The thrill of a fresh start is easy to love. The quiet grind of staying when it’s ordinary, costly, or unclear—that’s where character is forged. We walk through Acts 20 to trace how a fragile young church learned to endure without fireworks, celebrity, or momentum: through a presence that steadies, a humility that tells the truth, and a grace that keeps working when the room empties.

We start with the human pull toward beginnings: engagements, baptisms, new roles. Then we move with Paul through cities where he doesn’t pitch a plan so much as lend his shoulder. The Greek sense of “encourage” is to strengthen and comfort, and that embodied care sets the tone. A late-night gathering turns tragic when a young man falls from a third-story window, and Luke—the physician-writer watching it all—records his death and restoration. The point is not to crown Paul; it’s to reveal a Spirit that remains when leaders move on.

From there, we press into leadership with a different currency. Paul doesn’t wave results; he invites people to remember his tears, meals, conflicts, and humility. He confesses the Spirit is sending him toward suffering and treats hardship as confirmation of calling, not a detour to avoid. Integrity shows up as alignment between belief and behavior, even when change is slow. Paul’s charge to elders is razor clear: guard your heart, then guard the flock. The church is a blood-bought people, not a brand or platform. Distortion is not harmless; it’s drift back toward old masters. Vigilance becomes love with a backbone—resisting gossip, celebrity, and cynicism while elevating Christ above preference.

We close with four practices for a steady community: stay long enough to be formed, live transparently so your life—not your image—can be seen, guard carefully to shape a healthy culture, and release trustingly when seasons change. Across it all, one anchor holds: grace builds what leadership can’t, protects what pressure threatens, and keeps us when impressiveness runs dry. If this season feels heavy or unsure, you’re not failing; you’re in the space where endurance is formed. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs courage to stay, and leave a review with the one practice you’ll put into play this week.

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If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing to Madison Church on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback means the world to us, so please take a moment to leave a review and share the podcast with your friends and family.

For inquiries, suggestions, or collaboration opportunities, please reach out to us at help@madisonchurch.com.

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This podcast is intended for general informational purposes only. The views expressed by the hosts or guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Madison Church. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. For detailed information regarding our terms of use and privacy policy, please visit our website.

Thank you for being part of the Madison Church community! We appreciate your support.

Ever been sure you handled conflict “the right way” and still couldn’t land on the same page? We explore one of Scripture’s most honest moments: when Paul and Barnabas, two trusted leaders with years of shared wins, hit a sharp disagreement over John Mark and choose to part ways. Luke gives us no juicy motives and crowns no winner. Instead, he shows us what comes next: the mission doesn’t stall. It multiplies.

We walk through how Paul and Silas press on, Timothy joins, and new churches take shape—while Barnabas invests in Mark, the once unreliable companion who becomes a trusted partner, a Gospel author, and a pillar in the early church. Along the way we tackle hard questions: Can separation be faithful? What does obedience look like when clarity never arrives? How do we release the need to be right and still take responsibility for wisdom and care?

This conversation is both pastoral and practical. We talk about naming grief when relationships change, refusing to recruit sides, and trusting God with unfinished people, including ourselves. We challenge the efficiency mindset that confuses speed with faith and anxiety with discernment, and we draw hope from a God who keeps working beyond our control and on timelines we don’t choose. If your life holds unresolved endings at home, work, or church, this story offers permission to be faithful without being vindicated, and courage to believe that unfinished does not mean failed.

If this episode resonates, share it with a friend who needs hope in a hard season, subscribe for more thoughtful teaching, and leave a review to help others find the show.

Support the show

If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing to Madison Church on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback means the world to us, so please take a moment to leave a review and share the podcast with your friends and family.

For inquiries, suggestions, or collaboration opportunities, please reach out to us at help@madisonchurch.com.

For the latest updates and behind-the-scenes content, follow us on social media:

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New episodes are released every Monday, so mark your calendars and join us weekly!

If you'd like to support the show, you can make a donation here. Your generosity helps us continue to bring you meaningful content.

This podcast is intended for general informational purposes only. The views expressed by the hosts or guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Madison Church. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. For detailed information regarding our terms of use and privacy policy, please visit our website.

