Beyond Sunday

21 Days of Prayer - Week 1

• King of Kings Church

Share episode

In this Beyond Sunday episode, Dina, Julie, and Pastor Greg kick off the new year by focusing on simple, sustainable spiritual habits—letting Scripture and prayer shape the beginning and end of each day. They remind us that growth doesn’t come from perfect resolutions, but from small, consistent practices rooted in our identity as God’s beloved creation.

Stay up to date by following us on your favorite social networks.

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

Have questions or comments? Email us at contact@kingofkings.org.

Thanks for listening!

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the King of Kings podcast, where we dive a little bit deeper into our sermon series and see what we're taking Beyond Sunday. Happy New Year! It's our first podcast of 2026. And I have the best guest today. It is epiphany today. Go ahead, give it a short introduction.

SPEAKER_02:

And Greg Griffith, lead pastor.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, so I have to ask you, are you guys like New Year's resolution people? Are you anti-resolution people? There's some people who don't care. Some people are totally for it, totally against it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I would say I don't like have specific resolutions, but there are things I'm like, here's something I'd like to change for this year and then and work towards it. So it's not super formalized, but kind of.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I'm a strong resolution. I resolve to not have resolutions.

SPEAKER_00:

There you go.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't, yeah, I I go back and forth. I have little things in my head that I'm like, oh, this year I want to do this. Like this year, I well, actually, Julie, I saw your thing about journaling every day. And I was like, yeah, you know what? That would actually be fun. I I wanna, I'm trying to not use my phone before or after, like right, last thing I do and first thing I do. And so I was like, oh, I I should journal. And then Dina gave me this amazing book that is like ready to journal. So nice. Yeah. So I'm you're gonna love it. I'm gonna do that. Who God knew and put the idea in my head? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Who knew? That's cool. Okay, so I have another question as our first podcast for this year. What's something that you guys are excited about this year for King of Kings? Doesn't have to be like an event or something, or just you know, something you're feeling like we're building towards, or like what's something you're excited about for this year for our church?

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, kind of a short-term thing that I'm excited about is Night to Shine. So this is going to be, is it our seventh year?

SPEAKER_01:

It's our eighth year, eighth year.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's just building and growing so much. And that's just so much fun. Um, and a wonderful way to share Jesus' love with, I think, a community that maybe sometimes doesn't feel super noticed. So I just I just love that event every year.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it uh I I showed Dina today. I've got to send the picture out. Um, a friend of mine uh came to a funeral of a 21-year-old person who passed away. Um, but he was a person with special needs. And so they don't know why he passed away so suddenly. Um but the picture on the inside of the the bulletin that kind of tells a story and everything was his picture at Night to Shine. Wow. I know. Of like, and my friend was like, of all the pictures they could have chosen, they chose that one because it just captured something super special in his life. So how cool is that! That's amazing. Yeah, that's really cool. I love it. I think I'm excited for uh this year with King of Kings. I'm I'm excited to just see all of our campuses continue to flourish. And I feel like, you know, we're we're getting to where um kind of all our systems are coming together, but also like we're starting to see each campus starting to develop their own um kind of identity, you know, DNA. We we use we use the term internally identical identifiable, not identical. Um, and so like you just are starting to see some of those pictures and some of that where their passions are lying and the impact in their community. And so I'm just really excited about that.

SPEAKER_01:

So that's you took mine, Greg. That's what I'm kind of excited about as our campuses just kind of each grow into themselves. It's like children. You have little children and they just, you know, each year change and shift a little, and that's exciting. Um, it's exciting, especially for me. I wasn't here before King of Kings was multi-campus. Oh, like I came in right when Northwest was launching. So I've only known us as a multi-campus church. So many people have an idea of what King of King was when it was just one campus. So, but that's cool and neat. I'm excited about that this year. All right. So we started a new sermon series with the uh 21 Days of Prayer, and Zach, Pastor Zach Sender spoke to us this week about how the Bible teaches. What are you guys taking beyond Sunday from this message?

