Release City Church

06/14/2026

The weather may have knocked out the power, but it couldn’t stop the presence of God. ⚡️🙌

What a reminder that prayer works and church isn’t about a building or electricity—it’s about people gathering to worship Jesus. What an unforgettable Sunday!

06/14/2026

Good Morning and Welcome to Church!

We’re so glad you’ve joined us today and are excited to worship with you!

To watch today’s service, click the link below to be taken directly to our YouTube channel:

https://youtube.com/?si=0gw0G7Ad3PYn0ond

As we begin, take a moment to prepare your heart and mind to encounter God. Let’s worship together, experience His presence, and grow deeper in His Word today.

We’re glad you’re here! 🙌✨

Welcome to RELEASE CITY Church's official YouTube channel. Here you will find encouragement, motivation, and different messages from Pastor Bradley, as well as special guests. Subscribe to stay up to date on new content as soon as it's available. Thank you for joining us and welcome to the family!

06/14/2026

Whatever this week has held, bring it to Jesus. See you at 10:30AM. 🙌

06/14/2026

𝗗𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗬 𝗗𝗘𝗩𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡
June 14, 2026

𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗢𝗻 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗛𝗮𝘀 𝗔𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗗𝗼𝗻𝗲

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." — Psalm 23:4

Genesis 49 records one of the most quietly beautiful death scenes in all of Scripture.

Jacob is old. He knows his time has come. He calls his sons to his bedside, all twelve of them, and he speaks over each one. A blessing, a word, a declaration. He has been a complicated man, Jacob. He wrestled with God at Peniel and walked with a limp ever after. He was a deceiver who became Israel. He buried a wife he loved more than anything. He grieved a son for twenty years, who turned out to be alive. His life has been long and full and marked by both failure and extraordinary grace.

And at the end of it all, the Bible records this: he gathered his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

But there is a detail before that final breath that deserves more attention than it usually gets. Earlier in the chapter, the text says Jacob leaned on his staff and worshipped.

In the ancient world, a staff was more than a walking stick. It was a record. Travelers and leaders would carve marks into their staffs, one for each significant moment, each victory, each time God had come through. The staff became a physical testimony, carried everywhere, a tangible history of faithfulness.

When Jacob leaned on his staff in his final hours, he was leaning on every carving. The night at Bethel when he fled from his brother and God showed up in a dream and promised to be with him. The years of labor for Laban, when God multiplied his flocks against all odds. The night at Peniel when he wrestled with God and wouldn't let go and received a new name and a new identity. The reunion with Esau, when the confrontation he had dreaded turned into an embrace. The return of Joseph, whom he had mourned for twenty years.

Every one of those moments, carved. And at the end, he leaned on all of them.

That is also what David is doing in Psalm 23. He walks through the valley of the shadow of death and is not afraid, not because the valley isn't real, but because the rod and staff are familiar. He has held them before. He has felt God's faithfulness in his hands. He knows what they feel like.

This is the invitation for all of us, not just at the end of life, but throughout it. To carve the moments of God's faithfulness into our memory, to carry them, to lean on them when the next valley arrives.

You have a staff. It may not feel like much. But think about the moments when God came through for you, the time the provision arrived just in time, the time the diagnosis wasn't as bad as feared, the time the relationship was restored, the time you didn't know how you would make it through, and you did. Those are carvings.

You don't have to have heaven all figured out to approach the end of your life, or the hard middle of it, without fear. You just have to lean on what you already know about the God who has walked with you.

He has been faithful in everything that has come before. He will be faithful in what comes next.

𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Take ten minutes today to write a 'staff list', at least five specific moments in your life where you experienced God's faithfulness. Real moments, real details. Keep this list somewhere accessible. When the hard seasons come, pull it out and lean on it.

𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆’𝘀 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿

Lord, You have been faithful in everything that has come before, in the valleys I didn't think I'd survive, in the moments I couldn't see a way through, in the quiet ordinary days when Your grace was present even when I wasn't paying attention. I choose today to lean on that record. The same God who walked me through everything behind me goes before me into everything ahead. I am not afraid. Amen.

06/13/2026

𝗗𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗬 𝗗𝗘𝗩𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡
June 13, 2026

𝗡𝗼 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀, 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗢𝗻𝗲

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." — Revelation 21:4

There's a way of reading familiar Scripture that lets it pass through you without landing.

Revelation 21:4 is one of those verses. Most Christians know it. Many can quote it. And somewhere along the way, its familiarity has allowed it to become something we recite rather than something we feel.

So try something today. Read it slowly, like it's news. Like someone is telling you this for the first time.

God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain. For the former things have passed away.

The word every is doing enormous work in that sentence. Not most tears, every tear. Not the public ones, not the significant ones, not the ones that were witnessed. Every. Single. One.

