Park Hill Church Podcast

“Why Are You Troubled?”

In Luke 24, the risen Jesus appears in a locked room to disciples who are terrified, doubting, and still processing the worst week of their lives. And His first move isn't to explain Himself. It's to ask a question: "Why are you troubled?" This week, Alexis Garcia-Irons opens that moment up and pairs it with Psalm 37 — a psalm that turns out to be a surprisingly honest blueprint for what to do when life is falling apart and your own reactions are making it worse. Anger, doubt, fear, Jesus isn't scared of any of it. He's asking about it.

"Didn’t You Know I Must Be in my Father’s House?"

In Luke 2:41–52, we find the first recorded words of Jesus — spoken at twelve years old, in the temple, after three days of his parents searching and fearing the worst. This week, Evan Wickham opened our new summer series, Jesus Questions, with this often-overlooked story that turns out to be Luke's earliest whisper of resurrection. Jesus wasn't lost. He was exactly where He belonged — in His Father's house, listening and asking questions. And that posture hasn't changed. The risen Christ is still present, still leaning in to what's on your heart, and still inviting you deeper into relationship with the Father. This summer, we're sitting with nine questions Jesus asked, trusting that if we engage them honestly, they'll move us closer to the Father's heart than we've ever been.

Stand Firm || Putting on Christ (Part Two)

You know the armor. But do you know what it actually is? Belt of truth. Breastplate of righteousness. Shield of faith. Most of us have heard the list so many times it stopped meaning anything. But Paul isn't giving you a checklist — he's pointing you to a Person. Every single piece of the armor turns out to be Jesus. And the question isn't whether you ran through your spiritual warfare routine this morning. It's whether you clothed yourself with Him.

Stand Firm || The War You’re Already In (Part One)

What if the enemy you've been fighting isn't the person across the table from you? In Ephesians 6, Paul names something most of us have been too modern — or too polite — to take seriously: there is a real, organized, unseen opposition to everything Jesus is building in you and in this church. Not a metaphor. Not a mood. A war. And you're already in it. The question isn't whether you'll fight. It's whether you'll finally stop swinging at the wrong target.

The Revolution Under Your Roof

What does it look like when the Spirit of Jesus actually changes things at home — not in theory, but in your kitchen, your conversations, your closest relationships? In Ephesians 6, Paul walks the cosmic story of Jesus right into the most ordinary place you can think of: your house. Children and parents, workers and bosses — every relationship gets run through the same question. Not "who's in charge?" but "who are you serving?" The kingdom doesn't climb over people to get what it wants. It stands under. And the only way that becomes real in your life is when the Spirit makes it real.

Mother to the Motherless

On a day that holds both joy and grief for many, Missy Bell — foster mom and leader of Olive Crest San Diego — brings a timely word about what it truly means to be a mother. Drawing from the stories of Hagar and Pharaoh's daughter, she explores how God sees the invisible, stays with the hurting, and calls His people to do the same. Being a "mother to the motherless" isn't about heroism or perfection — it's about presence, consistency, and saying yes to the child in front of you.

The Unity Of the Marriage In Christ

What if the most countercultural thing you could do in a relationship is actually yield?
In Ephesians 5, Paul isn't just writing a marriage manual — he's painting a picture of what all relationships look like when Christ is at the center. Married or single, we are all designed for deep, sacrificial, unified community. And getting there requires something our culture rarely celebrates: mutual submission.
In this episode, Luis and Erika unpack what "submit to one another" really means — and why it's nothing like the word sounds. Two people, or a whole community, whose needs are so fully met in God that they're finally free to stop manipulating and start ministering to each other.
Whether you're married, single, or somewhere in between — this one is for you. Because when our relationships reflect God's love, the world takes notice.

Be Filled With the Spirit

What if most of your life isn't governed by rules at all — and that's actually the point?
In Ephesians 5, Paul gives his spiritual children not a longer list of restrictions, but something far more liberating: guiding lights for navigating the wide-open freedom of life in Christ. Be wise. Discern God's will. And above all — be filled with the Spirit. In this episode, Evan Wickham unpacks what it actually means to be Spirit-filled, and why Paul contrasts it with getting drunk. Both involve an outside influence. But one makes you less yourself. The other makes you more.
The Holy Spirit isn't a religious experience reserved for a certain kind of Christian. He's the Personal Presence of Jesus — living with you, shaping you, available to you right now. The question isn't whether He's there. It's whether you're awake to it.

The Promise Underneath

What if the reason our culture's approach to sex produces so much wreckage isn't that the rules are too strict, but that our view of sex is too small?
In this episode, Evan Wickham works through one of Paul's most direct passages in Ephesians, unpacking the word ‘porneia’ and what Jesus really meant when he pointed us back to Genesis. At the center of it all is a single idea: the physical union was never meant to be separated from the covenant underneath it. When it is, we’re not just breaking a rule, we're trying to live in a world that doesn't exist.
This sermon isn't primarily about what not to do. It's about what we were made for: the fragrance of self-giving love, the God who thinks the best way to be God is to wash feet, and what it looks like to wake up into the light of who you already are in Christ.

The World Your Soul Is Homesick For

In Ephesians 4, Paul paints a picture of a world where people tell the truth, carry one another’s burdens, speak life, and forgive freely. A world marked by “true righteousness and holiness”—not as cold religious words, but as a lived reality of deep connection, trust, and belonging.
 
But Paul is clear: that kind of life doesn’t happen by accident. It requires putting off the old ways that hollow us out and putting on a new way of being—one shaped by Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and formed over time through renewed thinking.
 
This passage isn’t a list of rules. It’s a map back home.
And the invitation is simple: What is one thing you need to put off? And what is the Spirit inviting you to put on?
Because the world your soul is homesick for… is the very life God is forming in you right now.