Soma Federal Way Sermons: Recent Episodes
Soma Federal Way
Peter sings a song of Praise, recognizing the past, present, and future realities of our salvation in Christ.
Once a month we dedicate our gathering time to a specific topic of training in what we call Soma LABS. This is an interactive time of learning and dialogue together. Over the next 4 months we will be learning about how God has uniquely wired each of us in regards to our Gifts, Personality, and Story (GPS).
God's generosity is on full display as He generously offers life to the dirt creatures, gives them land to work, and the command to enjoy.
We look at the origins and foundations of our lives and God's Word, seeking answers to what motivates and forms our understanding of ourselves, God, and the whole world.
As we conclude our Return & Remind series, several of our elders share their heart and vision for the Soma family.
The Philippians were more generous to Paul than any other church despite their suffering and need. We explore the call to be generous partners in God's kingdom.
In a final appeal, Paul focuses on the thoughts of the church. We explore what we are called to think about as Citizens of God's Kingdom.
Paul has many reasons to boast, but he'd rather boast in Christ than anything. In opposition to the way of those opposing Jesus, Paul lays out an approach to humility that puts Jesus at the center.
Paul commends two different servants, Timothy and Epaphroditus, as examples to follow when it comes to serving Christ.
We're surrounded by a culture whose kingdom is not of God, one where complaining is normal and division is encouraged. We are encouraged to live differently and to shine like stars.
We are called to work out our salvation in light of Jesus' humility and exaltation. But what does that mean? We explore the work of God in our lives to give us the desire and ability to follow Him.
The one who is eternally equal with God empties himself to death on the cross for the love of the world. We explore the most profound passage in all of Philippians.
He is Risen! On this Easter Sunday, we see that the cross on Friday brings an exaltation on Sunday where Jesus is now Lord of all!
Encouragement in Christ, consolation from love, sharing in the spirit, and compassion and sympathy are the motives for us to be united in Christ.
Who holds your primary allegiance? Paul reminds the Philippians and us of our primary allegiance to God's Kingdom, and calls us to be united with those on our same team.
To live is Christ, and to die is gain. These profound words, said almost 2,000 years ago, speak to the heart of a disciple of Jesus and invite us to find our lives caught up in the life of Christ.
Even in a problematic imprisonment, Paul encourages the church to proclaim the gospel with pure motives. We dissect our false motives and bring the goodwill Jesus desires for us to light.
As we gather with our friends at Lifeway Church to kick off their Community Impact Celebration week, we are reminded of the vision for gospel saturation.
Paul introduces his letter witha prayer for his brothers and sisters in Philippi and reminds them of the joy that comes from experiencing the partnership (koinonia) of the gospel.
Paul encourages the church in Philippi to orient their whole lives to advancing the gospel by living as citizens of God's kingdom rather than the empire. This week, we introduce the book of Philippians.
Jonah's motives are finally exposed. We finally see Jonah's real reasons: Jonah doesn't love his neighbors; he wants their destruction! Yet, God's character is on display as He consistently shows who He is, even when people don't. How should we love our neighbors in divided times?
God's radical pursuit of the Ninevites led them to an extravagant expression of repentance, even for wicked people like the Assyrians.
Jonah seems to repent, but did he? He ventures into Nineveh and delivers a five-word sermon. What was Jonah trying to communicate, and did it align with what God's people are to share with the world?
Jonah flees in the opposite direction of God's direction: Tarshish. When we connect to the rest of the Bible, we see Tarshish as a representation of man's pursuit to develop the land of Eden apart from God. We look at how we set up False Edens in our world.
The author of Jonah expects you to know some stories. We look at the background of Jonah, God's eternal pursuit of His enemies, and how the Bible is needed for God's people to flourish.
In this extended and dialogical teaching, we walk through the seven signs of John as a community, asking key questions to understand the text together.
We've all been there: at the end of ourselves where we no longer feel like we can move forward. Where is God in the midst of this experience? We look to the life of Elijah in 1 Kings 19 to see how God uses these experiences in our lives to prepare us to receive Him more fully. Our invitation to practice this week is to grow in emotional awareness so we can meet God fully in these moments.
Do you desire to be renewed by God? This week we begin a 6 week series looking at the life of Elijah in 1 Kings 19. God invites all of us to a journey of spiritual renewal, and we must notice how the Spirit calls to us through our fears, resistance, and desires.
In preparation for Jesus' burial, we get pictures of what it means to be devoted to Jesus. For some, it's a pure and extravagant devotion. For others, it's devotion to their own cause rather than to Jesus as a person. Which is it for you?
Jesus is the Good Shepherd who knows each sheep and whose sheep hear His voice, even amidst the dangers of the world around.
There's not anything in my life that does not first go through the loving hand of God my Father. As light of the world, Jesus redeems the brokenness of the world for his glory and our good! We often want to assign blame or fix a problem, but Jesus invites us to faith in his redeeming work.
Jesus is risen from the dead! This changes everything! On Easter 2022, we look at the historical event of Jesus' resurrection and think through how this affects all of our lives, especially how we suffer, and where we find our satisfaction.
