Discovering Jesus: Recent Episodes
Tyler Loewen
Biweekly endeavours at discovering spiritual, philosophical, and biblical truth and its life application. These are sermons preached by Pastor Tyler Loewen at Tricity Chinese Christian Church (English Ministry) in Port Moody, BC, Canada.
This is the final sermon in our Minor Prophets series, and the final sermon that will be preached by Pastor Tyler at Tricity Chinese Christian Church before he pursues further education at seminary.
Today we will be looking at the context and background of Malachi, how the author of Malachi points toward Jesus, how the whole Book of the Twelve points toward Jesus, and how the whole Old Testament points toward Jesus.
Join us as we discover Jesus in the final book of the Christian Old Testament, and explore the issues Malachi covers, like intermarriage, racism, unpunished evil, God hating Edom, and more.
We are approaching the end of the Minor prophets! Today we look at two of the more unique books, Haggai and Zechariah, two prophets active during the return from exile. Haggai and Zechariah both believed that reestablishing the monarchy through Zerubbabel was the best and only way to realize the utopian vision of Jerusalem becoming the centre of the world and the Kingdom of God coming to earth. However, as we'll see, this was not to be.
When we dig into the background and context of Zechariah, and do some reading in between the lines, it becomes clear that things did not pan out like the two prophets had hoped or predicted.
So what happened? And what relevance do some failed prophecies in the Hebrew Bible have for us today?
This week we are jumping into the shortest of all the Minor Prophets: Obadiah. Obadiah has some very, very strong things to say about the kingdom of Edom, even though, as we'll see, Edom has not done anything particularly egregious when compared with the other nations. And yet, Obadiah, along with a couple other prophets and psalmists, have a special place in their heart for lobbing angry epithets at Edom.
Why is that?
Today we find out what was going on behind the scenes to cause such an attitude toward Edom, and why Obadiah is actually supposed to be a book of great encouragement to those who might feel as though God has abandoned them.
This week we take a look at one of the last prophets to speak before the Babylonian exile, and whose name has garnered much controversy: Habakkuk.
We will learn how to say his name properly, and more importantly, how history and biblical criticism work together to shed light on the beautiful gospel message that lies in the prophetic book.
This week we are turning our Bibles to the prophet Zephaniah, and we are turning our gaze toward one of the most difficult themes in all the prophetic books: the violence of God.
Despite many denials to the contrary, the violence of the Old Testament God really is at odds with the self-sacrificing, enemy-loving Christ of the New Testament. Today we explore why that is, and why Yahweh sometimes looks more like a Canaanite warrior god (or Kratos from God of War) than he does Jesus.
We'll learn just why it is so important to read the Bible as a unified story, not as disconnected books, and how books like Zephaniah, once we learn to read them well, communicate a beautiful message that ultimately looks to the cross of Christ.
This week we cover twobooks of the Bible! We are going to get into what exactly progressive revelation is, and how that helps us understand some of the anger in the prophetic books. Along the way we will see what Nahum and Jonah do and do not have in common, and how comparing the two books with the cross of Christ can help us learn how to pray for our enemies.
This Easter we explore exactly why Jesus had to be crucified, and why the resurrection matters. After all, if all we needed was a perfect sacrifice, isn't crucifixion a little over the top, and a little cruel? Wouldn't a nice, simple sacrificial ritual like in Leviticus have sufficed? Further, if all we needed was a perfect sacrifice, why the resurrection?
There is much more going on in the Easter story than just Jesus offering his body as a perfect sacrifice, and it all starts in Deuteronomy.
This week we move south to the Kingdom of Judah, with the first Minor Prophet to preach from there: Micah. Micah is supremely concerned with the social injustices that occurred under the reigns of Kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, and indicts primarily the elites, politicians, and pastors/priests of Judah. But, within the fair and exciting calls for social justice, there is also a message of hope: hope for forgiveness for any and all, that we might be restored to God.
So if you have ever felt you didn't deserve God's forgiveness, or that you somehow need to earn it, or that God will not accept you back until you have proven how sorry you are and done proper penance, our hope is that Micah can bring you some comfort today.
Additionally, Micah will also challenge us on where our cares lie, on whether or not we are taking advantage of God's forgiveness and failing to walk obediently in humility with God.
Did you know that some parts of God's personality are stronger than others? This may come as a surprise (particularly for our Reformed friends), but the Bible is pretty clear that, when it comes to God's wrath, anger, and punishment, these are his weaker attributes. Join us to learn exactly why that is and what it means for Hosea's audience, and us today.
For the ancient Israelites, Yahweh was just one of many gods, and it was difficult for them to understand why they should worship him and no other gods. And even for us today, it may even seem a little narcissistic on Yahweh's part to jealously demand such loyalty and to punish infidelity so brutally as he threatens to do in the prophets.
However, as we begin the book of Hosea, we will see that Yahweh actually has very good reason for acting this way, and if we just dig a little below the surface, we'll see that he is far more than just a jealous, narcissistic god. It turns out that worshiping other gods leads to far more and far worse than just "not worshiping Yahweh."
In only two weeks we're finishing the prophet Amos!
This week Amos will continue to call Israel to repentance, as well as brutally trash-talk another wayward prophet. But our main focus will be on what Amos feels the Israelites' key sin was: a failure to worship properly.