SPEAKER_00:

I think for me, it's just reminding me of the importance of being in God's word um consistently and faithfully. Um probably the last few months of 2025 were pretty challenging. And I let some of my spiritual discipline slip and I could feel it. And so I just, you know, it wasn't a resolution, but I just, you know, recommitted myself to the Lord and to getting into his word every day and what a difference that makes, a daily difference that makes.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I I I have just found myself um wanting to grow more and more into my prayer life using the word of God to guide my prayers. Because when it's up to me on my prayers, they'll they'll pretty much be the same things. They'll be for a few friends that I have, people I know that are sick, that I hope they aren't sick anymore, um, you know, my kids and stuff. And those are all really good things. Um, but it's not always like, what's the word of God saying to me? And so um I'm I'm really working to incorporate even deeper using the word of God as my prayer guide and my as my prayer template. And sometimes even just the scripture, let that be the prayer. And so um, so I'm I'm excited, I'm excited for that for the year and and then for me for that as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, I really liked there was a comment that Zach had made at one point where he was talking about how we are God's masterpiece, and he used the word poema, which I I am not a language person. I'm not somebody that dives into the meaning of words or something. But I just thought that was a cool word and just a reminder of how God created each of us as a masterpiece and views us that way. And that really, like, I don't know why, but that really stuck out to me this week during the message.

SPEAKER_00:

Loved it.

SPEAKER_01:

All right. So Zach started out by sharing a story about an automated email response that he got. And he was so excited at the start of it and turned out to be a little bit of a letdown. How does the concept of the voice behind the words apply when we read the Bible?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. You know, it's so funny. I had that happen to me. Just brutal. It was so brutal. I got this email from this guy, um, David Ashcraft. We had just met him at a conference that we were at, and he's the one that runs all the global leadership summit. He was a senior pastor at LCBC, this giant church out east. And it was this email, Greg, I want to invite you to come to Craig Groshel's campus where I'll be meeting with you and all this stuff. And I sent it to some friends of like, hey, I'm not trying to brag, but like, this is cool. And then my one friend wrote and said, Yeah, I got that email too. Oh no. And then I felt so silly. I was like, and I was like backtracking. I was like, okay, guys, I'm so sorry. Oh man. Yeah. Yeah. I okay, go ahead. You know, when someone does take time to actually write you something, not an automated, like you you really do, like it just matters a lot. I mean, and we live in an age where people aren't don't write letters anymore. But I think about like my grandmother and my wife's grandparents, they saved letters from their loved ones who were overseas or far away, and like boxes of these letters of just and I thought, how how cool, because the words or the person behind the words was super special to me.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

My grandma and grandpa actually met as pen pals. Wow. My grandpa was in the war, and my grandma had been encouraged to like it was get a soldier pen pal so that they have somebody that and they actually met that way. And she said it would be like a month between letters, you know what I mean? Like you'd wait forever.

SPEAKER_00:

But wow, isn't that cool? That's so romantic. I when I when I saw this question that you posed, I thought about when we moved into our new house, it has a pool, and I had never been a pool owner. And the previous owner wrote out like three pages of ways to take care of like the pool and like the sprinkler system and whatever. And I read that with so much interest because I was like, shh, this person knows all about how this house works. I wanted just it was really interesting to me because I'm like, here's a person who like knows the key to everything about this house and kind of thinking about that's how God's word is. Like God made us, He knows everything about how we're supposed to work and how we like ideally, how we should be running. And so, how how fascinated we should be with getting a letter from someone who's like, I know it's what what's best for you, how you're like optimal life in me. Let me tell you about that. Like, we should be so fascinated to hear from him because he knows.

