New Life Downtown: Recent Episodes
New Life Church
As an extension of New Life Church, new life DOWNTOWN follows the same sermon series and texts covered on Sunday mornings at the north campus. Pastor Glenn Packiam serves as the lead teacher for new life DOWNTOWN, bringing a thoughtful, Christ-centered, and historically layered perspective to the text each week.
New Life Downtown is one of New Life Church’s eight congregations, meeting in six locations, speaking three languages in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our mission is to make disciples in the Pikes Peak Region by calling people to worship, connect and serve.
Stay Connected:
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/newlifedowntown/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/NLDowntown
Website- https://downtown.newlifechurch.org
New Life Downtown is one of New Life Church’s eight congregations, meeting in six locations, speaking three languages in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our mission is to make disciples in the Pikes Peak Region by calling people to worship, connect and serve.
Stay Connected:
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/newlifedowntown/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/NLDowntown
Website- https://downtown.newlifechurch.org
New Life Downtown is one of New Life Church’s eight congregations, meeting in six locations, speaking three languages in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our mission is to make disciples in the Pikes Peak Region by calling people to worship, connect and serve.
Stay Connected:
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/newlifedowntown/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/NLDowntown
Website- https://downtown.newlifechurch.org
New Life Downtown is one of New Life Church’s eight congregations, meeting in six locations, speaking three languages in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our mission is to make disciples in the Pikes Peak Region by calling people to worship, connect and serve.
Stay Connected:
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/newlifedowntown/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/NLDowntown
Website- https://downtown.newlifechurch.org
New Life Downtown is one of New Life Church’s eight congregations, meeting in six locations, speaking three languages in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our mission is to make disciples in the Pikes Peak Region by calling people to worship, connect and serve.
Stay Connected:
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/newlifedowntown/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/NLDowntown
Website- https://downtown.newlifechurch.org
New Life Downtown is one of New Life Church’s eight congregations, meeting in six locations, speaking three languages in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our mission is to make disciples in the Pikes Peak Region by calling people to worship, connect and serve.
Stay Connected:
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/newlifedowntown/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/NLDowntown
Website- https://downtown.newlifechurch.org
New Life Downtown is one of New Life Church’s eight congregations, meeting in six locations, speaking three languages in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our mission is to make disciples in the Pikes Peak Region by calling people to worship, connect and serve.
Stay Connected:
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/newlifedowntown/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/NLDowntown
Website- https://downtown.newlifechurch.org
New Life Downtown is one of New Life Church’s eight congregations, meeting in six locations, speaking three languages in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our mission is to make disciples in the Pikes Peak Region by calling people to worship, connect and serve.
Stay Connected:
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/newlifedowntown/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/NLDowntown
Website- https://downtown.newlifechurch.org
New Life Downtown is one of New Life Church’s eight congregations, meeting in six locations, speaking three languages in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our mission is to make disciples in the Pikes Peak Region by calling people to worship, connect and serve.
Stay Connected:
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/newlifedowntown/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/NLDowntown
Website- https://downtown.newlifechurch.org
New Life Downtown is one of New Life Church’s eight congregations, meeting in six locations, speaking three languages in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our mission is to make disciples in the Pikes Peak Region by calling people to worship, connect and serve.
Stay Connected:
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/newlifedowntown/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/NLDowntown
Website- https://downtown.newlifechurch.org
New Life Downtown is one of New Life Church’s eight congregations, meeting in six locations, speaking three languages in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our mission is to make disciples in the Pikes Peak Region by calling people to worship, connect and serve.
Stay Connected:
Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/newlifedowntown/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/NLDowntown
Website- https://downtown.newlifechurch.org
New Life Downtown is one of New Life Church’s eight congregations, meeting in six locations, speaking three languages in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our mission is to make disciples in the Pikes Peak Region by calling people to worship, connect and serve.
New Life Downtown is one of New Life Church’s eight congregations, meeting in six locations, speaking three languages in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our mission is to make disciples in the Pikes Peak Region by calling people to worship, connect and serve.
Join us in our series through Nehemiah. This week, Pastor Jason Jason preaches on Nehemiah 10.
Learn More:
Website- https://downtown.newlifechurch.org
Social- https://www.instagram.com/newlifedowntown/
Join us in our series through Nehemiah. This week, Pastor Jason Jason preaches on Nehemiah 10.
Learn More:
Website- https://downtown.newlifechurch.org
Social- https://www.instagram.com/newlifedowntown/
What does the Holy Spirit empower us for? Pastor Glenn Packiam continues our series on the Holy Spirit by talking about what it means to welcome the power of God.
Pastor Glenn is continuing our series on “Who is God? The Son” by exploring what it means to call Jesus the True and Good Shepherd.
Pastor Glenn Packiam is continuing our series on "Who is God? The Son" with a look at Jesus as the great banquet host. It will be a chance to reflect on the hospitality of God toward unlikely people.
Pastor Glenn continues our sermon series “Who is God? The Father: Merciful and Gracious”. The Father pours out His abundant grace to everyone, making it possible to become children of God in the new family of God.
Do we trust the good Father with great power? Pastor Jason Jackson continues our sermon series “Who is God the Father? The Almighty”. The exercise of power reveals character of the power holder.
Pastor Jason Jackson continues our sermon “Who is God?” With a focus on “The Father”. To declare God as Father is to declare that He saves. He is the God who comes to rescue his kids when they're in trouble.
Do you believe that God is enough for you? Pastor Glenn Packiam continues our sermon series: Who is God? The Father—“One God”.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Deuteronomy 6:4
Why do we need a “God Story”? Pastor Glenn Packiam kicks off our new sermon series “Who is God?” and addresses the question “Who Needs God?”. We discover the reason for religions, and learn the unique story of God that Christianity offers the world.
"We want to pray… but…" Pastor Glenn preaches on “Becoming A People of Prayer”. Habits that are focused on a goal don’t often last; habits oriented around an identity do.
Jesus lived free of fear and full of compassion. Pastor Jason Jackson preaches a special Advent message “The Apple & The Tree”.
If you rise against Jesus, you will fall. If you fall before Jesus, you will rise. Pastor Glenn Packiam preachs a special Advent message on The Rise and Fall of…You and Me.
What have you happened upon? Stumbled into? Ended up? Is it possible that God is hiding in that circumstance? Pastor Jason Jackson continues our sermon series “The Outsider: Circumstances, Leftovers & The Faithfulness of God”. Could God be mysteriously present - waiting to be found?
This Sunday Pastor Glenn Packiam begins our new sermon series The Outsider from the book of Ruth. Trouble is everywhere, but salvation is found in Christ alone.
How does the church shine when no one misses the light? Pastor Glenn Packiam preaches on “When the Sky Goes Dark”. Are we open? Are we listening? Are we seeking?
“What now?" we ask as we come to the end of Paul’s most passionate letter. Pastor Glenn finishes our sermon series from the book of Galatians "The Revolutionary Gospel". Paul encourages us to bear one another’s burdens, to be faithful in sowing, and to boast only in the cross.
How do we know what we're enslaved to? Pastor Glenn continues our sermon series The Revolutionary Gospel “No Longer Slaves”. This is the good news: God says to you, “Everything I have is yours.”
Many in church and in culture asking major question… Is Christianity inherently racist and sexist? Pastor Jason continues our sermon series The Revolutionary Gospel, focusing on ‘Slaves, Women & the Church’.
Are you welcoming the work of the Spirit in your life? Are we “Holy Spirit” people? Pastor Glenn continues our sermon series The Revolutionary Gospel “Believing in the Blessing-Bringer”. Jesus became the curse to break its power and to bring us blessing.
How do “gospels” work? Pastor Glenn Packiam continues our sermon series “The Revolutionary Gospel” from the book of Galatians. "Gospel" means "good news". Jesus is the source and the substance of the Good News!
This week Pastor Glenn Packiam began our new sermon series "The Revolutionary Gospel" going through the book of Galatians. The gift of Jesus is undeserved and cannot be earned; it is not inevitable nor is it proportional. It is unconditioned and more than enough.
“How Do… I Finish Well?” Pastor Jason Jackson continues our sermon series from the book of Proverbs. Finishing well looks like a realization of God’s image in us. “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is found on the path of righteousness.” (Proverbs 16:31)
How do I… Raise My Children? Pastors Glenn & Holly Packiam continue our sermon series from the book of Proverbs with a focus on parenting. The goal of parenting is that they will first listen to wisdom and then ultimately love wisdom. The path of discipleship can vary by each child and their season of growth, but parents can participate in that process by their own attentiveness and humility.
Join us for a word from Pastor Ken Harmon as he helps us answer the question, How do I Trust God?
Throughout Scriptures, the people of God are commanded to remember. It is a particular concern in the book of Deuteronomy, where we read Moses’ final words to the Israelites before they enter the Promised Land. He frequently told them… Don’t forget… Remember! This Sunday we enjoyed a message from Pastor Jason Jackson on the role of remembering in the Christian faith.
Last week we finished our series on the Lord’s Prayer. Next week we will begin a series through Proverbs!
How should we pray about suffering? Can we ask to be spared? Pastor Glenn Packiam continues our sermon series "Praying With Jesus" with a reflection on the request for God not to lead us into temptation but to deliver us from evil. Take heart: the worst thing will not be the last thing.
When we refuse forgiveness to others, we refuse forgiveness for ourselves. When we extend forgiveness to others, we bear witness to the mercy of God. Pastor Glenn Packiam continues our sermon series “Praying with Jesus”, with a focus on the key phrase “Forgive Us Our Sins” from the Lord’s Prayer.
What bread are you crying out for, and where do you turn to find it? Pastor Glenn Packiam continues our sermon series “Praying with Jesus”, with a focus on the key phrase “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread” from the Lord’s Prayer. Growth in our life with God only comes by dependence on him.
Names matter! This week Pastor Jason Jackson continues our sermon series “Praying with Jesus”, with a focus on the key phrase “Hallowed Be Your Name” from the Lord’s Prayer. A good name is more desirable than great riches (Proverbs 22:1a - NIV)
We all pray, but we struggle to know how we should pray, and we sometimes wonder if we're praying enough or doing it right. Take heart: we all need to learn how to pray, and Jesus shows us how. Pastor Glenn Packiam launches our new sermon series this week called, “Praying with Jesus”, that explores key phrases of the Lord’s Prayer beginning with “Our Father in Heaven”.
What do we do when we hit dead ends in life? Pastor Glenn Packiam preaches a special Easter sermon from the book of Luke. There is a Savior…This is the good news...His name is Jesus. Happy Resurrection Sunday!
What do we do when the problem is worse than we realize? Pastor Glenn Packiam concludes our sermon series Everyday Prophets by teaching from the book of Malachi. Here we discover that the people have been unfaithful to the covenant. In Jesus, we find a God who not only confronts our sin but was crucified for it on our behalf.
Pastor Daniel Grothe continues our sermon series on Everyday Prophets with a teaching from the book of Zechariah. The book of Zechariah is an invitation to bring our disappointments into the presence of God, to surrender our expectations, and to believe that a future glory is coming that will surpass the very best days of our former glory.
What do you do when you’re trying to put the pieces of your life back together? Pastor Glenn Packiam continues our sermon series on Everyday Prophets with a teaching from the book of Haggai. We need the presence, people, and power of God.
There are times the prophet speaks to the people on behalf of the Lord, and there are times the prophet speaks to the Lord on behalf of the people. Habakkuk is the latter. In the face of wicked and oppressive leaders seeming to prosper, he asks, “How long...?” And when he realizes that God is going to use a more wicked nation to bring about justice, he asks, “How could you...?” We’ve all had those “How long?” and “How could you?” moments. Both lament and praise are profound acts of faith in times of disorientation and disappointment.
Why does God allow evil? What does he think about it? What will he do about it? Pastor Glenn Packiam continues our sermon series on Everyday Prophets with a teaching from the book of Nahum on God’s vengeance.
What kind of community does God seek? Pastor Jason Jackson Continues our sermon series on Everyday Prophets with a teaching from the book of Micah.
"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity, overlooking the sin of the few remaining for his inheritance? He doesn’t hold on to his anger forever; he delights in faithful love. 19 He will once again have compassion on us; he will tread down our iniquities. You will hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will provide faithfulness to Jacob, faithful love to Abraham, as you swore to our ancestors a long time ago." (Micah 7:18-20)
What do you do about the people in your life who are hard to love? Pastor Glenn Packiam continues our sermon series on Everyday Prophets with a teaching from the book of Jonah on the radical truth about God’s mercy. As Christians, we recognize that while Jonah wouldn’t leave Israel to preach to his enemies, Jesus left heaven to die for His.
Pastor Jason Jackson continues our series on Everyday Prophets with a teaching from the book of Amos. Yahweh sent Amos to confront and not to comfort. We need the Word of the Lord to confront us, guide us, and remind us that we too were poor and need God’s generosity to produce generosity in us.
Pastor Glenn continues our series on Everyday Prophets with a teaching from the book of Obadiah. When your enemy falls, don’t let pride lead you to take pleasure in it and profit from it. Only Jesus is just and merciful enough to judge.
Pastor Glenn continues our sermon series, Everyday Prophets, with a teaching from the book of Joel. In times of trouble, it is always the right decision to humble ourselves, repent, and return to the Lord. Only God can bring about the renewal and restoration that we long for. There is nothing that has been lost that cannot be restored.
Pastor Glenn kicks off our new sermon series EVERYDAY PROPHETS with Hosea. He poses the question “How would these everyday prophets speak to us today?”. There may be consequences for our choices, but if we allow them to lead us to repentance, we will see God at work in the midst of it and calling us back into His loving arms.
Pastor Jason Jackson teaches from Ephesians on the importance of slowing down to be with Christ, being in community with others, and ministry to the world.
Pastor Evan Reedall shared an encouraging word from Ephesians 2:8-10 on how we all need grace, and maybe lately, some extra grace. To be gifted grace is to be given God’s favor and grace is a gift that is not forced, but rather received.
Pastor's Glenn Packiam and Jason Jackson continue our Advent series by team teaching from Luke 1:54-55 on how Advent is revolutionary and the revolution is generational. And the good news is that God can redeem your family history! The arrival of Jesus reminds us that God is faithful to redeem our past and secure our future.
Pastor Glenn Packiam continues our Advent sermon series preaching from Luke 1:51-53 on how the revolution brought about by Jesus’ arrival is a reversal. It re-orders power in the world, disrupting the proud and the powerful and establishing the downcast and the desperate. Yet Advent requires hope for this reversal is still to come. We can prepare for it by choosing to humble ourselves now before the merciful king.
Preaching from Luke 1:50, Pastor Glenn Packiam continues our Advent sermon series this morning by showing how God's universal mercy reaches everyone. We're called to be as merciful as God is, and when we show mercy, we make it possible for others to receive God’s mercy and to glorify Him!
We long for change, in the world and in our own lives. But we often feel powerless to bring about the change we need. Pastor Glenn Packiam begins our Advent sermon series tonight on how Jesus’ arrival means a change that is both powerful and personal. Whether you feel lowly because of the messiness or the hiddenness of of your life, Jesus sees you.
Finishing our series through the book of Revelation, Pastor Glenn Packiam preaches from Revelation 21 and 22. Our future is less about a what, and more about a who— Jesus. Jesus will make all things new. Jesus is coming again. And Jesus is the beginning and the end. We live now in anticipation and in response to the Spirit's invitation.
Pastor Glenn Packiam preaches from Revelation 19 & 20 tonight, answering the question, 'Where does God's salvation come from?' God's salvation looks like judgment on evil, vindication for victims, and a feast for the righteous.
Watch a commercial break on TV and you’ll be reminded of the world’s temptation to love power, prosperity, pleasure and peace of mind. Preaching from Revelation 17-18, Pastor Jason Jackson reminds us the Scriptures often use sexual infidelity as a metaphor for spiritual infidelity. Then he discusses how Revelation points us to true spiritual fidelity and faithful living in Jesus, which manifests in our stewardship of sex, money, and power.
This week, Pastor Jason Jackson preaches from Revelation 15 & 16 in continuation of our sermon series through the book of Revelation called 'The Last Word.' What does God's wrath and final judgment look like? God’s judgment is redemptive, not coercive. Many envision a giant battle on the plains of Armageddon, but John tells us God's wrath looks like the cross and the final battle is won with three short words: "It is finished."
Many of us spend the majority of our lives tired. Not just physically worn out, but mentally, emotionally and relationally spent. Preaching from Revelation 14, Pastor Jason Jackson continues our sermon series, 'The Last Word,' through the book of Revelation. The dragon and the beast perpetuate a worldview and a way of living devoid of God. They promise us rest by taking tempting shortcuts, knowing we become what we worship. But God calls for the endurance of the saints, keeping His commandments and keeping our faith in Jesus.
Special guest preacher, scholar and author, Dr. Ben Witherington III joins us this week in continuation in our sermon series through the book of Revelation, ‘The Last Word.’ Pastor Jason Jackson sits down with Dr. Witherington to answer some timeless questions around Revelation 12, including: Who does the pregnant woman, great fiery red dragon and beast represent? Is 666 a literal number the Church should watch out for or is it figurative? Where did the concept of the rapture come from and what does Scripture teach about Christ’s triumphant return?
This week special guest preacher and author, Pastor Brett Davis, continues our sermon series through the book of Revelation, ‘The Last Word.’ How does the Church affect change in this world? Preaching through Revelation 10-11, Pastor Brett reveals how Jesus loved the world enough to bleed for it and how He now calls the Church to do the same to affect change in the world.
Last week we saw that Jesus has defeated evil and will destroy it once and for all when He returns. What do we do in the meantime? How do we confront evil in our world today? Join us as Pastor Jason Jackson preaches from Revelation 8 about the power of prayer, continuing our series in the book of Revelation called 'The Last Word.'
God is listening to our prayers and our prayers become the means of God’s action. Prayer is how we participate in God’s plans, and although there's a mystery to how God uses our prayers in Jesus' name to change the world, He absolutely does.
Continuing our sermon series through the book of Revelation, Pastor Jason Jackson preaches on Revelation 6 and 7 about God's response to evil. Evil must be named, condemned, lamented, resisted, and patiently endured until it is permanently ended by the everlasting blood of the Lamb, Jesus.
This week Pastor Jason Jackson preaches from Revelation 5 about 'The Last Word on Power.' God demonstrates his power through the cross of Christ. What does that mean for the church today and each of God's people as priests called to rule like Jesus?
What is Jesus giving you that you can give back to him tonight? Pastor Jason Jackson reveals what Revelation 4 has to say about worship. When we worship, Jesus brings us inside the throne room God and bring us out of chaos into his peace. When we worship, we join heaven's unending song, and we give back to Jesus what He continually gives to us.
This week Pastor Jason Jackson preaches from Revelation 2 & 3 through the letters to the seven churches. Jesus speaks to and works through the local church. Jesus knows each unique church intimately and calls us to embody Him corporately in our unique location and circumstances.
This week Pastor Jason Jackson preaches on Revelation 1:9-20. In the midst of his isolation and hardships, John's vision begins by turning around and seeing Jesus as the center of everything. In a similar fashion, Revelation calls each of us to turn around and see Jesus at the center of it all, worshipping Him as our high priest and the true king of the eternal Kingdom.
Join us tonight as Pastor Jason Jackson starts a new series through the book of Revelation called "The Last Word." Preaching from Revelation 1:1-8, Jason sets the foundation for this series through one of the most misunderstood books of the Bible. As revelation and prophecy, John’s visions invite us to see and to hear. But what are we meant to see? What are we meant to hear? What are we meant to do in response?
Why do we need the church? In the third and final part of the "Kingdom People" series, Pastor Jason Jackson preaches about the church as a Kingdom community, God's family, and God's temple. We gather as the church to be filled by the Spirit and to be formed as family, and we are sent back into the world as a signpost to the arriving Kingdom of God.
This Sunday, Pastor Glenn Packiam answers the question "What is Salvation?" in part two of the 3-part "Kingdom People" series. Sin tears apart what God joined together. Salvation is God working within His world to rescue, redeem, and renew all things. Nobody and nothing is out of God's saving reach.
This Sunday, Pastor Jason Jackson kicks off a three-part series titled "Kingdom People." This week Jason preaches on who Jesus is and what that means for the church today as Kingdom People. Through Jesus, God is fulfilling his promises, defeating his enemies, rescuing his people, and restoring his kingdom on earth.
The way we wait matters because it's a reflection of who and what we're waiting for. This week, Pastor Jason Jackson finishes our series through the book of James, preaching on the last half of James 5. We wait for Jesus together with the patience of farmers, the courage of the prophets, the integrity of Job, the faith of Elijah, and the persistence of Jesus, leaving the 99 to patiently pursue the one sheep that went astray.
How should we think about riches? James warns the wealthy who hoard riches, exploit workers, live indulgently, and prey on the vulnerable. The problem is not wealth, but how it is gained and how it is used. Jesus redeems riches by redefining our relationship to wealth. Though this kind of life is impossible for us, with God all things are possible.
We are tempted to believe that we are in control of our lives. Preaching from James 5:13-17, Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how James warns us against presumption. But the opposite is not passivity. James invites us to surrender to the will of the good and faithful Father who gives good gifts. In doing so, we are neither presumptuous nor passive; we become participants in God's work.
