Advertise on podcast: Park Hill Church Podcast

What if the reason our culture's approach to sex produces so much wreckage isn't that the rules are too strict, but that our view of sex is too small? In this episode, Evan Wickham works through one of Paul's most direct passages in Ephesians, unpacking the word ‘porneia’ and what Jesus really meant when he pointed us back to Genesis. At the center of it all is a single idea: the physical union was never meant to be separated from the covenant underneath it. When it is, we’re not just breaking a rule, we're trying to live in a world that doesn't exist. This sermon isn't primarily about what not to do. It's about what we were made for: the fragrance of self-giving love, the God who thinks the best way to be God is to wash feet, and what it looks like to wake up into the light of who you already are in Christ.

In Ephesians 4, Paul paints a picture of a world where people tell the truth, carry one another’s burdens, speak life, and forgive freely. A world marked by “true righteousness and holiness”—not as cold religious words, but as a lived reality of deep connection, trust, and belonging.   But Paul is clear: that kind of life doesn’t happen by accident. It requires putting off the old ways that hollow us out and putting on a new way of being—one shaped by Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and formed over time through renewed thinking.   This passage isn’t a list of rules. It’s a map back home. And the invitation is simple: What is one thing you need to put off? And what is the Spirit inviting you to put on? Because the world your soul is homesick for… is the very life God is forming in you right now.

What happens after we die—and why does it matter now? In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul makes a bold claim: if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, our faith falls apart. But if He did… then everything changes—not just for Him, but for us. Easter isn’t only about Jesus’ resurrection. It’s about our future resurrection. The Bible doesn’t describe our story as simply life → heaven. It’s bigger than that: life → life after death → resurrection—a fully restored, physical life in God’s renewed creation. This means our future isn’t a distant, disembodied existence, but real, embodied life with God—where everything broken is made whole. And that future hope reshapes how we live today. Because of the resurrection, nothing done in Jesus’ name is wasted. Our work, our faithfulness, our love—it all carries into eternity.  

On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem as a King—but not the kind people expected. Riding on a donkey, He revealed a kingdom marked by humility, not power. And instead of heading to a palace, He went straight to the temple… and turned it upside down. In a moment that shocked the crowd, Jesus cleared out the barriers that kept outsiders at a distance and made room for healing, worship, and belonging. The message was unmistakable: God’s house is for everyone. This Palm Sunday, we’re invited to see who Jesus really is—and to respond. The door is open. The invitation is simple: say yes to Him.

In Ephesians 4:7–16, we see that Jesus hasn’t just saved us—He’s actively building us. By His grace, He gives gifts to His people, not so a few can do ministry, but so the whole church is equipped to grow. The goal isn’t just belief—it’s maturity. Unity isn’t something we create; it’s something we grow into as we become more like Christ. This week, we’re reminded that spiritual maturity means staying rooted in Jesus, resisting the pull of distraction and deception, and learning to speak truth in love within real relationships. As each person does their part, the church becomes a connected, living body—strengthened from the inside out. The invitation is simple but challenging: grow up into Christ.

As we step into the second half of Ephesians, we move from seeing what God has done in Christ to living in it. Paul’s “therefore” isn’t a shift from theology to practice—it’s an invitation to reality. Because we’ve been made alive, brought near, and formed into God’s family, we’re called to walk in a way that fits who we already are. That walk begins with unity. Paul urges the church to reflect the heart of Jesus—marked by humility, gentleness, and patient, enduring love. This kind of life doesn’t create unity; it protects what the Spirit has already established. In a world shaped by division, the church becomes a living witness to Christ when we make every effort to remain one. Rooted in the seven “ones”—one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father—we’re reminded that our unity is not something we achieve, but something we receive and steward. This week, we’re invited to live like it’s true: to pursue patience, fight for unity, and become, together, who we already are in Christ.

Guest speaker Josh Binstead from Hope Church Portsmouth joins us to share a powerful message titled “Fresh Fire and Undivided Hearts.” Looking at the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel in First Kings, we’re challenged to examine the divided loyalties and hidden idols that compete for our devotion.   Before the rain of renewal came to Israel, the fire of God first fell—restoring true worship and calling the people back to wholehearted faith. In the same way, God invites us to lay down the things that capture our hearts and return to Him with undivided devotion. Through stories of God at work and the example of Elijah’s persistence, this message reminds us that when our hearts are fully aligned with God, He still sends the fire—and the rain.   Where might God be calling you to deeper worship, faithful persistence, and a focused heart?