SPEAKER_02:

Tim Keller kind of talked about that in in a in a different way, but the same. He talked about um the question was just like, does God really care if we're living outside of the way that that he's called us to live? And Keller said, he said, the Bible's kind of like your owner's manual, and where God has kind of said for you to have your best life possible, like here's how to live. And he goes, it's it's kind of like when you get a car, you have the owner's manual, and you can choose not to get the oil changed. And the car will work for a while, but it won't be the best car it could be. Yep. And um, and he said, and it doesn't mean you don't have the car, it doesn't mean you're you're not doing, but and he said, your life's the same way. It doesn't mean you don't love God, but what it does mean is you're not gonna live the best life that he already knows you can have because he's your designer. And yeah, that kind of same response. Like, yeah, like like just why wouldn't you want to know? Yeah, and sometimes it's hard. Like when I see I need an oil change, you know, I'm like, oh, I don't want to do this, right? Like, and I know Dale's probably gonna like text me and be like, come to my shop. 56 and center. Insaloop. Yeah, she does a great job. It is really good.

SPEAKER_01:

That's so true. And I Zach even phrased it at one point during the sermon. He said, This is the letter from the creator to the created, like that. And I I was like, I feel like I get very detached from the Bible sometimes when I'm not in it regularly, and then it seems like just a book. But when you talk about here's your letter from God, you know what I mean? Yeah, like how exciting is it to get a handwritten letter or something? Yeah, that's really that's a good comparison. Okay, so um Zach also referred to this woman, Terry Horton, who had bought this um discount painting at a thrift store for a white elephant gift exchange. And then someone had told her that it could be an original Jackson Pollock's painting. Um, what does this story teach us about the inherent value based on the creator's influence of an item?

SPEAKER_02:

First of all, I mean, to do it to like nine million, fifty million for like splatter paint. I mean, I can do that.

SPEAKER_01:

I think deal always thing about Jackson Pollock.

SPEAKER_00:

Like, are you joking me? My husband always says, if I can do it myself, it's not art. I know, I know, but truly, if it was, wow, right, right. It goes from being like this$50, I don't know, was it five bucks? Five bucks.

SPEAKER_01:

Five bucks.

SPEAKER_00:

She talked them down.

SPEAKER_01:

It was like nine, and she got it for five or something or eight.

SPEAKER_00:

I think we can all share, like I that does feel a little questionable to me. But I mean, if you had if you had a real, I don't know, Renoir or something like that, wow, how incredible that would be. They're so rare and they they are so amazing. Yeah. That's all I have.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. What was the question again?

SPEAKER_01:

Um what does that story teach us about the value based on the creator's influence?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I I think for me.

SPEAKER_01:

Like it's the same painting.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. I I guess I think where I would look at it is I would I think I think that story for me taught me differently of don't don't get greedy with what what gifts God has already given to you. And so like I I looked at her and and she turned down nine million because she thought, well, this could be worth way more. And I think sometimes we look at our gifts and go, you know, but if I actually had these gifts, I would do even better. And it's like, well, no, no, what if God actually gave you exactly what you need to do really well for who you are? And and rejoice with the gifts you have. Don't look to say, I I want to do this or this is what I need even more. And so I I think when we look at it, each one of us, and go, I'm valuable with the gifts I have.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

And then work on the gifts I have, um, it's a reminder that like I am a part of the body of Christ. And you know, if I want to be the heart, but I'm the pinky, like I let me be the best pinky possible. Um, you know, and so there's a reason why I'm not the heart. And and so um, yeah, that that's kind of how I saw it.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and that kind of reminds me of part of the message of Night to Shine. We were talking about, you know, we do like a crowning moment at the end of Night to Shine, where we, this is a community of special needs people that may sometimes feel like they are not the best person that they could be, or they are not designed by the creator exactly as they are. And what we try to teach them that night is God designed you to be exactly who you are. Like it's it's not a what if. That is what God planned for you, and uh that he loves you exactly that way. You are like the poema, the masterpiece. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so Pastor Zach went on to discuss kind of three points about scripture, and he talked about what does it mean that scripture is God breathed? What does the Bible teach us, and how does it equip us for every good work? Like, share your thoughts on those. Did one of them jump out at you more, or are you related to one? Kind of what does it mean that scripture is God breathed? What does the Bible teach us, and how does it equip us for every good work?

