This week we also announced the launch of the VOX Community Teaching Team! Karrie Garcia reminded us of the awesome responsibility we have as Jesus followers. As background, she recalled Matthew 22, where Jesus was portrayed as having a growing anger at the religious “elite” at the time, who were manipulating God’s word to place themselves above others. Jesus detested this misuse of scripture and advocated for a different expression of faith. That context plays directly into Matthew 25:14-28, th...
Aug 09, 2017•59 min
At this critical juncture for the Vox Community, Tim Muehlhoff directs our attention to Romans 8:31-39, in which Paul writes his brothers and sisters in the early church who were struggling with their faith in the face of hardships. In difficult times, we rely on God to provide answers that we want – to cure an illness, to give us a new job, etc. What do we do, however, when God doesn’t give us what we want? According to Paul, we should remember God’s love shown through Jesus Christ trumps anyth...
Aug 07, 2017•45 min
Ronny Roa teaches through Psalm 100, illuminating how thankfulness to God acts as a sacrifice. And that ultimately that thankfulness leads us closer to relationship with him. Would love to see your comments and thoughts below! Learn more about VOX Community: www.voxoc.com Like VOX Community on Facebook: www.facebook.com/voxcommunity Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/voxcommunity Follow VOX Community on Instagram: www.instagram.com/voxcommunity Say Something! info@voxoc.com Watch from home or...
Aug 07, 2017•49 min
Mike Erre makes a special announcement about the future of VOX Community. Stay tuned for more details to follow in the coming weeks regarding the future of VOX Community.
Jul 17, 2017•33 min
In the Sermon on the Mount series, Mike Erre addresses the heavy topic of forgiveness. Citing parables and biblical examples, he identifies the scriptural approach to forgiveness. We learn forgiveness is not necessarily a one-time act. It is often a process. Reconciliation is the ideal, but not necessarily the outcome. Condoning poor behavior is not required, and boundaries must be set. Forgiveness doesn’t mean you will forget the offense. It is different than getting justice and consequences. I...
Jul 07, 2017•1 hr 5 min
This week, Mike continued his series on Jesus’ revolution. Specifically, Mike focused on a misunderstood part of the Beatitudes, when Jesus taught that those who were angry with their brother would be subject to judgment, likening such anger to murder. Superficially, this passage appears to provide an onerous law, setting us up for failure. But Jesus was instead focusing on our heart condition, not making a rule; following a law prohibiting murder is easy for most, but living without anger in ou...
Jun 30, 2017•57 min
Join us on Facebook Thursday around 1130am where Mike answers questions from your submissions! VOX Questions - Prayer, LGBTQ, suffering, personal change, religious differences. - June 22, 2017 1. Why do you pray to Jesus when He clearly instructs us to pray to God his father? 2. Will LGBT ever receive the same grace & full inclusion in the church as people that have been divorced? It's very confusing & irritating that while divorce is very clearly against God's, Jesus' & other biblic...
Jun 23, 2017•17 min
Would love to see your comments and thoughts below! Learn more about VOX Community: www.voxoc.com Like VOX Community on Facebook: www.facebook.com/voxcommunity Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/voxcommunity Follow VOX Community on Instagram: www.instagram.com/voxcommunity Say Something! info@voxoc.com Watch from home or on your mobile device LIVE on Sundays at 9am on Facebook: www.voxoc.com/live VOX Community is a church expression of the VOX Podcast with Mike Erre that began in the late spr...
Jun 23, 2017•57 min
In the Beatitudes (Matthew, Chapter 5) Jesus had a discussion with the Pharisees, who had accused Him of being a heretic by trying to abolish (nullify) the law. But in the conversation he confirmed that He was actually committed to all laws, whether they be “light” or “heavy” (minor or serious). In fact, His purpose for coming was to fulfill Torah (show it in fullness). He said that not even the lightest law will disappear; anyone who tries to do away with the least of laws will be the least in ...
Jun 21, 2017•1 hr
Mike addresses a passage that is often misunderstood: 1 Corinthians 11:27-30. Churches today use it to tell us to get “cleaned up” before participating in Communion. However, this interpretation leaves out the cultural context. In the early church, people gathered in houses to share a supper, and Communion was part of it. In the Greek culture of that time, people ate according to their social status, creating a division between the rich and the poor. This division is what Paul calls “unworthy.” ...
