Holy Trinity Church :: Pastor Todd Hunter: Recent Episodes
Holy Trinity Church
Holy Trinity Church is an Anglican church founded by pastor Todd Hunter, located in Orange County, California. We are deeply interested in Jesus Christ, the church, and the world around us. We admit that our services are a bit eclectic: a combination of biblical teaching, openness to things of the Spirit in worship and prayer, and Anglican liturgy. We are apprentices of Jesus, learning how to do what he did, live as he lived, for the sake of others.
If you find yourself in Orange County, we invite to come and visit us on Sunday mornings.
As the light and dark get starker and starker, it is so important that we don't fall into hating our culture or running from it. We have to precisely stay connected to it so we can be salt and light.
A simple Christmastide tradition of narrating the story of Jesus’ birth. The lessons are taken from the Bible and interspersed with singing of Christmas carols and candle-lighting.
During Advent this year we are encouraged to anticipate the Second Coming of Christ – that terrifying yet exhilarating experience of his glorious power, beauty and AWE-someness. Our readings and images will support us in reflecting on Jesus’ coming in the clouds as King of kings and Lord of lords. One day it will all come true – God’s power will have its full and magnificent way. During Advent we will learn together how that future shapes our today as we live immersed, plunged into a deluge of the power of the Holy Spirit.
N.T. Wright
"The ‘here and now’ is where Paul ends up. You might think, after a spectacular chapter like this one, that he would conclude by saying something like, ‘So let’s rejoice at the wonderful hope we can look forward to!’ But he doesn’t. And this isn’t just because he is a solid and sober practical theologian, true though that is. It’s because the truth he has been expounding, the truth of the resurrection of the dead and the transformation of the living, is not just a truth about the future hope. It’s a truth about the present significance of what we are and do. If it is true that God is going to transform this present world, and renew our whole selves, bodies included, then what we do in the present time with our bodies, and with our world, matters. For far too long many Christians have been content to separate out future hope from present responsibility, but that is precisely what Paul refuses to do. His full-bodied doctrine and promise of resurrection sends us back to our present world, and our present life of bodily obedience to our Lord, in the glorious but sobering knowledge (as we saw in 6.14, 13.8– 13 and elsewhere) that, if there is continuity between who and what we are in the present and who and what we will be in the future, we cannot discount the present life, the present body and the present world as irrelevant. On the contrary. It is a matter of the greatest encouragement to Christian workers, most of whom are away from the public eye, unsung heroes and heroines, getting on faithfully and quietly with their God-given tasks, that what they do ‘in the Lord’ during the present time will last, will matter, will stand for all time. How God will take our prayer, our art, our love, our writing, our political action, our music, our honesty, our daily work, our pastoral care, our teaching , our whole selves – how God will take this and weave its varied strands into the glorious tapestry of his new creation, we can at present have no idea. That he will do so is part of the truth of the resurrection, and perhaps one of the most comforting parts of all.”
The church is not peripheral to the world. The world is peripheral to the church. 1 Corinthians 11:17-11:34 & Luke 22:14-20
We come as we are but God never leaves us that way.
Jesus does not stand on the side of law. He stands on the side of persons, calling them to bring their lives into the light of God.
Why is there so little gentleness in human conversation? Gentleness is not intuitive when ones truest desires is to win or to position ones self or to get attention or clicks.
Worry is an unrest in the soul.
Worry confines me to defensive strategies in order to survive.
Worry trust the illusion that I can control outcomes.
Worry narrows my imagination to the domain of what I can think or conceive.
Worry constantly and only at whatever is already known in order to make sure that nothing has changed or nothing has moved.
Worry captivates my mind in endless rehearsals of all possible scenarios in order to be prepared and ready for anything life throws at me.
In these ways, worry imprisons my mind.
Worry is a form of confinement.
It's not the busyness of life but the weighted busyness that is the problem. Each thing comes with a weight, an anxiety or fear to it.
Psalm 62:1-8; Matthew 11:25-30
Busy is simply a matter of schedule. Hurried is a matter of soul.
But Jesus OFTEN withdrew to lonely (solitary) places to pray.
Love is never in a hurry.