SPEAKER_02:

I I like the, I mean, when we think about the the the word of God is the inspired word, right? Um, God, God breathed as as ed in there. It's still a reminder that it's through people. And so the joy is you get to actually see their personalities, right? So we see Jeremiah and some depression. We we see Peter and his his zest and his um abruptness, you know, we see Paul and his just willingness to stand up courageously in the face of opposition. Um and and and and and you see Barnabas and his his encouragement and and and it's a reminder that that when you look at it, you can't make this up. I mean, 1500 years, um, 66 books, over 40 writers, and the consistency of the story, the thread throughout, um, is is there. And it doesn't, it's not truncated, it's not, well, this part didn't mean this part. Um, and so so the inspiration is the connectivity, uh, you know, it's it's the ligaments, it's it's all the pieces that that hold everything together, um, so that this is one story. And what I was reminded too of when we had Chad Foster um here uh who was speaking about that and speaking about the old testament is is the reminder that that you know I think I think we've kind of lost, yeah, we have the old and new testament, but they're not two separate testaments. This is one testament, one story um that that reads all the way throughout and will continue at the return of Christ um as as the culmination uh to what then the new heaven and new earth will look like. So the breathing part is and the inspiration part is is to me the miraculous amazing part.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I was thinking about that. Like um scripture is is God breathed and he was speaking to individual people, how encouraging that is for us today. It's not like God just spoke to them and then was like, I'm done. Um it's just a reminder, like when we pray, it's not like a one-way conversation where we just yap into the phone and then hang up afterwards. God actually can speak to us today, too, if we're quiet enough to receive it. Now, what that looks like for everybody may be a little different. Maybe it is in reading God's word, you find like an answer or some comfort you've been looking for. Maybe after you've prayed and are quiet before the Lord, you just get a sense of him saying something to you. I'm I'm not saying that everybody's experience is exactly the same, but God is a God who speaks. He's and he was back then and he is now. And he, you know, chose to speak to regular people like you and me. They weren't, you know, extraordinarily special. Some of them were pretty amazing, but you know, just regular people. Um, so I love that. And then also just thinking about God's word being a guidebook, it's not like a textbook where you read it and then you're like, here are five great ways to live your life. God's actually his spirit is at work as you're reading, transforming you. So it's not just like, oh, here are five good things to learn. As you're reading God's word, his his Holy Spirit is at work changing you to become more like his son. So there's just a really miraculous thing that's happening as you're reading. It's not just like reading a regular book.

SPEAKER_01:

That's really well put. I really stuck out with the and how does it equip us for every good work, that piece, because I just think of the equipping part. And I think there's so much scripture that I go to when I'm feeling a certain way. And I will learn or feel equipped in a totally different way than five years before when I was studying that scripture or six months before, because I'm just at a different point in my life. And so I understand it different. He's using it to speak to me in a different way at that time. And I just feel like it's this toolbook that's so stocked with stuff that you need for any occasion or any struggle that you're going through, you know, and prayer goes right along with that of you talking to him and him being able to speak to you. But I find a lot that there's times where I feel like God is speaking to me through the scripture that I someone mentions to me, oh, you should check this out, or the study that pops up, or the verse I hear on the radio, or something like that, that it, oh, okay. It's always fresh, isn't it? Yeah, it's always it's really fresh. Yeah. Okay, so how can creating daily habits of engagement with the Bible? We're talking about getting into the scripture, how can that potentially alter someone's spiritual walk and their personal life in 2026? If people are like, okay, I want to start something new in 2026, how can that daily engagement, like, first of all, what are some things maybe you do personally, your daily engagement? What are some things we can recommend? And then how is how can that alter their walk?

