Dwell Christian Church: Recent Episodes
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One of our last Sundays as Dwell Christian Church, we spent a time of sharing stories from the past and ultimately hopes for our future.
In the final sermon on the fruit of the spirit and spiritual discernment, we finish looking at reliable signs of true spirituality.
What does it mean to walk by the Spirit? One thing it means is to look to our hearts and find our affections in God.
Freedom is a more complicated subject then we often realize. What does Paul mean by freedom in Christ and do rules have any place in the Christian life?
Jesus commands us to abide in his love that in him we may find the strength to follow him in obedience and love one another.
How do discern real spiritual growth? Jesus gives us some clues using the imagery of a vine and its branches. We are to abide in him if we are to produce any real spiritual fruit.
Pastor Chris Tenny speaks to the seasons of life and God's seasons and how they apply to our day to day life.
Many understand that it is by faith we saved but few understand what faith alone means. Faith is about trust in Jesus. True faith in Jesus should guide us into doing good works and away from self-reliant works to justify ourselves. Faith is also a means to knowledge, to greater understanding and learning.
Jesus did not come to tell us what to do, but to serve us and deliver us from our enslavement. Too often we seek our own glory, even in the name of serving Christ and thus abuse our power. It is the abuse of power Christ came against, to free to us from using others to serving others with joy.
Abraham is a well story but we sometimes forget he was Abram first. He was not as “blessed” as we may perceive and his life is a life of faith in the one who blessed. Have we too forgotten whose we are?
Continuing in our new series Life Explored, guest speaker Pastor Steve Patton shared with us from Mark 10:17-31, The Trustworthy God.
The Bible asserts us that God is good and that this is something creation makes clear, and is reflected in our own humanity. The trouble is don't always seem like he is good. But rather than questioning his goodness, perhaps we should wrestle with what we think is good and if the good we wish he was is actually good.
Three things we learn from Psalm 37 about delighting in the Lord and finding the desires of our hearts.
How do we love people with whom we disagree? In Romans 15:1-13 Paul says it is the gospel that we find what we need in order to love those whom we disagree. We are challenged by how Christ has challenged and encouraged us so that we can lay aside our preferences for the sake of others.
Christians are not under the law, but they are under grace and to love one another. Every once in awhile a Christian needs to wake up, put on Christ and fulfill the law of love.
The Bible encourages us to submit to governing authorities. We are given reasons for the good government does as well as its limits. By having a realistic view of government we can help but politics back in its rightful place.
How can we have genuine love in the face of changing emotions and circumstances? What does genuine love even look like? In this passage, we examine the foundation of genuine love, the radicalness of genuine love and the relentlessness of love in the face of evil and hardship.
In our third sermon on spiritual gifts, we look at kingly gifts, gifts of leadership and organization. Leadership is redefined by Jesus as service but our weakness and brokenness often get in the way of using our gifts to bless. The good news is God can use our greatest weakness to give us great hope.
The second part in our series on spiritual gifts. The prophetic gifts are those associated with knowledge and speaking. What are these gifts and how should they be used?
Paul says in Romans 12:1-2 that in light of all that God has done in Christ to give us salvation, we should give of our whole selves to serve him and others. We continually offer ourselves up as living sacrifices by not conforming to this world but to be transformed through a mind renewed by the Spirit and learning God’s will to be true in lives.
Romans 9 discusses the difficult questions about Israel in light of the gospel and their status as God’s “elect.” God remains free to show his grace to whom he chooses and this is beyond human understanding. God’s actions to save are always rooted in his character and gracious and merciful and not in favoritism. His purposes remain redemptive and to incorporate people into his purposes to redeem.
Romans 8:26-30 gives us assurance how God is working in the midst of our struggles. The Spirit of God himself groans within us. That God can use anything to shape us in Christ and that we are destined for glory.