According to Amos, behind Israel's sin of social injustice is a failure to worship the way God wants. What does it mean to worship God, then? And why does God require basically say, "Worship me, or else!" Isn't that a little bit manipulative or abusive?
The answer to all these questions has something to do with understanding idol worship and how we, as Christians, in a strange way, are supposed to learn to worship from the example of idol worship in the ancient near east.
We begin this year with a new series: The Minor Prophets.
We will be starting with Amos, arguably the first of all the written prophets to preach, and his journey to Bethel, Israel, to condemn Jeroboam II and the elites for their abuse of the poor and oppressed.
Amos has much to say about social justice, but for our purposes today, he also has much to say about how and why God uses punishment and discipline, how God can claim to love his people yet exact terrible curses on them, and how we as Christians ought to pray for God to discipline us if we want to remain useful to him.
We have reached the final week of our series on the Parables! While we have not covered every single parable, we have covered enough to give us a general feel for what messages Jesus intended his parables to convey and how to read them in their very Jewish context.
This week we are going to look at the final three parables Jesus taught before he was betrayed and crucified. These particular parables were given specifically to his disciples as a warning against apostasy in the coming persecution they were going to experience.
So if you've ever wondered what an evil servant, ten virgins, and a resentful man burying money have in common, join us to learn the answer!
This week we take a look at another set of three parables. As Jesus nears the end of his life, his parables are becoming ever more explicit, and full of indictments on the current ruling class of priests and scribes, particularly on how they have oppressed and ignored the outcasts and rejects of society.
However, as we'll see, simply being an outcast or reject does not give one automatic entry into the Kingdom. God still requires that we wear the right clothes to get in.
The Gospel writers always have a reason for why they arrange their parables the way they do, and Luke is no different.
Join us as we discover the common thread Luke detects between Jesus' Parable of the Persistent Widow and the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, and why he places them right after Jesus' "mini-apocalypse."
*We apologize for the drop in audio quality.
Most Christians know Jesus had a thing or two to say about rich people, and we can sometimes think that Jesus thought all wealth was bad. This leads to an uneasy state of mind where we feel guilty for having wealth but also are told that God blesses his children.
What did Jesus actually say about money? Was he entirely against it? Is money always a sign of God's favour?
In our parable today Jesus is going to tell us about a rich man and a poor man whose fortunes are reversed after they die. Many Christians are very familiar with this story. What a lot of those same Christians might not be familiar with, though, is that Jesus was not the first to tell a story like this.
Jesus is retelling a very popular, well-known Egyptian folktale, that most of his hearers would have heard before. However, Jesus tells it with a twist at the end that, if they are listening, the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders would perceive as a direct and piercing criticism of their neglect of the poor and vulnerable.
Far from a parable on what hell is like or a simple message of "wealth is bad," Jesus' message is a challenge to the Western church to pay attention to a responsibility we may have neglected: justice for the poor and vulnerable.
Social justice can be seen as a "dirty word" in evangelicalism because some Christians understandably do not agree with all the ideologies of certain social justice movements. But, as Jesus, the Old Testament prophets, and God himself make abundantly clear throughout Scripture, we might be throwing the baby out with the bathwater, as well as throwing ourselves out of the Kingdom of God.
This week we take a look at one of Jesus' most confusing parables, commonly known as The Parable of the Dishonest Manager. While this parable is often used to speak on wealth, the way Jesus uses it is quite a bit different than maybe our western, middle class, capitalistic sensibilities often understand it.
In today's sermon, we will learn that the proper backdrop for this parable is the wrath of the Roman empire, and that one of the reasons Jesus believed Rome was going to descend on and destroy Jerusalem was because of how Israel's elites mismanaged their wealth.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus told Peter he needed to forgive 490 times, or why Peter even asked how many times he needed to forgive in the first place? It turns out Jesus is saying much more than that we just need to forgive a lot of times, or even an unlimited amount of times. And Peter might not be as unforgiving as we sometimes think.
Jesus seems to believe that forgiveness isn't just a good thing to do, but is critical to our own salvation.
When Jesus said that we must become like little children, he wasn't talking about having a "child-like faith" unencumbered by "adult rationalism" or something like that. Jesus was talking about something entirely different, and way more radical.
Matthew puts Jesus' parable of the Lost Sheep in a different context than Luke, and thus changes the meaning drastically, however it is by no means any less political or intense. Jesus is a brilliant, radical, almost crazy leader with completely upside-down ideas on how the world ought function.
So this week we are going to learn about the type of Christian Jesus wants, and how the ways in which we treat the people at the bottom of our socioeconomic ladders says a lot about whether or not we agree with Jesus' concept of Christianity.
One of the keys to understanding many of Jesus' parables is to know the difference between Eastern shame culture and Western guilt culture. Today we are going to explore those differences, and how they can shed light on Jesus' parable of the banquet. We will discover that this parable, like many, is political in nature, and all about socioeconomic status.
We'll also discover what Jesus meant when he told us his disciples to hate their families and carry their crosses. In the end, it's all about the Kingdom.
Jesus' parables were often told in progressive sets that built on one another. This week we look at three of his most famous parables, here renamed "The Man Who Like To Party," "The Woman Who Liked To Party," and "The Son Who Did Not Like To Party."
