Wingfoot Church: Recent Episodes
Wingfoot Church
Wingfoot Church is a Jesus-centered, neighborhood-focused church existing to renew hope in the Goodyear Heights neighborhood of Akron, Ohio in the name of Jesus. Established September 2020.
Changing your behavior is not a precondition to receiving the love and welcome of Jesus.
Jesus doesn't want to treat the symptoms in your life; he wants to heal you of your deepest condition.
Pastor Jon responds to questions submitted during our Unhurried Jesus series on how to practice a life of slowing down with Jesus.
This Q&R is part of a series exploring the Practice of Pace, one of the six practices in Wingfoot Church's community rule of life. Learn more and discover more resources to put pace into practice in your rule of life at wingfootchurch.com/pace.
The Sabbath is a gift Jesus invites us to explore with him, trusting him to bring us life and restoration as we stop working, rest, worship God and enjoy life with him.
This teaching is part of a series exploring the Practice of Pace, one of the six practices in Wingfoot Church's community rule of life. Learn more and discover more resources to put pace into practice in your rule of life at wingfootchurch.com/pace.
Five dimensions of the gift of the Sabbath that our burnt out, worn out, workaholic world desperately needs.
This teaching is part of a series exploring the Practice of Pace, one of the six practices in Wingfoot Church's community rule of life. Learn more and discover more resources to put pace into practice in your rule of life at wingfootchurch.com/pace.
Jesus embraces his limitations and experiences the freedom of knowing his purpose through prayer and discernment. You can do the same.
This message is part of a series on the Practice of Pace. Learn more, download resources and practice guides at www.wingfootchurch.com/pace.
Jesus regularly practiced solitude and silence - being alone with God. Solitude is not an escape from reality, but an invitation into transformation.
This teaching is part of a series exploring the Practice of Pace, one of the six practices in Wingfoot Church's community rule of life. Learn more and discover more resources to put pace into practice in your rule of life at wingfootchurch.com/pace.
The way of Jesus invites us to slow down and break free from constant hurry and busyness.
This teaching is part of a series exploring the Practice of Pace, one of the six practices in Wingfoot Church's community rule of life. Learn more and discover more resources to practicing pace at wingfootchurch.com/pace.
Jesus possesses both the right and the might to teach, to cast out spiritual darkness, and to bring healing and restoration.
The gospel Jesus preached and being a disciple or student of his way of life go hand-in-hand.
Mark introduces who Jesus is in order to make us insiders as everyone misunderstands Jesus' identity and mission.
The empty tomb is an invitation to rediscover Jesus through the journey of discipleship.
What does it take to be a church where everyone in our neighborhood can truly belong, especially across our racial, ethnic, economic, political, and social differences?
This teaching was given as part of Neighborhood Church Night, a series of gatherings over a meal, around worship and prayer, designed to help our community grow in our vision to be a neighborhood church.
Learn more at www.wingfootchurch.com/place
To learn to trust God completely, God leads us through a season of testing and darkness to refine our love for him alone.
Faith means trusting God with my identity and security. The journey of faith eventually confronts our false self, the ways in which I rely on myself rather than on God.
Faith means trusting God to use my weaknesses and my wounds to show his power and grow my trust.
Faith in God isn't intellectual belief that God exists, but rather trusting God to make you righteous.
The wilderness is the place where we are humbled, refined, and grow in our understanding of God's ability to provide.
This teaching was given as part of the Ash Wednesday gathering at the beginning of the season of Lent.
Jesus teaches his disciples to share the gospel through the practice of regular, ordinary hospitality.
Sharing the gospel is a priority to followers of Jesus because it is a priority to Jesus.
Being a neighborhood church means contributing & collaborating not comparing & criticizing.
Practice guides, resources and more at www.wingfootchurch.com/place
Being a neighborhood church means being DEEPLY FORMED by the love of Jesus through a rule of life.
Learn more about what it means to be a neighborhood church and download a practice guide for this week's teaching at www.wingfootchurch.com/place.
Being a neighborhood church means being WITH our neighbors like God is WITH us in Jesus.
Celebrating Christmas is celebrating God taking the first step toward us in reconciliation through Jesus.
Jesus invites us to participate in the transformation of our lives through putting off old habits and putting on the habits of Jesus.
Your identity in Christ is not achieved but received through the work of Jesus, bringing you into the very heart of God.
Five marks of Christian spirituality that set Jesus' way apart and invite you into true joy.
The cross is where Jesus won for us freedom from sin, death, and fear so we could have full access to God.