What is the source of conflict among you? Pastor Glenn Packiam preaches from James 4 about how God diagnosis our destructive behavior by revealing our disordered desires. Our hearts are bent inwards on themselves. But God's desire for us is stronger than our desire for Him. His grace reorders our desires, redirects our affections, and restores our lives.
There are two types of wisdom: wisdom from below and wisdom from above. Pastor Jason Jackson preaches from James 3, helping us discern godly wisdom from the wisdom of this world. True wisdom leads us to pursue humility, holiness, and the peace Jesus brought the world through His death and resurrection.
What is the goal of Gospel proclamation? Preaching from the second half of James 2, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see that the goal of Gospel proclamation is faithful obedience. The Holy Spirit produces fruit in us for the glory of God and the good of the world.
James 2 speaks to our cultural moment of racial tensions by challenging us to see favoritism as a contradiction to the faith. Pastor Glenn Packiam shows that throughout the Scripture, the tilt of God's face is always to the marginalized and the oppressed. When we recognize our own need for mercy, we lose the need to judge or exclude others. On this Pentecost Sunday, we remember what a radical community the church is called to be.
James relentlessly challenges followers of Jesus to live a life consistent with the Kingdom of God - to live a life that produces God's righteousness. This week Pastor Jason Jackson shows us how this actually happens. We don't grow in Christ by trying harder. We grow by welcoming God's word in our lives and then working in the same direction. As pay attention to the Spirit, embrace what God is doing, and nourish God's work through obedience, the word planted in us will come out of us!
Beginning a new series on the book of James, Pastor Glenn Packiam exhorts us to examine what this season of trial is for. It is an occasion for joy because it is an opportunity for maturity. The path to maturity means learning to seek wisdom at the source, to put our lives in perspective, and to see God as he truly is: the good giver of good gifts.
How do we find our way in a season of disruption and disorientation? Pastors Glenn and Holly Packiam share Biblical wisdom and practical ways to create rhythms and practices for abiding in Christ and bearing fruit for the glory of God and the good of others.
How does the glorious chapter of Romans 8 end? With a stunning vision of a God who does not withhold any good thing from us and who will never let us go. God is both the judge and our advocate, and the verdict is in: We are loved! God had bound Himself to us forever.
Have you ever felt not just on the outside but on the wrong side of God's story? Preaching from Joshua 2 on the story of Rahab, Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how she is not only named in the Bible but saved and integrated into the people of God. We discover how loyalty blends belief and obedience, and how God's generosity is greater than our faith or faithlessness.
What do we do in the 'meantime'? In today's reflection from Romans 8 (vs. 24-27), we explore what it means to wait with hope. Pastor Glenn Packiam begins by explaining that Christian hope is not an escape, or optimism, or progress, or even a return or restoration of how things were in Eden. We then turn to Paul's exhortation to embrace patience and prayer, with the Holy Spirit's help.
How do we make sense of our suffering? Expounding on Romans 8:18-23, Pastor Glenn Packiam shares how Paul wants us to know that this present pain cannot compare to future glory, how suffering is the result of creation's slavery, and why even our groaning is with eager expectation.
From on Romans 8:14-17, Pastor Glenn Packiam explores what it means to be no longer slaves but children of God. First, we look at why the phrase "sonship" matters, and what its resonances throughout Scripture are. Then, we examine how the Son of God made us all children of God. Finally, we examine three implications of living now as children of God.
Pastor Glenn Packiam examines Romans 8:9-13 and discusses what it means to be dead yet alive. We recognize a duality at work in us. Some have tried to explain it as being at once a sinner and a righteous person. But what makes better sense of Paul's words is to see ourselves as being at once dead and yet alive. We live in a body that is part of the old creation - it is corrupted and decaying. And yet, because the Spirit who raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives in us, new creation is at work in us.
Pastor Glenn Packiam continues these reflections on Romans 8 with a look at Romans 8:5-9. What does Paul mean by "the flesh"? How do two different mindsets lead to two different results? As we dive in, discover why the good news of Christians is found in the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We live in the wilderness - in the place between redemption and restoration, between Egypt and the Promised Land. As Pastor Jason Jackson begins a new series, we see that the wilderness, wild as it is, is the place of both salvation and transformation. In the wilderness, God causes dry land to emerge to save us from the enemy and He leads us through dry land to purge us from sin so that we might live free and full lives.
What does it look like to pray during Lent, a season where we remember the sorrow and suffering of Jesus? Pastor Glenn Packiam explores petition and protest in the Psalms, and helps us see why they are forms of praise, proof of our relationship with God, and pathways to intimacy with God.
When God spares Nineveh, Jonah burns with anger. He judges God's actions as unjust, and he distances himself. He sits outside the city and waits for God to change. But God doesn't change. The God who he is merciful and compassionate once again provides the means to deliver Jonah from his evil. In this final sermon on Jonah, Pastor Jason Jackson shows us how even in the Old Testament God reveals himself as the God who is willing to suffer in order to save. Sermon Slides
In Jonah 3, we see God's warning of judgment on Nineveh and their immediate response of repentance. Pastor Glenn Packiam guides our reflection on the nature of justice and judgment, and helps us to see how both spring from God's deep love for us. Repentance is always possible, and Jesus the one who is greater than Jonah has come to save.
Jonah goes to great lengths to get away from God. He would rather die in the sea than speak God's word to his enemies. When death draws near, he cries out to God and learns that God's presence is inescapable and his mercy is unpredictable. However, as Pastor Jason Jackson points out, Jonah has yet to align his desires with God's and to willingly participate in God's mission.
When God calls, he invites us to be with him and join him in his work. But sometimes the word of God makes us uncomfortable. It confronts us. Exposes us. Asks us to risk. When that happens, we often want a different word ... or even a different God and like Jonah we take flight. But as Pastor Jason Jackson reminds us, Jonah's story and our stories are not primarily about our response to God but about his response to us. And His mercy never runs out!
Many, if not most of us, feel like we're failing at prayer. We don't pray long enough or often enough, and we're not sure if we're praying the right way or for the right things. The truth is we're all novices at prayer, and we all need someone to teach us to pray. In this sermon, Pastor Jason Jackson reminds us of what Jesus taught us about praying and encourages us not to give up on seeking God through prayer.
One of the hardest ways to embody our pursuit of God is with our money. We have many ways of justifying our control. Yet, as Pastor Glenn Packiam explains, the invitation to a practice of worshipful giving is what prepares us and propels us into generous living.
We all ache for community, but few of us find it, even in the church. This week Pastor Jason Jackson discusses how Christianity is genetically communal and community is genetically difficult. This is particularly true in our culture where we prefer a life without restraints, but community requires constraint. In this light, Pastor Jason encourages us to move against the spirit of our age in order to find the community we long for and to encounter the God who calls us together.
How do we seek God through Scripture? We want to read the Bible, but we're not always sure why or how. Pastor Glenn Packiam outlines the 6 Acts of Scripture's Story, and then helps us know how to enter the Story, to let the Story enter us, and to see Jesus as the center of the Story.
Keys in the Bible, not unlike our world, are symbols of power and authority. But the person who holds the most powerful keys must be the person who is most trustworthy. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see what it means to call Jesus the Key of David, the one who opens doors no one can shut and who shuts doors no one can open.
This Advent, wait for the coming King with historic songs called the 'O Antiphons'. Drawing from Old Testament imagery to describe the hope of the Messiah, each song reveals something about the character of Jesus who comes to us in our waiting. Pastor Glenn Packiam begins the series with an exploration of Jesus as the Wisdom of God.
In this final sermon of the series on Philippians, Pastor Glenn Packiam examines Paul's secret to being content. While we tend toward indulging our desires, denying them completely, or detaching ourselves from the world, the Christian's life sits at ease with her circumstances through an abiding communion with Christ.
Aaron Stern from Mill City Church speaks to us today!
He and his wife Jossie are long-time dear friends of Pastor Glenn and Holly Packiam. They were pastors on staff here at New Life Church for 12 years, so it's great to have him back!
The Christian life takes practice-not as a way of earning God's favor, but as part of receiving His gift of grace. As Paul's letter to the Philippians begins to wrap up, he gives them a few things to practice. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us understand why practicing reconciliation, joy, gentleness, prayer, and focus matter, and how such practices are even possible.
What do we hope for? Much of our conversation about hope is anchored in this life, but what about our hope for afterlife? This week Pastor Jason Jackson looks at the substance of Paul's hope in his letter to the Philippians. As he awaits trial and faces the possibility of execution, Paul is filled with hope. Hope for life after death, and hope for life after life after death. The hope of heaven and beyond that the hope of resurrection. As followers of Jesus, this is our hope as well.
What is the goal of the Christian life? Is it better behavior? Is it a better eternal future? While these may certainly be results, they are not the actual goal. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see why knowing Jesus was Paul's prize and pursuit.
When Christians rejoice, are we being naive or escapist, or living in denial? Paul urges the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord as a way of keeping from placing their confidence in the wrong things. Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks the signs of our misplaced confidence and calls into a joy in Christ that keeps us rightly centered.
There are no heroic individuals in the Kingdom of God. Everybody needs somebody? Paul certainly did. Pastor Glenn Packiam focuses in on two of Paul's close friends, Timothy and Epaphroditus, helping us to see how the Gospel redefines our notion of family. There are people in our community who embody for us what it looks like to live and love like Jesus.
How do we live a good life? Do we strive to live up to external standard of morality? Do we need to be true to ourselves and do what feels right? As Christians, we don't follow either path. Instead, as Paul describes in Philippians 2:12-15, we live out our identity in Christ through an obedience made possible by the Spirit of God. For it is the Holy Spirit who works in us both the desire and ability to live our lives for God's good purposes.
All of Paul's theology, all of his pastoral instructions, and all of his prayer and worship flow out of who Jesus is. This passage is the centerpiece of Paul's letter to the Philippians. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us to see Jesus as the true Human, the true God, and the revelation of what God is like. Christ's life of self-giving and sacrificial love is the pattern for the Christian life. Moreover, because of who Jesus is and because of His death on the cross, He is the only one worthy of all praise for all eternity.
The Person, The Pattern, and the Promise of Jesus
Paul's plea at the beginning of Philippians 2 to the church in Philippi is to live out their unity in Jesus. The Church is the most revolutionary community in human history. Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks why that is, and how we grow in that unity. Revolutionary Unity in Jesus
As Paul details his present circumstances (Philippians 1:12-30), he reveals his desires for the Church. He wants the Gospel to spread through us. He aims to serve Jesus in life and gain him in death and encourages us to follow his example. He implores us to let our lives match the message. This week Pastor Jason Jackson expounds on these ideas for our day. Let Jesus Be
The Christian life is all about love; everyone seems to know this. But in his prayer in Philippians 1, Paul asks that their love would lead to knowledge and insight. Pastor Glenn Packiam explains why loving Jesus means re-thinking everything.
Knowledge and Insight
What is joy? Is it possible to have joy in the midst of adversity? In part one of this series on Philippians, Pastor Glenn Packiam explores the joy of Kingdom companionship and the basis of our confidence.
Every time Jesus took bread in His hands, He blessed it, He broke it, and He gave it. There's no doubt the bread speaks of His life, but what does that mean for all who are in Christ? Pastor Glenn Packiam guides us through the Scriptures with special attention to a few of the blessed-broken-given stories in Luke and Acts to help us see how our stories become sacred in Jesus's hands.
Blessed Broken Given
Christians are often known for our worship practices, our work ethic, and for our Sunday rest. However, we're typically not known as people who play. In the final sermon in our Whole Life series, Pastor Jason Jackson articulates a Christian theology of play. Based on the nature of God, the goodness of creation, the promise of redemption, he invites us to play as an act of prophetic defiance, childlike faith, and reliance on God's grace.
Life Well Played
For Christians, marriage and singleness are equal albeit different vocations. Each guided by a particular and peculiar ethic. Each pointing beyond themselves to something greater. This week Pastor Jason Jackson explores how singleness is a gift from God and signpost to our new family, new commission and the new creation. Along the way, he provides some practical suggestions for both single and married Christians.
Sermon Slides: The Gift and Sign of Singleness
Is marriage simply about love between two people, or is that something more? In this detailed look at what it means to offer our marriage to God, Pastor Glenn Packiam discusses the theology of marriage, the purpose of sex, and the way power is distributed in the home.
Sermon Slides: Marriage, Sex, and Power
How do we recover our kingdom vocation to do work in the midst of a fallen world where our efforts are continually thwarted? This week Pastor Jason Jackson explores this question and offers four ways to begin: connecting our work to God's ends, realigning our work with God's intention, doing our work well, and not letting our duties distract from our delight in God.
Sermon Slides: Recovering Our Vocation
Why do we work? Is it simply to provide for ourselves and for the people we love, or is there a higher calling? Pastor Glenn Packiam continues our series on offering God our Whole Life by exploring work as a way of cultivating God's good world.
Sermon Slides: Kingdom Vocation
Reading the Bible is essential for living our whole lives as an act of worship to God - for integrating our faith into every aspect of our lives, but it can be surprisingly difficult. This week Pastor Jason Jackson addresses three questions to help us read well. What is the Bible? Why do we read it? How do we read it?
Sermon Slides: Reading Scripture
Pete is the founder of the 24/7 Prayer movement, which has reached half of the nations worldwide. He currently pastors the church, Emmaus Road, in Guildford, England.
Sermon Slides: Prayer
Whole Life Resources:
Resources for Integrated Spirituality
Crafting a Rule of Life
What do we learn about the Kingdom of God through the story of Prodigal Son? There's something about the father in the story that reveals the heart of God and calls us to become like him. Pastor Glenn Packiam includes in this message a special word to men about reframing our notions of strength in light of this good father.
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A Good Father
In Matthew 22, Jesus compares God's Kingdom to a king who throws a party to celebrate his son's wedding. This sounds like our kind of king and our kind of party. The story certainly opens that way. But it takes an unsettling turn as a guest is thrown out for not wearing the proper clothes. In this sermon, Pastor Jason Jackson explains this parable and challenges us to receive our invitation to God's kingdom on God's terms.
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A Generous Business Owner
There's a kind of unfairness when you don't get what you're owed; but there's another kind of unfairness when someone receives something they didn't earn. Preaching from Matthew 20, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us to see how the Kingdom looks like work not leisure, and how purpose has to be received not made up. But ultimately, this parable challenges us with God's extravagant generosity, which is better than our notions of justice.
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A Generous Business Owner
Jesus gives us the parable of a merciful master and unforgiving servant in Matthew 18, a story that helps us to reflect on the extravagance of God's merciful forgiveness towards us, and our needed response to forgive others.
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Forgiveness from the Heart
The economics of our world relate value to supply and demand or equate value with cost. But the Kingdom works differently. What is the value of following Jesus? These parables of hidden treasure and a precious pearl, as Pastor Glenn Packiam demonstrates, are not about sacrifice but about joy. If we could see how great a treasure Jesus is, and what is being offered us in exchange for our whole lives, we would sell all and give ourselves glad over to gain Him.
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Treasure and Pearls
We tend to idolize overnight success stories; Christians may even think that?s how God works. Yet the stories of the mustard seed and yeast remind us that the way of the Kingdom is hidden and slow. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us to reflect on this for our own lives, and to embrace a different kind of growth?a growth that is for the good of the world.
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Seed and Yeast
In this first installment of a new series on the parables Jesus told, Pastor Glenn Packiam invites us to reflect on final judgment. Many of us either want God to act now and intervene to stop evil in our world, or we want to imagine that there will not be a final account that we will be required to give. Through this story on wheat and weeds, Jesus calls us to be patient and to trust the goodness of the sower and the justice of the judge.
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Wheat and Weeds
The resurrection of Jesus Christ changed everything. But how? The world seems very much the same; in fact, in some ways, things seem worse. In this Easter sermon, Pastor Glenn Packiam draws from the life of one of Jesus's followers, Peter, to show us how following the risen Jesus leads to true freedom, a new family, and a good future.
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This Changes Everything!
In the last installment of our series through 1 Samuel, Pastor Jason Jackson preaches on David's exile in Gath. Forced to flee because of Saul's murderous pursuit, David seeks refuge among his enemies. There he establishes an outpost for God's kingdom, acquires territory, defends Judah, and gains the trust of a Philistine king. Though we shouldn't emulate David's actions, we too are exiles and we are called follow Jesus in living compelling lives in a strange land.
Sermon Slides:
Life in Exile
Our world is divided by rage, and these angry divisions are often justified by what we perceive as the other's foolishness. This is exactly the scene in 1 Samuel 25 with Nabal, David, and Abigail. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how Abigail embodies wisdom by her intervention, offering to take the blame and saving David from bloodshed. This points forward to Jesus, who saves us from our folly and anger and leads us into a more beautiful way.
David is hiding out in a cave with his band of political refugees when Saul enters unaware that David is inside. David is presented with the opportunity to remove a corrupt king and advance his own position, but he decides not to take justice into his own hands. Pastor Jason Jackson shows how David's response to Saul can guide us when leaders fail today.
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When Leaders Fail
What do we do when the community around us aren't quite the people we were hoping for? Preaching from the story of David in the Cave of Adullam, Pastor Glenn Packiam calls us to cultivate the friendships we have, trusting God to be at work in surprising ways. Jesus Himself gathered all the marginalized and the misfits and brought them in with a healing inclusivity. The Church-the people gathered and formed in Jesus's name-is to do the same.
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A Captain of Misfits
What does a loyal kind of love look like? We may feel like our early relationships of intimacy - like the homes we grew up in - have doomed us to dysfunctional relationships. Preaching from 1 Samuel 20, Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how the story of Jonathan and David's friendship reveals what steadfast love looks like, how steadfast love for others always points towards God's steadfast love for us in Christ, and how God's steadfast love enables our steadfast love for others.
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Steadfast Love
As Israel celebrates David's victory over Goliath, 1 Samuel 18-19 spotlights the responses of the royal family. Saul envies David and seeks to destroy him, but Jonathan loves David and seeks his good. Pastor Jason Jackson unpacks these contradictory reactions and challenges us to consider how we respond to the strengths and success of others.
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David and Goliath
The story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 is one of the most well known and loved stories in all of Scripture. This week Pastor Jason Jackson looks at David's response to the giant Philistine's threat and - invites us to consider how we should respond to evil in our world.
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The Envy of Saul
How do we actually join God in His work? It's easy to feel like our lives are too small, too insignificant, too invisible to matter. Yet the God who saw David, sees us. Preaching from 1 Samuel 16, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us discover how we can participate in God's purpose with God's power.
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David's Anointing
Loneliness seems to be on the rise, even in our age of connectedness. But our need for a faithful friend has not changed. Preaching from 1 Samuel 14 about Jonathan's armor-bearer, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see our deep need for friends we can trust, friends who know us and trust us, and friends will join us in the fight. Yet friendship alone is not enough. We need friends who will move us toward friendship with Jesus.
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Jonathan's Battle
Power often creates problems. The culture around us wants to solve this by eliminating power and flattening out structures. In the story of Saul's failure, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us notice the ways that Saul mismanaged his power. When we mistake our identity, we mishandle our authority. Yet the Gospel reshapes power by pointing us to its source and its purpose.
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Saul's Failure
Israel insists on having a king - a demand that was a rejection of God and that would not lead to their own good. Teaching from 1 Samuel 8-10, Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how God sometimes gives in to our demands to let us see where that road leads. And yet, even then, God does not give up on us. God is able to redeem even our worst mistakes and get the story back on track.
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Israel's Foolish Demand
First Samuel 4-6 records several unusual and unsettling stories about the ark of the covenant. This week Pastor Jason Jackson demonstrates what these narratives teach us about the God who is enthroned above the ark. He will not be used. He will not be a reserve. He will not be treated lightly. And He will return to restore everything the enemy has taken.
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The Revelations of the Lost Ark
Samuel was raised to be a priest. He was formed in private where he learned to hear the word of Yahweh. Then God called him to a public, prophetic vocation - to speak truth to power on God's behalf. In this sermon, Pastor Jason Jackson examines how Samuel's call informs our own and points ahead to Jesus, the true prophet.
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Samuel's Call
In this kickoff to the series on 1 Samuel, Pastor Glenn Packiam draws to the questions that will shape the series: Who is running the world? How will God bring His kingdom on earth? The saga opens with an extended story of Hannah's plight, prayer, and praise. As we look closely, we learn that God is not distant or disinterested in our lives, but is present and attentive. Furthermore, the God to whom we are praying, reveals Himself by what He does.
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Hannah's Prayer
On Epiphany Sunday, Pastor Glenn Packiam shares how the light of God shone brightly through New Life Downtown in 2018, and what our vision for the upcoming year will be. Turning to the story of the Magi bearing gifts, we are challenged to move from seekers to worshippers to obedient followers of King Jesus.
On the sixth day of Christmas we celebrate together God's pursuit and presence with us.
Merry Christmas!
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The Christmas Pursuit and Presence
We often hear that Jesus saves, but what is salvation? Why did Simeon associate 'salvation' with the 'consolation of Israel'? When we look more closely at what he meant, we begin to see a wider picture of what salvation is. Pastor Glenn Packiam teaches from the Song of Simeon, and shows us why Simeon was ready to go to his grave after seeing the infant Messiah.