Jesus is again going to respond to his detractors, the Pharisees and lawyers, as to why he keeps some pretty nefarious and corrupt company, and why his political/religious movement isn't endangered by his networking strategies and priorities.
As we explore Jesus' response, we will see that Jesus' most famous parable, often called "The Parable of the Prodigal Son," is not about what we usually think it is about as modern Christians. That is to say, we often think the Pharisees would have been surprised by the father's "prodigal love" for his reckless son and that this love - an image of God's love - is Jesus' main point.
However, as we'll see, the Pharisees were not surprised in the least that Jesus depicted a loving God who accepts repentant sinners by grace through faith. In fact, they probably would have been concerned if Jesus depicted God as otherwise.
Instead, there is a deeper, more relevant, more practical, and more challenging question Jesus has for the Pharisees, and for us, if we have ears to hear.
This week we continue to learn about the parables Jesus told; we discover that Jesus' short stories weren't really about teaching abstract biblical truths or timeless theology. Jesus used his parables for something quite different.
It's all about context, and the right context transforms the parables Jesus told. This week we are looking at:
1. The Parable of the Really Good Investment
2. The Parable of the Career Change
3. The Parable of the Indiscriminate Net
Jesus' parables were some of the most controversial and politically charged things he said. Turns out Jesus had a lot of opinions on how to make Israel great again, and some of them were quite unpopular with certain political groups.
This week he is going to make the case for how the Kingdom of God does not come via violence, and how we unknowingly violate his pacifist position without even realizing it in our everyday interactions with others.
The Lord's Prayer has been used and revered for a couple thousand years by the church, and for good reason! It is a beautiful, succinct prayer that has given voice to many, many people and enabled many to approach God.
In fact, this prayer has been used so often that we sometimes miss what it's actually all about. The Lord's Prayer is not just a nice outline to structure your own prayers with, it's actually a very specific type of prayer for a very specific thing. And today, we find out what this prayer is all about, and why "The Lord's Prayer" might not be the best name to give it.
The way we prayer matters. And it turns out it matters a lot. From MSN chatbots to ancient Roman prayer rituals, we are going to find out how our prayers reveal what we really think about God, and what instructions Jesus gives to correct our prayers and bad theology.
Jesus lays out some pretty concerning warnings at the end of his Sermon on the Mount; he lets us know that some people, even though they performed incredible signs and wonders, will not get into the Kingdom of Heaven. What qualifies someone, then? What does it mean to "build your house on the rock"?
This week we are going to get into ancient building methods, and what Jesus really meant when he told us to build our houses on the rock instead of the sand.
The idea of a narrow road to life and a wide road to destruction was not uncommon in Jesus' day. Lots of other rabbis and Greeks and Romans used this word picture. What is unique is who is on the narrow and wide paths.
This week we dig into one of Jesus' most famous sayings ever. It's always amazing how much we can get out of just a couple lines. Jesus manages, as always, to challenge us and encourage us in new ways and in new levels as we take this common, well-known saying and pull new meaning out of it.
This week we pull apart Jesus' interesting and deceptively simply recommendation to
"take the log out of your own eye" before you look at the speck in someone else's.
He is risen!
Have you ever wondered why, if Easter is the centre of our faith and of all human history, it can be difficult to get excited about going to church service and celebrating Jesus' resurrection? Today we compare Easter to some other traditions we enjoy, and how to be encouraged if Easter doesn't seem as exciting as we are told it should be.
This week we look at Jesus' famous saying that where we put our treasure, there our heart will be. We're going to see that this actually isn't Jesus' main point; most people already knew about this concept in Jesus' time, and the main point he is making for his ancient audience occurs a little later in his sermon. And when we see what Jesus' main point actually is, this sermon ends up being incredibly relevant for those of us who are in quarantine and find ourselves with little to no income and tight on money. Jesus first admonishes us for our lack of faith, but then right away encourages us to abide in God's love and learn to trust him. He never promises financial prosperity - in fact, Jesus often promises and even encourages the opposite for some - but he always points us toward the Father's love.
After destroying the Pharisees' reputation as credible Bible teachers, Jesus is now going to point out how even how they practice their faith is problematic and should not be followed. We're going to see how they failed to put God at the centre, and how we, although we often think we put God at the centre, regularly don't.
We'll also look at how Jesus has a solution for our anxiety during this worldwide pandemic, as well as what it means to "die to self", since that seems to be exactly what the Pharisees were not doing but is the central idea to Jesus' concept of the Kingdom of Heaven. And as always, we will be asking ourselves the question, "Do I really want what the Kingdom is all about, or do I just think I do?"
Jesus has spent the last little bit of his sermon exposing the ways the Pharisees are leading the Jewish people astray with their bad theology, and he has been helping us become more self-aware about how we truly feel about his Kingdom. Today he is bringing that section to a close by lobbing one last bomb at the Pharisees and give us the chance to ask ourselves do we really want to know God, or do we just want to want to know God; and what should we do about that? Today we are going to also try and parallel the Kingdom of God with Kpop, it should be a lot of fun!