Doubt is not the enemy of faith. There are three paths we can walk to deepen our life with Jesus through doubt and deconstruction.
Neither your birth nor your behavior get you into the family of Jesus. Racial and ethnic discrimination is a contradiction to the good news of Jesus.
Our willingness to make space for the next generation reflects our understanding of Jesus and his kingdom.
Jesus models how to love a difficult neighbor and reveals that the real difficult neighbors might not be who you would have expected.
Jesus teaches us to love our neighbor, not for ourselves or instead of ourselves, but AS ourselves.
Psalm 88 invites us to be real about the reality that the Christian life isn't always easy. What we do when we despair we can still turn to God.
I can trust God's goodness and power when I am struggling with the circumstances of my life.
Fear is both a body and soul experience. God has designed our bodies and souls to work together to trust in him.
Join Jon as he walks you through a simple, slowed-down prayer practice through Psalm 46.
Music by Coma-Media and NaturesEye from Pixabay
The more we see God clearly the more we'll see our sin clearly. But the more we see our sin clearly, the more we'll see God's grace clearly.
God designs marriage to reflect his companionship, his community and his covenantal love.
Money can be a great threat to your life with God or a great tool in your participation in God's kingdom mission.
God designed us to collaborate with him to make heaven on earth in our homes, our workplaces, and our neighborhoods.
God is the author and authority on how to live life, inviting us to know him and live life to the full.
Finding yourself stuck and unable to see God working is a normal part of the journey of faith.
Outside religious behavior doesn't get us in - only an inner transformation, being "born again," can make us new.
Featuring Lentrail Abston, pastor of Clearview Community Church, a new church plant in Euclid, Ohio.
Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus, requiring nothing but humility, which is why it's so hard for most of us to accept.
The journey to believing and being changed by the resurrection of Jesus moves us from ignorance, to searching, to truly being changed. But first we have to work through our fear.
The heart of the gospel is God reconciling us to himself. What does it look like to practice peacemaking in our relationships with others? When and how should we confront evil and injustice in our community? Dive into the practice of peacemaking with Jon.
Peacemaking is one of the Six Practices of Whole-Hearted Discipleship, our rule of life at Wingfoot Church. Learn more, download practice guides, and get extra resources for building a rule of life at www.wingfootchurch.com/6P.
Peacemaking means we seek understanding and cultivate peace across our social, racial, ethnic, economic, and political differences.
Peacemaking is one of the Six Practices of our Whole-Hearted Discipleship Rule of Life. Learn more, download practice guides and bonus teachings at www.wingfootchurch.com/6P.
Your address is not an accident. God's calling comes to you where you live to live out his kingdom of light and love from your place in your home, your neighborhood, and your community. Dive deeper into the practice of place with Jon and start living out God's mission right where you live.
Learn more, download practice guides, and more at www.wingfootchurch.com/6P.
Download a neighborhood map at https://www.artofneighboring.com/block-map-2/
Place means we commit ourselves to loving where we live and working for the good of our neighbors and our neighborhood.
Place is one of the Six Practices of Whole-Hearted Discipleship Rule of Life. Learn more, download practice guides and bonus teachings at www.wingfootchurch.com/6P.
Jesus' way calls us not just to care about people, but to see people in a radically different way: as image-bearers of God. Join Jon as he digs into how to begin to grow in your awareness of people's worth and value through regular practices in your rule of life.
The practice of people means we value all people as God's image-bearers, celebrating differences and standing up for the overlooked and undervalued.
People is one of the Six Practices of Whole-Hearted Discipleship Rule of Life. Learn more, download practice guides and bonus teachings at www.wingfootchurch.com/6P.
Jesus invites us to regular rhythms of rest through the practice of Sabbath. Join Jon as he walks through how to begin integrating Sabbath, a regular rhythm of rest and enjoyment, into your life.
Download the practice guide at www.wingfootchurch.com/6P
Pace means we embrace healthy rhythms of rest and work for long-term health over short-term gains.
Pace is one of the Six Practices of Whole-Hearted Discipleship Rule of Life. Learn more, download practice guides and bonus teachings at www.wingfootchurch.com/6P.
Jesus invites us to a life of trust in God's presence and yielding control in the practice of prayer. Join Jon as he walks through how to put into practice three prayer journeys from anxiety to trust. Download the practice guide at www.wingfootchurch.com/6PLectio365 App: https://24-7prayerusa.com/resource/lectio-365-app/Prayminder App: https://prayminder.com/Music by Coma-Media from Pixabay
Prayer means we prioritize being with Jesus over being busy for Jesus to cultivate attentive awareness to the Spirit's leading.
