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Have you ever wondered if a church would welcome someone like you, with the things you’ve done and the secrets you carry? Many people sit in church hiding their shame, afraid of being found out. In John 8, religious leaders drag a woman caught in adultery before Jesus, hoping to trap him. He tells the one without sin to throw the first stone, and one by one they walk away. Jesus stays with her and says, “Neither do I condemn you.” This message looks at what it means for Countryside to be an imperfect church for imperfect people: a hospital for sinners, not a fortress against sin. There is room for you here, and the grace Jesus offered her is freely given to you.

Have you ever asked God, “What is your will for my life?” and felt stuck waiting for a full blueprint? Pastor Bryan reframes the question, showing that knowing God’s will is less about picking between options and more about learning a way of living. Using Romans 12:1-2, he walks through three handholds: being transformed, renewing your mind, and presenting your body as a living sacrifice. God’s will is good, pleasing, and perfect, and as we become more like Jesus, we begin to do what He would do if He were us. Grace isn’t opposed to effort, and no one has to get it right every time. This is a long obedience in the same direction, and God gives the help you need along the way.

Some of us keep working on the same habits, hurts, and struggles and still feel powerless to change them. Maybe you’ve wondered why trying harder never seems to be enough. In Luke 24, Jesus tells His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they are clothed with power from on high. This message shows why the Christian life needs both the Word and the Spirit, like a plane that needs two wings, and why the Spirit gives power for inner transformation and for reaching others. It closes with three ways to pursue being filled with the Spirit: study, repent, and seek. Whether you feel stuck, far from God, or just worn out, the Spirit is a person who pursues you and gives the gift you could never earn.

It's hard to know who to trust when so many voices are telling you what's true, and some of the loudest ones are the ones that have been in your head for decades. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul warns that the last days are difficult because people love themselves more than God, and are always learning but never arriving at the truth. His answer is that all Scripture is breathed out by God, and it's inspired, inerrant, eternal, and transformative. Like a pair of braces, it works slowly over time, and it brings the breath of new life to words like ugly and worthless, replacing them with created, beloved, and redeemed. Wherever you're walking in from today, there's room here for you to be met by the God who speaks life.

Some of us have spent years trying to earn love, approval, or a place with God, and we're still tired and still feeling like we fall short. It's a heavy way to live. In Luke 10, seventy disciples come back thrilled about the ministry they've done, and Jesus points them somewhere else: rejoice that your names are written in heaven. This message looks at what it means to be a gospel-centered church, where the gospel is the foundation of salvation, the scaffold for all of life, and the source of the joy that powers the Christian life. There's nothing to add to what God has already done for you. You're loved, and all that's left is to receive it.

What would it look like if every blessing in your life came with a purpose bigger than your own comfort? This message walks through Romans 15, where Paul traces God's heart for all nations through quotes spanning the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings — showing that this has never been a new idea. From there it turns to Paul's own calling and the pattern of his life: blessing brings a burden of responsibility to steward what we've been given for the good of others. That includes a picture of what this could mean for a church rooted locally but reaching globally, from neighborhoods to nations. Whatever you carry in — whether clarity or uncertainty about your own part in that story — there's room for you here, because the invitation to belong to this isn't earned, it's given.

What would it look like if our church stopped measuring success by how many people show up and started measuring it by how many people we send out? This morning kicks off a new series at Countryside Church, rethinking our mission and values around one idea: seeking first the Kingdom of God. In Luke 10, Jesus appoints 72 ordinary disciples and sends them out ahead of him, choosing multiplication over addition, because the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few. He tells them to pray for more workers, because a real movement is born out of a broken heart, not a strategy. Whatever's brought you here today, whether you've been part of this church for years or you're just checking it out, there's room for you in this story.

Do you ever feel like you've prayed the same prayer for weeks with nothing changing, and start to wonder if it's even worth it? This message walks through 1 Kings 18, where Elijah rebuilds a broken altar stone by stone, calls down fire from heaven, and then prays seven times for rain after three years of drought — even when his servant kept reporting back that the sky was empty. The point isn't that the answer came fast; it's that renewal in the people came before the rain did, and the waiting wasn't a sign anything was wrong. Whatever you've stopped praying for, you're not foolish for still wanting it — you're just early, and you still belong here while you wait.

