Sunwest Fc's Weekly Sermon Podcast

Last week we considered how condemning, shaming, and calling out is a reflection of cancel culture’s attempt to control others. This does not reflect the kingdom culture of Jesus. But the question remains, when someone is acting and living in ways contrary to God’s Kingdom how should we respond? This Sunday we begin a two-week response to that question.

You can see what’s wrong with them. You know what people should have done and what they shouldn’t have done. You’ve been hurt and offended. At that point, you're at a crossroads. You can choose to walk in Kingdom Culture (the way of Jesus) or Cancel Culture (the way of the world). This week we look at one of the most well-known but least implemented sayings of Jesus.

For the last five years, this word (or at least what it represents) has dominated the cultural, religious, political, and personal landscape. Individuals, businesses, and people groups can get canceled in a moment. The result is a culture of fear-mongering, threats, power games, and crowd-pleasing. The playground where this bullying plays out is social media. What does it look like to follow Jesus in a cancel culture? What if "they" are clearly in the wrong? What if I've been canceled? Even though this feels "new", it's not. Jesus was canceled. He has shown us the way to live in a volatile polarizing culture and he has invited us to follow him.

Celebrate with us as we see the culmination of God's plan for eternal life for us all through the resurrection of Jesus and listen how this too was a sign of things to come foretold through the events in Bethany. He is risen indeed!

God's plan for the redemption of all people has been in place far longer than we at times imagine. Listen as we see how God foretold centuries before the events of Good Friday, through the Passover meal, the enduring sacrifice of Jesus as we reflect, celebrate, and discover more of what Easter means for us today.

Have you ever made a wish? Did it come true, and was it everything you hoped it would be? A celebrity once said, "God punishes us by giving us everything we want." The children of Israel experienced this as they asked God for a king. God gave them their wish, but it didn't quite turn out the way they were thinking. Why was that? Are we any different, as we list off all the things that we think might make our lives better? Do we treat God as the real king of our hearts, or do we treat him as if he were a magical genie, granting our wishes? As we enter Holy Week, starting with Palm Sunday, let's be careful of what we wish for.

Where was God on Good Friday? Was he standing at a distance punishing Jesus? Was he turning his back on Jesus at his weakest moment? When Jesus spoke his last words, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?", what was happening? Perhaps the key to understanding this world-altering mystery is found 1000 years before Jesus spoke those last words.

The word gospel means good news. The good news that the Bible talks about was revealed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But Jesus revealed something profound after his resurrection…this good news was being revealed, foreshadowed, and talked about since the beginning of time. People just couldn’t see it until after the resurrection. This week we look at the concept of “glory” and God’s "presence”. God always desired to be fully present with his people, but his presence put them in danger. The cross became the resolution to this divide. It is the beautiful collision of heaven and earth, of human and divine.

The word gospel means good news. The good news that the Bible talks about was revealed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But Jesus revealed something profound after his resurrection…this good news was being revealed, foreshadowed, and talked about since the beginning of time. People just couldn’t see it until after the resurrection. This week we look at the “deal” that God cut a few millennia ago with Abraham. We will understand more deeply how the Cross became the profound fulfilment of God’s love and justice.

The word gospel means good news. This good news was revealed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But Jesus revealed something profound after his resurrection…this good news was being revealed, foreshadowed, and talked about since the beginning of time. People just couldn’t see it until after the resurrection. As we head towards Easter, join us as we take the road back through the early scriptures to see The Gospel BC.

Look at any movie, book, or painting and you are bound to encounter the human need for connection with other human beings. We are wired for relationships (friendships, romantic relationships, family relationships). This can lead to the assumption that our deepest longings are realized only when we complete the puzzle by finding that missing piece. But is that person, really the missing piece? Join us this week as we talk about parenting: how our relationships with our children can't complete us, and the damage it does when we assume they will.

Everyone has an invisible 'friendship code' that shapes, hurts, or helps our friendships. God wants to fix our friendship code and fasten it to Jesus...but how?

Look at any movie, book, or painting and you are bound to encounter the human need for connection with other human beings. We are wired for relationships (friendships, romantic relationships, family relationships). This can lead to the assumption that our deepest longings are realized only when we complete the puzzle by finding that missing piece. But is that person, really the missing piece? Join us for this series as we explore how our relationships can't complete us, and the damage that does when we assume they will.

In our world today we can have same-day delivery, fast food, instant entertainment, instant communication with whomever we want, and a search engine or chat GPT to give us answers to any of our questions. We have all been shaped by this culture of speed, and because we want it, we assume it's good. But how has this shaped our faith? How has this shaped our ability to process things in a healthy way? In a world that tells you that your opinions, preferences, and comfort are the most important thing, we have added an expectation of immediacy. This combo can provide the knockout punch to our spiritual formation...unless we learn to slow down and tend our heart.

Over the last couple of weeks, we have talked about Deconstruction, what it is, and why we get there. When Deconstruction is done well with the right motive it can be a source of tremendous growth in our lives. But how do we go about that “reconstruction” process? Join us this week and next as we look at how to reconstruct our faith well.

Over the last decade the word Deconstruction has been used, claimed, and tossed around quite a bit. It is a word that is intended to describe someone's journey away from faith. But did you know that questions and doubts are a part of faith not an enemy of faith? Perhaps it’s our understanding of faith that needs to be deconstructed. Deconstruction is a normative and healthy part of the faith journey. What if deconstruction wasn’t the destination but one stop on the journey of reconstruction and growth? Join us as we explore what it means to question your faith without losing it.

Over the last decade the word Deconstruction has been used, claimed, and tossed around quite a bit. It is a word that is intended to describe someone's journey away from faith. But did you know that questions and doubts are a part of faith not an enemy of faith? Perhaps it’s our understanding of faith that needs to be deconstructed. Deconstruction is a normative and healthy part of the faith journey. What if deconstruction wasn’t the destination but one stop on the journey of reconstruction and growth? Join us as we explore what it means to question your faith without losing it.

It’s the time of year we’ve all been waiting for. In fact, the word Advent means waiting. Beyond the cultural parts of this season that we all wait for, there is a universal longing in every human heart that awaits the presence of God, purpose, eternity, rescue, and deliverance. Christmas is the story of God’s response to every longing heart. Come celebrate with us.

A wishlist at Christmas can tell you a lot about the person who wrote it. It can tell you about their dreams, goals and aspirations. It can also tell a lot about someone when they don’t get what’s on their list. But maybe when we don’t get what we want we’ll be more open to considering what’s on God’s Wishlist.

2023-12-03 Wishlist - Part 1: Undeck The Halls, Pastor Dan Bergen by