HopeUC Nashville Word of the Week

Join us in this episode as Pastor Dustin Smith unpacks the mission of the church: to reveal God, restore people, and revive cities. Through Ephesians 4, he shows how Jesus equips His people through different gifts—not for titles or status, but so the whole body can grow into maturity and carry His kingdom into every sphere of life. Discover how worship, community, hospitality, discipleship, business, and everyday faithfulness can become places where God is revealed, people are restored, and cities are changed. This message also honors lives of legacy that remind us what it means to build something that outlives us. For more stories and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

Join us in this episode as Pastor Dustin explores what it really means to be the church Jesus is building. Moving beyond Sunday services and spiritual consumption, he unpacks how Jesus gathers us to Himself, forms us together through love and unity, plants us as "oaks of righteousness," and sends us to rebuild broken places around us. Through Matthew 16, Mark 3, John 17, and Isaiah 61, discover the call to move from simply attending church to truly belonging, putting down roots, and becoming a visible display of God's splendor in your family, workplace, neighborhood, and city. For more stories and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

Join us in this episode as Trey shares a powerful message on authentic community and how God often builds it through interruption, presence, and grace. Through the story of Ananias and Saul in Acts 9, he reminds us that belonging doesn't happen through convenience—it happens when ordinary disciples are willing to show up, make room, and see people through the lens of God's redeeming work. Discover how community can become a lifeline, how simple obedience can become part of someone else's transformation, and how healthy churches make room for both people and change. For more stories and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

Join us in this episode as Pastor Dustin shares a powerful message on Spirit-led community and the kind of unity only the Holy Spirit can form. Through personal stories, Scripture, and practical wisdom, he unpacks how real community is not built by more programs or meetings, but by people who are yielded to the Spirit and willing to carry one another. Discover the difference between unity built in the flesh and unity formed by God, from the Tower of Babel to the day of Pentecost. This message invites us to move beyond surface-level connection and become a Spirit-filled family marked by generosity, surrender, devotion, and a life where no one has to carry lack alone. For more stories and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

Join us in this episode as Trey shares a powerful message on biblical community and the kind of unity Jesus prayed for in John 17. Through personal stories, humor, and practical wisdom, he unpacks how community is not just about friendship, support, or finding people like us—it is designed to put Jesus on display so the world may believe. Discover how God can heal the wounds that have made us hesitant to connect, and learn what it looks like to cross the room, widen the table, stay at the table, and repair what has been torn. For more stories and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

Join us in this episode as Dustin shares a powerful and timely message on identity, obedience, community, and the strength of belonging. Through the baptism and temptation of Jesus, Dustin unpacks how the enemy has used the same strategy from the beginning: questioning identity and trying to pull people into isolation. From Adam and Eve in the garden, to Israel in the wilderness, to Jesus being tempted in the desert, this message shows how the enemy attacks through appetite, trust, and worship—offering cheap satisfaction, control, shortcuts, and separation. You'll hear why God speaks identity before achievement, why obedience often requires a physical response, and why community is one of God's greatest protections against the lies of the enemy. Dustin also shares personal stories about family, sacrifice, church life, and the importance of showing up—not just for yourself, but for the people around you who need the strength of the body of Christ. This message will encourage you to: - Recognize the enemy's voice when he questions your identity and calling. - Understand the three temptations of appetite, trust, and worship. - Refuse cheap satisfaction and shortcuts that pull you away from God's design. - Stay connected to community instead of battling alone in isolation. - Let trusted voices remind you who you are when you forget. - See the church as a table of belonging, not just a room you attend. - Respond to God in obedience, even when it feels uncomfortable. - Remember Jesus—the One who passed every test and unifies us through His body and blood. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