What does it mean to take God's name in vain? How did you swear in the Bible times? Why was Jesus so adamant about not taking vows or oaths, and why does that matter for us today, where most of us have never taken an oath in our lives? We look at these questions and find that, as always, what Jesus has to say is extremely relevant for us. Just like he has been doing, Jesus again invites us to become more self-aware of our faith and whether or not we truly desire his Kingdom.
As modern Christians, we can often forget that one of the hats Jesus wore was that of a rabbi. And as it turns out, because we are usually unfamiliar with the way rabbis taught and spoke, we can often misinterpret Jesus' teaching, especially when it comes to his moral teachings about anger and lust.
Today we take a look at what Jesus was really saying as a rabbi in his Sermon on the Mount, as we try to redeem this passage that is so often used to drop legalistic burdens on the shoulders of Christians. Instead, we will find that Jesus is all about trying to make us more self-aware of whether or not we truly desire God's presence.
Often, we see the Pharisees' sin as being too legalistic about the law. But as it turns out, the Pharisees were known in Jesus' time for something far more sinister: loopholes. This week we learn about how the Pharisees created loopholes in the law and how Jesus is not so much about telling us what to do as making us self-aware of our true motives behind our faith. Also, what did Jesus really mean when he told his audience to be "salt and light"? All that and more in this week's sermon.
This week we begin exploring Jesus' longest and most famous speech. Less a sermon, and more a political rally, Jesus gives his vision of how to make Israel great again. As per usual, Jesus says things that make some people angry, and has a vision of government that is entirely opposite to how most think successful governments are run. It turns out, most of us are virtue signalling.
We will see how the so-called Beatitudes are not particular ways to get #blessed by God, but are actually scathing attacks on how people in Jesus' culture believed we ought to be good and successful people. There is much to learn from this speech Jesus gives, and we are excited to journey through it!
This Christmas we take a deep look at the pagan sorcerers that Matthew calls the "Magi" who came to worship Jesus in Bethlehem. We discover just how peculiar and unexpected their appearance is, and the numerous implications this has on a story that we know so well yet often don't take the time to truly meditate on. This Sunday we are challenged by God's passionate desire to see his Son glorified and worshipped, and our role to do the same.
This week we finish the book of Hebrews! We talk about why it matters that Jesus was crucified outside of Jerusalem, and why we might not be experiencing the full experience of faith we are promised over and over in the Bible.
In our society, church seems to be becoming less and less needed and relevant. Today we explore why that seems to be the case and why it is a blessing in disguise, forcing us to reevaluate what church actually is and why we need it.
This week we learn about God's love triangle, and why the concept of the Trinity is central to understanding why we are significant as human beings, but also helps us answer our main question: Why should I make every attempt to be holy in this life if Jesus is going to perfect me anyway at the resurrection? We hope you enjoy our journey through God's Word.
This week we are going to learn about our purpose as Christians: Holiness. However, how to attain holiness in this life is not what we normally think, because the natural way we think we should achieve holiness is all about us and what we can do instead of being about Jesus. Further, we are going to discover what the author of Hebrews reallymeant when he talked about God disciplining his church through persecution.
The author of Hebrews talks about how we are to put aside all "heavy weights" and "sin" in order to run the race of life. Today we are going to learn just what those heavy weights and sins are, as they are not what we are so often told. Uncovering the true meaning of this passage will help us discover some lies we believe about Jesus.
Have you ever found that your Jesus hardly ever challenges you or disagrees with you? As we learn about the faith we and the ancient Jewish church share, it will become clear that often in our modern day we accept a knockoff version of Jesus instead of the real thing, which inhibits our growth as Christians and keeps glory from God.
This week we learn what seems to be one of the key reasons that the early Jewish Christian church struggled with wanting to return to Judaism. We'll see how we can often empathize with this church and how, when we feel God is not near us, we can find encouragement and comfort from what this church learned.
Unfortunately, due to recording issues, Part 7 was lost. However, Part 8 picks up where Part 7 left off, dealing with the ancient Israelite sacrificial system and how it is relevant for us today. This week we learn what the Old Testament can teach us about the cross, particularly about how to properly confess our sins to God.
Have you ever wondered why the God of the Old Testament seems to be so obsessed over rules, demanding that humans earn their salvation, only to have a complete turnaround in the New Testament and give salvation to any and all as a gift? This week we look at what's actually going on there, and why we might not be living under the "New Covenant" as much as we might think we are.
This week we dive deep into the Old Testament and learn who exactly Melchizedek was, and why he is so important to the author's argument that Jesus is the better high priest. We will then see what the implications are of this and what Melchizedek means for us today.
Theology is word that is very easily thrown around Christian circles, yet often we aren't quite clear on what it means, or we don't think it is terribly practical for us normal people to spend so much time thinking about it. Isn't that for theologians in their ivory towers? This week we are going to explore why theology is incredibly practical, and we will be encouraged to do it, as well as given some clear, simple steps to begin, because it isn't quite as simple as just cramming information on the Bible into your brain.
Have you ever wondered why obedience to God so often feels like a neverending chore we engage in just to somehow prove our faith is "real"? Today our lofty goal is to, by the end of this sermon, discover how we can obey God with joy. We will do that by learning how the ancient Jews accused God of divine nepotism, how Jesus was made perfect, and what the parable of the Ten Minas is actually about.