Thank you for being part of the Madison Church community! We appreciate your support.

A young movement is spreading fast across the Roman world—and friction follows. When believers from different cultures collide in Antioch and Jerusalem, a hard question rises to the surface: do Gentile Christians need to carry the full weight of the Law to truly belong? We walk through Acts 15 and the Jerusalem council, where testimony, Scripture, and courage converge to protect the heart of the gospel.

We share how Paul and Barnabas arrive in Jerusalem with stories of Gentile transformation, how the church chooses to listen before judging, and how fear of Rome’s power feeds the impulse to control. Then Peter reframes the debate: God knows the heart, has given the Holy Spirit without distinction, and saves by grace—not by a yoke no one could bear. James anchors the decision in the prophets, arguing that welcoming outsiders was always part of God’s plan. Together they remove barriers to belonging while offering practical guidance to avoid idolatry and preserve table fellowship across cultures.

Along the way, we draw out four enduring practices: remember your faith when anxiety rises, love your neighbor by clearing the path to Jesus, resist legalism that sneaks in as “standards,” and name modern idols that compete with allegiance to Christ—success, power, identity, or even ministry itself. If you’ve wrestled with where conviction meets compassion, this conversation offers a path forward: clarity on essentials, wisdom on non-essentials, and charity in all things. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review telling us which barrier you think the church should remove first.

Support the show

If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing to Madison Church on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback means the world to us, so please take a moment to leave a review and share the podcast with your friends and family.

For inquiries, suggestions, or collaboration opportunities, please reach out to us at help@madisonchurch.com.

For the latest updates and behind-the-scenes content, follow us on social media:

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New episodes are released every Monday, so mark your calendars and join us weekly!

If you'd like to support the show, you can make a donation here. Your generosity helps us continue to bring you meaningful content.

This podcast is intended for general informational purposes only. The views expressed by the hosts or guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Madison Church. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. For detailed information regarding our terms of use and privacy policy, please visit our website.

Thank you for being part of the Madison Church community! We appreciate your support.

What if the clearest next step is simply to go—without a map, a timeline, or a promise of applause? We take you to Antioch, where an unglamorous team of teachers and prophets fasts, prays, and hears the Spirit say just seven disruptive words: “Set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work.” No itinerary. No metrics. Just obedience. That choice launches a shift from reaction to persecution toward intentional mission, and it challenges our modern reflex to measure faithfulness by momentum.

As the journey reaches Cyprus, we meet Bar-Jesus, a polished insider who speaks fluent faith while quietly bending truth around power. Luke’s insight cuts deep: resistance to God’s work often comes as subtle redirection, not open hostility. Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, confronts with clarity, and the result isn’t spectacle for its own sake. The governor believes not because of a dramatic sign, but because he is astonished at the teaching about the Lord. Signs may expose deception; teaching forms faith that lasts. Along the way, we explore why posture beats strategy, why availability matters more than outcomes, and how discernment helps us navigate half-truths delivered with confidence.

We don’t tie a bow on the story. Luke refuses tidy endings, and that’s the point. The earliest church was formed in the discomfort of the unfinished—trusting God when clarity was scarce and applause absent. That pattern still holds: ordinary conversations about Jesus, generosity without recognition, staying put in hard places, and praying more when the Spirit speaks. Communion reframes our expectations too: the cross looked like failure before it became victory. Trust comes before understanding, and the “best” God intends may pass through pain before it bears fruit. If your story feels unresolved, you are not off course. You might be right where the Spirit leads.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs courage for the next faithful step, and leave a review to help others find these conversations.

Support the show

If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing to Madison Church on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback means the world to us, so please take a moment to leave a review and share the podcast with your friends and family.

For inquiries, suggestions, or collaboration opportunities, please reach out to us at help@madisonchurch.com.

For the latest updates and behind-the-scenes content, follow us on social media:

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New episodes are released every Monday, so mark your calendars and join us weekly!

If you'd like to support the show, you can make a donation here. Your generosity helps us continue to bring you meaningful content.

This podcast is intended for general informational purposes only. The views expressed by the hosts or guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Madison Church. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. For detailed information regarding our terms of use and privacy policy, please visit our website.

