentials to learn how the church is God’s plan and the front line of Heaven’s invasion of Earth.  

We use the word “saved” to refer to everything from someone recovered in a heroic rescue operation to the money we save through a discount code. But when the Bible talks about being “saved,” what exactly does that mean? What are we saved from? Who saves us, and how do they do it? Join us for part 7 of Essentials, where we will learn that salvation is not about what we do but what Jesus has done.

What defines your value? Do you find value in your roles and responsibilities in your family or job? The human condition is tied to the value God has placed on us and the value we see in Jesus’ death on a cross. This death communicates to us the reality that we are infinitely valuable and devastatingly broken. The value you place on Jesus’ death affects the value you place on yourself and others around you. This is why it is fundamental to Christian belief.

According to numerous studies, the single greatest predictor of spiritual transformation is the time a person spends reading their Bible. Still, a recent Lifeway Research study revealed that only 32% of Christians read their Bible daily. Join us for part 5 of Essentials, where we learn the secret to reading the Bible for spiritual transformation.  

We instinctively know that there is more to living than drawing in oxygen. What, exactly, is it that animates humans? What motivates us to search for truth and higher meaning? Join us for part four of Essentials as we explore what we believe about God, the Holy Spirit. 

Imagine that you have an ant problem in your yard (perhaps you don’t have to imagine this!) You go to the store and buy a product that is designed to fool the ants into thinking that it is delicious ant food when it is, in fact, poison. Now imagine an ant lover (do those exist?) who wants to save the ants from certain death. No matter what this ant lover does, he cannot communicate with the ants, so they continue to carry the poison back to their ant hill. What would the ant lover need to do to save the ants? He would need to become one of them to keep them from certain death. That is what God has done for us in the person of Jesus Christ. Join us for part three of Essentials, where we will see how God took on flesh to come and save us.

A Pew Research study from 2008 revealed that nine out of ten Americans believe in God, but only a small majority believe in God as described in the Bible. How do we know there is a God, and even more importantly, how can we possibly know what He is like? Join us as we begin exploring the essential beliefs of Christianity by asking the question, God Who?

Complexity demands simplicity. When Google launched the world’s most complex web browser, they did so with a simple search bar on a blank screen. When Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, a device more powerful than a supercomputer in the year 2000, it only had one button. And when the God of the Universe wanted to reveal Himself to His creation, He did so by taking on flesh and assuming the form of a simple servant. So often, we complicate the message of Jesus with important but non-essential ideas. Rather than focusing on the good news of Jesus, we haggle over minute issues of theology and doctrine, leaving a lost world even more confused or, even worse, uninterested. Join us each Sunday in June and July for Essentials, a sermon series focused on what is essential, what isn’t, and why the difference matters. 

Aspire Church welcomes our friends and special guests, Justin and Kendal Adamson. The Adamsons are NAMB church planters sent out by Aspire Church San Marco to start a new church in Queens, New York. The Adamsons have a heart for sharing the Gospel and are following His call to reach the nations by planting the New Song of Hope Church in one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the United States. 

Multiple ancient texts tell us that forty days after Jesus was raised from the dead, He ascended into heaven. But what exactly does that mean? If Jesus was victorious over sin, death, and the grave, why wouldn’t He have stayed with His followers in Jerusalem? Indeed, it would have been easier to convince a skeptical work of the truth of the resurrection if Jesus’ physical body was still walking around on earth. Join us as we explore Jesus’ ascension and what it teaches us about heaven, earth, being human, and God’s ultimate plan. 

Aspire welcomes our special guest, Bob Bumgarner. Bob currently serves as the Lead Missional Strategist of First Coast Churches (formerly known as Jacksonville Baptist Association). He has served as a Replant Pastor, Executive Pastor, and the Church Development Division Director of the Florida Baptist Convention. His passion is coaching churches to discover and do what God has called them to do where they are. Bob lives in the greater Jacksonville area with his wife, Tina. They enjoy living close to their adult children and their six awesome grandchildren!

The word “aspire” means to seek to attain or accomplish a particular goal. Some people aspire to achieve power; some strive for wealth or fame. The apostle Paul’s greatest aspiration was to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. What is your greatest aspiration? Join us for a message exploring our church’s aspirations. 

Luke wasn’t one of Jesus’ twelve apostles. Nor was he among the larger multitude who witnessed Jesus’ life and ministry. He wasn’t even Jewish. Luke was a gentile and therefore considered an outsider. Yet this outsider came to believe in Jesus and contributed more pages to the New Testament than anyone else. Luke’s two volumes, the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, comprise 26% of the New Testament. While Luke’s writings have impacted millions, they were initially written as letters to one man. Join us for the conclusion of our journey through the Gospel of Luke as we consider how reaching the world begins when we reach the one.  

Civil rights leader and Baptist preacher Benjamin Mays said, “The tragedy of life is often not in our failure, but rather in our complacency; not in our doing too much, but rather in our doing too little; not in our living above our ability, but rather in our living below our capacities.” Jesus warned His disciples against complacency, saying, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Join us for the conclusion of Risen! where we will see how the resurrection calls us out of our complacency.

Our greatest disappointments in life happen when our greatest hopes are unfulfilled. The closer we come to accomplishing our goals, the harder it is when we fail. It’s tough to endure a losing season, but losing the championship in overtime is devastating. Two thousand years ago, Jesus’ earliest followers had suffered the devastating disappointment of His arrest and crucifixion. This loss was so great that they nearly missed the miracle that was just about to happen. Join us as we celebrate the God who turns our greatest disappointments into our greatest victories.

The foundation for the Christian faith is not a philosophy or set of theological principles. The core of our faith doesn’t reside in a moral code or a series of ancient teachings. Even though Christians have shared convictions, theology, ethics, and a clear set of teachings, none of these define the essence of our faith. The truth and reliability of Christianity hinge on a single, verifiable historical event: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, Christians would have nothing to offer and would be victims of the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on humanity. Join us for a three-part series exploring the Resurrection of Jesus and how that single event can lift us from doubt, despair, and complacency.

The first “Choose Your Own Adventure” book was published in 1979. These books allowed readers to make important decisions for the story’s main character, and based on those decisions, there could be any number of outcomes to the story. As Luke tells the story of Jesus’ crucifixion, he introduces several key figures and the choices they faced on that fateful day. Join us for part 4 of The Joy Set Before Him as we explore the decisions we must face when considering the cross of Jesus Christ.

We’ve all had to deal with them: those people who enjoy being critical about everything and everyone. People who are never satisfied and are constantly adversarial. You probably already have someone in mind. And while I may not know who that person is, I’m confident I know who it’s not. YOU. Hardly anyone believes himself to be too critical or adversarial. Throughout His ministry, and especially on His journey to the cross, Jesus faced adversaries and critics. Join us for part 3 of The Joy Set Before Him as we explore how even God’s adversaries can benefit from what Jesus did on the cross.