Pastor Dennis Okholm continues through Ordinary Time - Galatians 6:7-16 and Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Let him who has ears . . . Jesus knew exactly that the vast number of people who heard him, did not have ears to hear. They had ears to filter and manage him according to their present bent of their heart.
Meek does not me weak. It means, stupendous ethics given how much power you have.
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21 and John 17:20-26
Acts 5: 25-32 and John 20:19-25
His hiddenness is not abandonment. It is for our good and his good so that he does not overwhelm us or impose himself upon us.
Good Friday is the day set aside to consider Jesus. To fix our eyes upon him. To open our hearts to him. To affirm our commitment to follow him.
Isaiah 43:16-21, Philippians 3:4-14, and John 12:1-8
It's possible to become a worse sort of human being in pursuit of religion.
Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Pastor Dennis Okholm shares. Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18, Philippians 3:17-4:1, and Luke 13:31-35
The number one reason that creates a plausibility in their heart for the existence of God is that they see something real, something true, something good, something that is making a difference in the lives of others.
2 Corinthians 4:1-6 and Mark 12:13-17
Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. Yet it is the law of all progress that is made by passing through some stages of instability and that may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you. Your ideas mature gradually. Let them grow. Let them shape themselves without undue haste. Do not try to force them on as though you could be today what time -- that is to say, grace -- and circumstances -- acting on your own good will -- will make you tomorrow. Only God could say what this new Spirit gradually forming in you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete. Above all, trust in the slow work of God, our loving vine-dresser. Amen.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955)
Colossians 3:1-4 and Matthew 6:19-24
There is a death-leading-to-life rhythm to our walking with God. The regular giving of our money or tithe often feels like little deaths on the way to life that they bring. They raise the questions that often sits deep in our hearts, "will giving really be worth it for me?"
Number one doorway for someone to be open to the Gospel today is to see the goodness, grace, generosity, love, etc. in a Christians' life.
Readings: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 & Matthew 25:14-30
Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it! 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 -The Message
Psalm 74:1-3, 18-23; 1 Cor.9:19-23; Matthew 10:24-33
Technological development hasn't been matched by development in human values and in human conscience. - Pope Francis
But the glory of God is precisely that for our sakes He comes down to the very depths, into human flesh, into the bread, into our mouth, our heart, our bosom. - Martin Luther
When we receive Holy Communion, we experience something extraordinary – a joy, a fragrance, a well-being that thrills the whole body and causes it to exalt.
When we have been to Holy Communion, the balm of love envelops the soul as the flower envelops the bee. - St. Jean Vianney
Peace is not merely the absence of conflict. Peace is a rest of the will.
Sheep naturally live with a sense of lack. What am I going to eat. What am I going to drink. Sheep are very weary and nervous.
Psalm 85:7-13, Ephesians 2:11-22, John 20:19-29
Psalm 33:1-5, 18-22, Rom. 5:1-11, John 6:35-40 Little by little, your hope is shaped so that when the big things come, you can stand.
Todd Pickett concludes the Season of Ordinary Time and our book studies in the Minor Prophets with Malachi. Read the entire book as you reflect and listen to what God is saying to his people. Malachi is the final book of the Old Testament and the last prophetic voice heard until we hear John the Baptist in the same tenor, hundreds of years later proclaim “Prepare the way of the Lord!”
The world is not going to change. That's not what's promised here. What's promised here is that you're going to walk out and the world is going to be equally beautiful and horrible. It's your orientation to it that is going to change.
Don't' be afraid of the Spiritual Disciplines. There's nothing to be afraid of. It's not drudgery, it's not punishment, it's not religious rigor for the sake of merit. The Spiritual Disciplines are simply the enabling of a dream. A dream that says, "I want to enter into Jesus' yoke."
Zechariah 7:9-14, 8:1, 3, 7-8, 12-13, 16-17
What kind of God would God be if he overlooked evil in our lives? What kind of loving parent would a father or mother be if they overlooked the destructive behavior of their children.
Todd Hunter continues with the minor prophets - Haggai 1:3-11, 13-14; 2:3-9 and Mark 7:24-30
We are addicts to noise, to busyness, to hurry and it makes us less human. It works against your heart to love your neighbor. Because love takes time. And a hurried person does not have time.