Prayer is one of the Six Practices of our Whole-Hearted Discipleship Rule of Life. Learn more, download practice guides, and more at www.wingfootchurch.com/6P
Dive deeper into developing a rule of life with this additional teaching from Pastor Jon on the Practice of Practice.
Download the practice guide at www.wingfootchurch.com/6P
Music by Coma-Media from Pixabay
Practice means we seek to embody the habits, values, and teachings of Jesus in our everyday lives.
Practice is one of the Six Practices of our Whole-Hearted Discipleship Rule of Life. Learn more, download practice guides, and more at www.wingfootchurch.com/6P
How Jesus works is through the cross, the point where I surrender my will for my life on my terms to God's will for my life on God's terms.
The church was multi-ethnic and multi-cultural on Day One. When these differences came to the surface, the first Christians took the tensions that arise from cultural and ethnic differences to forge unity in the way of Jesus.
Thinking you're better than others will always lead to excluding others (including yourself), but the way of Jesus offers a radical way to freedom.
Good boundaries make it possible to love others well in the strength and power of Jesus and not our own.
Expectations aren't bad, but when left unexamined, they can leave us disappointed and disillusioned with community. We need a clear understanding of what Christian community actually is to begin to experience true life together.
Whole-city impact means investing in the long-term flourishing of our neighborhood for everyone.
Whole-life community means intentionally practicing the way of Jesus together in big, small, and everyday ways.
Whole-hearted discipleship means inviting Jesus to lead every part of me - socially, physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.
We typically overlook the last chapters of letter, but in 1 Corinthians 16 we see the ways that the early movement of Jesus was deeply and personally interconnected through practices of generosity, hospitality, and personal discipleship.
The resurrection of Jesus is his victory over everything, giving us hope in our present circumstances and the promise of a transformed, resurrected life with him.
On Christmas Eve, we consider how the resurrection of Jesus gives meaning to the birth of Jesus.
Spiritual gifts can only be discovered in the context of a commitment to community with other Christians.
In this bonus episode of Untangling Jesus, Pastor Jon walks through some of the difficult interpretation questions with Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 11 to help us make sense of one of the more confusing parts of the whole Bible.
Pastor Jon answers a question stemming from 1 Corinthians 9 on the difference between the essential beliefs of the Christian faith and our preferences in what we do.
The purpose of the church is to make Jesus known to all people which will often mean we set aside our preferences for the sake of reaching people.
Pastor Jon answers a question from 1 Corinthians 6: "When Paul says that every other sin is outside the body, except sex," what does that mean for others sins and activities (such as drug and alcohol abuse)?"
Aligning the priority of marriage and the purpose of sex within marriage to who I am in Jesus.
Jesus goes all the way down into our disconnection and lostness to bring us all the way back up with him.
The purpose of our bodies and the role of our sexuality invite us into a life of stewardship following Jesus.
Pastor Jon answers two questions in response to 1 Corinthians 5:
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I struggle with habitual sin. Should believers not associate with me?
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If people consider themselves “brothers” but are deep in sin, how do you balance law vs. love?
Sin grows, but the bloody cross of Jesus delivers us from the danger of sin and invites us to deal with sin openly and honestly.
We platform people who seem to have something we lack, but the church of Jesus is about people not platforms.
The source of truth for Jesus-followers is the revelation of God through the Holy Spirit, leading us to a life of humility, confidence, and discernment.
The cross of Jesus is the operating system of the Christian life, both how we know God and how God works in us.
Religious activity can hide an insecure attachment to God and injustice towards the poor and marginalized. Instead, Jesus invites us into a life of attentive prayer.
Psalm 22:1-10 invites us to bring our pain and our questions to a good God who hears and knows our pain.
Jesus' new commandment invites us into a radical new community of selfless love for others.
Conviction for the gospel and compassion for people will lead you to share Jesus with others.
The message of Jesus translates across every culture, inviting everyone to know Jesus in their own language.
God's plan is to use you to share Jesus with others, but you don't have to do it on your own.
How do we navigate cultural differences with Jesus and the Scriptures at the center? In this bonus episode to compliment the message "The African Who Believes," Jon walks through five questions to ask to discern through differences of opinion and culture.
The mission of Jesus includes every tribe, tongue, language, and people in his redeemed and reconciled community.
Being a Christian is about more than changing your beliefs or behaviors, it's about a transformation of your heart.
The bodily resurrection of Jesus means that everything has changed, for Thomas and for you.