Life is filled with a lot of difficulty and suffering, whether due to our sin or our human frailty. We often wonder why God would permit us to go through such difficulties and struggle with the lack of an answer. But Paul does tell us that in the gospel and sovereign God who suffers with us, we groan, wait, and hope.
Guest Speaker Paul Nunez shares with us from Romans 8:11-17 about the mortification of sin.
Romans 8 begins with one of the great statements in scripture that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. We are assured to escape God's judgment against sin. This fills us with great hope and with great humility.
Romans tells us we are justified by faith in Christ apart from the law. So what should be a Christian’s relationship to the law now? In this passage, we explore three ways the Gospel calls us to live free from the law.
Paul addresses the second question in Romans 6 that if a Christian is not under the law, do they have a license to sin. He argues now we are bound by grace. We are no longer a slave to sin but a slave to God. We often think freedom must be the ability to chose to do what we desire without outside influence. But freedom is not so simplistic nor desirable. Sin leads to death but being a slave to God leads to life everlasting with God and others.
Guest Speaker Pastor Justin Buzzard, (Garden City Church), shared from us from the book of Mark.
In 2 Samuel 9, we explore one of the most powerful pictures of the kindness of God. David has ascended to the throne and is looking to show kindness for the sake of Jonathan to anyone from the house of Saul. The only person still alive from the house of Saul is a destitute cripple named Mephibosheth. In this passage, we examine what it means that God’s kindness is really “covenant" kindness, and what it means for Christians to live every day as recipients of God’s covenant kindness.
The Bible depicts Adam as the one who brought sin into the world and spread it to us all. Individually everyone falls short of God’s ideal and corporately we all contribute to the problem as well. But Paul wants to make clear that grace abounds more and more over sin. God’s grace does not just cancel out sin but is a power far greater than the power of sin in our life. If we receive death through Adam because of sin, we receive grace and eternal life through Jesus.
Paul pauses in Romans 5:1-11 to reflect on the immense blessings we have in being made right with God. Peace with God gives us hope to not only merely survive life’s difficulties but to be made better by them. It is the love of God that has been poured into our hearts and gives us a peace that is more than simply the absence of enemies, but a thriving joy filled life.
Christianity is not about having faith like giants such as Abraham, but about having a faith like Abraham, in the God who can do the impossible. Often we fail to see the significance of ordinary lives of sacrifice and miss that our faith is in the God who gives life to the dead. Paul shows that faith to resist to do good and resist evil, it's about mustering up the strength but about trusting God to give life to the dead, the God who raised Jesus from the dead.
What does it mean to live by faith? Paul uses the story of Abraham to show that God has always used people who simply trust him. Abraham’s life is an example of faith through the ups and downs, was oriented towards God and for the sake of those who would believe.
The heart of Paul’s gospel in Romans is that we are justified by faith in Christ. In this message we look at what that means and how we receive the righteousness of God through Christ, and what differences that makes for us individually and even socially in our fractured society.
Romans 3:9-20 is Paul’s concluding argument that all humanity is under the power of sin. It is a part of the story that we have rebelled against our Creator and that all the sin and evil in the world is the result of us cutting ourselves off from God. Despite the strong belief in our individual goodness, even our culture tells stories exploring the depths of human evil that are peculiar to the modern world. Stories of machines taking over, rebelling against their creators, human beings, resemble the Biblical narrative but differ in important ways that reveal God’s goodness and mercy to redeem a fallen race.
A large portion of the Bible tells the story of Israel which we often neglect in stressing the offer of salvation through Jesus. This can cause many of us to wonder if God's plan really worked or that the gospel was plan B. Paul says the failures of Israel does not cancel out God's faithfulness and his grace doesn't give a license for sin either.
Romans 2:17-29 continues Paul’s critique of religion and says traditional markers of Jewish identity were no good if their obedience did not come from the heart. In this, we see a critique of cultural pride and thinking our way is better than another. But we also see God bringing different kinds of people together through the gospel and repairing our divisions through repenting of cultural pride and living by the Spirit.