Bishop Todd Hunter talks about "Discipleship" in 2015, as we, Holy Trinity, celebrate 6 years together.
(Due to technical difficulties during the recording of this message, it is not of the quality we would like. We aplogize for the inconvenience.)
We don't give thanks FOR all circumstances. We give thanks IN all circumstances. There is a huge difference in those two prepositions - FOR and IN.
Nahum 2:1-2, 8-10, 13; 3:1, 4-5, 19 and Mark 6:1-13
If God exists, how do you explain his non-action in given circumstances?
We are addicted to activity.
Micah is a book about systemic injustice. How do we, as Christians, address this injustice? Serve faithfully in our relationships, tasks and spheres of social influence.
Jonah has a disease and it's called Ninevehitis.
Ninevehitis - a common sickness of the soul.
Ninevehitis - the desire to limit the reach of God's love.
“Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy because he thinks you are savage. Or perhaps he is afraid of you because he feels that you are afraid of him. And perhaps if he believed you were capable of loving him he would no longer be your enemy. Do not be too quick to assume that your enemy is an enemy of God just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy precisely because he can find nothing in you that gives glory to God. Perhaps he fears you because he can find nothing in you of God’s love and God’s kindness and God’s patience and mercy and understanding of the weaknesses of men. Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no longer believes in God, for it is perhaps your own coldness and avarice, your mediocrity and materialism, your sensuality and selfishness that have killed his faith.” Thomas Merton
Jonah 1:1-6, 11-16; 2:1-9 & Mark 4:21-32
Our God is a God of second, third, fourth . . . chances
Amos 7 & 9
Plumbline - instrument of trueness
What is real about your stated beliefs and behaviors?
In today's world, can we even know what plumb is?
When God asks, through his prophets, for us to seek something, do you know what's really going on there? It is an attempt to reveal to us our most real desires.
We are called to the Valley of Decisions
Joel began with a call to repent. He ends with an assurance of forgiveness and hope.
Discerning turmoil is dangerous stuff. There's a lot of harm that have come to people in trying to discern these things. Just read Job. Remember Job's friends?
What lies behind human evil? It's simple yet profound - nearly all evil doing is done under the guise of necessity.
We consume but don't savor.
Resurrected-Shaped Community 1. One heart and one soul 2. Generosity in the midst of scarcity 3. Courage in the midst of adversity
Uniformity versus Unity
The first ingredient for unity is humility.
What we are missing in the church and why we are not drastically different is that we have a whole lot of uniformity but very little unity.
The power of small means a lot.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is not an idea, it is something you know. It is something you actually experience.
How did Jesus 'empty' himself? By 'taking on.' By taking on YOU and becoming YOUR servant. Phil. 2:7
If you've ever been fishing you will understand this little axiom: you catch fish on their terms not yours. If the fish are in deep water and eating a certain kind of food and if you present bait on top of the water and it's of the kind that they aren't eating, it doesn't matter how sincere you are, it doesn't matter how historical your bait is - you catch fish on THEIR TERMS.
The church has always had to learn to not compromise but to incarnate herself in the world such that the world could understand who she is and how she could continue be this light, which is the light of all men.
Christmas is a time for children. As such we tend to sanitize the world during this time.
People live out of their imaginations. Not to say that they live out of make-believe. Human beings live out of the ability to picture ones future - y our God given capacity to picture your future.
These quaint little birth stories that we review every year during Advent, do they actually have any power, any worth against today's forces of evil?
Peace is a lost art in our culture. We are called to live in a different space. One that's defined by peace.
God will show us the way he works, so that we can then live the way we are made to live. That is, to live in the light of God.
Christ is indeed THE KING.
Looking at the difference between Real (capital 'R') and real (lower-case 'r').