SPEAKER_00:

I just saw something that was really interesting. It was talking about like how consistent. Helps things grow. So if you decided I'm going to just water my plant for the whole year right now, I think it'll need like 15 gallons of water throughout the year. And you poured 15 gallons on it and then ignored it, your plant would be, it would probably drown and then it would die out, right? And but if you water it 15 gallons over the course of a year, it's going to be amazing. And that's, I think, how it is with God's word, too. I mean, God is wanting to speak to us every day. I think we talk a lot about like bread, right? You need fresh bread, you can't eat somebody else's bread, and you can't eat stale bread. Like God's giving you something for every day. Um, one of the things that that I love and have done for several years is there's an app called the Pause app, which just um is got there's scripture, there's music, there are prompts to um help you in your praying and in your listening to God. It's like 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes at night. It's beautiful. It's a practice that I've done for years and it's been great. I would encourage anybody to look it up. It's called the Pause P A-U-S-E app. Um, that's just one of the things that I use and love.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I at first I am reminded in Hebrews that the scripture is sharper than any double-edged sword, and it is active and living. And so when we engage with it, it will do something within us and it won't come back void. Um it is it is the word of God that that is transformational, and you know, information never leads to transformation, um, but relationship does, and that's what this word is. And so um so being in the word, even even if it's just uh a verse a day, even if it's just the same verse, even if it's just memorizing um is gonna is gonna change your life. It will it will change 2026 and um and it and it will be pretty pretty uh quick as far as you'll start to see things. You'll your mind will change, your heart will change, your life will change. Um so I I do a variety of things. One thing that's really consistent last two years is I I use our app. Um so I'm daily in the app. I have it on my phone, it's it's on the bottom bar uh as an iPhone user. It's bottom bar there. It's one of my my bottom bars, and so like I click it um every day. Uh it's one of the early things I do in the morning. Um, and then you know, so it's it asks me uh emotion that I'm feeling, and then prayers for people that I pray for, and then my prayers, and then and then there's some scripture that's there, and so um I use that um all the time. And um, the other thing I I try to do, not as successful, but um Proverbs is 31 chapters. Um so I try to read a proverb a day based on the day that it is of the month, and so um that that that one I'm not as engaged with, but um try to write little notes into that, stuff like that. And then the other thing I'm doing, I did this for my daughter Macy, and now I'm starting to work on one for Tessa, is um I have a uh prayer journal with um Proverbs, and as I read it, I then write in that scripture just something to my daughter, and I give it to them as they go to college. And so um, so then there's little notes about that scripture for them about godly wisdom and foolishness and um and kind of walking through that. So those are the ways I try to do that.

SPEAKER_01:

That's really cool. So one of the simple things that I did in the last year is um I now my son graduated last year. So I no longer have to play chauffeur as often, even though he's been driving for a couple of years. It was still me driving him some places or us going to the same places. So now I get to pick the radio station and the music in my own car, where previously it was always pop channels when my kids were picking it. So I listened to a Christian radio station. And often in between songs, they're quoting a verse or giving you a tidbit to think about. And I have found that has been very um like moving for me. Like there are things where I'm just driving along, you know, and half the time you ignore the commercials between the, you know, songs or something. But this is something that makes me think, or they'll mention a verse. And so when I get to work or when I get home or what, oh, I'm gonna look up that verse and I'm gonna read more about that, you know. And it's something very simple. And I'm in, but I'm in my car every day. It's something that I'm doing every day, even though I'm not setting aside that specific time, it's just part of my routine, but it's made an impact for me. So we talked a little bit about how God's word is kind of both human and divine, not kind of, it is both human and divine. So, how does knowing that the Bible was written through human authors affect your approach to reading it?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I spoke about this already. I mean, I I just like that there's the personality that's that's in it. I mean, you know, and and you see it from Moses writing the first five books, right? To to David and some of his Psalms and and you know, and Solomon and some of his wisdom, um, and then and then the letters by Paul. And and I think that's even where like even when they don't name it, I I believe Hebrews was written by Paul, even though he doesn't um name it, but some of the structure is pretty close. And so, so there's always a little bit of uh like fingerprints that you can look through there. And so um now there's also other scholars that say it's definitely not written by Paul who are much smarter than me. So I I'm not gonna bet any farms on this, but um, but I like to think it's Paul, and I think in heaven I'll be told I'm right.

SPEAKER_00:

You're looking forward to a lot of that, I think. Greg, you were right. You were right.