God's sovereignty doesn't erase our suffering; God's sovereignty embraces our suffering and makes it part of his redemption story.
When God's people embrace the values of the world around them, they lose their prophetic voice and leave the world longing for direction.
Because God's compassionate character is always constant, his judgment for sin and his justice for the oppressed are always good and true.
Lament invites us to give voice to our suffering and to make space for the voice of those who suffer.
The Holy Spirit speaks to us through Scripture, Christian community, and our experiences.
The Holy Spirit is at the edge of our comfort zone inviting us to trust him to lead us.
God meets us in our sin not with anger and judgment but with questions that get to the root of sin in our hearts. This message is from our Ash Wednesday service.
The Accuser points to your sin to shame you and keep you enslaved. The Holy Spirit points to Jesus who forgives you and sets you free.
The Holy Spirit makes us God's children, interceding for us in the midst of our suffering and inviting us to consider the eternal glory ahead of us.
The Holy Spirit, God's personal presence, is the spiritual experience we want, fear, and need.
Jesus invites us to step off the rollercoaster of living for people's approval and to trust God's goodness for us.
Christian community isn't created or made by us, it's given by Jesus' grace to be tended and cared for.
Jesus' invitation for those worn out and weary from life to find rest in following him.
Being made new in Christ invites us into a new identity, a new citizenship, and a new purpose.
God doesn't show up how we expect and he doesn't show up to who we expect him to show up to. (Christmas Eve 2021)
Christianity isn't based on blind, sentimental belief, but the revelation of God in Jesus. It's an invitation to see and believe in who Jesus is.
When God becomes human through the virgin birth of Jesus, God is saying this world matters. And if this world matters, God opposes the proud and powerful in this world and lifts up the lowly and the overlooked.
God's power to fulfill his promises is greater than the power of your present circumstances.
Until you receive the forgiveness of Jesus you haven't understood the message of Jesus.
The heart of being a disciple of Jesus is not about doing more for Jesus but being with Jesus.
A disciple is an apprentice of Jesus, receiving from him in order to give away what we've been given.
When the church gets on board with the message and the mission of Jesus, we'll see God flex in big ways.
The primary evidence that your heart has been transformed by God's grace is how you love your enemies.
The city of Akron is in the midst of a rise in gun violence. We can all agree it's a problem, but as soon as we start talking about how to fix it, we start arguing. But before we answer the how question we have to answer a deeper question: What's God's heart? The transformation of Nineveh in Jonah 3 shows us God's heart is for both social justice and spiritual transformation in our city.
Jonah hits rock bottom in chapter 2: all his options have run out and he's forced to confront the reality of his life. When you're at rock bottom, it feels hopeless, desperate, and uncertain. But every significant character in the biblical story finds themselves at rock bottom at one point or another and they all discover the same two things: our need and God's strength.
When asked who he is, Jonah only gives two details: he's a Hebrew and he fears God. But does he? Everything about the story so far shows us he's deluded. He thinks because he's from the right cultural group he's right with God. When we center our culture rather than Jesus, we blind ourselves to our need and to the way God works through people who are different than us.
What do you do when God asks you to do something hard? That's the question Jonah faces when God shows up and tells him to go to Nineveh, the city of his violent enemies. We often do what Jonah does - going the opposite direction toward what we think will make us happy or content, because we don't trust that God's heart and purpose for us is really for our good. While we're lulled to sleep by sin, God's love for us won't leave us alone.
When life gets chaotic, we seek shelter - a place we can run to where we know we’ll be safe. But what if the place you run to doesn’t hold up? Psalm 91 is a song about seeking refuge in the only place that will hold - the love of God.
Psalm 24 invites us to consider a mountain - a bigger mountain than anyone of us can climb. Whoever gets to the top of the mountain is blessed, so how do you get there? Only those who have clean hands and a pure heart are allowed in. We can't do it alone.
What does it mean to be a church in and for the neighborhood? Contextualization is understanding the culture of where you live and engaging that culture to help people see Jesus. In Acts 17, the Apostle Paul gives us a blueprint for how to engage the world around us so people find Jesus.
Every candidate and issue has a flag these days. Flags tell people what tribe we belong to and what we believe. When Psalm 33 was written, people belonged to literal tribes and believed that the strongest tribe also had the best god. Psalm 33 challenges our tribalism with this message: God is bigger than my tribe. God is the creator of everyone and is king over it all, which means that whatever happens, he’s still in charge.