The picture of human idolatry and immorality in Romans 1 gets a lot of attention. But equally important is Romans 2 depicting the arrogance religious people. We start this section looking at religious hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is a danger for everyone, but especially the religious who are rightly criticized by the irreligious often uses things taught by their own faith. The solution then is found in a deeper understanding of the gospel not a denial of it. It is to move beyond a superficial faith and become a whole people that embody grace based correction and judgmental law based correction.
In our Romans series, we will pause to look at challenging topics such as Rom. 1:26-27. In this message we seek to make a case for compassion, to address what scripture says, to ask what we do with it today, and to provide hope through the gospel for we have been washed, sanctified and justified by the Lord Jesus Christ, awaiting our eternal glory in Christ. Following the sermon is a Q&A.
Paul beings to unpack the state of human sinfulness in the second half of chapter one. The primary problem is our rejection of God, our lack of trust in him not specific sins. Two things are asserted here that people really struggle to hear, the wrath of God and human sinfulness. But this is good news, for God’s wrath is an expression of his love and understanding sin helps diagnosis our problem.
Romans 1:16-17 contains Paul’s thesis for the whole letter that God has shown his righteousness in the power of the gospel to saved anyone. Paul is not only trying to spell out what the gospel is and what it means throughout the letter, but also how it unites people to God in Christ and to each other in the church.
Luke ends on a strange note but it assures us that Paul’s message is about Jesus and the kingdom of God just as Jesus’ message was. It assures us that the gospel will go forward not simply in spite of but in the very midst of hardships and opposition. The very nature of a message about salvation through a crucified and resurrected Savior who is also Lord also characterizes the lives of those who are called to follow him. Paul’s life embodies this message and so should ours. A message of sacrifice undergirded with hope.
Acts 27 contains a detailed account of a shipwreck where God providentially spared Paul and everyone else on the ship. This is not just an engaging story, but one that instructs us in how God works in his providence to accomplish his purposes: to show us his goodness and mercy, to take the gospel to all people, and to see his hand in everyday things.
Paul appears before various councils and courts all accusing him of violating their laws and inciting riots. None of the accusations are true and it appears that God’s mission to bring his kingdom to all the world is not really working very well. However, this is the type of thing Jesus said would happen and is in fact the manner in which God often works, demonstrating his power in our weakness. It is the hope of the resurrection that enables Paul to be faithful and have joy in the midst of challenging circumstances.
Acts 19 gives us a picture of how a whole city can change through gospel ministry that challenges the idols of the city and sets people free. Ephesus worshipped Artemis but when people threw away their idols and trusted Jesus changed the economy and created conflict in the city. Just as in Ephesus work and idols are often connected. Jesus challenges our work idols in 3 ways and gives us a new purpose and direction for our work.
Guest Speaker Mark Lewis, Engage Coordinator at Cityteam Ministries, shared from 1 Timothy on the topic of living a true life.
Paul’s sermon to the elite of Athens is a tremendous example of finding common ground with a culture to affirm some things, challenge others, and bring redemption through the gospel. But it begins with Paul troubled by the idols in the city and their distorted ways of thinking about God. For all of their education and thirst for knowledge, they still need to turn from what they image God to be, to the God who has shown himself to us in Jesus Christ.
God calls Paul to go to Macedonia and beings in the city of Philippi. He encounters three different people in the city, a business woman, a slave girl, and a jailor. Each is impacted by the gospel and Jesus gives them freedom they didn’t have before.
Acts 15 is an important passage showing how the church came to unity about the inclusion of non-Jews into the church. Based on scripture, the apostles early testimonies, and the gospel itself they conclude Gentiles don’t have to be like Jews to be saved… but they cannot live like they used to live either. This passage points towards how to understand the Old Testament and law in relationship to gospel, dealing with cultural conflict in the church, and some lessons about what the gospel may say today given about racial conflict.