So, unfortunately the first episode of our new series failed to be recorded again due to a software malfunction. To sum it up, last week we learned that Jesus is our high priest and that we belong in the presence of God, therefore we should make every effort to enter into that presence. This also sets a goal for our Christianity, instead of making it some endless treadmill of morality. This week we expound on that idea and look a little bit more at what it means to enter into God's "rest", greatly enriching our understanding of salvation along the way.
This week we reach the end of Ecclesiastes. As it turns out, there is a surprisingly positive and encouraging twist to this seemingly depressing, hopeless book.
This week we talk about sin, but instead of listing off various sins and reminding you we shouldn't do them, today's passage aims at the root of the issue and reveals the first actual step we must take in order to overcome sin in our lives.
This Sunday we discover how our theology is often incredibly theoretical, and how that damages our belief that glorifying God, as he deserves, is truly worth it. In other words, we will discover today why we often very clearly do not care about glorifying God as we should, and how we come to that state of mind.
We are continuing our journey through the Teacher's musings, and this week we discover what the one thing is that he believes makes this life possibly better than being dead. But we also will see that this one thing is the very thing that often drives us away from God.
This week we discover why the Teacher believes we as human beings have within us a desire for an eternally significant life. Spoiler alert: it's not terribly positive and ends up with him believing it is better to have never been born. However, we will see that Jesus reverses this conclusion, but we'll also see how we often don't realize that the eternally significant life doesn't stop at simply living forever.
Unfortunately, we had some recording issues and we lost part one of this series, but Pastor Tyler recaps what we learned at the beginning of this week's sermon. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
This week we will learn how the Teacher's perspective and experience misled him to conclusions that weren't necessarily true about the meaning of life. As it turns out, we often do the same in areas of our faith and can become unnecessarily discouraged. Today we will see how Jesus answers both the Teacher's questions and our own.
When Jesus said that it is "more blessed to give than to receive" he was talking about way more than just feelings. There are very real, economical, practical, legal implications to his words. This week we explore just what he was talking about and how the way Christians view their place in the world hugely affects their ability to give generously.
Paul ends his letter to the Ephesian church with a call to prayer. This week we look at what he means by "prayer", how and why many people in the church do not experience the type of prayer Paul is calling us to, and the ramifications of this.
Growing up, many Christians believe that using the Sword of the Spirit simply means that we ought to memorize the Bible and throw truths at Satan when he tempts us. Today we discover that this is only barely scratching the surface of what Paul is talking about. And if we dig deep enough, we find incredible encouragement regarding how we ought to witness to others about the Gospel, even when our message seems unbelievable and ridiculous.
This week we take a look at the Helmet of Salvation, wherein we discover that not all suffering is "God's plan", and what it means for God to work "good" out of some of the senseless suffering we endure.
Have you ever wondered why God doesn't just get rid of Satan? This week we learn why, and what we need to do about it.
Peace naturally has the implication of violent war and suppression behind it. There are many religions in the world that ultimately fall back on this definition of peace. Not Christianity. Discover with us why because of Jesus Christianity can be a religion of true peace, void of bloodshed and violence.
This week we learn about the second piece of the Armour of God, the Breastplate of Righteousness. It turns out that this piece of armour is both a challenge and an encouragement to us.
We apologize for the poor audio quality, we are having some difficulties with the mic.
This week we begin to actually look at the pieces of the Armour of God, what they are used for, and why it matters. We learn what the "Belt of Truth" actually is, what it is not, and how to equip it properly for the sake of God's Kingdom.
The idea that love is the strongest force in the universe and one of its core building blocks was central to Christopher Nolan's film, Interstellar. This week we look at how that idea is, interestingly, quite close to reality.
This week we learn about how Paul's solution to slavery is to not have a revolution to end slavery. It's a controversial view, and one that is difficult to work through, but in the end we see how Paul actually demands more than the abolishing of slavery and has greater goals than revolution.
We apologize for the late upload time. This week we looked at Paul's radical redefinition of the relationship between parent and child, and how mutual submission affects both parties. We also try to work through the messy aspects of when this relationship doesn't work.
This week we take on one of the most controversial things Paul ever wrote about: submission within marriage. And as we do that, we discover that this passage is far more than just an ancient household code, but the key to understanding what marriage actually exists for, why it exists, and how we can all, no matter our relationship status, gain something from studying it.
This week we take a look at why Paul urges us to sing worship songs and what we can do when we don't enjoy or don't connect with them.
We apologize for the late upload. We have had some technical difficulties and ended up unable to record Part 8 of our series. But we are back with Part 9! This episode is about what the Bible actually says about alcohol, and how when Paul talks about "being filled with the Spirit" instead of wine, it's about a whole lot more than just getting drunk.
This is part two of looking at the first passage where Paul gives us concrete steps on how to imitate God. This week we discover that the standards to which God has called us are simply too high for us to achieve, let alone achieve joyfully. Once we have established this, we see how looking to Jesus, particularly through meditation on Scripture and prayer, can give us a way forward.
This week we finally get to the practical application of Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus. Paul has taken quite a while to get here for good reason; we need a clear foundation for why we are to do what we are to do as Christians without getting legalistic about it. We look at what the commands to not lie and to not be angry mean for us and why these commands are not to be seen as burdens but as blessings.
