Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The MAC Podcast

The overall message of Hebrews is that “Jesus is Better” and that we have every reason to persevere and encouragement to press on in our faith. In this message, we’ll continue in Chapter 1 and talk about how Jesus is superior to the angels. But what are “angels”? How does this relate to the overall message of Hebrews? What relevance does it have for our lives?

Micah Dalbey | Hebrews 1:1-4 This is the first message in our series in Hebrews. Hebrews is a New Testament letter, written between 60-70AD to Jewish believers, addresses a spectrum of theological concepts, centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ. In this message, Pastor Micah will briefly introduce the book of Hebrews, then take a quick look at Hebrews 1:1-4 and the resounding message that Jesus is Better!

For our second week of “Life Together,” Pastor Todd will share his heart for MAC in light of the same two questions we heard last week: “What gets you out of bed in the morning?” and “What keeps you up at night?”

In week one of our Life Together series, Pastor Micah and Pastor Donnie cast vision and share their heart on what it means to do "life together" at MAC.

In this final message of our Make Room series, we'll discuss how to make room for a new work of God in our lives. We'll explore 6 common obstacles to experiencing God's work, or seeing how He is working!

Are you ever curious about why people think the way they do? The Bible says that “taking pleasure in understanding others" is a sign of wisdom. It’s also one of the greatest demonstrations of love. Proverbs 20:5 says, “The intentions of a man’s heart are like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.” In this message, we’ll pick up where we left off with “making room for other perspectives” by exploring some practical ways to “draw out” the deep parts in another person.

For this sixth week of our summer series, we’ll be exploring what it means to make room for other perspectives. As Pastor Todd pointed out last Sunday, this doesn’t mean we make room for lies, or consider truth to be some fluid, relative thing. It does mean though that we demonstrate genuine love for other people by recognizing their depth (Proverbs 20:5) and, we commit as followers of Christ to make room for hearing not just what people think, but why - What stories have shaped people? How have they experienced life up until this point?

In this message in our series, Make Room, we will ask how we can make room for one another’s differences. In a world of growing division, hostility, and tribe mentality, Jesus makes provision for us to live in peace and unity with our differences.

We'll continue our “make room” series by looking at the idea of "Making Room for the Needs of Others.” We will be focusing on the story of the Good Samaritan and seeing what we can take away from this familiar story for our current context.

Our hope with this series is to cultivate a greater expectancy of what God wants to do, and to help us “make room” for his work in our lives. Two weeks ago, we started with the importance of hearing Jesus “knock at the door,” of opening the door and inviting him in. But as Jesus sits at the table to eat, we realize very quickly that meals are where conversations happen. Inviting Jesus in requires that we also hear him out. In this message, we’ll focus on Making Room for God’s Word and talk about the effect his Word has in our lives.

To follow up the first message in our series about "inviting Jesus in," we celebrated baptisms! This message by Chris Tweedy explains what baptism is- and what it's not.

This message kicks off our summer series, "Make Room." We'll be looking at Revelation 3:15-20 and asking ourselves "where do I need to make room for Jesus?"

In this message we reflect on the Summer Adventure Week theme - God is ALWAYS faithful through it all.

We’ll conclude our series by looking at Jesus’ prayer in John 17. After demonstrating his love for his disciples (John 13) and preparing them for life after his departure (John 14-16), he then prays for his disciples.We will highlight three themes that emerge in Jesus’ prayer: 1) The supremacy of God’s name and word, 2) the relationship of God’s people to the world, and 3) the nature of eternal life.

Micah Dalbey | John 16 At the end of John 16, Jesus wraps up his instructions to his disciples before his crucifixion, reminding them (and us!) that in this world, we’ll have trouble. He also assures us that in him, we can have peace. He concludes the chapter by saying, “But take heart, I have overcome the world.” In this message, we’ll explore our common experience of “trouble” as humans in this life, what Jesus meant by “the world,” and how we too can have overcoming power in our lives!

Todd Auch | John 16:5-15 As we continue our series in John 16:5-15, Jesus tells his disciples he is sending them a Helper. This Helper is the Spirit of Truth, who will be in them and tell them all that Jesus wants to tell them for confusing and difficult times. How relevant for the times we live in today! Our world is confused and divided over just about everything and in the midst of this crazy scene, Jesus steps in and says: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. To all who believe and follow me, I offer you my spirit, the Spirit of Truth, to lead you into all truth."