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Songs of Expectation: Simeon's Song
Have you ever experienced a joy that was so deep you couldn't help but sing? Maybe the opposite experience is more frequent: we have lost our song because we have lost our joy. What's worse, we've lost our joy because our lives are broken and we feel forgotten by God. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how the song of the angels to the lowly and unlikely shepherds is a witness to us of the good news of great joy. God's favor and God's peace have come to us - Glory to God!
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Songs of Expectation: Glory to God!
In this second Sunday of Advent, Pastor Jason Jackson walks us through the song Zechariah sings at John's circumcision. Zechariah sings about a divine visitation - about God coming to save his people. His medley presents a sweeping, breath-taking view of salvation and ultimately invites us to know the God revealed in Jesus.
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Songs of Expectation: Zechariah
In this first Sunday of Advent, Pastor Glenn Packiam explores the message of Mary's song, known as the Magnificat. Mary sings about a great reversal, one that reveals God's might, mercy, and remembrance of us. This song reminds us that Advent is a season of expectation and preparation because it highlights the coming of God and the judgment and justice He will bring. In the end, the Magnificat is an invitation to worship and to join Jesus in His work.
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Songs of Expectation: Mary's Song
In a special conversation between Pastor Glenn Packiam and scientist and theologian Reverend Professor David Wilkinson, we learn about the relationship between science and faith, how miracles don't contradict the laws of nature, and more. We see God as the architect and the artist of the cosmos, creating both order and extravagance. We also are reminded that our hope as Christians is for resurrection and new creation.
We want to believe that we have the power to achieve what we aspire to, but when we find ourselves stuck, we are forced to admit that we are powerless to change our situation or to save ourselves. Preaching from the story of the paralyzed man laying by the pool of Bethesda, Pastor Glenn Packiam shows us how the words Jesus spoke to the man imparted resurrection life and empowered Him to end an old way of living and begin a new one.
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Encounters Part 4 - The Man at the Pool
This week Pastor Jason Jackson re-examines Zacchaeus's encounter with Jesus. This story is not about Zacchaeus seeking to see Jesus but about Jesus seeking to see and save Zacchaeus and ultimately each of us. As Jesus invites himself into our lives, He also invites us into His life and His mission.
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Encounters 3 - Zacchaeus
Re-make yourself, or just love yourself. Those are the conflicting messages we often hear. But Jesus says something more radical and more beautiful; He calls us to be born again. Pastor Glenn Packiam invites us to reflect on how a new beginning means a new birth, a new nature, and a new future.
Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us take a closer look at the story of Jesus meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well. We see how Jesus came to a lowly person in a hated region going through the toughest time of her life and restored her dignity, redirected her desires, and changed her destiny. Sermon Slides:
Encounters 1 - The Woman at the Well
In this conclusion of the series, Pastor Glenn Packiam calls us to see how the Kingdom of God is made visible by the Church, and how the Kingdom kind of life is made possible by a certain kind of community. We come to see why Paul's outworking of the Gospel announcement that Jesus is King was to plant churches. In the final words of Paul's letter to the Colossians, we see that each local church is called to be a community of difference, remembrance, and grace.
When we think about how we are to live as the church in the world, we can be tempted to pick one of two approaches: prayer or presence. Is the church called to pray for God to work or is the church to participate in God's work by being engaged in the world? Paul's charge to the Colossian Christians is to do both. Pastor Glenn Packiam exhorts us to learn from Paul's words and be a praying church and a present church.
Belonging to Jesus means being formed into a new family. But families are messy and made up of broken people. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see the wisdom and the power of Paul's radical call to let the peace of Christ reign in us, to let the Word of Christ dwell in us, and to do everything in the name of Christ.
According to Paul, the gospel establishes not only our future hope, but also our present way of life. This week Pastor Jason Jackson shows us how this works out. Because we already died with Jesus and have been raised by Him, we can take off what kills and put on what gives life. We can set aside things like lust, greed, anger, and falsehood and clothe ourselves in the image and ways of Jesus.
How do we grow? For some, the answer sounds like more rules and restrictions; in short, religion. For others, the key is in more transcendent experiences; in short, spirituality. But Christianity is neither asceticism nor mysticism. It's power is not in its practices or in its experiences. Rather, as Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see, the way we grow as Christians is to be connected to the Life of Christ and to the Body of Christ.
A distorted view of grace makes us prone to believing in counterfeit gospels. Two of the most common distortions of grace are license and legalism. Amber Ayers helps us recognize how we tend to swing from one error to the other and miss the transforming power of the Gospel. The Good News is that Christ brings resurrection, not repair, and leads us into freedom.
We make meaning of our lives by narrating a story. But what would it be like for God to tell you your story? At the end of Colossians 1, Paul tells this young church their story according to the contours of the Gospel. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see what our past, present, and future looks like because of Jesus. What we find is the incredible hope of the Good News-our story is headed for glory!
In this special interview with New York Times best-selling children's book author Sally Lloyd-Jones, Pastor Glenn Packiam and his wife Holly ask Sally to share the story behind her award-winning "Jesus Storybook Bible". Through her stories, we discover the power of the True Story of Jesus the Rescuer and the Repairer of broken things.
There is arguably no figure more fascinating, more controversial, or of more consequence in all of human history than Jesus Christ. Did legends and mythologies about Jesus appear a century or two after his life, or were there confessions of His divinity as early as a few decades after his life? Preaching from what is often called the Christ-hymn in Colossians 1, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see the remarkable claims Paul made about Jesus, and why they matter not only for the young Colossian church but for us today.
The apostle Paul writes from prison to a young church struggling to hold onto the truth. The heart of his message will be the supremacy of Jesus Christ. But here at the start, Paul wants them to learn how to pray. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us understand how prayer is a way of participating in God's work, what we should pray for, and why prayer is powerful.
Unlike the other commandments, which address words and actions, the 10th Commandment addresses the motives and desires. God forbids us from obsessively desiring what is not ours. As Pastor Jason Jackson points out, coveting is a root sin that leads us to break the other commandments. Therefore, God invites us to desire and delight in what He's already given us.
This week Pastor Jason Jackson traces the trajectory of the Ninth Commandment from forbidding false witness in a court of law, to prohibiting every form of dishonest speech, to commanding truth-telling, and finally, to celebrating living in the truth. God ultimately desires us to be honest people. People whose relationships with others, with ourselves, and with God are bound together and strengthened by the truth.
Even if you haven't actively stolen something lately, there's still a robust invitation for you in the eighth word. "Do not steal" runs in conjunction with an opportunity for "open-handed living." Teaching from both Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 15, guest speaker Andrew Stoddard helps you form a vision for what open-handed living looks like practically, and he gives you the tools you need to identify and overcome the 3 most common reasons that we fail to heed God's invitation to open-handed lives. By exploring and confronting improper emphases of Lack, Identity, and Fear, you'll be released to meet God in place of wonder and meet your neighbor with a willing heart.
The commandment that prohibits adultery is usually where people either keep God out of their private lives or prevent Him from getting too close because of pain or shame. But if the commandments are windows into God's character and our calling, then we need to look more closely at why this commandment exists. Pastor Glenn Packiam explains how sex is more powerful and sacred than we realize, and how we are tempted toward adultery when we make an idol of our marriage, our spouse, or of sex itself. With the warning of God's truth comes the welcome of God's grace as we place our trust not in our faithfulness but in the faithfulness of Christ.
Calvin rightly insisted if God forbids something, then he commands the opposite. With the Sixth Commandment, God prohibits taking the life of another human being AND he calls us to do all we can to protect and promote life. This week Pastor Jason Jackson shares how we can pursue this call in our complicated world.
Honor your father and mother. The command seems straight forward, right? In this sermon, Pastor Jason Jackson challenges us to reconsider the text's primary audience and to consider the text's primary assumption in order to call us to embody what the Fifth Commandment values in our relationships and in ourselves.
As we continue our series on the Ten Commandments, pastor, author, and founder of the 24-7 Prayer movement, Pete Greig joins us to preach on Sabbath Rest. Pete helps us to see and receive the Sabbath as a day of rest, worship, and joy!
What's in a name? For God, He has entrusted his people to represent His character when they carry His name.
We know why God would prohibit Israel from making images of other gods, but why does He command them not to make images of Him? In this sermon on the 2nd Commandment, Pastor Jason Jackson unpacks the use of idols in the ancient world and invites us to consider ways that we attempt to confine, control, or silence God in our lives.
What if the Ten Commandments are so much more than arbitrary rules or expired instructions? In the first sermon of our new series, Pastor Jason Jackson shows how the Ten Commandments as a collection reveal God's character and our calling. Then he helps us see the first commandment as an invitation to love the God who loves us.
In this conclusion of the Psalm series, Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how Psalm 150 reminds us that the journey will end in praise. It is God and God alone who can break into the tragic and turn it surprisingly into triumph. Moreover, when we praise now it is a way of anticipating this good and final end.
Where do you go for help, when you need someone to be your protector and guardian? Psalm 121 is a prayer for pilgrims who are aware of the dangers of the journey. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us to see what it means to call God our help and guardian, and how we can trust Him because of what He has done for us in Jesus Christ.
Psalm 139 is a prayer that reminds us that God knows us, God is with us, and God is forming us. On Mother's Day, Pastor Glenn Packiam talks about how women have a particular way of cultivating the life of God in others?a uniqueness that ought to be celebrated. Holly Packiam and Lisa Beck join him for the latter half of the sermon to discuss how they learned to embrace the call to cultivate the life of God in their children, what challenges they faced in trying to do so, and how through all of it God was cultivating His life in them. The encouragement for everyone is to trust in the God who won't let us go until His work in us is complete.
Psalm 119 is a literary tour de force. This 176-verse acrostic is the longest song in the collection, but perhaps the most astonishing feature is its subject. The Psalmist pens a lengthy love song to God's law because he knows that God has revealed the way of life in his word. Through his lyrics, he shows us how to devote ourselves to the Scriptures as an expression of our devotion to God.
When you are trying to rebuild out of the ruins, you want to know if there really is any order in the cosmos. Psalm 112, meant to be prayed after the return from exile, reminds us that God has ordered the cosmos with both righteousness and justice. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how that is both a commission and a comfort.
In times of crisis, we question the most basic things, like what God is really like and what He really thinks about us. The psalmist knows that in those moments we need a song to sing. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how Psalm 103 reminds us of who God really is and what He really thinks about us.
Few psalms (if any) exude as much confidence in God as Psalm 91. The psalmist's assurance in God's protection has led many to love and cling to this song. Many hold it as an expression of future hope but others as a present guarantee that nothing will ever harm them. In this message, Pastor Jason Jackson explores the relationships between Psalms 89-91 to help us see and hear Psalm 91 as God's response to the prayers we utter in crisis.
If God is everywhere, why does the church matter? Yet Psalm 84 is a joyful song of longing that commends to us the courts of the Lord. Pastor Glenn Packiam shows us how the psalm challenges us to see the importance of place, the reality of pilgrimage, and the centrality of the presence of God.
When was the last time you heard good news? The Bible calls the Jesus story good news - that's what "gospel" means. But what's so good about the Jesus story? In today's Easter sermon, Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how the good news is an announcement of the victory Jesus won and why that matters for us today.
There was a famous song the crowd sang on the first Palm Sunday. We know the chorus, but forget the rest. Yet Psalm 118 shows the reason Jesus came: God's steadfast love. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see why God's steadfast love is our only salvation, and how God's salvation often arrives in unlikely ways.
God, where are you? Where were you when...? We all question God's proximity to our pain. While some psalms help us lament when we feel forsaken, Psalm 46 reminds us that God is with us in our troubles. Pastor Jason Jackson explores how our confidence in God's presence shapes our response to suffering.
What do you know when you know you've messed up? How do you ask for help and also say you're sorry? Preaching from Psalm 51, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us understand confession as a way to shift our focus from sin to God, to demonstrate our confidence in God's compassion, and to be opened up to God's work of new creation in us.
Life has a way of leaving us parched. In that desperate state, we can sometimes turn to the wrong things to quench our thirst. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how Psalms 42 and 43 call us to return to God and to His people, and to find a hope there that will never let us go.
This week our guest preacher Amber Ayers walks us through the spectrum of human experience contained in Psalm 40. It reaches from praising and thanking God and declaring his goodness to expressing the hurt, disappointment and difficulty of being human. This psalm describes the stuff we all feel, but many of us don't talk about.
Psalm 23 may be one of the most well-known and well-loved Psalms because of the way it addresses our longing to be cared for and looked after. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how anything else that we look to as our shepherd--as being able to protect, provide, heal, and guide us--will ultimately let us down. Even when we try to care for ourselves, we can't give ourselves what we long for most. But the Gospel announces that Jesus has come to be our shepherd Himself, and He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep.
Do you ever read the headlines and look around and wonder who's running this place? The world can seem chaotic and tumultuous, but Psalm 2 reminds us that there is a King. God, the King of creation, brought His Kingdom on earth through Jesus. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us understand that we cannot speak about God and His ways in generic terms; instead, there are now claims that God makes of us, and ways that we must learn to live under His reign.
We take a look at Psalm 1, a wisdom psalm. It presents two ways to live; the way of the wicked that will perish and the way of the flourishing life and God.
How do we order time? Christians have macro-rhythms like the Church Calendar, and micro-rhythms like a Rule of Life. Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks the purpose and practice of a Rule of Life, helping us to see it as a pattern of practices that help us to pay attention to and participate in the Holy Spirit's work. Joined by his wife, Holly, and another staff member, Lori Duncan, the latter part of the sermon gives practical insight into how this pattern can look in different seasons and stages of life.
Every Christian knows he should read the Bible more. But if we're honest, the Bible can be confusing and difficult to understand. What kind of book is it, and how do we find meaning in it? Pastor Glenn Packiam shows us how to enter the Grand Story of Scripture, how to let it enter us, and how to find Jesus as the center of the story.
From the earliest human civilizations, there has been a sense that the gods are angry and that humans are guilty. Yet the radical claim of the Gospel is that Jesus is the culmination and completion of the priestly system of temples, sacrifices, and priests. Jesus is how we know that God is not an angry God, and that we can be saved from the guilt that binds us.
As we begin to prepare our hearts for the birth of Christ, we will explore what it means to see Jesus as the fulfillment of each of the three main offices in Israel's life as it was in the Old Testament - the prophet, the priest, and the king. Pastor Glenn Packiam reshapes our popular notions of what a prophet is by helping us understand why the Bible calls Moses the greatest prophet in Israel, and why Jesus is the True Prophet.
As we close the Romans series, we look at how the truth of the Gospel that is presented in accord with the character of Christ. We, in turn, are called to represent the truth while reflecting the character of Christ.
As Christians, we have different convictions about how to be faithful to Jesus. Some believe certain practices are good (or at least ok), and others believe those same practices are wrong. So, what do we do when our convictions differ? This week Pastor Jason Jackson explores Paul's instructions in Romans 14 to two groups who face the same dilemma.
We want church to be a politics-free zone, but the Gospel has always had political implications. What does Paul's letter to a church in the power center of his part of the world have to say about governments? Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks Romans 13 and sets it along side Revelation 13 to help us see what governments can be at the best and at their worst, and how the church can live under both kinds of governments.
It is evident that cultural attitudes toward religion in general and Christianity in particular have changed for the worse. While we may be tempted to fight for how things used to be or to flee to the margins of society, Paul offered the church in Rome a different approach. Preaching from the final section of Romans 12, Pastor Glenn Packiam calls us to examine how we might look for opportunities to show solidarity, live from a place of humility, and love radically in a hostile world.
It's a common phrase: I like Jesus, but I don't want to have anything to do with the Church. Yet the Gospel forms us into a community; it sets us within a family. Pastor Glenn Packiam teaches from Romans 12 on what it means to see the Church as a community formed by grace, and yet one which invites our participation to cultivate it to become a place of diversity, unity, and mutuality.
Worship is at the very heart of Christian life and practice. Yet it is all too often conflated with singing or music or even a genre of music. How are we to understand what our call to worship actually means? Pastor Glenn Packiam teaches from Romans 12:1-2 and outlines four key features of worship as a response to the glorious Good News.
If God's love won't let go, what does that mean for Israel? Pastor Jason Jackson looks at how Paul answers this question in Romans 9-11. These complicated, confusing, and controversial chapters are bound together by God's mercy. Everything God does demonstrates his mercy, and everyone - Jew and Gentile alike - depend on God's mercy. This realization should lead all God's people to humility and worship.
What do Christians have to say about evil in the world? In Romans 8, Paul zooms out to show what the Good News means for the whole creation. God will redeem in a way that is so strong it will be the very completion and perfection of creation. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see the vision of a redeeming Creator and a creative Redeemer, a God who enters into our pain and groans and weeps with us. And as we wait in the groaning, we are held by a Love that is stronger than death, a Love that will overcome, a Love that won't let us go.
Romans 8 is like the ending of a movement in a great symphony. Paul intends to lead us to worship the god who has done the impossible. Pastor Glenn Packiam tackles the first half of the chapter, helping us see how God has condemned Sin instead of us, given us the Spirit of Resurrection Life, and made us His children and heirs.
Why is the human experience repeatedly one of setting up standards and falling short? While culture opts for eliminating behavior norms and some Christians resort to a grace that makes no requirements of obedience, the Gospel is actually better than that. Pastor Glenn Packiam teaches from Romans 7 to show how Sin seized an opportunity through the Law to destroy us, but Christ made a way to unite us with himself in death and resurrection.
As we continue to explore the effects of grace in Romans, Pastor Jason Jackson unpacks Paul's view of grace and sin as opposing powers. Grace liberates us from the power of sin and empowers us to live a new life under a new Lord. As we present ourselves to God, his grace infuses our life with his and he makes us holy - he makes us like Jesus.
What difference does the grace of God make? We often think of grace as erasing past mistakes, giving us a fresh start. But as Pastor Glenn Packiam draws on gift-giving in the ancient world, we begin to see how this Christ-Gift creates a new status, a new relationship, and new possibilities. The gift we could never have deserved or earned reverses the trajectory of sin and death.
Abraham had faith and God credited it to him as righteous. This week Pastor Jason Jackson looks at Paul's discussion of Abraham in Romans 4. He shows us how the Gospel fits God's character, fulfills his commitments and bids us to believe like Abraham.
After opening with the good news, Paul's 'bad news' continues to get bleaker. The infection of sin has spread to everyone, even the ones who were to be the carriers of the cure. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us to see our own tendencies to misdiagnose ourselves, to think our sin is a private affair, and to try to use some sort of 'law' to save us. Yet only Jesus by his faithfulness in death and resurrection can save us from sin.
As we begin our series on the Book of Romans, Pastor Glenn Packiam invites us to look afresh at what the good news is. We uncover the design of creation and the destructive effect of sin on our souls, minds, and bodies. The gospel is the power to put us back together again, revealing that God's faithfulness is stronger than our unfaithfulness.
In this final part of the series, Pastor Glenn Packiam examines how our work can be a way of bearing witness to the Kingdom of God. We tend to think that the gospel spread in the early Church only through apostles and prophets; but the everyday lives of merchants and tradespeople put God's goodness on display. When you understand the difference between 'vocation' and 'occupation', you can begin to discern how your calling can be lived out regardless of your current job.
Why does the church gather in worship? In our day of private spirituality and individual access to sermons and worship music online, it's difficult to know why it still matters that we gather together as the church. Preaching from Acts 2, and Ephesians 2 and 5, Pastor Glenn Packiam explains why the early Christians met at the Temple and then came to understand their gathering as the new Temple-- the place where God is especially present.
Since the beginning, the church has gathered together to give thanks. Paul even says its God's will for us to be a grateful people. This week Pastor Jason Jackson explores why gratitude is essential to the Christian life and how we can cultivate it in our lives and in our life together.
The book of Acts tells the story of the rapid spread of the Gospel and the growth of the church. This incredible multiplication of people and places was supported and sustained by the church's hospitality. Pastor Jason Jackson unpacks what makes Christian welcome unique and invites us to continue to embrace others in way that puts God's hospitality on display.
As the series on how the early church grew together continues, Pastor Glenn Packiam examines what it means to be devoted to the breaking of bread. The breaking of bread is a metaphor for the life of the church. Bread, like much of church life, is ordinary. Yet, in the hands of Jesus we become like bread that is blessed, broken, and given for the life of the world.
There are few if any accounts that are more compelling and more challenging than those of the early church sharing their resources in Acts 2:44-45 and Acts 4:32-35. Pastor Jason Jackson illustrates how their acts of simplicity and generosity grew out of their devotion to the apostles' teaching, community, communion and prayer and were inspired by the Spirit.
Fellowship-God's design of us is to be active participants in the community of God by being in fellowship with God and fellowship with one another.
What does it mean to be the Church? How do we grow together as the people of God? In this new series, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us learn from key practices of the early church, as we see it demonstrated in the Book of Acts.
Even those who don't believe in God recognize evil in some form; there is something insidious at work in the world. But what are to do about it? Preaching from Ephesians 6 in this conclusion of the series, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us understand what it means to put on God's armor and to participate in His work through prayer.
