Woodside Bible Church Lapeer

We know how to recognize and award those who make movies, play sports, or work in different areas of industry. We have Hall of Fames while we nod our heads in approval at that person who we believe deserves our applauds. Culturally, we’ve learned how to honor and celebrate people, but what about our leaders in the church? Do we really know how to honor our pastors well? We continue our series, Church: Why Bother?, where together we learn about the beautiful design God created for YOU and His church. In the book, 1 Timothy, the apostle Paul writes about worship gatherers, qualifications for leaders, dealing with teaching doctrine, and how the church should honor their pastors. If pastors follow the instructions from Paul to Timothy, then they will be leading in a manner that is glorifying to God. If pastors are serving or ruling in a way that is glorying to God, then they are truly a gift to the church. Listen to our newest message of the series, Pastors and the Church, and see how godly pastors are a gift to the church!

Family. That words will make each person think of something different! Some may think of large holidays parties with kids running around and people talking over each other, while others may cringe a bit thinking about loss or pain from family. Family is different for everyone, but including God! His plan for the church was to be a spiritual family. So, how do we address the challenges that come from the many types of people in a myriad of circumstances in the church? There are different ages, genders, cultures, and socio-economic conditions. How do we relate with one another in a way that brings glory to Jesus? We continue our series, Church: Why Bother?, where together we learn about the beautiful design God created for YOU and His church. In the book, 1 Timothy, the apostle Paul writes that the actions of the church could administer God’s care for His people, and influence how the unchurched community around them would respond to the gospel. Through the study of scripture, we can ask ourselves how do we relate as a family of God? Listen to our newest message of the series, The Family in the Church, and appreciate that the church relates as a family of God.

The last few years have been disorienting at times for many as we have watched Christian “celebrities” and pastors announce that they were no longer Christians or become disqualified for ministry due to moral failings and sinful leadership practices. It has left many of us shocked, disheartened, and searching to understand what has led to all of this. Many may have seen them as role models, but now they have fallen off that pedestal. If their faith didn’t make it, how can mine? How do we watch our life and doctrine so it stays strong in every season? We continue our series, Church: Why Bother?, where together we learn about the beautiful design God created for YOU and His church. In the book, 1 Timothy, the apostle Paul writes this letter to help instruct Timothy on how to lead the church, knowing how disorienting spiritual abandonment can be for a church community, so he seeks to help Timothy and his congregation know how to keep the faith and not depart from it. Listen to our newest message of the series, How do we Keep The Faith?, and learn how to keep the faith, watch your life and doctrine closely.

If you were to ask the people around you to describe you, how do you think they would respond? Would they describe you by your career, that you are funny or helpful, or possibly by your hobbies? Many people from different areas of your life may describe you in different ways based on how they know you. But, above all else would you be known for? Earthly traits or by your Christ-likeness? We continue our series, Church: Why Bother?, where together we learn about the beautiful design God created for YOU and His church. In the book of 1 Timothy, Paul lays out a model of behavior for both men and women within the church. Does your life reflect Christ and the Gospel, or the culture we live in? Listen to our newest message of the series, What Should a Christian be Known For?, and understand that Christian men and women should be known for their gospel-centered behavior and reject cultural stereotypes!

Today’s society continues to grow more and more individualistic. Be unique. Do it yourself. You can do anything! The disposition of individualism is that a person speaks or acts exclusively for himself with no consideration or reference to other people. This mentally has slowly crept its way into church culture as well. That is not the nature and tone we find in God’s Word. The reality is that the forces of our individualistic culture have deeply influenced the way we pray, and even what we pray about. Despite culture today, what does scripture say about what and how should the church pray? We continue our series, Church: Why Bother?, where together we learn about the beautiful design God created for YOU and His church. Paul gives Timothy a list of specific instructions on how to lead out the worship gatherings of the church he pastored in Ephesus. Listen to our newest message of the series, What the Church Does: Pray, and see that when we gather, we pray!

What happens when we neglect the central reality of the church? What occurs when we discount, ignore, or abandon the Gospel? As we study Paul’s letter to Timothy, we’re looking at the church itself; how to stay focused on “making sure the main thing is the main thing” rather than taking eyes off what is truly most important. Why should we hold fast to the Gospel? We continue our series, Church: Why Bother?, where together we learn about the beautiful design God created for YOU and His church. Everything in the church comes back to and must center around the good news of Jesus Christ. In fact, when the church departs from the Gospel, trouble abounds. So, this letter, and this passage specifically, is setting up the whole book to tell us to hold fast to the gospel. Listen to our newest message of the series, Hold the Gospel, and truly hold fast onto the lifesaving Gospel!