Guest Speaker Pastor Mike Garner from Paraclete Mission Group shares with us from Mark 5:21-34, on faith, honor and shame, and how God wants to heal us deep down inside.
Guest Speaker Ali Roohi from CenterSet Church in Santa Clara shares from 1 Kings 19:19-21 on life's purpose and God's plans.
We don't petition God because deep down, we don't believe He is good. But God is unlike our earthly fathers and desperately wants to give us good things if we would go to Him.
After the important conversion of Cornelius, Paul and Barnabas are sent to take the gospel to the non-Jewish people. Acts 11-14 give us highlights of their efforts. In this message we look at how God’s Spirit led the efforts and how Paul was strategic in reaching cities as well as making sense of the gospel to Jews familiar with the Bible, and to Greeks who were not.
Justin Nelson teaches on Acts 10, where we study the story of Peter and the Roman Centurion, Cornelius. They each are great examples of people that have hearts that God can work with. We find that the posture of the heart determines your eternal destiny and intimacy with God; not your background, your cultural preferences or works.
After Stephen is stoned, Christians began to be spread out throughout the region. The gospel begins to move and impact beyond Jerusalem. Philip goes to the people of Samaria who are under the spell of Simon the Magician, a man of power. The gospel challenges the powers of this world and brings reconciliation and restoration through the grace of God in Christ.
Acts 7 gives us the story of Stephen, a man full of the Spirit who did full gospel ministry in word and deed. Stephen shows us the limits of religion and God’s grace extending beyond what his opponents imagined. When God fills us with his Spirit we move to a life poured out for others and gain a truer picture of Jesus.
Acts contains frequent confrontations due to the Apostles gospel ministry. This was characteristic of Jesus’ ministry too. They persist in obeying God rather than men which results in punishment. Yet they rejoice that they would suffer and Jesus would be made much. Knowing Jesus is our King gives us strength to not be concerned with worldly praise.
The church in Acts is depicted as the ideal community, afulfillment of God’s promises to redeem humanity. Community issomething lots of people desire but few seem to be able to find. Inthis sermon we look at what makes the church thrive and what causesit breakdown.
Jesus continues his work through Peter and John. A man who can’t walk is healed and Peter and John testify that it is the risen Jesus who healed him. Some people respond in belief, but the cultural elites arrest them and try to stop a movement. The claim, just as controversial then as today, is that Jesus is the only name by which people are saved.
Acts 2 recounts Pentecost with the Spirit of God descending on people of all kinds. It is amazing promise and a reversal of so much of the division in humanity. The Spirit of God is able to cross any cultural barrier because of what Christ has done and the affect it has on those who repent and believe in him.
Acts 1 records Jesus last instructions to his disciples and he gives the church its mission to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. The Christian mission is resisted for various reasons today but in Jesus’ words and his ascension we find hope to go in the power of the Holy Spirit and we minister to people in the name of Christ.
Guest speaker Paul Nunez shares with us about maintaining our faith in God during times of struggle.
The Sunday after Jesus’ was crucified the disciples were hiding. Then the risen Jesus appears and speaks peace to them. The reality of Jesus’ resurrection brings the dawning of a new day in the midst of darkness. The result in believing in the risen Jesus moves us from fear to joy, and from hiding to serving his mission because we have peace at last.
The Beatitudes are some of Jesus’ most famous words. Here he sets out what his kingdom will be like. The kingdom of God is counter to any kingdom or government we have known. It is an upside down kingdom. It is also an inside out kingdom. The kingdom of God is not something we earn or are entitled but it is a gift given to those who know they need grace and mercy.
The last sermon on our series The Seven Deadly Sins: Vainglory. Vainglory is the sin of hypocrisy. It loves attention and doing things just for the show. When we seek our own glory we become more empty and a shadow of who we ought to be. Yet in seeking God’s glory we become reflectors of his glory and free from the entrapments of trying to please people.