This week we ask the question, "Why is it often so difficult to find joy in serving God?" As it turns out, our answer lies in the very nature and structure of salvation itself.
In this sermon we take a look at what is required for a church to survive, especially in the face of things that threaten to tear it apart.
This week we learn what it really means for God to admit the Gentiles into his Kingdom; it is a powerful, and very controversial political statement that requires either full acceptance or full rejection.
This Sunday we look at the reason Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden, and how evil came to have such a grip on the human race. As it turns out, it has a lot to do with us not yet being ready for the responsibility that came with the knowledge of good and evil. And one of the numerous things Jesus came to do was to enable us, through him, to be able to carry that responsibility without making the world the complete disaster it is today.
We have finished Judges and are moving on to the New Testament! We begin in Ephesians chapter one, wherein we learn the joy of the gospel, why we can lose it, and how to reclaim it.
We finished Judges! Possibly one of the most depressing books of the Bible, Judges ends in a story of rape, murder and civil war. However, as we will discover, there is also hidden within it a message of hope that appears when we look at the story in light of who Jesus is. Join us as we discover how Jesus brings hope to the darkest story of the Old Testament.
First of all, we apologize for the abysmal audio quality, something was wrong with the calibration of our sound system. Next time it should be a lot better. Anyway, this week we learn the answer the the question that the author of Judges has been leading us to this whole time: Why has everything gone so terribly wrong and why are all the deliverers so awful and incompetent? The answer, it turns out, presents a large challenge for the modern church that asks us whether we want to be dead weight dragging the church down or working with the Holy Spirit to move the church forward.
This week we look at the infamous story of Samson and Delilah, why they may not be as terrible as we think, and what their misadventures have to teach us about the state of churches in North America.
This week we take a look at the first half of the story of Samson, a compromised man who has rejected God's call on his life. We learn how his life holds great warning for those of us who also refuse to give up our compromises with sin and ignorance of God's will.
This week we take a look at the origin story of the most powerful and worst deliverer in the book of Judges: Samson. Samson was called to deliver Israel, and though he took a long, painful, hedonistic road to get there, he couldn't escape his calling. And neither can we.
The story of Jephthah piercingly outlines Israel's spiral into decrepitude. Jephthah is a man that does not respect God, listen to him, or know him. This week we will see how all these things add up to Jephthah being completely antithetical to God's purposes for Israel, and in his efforts to make a name for himself, how he completely and foolishly removes his name from Israel. We will then learn how this unfortunate and sad story can inspire us to hold to our membership in the body of Christ with even greater conviction and why it is so important that we not give up being part of the church.
Abimelech was Gideon's son with a concubine, and that meant Abimelech was not heir to Gideon's throne like his other seventy brothers. So Abimelech decides to do something about that, namely, slaughter his family. This week we look at the consequences of his actions and what we can learn, ironically, about the love of God from the carnage that ensues.
"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." This is the quote that best sums up the story of Gideon. Often when Gideon's story is told it ends right after the miraculous defeat of the Midianite army, thus extracting a moral along the lines of "If you have faith, God will defeat your problems," or "It is okay to test God to receive a sign." The problem with these moralizations is that they oversimplify the biblical narrative and completely ignore the latter half of Gideon's story. This week we look at how Gideon, once he got a taste of victory, turns his holy calling into a revenge mission and completely destroys everything God called him to do, eventually stealing the throne from God and leading the people he was supposed to save back into apostasy. We will then look at how this story can bring us, not a simple moral on how to manipulate God with our prayers, but a deep insight into why God chooses to work within human history and why the Bible takes on a narrative form.
The story of Gideon is often moralized into a lesson about how we should have faith like Gideon, even if we falter sometimes. This week we learn that that isn't really the point of the story at all. Instead, the story points toward the faithfulness of God, the coming Kingdom of God and, as always, Jesus Christ. The story of Gideon is actually a plea for us to repent and get ready for the imminent kingdom. Along the way, we explore just why the Israelites started worshiping the foreign Canaanite gods, how Gideon "circumcised" his household, and what else was going on in the world at this time in history.
Often the stories in the book of Judges are moralized and allegorized to fit our modern Christian lives. Today we look at how the characters and stories within defy and resist that trend and how the book of Judges points ultimately toward the faithfulness of God, but in a way that is different, more challenging, and possibly more formidable than we may have previously thought. And ultimately, we will see how these two sides of God's faithfulness are embodied in Jesus Christ on the cross. Gods' faithfulness, and the cross, are a double-edged sword.
This week we look at what we can call the summary and synopsis of Judges. Here we learn the theological lens through which to interpret the rest of the book. As well, it will challenge us on what the mission of the church is, and why our faith is more than just getting saved, being moral, and coming to church. In fact, it is precisely because we misunderstand the cross that our Christianity so often fails to be what Jesus died for.
This week we begin one of the darkest books in the bible: Judges. The book chronicles Israel's downward spiral into sin after God tasked them with setting up his new Garden of Eden in an effort to renew creation. We begin in chapter one, where God commands the slaughter of the Canaanite people. it is incredibly uncomfortable and difficult to reconcile this image of God with the Jesus that dies for our sins in the gospels. However, all scripture is inspired by God and we must find a way to understand why and how God can do the things he does in the Old Testament. So join us as we try to discover just how the God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament, and what it means for us as the church today.