In 2021, a polling organization published a report revealed that over the last 6 decades the percentage of American adults who belong to a local church dropped from 70% to 49%. It seems that an entire nation is asking a critical question about church…why bother? Many of us often wonder if going to church is really worth it. We can often fill our Sundays with errands, sports games, and kid’s activities—putting church and its people on the back burner. But what if we told you God has a beautiful design for the church that very much includes YOU? The book of 1 Timothy speaks to these truths. And if each of us submits to them, our church will function as the loving family God intends. One that beautifully represents the truth of God’s merciful plan of salvation through Jesus. Join us each week as we look at the answers to the question, Church: Why Bother? Listen to our first message of the series, What is the Church?, and learn how the church is a family that upholds the truth and spreads the gospel.

Christmas traditions are great! But how many of us have found ourselves at some point in a holiday season carrying on “the tradition,” but the reality is very different? Traditions sometimes can cause us to focus on the “joy” of Christmas while ignoring the harder or more painful parts of the season. This only makes the season harder and more challenging. We’re told, “it’s the most wonderful time of the year,” but what do we do when it doesn’t feel like it? We continue our Christmas series, Fulfilled: His Promise Kept, Our Longing Met, where we will discover how Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to us. While exploring scripture that is not part of the “traditional” Christmas texts, we’re going to see, it has a lot to say to us when dealing with the painful parts of the holiday season and our lives in general. Jesus’ birth doesn’t ignore the reality of pain or suffering, it highlights it. Listen to our fourth message in our series, A Blue Christmas, and embrace that in Jesus, our mourning turns to hope! 

Have you ever felt trapped in a situation? You feel like you are so far gone, or the circumstances are irredeemable. While in those moments of desperation or possibly years of trials, how often do we try to just solve all our problems on our own? We try to muster up all our strength, just to feel exhausted and back at the bottom. And possibly, how often do we even acknowledge our need to be saved? It shows a weakness which is not popular in our culture today. However, it is only through salvation that we truly can find freedom! We continue our Christmas series, Fulfilled: His Promise Kept, Our Longing Met, where we will discover how Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to us. In scripture, Matthew takes great care to help us see how Jesus’ birth fulfilled the promises of God by bringing deliverance to God’s people back then and today. In Jesus, God offers you escape from exile and restoration back into his family. In Jesus, God is calling you back home. Will you receive the invitation? Listen to our first message in our series, A New Exodus, and find security in knowing that through Jesus, God offers deliverance!

What’s the greatest Christmas gift you’ve ever received? Was it an Xbox, a vacation, or a red rider BB gun like in The Christmas Story? When I think back on the greatest Christmas gifts I’ve received, what made them great was not what they were or how much they cost but who they were connected to or came from. What made them great was the person I received them from rather than the possession itself. Relationship changed everything! We continue our Christmas series, Fulfilled: His Promise Kept. Our Longing Met., where we will discover how Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to us. As we look at our section of the Christmas story today, we find a similar reality, examining Jesus’s birth when the Wisemen come to find Jesus born in Bethlehem. Listen to our second message in our series, A King from Bethlehem?, and recognize that in Jesus, the least can become the greatest!

Everywhere we turn, it seems someone or something is promising to finally give us the satisfaction, happiness, and peace we long for. Yet from advertisements to political campaigns, these promises – and the empty places within us – remain unfilled. Throughout His Word, God makes promises, too – the kind that connect with our deepest needs, longings, and desires. But in today’s day and age we can’t help but wonder, will He actually keep them? Today we begin our Christmas series, Fulfilled: His Promise Kept, Our Longing Met, where we will discover how Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to us. Together, we look through the book of Matthew’s narrative and see that he has given us an account of how Jesus has fulfilled the signs of Isaiah’s prophecy. Listen to our first message in our series, A Surprise Arrival, and see how in Jesus, God comes to be with us!

How often do we do a double check before we leave the house, go on vacation, or during prep, saying “Do I have everything I need?” We want to make sure nothing is missing, and we are good to go! The question is worth asking about our lives, especially in regard to our spiritual pursuits. Do we have everything we need to flourish and to overcome in this world? We conclude our series, The Followers Trail Guide: Navigating the Path of Jesus, following Jesus through his last hours and teaching with his disciples in the book of John known as “The Farewell Discourse.” His concluding message to his disciples is aimed and driving home in their hearts and lives that they have everything they need because of what he has done. Jesus wants us not just to intellectually affirm the truth, he wants us to believe and experience it in every area of his life. As we conclude, we’re going to see how he equips and prepares us to walk with courage because we have everything we need. Listen with us in our newest message, Walking in the Way, and rejoice that Jesus’ victory provides us everything we need to follow him.