Seven Signs that you might believe:
- Changing water into wine in John 2:1-11
- Healing the royal official's son in Capernaum in John 4:46-54
- Healing the paralytic at Bethesda in John 5:1-18
- Feeding the 5000 in John 6:5-14
- Jesus' walk on water in John 6:16-24
- Healing the man born blind in John 9:1-7
- Raising of Lazarus in John 11:1-45
- I AM the bread of life
- I AM the light of the world
- I AM the gate
- I AM the good shepherd
- I AM the resurrection and the life
- I AM the t rue vine
- I AM the way the truth and the life
According to the Hartford Institute: - 20% of Americans go to church. The lowest it's ever been measured in the history of America. - 8 to 10 thousand churches will shut their doors in next 12 months, never to reopen. - America is now the most religiously diverse nation in the world. - America is now the 3rd largest mission field in the world.
-150,000 per week are leaving the church
Jesus initiates three movements for them, and for us. 1) The movement from Fear to Peace 2) The movement from Hiddenness to Sending 3) The movement from Receiving to Forgiving
We hide away in our minds, our hearts. We shut ourselves off from others so that whatever pain we've experienced in the past, will not come and revisit us in the future.
The delay doesn't mean God is absent from the process. The things of God come to us, but they typically comes to us as hope and promise. Both, of which, are based in a future that God intends.
Holy Trinity Church just celebrated four years together. In this message, Pastor Todd Hunter shares a bit of who we are and where we are going.
When John refers to the Andrew in his gospel he usually identifies him as "Andrew, Simon Peter's brother." In other words, he's a second-string player, yet he humbly served God by bringing the people and resources to Jesus that had a profound impact on the lives of others. Most of us are called to be "Andrews," following his example.
We shouldn't be anticipating some horrible event called death. Rather, we should be envisioning what we will be doing when we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun.
We all search for a shepherd. Sometimes we try to shepherd ourselves. Every four years we elect a new shepherd. What's the difference between a good and bad shepherd?
John 9
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Is Jesus merely the one that gets us off the hook God over the guilt of our sexual sins, or is he the reigning lord of the universe, who actually knows what's right?
The vast majority of people today, especially those under 30, reject Christianity precisely because of the Christians they've known.
Real bread is life in the kingdom of God with Jesus as our master and leader.
There is a mountain of difference in believing 'in' Jesus and believing Jesus. That means to enter into a trusting, interactive relationship with him. To not just follow him for an arrangement for forgiveness.
If you are asked the question - "o you want to be made whole?" you have to consider:
- I might have to change
- I might have to adapt my lifestyle
- I might have to give up my excuses
- I might have to stop blaming others.
- I might have to take some responsibility for my spiritual condition
Nicodemus stands as someone with partial faith. He gets it on an intellectual level. He's seen the signs and so something inside of him is stirred. But he really only has a partial faith, a partial trust, a partial belief in Jesus. - John 3
John Saladino, youth pastor at Holy Trinity, speaks about the Knowledge Ministry of Jesus.
God is invisible, not in the sense of being unreal, but invisible only in the sense that human eyes are not capable of seeing him. There are specs of dust all around you that you cannot see. You are not seeing ultraviolet or inferred light. But, if we brought in some special equipment you could then see this light. Oh how I wish we could hold Jesus up to our culture and say, 'through him you can see what you can't normally see.
What does God think when he thinks about YOU? If you want to know what God thinks about you, you have to know him in essence and that is - he is, from all of eternity, a lover of persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What he thinks about you comes out of the essence of who he is.
The Holy Spirit can be mishandled by overuse. The Holy Spirit can also be grieved by being ignored. Paul said to eagerly desire the gifts, the greater gifts.
We interact with the Holy Spirit by asking.
Causes of internal stress: Inability to accept uncertainty; unrealistic expectations; perfectionism; pessimism; negative self-talk.
One-third of our nations employees suffer chronic debilitating stress.
Pastor Todd Hunter explores a new way of being in the world.
Suffering is a part of all of our stories. But, as Revelations shows us, it's not the end of the story.
Christian worship. as seen in Revelations, helps us answer the question, "Who is the Lord of the world? Who is worthy of our worship?"
Thomas' doubts didn't seem to be much of an obstacle for Jesus.
Will Jesus meet us in those tough places, in those places of skepticism? Or, do our doubts and concerns cause him to turn away? Leave us stranded until we can get it together.