Jun 09, 2017•55 min
Bonnie targets the appropriate way to apply the Word of God to those who are hurting. She cites how the Pharisees were renowned for their scriptural knowledge, yet they often poorly applied the scripture. With good intentions, Christians can fall into this mode when responding to the hurts of others with Cliché responses such as “All things work together for good,” “Everything happens for a reason”, “God helps those who help themselves”, “God needed another angel”, etcetera. Bonnie stresses how ...
Jun 01, 2017•45 min
Mike explores Jesus’s teaching about being the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-16) and explains what it meant to His Jewish followers, and what it means to us today. To Jesus’s Jewish followers well-versed in Jewish scripture, salt was a picture of covenant. By calling His followers salt and light, He asks them to be a picture of the fulfillment of the covenant to Israel and to the world. He gives them an identity and a vocation that are inseparable. This call to b...
May 24, 2017•55 min
This week, Mike kicked off a new series of teachings, which will collectively outline the blueprint for the revolution that Jesus embodied. Because the Beatitudes were both foundational to this revolution and widely misunderstood, Mike clarified their meaning. As background, the Beatitudes are a famous part of the Sermon on the Mount; they can be found in Matthew 5 and proclaim that the poor, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in hear...
May 16, 2017•46 min
Ronny Roa joins us this weekend and offers an emphatic teaching on how the Bible presents the posture of suffering and pain. While the church should be the safest place to talk about anything, often many folks are afraid to express that for whatever reason God is not answering prayer and they feel left high and dry. Ronny shows us how Jesus shared suffering with his apostles and encourages us to offer ourselves to each other to carry the weight of our struggles. Story by Bria Madrid Bria shares ...
May 09, 2017•41 min
This week, Bonnie Lewis walks us through the practice of burnt offering described in Leviticus 1—specifically, the custom of skinning the sacrificial animals. The skinning, unique to the Israelites’ offering, carries significance because it represents being discovered by God while naked. In Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve sinned and found themselves naked, God did not just expel them from the garden; He provided a garment for them and clothed them. In the New Testament, Jesus uses this imagery and ...
May 03, 2017•46 min
Mike’s teaching today illustrated that there is room for all of us in God’s kingdom…those who fail, those who are full of doubt and even those of us who miss the point God is trying to make in our lives. The basis of his teaching was in the book of John, chapter 20, where it gives an account of Jesus’s resurrection from the dead, especially centering on His follower’s various weaknesses at that time. Mike talked about how these devotees were grieving, doubting and even leaving the city. Even tho...
May 03, 2017•45 min
We spent this Easter season exploring the reality of Jesus, suffering, and the hope we have to grasp. Would love to see your comments and thoughts below! Learn more about VOX Community: www.voxoc.com Like VOX Community on Facebook: www.facebook.com/voxcommunity Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/voxcommunity Follow VOX Community on Instagram: www.instagram.com/voxcommunity Say Something! info@voxoc.com Join us Live on Sundays at 10am via LiveStream.com and App: https://livestream.com/accounts...
Apr 19, 2017•42 min
While Pilate was arriving on the coast with his army, Jesus rode in to the city on a donkey in the east. This story is filled with subversion, desperation, and expectation. To best consider the symbolism of Palm Sunday we MUST consider the political context of the Jewish and Roman tension. Would love to see your comments and thoughts below! Learn more about VOX Community: www.voxoc.com Like VOX Community on Facebook: www.facebook.com/voxcommunity Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/voxcommunit...
Apr 19, 2017•45 min
In this Vox Community message, Mike Erre provides Bible an external evidence to support the reality of Christ's resurrection. He presents numerous facts upon which many secular scholars and Christian scholars agree. He advances the evidence with additional supportive points. Rebuttal is provided for some alternative perspectives/theories held by some resurrection skeptics. Then, through personal application of this resurrection message, we find that the resurrection provides us immense hope for ...
Apr 04, 2017•56 min
In a culture obsessed with youthfulness, we've watched the recent era of the church follow suite. When we observe the early jewish culture, to grow old was seen as victory and achievement. Also, the elderly was expected to pass on wisdom. In addition, the youth honored the elderly, and was given permission to fail and seek wisdom. At VOX, our hope is that we would be contrary to our cultures obsession with youth, and turn two generations opposed to each other toward love, grace, and unity for th...