One of the most mysterious aspects of the Christian faith actually revolves around one of the persons of the Trinity - the Holy Spirit. Questions arise like, is it a force or maybe like the force? Is the Holy Spirit an “it” or the Holy Spirit a “he?” Even beyond “what the Holy Spirit is,” or the better question, “who the Holy Spirit is?” What is the role of the Holy Spirit in the world and our lives? Part of what adds to the questions surrounding the Holy Spirit is that different Christian traditions place different emphases on the person and the role of the Holy Spirit. So, how do we answer these questions? We continue our series, The Followers Trail Guide: Navigating the Path of Jesus, following Jesus through his last hours and teaching with his disciples in the book of John known as “The Farewell Discourse.” As we examine today’s text, Jesus brings his most straightforward teaching on the role of the Holy Spirit for the way ahead. Listen with us in our newest message, The Way of the Spirit, and learn how the ministry of the Holy Spirit spotlights the Son!

Have you ever felt unprepared in a situation? Maybe you didn’t realize that would happen or possibly someone else didn’t prepare you correctly for what was to come! Some have felt this way about becoming a Christian! Maybe you didn’t realize when you signed up that spiritual victory comes through carrying your own cross. Is it worth it? We continue our series, The Followers Trail Guide: Navigating the Path of Jesus, following Jesus through his last hours and teaching with his disciples in the book of John known as “The Farewell Discourse.” As we examine today’s text, hours before Jesus is to be crucified at Calvary, he wanted his disciples to know what to expect from the world and how he would help them through all the hostility they would face. Listen with us in our newest message, Haters and the Helper, and see how knowing our opposition and our support helps disciples stay on the way.

So, what is the foundation for all who profess faith in Christ? What is the source of living a life that reflects the things Jesus teaches? While this may seem a bit too simple, too religious, too churchy, the answer remains - Jesus Himself! We continue our series, The Followers Trail Guide: Navigating the Path of Jesus, following Jesus through his last hours and teaching with his disciples in the book of John known as “The Farewell Discourse.” As we examine today’s text, we’ll find two significant ways that Jesus shapes our life in community with other believers, by defining our definition of love and redefining the nature of our relationships. Listen with us in our newest message, The Way of Love, and see how walking in the way of love looks far different than we imagine.

Have you ever noticed that in the Bible fruit is frequently used in parables, stories, or symbolism? Fruit and farming were common things among the people of Bible, so it was an easy topic to relate to in a message. While scripture was written to the people of those days, it was also written for us! So, it is important for us to understand just exactly what Christ means when posed with the question; “How do we produce fruitful lives?” We continue our series, The Followers Trail Guide: Navigating the Path of Jesus, following Jesus through his last hours and teaching with his disciples in the book of John known as “The Farewell Discourse.” In these particular verses in John, we see several key aspects of what discipleship of Jesus looks like. Listen to our newest message of the series, Abiding in the Way, and recognize how disciples of Jesus produce fruitful lives!

In both Christian and non-Christian settings, Jesus is a more well-known name! People know about Jesus and the stories about him. Similarly, God is also known throughout the world. But there’s one person of the Trinity that seems to be more of a mystery: the Holy Spirit! Even many within the church don’t fully understand who and what the Holy Spirit really does! We continue our series, The Followers Trail Guide: Navigating the Path of Jesus, following Jesus through his last hours and teaching with his disciples in the book of John known as “The Farewell Discourse.” Through diving into scripture, we unpack the question, what active role does the Holy Spirit have in your everyday life as a believer? When you think about your days, is the Holy Spirit an active participant in your day-to-day life? Listen to our newest message of the series, A Helper for the Way, and find comfort that Jesus Sends the Spirit to Help us on the Way!

Throughout the years, most have tried to find the meaning and purpose of life. They pose questions like - Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? Who am I? How should I live? And statistics prove that year after year, more people are looking for those answers outside of the church and God, relying on and believing in money, self, power, politics, or something else! One reason why people are so worked up is because their belief — their faith — in all these other things is letting them down. We continue our series, The Followers Trail Guide: Navigating the Path of Jesus, following Jesus through His last hours and teaching with His disciples in the book of John known as “The Farewell Discourse.” Here in scripture, we will answer the question: What are we supposed to do when the way we were headed doesn’t seem certain anymore? Listen to our newest message of the series, Jesus the Way, and see that believing in Jesus is still the only way!

Do the people around you know who you follow? The things that interest us tend to take priority in our lives; our children, our job, favorite sports team, a hobby, or even favorite series of books. We may have pictures, posters, shirts, and even often have conversations about whatever we follow! As a Christian, can those around us also see that we are followers of Jesus Christ? We continue our series, The Followers Trail Guide: Navigating the Path of Jesus, following Jesus through His last hours and teaching with His disciples in the book of John known as “The Farewell Discourse.” Listen to our newest message of the series, Which Way?, and realize that the world knows who we follow by how we love one another!