Westside Messages

No isolated incidents. Our life choices affect others, namely those closest to us. Our actions influence people. With Jesus, the exposure can be light, and not darkness.

A change is always standing in front of us, but partnered with a cost. Weight and healthy eating, time and tv watching etc. So when God nudges your heart to change, will you accept the cost and follow Him?

In week two of the series: Words Against Us, Pastor Jonathan preaches about the effect words against us can bring. Through oppression, condemnation from others, and discouragement to not pursue God, we can live in freedom. This freedom comes only through Jesus, and because of it, we can fulfill our purpose in life.

This Sunday, Pastor Jonathan discusses how words that are spoken against us, affect our lives. They can cause condemnation, a lack of desire to pursue God, and lead to a broken pursuit of our purposes in life. He then instructs us on how to deal with these words: recognize what is happening, cast it down with truth and in faith, and continue to live in freedom.

This Father's Day, Pastor LaRonna Rhodes talks about things every Father should know. Firstly, that perfection does not exist. Secondly, little things are big things. Thirdly, patience is required. And lastly, that in order to be a P.R.O. Dad: you must be one that Prays, Reads, and Obeys. Happy Father's Day!

In this message, guest speaker Allan Gregory speaks to us about the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. We have completeness, wholeness and security through our Lord Jesus Christ that allows us to be steady in the midst of life's storms.

This week Pastor Jonathan talks about how we have been separated from the world by God, so that we are not influenced by it and led astray. Because of this, we are not to act as the world does, nor follow its example. In order to strengthen ourselves, we should make church a lifestyle, not just a building, and get connected to our church family so they can encourage us in ways we need to change.

Pastor LaRonna talk about how we can lead exciting, fun, and joyful lives in Christ. This means, though we still go through hard times, as James 1 says, we can experience incredible joy when we go through difficult circumstances. We can have Faith, Unity, and Nourishment from Christ and this leads to a truly F.U.N. lives.

How should we understand who the Holy Spirit is? How important is our relationship with Him? This is what we explored this week. Through the foretelling of the Scriptures we see how crucial our relationship with Him is, and how he brings out good fruits in our lives, including incredible gifts through which we can bless other people. Because of this, we should be continually receiving of His correction, comfort and fellowship

We can push through immense uncertainty and disappointment with Christ. Because of Jesus we can Persevere through it all: pain, sorrow, loss etc. because He has our good in mind. We can withstand situations when we are Under the attacks of the enemy. To withstand it is helpful to understand that these are Satanic attacks we experience. Yet through all that Satan is trying to Hinder in us, God enables us to persevere.

Happy Mother's Day Moms! Today, in our celebration of mothers, Pastor LaRonna spoke about Samson's mom. She was obedient to the Word of the Lord as we are follow and learn from the Bible, saying, "Not my will, but Yours be done Lord." She was also a sensitive mother. Just as we are supposed to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and what He is speaking to our hearts, she was sensitive to what God was speaking to her. Thirdly, she was a confident mother. She was not confident in her own strength, but in the strength that God gave her. Lastly, she was available for what God wanted in her life.

In this second week of discussing the creation story found in Genesis 1 and 2, Pastor Jonathan focuses on the main takeaways God desires for our lives. He discusses everything from being obedient to God, to eating your vegetables, so buckle in and get ready!

This Sunday, we had our child dedications. Naturally, we should take some time to truly understand what God is desiring for our children, and our parenting. Pastor Jonathan takes some time to unpack how seriously God takes our purity of heart and body in our dedication, both of our children and ourselves. One incredible example of this that we explore, is Samson's mother's dedication of him.

In this first week of discussing the creation story, Pastor Jonathan teaches the Biblical view of creation as described in Genesis 1. In view of this, we see the beauty of God, the order that He has called us to, and the image that we are to reflect as His creation.

In this second week of exploring the incredible comebacks on display in the Bible, we focus in on three characters: Noah, Jacob, and Joseph. Seeing how these characters overcame great setbacks by relying on God, and choosing to persevere in the midst of incredibly difficult circumstances, shows us how we can do the same in our modern day.

On this Easter Sunday, Pastor Jonathan walks us through the multiple comebacks of Jesus Christ, culminating in His final comeback when we will join Him forever. As we begin to comeback either in our personal lives, or as a community of Christ-followers, how can we learn from Jesus' coming back?

On this Palm Sunday, Pastor Jonathan displays who Jesus came as: a Prophet, a King, a Pastor and an Apostle. He is the Word of God to us, the King of our lives, our Shepherd and the One whom God has sent.

The Word of God is indispensable. In this message, Pastor LaRonna Rhodes encourages us to trust in the Written Word to Overcome, act with Radical Righteousness, and have a Defense to Defeat the enemy and his schemes.

Expounding upon Samson's life, Pastor Jonathan teaches how God can prepare us to do what he has stirred up on the inside. As Samson's mother is prepared, and Samson himself is ready, so we are to be in what God stirs up inside our hearts.

Often times, pleasures in life look incredibly appealing to us, yet we fail to recognize the death that surrounds them. Through the story of Samson, relishing in his old victories by eating honey found in the carcass of the lion he had killed, we see that there are beauties in life that are set in places God has told us to abstain from. Pastor Jonathan encourages us to trust God's definition of what is truly good for us.