Paul's statements about husbands and wives, parents and children, and slaves and masters have been misused by some and maligned by others. Pastor Jason Jackson demonstrates from Ephesians 5:21-6:9 how we've missed Paul's revolutionary instructions. Paul calls us to live in a new way in an old world by submitting ourselves to each other in love regardless of our status within the systems and structures of the world. In doing so, we partner with God to reordered the world according to his kingdom.
What do we do about the disorder of the world around us? We are tempted to disengage or condemn the darkness. Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how Ephesians 5 gives us a picture of how we, as the children of Light, can participate in God's re-ordering of the world, through wisdom, understanding, and the in-filling of the Spirit.
When Christians start talking about our view of sexual morality, we are not often perceived as being loving. But what if Paul's admonishment to abstain from immorality and greed are actually rooted in the call to live with love? Pastor Glenn Packiam teaches from Ephesians 5 to demonstrate that sexual morality for the Christian is not simply about being a good person, but is the embodiment of a life of Christ-like love. Moreover, we can break the cycle of lust and greed when we gratefully remember that we already are dearly loved children of God.
Pastor Glenn Packiam begins a new series from Ephesians 4-6 on what it means to live as resurrection people. In this first week, we explore how living in unity is a kind of living that is equal to the weight of our calling as the people of God, and what it takes to live peaceably with one another.
The most troubling claim Jesus made was the exclusive one - that He alone is the Way to the Father. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us discover how Jesus is the Way because He is the truth about God, and the Life of God. This exclusive claim is good news that extends to everyone.
When is it too late? If physical death is the embodiment of spiritual death, then resurrection is not only the hope of new bodies in the future, but also the promise of new life now. Pastor Glenn Packiam invites us to believe in Jesus, the only one who can bring us back from death. Once we experience this new life, we are invited to partner with Jesus in bringing resurrection to others.
With enough experiences of leaders or teachers or others disappointing us, we begin to believe that we have to take care of our selves. We close our heart off, trusting no one. Yet Jesus calls us to see Him as the Good Shepherd, the only one who cares, the only one who is strong enough to lead us. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us to see Jesus as the Shepherd who does not take, but instead gives His life for us.
Jesus is the light that represents both the person and presence of God, and the revealing wisdom to live. Coming into the light starts to order the chaos of our darkness.
In the first week of this Lenten series, Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks the first of the 'I Am' sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of John. To see Jesus as the Bread of Life is to first recognize that our lives are ordered by the pursuits of our appetites. Then can we see Jesus not only as the Provider, but also as the provision.
How do we participate with the Spirit in his transformative work? In the final week in our series on the Holy Spirit, Pastor Jason Jackson takes a look at our role in spiritual formation through the lens of Romans 12:1-2. By and through the mercies of God, Jason encourages us to place ourselves in God's presence - to show up where the Spirit is at work - through what John Wesley called the "means of grace." As we continually immerse ourselves in God's grace, the Spirit reshapes into the image of Jesus.
Does the law matter, or does grace mean that we don't need to fuss about how we live? Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us to not only understand the law in a different light, but also to grasp the power of the Holy Spirit's work in us to become radically different people. We have the power to desire rightly and to live rightly, just as God designed us to.
If the Holy Spirit lives in each of us why do we need the church? Pastor Jason Jackson explores the relationship between the Spirit and the Church in Ephesians 2. He demonstrates that according to Paul the church is where the Spirit dwells and therefore our relationships with one another matter.
As the series on the Holy Spirit continues, Pastor Glenn Packiam takes a closer look at the two gifts Paul expounds on in 1 Corinthians 14 -- the gift of prophecy and the gift of tongues. Each gift has acquired some misconceptions in recent decades, leading many to avoid them or to conclude that they are peripheral to Christian practice. Yet with a deeper reflection, we see how they lead to the building up of the church and of one's own spirit.
What are the spiritual gifts? Why do they matter? While we are tempted to think of the gifts as ways of becoming more spiritual or proving our status before others, Pastor Glenn Packiam returns us to Paul's vision of the gifts as signs of grace that are for the good of the church and for the glory of God.
What does it mean to be a witness? Teaching from the ascension and Pentecost scenes in Acts 1 and 2, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us understand how the Spirit helps us to live as participants in the arriving Kingdom of God, bearing witness to the reign of Christ in the course of our daily lives.
Guest Pastor Andrew Arndt teaches from John 14 and 16 to show us what it means to welcome the Holy Spirit as the Companion.
It's difficult to believe that having the Holy Spirit is truly better than having Jesus with us in the flesh. Pastor Glenn Packiam teaches from John 14 and 16 to show us what it means to welcome the Holy Spirit as the Companion who comes alongside us to convict, to guide into truth, and to reveal Jesus.
Pastor Glenn Packiam kicks off the series, inviting us to take a fresh look at what the Scriptures say about the person, power, and presence of the Holy Spirit. By exploring what the early Christians meant by confessing the Holy Spirit as the 'Lord' and the 'Giver of Life', we discover how we can give a daily 'yes' to the dynamic work of the Spirit in our lives.
The theme for the fourth Sunday of Advent is love. Joe Kirkendall shares a sermon about God's love and stories from the New Life Church congregation plant in Manitou Springs.
In Isaiah 42, God calls the 'servant of the Lord' to carry out justice in the world. Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how this is first a reference to Israel in the Old Testament, but is ultimately a vision of what Jesus would do. In Christ, we get to be recipients of and participants in God's rescuing and re-ordering work in the world.
In the third week of Advent, Pastor Glenn preaches from Isaiah 40, calling us to see how God's coming is our comfort. We often feel beyond help because of the choices we've made, or have even experienced what psychologists call 'learned helplessness', because we've stopped believing that our choices matter. Yet into this shame and despair, God comes to us as our warrior and as our shepherd.
Preaching from Isaiah 35, Pastor Glenn Packiam calls us to make room in our theology and in our lives for God to do the unexpected. Healing is a sign of God's arrival and a foretaste of the future 'shalom' that God is bringing. The truth is, asking God to heal is not asking for an exception or an aberration or a suspension of the rules; rather, it is asking to God to do what is consistent with His nature and actions.
Preaching from Isaiah 9, Pastor Daniel Grothe helps us stand in wonder of the God who meets the moment.
On this first Sunday of Advent, Pastor Glenn Packiam invites us to keep time around the life of Christ as a way of keeping company with Jesus. After unpacking the our waiting for the return of Christ as a waiting in the light, Glenn invites his wife Holly and congregants Ian and Bre Speir to discuss why and how Advent can be meaningful practice for individuals and families. Traditions, books, music, serving projects and more are discussed.
Is there any room in the blessed life for sorrow? Teaching from the story of Sarah's death in Genesis 23, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us learn what it means to grieve well.
Preaching on the familiar text of Abraham's near sacrifice of Isaac, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us to see what is often missed in the story. God meets Abraham where he is, asking devotion of him in the only way he knew to express absolute surrender. But the test is not so much one of faith, but one of sight: Will Abraham see God as the one who requires sacrifice, or as the one who provides it?
Laughter can be the sound of joy or the threat of scorn. In Genesis 21, it is both. In the story of Isaac and Ishmael, Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how the joy of answered prayer can quickly turn to jealousy when we fail to trust God's faithfulness to us, or when we resent His mercy to others.
In Genesis 20, Abraham is called a prophet-- the first person in the Bible to be called one. Yet his fear leads him to rationalize a lie and jeopardize someone else's future. Pastor Glenn Packiam challenges us to think how often we shrink back in self-preservation and rob others of the blessing we could speak over them by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah contains a graphic depiction of God's judgment. But what if the story is more about God's mercy and deliverance? Visiting pastor, Jason Jackson, explores how the story reveals God extending mercy without ignoring injustice, and God keeping his promises by delivering people. This is good news for us because we need both mercy and justice, and because God never forgets his covenant.
How does God respond to the mess of our broken world? Does He stay away or demand that we clean it up? Pastor Glenn Packiam teaches on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, calling us to see how God meets us in the mess and leads us out. Moreover, the final act of the Story is not judgment but new creation. God is putting the world back together, and He wants to start with you.
Preaching from Genesis 18, Pastor Dr. Michelle Anthony unpacks the transformative truth of God's design and plan for our lives. His ways are higher than our ways and His plans cannot be enhanced or thwarted by our success or failure.
How do we get to participate in God's plan to put the world back together? Do we try to impress God? In Genesis 17, we see God's covenant once again as God's gracious initiative. There is nothing we do to deserve it. It is a promise that changes our identity and our relationship to God. And yet, as Pastor Glenn Packiam explains, it is the gift that requires everything from us.
Have you ever felt powerless, stuck and unable to escape? Genesis 16 is the story of two women who are powerless. Sarai is powerless in her barrenness; Hagar is powerless as a female Egyptian slave. One tries to take over; the other is overtaken by the kindness of God. Pastor Glenn Packiam calls us to recognize the God who sees us, and sends us to see others in the light of His grace.
Genesis 15 is a pivotal point in Biblical history, where Abram's faith is 'counted as righteousness.' Dr. Steven Todd takes us on a look beyond the theological implications of this story and considers how Abram had still not seen God's promise of a son and yet moved toward God in simple belief. We see throughout Scripture God seeking us out not turning us away, even when we're filled with doubt, confusion, or disappointment.
Genesis 14 features Abram as a warrior, a king who appears from nowhere acting like a priest, and the strange custom of tithing. Pastor Glenn Packiam explains how Abram reconfigured the ancient custom of tithing to become an act of worship. While there is no magic in the math of giving, there is a power in worshipful giving to silence the lie of self-reliance and break our slavery to the false gods of consumerism and more. We never give in order to gain a blessing; we give because Christ has blessed us with the greatest blessing: His very life.
The older we get, the harder it is to let go, to live generously. In Genesis 13, Abram was transformed by the generosity of God, and went from selling out his wife to save his skin to offering the best land-- his inheritance!-- to a relative with whom he was in conflict. Pastor Glenn Packiam calls us to see how we can begin to live like we have nothing to lose.
Kicking off a series on the life of Abraham through the book of Genesis, Pastor Glenn Packiam invites us to see the story of Abram in Genesis 12 as the story of Israel, the story of humanity, and, more profoundly, the story of grace. It is a story of God making promises where there is no human potential and possibility. Where the ancient Greeks sought a story of glory and postmoderns insist that there is no story or that we must write our own, Genesis invites us into God's story: the story of grace.
Are Christians to be spiritualists who shut out the world and await escape, or realists who try to take matters into their own hands? Preaching from Isaiah 6, Pastor Glenn Packiam challenges us to begin by seeing the world not as natural or supernatural, but as sacramental-- created to be a container for the glory of God. The Seraphim's singing, 'The whole earth is full of His glory', challenges the despair of our realism; but Isaiah's confessing, 'Woe is me', challenges the self-righteousness of our spiritualism. We are implicated in the infection of evil in the world. Yet, there is a way for us to become carriers of God's glory in the world.
What do Christians do when they find themselves in situations beyond their control? Drawing from the dramatic story of Peter's miraculous release from prison in Acts 12, Pastor Rich Villodas from New Life Fellowship in Queens, NYC, inspires us to believe in the power of a prayer. Power seems to be in the hands of cultural and political leaders, but the praying church is the most significant force on earth. Yet the power is not found in great faith or special prayers, but in the great God whose name we call upon.
This final week of the "Thy Kingdom Come" series, pastor Evan gives insight into the tension of the Kingdom here but not here, now but not yet. The good news? That in the midst of the tension there is hope.
How are we supposed to live as citizens of God's Kingdom when we have a lifetime of experience living according to another standard? Pastor Joey Jimenez reminds us that God's plan has always been to establish His kingdom through the testimony of the church and its members. We each have a role to play in revealing the Way of King and the Kingdom.
In week 2 of our "Thy Kingdom Come" series, Pastor Evan Reedall opens the Word to look at the Kingdom inward. The Gospel of Luke tells us that the Kingdom is within, and it's giving God the rule and reign of our hearts that brings about this reality.
This week Pastor Joey Jimenez begins a new sermon series called "Thy Kingdom Come." Jesus came to show us the Father and to reveal a way of life that is is radically different than anything the world has ever known. Pastor Joey shows us that in order to fully understand the nature of the Kingdom we first must seek to understand the nature of the King.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Pete Greig, founder of the 24/7 Prayer Movement, joins us all the way from the UK to talk about how to host the favor of God in times that feel turbulent. Pete offers a wonderful reminder to dream and pioneer in ways that reflect the creative potential of Christ in us.
In the final week of the "This Functional Family" series, Jeremiah Parks brings a message about emotional healing through forgiveness. His testimony speaks powerfully of Gods way of forgiveness and the healing that comes by it.
After a few weeks of exploring what some may call the negative emotions, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us examine how we experience joy in our relationships. Along with practical guidance from the Scriptures on how to cultivate joy in our relationships, we discover that the secret of joy is knowing the difference between what it comes through and where it comes from.
Sadness is a result of loss, and life is full of losses - from the small and ongoing losses to the large, one-time losses. Yet we often compartmentalize our sadness, keeping it from ourselves, and from others. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how to be a good friend to others during times of loss, and to allow sadness to become a pathway to intimacy in our relationships. Above all, we see Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, entering into our sadness, allowing each of our losses to be way to know Him.
In this third week of our series on emotions and relationships in the family of God, Dr. Adam Pelser illuminates the nature of anger as a concerned perception of an offense. As revealed in the biblical narrative of Jonah, anger can be a right response to injustice, but all too often it is a self-righteous reaction to inconvenience and a relationship killer. Our culture encourages us to angrily demand our rights, but the Bible instructs Christians to reflect God's heart by being slow to anger and quick to forgive. When we learn to put away anger and be tenderhearted toward each other, we can foster the "new life" of peaceful, loving relationships available to the family of God.
As we explore how emotions affect our relationships in the family of God, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us examine the science of emotion to uncover how themes, scripts, and triggers work. Fear is cued by a perceived threat to something or someone we love. While it can have a healthy function, it can also be devastating to our relationships, as we see from the Bible's story of Jacob. In the end, only lovingkindness can break the power of unhealthy fear in our lives, and re-write the negative scripts we have held onto for so long.
In this series on relationships, we will use emotions as the primary lens to examine how our how our brokenness distorts us and destroys our relationships, and how the Spirit restores us into the image of God and makes us fully human so that we can truly be the Family of God.
In this conclusion to our series on the Gospel according to Mark, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us follow the thread of Mark's key description of Jesus as the Son of God. The first human to recognize Jesus as such was the unlikely Roman centurion. Yet recognition is not the same as faith. What will we do with this revelation of Jesus as the Son of God? Mark urges his readers to repent and believe, and to go and tell.
How is this all going to end? We have various ideas-- conscious or subconscious-- about what will happen. Some place their hope in progress; others, in a form of escape. But what does Jesus say about the end of the world? Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks Mark 13, an often misunderstood passage of Scripture, by drawing from a historic Christian vision of hope-- one that rests on Jesus' faithfulness.
In the heat of temple debate in Mark 12, a lone scribe humbly asks Jesus what the most important of the commands is. Which of Gods instructions most leads us in the way of flourishing life? Jesus' answer? Love.
What makes a person great? We think the answer lies in self-discovery and self-expression. Jesus does not rebuke our desire for greatness; He redefines what greatness is as self-giving. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us look more closely at how Jesus defines greatness, why Jesus is the one who gets to define it, and how we can become like Him.
Religion is, in some sense, an attempt to answer the question of how humans can reach God. Yet in our age, more people seem to be asking why they would even need God. As Pastor Glenn Packiam teaches on the transfiguration and healing stories in Mark 9, we find good news in Jesus' identity and mission. He is God come down to dwell with us; and when God dwells with us, evil is defeated and we are delivered. All of this is possible only because of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
When we think of church or Christianity, many of us feel some combination of disappointment and duty - disappointment because religion has let us down in some way; duty because we still feel like we ought do the right thing. Both disappointment and duty were part of the very first Easter story. Pastor Glenn Packiam describes how the women came to the tomb in their disappointment and out of duty to honor a dead rabbi. What they found, instead, was a risen Savior, and that has made all the difference. Because Jesus lives, we have hope: hope for a world made new one day, and hope of a life made new today.
We are often rushed to make a decision about who Jesus is, to decided to convert or not. Yet faith is often a long journey of gradually gaining our sight. Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks a paradigm of belonging before believing, and helps us see how our church can welcome others in. It takes a moment of grace to see Jesus for who He really is, but it will take a lifetime of grace to see what it fully means. We are challenged to lay down our image of who Jesus the Messiah should be, and embrace Him and His Kingdom in fullness.
What does it mean to be pure? How clean is clean enough to follow Jesus? We find ways to dismiss the nagging fears that we aren't good enough or don't quite fit in, but as we will discover, the situation is worse than we feared. Yet, Pastor Glenn demonstrates from three scenes in Mark 7 that grace reaches further than we think, and Jesus is better than we imagined.
Dr. Steven Todd unpacks the Feeding of the 5000, the only miracle story of Jesus that appears in all four Gospels. Mark places it right after the terrible story of Herod's feast and the comparisons are poignant. At whose banquet are we feasting? Only Jesus' will satisfy. In the angry culture war of American politics, we are reminded that Jesus calls us to sit at His table, not the table of the world's system!
The mission and ministry of Jesus continue through us. That may not seem like good news, because we feel inadequate to the task and unready for the cost. After outlining what we are sent to do, and how we are sent to do it, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see that it is the power and presence of Jesus that make it possible for us to be sent into each day.
Looking at Mark 5, Dr. Steven Todd preaches about Jesus being the hope to the hopeless. That hope is transmitted often through something physical and tangible - from the Sacraments to a hug. Through our tangible love for one another we can become the "hem of His garment" to the hopeless around us!
Storms in life are bound to come, and fear is sure to follow. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us recognize fear as a warning of a threat, a part of being human. Faith won't remove the storms or prevent them, or even keep us from feeling afraid. But faith can help us recognize that Jesus is with us, that He cares for us, and that one day He will bring a sure and certain end to the Storm.
Why did Jesus tell parables? Pastor Glenn Packiam explains how these stories are designed to to separate the attentive listener from the casual hearer. In the parable of the sower, we discover the graciousness of the sower, the power of the seed, and importance of a lifetime of listening.
Is Christianity a dangerous belief, as some claim? As turns out, there were some in Jesus' day who accused Him of being in league with the devil, claiming His mission to be evil. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us look closely at what really stands behind all that is wrong in the world, and to see Jesus as the Stronger One. In the end, we must decide who Jesus is: the embodiment of evil or our rescue from it.
In this week's dramatic sequence, we encounter a Jesus who challenges us, and perhaps even provokes a conflict in us. In the stories of Jesus eating with tax collectors, healing on the Sabbath, and calling His disciples up the mountain, Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks the scandal of Jesus' welcome and Jesus' call. We may want one without the other, but Jesus welcomes us where we are in order to call us to where He is.
As the drama unfolds, we see Jesus being revealed as a healer who is personal, accessible, and merciful. Yet he is something more: Jesus isn't simply a miracle-worker; He is God the Healer Himself. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how sin and sickness are part of the same torn fabric of the world, and how Jesus comes to put us all back together again.
Who is Jesus? This is the question this series will grapple with as we enter Mark's dramatic narrative. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us recognize the Jewish and Roman resonances that come with calling Jesus the Son of God. Furthermore, as the Son of God, Jesus has an identity, destiny, and authority from God. And this is good news for us because Jesus makes it possible for us to become children of God. All other ways of defining ourselves and finding purpose and power pale in comparison to the gift we've been given in Christ.
We know we are 'supposed' to pray. But, when it comes to actually praying, what are we supposed to be praying about? And what does prayer actually do? Pastor Evan talks through living in the tension of the double advent, and how prayer helps us realize today the affects of both Jesus' first arrival and his imminent return.
On this last family Sunday of the 2015, Pastor Glenn Packiam shares briefly on the 3 wise men.
Mary's song is about the mighty being brought low and the lowly being lifted up. But when, decades later, she saw her son hanging on the cross, did she think it would look like that? What do we do with delayed expectations, with hopes that have begun to come true but have not fully arrived? Pastor Glenn Packiam challenges us to live between the two 'Advents' - the incarnation and the return of Christ - with faith, hope, and love. Faith says that there are things we cannot see; hope says that this is not the end; and love invites us to live in the future now.
What happens when you find yourself stuck in a place you didn't choose? What happens when your expectations were shattered because life derailed? Pastor Glenn Packiam invites us to take a closer look at the lives of Rahab and Ruth, imperfect characters who were in complicated situations. Yet their mustard seed of faith was met with the abundant grace of God, and somehow they become a crucial part of the story of how God took the once dead lineage of David and brought about the birth of the Messiah.
In this brief series on Advent, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us face the shame we feel from failing to meet expectations - those others have of us, and those we have of ourselves. Not all shame is proportionate to our failure, but when shame rightly fits our shortcoming, what do we do? The joy of Christ's first arrival gives us hope for His return. Because Christ in His mercy took away our shame at His first coming, we can look to Him with confidence at His return.
To conclude our series on listening to God, Pastor Glenn Packiam addresses the haunting question of what to do when God is silent. We may have a false expectation of extraordinary spiritual experiences, failing to note how much time lapses between Biblical accounts of the supernatural. From the psalmists in the Old Testament to priests and prophets at the birth of Christ, we are given examples of how to wait in silence with hope.
