Willow Creek Weekend Podcast

It’s week 3 in our series, Finding You Way Back To God, and we’re talking about how to satisfy our soul-wrenching desires through relationship with God, looking at the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. Just like the prodigal son’s father, God is full of compassion for you and actively wants to welcome you back into relation with Him when you’re needing help the most, no matter where you have been, or what you have done.

This week in our series on the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, we’re looking at what happens when our desires lead us to make choices we regret, or try to find our satisfaction in misleading places.  When we try to find quick fixes for our desires, they can lead us down a path of bad decisions and addictions to things that exacerbate our poor choices. How to change? How to get back to God and experience a renewed life? Let Him know you want help: “God please help me!”, and seek His wisdom.  Where do you need to find a new direction in your life?

What do you want for your life? Not just health, wealth, and love, but what do you want your purpose to be? Dive into the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 to discover where genuine satisfaction comes from.

In our final week of the series, looking at short books of the Bible, we finish with Obadiah! Pastor Megan Marshman shows us how the book of Obadiah, in the Old Testament, provides a great lesson about shifting our focus from serving ourselves, to serving God and loving others, and how that shift can make life infinitely more rich. If you’ve ever wondered about what we can learn from the Old Testament prophets and Obadiah, this is a must-see video!

Have you ever held a grudge, been unable to let something go, or even felt at odds with yourself? God’s heart is to restore all people to Himself and restore communities, relationships, and even our internal worlds. Learn from the book of Philemon about how you can experience a new level of reconciliation and restoration. 

We’re diving into a new series focussed on short books of the Bible, and we kick it off with Jude! The Book of Jude is a one-chapter, short book of the Bible that’s really not a book at all, but a letter written by Jude, a half-brother of Jesus. But while the Book of Jude is short, it is packed with spiritual nutrition to strengthen our faith. He talks about fake teachers and leaders; to be wary of them leading people astray, and encourages Christ-followers to stand firm in their faith. Pastor Dave takes us through the small but mighty Book of Jude and how we can apply it’s teachings to our lives now.

Sometimes it’s hard to know how to pray. Whether you’re just starting to learn, need a refresher on how prayer works, or just a boost in your prayer life, we can all turn to Jesus for guidance. Because Jesus gave us the best prayer template: The Lord’s Prayer. Otherwise known as the “Our Father Prayer”, the Lord’s Prayer, from Matthew 6, tells us exactly how to pray, straight from Jesus’ own lips! This week, Pastor Dave leads us through the Lord’s Prayer and why our own prayers can–and should be–a simple conversation between us and God.

We’re continuing to explore the red letters in the Bible; the things Jesus actually said, with a couple of His most famous, and perhaps most misunderstood, quotes: “Love thy neighbor” and “love your enemies”. Pastor Thomas dives into Matthew 5 43-48 to discover why Jesus gave us this important task and what it means to reflect the radical love of God onto those we may find it hard to love.

Dive into the intriguing notion of the ‘unforgivable sin’ and unravel its meaning. Pastor Megan Marshman navigates the choppy waters of forgiveness, emphasizing God's unchanging love amid human imperfection. Explore the emotional depths of Jesus' sacrifice in Gethsemane and discover how it relates to graceful redemption. The conversation reflects on the necessity of both giving and receiving forgiveness, transforming faith through the Holy Spirit. Finally, listeners are invited to deepen their worship experience, responding authentically to divine love.

Who am I? How do I find my worth? How can I feel valued?—Do you ever ask yourself these questions? We can find our identity in work, or our value in money, but how sustainable are these? This week in our series exploring the things that Jesus actually said, the red letters in the Bible; Pastor Shawn looks at Matthew 16, verses 24-25, and shows how we can know our true value and worth in something that will never go away.