Thank you for being part of the Madison Church community! We appreciate your support.

What do you do when the results don’t match your prayers? We walk through Acts 12 with clear eyes and an open heart, tracing the jarring contrast between James’ execution and Peter’s surprising escape, then zooming out to ask what genuine faithfulness looks like when outcomes diverge. Along the way, we confront our cultural reflex to equate success with virtue and suffering with failure, and we trade quick fixes for a deeper, steadier trust.

Together we unpack Luke’s deliberate storytelling: the same church, the same faith, radically different endings—and no blame game. We sit with the discomfort and discover why uneven outcomes aren’t proof of an absent God but the very soil where faith is formed. Then we turn to Herod’s shimmering moment of glory, the seduction of applause, and the quiet corrosion of character. With help from Josephus’ history, we draw a sharp contrast between shiny competence and the inner life that actually lasts, naming common patterns leaders fall into when power becomes identity.

By the close, the line that matters most rises to the surface: “The word of God continued to increase and spread.” Not through dominance or control, but through endurance and quiet obedience. We connect that ancient truth to everyday practice—praying when answers stall, showing up without applause, staying present in messy relationships, and choosing long obedience over loud momentum. If you’re hungry for a resilient faith that can hold tension, withstand headlines, and keep going when the plan isn’t clear, this conversation will steady your steps. Listen, share with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help others find the show.

Support the show

If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing to Madison Church on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback means the world to us, so please take a moment to leave a review and share the podcast with your friends and family.

For inquiries, suggestions, or collaboration opportunities, please reach out to us at help@madisonchurch.com.

For the latest updates and behind-the-scenes content, follow us on social media:

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New episodes are released every Monday, so mark your calendars and join us weekly!

If you'd like to support the show, you can make a donation here. Your generosity helps us continue to bring you meaningful content.

This podcast is intended for general informational purposes only. The views expressed by the hosts or guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Madison Church. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. For detailed information regarding our terms of use and privacy policy, please visit our website.

Thank you for being part of the Madison Church community! We appreciate your support.

Movements rarely grow the way we plan them. In Acts 11, we watch grace move ahead of structure as scattered believers carry the message of Jesus into Antioch, a bustling hub where cultural lines blur and new possibilities open. What happens next is not a victory lap but a blueprint for long-term faithfulness: leaders who refuse to grasp at control, a community that chooses slow formation over quick acclaim, and generosity that binds people once divided by history and habit.

We walk through the turning points. Barnabas arrives not with a clipboard but with discernment, looking for “evidence of grace.” Instead of capturing the movement, he encourages it, then travels to Tarsus to bring Saul back to teach alongside him for a year. Their shared leadership reframes authority as service, collaboration, and trust. It’s leadership without anxiety—confident enough to multiply itself and humble enough to celebrate what God has already begun through ordinary people. Along the way, we talk about how to organize around grace, not manage it, and why that shift matters for churches, teams, and any community trying to follow the Spirit’s lead.

When a prophet warns of famine, Antioch acts—no delay, no theatrics, just clear-eyed generosity. Each gives as they are able to support believers in Judea, a stunning reversal of social boundaries that once kept these groups apart. This is where transformation becomes visible: resources stop being private possessions and start functioning as tools for shared survival and mutual care. We offer a simple practice to carry forward this posture—meet one real need this week without being asked or praised—and reflect on how communion forms us into a people who belong to Christ and therefore to one another.

If this conversation helps you rethink leadership, generosity, or the shape of community, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway so others can find it too.

Support the show

If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing to Madison Church on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback means the world to us, so please take a moment to leave a review and share the podcast with your friends and family.

For inquiries, suggestions, or collaboration opportunities, please reach out to us at help@madisonchurch.com.

For the latest updates and behind-the-scenes content, follow us on social media:

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New episodes are released every Monday, so mark your calendars and join us weekly!

If you'd like to support the show, you can make a donation here. Your generosity helps us continue to bring you meaningful content.

This podcast is intended for general informational purposes only. The views expressed by the hosts or guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Madison Church. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. For detailed information regarding our terms of use and privacy policy, please visit our website.

Thank you for being part of the Madison Church community! We appreciate your support.