Donnie Gebhard | John 15:18-16:11 We left off in our last message with the command to abide, to remain “attached” to God, allowing His life and love to flow in and through us. But what is the response of those around us? How do we navigate a world that is sometimes hostile to the things of God? How can we be a faithful witness in a world that is contrary?

Nigel Probert | John 15 For this message of our series, we’re moving into one of the most well-known and well-loved words in the entire Bible: Jesus’ invitation for us to “abide in the vine.” John 15 represents a deeper dive into the reality that just as a branch cannot bear fruit apart from the tree, even so, apart from Jesus we can do nothing.

We continue our series in John 13-17 by picking up where we left off last week in John 14. In this chapter, Jesus provides even more assurances for our “troubled hearts,” he sheds light on his relationship with the Father, and he points the way to the “peace” he wants to give every one of us (which is “not as the world gives”).

Micah Dalbey | John 14 What's on your "bucket list"? That is, what are some things you want to do (or places you want to see) before you die? In our current sermon series where we're moving through John 13-17, we see Jesus using his final moments on earth to prioritize time with his disciples - both loving them and teaching them. In this message, we'll move into chapter 14 where Jesus gives strong assurances (as well as a clear command) to "not let our hearts be troubled." What do these words mean for us? And can we really choose to "not be troubled"??

Micah Dalbey | John 13:18-35 If you had 24 hours to live, what would you do? Who would you spend it with? What would you say? We have started a new series called “The Last 24” where we are working through John 13-17 chronicling Jesus’ final hours with his disciples. Jesus has a lot of profound spiritual truth to communicate in these chapters. In this message we will be looking at a new command - love like Jesus.

If you had 24 hours to live, what would you do? Who would you spend it with? What would you say? Jesus takes his last 24 hours to display some important lessons, the first being washing his disciples feet. How does this relate to the question, "who is the greatest?"

In this Easter message we’ll celebrate the resurrection and the fact that Jesus gives us life! But what is this “life” that Jesus wants us to have? How do we get it? We’ll examine the different words Jesus used for “life” and what it really means to have “eternal life.”

Donnie Gebhard | 1 Thessalonians 5:17 In this message we will be looking at the idea of “praying without ceasing.” How does what prayer is and what prayer is meant to accomplish influence our interpretation of this statement? How are we to practice prayer like this within the confines of our busy schedules? We’ll move from the philosophical to the practical as we turn our attention to Paul’s exhortation.

Micah Dalbey | We’ll continue our prayer series in this message with an exploration of how prayer “worked” for Jesus. We’ve seen in Matthew, Mark and Luke how central prayer was for Jesus. His disciples noticed this relationship with the Father and how it was the foundation (and force!) behind everything Jesus did. But what specific circumstances drove Jesus to pray? After looking at how prayer worked in Jesus’ life, we’ll spend the rest of the time honestly examining why prayer often doesn’t seem to work. What are the factors that either hinder our prayers’ effectiveness, or hide from us the ways they’re actually working?

Micah Dalbey | Does prayer work? This question might feel irreverent, sacrilegious, even heretical. But haven’t we all thought it? Haven’t we at times experienced disappointment or discouragement, or wondered related to prayer, “Am I doing this right?” In this message we'll begin a 4 week series exploring the question, “Does Prayer Work?” But our first step in answering the question is first asking, “What do I expect from prayer?” If we have unrealistic or unBiblical expectations, we’re likely to be disappointed.

Don Partain | Hebrews 11 Paul says we “walk by faith, not by sight,” 2 Corinthians 5:7. But what does it mean to walk by faith? In Hebrews 11, we can see many examples of God’s people walking by faith—and how God’s grace worked powerfully in them and through them.

Micah Dalbey We continue our series with some practical questions about giving. Last week, we talked about how everything we have comes from God, and furthermore, everything we have belongs to God. We are only stewards (managers) of His resources. So this week we’ll look at a brief history of giving among God’s people, then explore some questions of what this has to do with us today. What does the New Testament teach about giving? How do we arrive at decisions about how to personally model Biblical generosity?

Micah Dalbey | Acts 20, Luke 16 This message marks the beginning of a two-week series on Biblical Generosity. Pastor Micah will be leading us in an exploration of what the Bible says about giving - starting with the honest acknowledgment that this can be an awkward topic. But, once we understand the source of generosity, the opportunities and resources God has entrusted to each of us, and the many ways he promises to work in our lives for good, generosity begins to feel less like a duty and more like an irresistible invitation in all that God has for us!

In this message, Micah shares on the significance of Baptism.