Join us in this episode as Rick shares a powerful and practical message on kingdom culture, discipleship, and what it means to be formed as a follower of Jesus. Through the book of Revelation, Rick unpacks the clash between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world. From John's declaration of the One "who is, who was, and who is to come," to the contrast between the mark of the beast and the people marked by the Lamb, this message reminds us that Christianity is not just private belief—it is allegiance to a different kingdom and a different way of life. You'll hear why kingdoms always carry culture, why salvation is more than a moment, and why following Jesus requires both faith and obedience. Rick also shares personal stories of spiritual mentors who helped shape his life, showing how discipleship often happens through intentional relationships, honest questions, correction, accountability, and shared life. This message will encourage you to: - Recognize what kingdom and culture are forming your life. - Understand that following Jesus means both faith in Him and obedience to His commands. - Receive spiritual legacy through the family of God, even if you did not grow up with it. - Invite mentors, spiritual mothers and fathers, and trusted voices into your life. - Look around and intentionally invest in the people God has already placed in front of you. - Live as someone marked by the Lamb and formed by the culture of heaven. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

Join us in this episode as the Mitchell family shares a heartfelt, practical conversation on Generational Legacy and what it means to pass faith, wisdom, healing, and testimony to those coming after us. Around the table, they unpack Psalm 102:18 and the call to live in such a way that "a people not yet born will praise the Lord." Through personal stories and biblical examples like Moses and Joshua, and Mordecai and Esther, they explore how legacy is formed through proximity, spiritual mothers and fathers, intentional relationships, correction, blessing, and shared life. You'll hear why legacy is not a program but a mindset, why there is no retirement in the kingdom, and how your ceiling can become someone else's floor. This message also challenges us to pass down healed scars instead of open wounds, to live fully surrendered rather than compromised, and to tell the stories of God's faithfulness so they don't skip a generation. This conversation will encourage you to: - Recognize that your life is already passing something on. - Identify what God has called you to build and leave behind. - Become intentional about spiritual parenting, mentorship, and legacy. - Let your scars become testimonies of healing for the next generation. - Live in such a way that others can go farther because of your obedience. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

Join us in this episode as Elliot Rudell shares a fiery, vulnerable message on "Generations" and what it means to follow Jesus in a world God Himself is shaking. Drawing from 1 Corinthians 10, Psalm 78, Hebrews 12, Luke 17, and especially Joel 2, Elliot walks through Israel's story as a roadmap for ours—how God's people can see real miracles and still crash in scandal when they ignore holiness and generational covering. He tells raw stories from the Jesus Movement—radical salvations, wild outpouring, and painful collapse when older saints walked away and young believers tried to build revival without fathers and mothers. You'll hear how God uses both kindness and shaking—locusts, loss, and even global turmoil—to call His people back to Himself, and why the coming outpouring of the Holy Spirit will require a clean, holy, and unified church. Elliot unpacks the biblical command to "tell your children… and their children… and another generation," challenging older believers not to retire spiritually, and younger believers not to wait to get serious about holiness. This conversation will provoke you to: - See your life inside God's end‑time storyline, not just your own timeline. - Embrace both the Comforter and the cross, not just spiritual "experiences." - Stay continually filled with the Holy Spirit—"fingers in the outlet"—in days of shaking. - Take your place, young or old, in passing on stories, warnings, and fire to the next generation. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

Join us in this episode as Pastor Dustin Smith, Pastor Tom Trout, and Jordan Smith sit down together to talk about "Generations" and how God weaves old men's dreams and young people's visions into one burning flame. Walking through Joel 2 / Acts 2 and the story of Elijah and Elisha, they explore how God is not just the God of your lifetime but the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—a 500‑year God you're part of right now. You'll hear stories of revival, miracles, and God's faithfulness across decades, and how those memories aren't meant to stay as nostalgia but to fuel faith for what He wants to do next. Together they unpack three generational roles—those who remember and tell the stories, those who steward and build the "canvas," and those who run with fresh vision—and how honor, humility, and blessing keep all three moving in step instead of in competition. You'll be challenged to break agreement with family curses, receive generational blessing, and see yourself not as starting from scratch with God, but as carrying a torch that's meant to light many others before you take your last breath. For more stories and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

