Naples Community Church's Podcast

If God names every star in the sky, how much more does he know you? In this Veterans Day message from Isaiah 40, Pastor Kirt Anderson talks about God’s people in exile in Babylon. They longed to go home but wondered if they could be forgiven. God’s answer was comfort: they were forgiven, he would make a way home through the wilderness, and those who trust in him will find new strength and soar on wings like eagles.Pastor Kirt also shares stories of veterans he has known, including a D-Day tank commander whose tank was one of only two out of 29 to survive at Omaha Beach. None of them saw themselves as heroes. All of them were grateful to God for carrying them through. Whatever darkness you’re in today, this message is a reminder that real hope comes from outside ourselves and that God makes a way home.

When the religious leaders tried to trap Jesus with a question about paying taxes to Caesar, He asked for a coin and gave an answer that left them speechless. In this message, Pastor Kirt Anderson explains that Caesar may get the coin, but God asks for our whole lives. He also shares why he believes the gospel is power enough on its own, drawing on Karl Barth and the 1934 Barmen Declaration, which held that the church’s ministry rests on God’s Word alone and not on politics or ideology.Pastor Kirt then brings it close to home. Through a story about his father and the idea of subsidiarity, he reminds us that we are personally responsible for caring for the people right around us. Drawing on Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone, he shows how bonding with one another leads us to reach out to anyone going through hard times, because “the least of these” can be any of us at any time.

Things are rarely what they seem. In this message from John 4, Pastor Dan Edmondson takes a fresh look at one of the best-known stories in the Bible, Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. Jesus went out of His way to be there, crossed cultural lines that kept Jews and Samaritans apart, and politely asked her for a drink. Pastor Dan points out something many of us have missed: nowhere in this conversation does Jesus condemn her.Instead, Jesus treated her with dignity, respected the customs of His day, and offered her living water that becomes a spring of everlasting life. Pastor Dan also looks at what the text does and doesn’t say about her five husbands, and challenges us to stop assuming we know someone’s story. Join us at Naples Community Church in Naples, FL. Plan a visit: https://naplescommunitychurch.org/visit

Two men went to the temple to pray. One was a respected, disciplined Pharisee. The other was a despised tax collector who couldn’t even lift his eyes to heaven. In this message from Luke 18, Pastor Kirt Anderson shows why Jesus said it was the humble tax collector who went home right with God, and how the Pharisee, while thinking he was looking up to heaven, was really looking down on his neighbor.Pastor Kirt explains the difference between healthy pride and the sin of pride that makes us think we’re better than others. Through stories from a recent ordination service and words from C.S. Lewis and Justice Antonin Scalia, he encourages us to serve humbly, honor every person as someone made in God’s image, and come to God not on our own merit but with an honest, humble heart.

What gives a person the courage to say, “If I die, I die”? In this sermon from Esther chapter 4, Pastor Kirt Anderson tells the story of a young Jewish queen who risks her life to plead for her people. He points out that the book of Esther never mentions God, yet God’s care is in the background of every scene. Esther’s people had been so deeply nurtured in their faith that they simply lived it, and it gave them the strength to stand firm.Pastor Kirt connects Esther’s courage to the generation that served in World War II, including his own father, who was among the first to enter the Ohrdruf concentration camp and who later knelt to pray in a bombed-out building in Germany, sure he would not make it home. The message is a reminder that our identity does not come from our feelings or our affiliations. It comes from God, who gave us life, is with us every moment, and will one day take us to himself. Until then, we live this life to the full.

When a storm hits, a wise captain goes back to the basics. In this message from John 20, Pastor Kirt Anderson looks at the line of the Apostles' Creed that says "I believe in the Holy Ghost" and explains why it matters. The risen Jesus breathes on His disciples and gives them the Holy Spirit, echoing the moment God first breathed life into humanity. We can read about the Father and the Son, but it is through the Spirit that God reaches us.Pastor Kirt shares the story of two very different church services from his teenage years, and the mountaintop moment in the Sierra Nevada that turned him from law school toward ministry. He then walks through the rest of the Creed: the universal church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. If you have ever wondered what the Holy Spirit does or how to recognize your own calling, this message is for you.

What does it really mean that Jesus "suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried"? In this message from Isaiah 53 and the Apostles' Creed, Pastor Kirt Anderson walks through Jesus' trial, His brutal suffering, His death, and what it means that He descended into the place of the dead. The good news is that there is no depth Jesus was unwilling to go to reach us, and no place we can fall where He will not meet us.Pastor Kirt also shares a personal story about sitting with his brother near death, and why the promise of Jesus, "I will come again," is the comfort every one of us will need someday. Christ died, He has risen, and He will come again. Join us in person or online at Naples Community Church, 849 7th Ave S, Naples, FL. Plan your visit: https://naplescommunitychurch.org/visit

In this message, Pastor Kirt Anderson walks through the opening chapters of Luke's Gospel to look closely at the virgin birth of Jesus, and why this ancient truth still matters today. Rather than explaining the mystery away, Pastor Kirt shows how Luke carefully gathered eyewitness testimony to give us a reliable account of who Jesus is, addressing modern efforts to reduce this miracle to something merely symbolic.The message closes with the story of Helmut Thielicke, a pastor who ministered faithfully through the horrors of World War II, and a letter from a young soldier asking whether he could truly build his life on Christ. Pastor Kirt uses this story to bring the sermon's central question home: can we trust Jesus completely, with all that we are, for all of eternity? Watch the full message to hear this challenge for yourself, and plan a visit to Naples Community Church to experience a service in person.

In this message, Pastor Kirt Anderson unpacks the opening words of the Apostles' Creed, "God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth." He shows why the Creed's present tense language matters, why the early church clung to these words even under persecution, and why calling God "Father" is not old fashioned language but a truth Jesus Himself taught us to pray.Whether you're wrestling with hard circumstances or just curious what Christians actually believe and why, this message connects God's almighty power to His steady, fatherly love, and shows how that combination is exactly what carries people through their darkest valleys.

This week, Pastor Kirt Anderson kicks off a new sermon series on the Apostles' Creed with a message from Mark 9. A father brings his suffering son to Jesus after the disciples were unable to help him, and in his desperation he speaks one of the most honest lines in all of Scripture: "I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief." Pastor Kirt walks through what it looks like to hold onto faith even when doubt and hardship are very real.Along the way, Pastor Kirt talks about how the deepest things in life, like love itself, can never be proven on paper, only known and experienced. Whether you're a longtime believer or just checking things out, this message is an honest look at what faith really requires.