Sunwest Fc's Weekly Sermon Podcast

Often referred to as magic words, they can work wonders. Nothing opens doors like "please". Nothing mends fences like "sorry". Nothing builds bridges like "thanks". Asking, apologizing, and appreciating can revolutionize relationships. This is not only true of human relationships but of our relationship with God. Join us in this series as we learn how to incorporate these three simple words in prayer and experience a deepened relationship with God.

Have you ever walked into a space and immediately felt like you didn't belong? Have you had the opposite experience where you felt like you belonged? That feeling can change everything. In faith circles we often reflect on the importance of behaviour and belief, but most people need to have a sense of belonging before they alter any behaviour or belief. As we look ahead to our biggest community event of the year, lets take time to explore the importance of hospitality and how one experience of belonging can change the trajectory of someones life.

So here we are. We are at the end of the book of Revelation and consequently the end of history as we know it. But the ending is actually a beginning! This is not what most were expecting. How we understand the future significantly changes the way we live in the present. While it may look like the world is unraveling before us, Jesus gives John a picture of the future where are all things will be made new. It really is a good news apocalypse!

We are now in the penultimate week of our series on the book of Revelation. Before we get to the new heavens and the new earth, we encounter numbers and images that are only mentioned here - yet have dominated many people's thinking and understanding of the end of the world. We are introduced to a thousand-year reign (what's that all about?), the final battle (again? I thought we already did that!), the Book of Life, and more... It's time to apply what we have been learning to make this millennium madness manageable.

Like the word apocalypse, Armageddon has been a very misunderstood concept. For many, it is a critical idea to how they understand what will happen at the end of time. It is perceived as a violent end of the world war. We are confronted in the book of Revelation that the Apocalypse is good news, and it turns out that Armageddon isn't the blood bath many think it is. The climactic battle turns out to be very ant-climactic! Armageddon is a war...that never happens.

It's springtime, and among other things this means it's wedding season. Couples who got engaged over this last year are "tying the knot" as they gather their friends and family to witness the covenant and union of two people. The scene of a wedding and marriage is one of the dominant images in the book of Revelation (and the Bible). But who's getting married? And did you get an invite?

As we get to the last quarter of the Book of Revelation we are introduced to two cities: Babylon and the New Jerusalem. The city of the Dragon and the city of God. Babylon, for the first-century followers of Jesus, was Rome and its empire. But every stage in history has Babylons; cities, and cultures that are moving Jesus out of the centre to the fringes of society. Are we living in Babylon? If we are, how do we live as citizens of the New Jerusalem when we live in Babylon?

Judgment is good news? Well, it depends on who you're asking. Many people feel that the judgment we read about is at odds with the loving God we read about. Yet as we'll see this week they are intrinsically linked and it may be our vantage point that is distorting our ability to see it.

The beasts in Revelation have been the source of fear, speculation, and predictions about the future. This week we will see that it is not as complicated as it has been made it out to be. Through these images, Jesus actually intended to give us clarity on how to follow him today. In fact, what Revelation 13 tells us is something I believe you already know intuitively. These last few years you have felt the temptation to follow the beast of the sea and the beast of the earth. Let's name it, and follow the Lamb instead.

This week we look at the centre of the book of Revelation, it is actually the central message of the book for the church. In Revelation 12 we are brought back to the Christmas story. There is something about that story that continues to help us understand what is going on in our story. As we look around our world today we can honestly say, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas".

As we continue to journey into the middle of John's Apocalypse we are bombarded and perhaps overwhelmed by a multitude of numbers and intense images. But we don't need to throw up our hands and give up. Using the Old Testament as a guide we see a picture painted that is intended to encourage the church to follow the way of Jesus. We will discover that the good news is better than we think and that everything is not as it seems.

While it is easy to make almost everything else a top priority in our lives (success, financial well-being, happiness, leisure, etc.), Jesus prioritizes spiritual health above all else. What does "spiritual health" even mean—and what would it look like to pursue this area of health? In the language of business and leadership, what are the big rocks if we care about spiritual health? Listen in as guest speaker Ken Esau, our CCMBC National Faith & Life Director, explores and challenges us on this topic.

This weekend we get to celebrate the most life-changing event in history. There is something that happened in the first century that caused eyewitnesses to radically change their lives. They counted their lives as nothing compared to the greatness of following Jesus. That event is still beckoning people to leave life as they know it and embrace a radical new way of living. Join us Friday and Sunday as we contemplate how the death and resurrection of Jesus continues to transform lives today.

This weekend we get to celebrate the most life-changing event in history. There is something that happened in the first century that caused eyewitnesses to radically change their lives. They counted their lives as nothing compared to the greatness of following Jesus. That event is still beckoning people to leave life as they know it and embrace a radical new way of living. Join us Friday and Sunday as we contemplate how the death and resurrection of Jesus continues to transform lives today.

What sort of pictures fill your mind when you think about Palm Sunday? Joyful cheers, Jesus on a donkey, maybe some kids singing a song while waving branches. The church calendar points us to remember this story every year before Easter, but why? This week we will immerse ourselves in the first Palm Sunday experience and explore how it shows us what we can expect from God this Easter.

As we wrap up Missions Month, we celebrate the fact that SunWest is on mission. We have partnered with work in international locations in Australia and Papua New Guinea, El Salvador, Burma, Thailand, Hawaii, Mexico, as well as locally across Calgary and in our own communities. The Gospels also invite us, as followers of Jesus, to be involved in mission. We are called to share what we love and help make the name of Jesus famous. We all have an active part to play.

When Jesus returns again what is going to happen? Many assume he is coming to rescue the church before the earth is destroyed. But is this actually an idea found in the Bible? This week we will look at why what we believe about the end of time matters today. Perhaps our understanding is based more on popular fiction than the Bible.

The image of the four horsemen in Revelation has captured people's imagination throughout history and shows up repeatedly in pop culture. What these horsemen leave in their wake is bleak and destructive. Yet the vision of Revelation shows us that the greater apocalypse (unveiling) isn't what happens when the four horsemen show up (people have been experiencing that hopelessness through all of history) but that somehow in the wake of violence, poverty, and death there is hope and victory.

We all have expectations towards God. What he’s like, what he should do, how and when he should show up. Sometimes God doesn’t meet our expectations and he does something unexpected. The Good News of the Apocalypse was unexpected to the first hearers and even 2,000 years later we still seem to miss its significance. This week we will look into the most important twist in the entire Book of Revelation. If we aren’t clear on this part, we won’t be clear on anything else. It not only tells us how to read the rest of the book, it also tells us how we should follow Jesus today.

The challenges that faced the first century church are the same as the challenges that face us today. Last week we addressed how three of the seven churches struggled with cultural assimilation. This week we will look at the challenge that the other churches had with complacency and persecution.