I know of and I am respectful to the other world religions but, I've checked them out and no one else rose from the grave.
Betrayed by our own expectation and vision for our life. We try to hide this pain with noise and activities.
When it comes to religious stuff, is there such a thing as knowledge or are we just talking about beliefs? Is it enough to believe in God or do we need to know God?
Lent - the creation of space, the removal of noise, food, or whatever. . . in order to - 1) you are trying to find 'you' and 2) you are trying to locate yourself in a story.
Everything around us today encourages us to cultivate desire.
Cycle of frustration with temptation -Inner vow - We break it - We start again with a more invigorated vow . . . and it just keeps going like that where we're trying to be good.
Lent - Annual Check up
Lent happens in the shelter of a relationship with God.
Who do we align ourselves with God? - Imitation - being transformed - standing firm
Lent is counter-cultural because we live in a society based on personal rights. So, giving up something that we believe we got a right to have can be very challenging to us.
Consider - The law is not meant to be a burdensome legal system. The law is for our benefit, not our condemnation.
Most people feel misunderstood, that no one really 'gets me'. So, how can one ever reclaim their rightful identity?
Pastor Todd Pickett shares about the two things, living in the modern world, that make manifesting Christ and our faith very difficult. 1. The existence of God and 2. The question of morality.
Joy is much more that 'feeling'. Pastor Todd speaks to the Joy of the Lord during this Advent season.
Peace is just not the absence of conflict. It's an overall wellness or wholeness (Shalom)
God will rarely yell at us. He is not a nagging mom. In fact, it's a scary thought to think, God will leave us where we are. . . We have to desire to be with him.
Our King has always desired to have a people but not subjects. There is this invitation from God to be his cooperative friends.
Pastor Todd Pickett wraps up the Summer in Ephesus series talking about our WALK with God.
The spiritual struggle is more than temptation; than making sure we pray; more than making sure we read our bible
Who and where is the enemy and what do we do?
There's more to evil than the sum total of all of our sins.
Pastor Todd Hunter looks at "POWER" - Who has it? How do I get it? How do you use it? How do you exploit it to get your way? And what about He who has and is 'ultimate power"?
Pastor Todd Hunter (Holy Trinity Church) speaks about the importance of confirmation as it relates to the gospel of the Kingdom.
When you we come to follow Jesus we find out really quickly that he brings the whole family with him.
Eph. 5:15-21 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ came to show how to be truly and fully human. To b truly and fully human means to love.
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. - Eph. 5:1-2
We don't come to Christ as a blank canvas. We come to Christ malformed in need of spiritual transformation.
Christianity is not, first and foremost, about understanding bullet points of doctrine. It's about 'a way of life'.
Fundamental to being born-again is this process of putting off the old and putting on the new.
God is not going to make you into a robot. You're going to have to cooperate.
Our will is like congress. It's constantly being lobbied by our emotions and thoughts. They badger our wills.
While you are fully and completely an individual, you do not derive your most fundamental meaning from you as an individual and the gifts you have. We get our most fundamental meaning and function from Christ and His body. He is the head and we are the body.
The dominant world view, within the last few generations, is that the world is terrifying. And if you really new reality, you would fear.
No person of any courage would bail out on this reality by believing in God. People of real courage face the fact that life is meaningless, and you do your best with what you have. Following Jesus is not a popular answer. Jesus seems like a superstition in this world of "hard, cold science."
Most people do not think Jesus will get them where 'they' want to go.
Is there a way to totally lean on God while standing as a passionate individual in the image of God?
It begins by answering this question: "What does it mean to lead a group of people who are supposed to be following someone else?"
Paul is letting people in on a secret, which was hidden for ages and generations; and Paul himself is to be the one to take this news around the world. Paul goes on to talk about the secret, that Jews and Gentiles stand on the same ground before God because of Christ. The dividing wall has been destroyed. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. God has called us, like Paul, to be ambassadors and representatives, inviting others to be reconciled to God. We are servants and stewards of God's grace.
It might seem counter-intuitive these days, to many people, that church is the place that one might go to find spiritual growth.