You are drowning in information and starving for experience. You know about God, but Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3 is reaching for something far more concrete than knowledge. From a prison cell, on his knees, Paul asks the Father to bring you into actual, literal, mystical union with Christ. In your inner being. Right now. This is the boldest prayer in the New Testament. And it's being prayed for you.   In this episode we explore what it means to be overtaken by a love too wide, too long, too high, and too deep to fully explain, and why you need more than information to get there. We also talk honestly about why most of us are living as prisoners in our own dungeons of distrust, too skeptical to open ourselves to the one thing we were actually made for.   This is not a metaphor. This is the heart of the Christian life. And the door is open right now.

In Ephesians 3:1–13, the Apostle Paul—writing as a prisoner—pulls back the curtain on what he calls “the mystery.” It’s not private spirituality or individual forgiveness alone. It’s something far bigger. The mystery is that through the gospel, former enemies are made family. Jews and Gentiles, slave and free, male and female—all are united as one new humanity in Christ. God’s wisdom is not displayed through dominance or cultural power, but through a reconciled, cross-shaped Church. In a divided world, the Church becomes the stage where God shames the powers—not by winning culture wars, but by embodying unity across hostility. Don’t miss the mystery. The gospel creates a people. And when we live as one new family in Christ, we put the manifold wisdom of God on display for the world to see.

In this powerful teaching from Ephesians 2:11–22, Mike Erre explores Paul’s vision of the gospel as more than personal forgiveness. The same grace that reconciles us to God also reconciles us to one another. Jesus didn’t just save individuals. He is creating a new humanity. What if salvation isn’t only about where we go when we die, but about the kind of people we become together? What if unity across division is spiritual warfare? What if the church is meant to be a refreshing alternative to the hostility of our world? This message invites us to imagine a community where hostility dies, grace levels the ground, and Jesus forms a people who live as one.

In Ephesians 2:1–10, we’re reminded of the breathtaking contrast at the heart of the gospel: we were dead in our sin, but God made us alive in Christ. This week, guest speaker Tinika Wyatt led us through this powerful passage, inviting us to see grace not as a small or ordinary thing, but as God’s radical, life-giving work on our behalf. Salvation is not something we earn or achieve—it is God’s gift from start to finish. Out of His great love and rich mercy, God rescues us from death, raises us with Christ, and calls us His workmanship, created for good works He prepared long ago. This is uncommon grace—grace that transforms our identity, redefines our purpose, and sends us out to live fully alive in Christ and extend that same grace to others.

Gratitude doesn’t come from having more—it comes from seeing clearly what we already have in Christ. As Paul closes the opening chapter of Ephesians, he prays that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to the hope, inheritance, and power that already belong to us as God’s children. In a world that trains us to live anxious, entitled, and distracted, this passage calls us back to an inheritance mindset—one rooted in resurrection power and future hope breaking into the present. This week, we’ll explore why we are far richer than we realize, why familiarity can dull our gratitude, and how God invites us to live now as heirs of the kingdom.

Parenting is holy ground—and it’s also messy. In this House of Learning, Phil and Diane invite parents and grandparents into a hopeful, honest conversation about raising children in a culture shaped by shame, cancellation, and unresolved hurt. Together, we’ll explore how to build homes marked by forgiveness, humility, and repair; how our words and expectations shape our children’s hearts; and how to disciple rather than provoke the kids God has entrusted to us. Grounded in Scripture and decades of lived experience, this seminar introduces practical tools like “keeping short accounts,” the proper way to apologize, and The Box—a framework for nurturing children emotionally, spiritually, and relationally. Whether you’re parenting young children, teenagers, or navigating relationships with adult kids, this seminar offers wisdom, grace, and tangible next steps for cultivating a home where love, safety, and growth can flourish.

In a world marked by distraction, disappointment, and spiritual fatigue, how do we remain faithful to God, to our families, and to the Church over the long haul? Drawing from over five decades of marriage, ministry, and generational faith, Phil and Diane invite us to “tell our story” of God’s rescuing grace (Psalm 107:2) and the practices that have sustained a lifelong walk with Jesus. Through Scripture, personal testimony, and hard-won wisdom, they unpack three formative practices—obedient faith, giving our lives away, and meeting with God morning by morning—that have anchored their family through seasons of joy, suffering, doubt, and restoration. This message is a hopeful call to long obedience in the same direction, reminding us that God does not reward greatness, but faithfulness—and that staying faithful is always worth it.

Before Paul gives commands or corrections, he bursts into praise. In this opening passage of Ephesians, we’re invited to rediscover what it truly means to be “blessed”—not with ease or comfort, but with belonging. In Christ, God has poured out every spiritual blessing: choosing us, adopting us into His family, redeeming us through the blood of Jesus, and sealing us with the Holy Spirit. This sermon calls us to remember who we already are in Christ—chosen, adopted, redeemed, and secure—and to live from that identity rather than striving to earn it. We don’t leave with a to-do list, but with a name: Jesus, the blessing God has given to the world.