The ones you cried on the day you got the diagnosis. The ones at the graveside when you couldn't believe you were standing there. The ones in the car, driving home from a conversation that broke something in your chest. The ones at 3 a.m. when the anxiety wouldn't release its grip. The ones over a child who walked away from faith. The ones nobody saw, the quiet, private, hidden tears that you've never told anyone about.

God saw every one. He has not missed a single one. He has been keeping account in a way you will not fully understand until you stand in that moment and He wipes them all away Himself.

That image, God personally wiping every tear, is one of the most intimate pictures in all of Scripture. The Creator of the universe, the One whose word called galaxies into existence, stooping down to your face and, with His own hand, removing every trace of every sorrow you have ever carried.

And then the declaration: the former things have passed away. Not stored away. Not filed somewhere. Passed away. Gone.

No more death. The thing that has cast a shadow over every human life since the fall, gone. No more sorrow. No more crying. No more pain.

This is God's final word on suffering. He doesn't ignore it. He doesn't minimize it. He addresses it, specifically, personally, completely, in the most tender act imaginable.

Whatever you are carrying today, bring it to this promise. The tears you've been crying are not lost on God. They are seen, they are known, and they have an expiration date.

𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Take a moment today to be honest with God about your tears, the old ones and the recent ones. You don't have to perform strength before Him. Bring what you've been carrying and lay it down. Then read Revelation 21:4 out loud as a promise spoken over your specific pain.

𝗣𝗿𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿

Lord, You know every tear I have ever cried, the ones in public and the ones in private, the ones from years ago that I still carry, and the ones from this week. I bring them all to You today. Thank You that they are not lost on You. Thank You that one day, with Your own hand, You will wipe every single one away. I trust You with all of it. Amen.

06/12/2026

Don’t do Sunday alone. 💙

Join us for prayer, worship, and a powerful message this Sunday!

🕊 Prayer | 9:45 AM
⛪ Service | 10:30 AM

06/12/2026

𝗗𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗬 𝗗𝗘𝗩𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡
June 12, 2026

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲

"Then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." — 1 Corinthians 13:12

One of the most tender moments in all of Scripture happens in 2 Samuel 12, in the aftermath of one of David's greatest failures.

His infant son is sick, dying, as a consequence of David's sin. And David does what David always does when he is desperate: he prays. He fasts. He lies on the ground for seven days, refusing to eat, refusing to get up, pouring himself out before God for his child's life.

And the child dies.

When David's servants come to tell him, they are afraid of how he will react. But David does something that surprises everyone: he gets up, washes his face, puts on clean clothes, goes to the temple and worships, and then sits down to eat.

His servants are confused. They ask him: you fasted and wept while the child was alive, but now that he's gone you get up and eat?

And David says something that has anchored grieving parents for three thousand years: 'Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.'

I will go to him.

David didn't say that as a vague comfort. He said it as a certainty. He knew, by the revelation of God, that his child was somewhere real, somewhere he would one day arrive, somewhere they would be together again.

The Bible confirms this hope of reunion over and over. Abraham dies and is gathered to his people. Isaac dies and is gathered to his people. Jacob gathers his children around him, blesses each one, and then draws his feet into the bed and is gathered to his people. The same language, over and over, not gathered to God only, but to the people who went before.

And Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 adds the dimension of knowledge: in heaven, we will know fully, even as we have been fully known. Full knowledge. Which means not a vague sense of familiarity, but complete, unobstructed recognition, deeper than anything we've experienced here.

Think about the people you love most in this world. The ones you know so well you can finish their sentences, read their expressions, feel their presence in a room before you see them. Now imagine knowing them even more fully than that, and being known the same way. That is the promise of heaven.

You will know your people there. The parent you lost too soon. The child who never had the chance to grow up. The friend who was taken without warning. The grandparent whose stories you still carry. They are gathered. They are real. They are waiting.

And when you arrive, they will know you, fully, completely, joyfully.


𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Write down the names of the people you have lost who knew Jesus. Then, beside each name, write: 'gathered to their people.' Sit with the truth that they are not scattered, they are gathered, together, waiting. Let that be a source of real comfort and real hope today.


𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆’𝘀 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿

Lord, thank You that heaven is not a place of strangers. Thank You that the people I have loved and lost are gathered, real, known, waiting. Thank You for David's words: I will go to him. Help me carry that certainty today, especially in the moments when the missing feels heavy. Amen.

06/11/2026

𝗗𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗬 𝗗𝗘𝗩𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡
June 11, 2026

𝗔𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗱𝘆, 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗱: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗔 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗗𝗶𝗲𝘀?

"We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." — 2 Corinthians 5:8

There is a moment in Acts 7 that is unlike anything else in Scripture.

Stephen is being stoned. He is the first martyr of the Christian church, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, described as having the face of an angel. And now the crowd is pressing in around him, picking up stones, and he is dying. And in that moment, he looks up. And he sees heaven opened. And he sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Standing. The detail matters. Everywhere else in Scripture, Jesus is described as seated at the right hand of the Father, His work complete, His position of honor established. But in this moment, as one of His own is taking his last breaths on earth, Jesus is on His feet. As if He rose to receive him. As if He was watching, leaning forward, ready to welcome Stephen home the moment he arrived.