Continuing in the series "Summer in Ephesus" pastor Todd Hunter talks to us about "grace". Knowledge, simply put, is that which allows you to deal successfully with reality. Reality doesn't care what we think.
Continuing in the series "Summer in Ephesus" pastor Todd Hunter talks a look at "how we walk" out our Christianity. Human life is meant to be deeply self-sacrificial.
Pastor Todd Pickett continues in the series "Summer in Ephesus" talking about SEEING with your hearts.
Continuing in the Summer in Ephesus series, pastor Dennis Okholm talks about Overcoming the Church's Inferiority Complex.
God says, "you are TWICE mine. I made you and I bought you back."
Pastor Todd Hunter - Holy Trinity Anglican Church
The dirty little secret of the church today is, that every day a 1000 evangelicals leave the church. And, it's not just you [church attendees]. Study show that 7 out of 10 pastors want to leave to. If they could, they would.
What if, even before God said, "Let there be light", he said, "Let there be [insert your name]".
You are the focus of God's love.
The growth of the church, as we see in Acts, did not happen by human enthusiasm or political or organizational sophistication. Rather, it happened by supernaturally, by the Spirit.
In this episode pastor Todd Hunter takes a look at our lives as Christians and how to engage non-Christians in a healthy "Christian" manner.
Paul says, I entered their world. I tried to experience these God haters and church haters, I tried to experience things from their point of view, but I did not lose my bearings in Christ and I did not take on their way of life.
The focus of the New Testament is on the reception of the "gift" (singular) of the Holy Spirit.
In this time in history, there are definite challenges to sharing ones faith. Pastor Todd Hunter shares about five barriers to coming to faith.
1) Trust 2) Curiosity 3) Openness 4) Seeking 5) Crossing The Line
Pastor Dennis Okholm talks about hearing the voice of God. The time you spend with Jesus in the morning, will determine how well you recognize his voice during the day.
Despite what you see on the news, millions of Christians all over this world are living for Jesus. They are doing acts of goodness in Jesus' name. It never gets talked about. It never gets heard. Hardly anyone notices.
You live in HIS house. He is present. You cannot call out to Jesus and NOT be heard. We tend to think of Jesus as an historial figure rather than as a contemporary.
Pastor Todd Hunter shares with us, this Palm Sunday, one of the wildest and most politically explosive acts of Jesus' life.
Pastor Todd Hunter (Holy Trinity Anglican Church) share about the authority of God and His word. What about authority? Who has it? Where is it? How does one act in relation to authority?
Pastor Todd Hunter (Holy Trinity Anglican Church) takes a unique look at John 3:16.
What kind of knowledge would allow you to bring your darkness into the light?
The purpose of this detachment that we are doing during Lent is to create space for the loving work of God in us.
Making Jesus LORD is one of the most potent forms of evangelism today. When we actually practice being apprentices of Jesus, there is an evangelistic affect to that.
Four dimensions of commitment to Jesus as supreme Lord and its evangelistic affect.
- Intellectual Conversion
- Moral Conversion -
- Vocational Conversion
- Social / Political Conversion
How do we get involved? Ask yourself: 1. What do you dream about?; 2. What do you cry about?; 3. What do you sing about?
We cannot have fullness in our formation in Christ without others in our lives. The Apostle Paul voluntarily became a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people. BUT, he did not take on their way of life.
The mode of Epiphany is GENTLE AUTHORITY. Gentle authority is the best mode of our witness to the epiphany. Being a connoisseur (keeper of the candles), a guide, to Christ, this the subject of Todd Hunter's sermon.
God insists on showing mercy, eve to those who are the farthest away from him. Should we show any less?
The epiphany here is - KNOWING you are known and felt by God. If you don't feel KNOWN, you won't be able to trust and if you won't be able to trust you won't be able to obey. If you can't obey you won't be able to see what God is doing in the world today.
Is. 30:18 Zeph 3:17 Ps 26:2-3
When we, Christians, see the word "GOD" we immediately think Jesus. Pastor Todd Hunter takes a look at 1. What is Jesus to us?; 2. What had he done for us?; and 3. What is he doing for us?
Pastor Dennis Okholm talks about Love from the standpoint of Mary. When you KNOW that you are loved by God; you can take the risk.