Jesus is the light of ALL the world, including Sierra Leone! Hear stories from Jeff Wall as he shares about his recent trip to Sierra Leone.
We were designed to consume Jesus as the bread who sustains, and to drink from the well of the Spirit who refreshes. Anything less is a cheap substitute. We look at how entertainment, content, and community can become insufficient substitutes that do not satisfy.
Am I a legalist? As we look to Jesus in John 7, he addresses people who are using the law in ways he does not desire, pointing to how we try to prove ourselves to God, others, and ourselves.
Where is it that you look to fulfill your heart's longings? In this passage, Jesus reframes the Passover festival to show that He is the only one who can carry the weight of our worship, and satisfy the deepest longings of our soul. The responses of the hearers reveals our true desires.
As Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath, He reveals His equality with God and empowerment from God. If Jesus, who is equal with God, is dependent on the Father for everything, how much more are we dependent on the Spirit for all of life!
Where do you find your dignity or significance? Jesus crosses societal norms to speak to a woman who has lost her dignity and status in community. In John 4, we see someone meet Jesus, be changed by Jesus, and share Jesus with those who once looked down on her. We find that our dignity is not defined by our story or status, but by our Savior.
When we no longer make Jesus the center place of our worship, we are bound to make something else the main thing. This misplaced worship inevitably leads to injustice in the world. This week, we look at John 2, where Jesus comes face to face with an economic injustice where God is supposed to be present, and He does something about it.
John the Baptist and Nathanael have already declared Jesus to be the Son of God. Here Jesus shows his power by enhancing life in a way that only God could. It appears to John that Jesus has creator power and brings joy with him, even to weddings!
We see right from the beginning of the Gospel of John that Jesus is calling disciples to follow him and bring others along the journey. Justin shares some important realities of our church and some emphases we are pursuing in the months ahead.
What do you find glorious? As we look at John 1:14-18, we see the fullness of God’s glory in the most unexpected ways. We take a tour of God’s glory through the Bible to see that Jesus is the fullness of God’s glory in the flesh! This changes how we experience and live in this life now.
"Who is Jesus?" It's the most important question any of us can answer. We begin advent looking at what one of Jesus' closest friends says about Jesus. John reveals to us that Jesus was with God the Father at the beginning. Jesus was not only extraordinary, He is God incarnate.
They were small, but in God’s eyes they were significant. We close out the Postcards from Jesus series by looking at Philadelphia, where we are encouraged to have hope and hold on!
In one of the more famous portions of Revelation, Jesus says he vomits out a church! Why? Because they were lukewarm. We take time to look at what this means as we see a church that’s self satisfied, self-sufficient, and unneedy. This is the the Comfortable but Christless church in Laodicea.
Your Work Matters! In this Postcard from Jesus, he addresses a church that falls into the temptation of their workplace drawing them away from Jesus. We look at what the Bible says about work and how, as disciples of Jesus, we are to go about our work.
Your theology matters! We continue our series, Postcards from Jesus, as we look at a church who in the midst of a difficult place, forgot the importance of paying attention to their theology.
We live in a day of intense animosity over any number of issues. While the church is tempted to join in on the mudslinging, the call of Jesus is different. What does it mean for us to be nourished by Jesus in a culture of animosity? We look to Jesus' words in John 15 to help us see the self-sacrificial love within the church as the means of Jesus' mission being fulfilled.
Turn on any news source and we are constantly bombarded with a consistent message: Be Afraid! Whether about our health, other perspectives, the “other”, or changes in our society, we are living in an increased culture of fear. What does it mean to be nourished by Jesus in a culture of fear? We explore this in John 15:9-11 where we learn we must receive HIS love, walk out HIS Commands, and thus experience HIS joy to combat the internal and external fears of our day.
It’s a word we see and use often, but are we sure what it means? We begin our We Are Soma Series by tackling, “What is the Gospel?” and seeing whether are lives are captivated by Jesus or if we are focused on other things.
Paul was dealing with a people who had self-centered desires for the church gathering, not unlike issues we have to deal with today. Paul closes his exhortation of the Corinthians giving them the antidote to self-centered gatherings.
The Corinthians loved one gift above all others while many in our day are fearful and prohibit this gift: Speaking in Tongues. What can we know about speaking in tongues and what role do they play in the individual and corporate experience of the Church?
The Corinthian church is utilizing their charismatic gifts and freedom in a way that Paul deems out of order. While not telling them to stop using them, he guides them to see how the need to make sure the church is built up and mutually edified during their corporate gatherings.
As Paul continues to order and inform the church to live in the Future Present, he uses a familiar-to-us and briliant metaphor of the church being the Body of Christ, showing how each person is important, each gift is essential, and the diversity amongst the unity of the Body is necessary for living on mission.
The common meal among the family of God is extremely important, and many of the Corinthians were taking advantage of it at the expense of others. In his longest teaching on the Eucarist, Paul instructs them how to rightly order their time for communion and remember Christ’s sacrificial death. We see that communion is our regular communal and mystical reminder of the gospel.