This week we finish our ancient romcom. In this chapter we encounter the final objective to Ruth and Boaz's marriage: a more eligible suitor. However, there are some hidden problems with this suitor we may not pick up on right away. So today we do a bit of a character study, and then turn a mirror on ourselves to see what we can learn about our own dedication (or lack thereof) to the people of God.
This week we get to the conflict of our ancient RomCom drama. We will see how the book of Ruth continues to subvert our expectations and story tropes left and right. And in the end we are challenged on our humanitarian responsibilities as people, as well as the grave dangers of forgoing a life of prayer and meditation of God's word.
We are back after a short break! Today we continue looking at the story of Ruth. In today's passage Ruth meets Boaz for the first time and Boaz makes a huge political and social statement by providing for her and blessing her. We also look at ancient near eastern hospitality practices and how Boaz's actions challenge us on the numerous ways we unknowingly hold prejudices against people and what it actually looks like to love others the way Jesus does.
The question, "If god is so good, then how come there is so much needless suffering" is one that has resounded throughout the ages. In Christianity, it is often met with philosophical theodicies to justify one's faith, but rarely does Christian teaching on this subject face this question head on and provide some sort of ultimate hope. This week, that is what we strive to do. Hopefully this message can explain why, even in the face of unexplainable suffering, Jesus can bring us hope. And I promise this isn't the "8 Reasons God Allows Suffering" message you've heard before. We don't even try to answer that question because, in the midst of suffering, answers like that hardly help. Today we try to find a true hope that cannot die even in the midst of the worst suffering. It is a modest attempt at a large subject, but hopefully it takes the conversation in a different direction than we are used to.
Today we are starting a new book from the Old Testament. We learn how Ruth is basically an ancient romantic comedy and discover how Ruth's commitment and devotion challenge us today in ways we might not expect.
This week we finish the Gospel of Mark. And we finish with the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what it means for us today, especially regarding sin. We often do not give sin the respect it deserves or make ourselves aware of the ways it damages much more than just our feelings and sensibilities. This week we learn why the resurrection of Christ is probably the most significant reason for a Christian to avoid sin and why it might just give you the motivation you've been missing to live a righteous life.
This week we learn about the most important historical event in history, barring creation itself: the death of Jesus Christ. We look at how strange his death was and how, against the general rules of history, Jesus somehow became the most famous figure in history. We then look at how Jesus' death relates to the Eucharist, or Communion, and how, especially as Protestants, we far too often miss the profound reality that partaking in the Eucharist proclaims.
This week we read about Jesus' crucifixion. We learn the political reasons he was crucified and why we believe it matters for those of us outside Judaism.
This week we learn what Pilate was really doing when he tried to stop the chief priests from crucifying Jesus, and how we can avoid making the same mistake.
This week we look at Peter's lowest point, but discover that his motivations may be better than we sometimes think. We then see how this story can bring encouragement and motivation for those of us that feel less than adequate sometimes.
Today we did something a little bit different. We shortened the sermon to make time for small groups after to discuss what was learned. We will probably be keeping this format as it proved incredibly beneficial. This week's sermon is on the trial of Jesus. We learn exactly why Caiaphas screamed "blasphemy!" and the reasons for Jesus being in court in the first place. The we look at how we fit into the story.
The Garden of Gethsemane was the lowest point for Jesus' disciples. In this passage, Mark shows us who the disciples really are, and how that challenges us today. We apologize for the poor quality, we had some mic issues (i.e. the main mic wasn't even on.)
This week we take a look at the betrayal of Judas and Jesus' last supper with his disciples in a new way. Through this narrative we will learn the profound meaning behind Jesus' redefinition of Passover and the primary purpose of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
This week we get into Jesus' little apocalypse wherein we learn he never did predict the end of the world, but something else entirely. We look at how inadequate the "end of the world and the second coming of the son of man" interpretation is for Mark 13, and why an alternative interpretation is not only more historically accurate, but also more gospel-centered and far more challenging and pertinent to us as Christians.
This week we discover that Jesus never did say there will be no marriage after the resurrection, how the experts in the law wrecked monotheism, and what the widow's two mites really means for us today.
This week we discover why it is always a bad idea to get into an argument with Jesus, how Jesus' parables become less and less coded, and how he challenges us to follow him.
This week we look at what it is Jesus has against fig trees, why he flipped tables over in the temple, and what he ACTUALLY meant when he told his disciples to pray for a mountain to be thrown into the sea (hint: it's got nothing to do with having "enough faith" in God to "move mountains in your life". Rather, the message Jesus has for us today is one that addresses something very different, one that commands us to live in a way that is quite countercultural and can be offensive.
This week we look at Jesus' final journey to Jerusalem, why he healed Bartimaeus, and the radical and subversive claim he was making on the world. We'll see exactly why Jesus had to die, and what that means not just for our salvation, but how it demands that our prayers change to reflect his Kingdom.