Joy - Is It Possible? Who hasn't asked this question at some point in their lives. Pastor Todd continues his Advent series on the subject of Joy.
The second had of Advent, Pastor Todd Hunter addresses the subject of 'hurriedness' in his sermon "Peace - Can I Be Busy, Yet Peaceful?"
We all need to ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives. - Dallas Willard
"Work a modest day and leave the rest and the results to God." - Richard Foster
This, the first day of Advent, pastor Todd Hunter talks about HOPE. Advent allows us to STOP and to ask ourselves, "can we open ourselves to possibility?"
Invisible doesn't mean it's not real it just means that it can't be seen. The Kingdom of God is not seen but that doesn't make it anymore unreal.
Desire is part of being human. In the Christian world, desire is something that needs to be "ordered" rightly. It's not whether or not we will desire, rather, it's "what" will we desire.
The apostle Paul understood the BIG story, so that when he told his story he told both stories. He tells the little story of Paul and the BIG story of God.
Knowing the big story affords us the ability to tell our story in the light of God's story.
The basic orienting story in the lives of most people seems to be security or esteem so something the like. The number one orienting story is "meeting my needs". How can "I" get my needs met? Pastor Todd explores this subject in the following sermon.
Michael Swanson shares some practical tips on discerning God's call for you life. Including these 3 points: 1. Need and qualifications don’t necessitate call; 2. A crucial way to discern God’s call is by listening to the voice of God; And 3. Living a life of prayer provides context for hearing God’s voice.
Pastor Todd Hunter walks us through how obedience is formed through our liturgy at Holy Trinity Church.
Pastor Todd Hunter continues our study in the Book of Acts. The reception of the Holy Spirit is crucial for being a disciple.
We live in a day in which most people who are not actively Christians have seen Christianity and decided against it. How do we then reach them? Paul demonstrated that we should meet people where they are at. But, let's go a bit further. Let's start with evangelizing ourselves. Moving ourselves ever closer and closer to God, so that we move others closer and closer to God.
Who are the “outsiders”? How do we appropriately defend and hold on to the Christian traditions, yet, simultaneously do what it takes to be generous, big-hearted, hospitable and welcoming to outsiders?
Gifts emerge and evolve in response to a call. Many people do not yet know the full scope of their gifts because they have never heard and obeyed a call with their whole heart.
Calling: there is a mutually dependant relationship to Spiritual formation: Appropriate disciplines to realize any potential; Everyone would like to be Michelangelo now, but who would like to spend 4 years lying on their back on scaffolding suspended under a dome no one had yet heard of!
Pursuing call always risks rejection. The hearts of some of our friends and family will not be with us.
Sermon by Pastor Todd Hunter (we apologize, but the previous upload somehow went missing so we are re-uploading this episode)
Sermon by Ian DiOrio (we apologize, but the previous upload somehow went missing so we are re-uploading this episode)
The conversion of Paul speaks HOPE. Paul was 180 degrees out of what God was actually doing, yet God found him.
According to statistics, we live in a society where 98% of people in America say they believe in God. Eighty percent of those believe in heaven. Half of Americans say they are "born again". There is a residue of Christendom in America, but many are living with some misinformation about what it might be to actually give ones live to Christ.
Acts Chapter 8. Sermon by Pastor Todd Hunter (we apologize, but the previous upload somehow went missing so we are re-uploading this episode)
Pastor Todd Hunter talks about he relationship between repentance and the Kingdom of God. The verse "repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand" signifies a journey. Just as the prodigal son - repented and 'journeyed' back home.
Time is not a commodity. You can't save it, can't manipulate it, can't control it. It passes. All we can do is experience it. If we want to encounter God, we must restructure our lives; a re-ordering of desires, a restructuring of our time in order to align ourselves with God.
"Accept the surprises as they come" - Todd Hunter
People find themselves in a space, place or time that leads up to something that is for them, an epiphany. Sometimes these pilgrimages pass through places of suffering.
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." - John 1:14 :: What difference should He made? What difference does He make? What difference can He make? Pastor Todd Hunter explores the Christ of Christmas as more than just a religious symbol.