SPEAKER_02:

That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, I just I just find it really encouraging that God wants to be in a relationship with people, that he wants to talk to people, that he entrusted the words of life to people. Um, what a beautiful thing that we have a God that is that that cares that deeply for us and is that interested in having us join him on his mission. Um, I think it's also a reminder to me like if God could entrust that much to me, can I like let go of the grip of the steering wheel of my life a little bit and allow other people to just be themselves and not feel like I have to micromanage everything. If God can entrust his word to people, maybe I can entrust some things to other people too.

SPEAKER_01:

That's exactly what I was gonna say. Like it makes me feel it makes it more relatable, but it's like here, God used just these normal people. Yeah. Sometimes what I think society looked on is as less than people, you know what I mean? Like at to to speak his word, you know, and so that's amazing to me.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, so what's your best encouragement to our listeners to engage in the rest of our 21 days of prayer? Like, what's your best? Hey, try this. If you're gonna do one thing, shoe for this, or if you're gonna do 10 things, do all of these.

SPEAKER_00:

I would say fight your perfectionistic urge. So I sometimes have an all or nothing approach. And if I can't have a half an hour quiet time that looks like this and feels like this, then why bother? Two, if you have two minutes, do that. Five minutes would be better. But I would say give God space to work in your life, and he's gonna grow your desire to be with him for for longer periods of time. Um and he's also just gonna use whatever time that you give him to bless you in some way, and just allow your time with God to look however it's gonna look. So if you read his word and you're like, wow, nothing was hidden today, that's God is still at work. So just resist the urge to be all or nothing and resist the urge to feel like it has to look or feel a certain way. Because God's at work no matter what.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I I would say um over the next 21 days, make make the word of God a scripture, maybe a verse, whatever. Uh your first, your last. So so, you know, maybe it's maybe it's it's it's writing down on a sticky note John 1 1, and the in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Um, and so maybe, maybe when you wake up, that's the first thing you look at instead of your phone. Um or at the end of the night, maybe it's just saying the Lord's Prayer as your last your last word. Let the word of God be your first word and your last word of your day over these next 21 days. And uh, and and and then then get into life. But but watch what happens when it's just and just just pick one scripture. Like, don't don't say I'm gonna read every morning the entire book of John or a whole chapter. You're not, you're not, but maybe one of you will, but most of you won't. But but let one verse meditate over your heart and your mind.

SPEAKER_01:

That's really good. I think the idea of not letting it be perfect. Like if you miss a day where you feel like you didn't set aside time for prayer, that's okay. Yes. I can remember when my son was in preschool, one of the other moms invited me to her house. And I went over there, and there literally were like dirty socks and underwear piled in the corner, and there was cereal like strewn on the carpet.

SPEAKER_00:

Don't you love that?

SPEAKER_01:

I was flabbergasted because never would I have invited a first-time guest. Like this was the first time I had been at her house. My best friend can see my house like that. But the the first, and she was just so vulnerable about who she was. How beautiful. Yes. Yes. Like just about her imperfections. This is my life. This is my life with she had four children, five children. And, you know, that was just the way it was. And I remember thinking, wow, it doesn't have to be perfect. Like I she was still, I still felt welcome. Yeah. Her home was still warm. My kid was safe playing there. You know what I mean? Like all of those things that it didn't have to be perfect. And I think of that because I'm kind of an all or nothing person too, where oh my gosh, if I miss a day, then that's it. I give up, you know, my streak is over. Yes. But it can be imperfect and it can still mean something and still move you. Yeah. That's great. All right. What are your final takeaways from this week's message?

SPEAKER_00:

I think it just it sort of reinforces in my mind like um stepping into God's word every day is a great thing and pairing it with prayer, it's just an unbeatable combination. And so I'm like, oh, thanks. This is just the shot in the arm. I needed to keep going.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I would just conclude with let the word of God dwell within you richly and watch what he does.

SPEAKER_01:

That's great. We're just gonna end on that. We'll be back next week as we continue our 21 days of prayer. And until then, let's keep living our faith beyond Sunday.

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.