This week we learn the real reason Jesus was mad at the disciples for telling the children to leave, and why that story is about something ar more challenging than just having a "childlilke faith". We will also learn why the rich young ruler couldn't accept or get into Jesus' Kingdom, revealing a challenge far more potent than simply surrendering wealth. Along the way, we also learn how Jesus narrowly escaped a beheading.
This week we discover what Jesus was really talking about when he told his disciples to cut off their hands and feet and to gouge out their eyes. And we learn what being a part of the church means.
This week we look at how a passage normally used to promote faith-healing actually teaches the exact opposite, and how one father's cry of "I believe, but help my unbelief" may not have been as genuine as we think.
This week, we discover the answer to Jesus' riddle of the yeast and the Pharisees, and how it actually challenges us in ways that may be uncomfortable and difficult as Christians.
This Sunday we learn why Jesus came to correct the way the Israelites were carrying out God's commands, particularly the purity codes, and how we can avoid making the same mistake.
This week we have a guest speaker with us. Darin Graham talks about what it means to be willing to suffer for God.
This week we take a look at King Herod's birthday party, and what that has to do with Jesus' miracles of feeding the five thousand and walking on water.
This Sunday we learn about the strange missions trip Jesus sends his disciples on and what is keeping us from being committed to him. We also learn about the Cynics, and what our prosperity has to do with all this.
This week we look at how culture unknowingly causes us to compromise our convictions and to disobey the commands that God has given us. We also talk about the Hyundai Veloster. Enjoy.
This week we take a look at what faith healing is and why it isn't so biblical. We then discuss what the true purpose of healing is according to scripture.
What is the difference between Christianity, Mormonism, the Jehovah;s Witnesses, and other religions? Because often they can sound a lot alike. Today we discuss the big difference that sets Christianity apart from all other religions and how even some Christians denominations are divided by this.
This week we discover again why Jesus spoke the gospel in parables, what the core of his message was, why is was so volatile, and what it demands of us as Christians today.
This week we learn about the dangerous line Jesus was walking when he told the parable of the sower and the seed.
Today we take a look at why it can often feel tiring or unfulfilling to come to church, as well as why it can seem like Christianity doesn't make a huge difference in our lives.
This sermon was preached at a joint MBCCA gathering for Good Friday. Pastor Tyler takes an interesting approach on the meaning behind the last supper before Jesus was crucified and why we continue to remember it by drinking the body and blood of Christ.
(We apologize for the sound quality. Due to a shortage of equipment, the sermon was recorded with a phone. We have done our best to equalize it in order to make it understandable. )
Ever wondered what exactly baptism is all about? Well, that would take a 10 part series. But in this sermon we try to give an overview of the main points, and we end up with some surprisingly practical, and possibly non-conventional, conclusions. Either way, if you're interested in baptism, or even if you think you know everything there is to know, take a listen, you might learn something. :)
We are taking a short break in preparation for Easter to take a look at the two sacraments of Protestantism. Today we are looking at communion. Is it just a symbol, or is it more? What was the significance of the last supper? Why do we eat bread and juice (wine if you're edgy) to commemorate Jesus' death? How does it all fit with the rest of the Bible? We answer these questions and more in our sermon today.
Today we discuss why it was that the Pharisees planned to assassinate Jesus and what led them to that decision. We also look at how we can keep ourselves from making the same mistake as the Pharisees.
Ever wondered exactly why the experts in the law freaked out when Jesus healed a paralyzed man? This week we discuss why. We also discover why it seems that sometimes God just doesn't hear our prayers and what we, as Christians, can do about it.
This week we start to discover why Jesus' message wasn't just a bunch of aphorisms and pithy sayings, but rather a highly subversive story that challenged the Jewish people at their very core. We attempt to respond to the many years of misinterpretation of Jesus' message and see how what he said truly applies to our lives.
This week we begin our series on Mark. We discuss the dangers of reading the gospels without knowing the story of Israel, how Mark has written an apocalypse and the cost of discipleship.
Today we had a guest speaker come in. Josh Ratzlaff delivered a message from the epistle of James. He discusses what it means to live according to the law and how it should shape our lives.
This is the third and final installment in our series on John the Baptist. This week we look at the message he preached in preparation for Christ, and the message we should preach. We also discussed that ever elusive question, "What does it really mean to be a Christian?"
This Sunday we discuss how God calls each of us to our various "wilderness experiences" in order that we are prepared for the great works He has in store for us. Also we talk about samurai swords.
Today we start a new series! For the next three sermons we will be looking at the events surrounding Jesus' birth and the beginning of his ministry. In particular, we will be looking at John the Baptist and his role as messenger of God.
This Sunday, Pastor Tyler discusses the logical problem of evil and how that applies to our lives as Christians. We also apologize for the late release of this sermon, as well as the poor audio quality at the beginning.
This week we discuss why your apathetic attitude towards church has far bigger implications than simply being bored on a Sunday morning.
For thanksgiving we have a special treat. Pastor Tyler, for the first time, was able to preach a bililngual service with Pastor Isaac Chang interpreting. This Sunday we discuss why simple theolgical ideals are not enough and how to praise God in the midst of pain and suffering. (We apologize in advance for the sub-par audio quality, the normal recording equipment was unavailable so we had to use a phone)
This week we discuss why having the ability to do whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want is really the last thing you should want.