In this short, Family Sunday sermon, Pastor Glenn Packiam and his wife Holly share about what it means to listen to God through beauty and story.
One of the ways God imparts wisdom to us is through the community of faith. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us explore what it means to take the risk of vulnerability and how to find the right community. Above all, it is the Spirit of God who helps us be attentive to His work in one another, bringing the wisdom of the cross to bear on the circumstances of our lives.
If there's ever a situation where we want God to speak, it's when we need His guidance. Yet sometimes things are frustratingly unclear. How do we discern God's will? Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how God leads us into His 'big picture' will for our lives through the little whispers along the way.
One of the primary ways we listen to God is through the written Word. Yet the Bible can be confusing book because we aren't sure how to approach it. Pastor Glenn Packiam maps out the meta-narrative of the Bible and invites us to listen to God through Scripture by locating ourselves in God's Story. Along with practical questions to ask of the text, he offers ancient practices for letting the Spirit breathe these words to our hearts afresh.
Pastor Glenn Packiam lays the foundation for a new series on learning to listen to God. From speaking the world into existence to calling out to Adam in the garden and Abraham from his father's house, the God of Scripture is a speaking God. In Jesus, the Word became flesh. And now, the Spirit has been given so that Jesus might be revealed and His mission might continue through us.
The Fall is a beautiful season, and also a beautiful reminder of change. Pastor Evan walks us through the tougher side of change, and the discipline opportunities that comes through hardship.
As humans, we have to live with hope, with a sense of expectation. But what is Christian hope? For many in the Church, hope is simply a vision of heaven that represents evacuation and compensation; and for those outside the church, heaven is just a screen onto which we project our fantasies and wishes. But hope, as confessed in the Nicene Creed, is richer and more robust than we have imagined. Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks what it means to look for our future bodily resurrection and a new creation to come, and how this vision of hope reveals the glorious faithfulness of God.
In a world where the notion of sin seems archaic and irrelevant, the sacrament of baptism can appear rather strange. Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks three powerful Biblical metaphors that each shed a particular light on the meaning of baptism as a passing from death to life. Through the process, we come to grips with the power of what it means to be really and truly forgiven of our sins.
For most Christians, it is not a challenge to confess faith in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But to say that we believe in the Church? That seems like a stretch. Pastor Glenn Packiam gives voice to four common objections to the Church, and shows how each word in this sentence of the Creed invites us to confess a different "now but not yet" reality of the Church.
If we had stopped earlier in our series, we may be tempted to think of the Christian faith as an intellectual achievement. But professing faith in the Holy Spirit reminds us that faith is not about becoming better people; it's about sharing in God's life. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us embrace the Holy Spirit as God's personal and empowering presence in our lives.
If the deep human questions are if there is more to this life, if we have purpose, and if we have hope for the future, then the answers according to the world's unofficial creed is that this life is all there is so live it up, purpose is based on achievement, and the future is either progress or inevitable doom. Yet this stanza of the Nicene Creed offers us the counter-narrative of the Gospel and an alternate way of answering these questions. Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how the resurrection of Jesus means that we get to share in His life, the ascension of Jesus means that we get to share in His mission, and the return of Jesus means that we get to share in His future.
On this family Sunday, Pastor Evan Reedall takes us into what it means that we are made in the image of God. We get to share in his attributes by our creation. Surprisingly, we also have opportunity to share in certain attributes by our fall. For when sin abounds, grace abounds all the more!
As our series on the Nicene Creed continues, we explore the full humanity of Jesus. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see what it means to say that because Jesus took on the frailty of our humanity we can become whole. In this most personal section of the Creed, we move from our action of believing to our reception of the miraculous salvation of God.
Our series on the Nicene Creed continues as we begin the first part of learning to confess rightly who Jesus is. Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks each phrase in this section of the Creed, helping us understand how the early Christians came to believe in the divinity of Christ and why it matters for us.
In this series on the Nicene Creed, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how the Creed is an instrument of unity, an outline of Christian theology, and a guide in uncertainty. This first sermon in the series also lays the groundwork for the rest of the series by distinguishing 'we believe in' from 'I know that'. Then, walking through the first stanza of the Creed phrase by phrase, we come to stand in awe of the 'one God, the Father, the Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen'.
In the conclusion to this brief survey of the Psalms, Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks Psalm 95 as a hymn which includes both an invitation to praise and reasons for praise. The reasons for praise are clear: God is a great God, and God is our God. Praise has the power to break our habit of self-reliance. But more than that: it is the only way to complete our joy.
A thanksgiving psalm is one that reframes a lament in past tense and fulfills the vow to praise. In this special sermon, Pastor Glenn Packiam interviews Pastor Evan and Karen Reedall about the traumatic birth of their firstborn child and his miraculous road to recovery. Even in weakness, our trust in God opens a door to thanksgiving.
Declaration is a powerful strategy that helps bring into focus our knowledge of the goodness of God. Pastor Joey Jimenez shows us how the language of declaration can be used to help Remind, Reinforce, and Release that knowledge into our present and future circumstances.
In this new series that surveys major themes of the Psalms, Pastor Glenn Packiam begins with a look at how the psalmists bring their petitions and even their protests before the Lord. We discover that petition and protest are ways of affirming God?s sovereignty, faithfulness, and goodness. But above all, these aspect of prayer are simply pathways into intimacy with God.
In the conclusion to the series on Ecclesiastes, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us understand why the Teacher sums things up the way he does. When good things become gods, they became like demons that destroy life. It takes faith - in God alone - to enjoy finite things. When we learn this, all the good gifts in life are no longer idols but icons, which radiate with God's glory and love.
Pete Greig-- leader of the international 24-7 prayer movement, director of prayer for Alpha International, and pastor of Emmaus Road church in Guildford, England-- continues his look at the Lord's Prayer by unpacking what it means to participate with the Kingdom's arrival on earth. In prayer, we do not look for God to give His yes to what we're doing, but rather look to add our Amen to what God is doing.
Drawing on the quote from St. Augustine that God puts salt on our lips to awaken our thirst for Him, Pete Greig-- leader of the international 24-7 prayer movement, director of prayer for Alpha International, and pastor of Emmaus Road church in Guildford, England-- unpacks The Lord's Prayer as the why, what and how to prayer. In this first sermon, he awakens our thirst for God by helping us see the Father's delight in us when we pray.
Pastor Andrew Arndt continues the series through the book of Ecclesiastes. We look and wrestle with text that says, "And the spirit returns to God who gave it" (Eccl 12:7). What is the point of life "under the sun"? Is it just to accumulate wealth and power, or to live a life of uninterrupted pleasure? Or is it something else? As the journey through Ecclesiastes begins to near its end, an answer to that question begins to come into focus.
If there are limits to life under the sun, how should we live here? Should we play it safe and put life on hold until we get to heaven? Pastor Glenn Packiam walks us through Ecclesiastes 11, showing the risks of both investment and non-investment. Yet the life the Christian is called to is one that takes on the posture of open hands, freely receiving and freely giving.
We all know we need wisdom, but what keeps us from asking others for it? Moreover, how do we know the right people to ask? Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us navigate these questions from Ecclesiastes 9, and then challenges us to let the wisdom of God as revealed in the cross of Christ challenge our notions of wisdom today.
We have an aversion to negativity and sadness. Yet the Teacher in Ecclesiastes 7 tells us there is more benefit from sorrow than from joy. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us understand how sorrow proves our love, purifies our love, and ultimately points us to the only Love that can make us whole.
What we do when we are confronted with our limitations, the boundaries of our power and perspective? Ecclesiastes reminds us that God is in heaven and we are on earth. Under the open sky at Church in the Park, Pastor Glenn Packiam calls us to let mystery lead us to humility and humility lead to worship.
Companionship is one of the great gifts of life 'under the sun'. Ecclesiastes 4 shows how companions increase joys, multiply possibilities, and share sorrows. Yet even the best of friendships has its limits. Friends may fail, and friends may be just as stuck as we are. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see what it might look like to see the Holy Spirit as the truest companion, and the bond in all our human relationships.
We may try to delay death, or to minimize its severity, or avoid thinking about it at all, but death is as inevitable as it is problematic. Pastor Glenn Packiam outlines how death reminds us of the fragility of life, of the finality of life's ending, and of the futility of our attempts to transcend life. All this the Teacher in Ecclesiastes can help us see. But it is the Gospel that shows us more. The Gospel that tells us that we have been loved with a love that is stronger than death, and that makes all the difference.
Our work in a fallen world is full of toil-- hardship and sweat. The Teacher in Ecclesiastes points to the futility of our toil, but also provides a hint that toil is connected to time. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see our work as something that must match our season, as something to be received as a gift from God, and as something that will ultimately be made beautiful in His time.
Ecc. 2:12-17 seems on the surface to be a depressing, fatalist look at life. Dr. Steven Todd explores this passage with its NT counterpart in 1 Cor.1:18-25 and considers how confession, absolution, and the table of the Lord allows us to lean into God even when things don't make sense.
What does it mean to be "spiritual"? What is the purpose of the spiritual gifts? All to often we see certain spiritual gifts put on display and we are left to question the validity of our own Christian experience in light of other people's experience. Throughout Scripture we see that there are a variety of spiritual gifts, but there is one Spirit that empowers them all. Pastor Joey Jimenez reminds us that the beauty of diversity is most fully on display within the context of unity. The spiritual gifts are meant for the mutual edification of the body of Christ.
What should we make of pleasure? If we were to follow the ancients, we would either abstain from pleasure, indulge it, or enjoy it moderately. But does the Gospel have more to say? After outlining three types of pleasures found in Ecclesiastes 2, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us to see how Jesus calls us to receive pleasure as a gift, to reshape how we enjoy each pleasure, and to redirect pleasure so that it culminates in grateful praise to God.
We don't always want to admit it, but sometimes even the best things in life let us down. Ecclesiastes gives us to permission to say it, and even offers a prophetic challenge to our optimism. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how recognizing the emptiness of all things can wake us to the longing for more. While Solomon can only lead us to confess this emptiness and weariness, Jesus calls us to Himself to give us life and rest.
In this Easter message, Pastor Glenn Packiam uses the familiar story of the Prodigal Son to show the human tendency toward religion (the attempt to reach God on our own) or rebellion (the attempt to live without God). Yet both paths lead to death. Building on our desire to escape death and attain life, we are called to escape the real death and to attain the true life, a Life possible because of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
In this short Palm Sunday reflection, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us to recognize that our thirst for glory comes from God, though we often look for fill it with the glory that comes from men and women. The astonishing news of the Gospel is that the Lord of glory emptied himself that we might be filled...with the glory of God.
There are times when we don't know how to pray, when the questions of whether we're going to make it or if our lives are going to matter cloud our hearts. In those times, we can take comfort in knowing that Jesus, our Great High Priest, is praying for us. Pastor Glenn Packiam examines John 17, helping us see what Jesus is praying for, and how our prayer - at it?s best - is simply an 'Amen' to Jesus' prayer.
What will Jesus do about all that is wrong with the world? Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks how Jesus doesn't just deal with the trouble in the world but with the very power of evil itself. In order to deal with the evil, Jesus must deal with our sin. The Lamb of God, by absorbing the full force of evil and by taking the punishment for our sin, overcomes the world. Best yet, we can share in this victory through faith in Christ.
As we continue the One Last Thing series, we find ourselves in John 15 of the upper room discourse between Jesus and his disciples. Pastor Evan Reedall sets up the relational context of John's Gospel, as well as the overarching theme of unity that Jesus exemplifies. With that foundation, we can understand Jesus' heart when he dynamically invites us to abide in him, as well as the humility and God glorifying fruit that is the result.
How can Jesus tell us how our heart should feel? Drawing on a Christian psychology of emotions, Pastor Glenn Packiam explains that emotions are like the eyes of our heart; what we set our hearts on shapes how our hearts sees. While we feel lost, like no one hears us, and all alone, Jesus calls us to perceive a deeper and truer reality: that He is the Way, that the Father hears us, and that the Spirit is with us.
Pastor Brady and Glenn Packiam begins our new series "One Last Thing" by sharing that what the world needs today are more people who serve like Jesus.
What makes Christian community different from all other relationships is not that we're nicer or 'better' people, but that a Christ-like forgiveness lies at the heart of our relationships. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see what forgiveness is not- neither a diminishing of the wrong nor a restoration of trust. The Gospel radically reshapes our understanding of forgiveness by moving us beyond 'balancing the scales' to leveling the ground at the foot of the cross.
Psychologists tell us that kindness involves turning toward one another, being generous about one another's intentions, and sharing one another's joys. But what if people don't appreciate our kindness? What if they don't reciprocate it? Or, worse yet, what if they really don't deserve it? Drawing from the story of David and Mephibosheth and from the English Reformer Thomas Cranmer's 'Comfortable Words', Pastor Glenn Packiam shows us how believing the kindness of God to us produces true kindness in us.
Meals can be a place of tension or a surprising display of unity. Preaching on the party at Levi's house, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how we tend to draw circles around ourselves that only include "people just like us". But the Gospel compels us to make room for others, even those we'd rather exclude. Just as Levi's house became Jesus' party, so our open homes can become places where God is at work.
Why do we center our weekly worship gathering's around the Lord's table? Pastor Evan, in this 1st week of the 3 week Worship. Connect. Serve. series takes us Genesis to Revelation to see how we center our worship around the Table because in scripture God centers His story around the same. We gather around the meal because Christ has undone the original meal of sin by becoming the redeemed meal of salvation.
The first Sunday of Christmas can feel like a letdown. We find ourselves wishing we lived in the days of angels and of Christ's presence on earth. But in this surprising conclusion to the series, Pastor Glenn Packiam shows us how Luke's story opens with angels but concludes with disciples. The Kingdom of God, inaugurated by the Son of God, continues through the people of God- us!- by the power of the Spirit of God. What it look like for us to pray and take simple risks to bring beauty from ashes in the broken places we find all around us?
Herod could have been remembered through the ages as the king who prepared the way for the true King of Jews. Instead, news of Jesus' arrival made Herod fall apart. By contrast, signs of Jesus' birth made pagan astrologers fall to their knees. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us to see that when life reminds us that we are not in control, we can perceive it as a threat or receive it as an invitation to surrender to the One who is.
How do we bring hope to someone who is not looking for it? Pastor Glenn Packiam describes the the 'closed roof' for those who are not looking for God. But moments of joy-from art, from the story of reconciliation and forgiveness- are always surprising and can make us look up. The 'seams' in the closed heavens are hints that there is more, and can help us find that places where we have come to the end of ourselves. It is there that we see that Jesus brings new life from dead ends, green shoots from tree stumps.
Pastor Brady Boyd asks if we are willing to wait for God to do what He promised, and if we?re willing to be surprised by the way God does it. If hope is believing that God is at work, then joy is about seeing that God is at work. While the evidence of God at work may be dim at times, we can look to Jesus as the ultimate demonstration that joy has come and that joy will come in fullness.
Our peace is secure when our hope is sure. So, how can our hope be sure? Teaching from the story of Simeon seeing Jesus for the first time, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us believe that God is working even when we can't see it. But when we look at Jesus, we see God's salvation. And when we believe in the God who saves, we can live with peace.
In Advent, the Church stands between two proclamations: "God has come!" and "Come, Lord Jesus, come!" On this first Sunday of Advent, we examine what it means to live with hope in the in-between. Preaching from the lectionary texts, Pastor Glenn Packiam calls us to work for justice and reconciliation, to watch for signs of God at work, and to wait for the great 'Shalom' that only God can bring. In light of recent unrest and racial tensions resulting from the Ferguson decision, we find Advent to be the a way of giving voice to our lament over the brokenness of this world, and a way of reminding ourselves of the hope of the gospel.
Using humor about the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday, Dr. Steven Todd then takes us through a look at Psalm 136, a "Thanksgiving Psalm," where the repeated anthem, "His steadfast love endures forever" is found in every verse. The Hebrew word, "hesed," translated 'steadfast love' means so much more! God's 'fierce,' unwavering loyalty to us through all of life's challenges is examined in the three 'movements' of this Psalm.
Prayer can often be the place where we feel least like the beloved; unanswered prayer can leave us feeling confused and discouraged. So why would John wrap up his letter with a call to prayer? Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see where our confidence in prayer comes from, and how prayer can turn us outward to our brothers and sisters. In prayer, we rehearse the gospel, living out both our belovedness and our love for one another.
What motivates fear? Pastor Joey Jimenez helps us see that our paradigm of fear is built upon by an incomplete picture of who God really is. Fear is also the result seeing ourselves differently than how God sees us. While we can approach God in love and reverence simultaneously, it is impossible to approach Him in love and hide from Him in fear at the same time. In order to see and to know the perfect love that casts out fear we need not look further than the Person of Christ. Jesus breaks the cycle of our fear by revealing the Father.
Our love for one another flows from the reality that God is love. The most radical expression of love is forgiveness. Forgiveness is neither a diminishing of the wrong, nor permission to the wrong-doer. It requires naming the wrong and then choosing to bear the weight of it. Yet, how can we bear the weight of someone else's wrong? We can't; but Jesus has. Exploring the events of the ancient Israelite 'Day of Atonement', Pastor Glenn Packiam shows us how God has dealt with both the penalty and the blame of our sin. Our love for one another, then, comes from knowing that we have been loved by God. After all, the same door that lets forgiveness in is the door that lets it out to others.
What would your life look like if you did not fear death? As we turn toward John's great command to love one another, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us locate where we are: we have moved from the land of death- the world that Cain built- to the land of Life- the world that Jesus is making. From the way early Christians cared for each other during epidemics of the 3rd century to the way Christian missionary doctors rush to aid in the Ebola crisis in West Africa, we discover that only those who have the 'Life of the Age to Come' in them are free to fully love one another.
Who are you, really? A sinner or a saint? Does this change based on how we're dealing with sin in our lives? Teaching from 1 John 2:28-3:10, Pastor Glenn Packiam reminds us that we are already children of God now, and that one day we will be fully like Jesus. This present identity and future hope give us confidence as we join our will to God's work in us and move from the ruts of 'practicing sin' to the new practice of righteousness.
What do we do with the reality of sin? With the pitfalls of behavioristic moralism on one side and a grace that makes no claims on us on the other, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see see sin as disordered desire which ends us distorting the object of that desire. For St. John, the "world" is not the created cosmos but the systems and structures of a life organized apart from and against God. To make this the object of our ultimate desire is to settle for the lesser joy-- the love of the Father.
Pastor Glenn Packiam begins a new series on 1 John, helping us see what it means to live in the light. We fear that being in the light means being exposed. But John understood that the Lord is our Light and our salvation, and therefore we have nothing to fear. Confession, then, is not an occasion for shame; it is an opportunity for God's light to flood our lives.
In our fast-pace world where busyness is a badge of importance, we rarely ever truly stop. Yet the sabbath is, at its core, a call to cease from labor. Pastor Glenn Packiam explains how the sabbath is rooted in both creation and salvation. We explore rhythmic and organic ways of entering into God's rest, recognizing that God is with us in both green pastures and in dark valleys.
Have we become so used to the noise and the pace that we find it hard to sit alone with our thoughts? While not all busyness is a sign of unhealthy, many times busyness can mask a deeper brokenness that God wants to heal. Drawing from the story of Jacob, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see what it means to come face to face with ourselves and with the God who gives us a new name.
Pastor Evan Reedall shares about the church becoming the light...and the fact that it requires our darkness to be exposed and us to become visible (Ephesians 5). Through personal story and biblical insight, Evan delves into the tension between darkness and light, fear and hope. As we learn to trust in God's work and way, our response is to not just learn to trust, but to learn to be trustworthy.
Probably the most difficult 'question' that is asked - why would a loving God allow such suffering and tragedy in the world. Dr. Steven Todd talks about the 'problem' of calling it the 'problem of evil.' This "problem" language often propels us to try to find a 'solution' when the Scriptures seem to answer the 'who' and not always the 'why' of suffering. "To Whom else can I go?" Peter asked Jesus. The "Who" is a loving God committed to being with us before, during, and after difficulty and suffering.
In this 'Family Sunday' sermon, Pastor Glenn Packiam responds to questions on how to know what issues to 'agree to disagree' on in order to preserve Christian unity, what it means when we say the New Life is a charismatic church and where the gifts can be in operation, and how parents can share the gospel with their children.
Pastor Glenn Packiam responds to specific questions emailed from the congregation. This week he discusses going to two services, suffering and the book of Job, healing and the 'now but not yet', and homosexuality.
What is the goal of the Christian life? We are tempted to say, 'Becoming like Jesus'; but that is a result, not a goal. The goal, as Pastor Glenn Packiam points out, is abiding in Christ. But what does that look like? With the help of a panel of seven people in different seasons of life, we explore spiritual practices that function like 'roots' or 'trellises' for abiding in Christ. These spiritual practices are discerned, not decided, and become our own 'rule of life', a way of inviting God into our everything.
It seems to be ubiquitous: everyone cares about justice and global engagement. But what fuels our work for the good of the world? Is it human dignity? A focus on results? In the third and final part of this series, Pastor Glenn Packiam explores the central Table narrative in Luke's Gospel- the Passover- to show both a model for how and a motivation for why we 'prepare a Table' for Jesus in the world.