Humans have been searching for something more as long as we’ve been around. But what if we actually don’t want to find what it is we’re looking for? In Psalm 19, David is searching the night sky only to discover that not only is it God who is out there, God is pursuing David. And when God finds you, everything changes.
Psalm 23 is probably the most well-known but misunderstood Psalm. When was the last time you truly felt like you lacked nothing? When we feel like we don't have what we need, we feel worried. But Psalm 23 meets us in the middle of our worry with the promise that we have a shepherd who is watching the horizon for us so we can trust him in this moment.
Psalm 13 is a type of song known as a lament. Lament is what suffering sounds like. When was the last time you were in church and sung a song about suffering? Probably not recently. We tend to avoid songs like this, but over 40% of the Psalms are laments, meaning that a huge part of life is wrestling with suffering. But when we avoid it, we either lie about ourselves or silence the voices of people who are suffering. But if we are willing to enter into it, we'll discover something incredible about the God who reveals himself in Jesus.
In every story about a king and a kingdom, one of the central questions is this: Who's wearing the crown? Because whoever's wearing the crown has all the authority. Psalm 2 is a song written for a coronation - someone is becoming king. But the Psalm challenges us with this reality: we all want to wear the crown, to be in charge of our own life, but only one person is rightfully given the crown. You can either lay down your crown now or your crown will come off eventually. So the question is: who's wearing the crown in your life?
At the heart of the Bible is a book full of music called The Psalms. The Psalms are a mixtape collection of songs and prayers written by people as they tried to understand God in the everyday challenges of life. Psalm 1 introduces the mixtape with this question: Who's song is on repeat in your head and your heart? Psalm 1 shows us that there are only two songs you can listen to, so which one are you listening to the most?
What do we do with doubt? Sometimes we treat doubt as an enemy, but the reality is we're all prisoners to our positions and opinions. It's only through processing doubt that we are able to learn and grow. This is what the writer of Psalm 76 is experiencing. His doubt, which goes unanswered, leads him to God. Jesus shows us in John 6 and in his life, death, and resurrection that this is how God works.
Some barriers to embracing Jesus are about our beliefs - what we believe and why we believe them. But some are more about what we do when we're together. Singing is one of those things. There's a lot of music when followers of Jesus gather and to an outsider it might seem weird or even cult-ish. But the reality is we're all singing to someone or something. The real question is "Who are you singing to and why?"
If you read the New Testament - the story of Jesus and his first followers - you might be surprised to find that the term "Christian" is only used three times, and two of those three times it's used by someone who doesn't follow Jesus to describe people who do. It's a label put on a group of people by people who don't understand their experience. Instead, followers of Jesus used the phrase "in Christ" to describe the transformation that happened when they met Jesus. So what does that transformation mean and how does it happen to you? That's what we'll look at in Colossians 3:1-4.
Behind this question is a longing we all have to belong. You'd think people who follow Jesus whose message was love would be loving and welcoming, but far too often this isn't the case. Why not? In Luke 19, Jesus tells a parable that gets to the heart of why. When the basis for our belonging is on our behavior - whether that's our actions, our attitudes, our opinions - we create a IN group and an OUT group. But as the tax collector knows in Jesus' story, the basis for belonging isn't on behavior, but on grace. And if belonging is based on grace, it creates true community.
It seems like if God is really out there, he could be more obvious about it. Why not text everyone and let us know? But what we really want behind this question is a moment where we and everyone around us know that God is there and it's not crazy to believe in him. The kind of moment the prophet Elijah had in 1 Kings 18. But when we find him in 1 Kings 19, he still doubts. The problem with chasing moments of spiritual highs is that you'll never be certain it's God and you'll never be satisfied. But in Jesus, God climbs a mountain for us and declares his love to us in a way for all of history to know. This is the moment he wants to meet you in.
If you've ever tried to read the Bible, chances are you found yourself confused more than once. For a book that's so important to Christians, it can be hard to understand. That's why it's so important that we understand what the Bible is and what the Bible really says in order to experience all that the Bible has for us. Once you see it, it'll change your life forever.
In this series we're tackling the questions you submitted or we've been asked during our first year as a church. This week we tackle a big one: Is it crazy to believe the resurrection of Jesus actually happened? In one word: Yes. But that doesn't mean it didn't happen. In 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul stakes the entirety of the Christian message on Jesus' bodily resurrection. It was crazy to claim then and it's crazy to claim now, but as we'll see, it's crazier to believe it didn't happen. And if it did happen, it would be the most important event in human history.