Guest speaker Pastor Joey Wang from Chinese for Christ Church of San Jose shared with us about the importance of following through with plans to the end. Examining the struggles and successes we each face.
The sixth message in our series on the seven deadly sins is Sloth. Sloth is misunderstood as laziness when it also speaks to busyness. The thread is really about a resistance to the demands of love for God and for others. The spirit of sloth leads us to despair or avoidance to do what we ought to do. Freedom is found where we least want to find it, remaining faithful to our calling just as God was faithful to us in Christ.
The fifth sermon in our Seven Deadly Sins series: Wrath. Wrath is something we often associate with violence and few of us see ourselves as violent people but Jesus says anger and hatred makes us as guilty as a murderer. We all struggle with anger and often mistake our unrighteous anger for a righteous indignation not as God but against ourselves. But God’s wrath is combined with his love for us in Christ. It drove him to redeem us rather than destroy us, how do we do the same in our anger with others?
Our fourth message in the seven deadly sins is envy. Envy is aimed at people who have what we want and is driven by our own pride and insecurities. It would be better if that person was not in our way. Throughout scripture when it is not dealt with, it drives people to kill. But Christ is able to turn our envy in zeal for him and his name when we reflect on the evil of envy and all that we have in Christ.
Guest Pastor Gary Vanderet shared with us the importance of being a living church from Acts 2:41-47.
The third vice in our series on the seven deadly sins is greed. Jesus warns more about greed than lust and says that everyone needs to constantly be on guard against greed or coveting. Our consumeristic culture is constantly enticing us to buy more things and convincing us of things we do not need. At issue is not how much we have but what we want and in the end we cannot serve both God and money. We will either serve one or the other.
Gluttony is thought of today as the sin of being fat. There is little doubt that Americans have a problem with food and many of us struggle with it. Gluttony is not about what we eat but more about how we eat. That we should not let it control us but enjoy as a gift from God for our good.
Lust is a topic everyone knows churches talk about and get the impression sex is something we ought to avoid, or only for having children. Lust is not about sex itself but about the selfish use of it. For Christians, sex is the culmination of committed love, its fundamentally relational and becomes the ground for a family. Lust only uses others for the benefit of one person and leaves the person more empty than they were before. But Christ gives us a new hope for new desires that we can give and receive love as we ought.
The seven deadly sins conjures up all kinds of things in popular culture and lots misunderstandings. They are the roots for all kinds of habits that can ruin our lives and expose the false self we believe ourselves to be. Paul instructs us to set our minds on where Christ is, sitting in triumph over sin and death and to see our life is now in him by faith. Our real self is the one who has died and risen with Christ and we should leave the false self, and its deadly vices behind. We do this by devoting ourselves to Christ and not to lesser things.
Special guest speaker Gary Vanderet from Peninsula Bible Church in Willow Glen shares with us the story of Christmas through a historical look at Christ's genealogy.
Guest Speaker Chad Francis shares with us from the book of Philemon. We look at Philemon as an example of a fully gospel-integrated life. Living a gospel-shaped life is messy and will feel/look radical, but it's what our souls are thirsty for. The hope for this sermon is to point people to be refreshed in God by living in light of the gospel in the everyday things of life, powered by the igniting love of God.
The delay of Christ’s return is a reflection of God’s patience towards sinners. God’s patience is a reflection of his kindness and mercy intended to lead us to repentance. Much like we anticipate Christmas, so too should we anticipate the return of Christ with holy anticipation. Preparing ourselves to be ready for his return.
Advent is a season about the hope of Christ’s coming. In 2 Peter 3:1-10 he answers why God delays and what will happen when he does. Ultimately the imminent return of Christ is about living a godly life now instead of investing in things that will pass away.Yet God delay’s because of his marvelous patience with us, not wishing anyone to miss out on his kingdom
2 Peter continues with his concern that some false teachers are leading Christians astray. Heresy is a word filled with problems and we talk some about what it is and isn’t. But Peter’s primary concern for them is how they live more than what they teach. In the end there are people who advocate a false freedom that is no solution for the human problem of sin. It sounds like freedom but its really another enslavement.