New Life Downtown welcomes pastor Andrew Arndt of Bloom Church in Denver, CO. Pastor Andrew brought us a timely and encouraging message on Psalm 23, and what it looks like to trust God in the midst of life's circumstances.
We look at the last 'Table story' in Luke's gospel, the meal with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how Jesus focuses on a few and takes his time with time, letting them give voice to their pain. This is a model for our engagement in the city, partnering with a few ministries for long-term impact. Yet, we are more often like the disappointed disciples given an opportunity to welcome in a Stranger. Maybe it's in showing the hospitality of Jesus to another that our own eyes are opened to see Christ anew.
We long for meaning in our lives, yet we insist on a guarded existence. The result is that we only give ourselves to things within our reach. But the Kingdom awakens us to a greater Story and invites us to surrender our lives to Jesus. As Pastor Glenn Packiam shares New Life Downtown's story and identity through the Eucharistic words, "blessed, broken, given", he calls us to take responsibility for the people Jesus is welcoming into our church.
Why do we so often hate our jobs and what can we do about it? Pastor Glenn explains how, because of the Fall, our work now involves 'toil' and is tainted by motivations of shame and fame. Yet the joy we do find in our work is a clue that the world will not always be this way. Moreover, when we move from working in the realm of self to working 'in the Lord', we can take heart that it will never ultimately be in vain.
Pastor Glenn Packiam takes us back to Genesis to help us see work as a pre-Fall call, a way we bear the image of God. In fact, work is collaborating with God to cultivate His world. While this call originated in Eden, it can be lived out anywhere-- even in Babylon-- because God is at work in us.
So much of our angst towards work is a failure to see our most important role within the workplace as "image-bearers" of God. Whether our work context takes us into the corporate world or keeps us close to home, God has given us the privilege of showing others what he is like. Sure earning money and striving for excellence in our professions have their place but we can't lose sight of JOB 1; helping others discover what God is like.
Surveys reveal that 80% of us are dissatisfied with our job. It's fair to say that we've lost some, if not all, of what God intended when he created us to work. Work is often just a means to an end and all joy and sense of meaning is gone from the 9-5 of our days. Pastor Brad Baker argues that God longs to restore the joy, satisfaction and sense of sacredness that he infused into work; into us! This 4 part series offers a fresh look our vocation and occupation.
As Christ followers we rest assured that it is Christ and Christ alone who builds and sustains us. We are HIS people; the Church only through his great love, power and glory. However, he invites us to participate with him in becoming what he declares that we already are. But what exactly is our role? Some of us have wrongfully concluded that are job is simply to be present and observe. In this final installment of our series on the first book of Corinthians Pastor Brad Baker wrestles with the question of our role in helping our spiritual family flourish. Brad argues that Christ invites us to offer him our minds, our hearts and our hands in the great endeavor of strengthening his beloved people.
As we explore 1 Corinthians 15, we discover that Paul began his letter with the preaching of Christ crucified and closes his letter with the proclamation that Christ has been raised from the dead. Pastor Glenn Packiam shows what the resurrection means for our faith and for our future. Free from the Enlightenment burden of 'proving' our faith, we can meet our doubts not with certainty but with humility, and believe 'that which we have received' from the witness of the saints and apostles. And we can be free from the pressure of securing our own future, relieving our fears not by mere 'optimism' but by the grounded hope of resurrection.
In a day when love is often confused with tolerance or sentimentality, we need 1 Corinthians 13 to show us what the Jesus-kind-of love looks like. Pastor Glenn Packiam casts a fresh light on the text to show how love orients us to the future that God is bringing and transforms our human relationships. We no longer love because the other is lovely or will love us in return; we love because Christ has loved us.
Drawing from 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, Pastor Glenn Packiam explores what happens when the Spirit is at work in a congregation. Instead of categorizing Christians as "spiritual" vs "unspiritual", we focus instead on the Spirit who gives generously to believers for the good of the church and the glory of God. When we surrender to the Spirit's work, setting aside both fear and pride, the Lordship of Jesus is proclaimed in the world.
To experience the unity we have in Jesus we must learn how to be counter-intuitive and counter-cultural. Simply put it doesn't come natural for us to reach across the potential barriers of race, age, social status and economics to connect with other fellow believers. The community of faith we call home is inevitably full of people not like us or even people we'd rather not be around. We'll learn from Paul's rebuke in I Corinthians 11 what it will take for us to work in concert with the Holy Spirit to foster unity and oneness among our spiritual family. Pastor Brad Baker will be our guide as we journey back to Corinth to see what we can then apply in our present day circumstances.
How do we last? What will the story of our lives be after we are gone? In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul points to the church's spiritual fore-parents, Israel, as both an example and a warning. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see five possible layers or steps to falling away, beginning with wrong or disordered desires. Temptations, then, can be invitations to examine our soul and opportunities to witness the faithfulness of God. In the end, we stand not by human skill or will, but by the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah and by the power of the Spirit of God who lives in us.
What is the place of ambition in the Christian life? Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks 1 Corinthians 9 to show that we are a "sent people", and that we have been sent to be "spent" for the glory of God and the good of others. The race we are invited into is a long obedience in the same direction, a steady life of faithfulness and service. Though we may fall, we will not fail, for we run as those who have already won-- for in Christ, we have.
Why do I still struggle with sin and weakness even though I am a believer? Can I really live the Christian life described in the Bible? Pastor Jeremiah Parks shows us how realizing the fullness of the reality of Christ's Resurrection utterly empowers us, not to be better people, but to be a new kind of people all together.
What do we do when all hope seems lost? Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see that Lent gives way to Easter, sorrow is pierced by joy, night is broken by morning, death gets swallowed up by life. Because of Easter, sin-- no matter how dire-- is not the end. Because of Easter, death-- the great threatening bully-- is not the end. Because of Easter, even heaven is not the end. One day, the Creator-God will renew His whole world, bringing "Easter" to the cosmos. But the best part of all of this is that it can begin now! When we let go of our self-reliance-- whether it looks like rebellion or religion-- and surrender to Christ, He breathes the Spirit into us and we receive resurrection life; we become a new creation, even now.
In this final week of the series, Pastor Glenn helps us explore the feeling of being forsaken by God. From the rich tradition of lament in the psalms, we discover that protest can be a proof of faith. When we take our complaint to God, we affirm both his sovereignty and his love. But the psalms-even Psalm 22-comes to its completion in Christ. In Jesus-from His birth to His death to His resurrection-we see the faithfulness of God. In the end, we can trust that the forsakenness we feel is not truer than the faithfulness revealed in Christ.
In a culture obsessed with success and strength, it can be hard to know what to do with failure. Failure, when it happens, is an experience of loss, a loss of status and sometimes even a loss of meaning. Failure can be disorienting, the feeling of life 'going off script.' And yet, we have a Savior who was considered a failure by his culture and his friends. More than that, Jesus carried our deepest failure-our failure to love God with our whole heart and our neighbor as ourselves. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us to see that because of Jesus, our failure is never final. We are the beloved of God.
Beyond the loneliness that can come from new situations or locations, many of us have felt a profound sense of loneliness or dislocation--wondering where we fit and if we belong. Once again, we are reminded to give voice to this ache in prayer. This week, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see that Jesus does more than weep and pray and suffer with us and as us; he does all this for us. This means that because Jesus took on the ultimate loneliness, we are never truly alone. (This sermon includes a portion for the children as part of our "Family Sunday" practice.)
What do when we do when life presses in on us? Why does it feel like God doesn't answer our prayers? Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us to see that petition and protest are proof of the relationship, signs of trust in God. Jesus, the True Human One, shows us the range of human emotions- including anguish and anxiety in the garden of Gethsemane- that can be brought before the Father in prayer and trust. What we discover is that because Jesus went into the depths of anguish and beyond, He is with us in the valley. And because the Father did not abandon Jesus in grave, we can trust that darkness and death will not triumph in the end.
Sadness is a normal and healthy response to losses of all kind. Yet, we struggle to express our grief, and want to make it simply go away. Drawing from Scripture, sociology, and stories of walking with friends dealing with loss, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us give voice to our grief and to recognize Jesus weeping with us. In this participatory sermon that includes reflection, psalm-praying, and sing, we begin to see that because Jesus carried our griefs, sorrow will not have the last word.
Jesus experienced a great deal of suffering as he obediently carried out the Father's will and stepped into the brokenness of creation to transform humanity from the inside out. What do the suffering's of Jesus teach us about our own pain in the Father's plan for us as son's and daughters? Pastor Jeremiah draws richly from the Scripture and from his own journey of pain to help us see that nothing is ever wasted in the Father's Kingdom!
We often hear that the church is 'behind the times', but this belies a particular view of progress: that what is now is superior to what was then. Pastor Glenn Packiam examines this claim while sharing his personal journey toward Anglican ordination. We then turn to the words of Jesus, calling us away from our own way and to Himself, the source of true rest. It is from the place of rest- trust in Christ's finished work and in the Spirit's ongoing work? that we can embrace spiritual practices that help us to 'keep company' with Jesus.
How should we think about alcohol or marijuana or other complex issues? The Bible isn't a rulebook or answer manual; but when we stand under it and let the Spirit draw us into the text, we often find that our questions are reframed. Teaching from 1 Corinthians 8, Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how Paul urges us to consider how our actions will affect others. This means paying attention not only to our own motives but to the stories of the people around us. It is Jesus who inextricably connects love for God with love for neighbor. And it is because of Jesus, not because of our correct-ness or our "freedom", that we are "known" by God.
Working from the foundation of the "theology of the body" established in 1 Corinthians 6, chapter 7 helps us to see sex as powerful, marriage as beautiful, and singleness as purposeful. While graciously dealing with questions of premarital sex, divorce, and same-sex attractions, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us recognize the good gifts that marriage and singleness are. We discover that we need not try to undo the past or postpone obedience to the future. We can trust that God is with us now and that we can serve Him in every season.
Much is made of the fact that Christians have a different sexual ethic, but few understand that this ethic is rooted in a radically different view of the body. Unpacking 1 Corinthians 6, Pastor Glenn Packiam asks, "How are we to live in our bodies? What is the body for? Whose body is it?" We discover that our bodies were made for glory and for intimacy; that, in Christ, our bodies have been reclaimed and redeemed; and that by the Spirit's power we can glorify God in our bodies.
In trying to avoid the harsh judgmental attitude Christians have sometimes been known for, we can over-correct to a version of love that is reluctant to deal with sin. Pastor Glenn Packiam explores an unpopular passage, helping us to see whom, how, and why we are to judge. With God, judgment is not merely punitive; it is restorative; it isn't about paying a person back but turning them back. The goal is to break our self-reliance--which can look like rebellion or religion--and turn us again to Christ. Because of Jesus, the no earthly judgment need be the last word.
Is Christianity the religion of the weak or of the strong? The young church in Corinth seemed to think faith in Christ meant always being at the top of pile, reigning like kings; they had moved beyond the Gospel to a kind of spirituality that worked with their love of success and status. Paul wants them to know that the 'self-made person' and the 'spiritual triumphalist' are both lies, facades for their true god: self. Pastor Glenn Packiam shows the futility of both lines of thought, calling us to cling to Christ alone, whether we are strong or weak, rich or poor, wise or foolish. In the end, it is when we confess our weakness that we find the strength of God?s love.
Beneath the surface of our many interactions and associations, questions persist: "Who am I connected to? What am I part of? Do I matter?" We often think that the Gospel's response to these questions is to silence them, to slap us on the wrist for caring about these things. Pastor Glenn Packiam shows us that Paul wants the young Corinthian church, eager for status and significance, to realize that it is their connection to Christ that matters above all. Leaders are just laborers; Jesus is the foundation. Moreover, the Church is the place where God himself dwells. For all these reasons and more, we realize that the life we are being offered is really better than anything we could earn or create on our own.
Pastor Daniel Grothe continues our series on 1 Corinthians with a look at chapter two. He highlights Paul's 're'definition to the Corinthians of what it is to have the mind of Christ, and encourages us with weakness and humility according to God.
How are we to live as the people of God in a wicked and immoral world? As bad as our world is, we have every reason to think that Corinth was far worse. Yet Paul does not rail against "culture at large", but instead instructs the church on how to embody a different way. But this Way-the Way of Christ-is one that seems like foolishness at best, and scandalous at worst. And yet, the so-called folly and scandal of 'Christ crucified' is such good news for us. Find out why as Pastor Glenn Packiam kicks off this new series through 1 Corinthians.
The name by which Israel most commonly referred to Yahweh, The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, links three generations grandfather, father, and son, all with very different faith journeys and all with extraordinary challenges and 'dysfunctions' in their lives. Dr. Steven Todd gives a biblically-rooted and experientially-tested exploration of what it means to be an inter-generational church. As we embrace this kind of community, we find that God is known to each generation and through each generation to the other.
We want to love well, but many of us have been deeply hurt, making it hard for us to open ourselves to love at all. Even hearing that "God so loved the world..." can be hard because we cannot imagine a love like this. The trick is that we cannot receive love unless we are vulnerable, but we cannot be vulnerable unless we know we are loved. What are we to do? Who takes the risk of love and becomes vulnerable first? Jesus did. Pastor Glenn powerfully reminds us that we are not loved because Christ came; rather, Christ came because we are loved. And because Jesus became vulnerable, as a baby who would grow up to be rejected and crucified on a cross, we can now become rooted in love. We can live from Love and no longer for it.
Is it possible to have joy in our world of sorrow? We often feel like our only choices are to fake it, to manufacture it, or to become cynical about joy. As Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks the promised hope in Isaiah, we begin to see that joy is a gift, a startling surprise to our dead end. In Jesus the Messiah, God announces to the world that it is not over, all is not lost; joy is breaking through like green shoots out of a dead stump. As we turn our face toward Christ, the source of Joy, instead of making idols out of the things that joy comes through, we begin to believe that Joy indeed is coming.
The angels announced "Peace on earth" at Jesus' birth, but when we're surrounded by violence, broken relationships, and anxiety, it's hard to know how peace is really here. Pastor Glenn Packiam contrasts Caesar's peace-- the Pax Romana-- and they way he brought it through external force with the peace that Jesus brings. Peace is not the absence of trouble but confidence within it that we are being held together by God. Best of all this peace comes to even the lowliest ones-- the shepherds. We find peace as we see how we are favored in God's eyes.
We don't like to wait. Yet there are times in life when we are forced to wait. But what do we do when we feel like God has forgotten us? We need a way to mark time that reminds us of our hope. Pastor Glenn Packiam explains that this is the heart behind the Christian Calendar-- to mark time around the life of Christ. For Christians, our hope in the present and our hope for the future is God-with-us. Discover how this keeps us from despair, from trying to take matters into our own hands, and from trying to earn our way with God.
In this final week of the series, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see that this journey has been leading all along to a Table. So many of us are exhausted because we've been taking in what does not satisfy & cannot sustain. But at the Table, Jesus offers us Himself. It is here that we give thanks for the grace of our rescue, of the coming restoration of all things, and of the real presence of Christ with us. Discover the mystery and the gift that is offered to us in the Eucharist.
Most of us live in tension. On the one hand, we like the idea of others believing we've got life figured out. While at the same time we long for authentic and transparent relationships where we don't have to hide. Pastor Brad Baker shares the centrality of personal and corporate confession in the life of believers. He answers the question, "How does living in a rhythm of confession help form us into the people of God?". Listen and be challenged to live genuinely before God and others.
We all know we should read the Bible, but, if we're honest, it can be difficult to make sense of it. Pastor Glenn Packiam describes five common ways to misread the Bible, and then invites us to discover instead the Great Drama of the Scriptures in five 'acts.' The call to write our own story is exposed as a sham as we see the beauty of being drawn into God's Story-- a Story of God putting His good but broken world back together again.
This series is about discovering a faith that is larger than ourselves, a faith that we participate in but do not posses. The Spirit works through sacred practices that keep us tethered to our Story and our Identity as the People of God. As Pastor Glenn Packiam teaches on water baptism, he reminds us that baptism means a new identity and a new family. Discover what it means to take your baptism seriously, to believe your new identity in Christ and to embrace your new family of brothers and sisters in Christ, letting our baptism trump all other markers of identity and community.
In wrestling with the prospect of losing our faith, we are sometimes given the mercy of realizing that the faith isn't ours to lose; it is the Church's, and though we participate in it, we do not possess it. There are practices that have been handed down to us to keep us tethered to the Great Story of God's redemption in Christ. In this first week of the series on these practices, Pastor Glenn Packiam talks about the Holy Spirit, the One who works through these practices to carry on the mission of Christ, to form us as the Body of Christ, and to empower our witness of Christ. May we let go of control, banish the lie that we are alone, and pray from deep within, "Come, Holy Spirit."
In this final sermon of our series on relationships in the household of faith, Pastor Glenn Packiam discusses what it means to honor our elders and learn from the accumulated wisdom of our community. In the second half of the sermon, he interviews Clay and Sally Clarkson-- trusted teachers on family ministry who have taught and inspired the Packiams in their parenting-- on how to nurture and disciple your children. In the end, the foundation of right relationships with our elders and our children is the Gospel itself.
Don't be fooled by these easy-sounding titles; they are meant to be taken in a "tongue-in-cheek" sort of way. After all, as Pastor Glenn Packiam points out this week, the Bible's ideals about marriage are held in tension with its narratives of strained and broken marriages. The beautiful truth is that God meets us where we are, bring beauty out of our brokenness. We explore what it means to say that marriage is about becoming one, forgiving one another, and allowing Jesus to be the center. The whole sermon is brought to a powerful conclusion with a remarkable testimony of restoration-in-progress from a young couple in our congregation. What we find in the end is not a rosy picture of marriage, but a hopeful one because of the grace of God.
Pastor Glenn Packiam continues the series about all the relationships that matter most with a sermon on finding a good spouse. Drawing from the Old Testament Wisdom Literature tradition and the idealized stories of finding a spouse at the water well, Glenn helps us understand what it means to trust the Lord, take a step, and eventually make the leap of commitment. Yet, things aren't that simple. What if we are far from an ideal "find"? What if life has left us disappointed and rejected, feeling used up and unloved? We long to be known and loved. Yet too often, the more we are known, the less we are loved. Jesus meets a woman like this at a water well. But with Jesus, we can be fully known and fully loved.
In this series about all the relationships that matter most, Pastor Glenn Packiam begins with a sermon on friendship. Drawing from the Old Testament Wisdom Literature tradition, Glenn shows how the ideal of good friendships is often in tension with the reality of our experience with friends letting us down. What does Jesus -- God's Wisdom personified!-- show us about friendship? How might we learn from Jesus and begin to treat our friendships "eucharistically"?
Brad Baker brings us a word dealing with our perception of critic, exposure, and love. The reality is that when God exposes things within our hearts and lives, even though it can be difficult and painful to look at, it is truly God's love at work. When we walk in concert with His exposure, we open ourselves to His life and His healing.
Pastor Daniel Grothe sums up the series on the Sermon on the Mount by showing us how Jesus is inviting us into a life that cannot be shaken.
How do we know who the true teachers and true disciples are? Jesus says that the mark of a true disciple is not the miracles he performs, but the obedience he lives. In this second to last week of the series, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how true faith produces good fruit? Obedience to the Father. But this fruit is not the result of merely trying harder; it is the overflow of a life hidden with Christ.
[NOTE: Due to technical issues, the podcast starts about 10-minutes in, with Pastor Glenn Packiam interviewing an artist about Makoto Fujimura's "Golden Sea".] We live in a day where "freedom" is interpreted as "life without restraints." Yet, in light of God's arriving Kingdom, Jesus calls us to follow Him along a narrow road. Far from being a description of a popular hell and a sparse heaven, the wide and narrow roads contrast a life of ease with a life of difficulty. Drawing on illustrations from art, music, and marriage, Pastor Glenn helps us see that accepting the necessary constraints for the sake of a desired outcome is something we find many areas of life. What Jesus invites us into is much more than a life of constraints, however; he bids us, "Come and die." But this "death" is itself the beginning of abundant life; it is the "wonderful exchange", where we trade our nothing-ness for His everything.
When we face someone dealing with doubt, our first response is often defend the rationality of Christianity. While there is a place for apologetics, too often we reach for these attempts at certainty because we are uncomfortable with mystery. But to believe is the ultimate humility. It refuses to allow us to stand over and above religion, but under and within it. Following Jesus is foolishness, but it is a beautiful foolishness, a mystery that we have received through the centuries and embrace now. The ritual of water baptism is a picture of this beautiful foolishness. In baptism we identify with Christ, show a visible sign of His invisible grace that has made us new, join the family of God, and make a public declaration of our personal faith.
What keeps us from bringing our requests to God? Is it the pain of disappointment or the agony of silence? To a people who lived with deferred hopes and dashed hopes, Jesus came announcing the Kingdom and inviting them to ask and seek and knock. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see that is because we trust the goodness of our Father in heaven that we turn to Him with our needs. Yet, even Jesus asked for something He did not receive- and yet, He trusted the Father's goodness enough to say, "Nevertheless not my will but yours be done."
In a culture that resists critique and evaluation, we tend to think that Jesus warned against judging others because no concrete judgment is possible; everything is subjective opinion. But Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see that judgment, though possible, is simply not our place. By detailing what, who, and when we can't judge, we see the difference between judging, discerning, and evaluating. Yet there is a judge who knows all, is over all, and is just enough to judge. But this judge became the guilty one so that the verdict over us is stunningly gracious.