Nigel Probert | Luke 15 In this message we look at the parables of the Lost Coin, the Lost Sheep, and the Prodigal Son. Where do you see yourself in these stories? Where is Jesus? Is he calling you to himself?

Micah Dalbey, Todd Auch, Ranae Green, Donnie Gebhard, Lara Wildeboer In this message, we’ll be looking forward and sharing exciting developments in God’s leading at MAC. Our pastors will speak to the importance of Jesus’ command to “make disciples” and explain how we plan to do that at MAC in the years to come.

In this message, Pastor Micah revisits the recent update from the Christian & Missionary Alliance and speaks on how we can produce fruit in our lives in this new year.

As we reach the end of the year, we’ll be taking some time to reflect upon and celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. After passing around the bread and wine to his disciples, Jesus said “Do this in remembrance of me.” But what does it mean to remember Jesus? And what specifically about Jesus are we called to remember?

A Christmas Eve message on Jesus as the Light of the World.

For the last week of our Advent series, we will fix our focus on God's love. 1 John 4:9 says, "God showed how much he loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world..." Let us enter God's word together and learn what the Incarnation of Christ teaches us about God's Love and how we may know that love for ourselves 2000 years later.

We are continuing our Advent series by looking at the topic of joy. Jesus tells his disciples in John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” How does the season of Advent help us wrestle with the reality of the dark world around us? What does the joy of the Lord look like in practice, and how can we become people of joy regardless of our circumstances?

We are entering the Advent season beginning with a reflection on Peace. Peace is a universal desire felt by us all, and yet why does it often feel elusive, or too much work, improbable, or only comes by chance? If God is a God of Peace, and His goal is for Peace, what seems to be the problem? What we discover in the story of Advent is that Peace is a person who invites us to lean into the story of peace being written for human history.

This is the final week of our fall series where we’ll see that “the last chapter” of our story is simply the first in a far better one! From the beginning to the end of our story, we can see God’s undying commitment to make His home with us. From the garden to the tabernacle to Jesus himself, we can track with God’s active pursuit of humans and His plan to dwell with people (Revelation 21:3). The good news though? We don’t have to wait until the end to make our home with God!

We love plot twists. Some of our favorite books and movies have really unexpected moments. But what about plot twists in our own stories? This Sunday we’ll talk about the moments when things don’t go as we’d hoped. It can be painful, and obviously, we have God’s promises and the reassurance of his presence and purpose in the midst of pain. But in between the pain and the promise is an important (and Biblical) process called lament - expressing grief or sorrow in the face of loss. Here we will look at different Biblical portraits of lament, leading us closer to God’s heart and an application of his promises.

In this message we'll talk about redemption and radical transformation. How can Christ’s death lead to a better story, and what does this mean for us as image-bearers?

A question we’ve asked recently in our series is “How do we engage people with God’s story?” Last week we looked at John 4 (Jesus’ interaction with the woman at the well) and this week, we’ll open to Acts 17 where Paul reasons with the Jewish leaders in Thessalonica and Berea “from the Scriptures.” But in Athens, where the Scriptures weren’t known or respected, he takes a totally different approach.

As we enter into week five of our series, having met the “main character,” identified the “supporting cast” and been introduced to the “antagonist” of our story, we’ll now examine the aftermath of our departure from God’s story. Along the way though, we’ll see God reiterate his original promise (from Genesis 3:15) to send a redeemer and crush the power of the enemy. In this message, we meet this Redeemer! We’ll spend time appreciating how he interacted with those who were far from God.

We’ll continue our fall series by looking at Genesis 3. If God created everything good, how come there’s so much bad in the world? Where does war come from? What about corruption and violence? And is there any hope for getting this story back on track?

Pastor Donnie Gebhard • Genesis 1 Over the last few weeks, we’ve discovered the role God plays as author, main character, and setting of “A Better Story.” But where does that leave us? In this message, we look at the role humanity plays in the story of God.

Pastor Micah Dalbey • Acts 17:28, Genesis 1 We’re in a series called “A Better Story” where we’re diving into the Christian story and comparing it to the narratives around us. Our culture often does a better job of telling compelling stories, but these stories are far from better. Most are riddled with empty promises and rife with contradictions. But what the world needs is not to hear how wrong they are, they need to hear a better story. This week, we’ll explore some key elements of our story, starting with the question, “Who’s the main character?”

Pastor Micah Dalbey • Matthew 13:34, Proverbs 14:12 Micah Dalbey gives an introduction to a new series.