Throughout the letter Paul has addressed how men and women are to live in the church. Here, Paul speaks to a cultural expression of head coverings to speak to the the relationship between genders in a gathered setting. We see how we are distinct, equal, and ordered.
What does it mean to live on mission? How can we do that in a divisive and polarized culture? Paul gives us insights how we can become all things to all people through self-sacrifice and self-discipline.
We live in a day where individual freedom is the highest value. But does that line up with Scripture? Paul, while addressing eating food sacrifieced to idols, being the establish them to understand how they are to use their personal freedom for the sake of others. At the end of the day, it’s all for the Glory of God.
Paul uses his personal example to show how the disciples are to, at times, forgo their personal freedoms for the sake of others. In this, Paul gives us insight into how leaders of the church are to be cared for.
For many, shame is a constant way of life. The fear of being found as a fraud, or not being enough. What does the Gospel say to fear? Being known and loved by God is the source of true, faithful living.
For many, the goal is marriage and children. But are there are there other ways to be faithful to Jesus? Paul calls some in the church to the high and holy calling of celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom.
This letter is not the first time Paul and the Corinthians have written back and forth regarding how to live. Paul now begins to address their specific concerns. He begins with their marriage and sexual relationships, calling them to live in obedience to what God has revealed and to do it wisely in their cultural moment.
Actions speak louder than words. As we celebrate, we see the with act of the resurrection God is saying, "I'm Here", "We won", and "I Love You"
Paul brings the future present in the morality of judgement and legal disputes. Are Christians allowed to judge one another? How does our future judgement of angels influence our present judgement in the church?
Paul begins the next portion of his establishing the church in the morality of God’s kingdom. In a case where they are celebrating more immorality than even acceptable in the wider culture, Paul calls them to ensure the morality of the church is of high regard, even to the point of exercising church discipline. He has given the church body a natural immune system to ensure we are healthy and living holy lives.
Paul wraps up his appeal for unity asking the church to regard leaders as servants. There are wonderful implications for leaders, the church, and our everyday lives - even how we all do our jobs.
We live in a day where people are divided over anything and everything. Paul addresses the church divided over preference of speaking styles to call them to be unified as the field, building, and temple of God.
The wisdom available to the church by the Spirit allows us to access the mind of Christ. We no longer can be divided in the ways of the world because the Spirit gives us the mind of Christ to be unified as one.
In every culture, there’s a common understanding of what is “wisdom.” And in every case, the gospel is revealed boldly as counter-cultural. While our world looks at power and influence as signs of wisdom, Jesus is the wisdom and power of God and his cross leads the church to be wise not in the eyes of the world but to know and proclaim “Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
Paul has his hands full with the Corinthians. The city of Corinth is a blend of multiple modern cities in our day: the metropolitan port city of Seattle, the low moral nature of Las Vegas, the idol loving false worship of Salt Lake City, and the outreach of the empire like Washington D.C. And it’s here that Paul planted a church and is them in the Gospel by reminding them to live now in light of Jesus’ future kingdom with Jesus as the Center
A year of highs and lows and knowing Jesus is alive, giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit to be with us always.
Tough times can cause hopelessness yet the scriptures and prayer can lead us to hope. We need to know How important is hope and how debilitating is hopelessness and how the bible points us to hope through Christ.
Justin and Kate share how the Father's been teaching them about gratitude, how the Bible emphasizes it and some habits we can all practice - habits that help cultivate a growing sense of gratitude in our hearts even in difficult circumstances.
We begin our new series as our elder couples share where they are seeing and experiencing God in this past year. Today, Justin and Darianne Westcott share the importance of paying attention to our inner world so that we see Jesus as the source of life.
Advent is a season of learning to wait upon the Lord. God's people, exiled in Babylon, are expectantly longing for relief. We join them to learn what it means to wait actively (not passively), looking toward Jesus, our living hope.
Advent is a season of learning to wait upon the Lord. God's people, exiled in Babylon, are expectantly longing for relief. Among them, Daniel hears from an angel about unseen battles in the spiritual realms. We join in to learn what it means to wait actively (not passively), looking toward Jesus.
Advent is a season of learning to wait upon the Lord. God's people, exiled in Babylon, are expectantly longing and praying for relief. We join them to learn what it means to wait actively (not passively), looking toward Jesus in prayer.
Advent is a season of learning to wait upon the Lord. God's people, exiled in Babylon, are expectantly longing for relief. We join them to learn what it means to wait actively (not passively), looking toward Jesus even in the midst of suffering.
The Golden Rule is a sometimes misunderstood teaching from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Let's see how this connects to the gospel and leads to the flourishing, blessed life Jesus describes.
Jesus' Sermon on the Mount describes a counter-intuitive blessed life of flourishing in his ways. He teaches us to pray for his kingdom to come...
Jesus' Sermon on the Mount describes a counter-intuitive blessed life of flourishing in his ways. Shockingly, he taught his disciples to pray to God as "Our Father."
Connected to our series on the Sermon on the Mount, we're integrating a look at Jesus' teaching on the vine and the branches.
Jesus' Sermon on the Mount describes a counter-intuitive blessed life of flourishing in his ways. We begin a series on spiritual formation...