Join us in this episode as Pastor Dustin Smith unpacks "keys of the kingdom" and how they unlock God's rule and reign in our everyday lives. Walking through Peter's revelation of Jesus in Matthew 16, Pastor Dustin shows how seeing Jesus clearly always comes before carrying real authority—and how God entrusts keys to those who truly know the King. You'll explore ten practical keys—revelation, faith, prayer, obedience, humility, honor, generosity, forgiveness, unity, and love—and how each one opens specific "rooms" of God's kingdom. Learn why faith is the currency of the kingdom, why most miracles sit on the other side of simple obedience, how unforgiveness is a prison we lock ourselves in, and why love is the "master key" that makes every other key work. For more stories and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

In this episode, Shane Willard takes us into the Jewish world of Jesus to show Him as a real first‑century rabbi—and what it means to actually live under His yoke today. Shane explains how rare the title "rabbi" was, what a "yoke" is (a way of interpreting and living Scripture), and why Jesus was recognized as a rabbi "with authority" (s'mikah). With that authority, Jesus could offer His own yoke—easy and light—and overturn heavy, harmful interpretations that crushed people. Instead of choosing the best students from rabbinic schools, Jesus goes to the lake, calling fishermen and a tax collector who had already been told they weren't good enough. His simple words "follow me" re‑qualify the disqualified and invite ordinary people to carry His way into the world. Shane then shows Jesus' yoke in action: with the woman caught in adultery, Malchus in the garden, and Jesus on the cross. Rather than using Scripture to stone or disqualify, Jesus fulfills it through mercy, restoration, and radical love—even for His enemies. This message calls us back to the real Rabbi Jesus: to be covered in His dust, to be known for love more than opinions, and to treat people the way He treated people—healing instead of harming, qualifying instead of canceling, and letting His cross‑shaped love shape how we read the Bible and live every day. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

In this episode, Pastor Dustin shares a passionate, practical message on faith as a "key to the kingdom" in a culture of comfort, convenience, and quitting when it gets hard. Preaching from Hebrews 11–12, he reminds us that faith isn't just what we believe but what we *do*—a real, costly substance. It's impossible to please God without faith, yet many of us try to follow Jesus at "safe speed," clinging to comfort and control instead of obeying when He says "go." Dustin uses the picture of the "bride of Christ"—the church—as something costly but worth it, like a groom who sacrifices time, money, and comfort to pursue the one he loves. Jesus gave everything for His bride, and we honor Him by investing our lives into His church, where so many of our stories began. From Hebrews 12:1–2, he calls us to "strip off every weight" and "the sin that so easily entangles" so we can "run with endurance" by keeping our eyes on Jesus. Dustin names five common "weights" that quietly choke faith: - **Apathy** – delaying obedience, living in neutral instead of acting like Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, or Peter. - **Comfort & success** – not sinful in themselves, but deadly when safety becomes more important than obedience. - **Complaining** – agreement with the wrong kingdom, spreading unbelief and offense. - **Disappointment** – especially around unanswered prayers and loss; it can harden into unbelief when God doesn't move our way. - **Weariness & isolation** – long battles that make us tired and pull us away from the very community meant to strengthen our faith. In this context, Dustin identifies the "sin that so easily entangles" as **unbelief**—staying put when God says "go," calling fear and self‑protection "wisdom." The way forward is not obsessing over our weakness but fixing our eyes on Jesus, "the author and perfecter of our faith." Like Peter on the water, we don't sink because of the storm but because we shift our focus off Jesus. This message is a call to lay down apathy, comfort, complaint, disappointment, weariness, and unbelief, and to become a people who keep saying "yes" to God—even when it's costly and we may never see all the fruit in our lifetime. In a hyper‑individual age, Dustin also calls us back to *community faith*: there are no isolated disciples in the New Testament. Faith is born, strengthened, and sustained in the family of God, the bride of Christ. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