Ever feel like you're doing all the right things in your faith, but something still feels hollow? This message looks at Acts 19 and the revival that swept through Ephesus — a movement so powerful it disrupted the city's economy, yet decades later Jesus tells that same church they've lost the love they had at first. The difference wasn't doctrine or discipline; it was devotion, and it eroded the way sediment quietly chokes a harbor — one small compromise at a time. Whatever has your affections divided, there's room here to bring it into the light and be met with grace, not condemnation.

If you're waiting to see God do something real in your life, your family, or your city, it can be hard to know whether that hope is naive or worth holding onto. This message walks through Acts 1, where Jesus spends his last 40 days convincing the disciples the resurrection really happened and casting a vision for the kingdom reaching every corner of the earth. Rather than a strategy, he leaves them with faith, hunger, and desperation, which drives them to ten days of united prayer before the church explodes in growth. Historically, revivals like the Jesus Movement and the Hebrides Revival followed the same pattern: ordinary, often overlooked people praying earnestly in desperate times. Whatever your history with prayer, there's room here to bring your doubts and ask again.

Have you ever wondered if God is done working the way He used to, or if that season has passed you by? This message looks at Nehemiah 8, where a people who had drifted from God for generations suddenly grew hungry for His word, listening to it read aloud for hours and weeping over what they heard. Pastor Sam traces how that hunger led to real joy and obedience, and points to Psalm 126, a prayer for God to restore what's dry and lifeless again, the way rain floods a desert. It's part of a series asking what it looks like for this church to put God's kingdom first. Wherever you are in your own hunger for God, whether it feels strong or barely there, you're welcome here.

Have you settled for just trying not to lose, instead of actually seeking God with everything you've got? This message walks through 2 Chronicles 34 and the story of King Josiah, a boy who became king at eight after generations of his family's wickedness and violence, yet chose at sixteen to seek God for himself. As a young man he tore down the idols in the land, and when the long-lost Book of the Law was rediscovered in the temple, his response wasn't shame piled on shame — it was repentance that opened the door to real joy. Revival doesn't start by looking at how broken everyone else is; it starts when one heart turns and says, "God, I need you." Whatever state your heart is in right now, there's room for you here, and grace that meets you exactly where you are.

Do you ever feel like your heart is dry even though everyone around you thinks you have it all together? This week Pastor Sam opens Jonah 3, where a reluctant prophet preaches a five-word sermon with no scripture, no gospel, not even God's name mentioned — and the whole city of Nineveh repents anyway. It's a picture of a God who isn't limited by our failures or unwillingness, who can bring new life to the most unlikely people and places. Whatever state your heart is in today, His mercy is bigger than your mess, and He's inviting you in.

What do you do when life falls apart faster than you can process it? This message sits with that question honestly, without rushing past the hard parts. Elder Brad Collier traces Joseph's story through betrayal, slavery, and prison, where Scripture keeps saying simply, "the Lord was with him." He connects that to his own family's experience losing their home in the fires, and to James 4's call to draw near to God, trusting that nearness—not the absence of trouble—is where real peace is found. He shares how a months-long study of Joseph, finished just a day before the fire, became unexpected preparation for what followed. Whatever you're carrying this week, you're welcome here, and there's grace enough for it. If you're struggling, please reach out: call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) — available 24/7, free and confidential.

Some seasons make sense right away. Others knock the wind out of you before you can ask why. Elder Kelly Cox traces this through Exodus, watching Israel move from a miracle at the Red Sea straight into a wilderness with no food or water — because dependence on God, not comfort, was the point. He connects it to Paul's words from prison in Philippians 4, learning contentment in plenty and in want because Christ was enough either way. Then he shares his own family's loss of their home in the March 2025 wildfires, and how worshiping that first Sunday after let him feel, for a moment, that his eternal footing hadn't moved even though everything temporal had. Whatever you're carrying right now, you're not asked to explain it — just to stay close to the One who hasn't left. If you're struggling, please reach out: call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) — available 24/7, free and confidential.