Mar 28, 2017•56 min
As we continue hearing about the three pillars of Vox, Mike talks about the posture of the church – to love and serve the world rather than judge it. When Jesus came to save the world, He created a community of followers – disciples – who were tasked with showing mankind the glory of Jesus. In His coming, we were handed the ultimate job description: we exist for nothing more than to witness to the nations the beauty and goodness of Jesus of Nazareth. The destruction of the church lies in believi...
Mar 21, 2017•52 min
Mike explains the first of three core convictions that Vox Community is built on—that the church should be the safest place to talk about anything—by looking at how the Corinthian church treated Paul. The church in Corinth valued power, eloquence, wisdom, and success—everything Paul wasn’t. They adored the polished, eloquent, successful “super apostles” and were embarrassed by Paul. He responded to their criticism with this counter-cultural truth-bomb: his weakness was actually proof that God wa...
Mar 14, 2017•1 hr
This week Mike offers a teaching to understand the value in a woman who sought Jesus and his healing through a piece of clothing. Story by Tiana Simmons Tiana shares her honest moments where the question "Why, God?" would dominate her life. Moment after moment of trial she continued to face situations that begged answers from a God of mercy. Would love to see your comments and thoughts below! Learn more about VOX Community: www.voxoc.com Like VOX Community on Facebook: www.facebook.com/voxcommun...
Mar 08, 2017•54 min
Finally, we wrap up our journey observing the section "Shall not Perish..." of John 3:16. In this teaching, Mike spends the majority of the time presenting the overwhelming scriptural support for an alternative view on when Hell takes place. Why exactly have we believed all of these years that when someone dies who is not a Christian, that God is keeping them alive, burning, and in anguish for eternity? It seems strange that the person of Jesus doesn't seem to reflect a God that would do such a ...
Feb 28, 2017•59 min
Karrie Garcia shared her journey of learning to exchange fear for love through her story. Karrie was the oldest in a pastor’s family where secrets and hiding were the norm. Her mother, struggling with mental health issues, was unable to provide Karrie with emotional nurturing which resulted in Karrie developing a fear of being invisible. “I was the opposite of fearful,” Karrie explains. “I knew how to be tough. The one thing that has kept me back from who I was supposed to be was that I had a ne...
Feb 22, 2017•1 hr 4 min
We continue with our series on John 3:16, explaining more about Hell, which is both a power and a place. As a power, humans often unleash it with their own tongues. But as a place, is it really a lake of fire with eternal conscious torment? Even in the garden of Eden, he did not send Adam and Eve off to be burned forever; He removed them from His presence. They were exiled out of God’s best. As a matter of fact, Mike shows us many Bible verses that model God’s treatment of sinful people: God ban...
Feb 14, 2017•1 hr 1 min
This week we take some time to consider what Bible and Jesus remind us about how we treat foreigners and strangers. While many of us know the story about the good Samaritan, if you were dying on the side of the road, which most unlikely person would stop to help you? Story by Ann Lew Ann shares a bit about her journey, raised in a Christian home, but always skeptical of God's existence. Hear the whole story in this week's podcast. Would love to see your comments and thoughts below! Learn more ab...
Feb 07, 2017•57 min
This week, Megan Marshman delved into our culture of neediness and how that culture runs counter to God's goals for us. We all feel needy at times--some more than others--and we need to have direction in those times to find fulfillment. Many of us hope to satisfy our needs through our own initiative. But this view is contrary to God's plan. The bible is clear that God is the main character in the story of this world. We need to look beyond our own insecurities and see that we were created in the...
Jan 30, 2017•50 min
Mike Erre continued his analysis of the "shall not perish" portion of John 3:16. This week, he dissected the nature of God's judgment, which is widely misunderstood. While many see His judgment as God's relishing the opportunity to smite misbehaving humans, judgment is actually the natural outcome of our sins. The bible is replete with language and imagery exemplifying the fact that sin and destruction go hand in hand; sin inevitably leads to death. Just as a long-time smoker cannot be angry at ...
Jan 26, 2017•56 min
The extended "Shall Not Perish..." series looking closer at God’s judgement continues. Today’s focus is on who is judged. Using twelve verses, Mike reveals how God’s judgment involves surprises, reversals, and astonishment. We discover who is to do judging, and what our personal responsibility is. Also included is a helpful explanation of how judgement is quite different than discernment. Mike also answers 4 texted questions from the VOX community: 1.) Do you believe in life on other planets? 2....
Jan 17, 2017•58 min