In this episode, Pastor Rick shares a honest, practical message on endurance as a "key to the kingdom" in a world obsessed with ease, speed, and instant results. Preaching from Hebrews 12, James 1, and Galatians 6, he unpacks the Greek word *hypomone*—to "stay under pressure without collapsing"—the same word used for Jesus enduring the cross. Life, Rick reminds us, is more like a marathon than a sprint, yet many of us try to live the Christian life at sprint-pace, running on highlight moments instead of stable, daily obedience and biblical depth. Through his own story of being overwhelmed by responsibility, learning to care for his body, and watching God provide in tight seasons, Rick shows how trials can either crush us or grow us. We contrast a victim mindset ("life is happening to me; I can't help it") with a kingdom mindset ("Jesus, how do I partner with You and grow in this?"), and see how small daily decisions quietly shape who we become over years. Rick also addresses shame honestly. Shame is a terrible fuel for life, but a powerful signal that something inside needs healing. From Romans 5, we're reminded that while we were still weak and ungodly, Christ died for us. You may feel like you're failing, but you don't have to stay there. In Jesus' hands, conviction and even shame become doorways into transformation, not a life sentence. This message invites us to become people of *hypomone*—men and women who can carry the weight of life and calling without collapsing, because our eyes are fixed on the One who endured first. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

In this episode, Pastor Dustin shares a bold, practical message on the Beatitudes and what it truly means to be "blessed" in a world that celebrates strength, success, and self-sufficiency. On a hillside under Roman rule, Jesus shocks His listeners by blessing the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the hungry, the merciful, the pure, the peacemakers, and the persecuted. Brad shows how this upside-down list confronts our pursuit of "enough"—enough money, success, influence, and control—so we don't have to need anyone, including God. Rooted in Matthew 5 (with insights from the parable of the talents, Isaiah, Nehemiah, and voices like Dallas Willard and N.T. Wright), Brad reminds us that the doorway into the kingdom is not achievement, but surrender. The Beatitudes are not just nice sayings; they form a journey of transformation and paint a portrait of Jesus Himself. We explore how poverty of spirit leads to real dependence, how meekness is strength under control, why hunger for righteousness moves us from passively wishing things were different to actively partnering with God, and how shifting from consumer to producer breaks a poverty mindset in every area of life. This message is an invitation to trade Western independence for kingdom dependence—and to live the kind of "blessed" life Jesus actually described. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

In this episode, Brad shares a practical, story-driven message on living aware of God's presence in everyday life—not just in church services or "spiritual highs," but in family chaos, travel, work, and uncertainty. Through funny and honest stories about awkward Christmas gifts, a Lego monorail with his grandfather, and a trip to Uganda with young kids where everything seemed to go wrong, he shows that the real gift is never just the present itself—it's the *presence*: time with a Father who is with us, teaching, guiding, and working even when we feel like we've missed it. Rooted in Psalm 139, Psalm 23, John 14, and a C.S. Lewis quote, Brad reminds us that we can't escape God's Spirit—"even there" His hand will guide and support us. The challenge is not whether God is near; it's whether we slow down enough to remember, pay attention, and say "thank you" for the ways He has already been faithful. We explore how to trust God's leading when life feels messy, how gratitude helps us stay awake to His presence, and why following the Good Shepherd is better than trying to control the path ourselves. This message is an invitation to bring your busy, imperfect days to Jesus and walk away with a fresh awareness that He is with you—before you, behind you, and all around. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