John's story of the resurrection of Jesus starts in a confusing, hopeless place. Mary and the disciples aren't sure what's going on. Then John says this: they didn't understand that Jesus MUST rise from the dead. Why MUST Jesus rise from the dead? John leaves us a clue. When Mary see's Jesus, she thinks he's the gardener. This one twist unlocks the whole meaning behind the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus MUST rise again because God is the God who brings life from nothing in Genesis 1 who is now bringing life from death, recreating the world through Jesus.
Life is hard, and when life is hard we carry sorrow, a deep emotional weight within us. But the world and often the church can tell us we need to keep going, keep growing, keep having faith which leaves us feeling stuck in our sorrow unable to talk about it, maybe even considering walking away all together. That was Jesus' concern for his disciples. They had a Palm Sunday view of God - that God is here to fix my problems and pick me up out of the hard places in life. But Jesus is a Good Friday God, a God who works through life, death, and resurrection. And it's only by entering into our sorrow with him that we can find true healing and resurrection life.
Most religions have in their origin story someone having a connection to God - Abraham on a mountain, Buddha achieving enlightenment, Joseph Smith seeing a vision. The problem with every religion, however, is that that connection to God is private and temporary, leaving later followers to have to build a religion around the founder to get back to that connection. When Jesus is talking with his disciples in John 16:1-15, he tells them he's leaving them, which sounds like every other religious founder. But instead, Jesus says that he is sending the Holy Spirit. When you know God through Jesus, God's personal presence is permanently available to you. What does that mean and how does he work? That's what we dive into here.
We have a hard time with obedience. In our culture right now the idea of obeying someone other than yourself is even considered oppressive. But when Jesus says "if you love me, you will obey me," he's not as concerned about what we do as much as he's concerned about why we do it. The root of obeying Jesus is trusting in the love of Jesus. And his love is the most trusthworthy love you'll ever find.
In John 14:27, Jesus tells his followers he is giving them a peace different than what they can find in the world around them. The peace around us is often based on a lack of trouble around us. But what Jesus offers us is a peace greater than our circumstances - a peace that comes from knowing that God overcame everything for you. This changes how we face trouble, both now and forever.
What is eternal life? Everyone has some opinion. Religion will provide some answers, but Jesus defined it for us. Eternal life is knowing God through him. If that's what eternal life is then it's accessible to us right here, right now, not just when we die.
In John 14:15-26, Jesus says he won't leave his followers orphans but will adopt us into his family. We can experience in Jesus a family that will never fail us through the status Jesus secured for us and the experience the Holy Spirit brings us.
We tend to only share parts of ourselves with others - our work self with co-workers, our family self at home, our friend self when we're out with friends. But this leaves us unknown and with parts of our lives that no one sees. It's in these places that hypocrisy can grow - where we present as one person but in reality we're someone else. The Letter to Philemon challenges us to put all of our lives on the table because Jesus is King. And if Jesus is King, then he's not just our personal, private Jesus but a King who invites us to rearrange all of our lives to follow him.
Who has power and how are they using it? This is a big question people outside the church are asking. It's also a question the Bible and the Letter to Philemon have good answers to. In Philemon, Paul names the power that he has over Philemon, yet he chooses to use that power, not to force Philemon to do something, but to challenge Philemon to give up his power over Onesimus who has no power. The way of Jesus is the way of using power not for ourselves but for the sake of others. Because when we are weak, then we are strong.
What good is Christianity for how divided our world is? Rather than creating division, the way of Jesus challenges the definitions of worth and value that are assigned to people and offers us a true way to be united in the midst of our differences - by following in the footsteps of Jesus who bridged the greatest gap possible.
What good is Christianity? In a world facing increasing division, economic disparity, and racial tension, it seems like Christianity is more of a problem than a solution to our problems. But in the letter to Philemon, we find that at the heart of the mission of Jesus is a community that is committed to truth-telling, reconciliation and unity. In order to experience this kind of community, we have to first move from being me-centered, focused only on our individual happiness, to we-centered, buckled in and committed to a diverse community of people marked by the belonging that Jesus won for us us.
We're often too distracted to appreciate that we have a greater need in life. We are disconnected with what we're really feeling and what we really need. But when we do finally wake up to our need, we realize that nothing can really satisfy that need so we're left wanting. Is there any way we can truly be satisfied in life? Psalm 34:8 invites us to "taste and see that the Lord is good" - to experience his goodness and ultimately be satisfied in the person of Jesus.
Featuring Ray Byrne, church planting resident with OrchardNEO.
