Fruit of the Spirit: Goodness

Galatians 5 - 28.02.10
Fruit of the Spirit: Goodness

Throughout scripture we see different sides to the sea. The sea first appears in Genesis as this raging chaos, until the Spirit calms it. It violently destroys in the story of Noah, but in the Exodus, the sea becomes a protector and guardian for the Israelites. To the Israelites, the sea is a place of uncertainty, a place that could be good to them, or could be evil.

Throughout scripture, we learn that the human heart is like the sea.

Download "Goodness" from Freechurch.ca

Watch the music video that accompanied "Goodness"

Fruit of the Spirit: Joy

Galatians 5 - 31.01.10
Fruit of the Spirit: Joy

Joy is a strange thing to dissect. What is joy? It it happiness, or something deeper? Is it temporal? Where does it come from?

Download "Joy" from Freechurch.ca

Watch the music video that accompanied "Joy"

Influences:

Nothing influenced me more than this. Take the time to meditate on it.

Reconstructing Christmas: Celebrating

Revelation 5 - 20.12.09
Reconstructing Christmas: Celebrating

In the book of Revelation we are given the image of a scroll. Inside of this scroll are written all of the promises of God: peace, love, reconciliation, redemption, comfort, glory, joy... but no one could be found who was worthy to open the scroll.

Download "Reconstructing Christmas: Celebrating" from Freechurch.ca

Reconstructing Christmas: Feasting

Genesis to Revelation - 06.12.09
Reconstructing Christmas: Feasting

In the book of Genesis, the story starts with people, God, and food. At the end of the Bible, in Revelation, there are people from every nation, God, and a feast.

When Jesus tells his disciples that he is going to be betrayed, he is sharing a meal with them, and when he resurrects they eat again.

Why is there such a focus on food in the Bible? What does the meal say about the new creation? Why should we feast?


Download "Reconstructing Christmas: Feasting" from Freechurch.ca

What you can't hear:

On the Tuesday after this sermon we gathered together for our Winter 09 Love Feast. It was a real feast, complete with a five course vegan meals, beautiful aesthetics, live music, and great people from our Church and the neighborhood. In the center of it all was a seat of glory for God, to remind us where He belongs in our feasting. It was one of the most serene experiences of my life.

Influences:

Love Feasts!

I think you're in my seat...

2 Corinthians 5: 17-20 - 22.11.09
I think you're in my seat...

A lot of people talk about how we can tell people about Jesus, but there is another question that is just as valuable: why? Why should we should bother telling people about Jesus and the gospel of reconciliation?


Download "I think you're in my seat..." from Freechurch.ca

What you can't hear:

The throne above was there for the whole sermon... just so you know.

Influences:

Surprised by Hope - N.T. Wright
II Corinthians - Frank J. Matera

Deepest Magic

1 John 4: 7-8 - 01.11.09
Deepest Magic

Every story has a force that propels it, a fuel, an engine. The Christian story claims to be the true story of the universe, the story that holds together all the other stories: what is its engine?

A sermon about a God who is eternally committed to the seemingly absurd and illogical notion that this place and these people are worth saving, and who refuses to be motivated by anything but pure, true, good, break-you-open-pour-you-out love.

Download "Deepest Magic" from Freechurch.ca

Influences:

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling
The Drama of Scripture - Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen

"Going" and "Being"

Acts 2: 42-47 - 11.10.09
"Going" and "Being"

It's simple. So simple. But we forget it every day: church is a family.

Not a building, not a time in the week; a group of people coming together as family. We say its obvious, but we ask people: "What church do you go to?"

"What family do you go to? How was family last night? I am family shopping."

If we think of church as something that we go to, then we show up, smile, consume our spiritual goods, and go on our way. If we think of church as something that we are, then everything will change. There is a world of difference between "going" to something, and "being" something.


Sermon not recorded properly.

Influences:

Derek Webb - She must and shall go free (album)
No Perfect People Allowed - John Burke
George Hunsberger's essay in Evangelical Ecclessiology - John Stackhouse Jr.

"What is that to you?"

John 21 - 20.09.09
"What is that to you?"

There is this moment in John's Gospel where Peter betrays Jesus three times next to a charcoal fire. He is broken, ashamed, and lost. Later, the resurrected Jesus sits Peter down next to a charcoal fire and asks him three times if he loves him. Peter is forgiven, empowered, and given the most important mission of all time. His response to this incredible, personal, history-altering moment? He points to someone else and says "What about him?"

We have all been forgiven, equipped, and trusted with a mission that will change the world. Each of us has an individual calling to do things that only we can do, to bring God's Kingdom in ways only we can. How often is our response to point to the person next to us and ask "What about him? What about her? Why does he get that house? Why is she so good at that?"

Jesus' response? "What is that to you? You follow me."

A sermon about always asking "What is that to me?"

The sermon was not recorded at FreeChurch, but a similar one was at Hope Fellowship. Click for the download.

Influences

Name (Nooma) - Rob Bell
A hundred conversations with a hundred people who feel the same thing

dead people's bones

Matthew 23: 27-28 - 23.08.09
dead people's bones

Jesus points out two ways of existing. In one we are filled with living waters that overflow into life. In the other we are like a tomb filled with dead people's bones.


Not recorded.

Wrestling

Matthew 15: 21-28 - 09.08.09
Wrestling

In the ancient world, your name was more than just a title, it spoke to the core of who you were. The name of God's chosen people? Israel.

Israel means "wrestles with God."

A teaching about wrestling with God and man.

Download a clip of "Wrestling" from Freechurch.ca

Influences:

The Orthodox Heretic - Peter Rollins (specifically the parable "The Final Trail")
Kester Brewin's parable "Footprints" (http://www.kesterbrewin.com/2009/09/04/winning-a-parable-competition/)
Derek Webb - Stockholm Syndrome (album)
Being able to be honest with God about things He already knows

more like Rome

Matthew 6: 9-10 - 02.08.09
more like Rome

Earth, glory, sin, death, order, chaos, anti-kingdom, redemption, cosmos, escapism, justice, dancing and the reconciliation of all things.

What is Christianity really about?


Download 'more like Rome' from Freedomize.com

Influences

Books:
Surprised by Hope - N.T. Wright (or any of his other work, specifically 'Simply Christian')
The Drama of Scripture - Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen

Other:
Mockingbird - Derek Webb (Album)

the Rabbi and the Talmidim

Matthew 4 - 14.06.09
the Rabbi and the Talmidim

Jesus calls a bunch of fishermen to leave everything and follow him, and they just do it. No questions, no doubts. They just go. Why?

Not recorded.

Influences:

The Rabbi and the Talmidim - Ray Vanderlaan (http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2753)