The origins of the "Kingdom of God" concepts so important to Jesus are rooted in the prophetic ministry of Old Testament prophets, especially Isaiah. In these prophetic passages, Pastor Matthew Ayers (Director of the Dream Centers of Colorado Springs) helps us discover that the ideas of salvation, righteousness/justice, peace, joy, God's presence, healing, and return from exile aren't simply New Testament concepts, but traditional Jewish ideas that are fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom that he ushers in. These marks of the Kingdom of God are also the very ideas that help us receive God's grace to confront worry and live in freedom.
Possessions have a way of possessing us and deceiving us. Jesus' words about wealth in the Sermon on the Mount were addressed to both rich and poor because regardless of the amount of our possessions, we are all easily enticed and enslaved. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see the life of freedom and truth that Jesus invites us into by letting be Lord of all. When Jesus is our master, we are able to leverage material wealth for Kingdom gains and eternal rewards.
Where do we belong? Why does it feel like we are caught between two realities? Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is the inauguration of an arriving Kingdom, a Kingdom that has come but not yet come in fullness. In a similar way, we are an in-between people, a people who are not what we used to be, yet are not what we will be. The Lord's Prayer, with its phrases from Jewish Messianic and eschatological hopes, is the prayer of a "new Exodus", the prayer of a "wilderness people" who are no longer in Egypt but not yet in the Promise Land. Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks how this prayer reminds us that we have a Father and a Family, showing us how we are beloved and where we belong.
Virtue doesn't come naturally; it must be practiced. Like the great virtue teachers before Him, Jesus gives us a vision of the flourishing human life and practices that move us toward it. But unlike the teachers of virtue, Jesus diagnoses the problem as being far deeper than we imagined: the sinful human heart. As Pastor Glenn Packiam continues the series on the Sermon on the Mount, we see Jesus shift the focus from our heart to our habits, letting transformation arise not only from the outside in but from the inside out. Yet these practices-- of giving, praying, and fasting-- are not ways to improve ourselves or impress others. They are a way of allowing the grace of God to wash over us as the Spirit forms us for the glory of God.
In culture that says everything needs to be new and exciting, our boredom is often the result of our discomfort with the ordinary--or worse, our soul detoxing from an adrenaline addiction. Where is God in the ordinary places and moments of life? Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see that the Lord is here, in 'this' place, that drab, ordinary, unspectacular place. God invites us to see ordinary places as holy spaces as we submit ourselves to the practice of gathering with the people of God at the Lord's Table.
Trust is the currency of relationships; it's what makes community 'work.' But to be trustworthy people, we must be truthful people. Pastor Glenn examines Jesus' call to be the kind of people whose word is so trustworthy that promises are unnecessary. Yet this kind of truthfulness begins with truthfulness before God-- a truthfulness that confess our sin and our propensity to manipulate and exaggerate with our words. Confession opens the way for us to hear God's yes to us: a 'yes' given in Christ, a 'yes' that is always 'yes.'
Pastor Daniel Grothe continues our series through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount with a look at what it means to not seek revenge and to love our enemies instead.
In this special sermon following the Black Forest fires that resulted in the tragic loss of two lives and almost 500 homes in Colorado Springs, Pastor Glenn Packiam reminds us that when we don't know what to say or how to pray, the Psalms give us language. From Psalm 42, we learn what it means to lament, to remember, and to hope. Our hope is never for a particular outcome nor in a particular thing; our hope is always in Christ alone - the God who joins us in the storm and works from within the world to renew it.
What is it that makes lust destructive? It's the way it distorts our desires. Christ calls us not to eliminate our desires nor to simply postpone them until marriage, but to let the Love of God reshape them and realign them. Continuing in the Sermon on the Mount, Pastor Glenn Packiam calls us to go beyond managing our behavior and to identify the wound of loneliness or rejection that leads us to misuse others. When our longings get set upon Christ and we are satisfied with the richness of His love, our other longings for relationship and intimacy get set in their proper place and become the gifts they were designed to be.
Murder may seem like a distant idea or a social ill. But Jesus makes us look beyond "certain people" or "certain weapons" into the human heart, to the anger and hatred that make murder possible. What makes anger dangerous? Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how anger creates distance between us and the "Other", cultivates disdain, and culminates in destruction. None us want this cycle of violence and vengeance or to be on the path toward judgment and destruction. Yet out of fear and a desire to control, anger rises up repeatedly in us. Yet Jesus comes to us saying, "Fear not! You are not in control, but you are deeply loved by the God who is."
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says he didn't come to abolish the "law and the prophets," but to fulfill them. But what does that fulfillment look like? How are we supposed to understand the Old Testament and how Jesus is a continuation of Israel's story? And why does it matter to our own stories and the story of our church? Guest speaker Dr. Patton Dodd examines the implications of Jesus' words for how we understand two distinct but related Bible stories--the Tower of Babel in the Old Testament, and the fall of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in the New Testament
What does it mean to be salt and light in this world? As the series on the Sermon on the Mount continues, Pastor Glenn Packiam explains how Jesus once again deals with our identity before addressing our behavior. Because He is salt and light, we--together as the people of God--have become a preserving presence and a visible witness in the world. We are challenged not to withdraw from the world but to work in it, cultivating the "soil" around us, fueled by the love of Christ, for the sake of the world and for the glory of God.
In this special Mother's Day message, Pastor Glenn Packiam "interviews" his wife, Holly about her journey as a mother. Through her vulnerability and wisdom, we find a reminder for all of us--in every season and stage of life--that we cannot live well and love well on our own. Glenn wraps up the talk by showing us how women reflect the image of God into our world, and by calling us again to the Fountain of Love-- our Triune God.
Who's got it made? Who's living the good life? Jesus turns our notion of success and "blessedness" on its head. The Beatitudes are a stunning reversal of fortunes made possible because of God's arriving Kingdom. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see that Jesus lived this kind of upside-down life, and it resulted in His death. Yet God vindicated Jesus by raising Him from the dead, showing that this kind of life wins out in the end. But is such a life possible? In Christ, our blessedness trumps our brokenness, making Christ's blessing the truer word, the final word, and the transforming word.
Our deepest hope is for the God who created the world to come & be King in it. The stunning announcement of the Gospels is that He has. Moreover, this King inaugurates His Kingdom by founding a new people. The Sermon on the Mount is our Magna Carta, our constitution. In the first installment if this series, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us understand what the sermon is, and how it can only be understood in the light of Jesus' gracious, costly, and transforming call. To live as the community of the called, we must keep coming back to the One Who calls.
Having framed the conversation of who Church is by broadening our understanding of Jesus and salvation, Pastor Glenn Packiam explores what it means to say that the Church has been sent into the world to bear witness that Jesus is King. We find that the New Testament joins proclamation of the Gospel with demonstration of the Gospel, so that our announcement of Jesus' reign and our actions in Jesus' name form a unified witness. Toward the end of the sermon, Glenn explains one way New Life Church does this in our global missions effort through our partnership with Children's Hope Chest in Swaziland.
What comes to mind when you hear the word, "church"? This question strikes at our deep desire to belong, to know our place within the world. Yet, when our hopes are the highest, the hurt can be the deepest, and so for many, "church" conjures memories of hurt and pain. In order to deal well with the question of who 'Church' is, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us to zoom out and ask who Jesus is and what is the salvation that He brings. Working through these questions, we pull the curtain back from many popular approaches to church and mission and begin the work of recovering the Kingdom-shape seen in the Book of Acts. Finally, Pastor Glenn walks us through the specify family values of New Life Church.
Lent is 6 Sundays long; Easter, however, is 7 Sundays. Why? Because the Feast outlasts the Fast. With God, joy and victory and generosity, not sorrow and suffering and stinginess, get the last word. In this shortened homily (because of a potluck!), Pastor Glenn Packiam explains how the Feast helps us to see what God is truly like, to learn how to be a Family, and to proclaim the Future that has already begun.
On Easter Sunday, we conclude the Conversations Series by looking at the story of Jesus and the disciples on the Emmaus Road. With downcast faces, dashed hopes, and dull hearts, they were walking away from the cross; yet Jesus drew near to them and joined them on their journey. Preaching the sermon in two segments, with a time of worship in between, Pastor Glenn Packiam calls us to see that Jesus joins us on our journey, becomes the Host at the Table, and opens our eyes to see with a new holy imagination, the resurrection life of God at work in the world.
Good Friday is one of the most important dates on the Christian Church's calendar. Join pastor Daniel Grothe for a church-wide candlelight service to remember the sacrifice, suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, who bore sin and death in his body for the life of the world.
On Palm Sunday, we turn our hearts to the God who has come to save. But the nagging question is, "Whom does He save?" Is it possible to have done too much or be too late? Pastor Glenn Packiam teaches from Luke 23 about Jesus' conversation with the criminal on the cross, a man who is literally on the outside--left outside the city to be killed--and nearly out of time. Yet the beauty of the Gospel is that because Jesus is with us in the place of the Skull, we can be with Him in the place of renewal, Paradise. Only with Jesus do we get out back together, re-membered.
Speaking from Luke 8, Pastor Daniel Grothe helps us to see a Jesus who asks our name and comes to us across a great chasm, restoring us and setting us right. Not only are we the ones restored, but we are invited into this story, calling others to this Jesus as well.
What's it like to be stuck? Whether wrestling with a habitual sin or simply living with a sin nature, we are often reminded that without Christ we lack the desire and the ability to be different. Like the man laying by the pool, we need Jesus to see us and speak words of life to us, "creative" words that call us to get up, pick up our "mats" and walk. Pastor Glenn Packiam leads us to a spiritual reading of this text, helping us hear these words of Jesus and imagine what they may mean for us today.
As we continue to "journey with Jesus to the cross" during Lent, we take a closer look at the Samaritan woman that Jesus stopped to talk with at the well. Glenn Packiam helps us see how Jesus restored her dignity, rescued her destiny, and re-centered her identity on Him. Jesus calls us to lay down our water jars - the things of the world that we look to for satisfaction - and the come to Him as the Fountain of Living Water.
With whom do you eat and drink? Often, it's with people who are just like us. Meals-- table fellowship--had very special significance in the world of the Gospel-writers, which is what made Jesus's choice to eat and drink with "sinners" controversial. Yet part of following Jesus is learning to invite and include others in to a Great Banquet, at which Jesus is both the Host and the Feast. Teaching from Luke 5:27-32, Pastor Glenn challenges us to see that the only way we can truly begin to love "sinners" is not by being "irreligious" and throw the rules out or by making it another "religious duty." We must, instead, recognize that we are sinners too, and let God's grace begin to change us from the inside out.
There are two ways to live: as an orphan or as a slave, as a relativist or a moralist. Each way deeply affects the way we experience the two great themes in life - the pursuit of virtue and the pain of suffering. But Jesus offers us a different way. Because God has come to us, because Jesus has done for us what we could not do for ourselves, we don't have to live as orphans or slaves; we can be sons and daughters. Pastor Glenn calls us to see the generous grace of our Father as he explores these themes in Jesus's famous parable of the "Prodigal Son."
What makes marriage glorious? In a word, intimacy-- the joy of being fully known and fully loved. Yet, as Pastor Glenn Packiam explains, even when we learn to turn our desires into requests, there are times when our spouse will fail us. Sin is at work, bending us into selfishness, and pulling our relationship apart. Only in Christ do we truly begin to come together. When Jesus becomes our source and our center, we are able to take our requests to God, forgive one another, and give sacrificially to each other.
Friendship builds on commonness, exclusiveness, and multiplied joy and virtue. Yet all three can get distorted and relationships become ugly. The uncomfortable truth is that we do not truly have the friends we wish we could have, and we cannot be the kind of friend we wish we could be. Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how these unfulfilled longings point us to Christ, the true Friend who laid down His life for us even when we treated Him as our enemy. When we recognize Jesus as the source of Joy, the fountain of Divine Love flows through us, transforming our approach to friendship, freeing us to love whole-heartedly and forgive quickly.
In the third and final part of this series from Romans 12, we explore what it means to be the one who shares, with simplicity, generosity and intentionality; what it means to be the one who oversees, with commitment and concern for others; and what it means to be the one who shows mercy, with cheerfulness, wholeheartedness, and graciousness. Pastor Glenn also explains how we discover our gifts not by being self-consumed but by being changed by grace, seeing needs and stepping out in faith to serve others. After all, grace is the fountain, gifts are the overflow, and Jesus is the source.
Spiritual gifts are how God's grace come to a visible expression in us. But in week two of this series, Pastor Glenn reminds us that what God creates, He invites us to cultivate. Spiritual gifts, then, are not just to be discovered; they are to be developed. Continuing through Paul's list of spiritual gifts in Romans 12, we learn how serving, teaching, and exhorting reveal Jesus and express God's grace to others.
When we think of a person being "gifted", we either see it as a reason to exclude ourselves or as an opportunity to improve ourselves. But neither is close to what the Bible has to say about spiritual gifts. Pastor Glenn Packiam explains that because the church is a community formed by grace and gifted by God's grace, spiritual gifts are given to us as a way to express God's grace to others. First on the list in Romans 12:3-8 is prophecy, which is simply "Spirit-inspired speech that helps us reveal Jesus to others in a way that strengthens, encourages, and comforts them."
Spiritual practices, like prayer, are not about impressing God but inviting God to work in our lives. Yet, if we're honest, we struggle with prayer because we're not sure what to pray, or if God cares, or what prayer accomplishes. Pastor Glenn draws from Jesus' teaching on prayer to show us how prayer is a learned language, a personal encounter, and a powerful invitation for God to bring His saving and restoring rule to bear upon the brokenness of our lives and our world.
As we conclude our journey through the Book of Acts, Pastor Glenn recaps Luke's message that the Gospel cannot be stopped. Jesus- the Saving and Victorious King- invites us to join His Story, a Story that will make our world larger and us altogether different. As we do, we discover that with God even what we think is the end is not really the end. In Acts 28, Paul ends up in prison, not the ending we were expecting. But even there he preaches the Kingdom of God with boldness and without hindrance. Where are the dead ends in your life? What if you began to believe that even that is not the end? How would you live if you knew you couldn't die? What would you risk if you knew you couldn't lose? How would you love if you knew love would win?
Preaching from the Song of Simeon- the "Nunc Dimittis"--Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how Jesus is the great culmination of all our deepest hopes, the fulfillment of our truest longing. It turns out that what we need most is exactly what God has been preparing from the beginning, and what He has promised: salvation. Salvation is the coming back together of God's world, beginning with our hearts being set right with God. Can we have eyes to see what Simeon saw, to see the "salvation that God has prepared in the presence of all peoples"?
What is God like? Though we may know the right answer, we easily slip back into a tribal view of God as punitive and retributive. Like Adam and Eve hiding in the garden, we cower in fear. But God has always been, in His essence, Love. Preaching from the Magnifcat, Pastor Glenn Packiam shows that God makes His mercy arrive wave after wave, reaching its fullness in Christ.
In a world of anxiety and fear, is it really possible to "be of good cheer"? While we may be tempted to achieve a kind of "cheerfulness" but ignoring grief or numbing our anxiety, Pastor Glenn shows how Paul exhorts the sailors in Acts 27 to have faith in God, even when all hope is lost. It is when we come to end of ourselves, overwhelmed by the surging waves of Chaos and Evil that we find our God to be not only the Sovereign over the storm, but the Savior in the midst of it.
Pastor Glenn talks from the song of the angels in Luke 2, explaining that the peace God brings is not a generic peace, but a particular saving peace to the ones whom God favors--the unlikely and unworthy ones now favored because of Christ. It is peace with God and peace in a troubled world. As we remember the tragic shooting that happened at our church 5 years ago, we see the unshakable peace that God has given us and recognize the faithfulness of God to us when we least expected it. Moreover, this peace has been shown to us so that we can carry this peace to others in a tangible way.
Pastor Gregg preaches on the shaping of our stories, based on Acts 26. Paul shared his testimony, for the third time, to a king whose family has been intertwined with the story of Jesus for generations.
Contentment can feel like a moving target. How do we know when enough is enough? Yet until we are content in our hearts, we will struggle to live at peace with others. As we follow Paul's trial before Jewish and Roman authorities as it progresses this week in Acts 25, we take a closer look at how Paul was able to live at peace with others because he had learned the secret of being content. Pastor Glenn Packiam draws on two of Paul's letters written around this season of Paul's life- Romans and Philppians- to show how we can find our sufficiency in Christ and be content in every situation.
Pastor Daniel Grothe unpacks the phrases in the Lord's Prayer, helping us find the theology and the power behind these familiar words.
When everything seems lost, what gives us hope that God will sort things out and set things right? Pastor Glenn Packiam teaches from Paul's speech to Felix in Acts 24, highlighting Paul's emphatic claim that he worships the same God and has the same hope as the Jews. In other words, Paul saw Jesus not as a "Plan B" but as the culmination of the story of Israel and the fulfillment of God's covenant with them. Moreover, the resurrection, the long promised hope that God the Creator would set everything right at last, was now a certain hope because it had already happened to Jesus. This is what gives us hope today.
How should we, as followers of Jesus, think about government? Some may be turned off by an overly politicized faith and dismiss political engagement as irrelevant; others may insist that government is a key to the Kingdom advancing. Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks Paul's interactions with two rulers in Acts 23--one Jewish and the other Roman-- to show how we must respect authorities while reminding them who the rightful Ruler of this world is. As we discover parallels between the political climate of the 1st century and our own day, we are challenged to see Jesus as God's Kingdom-bringer, the saving King and true hope of the world.
Is it possible for God to use you right where you are to speak of His grace? What if every part of your story- your strengths and your brokenness- can be woven together for 'such a time as this'? As we explore Acts 22, Pastor Glenn Packiam challenges us to see Christ as the one who calls us, prepares us and sends us out into the world each day. Even in the midst of the ordinary or the difficult moments, Christ is with us, filling us with His Spirit, sending us as witnesses to His grace. But as He does, don't be offended at God's surprising generosity to those we did not expect to be the recipients of His grace.
We have been called to participate in the "Jesus Life" by imitating- re-tracing- the life of Christ with our own life. This "Christ shape" can be seen as an "even when" kind of obedience: an obedience "even when" God warns of opposition, loved ones try to discourage us, and people misjudge us. Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how Paul embraced obedience to the Lord's will for his life even when it meant suffering because it also meant the chance to share in the "fellowship of Christ's sufferings."
Is there a difference between being "drained" and being "spent"? Is the difference related to people "taking" from us versus when we "lay our lives down" for others? In Paul's farewell speech to the Ephesian elders- leaders of the church where Paul spent the longest amount of time- he urges them to follow his example in caring for God's people. Pastor Glenn Packiam calls us to drink deeply of the "incredibly extravagant generosity of God" so that we can spend ourselves for the sake of others. Only when we see how Christ spent His life for us and for others will be able to spend ourselves. Then, instead of being drained, we will find that we have lived lives "well spent."
Many of us know that communion is important, but we're not always sure why. In fact, if we're honest, we tend to be so afraid of being superstitious (like the Medieval Church?) about it, that we tend to downplay it and emphasize "purely spiritual" ways of encountering God. Using Scripture, Church history, and compelling examples of our own need for physical "focal practices", Dr. Steven Todd explains how we can reclaim the power and the mystery of coming to the Lord's Table.
What does it mean to announce Jesus as the King? What difference does it make to make the focus of our Gospel-proclamation and demonstration the person of Christ instead of the "plan of salvation"? As Pastor Glenn Packiam teaches from Acts 19, he explores three things that result from the Kingdom arriving in Ephesus through Paul's ministry there. We see the Church being formed there as a sign of the arriving Kingdom, we see captives being set free, and we find that all other loyalties are challenged. May God bring the full force of His Kingship to bear on our lives as we surrender to Jesus the King.
In a culture that idealizes the "self-made individual", many of us feel stuck when we run out of strength. Rather then telling us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps or quit altogether, Pastor Glenn explains from Acts 18 how the Gospel challenges us to allow God to bring us strength through friendships, through His presence, and through a large and diverse community of faith. With Christ forming our identity, His word dwelling in us richly, and His Spirit filling us continually, we learn a Godly sense of dependency and embrace the end of the "hero myth."
We know we need to engage our culture with the Gospel, but what is the core of the Gospel announcement? Moreover, how do the claims of the Gospel confront the specific "idols" and "religions" of our day? Pastor Glenn Packiam explores how Paul, in Acts 17, moves outward for the core Gospel announcement-- that Jesus is the Messiah!-- to engage and challenge both the moralists and the pleasure-seekers of his day. In the end, this talk is not simply about how we will talk about the Gospel, but about what we will do with the Good News that we hear.
Cities are often places where people from many different so-called strata of society collide. The question that Luke seems to address in Acts 16 and onward is whether or not the Gospel has anything to say to these different people. Often, we wonder the same thing: Is the message of Jesus just for the simple-minded country folk, or does it speak to all of humanity? As Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks Acts 16, he shows how the Gospel is indeed for the powerful, the powerless, and the hopeless...and why it remains good news today.