It's possible to serve others but really be serving ourselves. We do it for the likes, the resume, to look good. But Jesus doesn't serve others in that way. In Mark 7, Jesus gets close to a man who is hurting, healing him privately so he doesn't become a spectacle. As Jesus gets proximate to those who are hurting and serves them personally, they become open to who he really is. In the same way as we seek to learn from and live out the way of Jesus on our block, we must be willing to get close and personal with the people around us to be able to share the good news of Jesus.
In Mark 2, Jesus calls Levi, a political traitor and morally questionable character to become his disciple and immediately takes him to a party at his own house surrounded by his equally questionable friends. Jesus says this is his whole mission: to invite sinners to dinner with him. And the way he accomplishes this mission is by taking characters like Levi - and us - outcasts, morally questionable characters, people without all the answers - and inviting us to invite our friends to dinner with him. Because Levi chooses to follow this Jesus who invites sinners to dinner his friends are able to see the immediate transforming power of Jesus in his life. Our friends and neighbors need to see the same thing in our lives as we invite them to dinner with us and Jesus.
The idea of talking to someone about what you believe can be pretty intimidating. But what if sharing Jesus wasn't about a sale pitch or a set of canned questions but about sharing your life with others? What would it look like if we lived out the way of Jesus right where we live? In the next three weeks we're looking at how Jesus shared his life with others and what it looks like for us to do the same - starting with being prayerfully present right where we live.
Sometimes it feels like God is social-distancing from us. That feeling you get when you end a video call with a friend or family member can be what it feels like when you leave church or find yourself in a hard spot in life. God is out there, but at a distance. In fact that was the picture people got of God in the Old Testament. He was there, but you could only see and experience God through layers of a tent and a priest. But in John 1:14, John says that Jesus comes to us, not in a tent, but in person, bringing God to dwell with us permanently. God is no longer socially-distant, but present in and among us as one of us. This changes everything.
The legend of Santa Claus - this guy who lives up north with lots of helpers watching over everyone, keeping a list of who's good and who's bad - sounds kind of like what some people think of when they think of God. And it kind of works. He's not too overbearing or over-involved in our lives, just there when we have a list of things we need. But how do you know if you're on the nice list or the naughty list? There's no real way to know. And that's what John is saying in John 1:16-18. No one's seen God, we're all just guessing. But if did tell us what God is like, we'd better be prepared to be wrong. Which means if we want to know God, we're going to need grace.
In a normal year this time of year might give us a chance to reconnect with family around the table. This year is different, but we still long for a place like family where we know we'll belong and where our seat at the table is secure no matter what. John tells us that he's writing his account of the life of Jesus so that we might see that is "the Son of God." He uses this picture of family to tell us something about Jesus. But what does it actually mean that Jesus is "God's Son?" What we find when we understand who Jesus really is is that no matter what, through Jesus we are welcomed into God's family.
You probably have some idea of what Christmas is all about - whether it's from Linus telling you in the Charlie Brown Christmas Movie or from driving past nativity scenes in the neighborhood with shepherds and angels and sheep. It's kind of cute. In John's story of the life of Jesus, he skips all of that and gets right to the heart of the most important question: who really is this kid in the manger? And what John tells us in John 1:1-3 is that he's more than just a kid - he's God himself.
Chances are you've tried to change something about yourself before. Maybe you succeeded somewhat, maybe you failed, but either way it was probably difficult. That's the point Jesus is making in John 15 when he says "apart from me you can do nothing." Using a picture of vines and branches, Jesus says that it's only by being connected to him that we can do anything good. So what does it take to be connected to him?
Christianity has a reputation for being an exclusive religion - only a few people get to go to heaven. That's what Jesus seems to be saying in John 14. But what if Christianity isn't as exclusive as you might think? Whether you are religious or non-religious, you have some idea of what heaven is all about and chances are, it involves some people being in and some people being out. Jesus, on the other hand, says that no one gets in. Which means the way to heaven is the same for all of us.
As much as we try to ignore it, we can't avoid suffering and death. And in the middle of suffering we're left wondering why it seems like God has abandoned us. But in John 11, we see Jesus offering us a different hope - his presence in the midst of our pain. He weeps with us, knowing our pain and heartache. But we also see his power over the grave - that we live because he takes our grave for us. This changes everything about how we face our immediate suffering and how we think about our future.
