Activate With Pastor Christian Newsome

Jesus always drew a crowd that quickly became uncontainable. His ministry outgrew homes, synagogues, and was forced to move to countrysides. The Spiritual Application is this, God always wants to take more territory in your life, if you will allow him. In this episode Pastor Christian explains how important it is to have a personal vision for your life where you are always allowing God to have more territory for greater impact.

It is only through Jesus that we receive faith and a spiritual nature. Our response should be to grow-up spiritually. In this episode, Pastor Christian shares eight specific spiritual buckets that should be filled to overflowing from 2 Peter 1:1-8.

In our first Activate podcast of 2019, Pastor Christian transparently shares how he will pursue Jesus this year through 10 distinct commitments.

In this episode of Activate, Pastor Christian shares some the highlights of 2018 at Journey Church International and provides a sneak peek at 2019.

Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." In this episode, Pastor Christian discusses the importance for every follower of Jesus to be peacemakers in the world, in their community, and in their family. You will discover that the role of making peace is easier than you think.

In this episode of Activate, Pastor Christian discusses the first message of a Christmas series entitled, “The Prince: Finding Peace This Christmas.” Pastor Christian will answer the key question, is peace possible this Christmas? We will discover that true peace cannot be based on circumstances; the foundation of our peace is found in the person of Jesus. Pastor Christian also details a Peace Plan to follow this Christmas season. https://www.takethejourney.cc/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Peace-Plan-single-sheet.pdf

The Holy Spirit fights for you to display more fruit in your life. In this episode of Activate, Pastor Christian discusses how important it is for Christians to display ALL of the fruit of the Spirit. We also discuss the value of taking a Spiritual Fruit Assessment to evaluate how we are doing in displaying the Fruit of the Spirit. Here is a link/url for the Spiritual Fruit Assessment: https://www.takethejourney.cc/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Holy-Spirit-Spiritual-Fruit-Single-Chart-V2.pdf

One of the primary goals of the Supernatural series is to help you learn to experience the Holy Spirit and to hear from him when he speaks. Sadly, the primary hindrance to hearing from the Holy Spirit is our own busyness. In the podcast today, Pastor Christian discusses different sources for hearing from the Holy Spirit and shares how to address the dysfunctional reality of the busyness in our lives.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus and reminded them that they were saved by the grace of God to do good works which He had prepared in advance. Simply stated, Christians are “saved to serve.” In this episode of the podcast, we continue with our series Supernatural: Capturing the Power of The Holy Spirit. We discuss how important it is that every follower of Jesus exercise the gifts that the Holy Spirit generously distributes to serve and strengthen God’s people through God’s church.

Have you ever found it difficult to understand who the Holy Spirit is and what he does for your life? If so, you are not alone. Christian theologian A.W. Tozer wrote, “The idea of the Spirit held by the average church member is so vague as to be nearly non-existent.” In this episode Pastor Christian will discuss what and how the Holy Spirit accomplishes in our life by reviewing the Holy Spirit Cheat Sheet. Even more, he will unpack who the Holy Spirit is and why a proper perspective of him is so vitally important for our relationship with God. Copy this link and paste it in your web browser to download the Holy Spirit Cheat Sheet: https://www.takethejourney.cc/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Half-Page-Holy-Spirit-Cheat-Sheet.pdf

In this episode of the Activate Podcast, Pastor Christian introduces a new series on the Holy Spirit. He begins the conversation by talking about three things we need to know about the Holy Spirit so that we can effectively capture his power. Throughout the series Pastor Christian will also discuss the purpose of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the gifts he gives, the fruit he produces, and the strength he provides.

In this episode of Activate, we wrap up our Letters From Jesus series by taking a closer look at the church in Laodicea. In his letter, Jesus criticized the church for being lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. Jesus showed the Laodicean church, and will show us today, three areas that will reveal the temperature of our heart spiritually. We will discover that like the waters of ancient Laodicea, we may sometimes feel “useless” spiritually, yet Jesus never stops pursuing and inviting us into a deeper relationship with him.

Do you trust God in every area of your life? In the ancient letter to the church at Philadelphia, Jesus is revealed as the one who could be completely trusted. In this episode of the Activate Podcast, Pastor Christian discusses how to reveal areas of your life that you still do not trust Jesus completely. Also, he shows us how to search the Bible so that we can develop deeper trust and how to lean on others who can become "pillars of peace" in our lives.

Have you ever felt like Jesus was absent at the time you needed him the most? Have you ever unknowingly placed limitations on Jesus’ ability to deliver you from your difficult circumstances? This week, we are pausing our current series Letters From Jesus to have a conversation around Dr. Tara Jenkin’s message from Sunday. In her message entitled, “Thriller,” Dr. Jenkins detailed the narrative of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead found in John 11. We will discover that Jesus desires to move in our life to ultimately display the glory of God and to demonstrate His faithfulness.

Life with Jesus is a marathon, not a sprint. Every day, we should be striving to grow closer to Jesus. Spiritual growth takes time, and in spite of our best efforts, it will not happen overnight. In this episode, Pastor Christian digs deeper into Jesus' letter to the church at Sardis approximately 2,000 years ago. Jesus challenged the early Christians to not give up growing in their faith and to finish what they had started. This challenge for spiritual growth remains for us today.

We love to receive recognition and rewards for accomplishments we have achieved. From athletic achievements to career successes, rewards are symbols of victory and acknowledge the hard work and discipline required for the accomplishment. In this podcast, Pastor Christian discusses the future evaluation of our deeds both good and bad and the rewards we can receive for our life on this earth.

The church at Pergamum was immersed in a culture that was absorbed by the worship of knowledge, false god’s and Caesar. Jesus wrote the church a letter and challenged them to be victorious by remaining true to his name without renouncing their faith. This same challenge exists for the church today. In todays podcast, Pastor Christian challenges us to guard our hearts closely so that Satan cannot establish a throne.

The church at Smryna was known for the suffering they experienced because of their faith in God. Jesus wrote a letter to encourage them to endure until the end so that they would receive the victor's crown. This week on the podcast, we will discover that following Jesus is not always easy and may bring trials and suffering. However, we should embrace and endure our suffering so that we will also receive the reward of eternal life with Jesus.

The distinguishing trait of the church at Ephesus was that they had lost their first love and that they were simply going through the motions of "doing" church. In this episode, Pastor Christian continues his series entitled "Letters From Jesus" and challenges us to avoid simply going through the motions of our faith.

This week, Pastor Christian launches a new season of Activate podcasts at Journey Church International. We will begin a dialogue about our series entitled "Letters from Jesus." In this series we will take a closer look at the seven letters that Jesus wrote to the early churches found in Revelation 2-3. In this episode, Pastor Christian will show us through the life of John, the author of Revelation, that our "spirit to receive" must be greater than our desire to retreat when life is not meeting our expectations.