Want to know what new life DOWNTOWN is all about? Pastor Glenn Packiam explains that bonding around activity may connect us quickly but loosely, but bonding around a shared identity is a slower yet more binding work. He shares three words from the Eucharist-- "blessed," "broken," "given"-- that form our identity as the people of God. Hear the power of the Gospel, learn what it means to live in Christian Community, and find out how we as a congregation will engage in Mission together in our city. (The final section on mission includes a brief interview with New Life Local Ministries Pastor, Bobby Mikulas.)
In Acts 15, the early church faced the biggest challenge of its young existence: What were they going to require of the Gentiles in order for them to be part of the family of God? The question rings true even today: What does it take for others to come in, to join the people of God? Pastor Glenn Packiam explores three aspects of what it means to be a "Gospel-Shaped Community", and why it truly is good news for the world.
What gives meaning to our struggle--our toil and hardship-- in life? While some insist that there is no "framing story" that makes sense of our life, we often find ourselves inadvertently living as if "success" or "self-fulfillment" were our meaning-giving narrative. As Pastor Glenn explores Acts 14, we see Paul and Barnabas go from being treated like gods to being stoned like criminals. Success is fleeting, and self-fulfillment is too flimsy to help us in moments like that. How does Paul, beaten and bruised and bloodied, find the strength to get up, walk to a nearby town, and keep preaching the good news? Discover the only Story large enough to give meaning to our stories, and how we are reminded of that Story by the faithful community around us.
Acts 13 is kind of like "Episode 1" of "Season 2" in the Book of Acts. Paul takes over the lead role as Peter ducks out of the limelight. But Paul's gospel preaching is true to the core of what Peter- and others- had been preaching, with the same key phrase repeating throughout his first sermon: 'But God raised Jesus from the dead.' To many of us, Jesus' resurrection seems like icing on the cake; but to the first apostles, it was the very heart of the Gospel. Pastor Glenn Packiam preaches this sermon in three movements with worship interludes (songs not on podcast), helping us see the cosmic, social, and personal ramifications of Jesus' resurrection.
Some of us are uneasy at the thought of an Enemy of God, actively opposing God's work in the world. Others of us are all to quick to name the Enemy as a person they know! The truth is, there is Evil in God's good world, seen in both systemic and individual ways. But, as Pastor Glenn Packiam reveals from Acts 12, we do not oppose this Enemy with his ways. The people of God do not follow the Way of King Herod- the way of violence and power. Instead, we participate in Jesus' never-ending, unstoppable Kingdom through prayer. Herod's kingdom decomposes, while the word of Christ and of His rule flourishes forever.
Chances are, the word 'repentance' has negative connotations for you. It evokes memories of angry preachers and the feeling of shame. Yet Acts 11 calls repentance something that leads to Life. Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks what it means to "turn away from" sin and "turn toward Christ", and why we do so. We find that as our faces behold the grace of God in the face of Christ, we can then turn toward the world, shining with this same grace.
Have you ever felt like you were on the outside looking in? Or perhaps there are people that you've become convinced are not part of your "tribe"? Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks Acts 10 as the story of how the Spirit of God carries the Gospel beyond the social and cultural barriers we often construct between "us" and "them." Jesus, the One who stands at the center of the Bible's salvation narrative, makes outsiders insiders. He is the Lord of a great feast. In Him, all are welcome and no one is unclean.
In our busy, fast-paced world, we are well acquainted with interruptions. Most of these interruptions, though, are distractions and not interventions. As Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks the well-known story of Saul's conversion in Acts 9, we discover that when God interrupts us, it is to commission us for a new way of living, a way that ends up being our salvation-- and sometimes, it leads to someone else's salvation as well.
After a week of devastating fires that ravaged hundreds of homes and forced thousands to evacuate, this week's text seemed providential. Acts 8 is about the Church being scattered, preaching the Good News along the way, and bringing joy to the city they find themselves in as a result. Pastor Glenn Packiam explores how we are a scattered people- by crisis or by choice- and how we can learn to see it as the Spirit sending us out into the world to seek the "Shalom" of our city and preach the Good News along the way.
In Acts 7, Stephen gives a stunning re-telling of Israel's story, revealing how they have repeatedly rejected God. As Pastor Glenn unpacks Stephen's sermon, we see that though we, too, have bee notoriously unfaithful, God is gloriously faithful. In Jesus, God culminates the single story of salvation He began in Abraham. Discover the beauty and mystery of our salvation story as we remember that God never scraps His projects, or forgets His promises, or abandons His people.
Acts 6 seems to be about the ordinary matters of administration. But in this story we find a remarkable picture of how servant leaders arise and are established. We also see how the apostles became "fathers" in the Church instead of business managers because they devoted themselves to prayer and the Word of God. With a little "Biblical imagination", Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see a parallel message here for fathers on Fathers' Day, and calls us to see Jesus as our Servant Leader who brings us to the Table where we meet our Faithful Father God.
Most of us have come to understand that worship is much more than what happens on a Sunday morning. But in the midst of making "everything worship", we've lost a sense of why corporate worship matters. Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks the three "stanzas" of Psalm 95 as we explore why- and how- we gather together for worship each week.
Acts 5 shows the young church facing trouble from within and opposition from without. Yet in the midst of it, God gives them signs of His continuing work. As we enter the story, Pastor Glenn challenges us to think how we may be tempted to, like Ananias and Sapphire, undermine the honesty and trust within the community of God's people, or, like, the Saduccees, cling to control and miss God's work. In the end, the message for us is clear: when we move in the opposite direction of the world, we will suffer shame for the name of Jesus; but we can trust that God is still at work and that we are in good company.
Pastor Glenn Packiam explores the fledgling Church's first brush with opposition. Examining Acts 4, we see just how subversive the announcement that there is no other name but the name of Jesus is to the power-brokers of this world.
What does it mean to speak in the name of Jesus? As we explore the story of Peter and John brining dignity and wholeness to man who had been an outcast since birth, we discover that prayer gives us eyes to see the world, to truly see the ones that pain keeps in a prison. Then, taking a closer look at how we pray for healing, Pastor Glenn Packiam invites us to embrace the tension of living in a Kingdom that is both now and not yet, helping us understand the difference between magic and miracles along the way.
The followers of Jesus have received the Holy Spirit- God's empowering presence- and have heard Peter proclaim Jesus as both the "Sovereign One" (LORD) and "Saving One" (Messiah). Now we want to know if there is more to being the Church than presence and proclamation. In this sermon, Pastor Glenn Packiam examines four core strands of the Church's DNA: the Apostles' Doctrine, Fellowship, the Breaking of Bread, and Prayer. Along the way, we discover the importance of becoming disillusioned with our own ideals of community and learn to become grateful recipients and participants in the community Christ has formed at His Table.
Part of being a follower of Jesus means proclaiming Him to the world. But what exactly are we to say about Him? We often hear people talk about Jesus as their "personal Lord and Savior," but the sermons in Acts don't talk about Jesus that way. They say something much larger- and much more confrontational- than that. In Part 3 of this series on the Book of Acts, Pastor Glenn Packiam takes a closer look at Peter's sermon to examine how the first followers of Jesus "preached the Gospel" and what that might mean for us today.
Continuing our series through the Book of Acts, Pastor Glenn Packiam explores the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the first followers of Jesus. Luke describes the Holy Spirit in a disruptive and untamable way, difficult to dismiss and resistant to our desire for formulas. And yet, what happened at Pentecost was not a private ?ecstatic experience? but rather God?s empowering presence giving the early Church the power to proclaim Christ, even amidst persecution and opposition.
The Book of Acts is exactly what we need to explore as we wrestle with the questions of "Why Church"? and "What is Church?" After all, this collective of stories are formed in a narrative with the likely intent of helping the early congregations remember their story. Pastor Glenn Packiam begins our series in the Book of Acts by exploring what it means to wait. Waiting is what forms us as the people of God and fills us with the power of God, making us ready each day to live as an outpost of the Kingdom of God here on earth.
What does it mean to live like Jesus has risen? Does it mean our evacuation plan has been secured and so we just wait it out? Or does it mean that we try to take the world by force? Or is there a different way altogether to see Jesus? resurrection? A careful look at the way the first followers of Jesus saw Jesus? resurrection shows that they saw it as a sign that the rightful King has taken His place and a new community and a new way of living has begun in the world. Unpacking Ephesians 4-5, Pastor Glenn Packiam shows how we can live like Jesus has risen? with an extraordinary, self-giving love? because we are dearly loved children of God who are being filled with Spirit of God.
On Easter Sunday, Pastor Glenn Packiam gives the inaugural message at new life DOWNTOWN, calling Jesus' resurrection the "most explosive thing there is." We explore the lives of three people in John's gospel-- Mary the Outsider, Thomas the Wounded, and Peter the Failure-- as they experience what the risen Christ does to the "dead ends" in their own stories.
Pastor Glenn Packiam continues the ?Legends & Misfits? series with a look at the young King David in 2 Samuel 6 compared to an older King David in 2 Samuel 11. What is it that changes us from being free and open-handed to being controlling and closed-handed? The truth is, the tighter we grasp, the less we have and the smaller our world becomes. Discover how grateful worship can open us up once again to our gracious and generous God.
"As part of the 'Legends & Misfits' series, we will be taking the next few weeks to look at aspects of the life of David. In this talk, Pastor Glenn Packiam explores David as the warrior who learns how God works with where he is and who he is. But the most pivotal part of David's victory is the understanding that God wins in a different way, a truth that becomes clear in the life of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of David, in whom we have victory over the enemy."
Pastor Glenn continues the Legends and Misfits series with an exploration of the book of Ruth. Ruth is a story about loyalty. It's ultimately about how God remains loyal to us even when we feel like He has turned His back on us. But it is also about how, through our loyalty to others, we can let people know that God has not walked out on them.
Pastor Glenn Packiam continues the "Legends and Misfits" series with an exploration of the key moments in Joshua's and Caleb's stories. As it turns out, we find ourselves in a similar position to Joshua and Caleb. We have been called to redeem and reclaim the land, colonizing earth with the culture of heaven. But we find the world to be "enemy-occupied" territory. How do we follow Christ, bringing his reign to every area and sphere of our lives? Joshua and Caleb have something to tell us about that.
Is it possible to serve God in the midst of a wicked or "worldly" environment? The story of Joseph says, "Yes." As Pastor Glenn teaches through the Joseph story, he explores questions that resonate with us about how we handle the promises God gives, the temptations we have, the adversity that befalls us, and the influence that we may gain.
This is where our "family story" begins, with Abraham. If Genesis 1-2 is the story of God forming the world, and Genesis 3-11 is the story of the world coming apart, then Genesis 12 is the beginning of God working within his world to rescue and redeem it. Abraham's story culminates in Jesus and opens the way for us to join it now.
Pastor Glenn concludes our series in Luke with a talk from Luke 24 and the ?present tense? sense of Advent. Because Jesus came, we can know with confidence that God comes to us each day. Sometimes God?s presence with us is stunning? as it was with the angels at the empty tomb; sometimes it is hidden? like Jesus with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Yet at all times, we can learn to be attentive to Christ?s presence with us by the Spirit.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series with a teaching from Luke 23 on the story of the criminal on the cross. In Luke's Gospel, an ANGEL is the first to ANNOUNCE Jesus as a King whose Kingdom has no end but a CRIMINAL is the first to CONFESS Jesus as a King whose Kingdom has no end. Because Jesus has gone to the lowest of the low, we are never too low and we are never too late to call on Jesus.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series with a talk on the "generous widow." What does it mean to give sacrificially? Because the Kingdom requires a whole-hearted response, what we do with our money has less to do with what we've got than with Who's got us.
Pastor Glenn unpacks the parable of the vineyard, revealing Jesus as the culmination of Israel's story. If Jesus is the Lord of the Vineyard and the beginning of the new, true Temple, the only question that remains is if we will humble ourselves before Him.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series with a talk from Luke 19 on Jesus coming into Jerusalem. What does it mean to weep over a city, and pray for it's "comprehensive flourishing"? What does it mean to welcome Jesus the King into our own broken lives and allow Him to make us whole again?
Pastor Glenn teaches from Luke 18 where Jesus blesses babies and little children, reminding us that to receive the Kingdom of God, we must lose our pretentions, lower ourselves, and confess our complete dependence on Christ.
Pastor Glenn teaches from Luke 17 about how living in the community means learning to confront and learning to forgive. Ultimately, our ability to do so comes from the grace that we have been freely given: the forgiveness in Christ that makes us whole. The more grateful we are for the forgiveness we have received, the more easily we forgive others.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series in Chapter 16 talking about some of the Biblical principles of being faithful to God with our money.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series in Chapter 15 talking about all of us, as sons and daughters, coming home to the Father.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series in Chapter 14 talking about humility and God's generosity.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series in Chapter 13 talking about the Work of the Kingdom of God.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series, using passages in Chapters 12 and 21, encouraging us to be alert, courageous and prayerful.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series in Chapter 12, talking about our anticipation of Christ's return.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series in Chapter 11, with Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray.
Pastor Aaron continues the Luke series in Chapter 11, with Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray.
Guest speaker Pastor Aaron Stern finishes the series on people who have whole books of the Bible devoted to their life and story...and the message their lives say to us. This week's talk is on Job.
Pastor Glenn continues the series on people who have whole books of the Bible devoted to their life and story...and the message their lives say to us. This week's talk is on Esther.
Pastor Glenn continues the series on people who have whole books of the Bible devoted to their life and story...and the message their lives say to us. This week's talk is on Daniel.
Pastor Glenn continues the series on people who have whole books of the Bible devoted to their life and story...and the message their lives say to us. This week's talk is on Ruth.
Pastor Glenn begins a new series this week on people who have whole books of the Bible devoted to their life and story...and the message their lives say to us. This week's talk is on Nehemiah.
Pastor Aaron continues with the "As We Gather" series talking about confession, what it means and what it can do in our lives when we daily practice it.
Pastor Glenn continues with the "As We Gather" series talking about the language of prayer, how it is personal, communal, and a learned language.
Pastor Glenn continues with the "As We Gather" series talking about what it means to worship God in spirit and in truth.
Pastor Glenn takes a break from the Luke series to talk about some of the elements of the New Life Church Sunday Night service. Tonight, he talks about rhythms in our lives.
Pastor Glenn teaches from Luke Chapter 10 giving a fresh perspective on the story of the good Samaritan.
Pastor Glenn teaches from Luke Chapter 9 about how Jesus was moving in the opposite way than the world and how we as Christians should do the same.
Our guest speaker, Dr. Steven Todd, continues the Luke series in Chapter 8 with a teaching about how Jesus restored a socially, physically, and spiritually broken man.
Pastor Glenn teaches from Luke Chapter 19 on this Palm Sunday, talking about Jesus' Kingship in our lives and what that really means.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series going back to the end of Chapter 7 talking about God's forgiveness of our sins through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, and our response to Him.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series, going back to Chapter 6. He talks about how our weeping and mourning now will lead to comfort later.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series from Chapter 8 talking about the parable of the sower and how we should hear the Word, believe it, cling to it, and patiently persist in it.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series from Chapter 7 talking about how our disappointments can be dealt with by humbling ourselves and surrendering our expectations to the Living Christ.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series from Chapter 7 talking about how Jesus, the Great Prophet, came for all of us, the powerful, the powerless and everyone in between.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series from Chapter 6 talking about loving our enemies and how having the generous love of the Father changes our whole being.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series from Chapter 6 talking about how the Sabbath is about becoming whole and being with the Father.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series from Chapter 5 talking about how we are sinners and need God's forgiveness.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series from Chapter 5 talking about how Jesus invites us, like he did Peter, to participate in His ministry.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series from Chapter 4 talking about how Jesus came to the earth to proclaim the good news to the poor and downtrodden.
Pastor Glenn continues the Luke series from Chapter 4 where Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.
Pastor Glenn continues in the series in the book of Luke by describing what baptism is about. Then we praised God, as 140 adults and children were baptized.
Pastor Aaron takes us back to the series in the book of Luke by describing what fruitful repentance looks like.
Pastor Glenn continues the series in the book of Luke by asking, "Can you do your job in a way that reflects God's image back into His world?"
Pastor Glenn continues the series in the book of Luke talking about how Jesus has come to confront the rulers of this world.
Pastor Glenn continues the series in the book of Luke. After generations of waiting for God's salvation, it has finally come.
Pastor Glenn continues the series in 1st Peter asking, "How do we live in resistance to the enemy?"
Pastor Glenn continues the series in 1st Peter talking about how we should live in the meantime. He encourages us to pray, love and eat.
Pastor Glenn continues the series in 1 Peter talking about our need to give full control of ourselves to follow Jesus.
1 Peter is a study in counter-cultural living, and it doesn't get much more counter-cultural than to live a life of submission. What did it mean for the first Christians to submit and what message did they demonstrate to us by their lives of submission?
Pastor Daniel Grothe teaches from 1 Peter 2 on how the people of God endure suffering through fixating on God's Love, fixating on Jesus' example and trusting in the Holy Spirit's Power.
Pastor Glenn begins a new series on the book of 1st Peter asking, "Can we embrace the cross in our lives?" and, "Can we remember our hope?"
Pastor Glenn finishes the "Sticks and Stones" series talking about Spiritual Direction, what it is, three convictions that underpin it and three questions that help it.
Pastor Glenn continues the "Sticks and Stones" series talking about gossip, what it is, what it does, and what we should do to stop it.
Pastor Aaron Stern continues the "Sticks and Stones" series with his sermon entitled "Are You a Spork" centering on the concept of community. What is it and what is our roll in it.
Pastor Aaron Stern continues the "Sticks and Stones" series with his sermon entitled "True Forgiveness". He explains what true forgiveness is NOT about.
Pastor Glenn begins a new series this week talking about unity within the body of Christ and how we should be unified as members of His body.
Pastor Glenn wraps up the Ephesians series talking about how prayer should remind us of two things, that God is at work and that we are at war.
Pastor Glenn continues the Ephesians series talking about the various pieces of the armor of God, taken from Ephesians Chapter 6.
Pastor Glenn Packiam continues his talk in Ephesians, sharing that our new life in Christ begins, is sustained, and ends by God's power, not ours.
Pastor Glenn Packiam continues his talk in Ephesians, sharing that we must learn how to live wisely for our "calling" and our "walking" to be of equal weight in our lives.
Pastor Glenn Packiam continues the series in Ephesians Chapter 5. He talks about various elements of our relationships, from our expectations, to asking simple requests, to having Christ as the center of our relationships.
Pastor Glenn Packiam finishes up chapter 3 of Ephesians focusing on God's ability to provide. God's Power is never lacking but our imagination often is.
Pastor Daniel Grothe continues the Ephesians series in Chapter 3. He focuses on God's unfathomable, unconditional love.
Pastor Glenn Packiam teaches from Ephesians 2:8-10 about how we are rescued by grace, we have no room to boast, and we are God's workmanship.
Pastor Glenn focuses on three things that Peter wants us to know from Ephesians, Chapter 1: know Christ, know our hope and our inheritance and know God's great power.
Pastor Glenn focuses on three blessings from Ephesians, Chapter 1: regeneration, justification and adoption.
Pastor David Perkins begins the Treasure series by sharing how to start growing in contentment in our lives.
Pastor David Perkins talks about the future of student ministries at New Life Church: fearlessly proclaiming and relentlessly focusing on the worth and excellence of Jesus.
Pastor Glenn talks about The Pray and Go Church. It's not about engaging in an activity; it's about embracing an identity.
Pastor Glenn talks about New Life Church. He describes what we are about and talks about the five key areas New Life is called to serve in.
Pastor Glenn talks about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Is there a baptism in the Holy Spirit, Is receiving the Holy Spirit different than being baptized in the Holy Spirit and what is the baptism of the Holy Spirit for?
Pastor Glenn explores some common misconceptions as well as practical ways to read and understand the scriptures.
Pastor Aaron talks about tongues. What are some common myths about tongues, why to use tongues and what should you do if you want tongues in your life?
Pastor Glenn continues to explore spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 with a talk on the discerning of spirits.
Pastor Glenn talks about prophecy. What is it, what are some of the myths surrounding it and how can we use it?
Pastor Glenn talks about the four gifts of the Spirit listed in Rom 12:8 and how they should be used in our lives.
Pastor Glenn talks about love. What does it do for us, what is its impact and what does it look like?
Pastor Brady teaches about New Testament spiritual gifts and begins by highlighting the gifts of wisdom and knowledge.
Pastor Aaron Stern discusses some questions that many have about the gifts of the Spirit, including whether or not they are for today, what their purpose is, and whether or not they are for you.
Pastor Glenn talks about miracles. What are they, what is their purpose, do they still happen today and why do we want them?
Pastor Brady talks about faith: what it is, what diminishes it, and how we build it up in our lives.
Pastor Glenn Packiam talks about how our obedience to God is the best way to express our faith in Him.
Pastor Glenn Packiam explores the humanity and divinity of Christ and what the divinity of Christ means for us today.
Pastor Glenn Packiam explores the humanity and divinity of Christ and what the humanity of Christ means for us today.
God is calling us to be His friend. Not because we are perfect people, but because we surrender ourselves to Him.
Our sin has been paid for, our guilt has been removed and Christ's righteousness has become ours. In a word, we are justified.
Glenn Packiam teaches on how to understand living out the truth that we are God's workmanship.