In this episode, Autumn shares a deeply personal and powerfully hope-filled message on what it means to live as people of hope in the middle of real pain, loss, and delay. Tracing her story from childhood trauma and teen pregnancy to suicidal depression, radical encounter with God's presence, and years of heartbreaking miscarriages and infant loss, she shows that biblical hope is not naïve optimism—it's a "confident expectation of good" rooted in the character of God. Along the way, she unpacks why hope is not optional for believers (it's one of the three things that "last forever" in 1 Corinthians 13), and why so many of us feel "heart sick" when our hope has been attached to our own plans instead of God's will. Autumn invites us into her testimony of "restitution"—how God spoke, "I'm making restitution," and over time restored what the enemy had stolen: reconnecting her with the son she placed for adoption, blessing her with more children after devastating losses, and eventually calling her family into foster care and adoption again. Through it all, she highlights the difference between adding Jesus to our agenda and truly surrendering to His, and how real hope flourishes when we seek first His kingdom. We explore how to hold on to God's presence when we don't feel Him, what to do with hope deferred, and why tying our hope to His heart—not just to outcomes—can transform seasons of disappointment into stories of redemption. This isn't theory; it's an invitation to bring your own expired dreams and deferred hopes to Jesus, and to leave with a fresh, Spirit-empowered expectation of His goodness. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

In this episode, we welcome special guest J. John, who brings a clear and compelling message on what Christianity really is—not a vague label or a religious system, but a personal invitation from God Himself. Using John 3 and the famous words "For God so loved the world…," J. John shows how the Christian faith can be summed up in three core gifts: forgiveness from the past, new life today, and a secure hope for the future. Through memorable stories—a father paying for his son's breakages, an artist buying back his damaged painting, and the "car of your life" illustration—he helps us see that Jesus doesn't just offer a ticket to heaven, but a total transformation that starts now. We explore why so many people's understanding of Christianity is actually a misunderstanding, why Jesus (and not generic spirituality) is at the center of the Christian message, and what it looks like to move Him from the "trunk" or passenger seat into the driver's seat of our lives. Far from dry theology, this conversation becomes a fresh invitation: to receive God's offer of forgiveness, to be "born again" by His Spirit, and to live as His invitation to others in a world that desperately needs hope. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

In this episode, we explore how worship becomes the place where God quietly builds something in us that can hold when life falls apart. Through Kat Huskey's story of walking through infertility, the loss of her mom, and the sudden death of her husband Austin in a plane crash, we see communion with God not as a concept, but as a lifeline. The hidden, ordinary moments of choosing Jesus in worship turn out to be deposits of His character that we draw on in seasons we never saw coming. We unpack how worship is more than songs—it's agreement with what's true about God when our feelings and circumstances don't line up with what we know. Looking at David's honesty in the Psalms, Thomas touching the scars of the risen Jesus, Mary breaking her costly jar at His feet, and the table God prepares for us in Psalm 23, we see that pain doesn't disqualify us from worship; it often becomes the doorway into deeper connection. Instead of isolating or performing, we're invited to bring our real selves to the table He's already set—to partake, be fed, and let Him form something in us today that will sustain us tomorrow. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.

In this episode, we explore what it means to live in the "power of all" in a culture that disciples us to do faith as individuals. Starting in Ecclesiastes 4, we look at God's original design for people to walk, fight, and stand together, then trace that design through the story of Azusa Street, the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, and the early church in Acts, where unity wasn't a buzzword but a supernatural force that shaped whole communities. We unpack how agreement is a spiritual power—that your life moves in the direction of what you agree with—and how worship re-trains our agreement from fear, offense, and limitation to the truth of who God is. From Gideon's 300 to Paul's picture of the body in 1 Corinthians 12, we see that God isn't just looking for big crowds, but aligned hearts—every part, every voice engaged. We also dive into Jesus' prayer in John 17, where He ties the world's ability to see and believe Him to our willingness to walk in real, Jesus-centered unity. Along the way, we confront the lies of isolation, the temptation to make one expression "the only way," and the tendency to dam up the rivers of living water Jesus promised would flow from every believer. For more messages and resources, visit www.hopeucnashville.com or download the HopeUC Nashville app.