Watermark Radio

This week, JP walks us through the first half of Acts 16. He shows us that the helpless are the objects of God’s affection and that both hospitality and hostility display the objects of our affections. He challenges us to take an honest inventory of our affections and to grow in our generosity—and even more, our hospitality—as we strive to use God’s provision in our lives for serving others rather than serving ourselves.

The question is not whether you will make disciples; it is what kind of disciples you will make? Wes speaks to the parents at Watermark and teaches from Deuteronomy 6:4-9. The goal of discipleship is full-hearted devotion to the Lord, and the key to discipling your kids is your own transformation. It is not taking your kids to church so the pastors and experts can teach them. However, Watermark Kids does want to help partner with families in their discipleship efforts by providing resources, leaders and teachers, and community groups.

David grabs the attention of the audience by showing a rack of jerseys and clothes on stage, illustrating how we tend to imitate people we admire. He encourages kids to imitate those who follow Jesus. He teaches from Hebrew 13:7, exhorting kids to Remember, Consider, and Imitate their leaders. At Watermark, there are many kids who are leading kids. And he challenges kids to start leading today.

This week, Todd continues through Acts. Through Paul's example at the end of Acts 14, he reminds us to strengthen one another, encourage each other to continue in the faith through trials, and to hold each other accountable. Continuing on in Acts 15, we see the Council at Jerusalem. There was disagreement about whether circumcision is required for salvation. It was reaffirmed in Acts 15:11 that men are only saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody is ever saved through the Law or legalism. All men have always been saved by grace through faith.

Jeff Ward walks us through the “Parable of the Talents” found in Matthew 25:14-30. Jeff shows us how God gifted his servants with talents. In the same way, he also gifted each of us with something of tremendous value. He wants us to invest in ways that serve others and bring Him glory. Jeff discusses how God gives us all something of tremendous value, how He wants you to invest radically, and that He is responsible for the results.

While Father's Day is a day of celebration for many, it can also be a day of sadness and hurt. Wherever you are and whatever Father’s Day means to you, Todd reminds us that our earthly fathers are not a perfect reflections of our Heavenly Father, but that our Heavenly Father is a perfect example of what our earthly fathers should be. He loves you, and He wants you to ask Him for His advice every day, not just on Father’s Day.

Continuing in Acts 13 Todd talks about how we as Christians should be people of peace, even as the world moves toward greater chaos. As God's people, we are to live life and love others in a way that authenticates who God is and His love for us. That means we are to not grow weary in sharing the gospel, we are to never stop sharing our lives with other Christ followers, and we won't allow the world and all its chaos to rob us of joy.

In Acts 13, we see Paul and Barnabas head out on their first missionary journey. The people they encounter respond with humility, wanting to know more. Todd reminds us that our lives of good works should do the same as the message we share, cause people to want to know more. Both good works and God's word draw people to relationship with God. Todd invites Jeff Ward along with four external focus ministry partners to share about how the Church is doing good and discipling the community. These ministers of the gospel encourage us and share with us practical ways to be God's men and women where we are and serve our community with the gifts and resources that God has given us.

On this Baptism service we hear Paula's story of how God freed her from financial debt and grew her as a disciple. Todd reminds us that we all have a debt that we could never pay against God, but that God offers us forgiveness and freedom. We also hear Michael's story, in which, faithful people were obedient to share. Their actions affected his life which is now affecting the lives of others. In the same way, we should see our actions of faithful obedience as farther reaching than we could ever know.

Following the week of Watermark's Church Leaders Conference, Todd shares how every week at Watermark is a church leaders conference, where God's people are at work. Todd invites Blake Holmes and John McGee to share from CLC. Blake shares how in ministry, you don't teach someone to sail from the shore, but instead, you get them into the water. John shares how parenting is like watching a shot clock run down and making the best use of time with your children. And in the same way, we are to make the most of our time following Jesus.

Blake Holmes walked through Colossians 2:6-23 and showed the four dead ends to spiritual growth that Paul wanted the church at Colossae to avoid. These four dead ends are: worldly philosophy (any system that denies the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ), legalism (any attempt to earn God's favor), mysticism (religious experiences that are based on emotion, and reserved for only a select few), and asceticism (any attempt to earn God's favor through an extreme form of self-denial or punishment). Paul reminds the Colossians, as Blake reminds us, that there is one way to be right with God and find life, that is Jesus alone.

Todd describes the church at Antioch, and how we learn from them what kind of church and what kind of person God uses. He looks at Acts 11 to see the beginnings of the church. And then, he transitions to Acts 13:1-3 to see who and how the Antioch church send on mission. The prophetic, biblical teaching, disciple making, grace-filled, unified, spiritually disciplined, Holy Spirit attentive, abiding, ambitious missional Church is the church God uses to change the world.

In the midst of a season where sickness is spreading, JP teaches us about the good “infection” of Christianity that spread in Acts 11:19-30 and is still spreading today. Some of the symptoms of this good infection are that it is very contagious, it makes people hungry, and it heals. More specifically, this good infection causes those infected to want to evangelize and share the good news of Jesus, it causes those infected to be hungry for God’s Word and a deeper relationship with Him, and it causes brokenness left by sin to be healed.

Prejudice, racism, and confusion about God’s love for all people were and continues to be a problem in the church. We learn in Acts 10:1-43 how the Gospel is made known to Cornelius, a Roman Centurion, but also see how God’s love continues to be shown to Peter and the rest of the early church. As the early church had to learn to leave traditions and ingrained prejudices left over from their days before knowing Christ, the church today needs to be reminded of God’s desire for unity and oneness among all people despite traditions, pride and prejudices.

While teaching through “The Lord’s Prayer” in Matthew 6:9–15, Adam Tarnow explains that what we think about God influences our relationship with God. He teaches us that we all have a view of God that is clouded, Jesus wants to clear up our clouded view of God, and when our view of God is cleared up, it changes everything. God is not merely a reflection of our earthly father, He is the absolute perfection of our earthly father. God is like nobody we have ever met, and for that reason, we should respond by thanking him, worshiping him, and telling others about Him.

Who are you? To answer this question of eternal significance, JP walks us through Philippians 3, where he encourages us to forsake the fake identities of this world —
our accomplishments, our past, and our earthly desires. The person you really are is the person you are in eternity. What matters in heaven is what you did on earth. We want to live our lives knowing our true identity as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Who or what are you following? We all follow something. In this message, JP unpacks John 10:1-15. We may feel like we are free, but JP asks, what about freedom from anxiety, love of money, worry, approval of man, significance in children, debt, illusion of control, whatever your vice is. The enemy uses these traps to lure and ensnare us. JP helps us understand it is only in following Jesus that we can experience true freedom. Christ is our true shepherd and in Him, full life and forgiveness is found.

Jeff Parker, the Director of re:generation at the Plano campus, shares his own powerful story of confession and repentance, and shows us four traits of all disciples. All disciples have a past, must come to a place of authentic confession, must run with other disciples, and must spend their lives pursuing God's purposes. Jeff looks at the life of Matthew the tax collector (Matthew 9:9-13) to show us how to live a life marked by confession, desiring now only to be used by God for His glory and purposes.