The topic of hell has been prone to lots of misunderstandings and caricatures ever since the middle ages. Today we tend to think of God as putting people against their will in a torture chamber. But this is not the Biblical picture. The final judgment is terrifying but also hope filled in that God will put an end to evil. While we wait, like Noah and Lot we trust in God’s ability to rescue people even in the midst of unrighteousness.
The second message in our series on 2 Peter recounts when Peter, James, and John saw the transfiguration. The moment when they were given a glimpse of who Jesus is in all his majesty before his death. He asserts that what they saw was real, it was a fulfillment of scripture and it revealed Jesus as is and when he comes again. The rightful ruler of the earth who will judge all and bring an end to darkness.
This is the first sermon in our series on 2 Peter. There is a tendency for some to think the Christian life is impossible or that it doesn’t really matter what we do. Peter says we have all we need in Christ to be who God made us to be. God has given us the basis and the motive, we simply have to make a conscious effort to grow in faith, hope and love in order that God’s kingdom life may be realized in us.
Special guest Paul Nunez speaks on Luke 19:1-10 and the story of Zacchaeus encountering Jesus. Zacchaeus was a wealthy man who was seen as a traitor and a thief. Yet upon meeting Jesus he is transformed and ceases using his position of power for his own benefit. When we see ourselves in Zacchaeus’ story we are confronted by both God’s scandalous grace and the call to repentance in a life of faith.
The mission of the church is as much about doing good as it is about proclaiming the gospel. This is an essential part of the gospel itself. However, caring for those in need is very difficult and there is much wisdom in making sure we attend to both spiritual and physical needs and exercise discernment in getting it to the people who need it most.
The mission of the church has become a large debate due to the changing relationship the church has with western culture. In this message we talk about what the mission of the church is, how it is not what many fear it is, and ways that we can pursue it in everyday life. The hope is that the church embodies unity in Christ through a fellowship of very different people.
Everyone needs to be in community and yet many still struggle with loneliness. We cannot belong to just any community but to one that enables us to thrive and pushes us to do so. Jesus gives us access to our heavenly Father and this becomes the basis for our ability to be in community with each other. This community is the church whose purpose it is to draw near to God in faith, persevere in hope, and provoke one another to love and good deeds.
John 5 records another instance of Jesus’ healing someone on the Sabbath which raises the ire of the religious leaders. This leads Jesus to state as the Father is working so is the Son. This raises questions about what work and rest is really about and something we all struggle with in fast paced Silicon Valley. What we need is a better understanding of work and rest and how they are related to God’s redemptive work.
Guest speaker David Alvarez, Healing Pastor at The River Church Community, shares with us from Matthew 7:1-12 on the topic of living life well.
In the second week of our Rhythms series we look at how we grow towards loving God and loving our neighbor. Paul says we should be emulate the sacrificial love of Christ and redeem the time. There are many things that seek to distract us from things that are better and more fulfilling. In this message we cover a few basic tips for cultivating routines individually and corporately that reorient towards a life of love for God and others.
What is the goal of your life? What drives you to do what you do? Today the message we often hear is that we need to find for ourselves what our purpose is. Jesus is posed this question and his answer surprises everyone with its simplicity and what it demands of us. Rather than determine for ourselves life’s goal, we find meaning and purpose is loving God and loving our neighbor.
2 Kings 25 ends with the southern kingdom, Judah, taken into exile at the hands of Babylon. It appears as though God’s covenantal promises are falling apart. However, the exile has always been a part of the storyline in the Bible and the book ends with a glimmer of hope beyond exile. Jehoiachin is seated at the king’s table. God is faithful and will bring a New Exodus, a greater restoration that overshadow the old.