There are a lot of voices fighting for our attention, especially in the middle of an election. How do we know which voices we can trust? In John 10, Jesus uses the example of a shepherd and sheep to caution us about putting too much trust in two voices - the thief and the hired hand. The thief will hurt us and the hired hand will abandon us. But only a good shepherd sticks with his sheep. And that is who Jesus is for us. A shepherd who knows us, cares for us, and has proven his love for us by giving his life for us. And because of this we can trust him with our lives and our future, no matter what that future holds.
In scary movies darkness is always dangerous and light is always the hope. In John 8, Jesus calls himself "the light of the world" and in his teaching exposes our true need: not just to become better people, but to be set free. And when we are set free by his light, we are free to tell the truth and love the truth that he came to show us.
When life feels overwhelming we need hope to hang on to. In John 6, Jesus is surrounded by a crowd with needs. He meets their immediate needs but also invites them to experience the solution to their deepest need - to experience life through him. Through Jesus, we no longer have to fear death which frees us to face the challenges of life in the confidence of knowing that God is for us.
The Rolling Stones said it best: can't get no satisfaction. We're all looking to be truly satisfied in life. We keep going back to wells - places or people we think will bring us find happiness, contentment, or fulfillment. But they leave us wanting more. In John 4, Jesus meets a woman in just this place in life. And what he offers her is not another well, but a way to be truly satisfied by knowing Jesus.
If you spend time with religious people, they might use some weird phrases you don't understand. "Born again" is one of those phrases. But it's an important one because it comes directly from Jesus in John 3:1-21. In fact, Jesus says "you must be born again." But what does it mean to be born again? How does it happen and how do you know it's happened to you?
Every religious system has a temple - a place where we meet with God to find peace with God by performing for God, whatever that God might be like. In John 2:1-22, Jesus protests the temple system and showing us that he is now where we meet with God and it's through his performance that we find peace with God. Becoming a Christian isn't about changing your religious habits, but about trusting Jesus. And when you trust Jesus, it changes everything. Your life moves from performance to grace overflowing, like water into wine.
It's Launch Sunday, where we kickoff Wingfoot Church and our movement of hope in the Heights in Jesus' name. We also start a new series called "Hope Has a Name" in John 1:14-18, where we find that when we are reaching out wondering if God is out there, God is reaching back to us in the person of Jesus. He is the one our hearts long for.
We are Wingfoot. When people encounter us they are encountering Wingfoot Church. As we prepare to launch as a church we are centering on our motives, the values that characterize everything we do. Reproduce Regularly means that healthy discipleship leads to reproduction. We share Jesus often, multiply groups, develop leaders, and plant churches as a regular part of our life together. The evidence that Jesus is becoming king of your life is that you are moving toward reproducing. Discipleship starts at the heart, so we have to look at what keeps our hearts from becoming fruitful as we respond to Jesus.
We are Wingfoot. When people encounter us they are encountering Wingfoot church. As we prepare to launch as a church we are centering on our motives, the values that characterize everything we do. Work Together means that whenever possible we collaborate with others, sharing relationships and resources, so that God's kingdom comes in the Heights as it is in heaven.
We are Wingfoot. When people encounter us they are encountering Wingfoot Church. As we prepare to launch as a church we are centering on our motives, the values that characterize everything we do. Celebrating Life Change is a reminder that following Jesus is a lifelong journey into grace. Grace means that everything is given and nothing is earned because Jesus won for us all that we need. As a result, can stop striving to change and instead rest and trust Jesus. Celebrating life change will mean we look for signs of God's grace at work in the people around us, we celebrate when people are made new by Jesus, and we always look to take next steps together.
We are Wingfoot. When people encounter us they are encountering Wingfoot Church. As we prepare to launch as a church, we are centering on our motives, the values that characterize everything we do. Value All People means recognizing that everyone is made in God’s image with worth, value, and dignity. Jesus identifies with those we would otherwise ignore, meaning if we want to follow him, we will welcome people warmly, practice hospitality, and stand up for those who are overlooked and undervalued in our city.
We are Wingfoot. When people encounter us they are encountering Wingfoot Church. As we prepare to launch as a church we are centering on our motives, the values that characterize everything we do. Making Jesus Central means everything we do points to Jesus. We worship Jesus and preach Jesus as our only hope in Sunday services and we live to make him to center of our stories, our communities, and our mission. His story is our story. His mission is our mission.
We are Wingfoot. When people encounter us, they are encountering Wingfoot Church. As we prepare to launch as a church, we are centering on our motives, the values that characterize everything we do. Praying boldly means that we pray as Jesus taught us for God’s kingdom to come in our neighborhoods as it is in heaven. It means we pray every time we’re together. And it means we act believing that God will lead the way.