And then Stephen says: 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' And he closed his eyes.

The Bible says he fell asleep. But what looked like sleep from the outside was, from the inside, an immediate arrival, because 2 Corinthians 5:8 makes the transition plain: to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

No gap. No waiting room. No long journey through darkness. The moment the eyes closed here, they opened there, in the presence of the same Jesus who was already standing, already waiting.

This is the consistent testimony of Scripture. Paul says in Philippians 1 that he has a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is, he says, far better. Not eventually better. Not better after a process. Far better, immediately, upon departure.

Jesus told the thief on the cross, a man with no time for religious preparation, no sacraments, no church attendance, today you will be with me in paradise. Today.

This matters enormously for how we grieve.

When someone we love dies in Christ, the temptation is to imagine them somewhere in between, not here, not quite there yet, somewhere in a spiritual waiting period. But that is not the picture Scripture gives. The picture Scripture gives is Stephen, closing his eyes here and immediately opening them to the face of Jesus. It is Paul, departing and being with Christ. It is the thief, breathing his last on a cross and waking in paradise.

If you are carrying grief today, fresh grief or the kind that has settled into the bones over the years, let this be the image you return to: your loved one is not in between. They are not waiting. They are present with the Lord. Present with the One they loved, the One who loved them first, the One who stood to receive them the moment they arrived.

And one day, you will see them again.

𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

If you are grieving, write the name of your loved one and beside it write: 'Present with the Lord.' Let that be a declaration of faith over your grief today. If you are not currently grieving, consider reaching out to someone you know who is and sharing this truth with them.

𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆’𝘀 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿

Lord, thank You that for those who belong to You, the last breath here is the first breath there. Thank You that death is not an ending, it's an arrival. For anyone reading this who is grieving, I ask that You bring the comfort that only You can give. Remind them that their loved one is not lost; they are home. And remind us all that we are headed there, too. Amen.

06/10/2026

Sunday Message Rewind ⏪

Are we making room for God’s purpose, or filling our lives with our own plans? Two questions worth asking this week. ✨

06/10/2026

𝗗𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗬 𝗗𝗘𝗩𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡
June 10, 2026

𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗕𝘆 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻

"Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." — 1 Corinthians 13:12

There's an old story about a group of blind men who are brought to an elephant and asked to describe what they're touching. One touches the trunk and says it's a snake. Another touches the leg and says it's a tree. On the side, a wall. Each is experiencing something real, something true, but none has the full picture.

That's a picture of how we see heaven from here.

Paul describes three heavens in Scripture. The first is the visible sky, the atmosphere, the clouds, everything you can see when you step outside and look up. The second is the cosmos, the stars, the galaxies, the vast expanse of the universe that becomes visible by night. Astronomers can study these. Telescopes can probe their depths. We can take photographs of galaxies 13 billion light-years away.

The third heaven is different. It is the dwelling place of God, the throne room of the universe, where Jesus sits right now in a resurrected physical body. And it is seen only by faith.

You can't photograph it. You can't calculate its location with a telescope. You can't measure it, map it, or verify it through any instrument we currently possess. To access the third heaven, you need something science cannot provide: faith.

And here is the extraordinary thing about faith: it doesn't just give you information about heaven. It gives you a relationship with the One who lives there. When you pray, you are not sending a message into the void. You are speaking directly to the God of the third heaven. When you worship, you are participating in something that is happening simultaneously in a realm you can't see. When you trust God with the things that keep you up at night, you are placing them into the hands of Someone who exists beyond the limits of time and space.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 that right now we see dimly, like a reflection in an ancient bronze mirror, blurry and incomplete. But then, when we get there, we will see each other face-to-face. We will know fully, even as we have been fully known.

Fully known. That phrase is worth sitting with. God already knows everything about you — every secret, every failure, every longing, every prayer you started but couldn't finish. He knows you completely. And He loves you completely. And one day you will know Him the same way, face to face, without the dim glass, without the partial view.

Until then, faith is not a consolation prize for people who can't have certainty. Faith is the faculty that gives you access to the most real thing in existence, a relationship with God, whose house you are going to.

See by faith today. It reaches further than your eyes ever could.

𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Write down one thing in your life right now that requires faith, something you cannot see but are trusting God for. Then write 1 Corinthians 13:12 beside it as a reminder: the same God who prepared a place you can't yet see is working in the places you can't yet see here.

𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆’𝘀 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿

Lord, I choose today to see by faith what my eyes cannot reach. Thank You that faith is not wishful thinking. It is real access to the most real thing that exists. You are in the third heaven. You are on the throne. And You are not distant from me. You are near, even now. Help me live today from that nearness. Amen.