OVERWHELMED: FORGED IN THE FIRE || DeLeon Bennett || King of Israel

OVERWHELMED: FORGED IN THE FIRE || DeLeon Bennett || King of Israel

What do we do when we know the lyrics and we know the Word — but we are so overwhelmed that the tears saturate our song? In this message from 1 Kings 17, guest preacher and WoodsEdge elder DeLeon Bennett walks through the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath — a woman who had accepted death as her outcome, obeyed God with her last, experienced miraculous provision, and then watched her son die anyway. Her journey from despair to obedience to dependence to confusion to accusation to revelation mirrors what many of us have lived. And what she did in her darkest moment is the same thing we are called to do: she took her pain to the man of God. Wounded faith is still faith. This message is for anyone who has walked with the Lord, seen him make a way, and is still struggling to rest in his peace. God is big enough to handle your questions. And he still shows up — even in the overwhelm, even in Baal's backyard, even on what felt like the wrong side of the miracle.

DAVID AND GOLIATH || Jeff Wells || Father's Day

In this Father's Day message from 1 Samuel 17, Pastor Jeff Wells walks through one of the most well-known and inspiring passages in the Bible — not just as a lesson about courage, but as a window into the heart of God and the story of the gospel. David was a teenager with no armor, no sword, and no military experience. Yet when the entire Israelite army stood paralyzed before Goliath, David ran toward the battle. Two things set him apart: a burning zeal for the glory of God and a childlike trust in the faithfulness of God. He had seen God be faithful before — with the lion, with the bear — and he was confident God would be faithful again. But this story is ultimately not about David. It's about the Son of David. Just as David stood in as a substitute to fight for an entire army, one day God would send his own Son to be the ultimate Substitute — to defeat sin, Satan, and death on behalf of all who trust in him. This chapter quietly points forward to Bethlehem and to the cross. The question this message asks is simple and personal: Are you focused on the size of your problem, or on the size of your God?

NO SEPARATION || Jeff Wells || Romans 8

Romans 8 begins with no condemnation and ends with no separation. Everything in between is God making the case that once we have trusted Christ, nothing — not suffering, not failure, not death, not the forces of hell itself — can pull us out of his love. In this message, Pastor Jeff Wells closes out Romans 8 with one of the most sweeping declarations in all of Scripture. Through the story of a couple who held hands for 72 years and never let go, the suffering of the apostle Paul, and the identity of a theologian who cared for his paralyzed wife for 40 years without complaint — this message calls us to rest in a love that has no beginning and can have no end. We are not just loved. We are secure. We are accepted. We are, in the deepest sense, the ones Jesus loves.

WELCOME THE NEWCOMER || Phill Kwon || Ruth 2

In this message from Ruth 2, guest preacher Phill Kwon walks through one of the most quietly powerful stories in all of Scripture — not a story of miracles or fire from the sky, but of a man who knew God's heart well enough to see a newcomer, welcome her into his community, and show her radical, extravagant generosity. Boaz didn't wait for a program to take care of Ruth. He didn't assume someone else would say hello. He simply saw her — and moved toward her. This message explores what it means to be a church that reflects the heart of El Roi, the God who sees, and what it looks like in practice to welcome the stranger, the visitor, and the newcomer the way God does.

NO CHARGE, NO CONDEMNATION || Jeff Wells || Romans 8

Many of us carry guilt that Christ has already paid for. We hear the accusing voices — from our own conscience, from past failures, from an enemy who wants to keep us chained to what God has already forgiven. But Romans 8:33–34 asks two of the most liberating questions in all of Scripture: Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? Who is to condemn? In this message, Pastor Jeff Wells walks through what it means that God has justified us completely — and why that changes everything. Because of four unshakable truths about Jesus — he died, he was raised, he is seated at the right hand of God, and he is interceding for us right now — no charge can stand and no condemnation can hold. The blood of Jesus has already washed it all away. This message explores the difference between God's voice and the accuser's voice, why guilt is not God's solution for sin, and how the grace of God is bigger than any failure we've carried.