What if the thing you “protect” most is silently telling the world what you worship? We explore how Advent pressure exposes our true priorities and why the Magi’s long, ordinary journey reframes generosity as a truthful act of worship—not a performance. Outsiders notice the star and move; insiders cling to familiarity; Herod hears the same news and tightens his grip. That split-screen reveals a deeper diagnosis: fear imitates worship without surrender, while trust begins with attention and moves us toward joyful obedience.

We walk through Matthew 2 and slow down at a crucial detail: the Magi bow before they give. Their gifts—gold for kingship, frankincense for divinity, myrrh for suffering—are not payments to earn favor but confessions of belief. We also correct the nostalgic timeline: no manger scene here, but a home and a toddler. The wonder has cooled, the dust has settled, and still they kneel. Real worship often lives there, in patient faithfulness that persists when the spotlight fades.

From there, we connect Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 to everyday choices: where your treasure is, your heart will follow. Earthly security feels solid because it is visible and controllable, yet that very control makes it fragile. Heavenly treasure requires trust, which is why it endures. If holding tight feels safer, generosity will always look like risk. If God is our security, open hands become wise. We offer a practical step to reorient your life: name one place where fear is steering your finances and practice quiet, intentional generosity there—receiving before responding, letting giving reshape your heart rather than prove your devotion.

If this conversation helps you notice, name, and reorder what you truly treasure, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. What’s the one area you’ll open your hands this week?

Support the show

If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing to Madison Church on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback means the world to us, so please take a moment to leave a review and share the podcast with your friends and family.

For inquiries, suggestions, or collaboration opportunities, please reach out to us at help@madisonchurch.com.

For the latest updates and behind-the-scenes content, follow us on social media:

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New episodes are released every Monday, so mark your calendars and join us weekly!

If you'd like to support the show, you can make a donation here. Your generosity helps us continue to bring you meaningful content.

This podcast is intended for general informational purposes only. The views expressed by the hosts or guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Madison Church. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. For detailed information regarding our terms of use and privacy policy, please visit our website.

Thank you for being part of the Madison Church community! We appreciate your support.

The holidays can feel like a collision—warm lights and hard memories, generosity campaigns and a quiet fear that there still won’t be enough. We lean into that tension and ask a harder question: what would it take to move from being inspired by generosity to becoming intentional about it? Starting with Advent’s core meaning—waiting—we explore why “no room at the inn” is more than a nativity detail. It’s a mirror for our scarcity mindset and a signpost to a different economy.

We trace the human tendency to mistrust the Host through Genesis: grasping in Eden, rivalry with Cain and Abel, consolidation at Babel, and Abraham and Sarah’s shortcut with Hagar. Each story shows how trying to manufacture blessing unravels us. Then we turn to Israel’s laws of gleaning in Deuteronomy, where God reorders life around margin—leave something for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow. This is practical, local, and relational generosity, built on memory: remember slavery, remember redemption, and let remembrance shape how you give your time, money, and attention.

From there, we unpack 2 Corinthians 9 as a grounded blueprint for giving: decide in your heart, give cheerfully without pressure, trust God’s provision, practice wisdom without weaponizing scrutiny, refuse strings attached, and build intention into your calendar and budget. Along the way we address the pain many feel around church and money, and we offer a path that centers love, trust, and proximity to real needs. Love gave first. That’s the pattern that breaks scarcity and turns resources into good news.

If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs encouragement this season, and leave a review to help others find it. Then tell us: what intentional step toward generosity will you take this week?

Support the show

If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing to Madison Church on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback means the world to us, so please take a moment to leave a review and share the podcast with your friends and family.

For inquiries, suggestions, or collaboration opportunities, please reach out to us at help@madisonchurch.com.

For the latest updates and behind-the-scenes content, follow us on social media:

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New episodes are released every Monday, so mark your calendars and join us weekly!

If you'd like to support the show, you can make a donation here. Your generosity helps us continue to bring you meaningful content.

This podcast is intended for general informational purposes only. The views expressed by the hosts or guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Madison Church. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. For detailed information regarding our terms of use and privacy policy, please visit our website.

Thank you for being part of the Madison Church community! We appreciate your support.