Renew Communities Teaching Podcast

As the threat of sickness spread throughout our world last year the one thing we were told we could do was create a bubble to keep ourselves, our families, and others safe. It’s not long before bubbles become barriers and barriers become walls meant to keep others away and to keep us safe. The problem with these walls is what you do with them after. Many of us chose to live with unnecessary walls that keep the relationships we need and the life we want out of reach which means we suffer all in the name of staying safe. It’s a mess. In our final week of this series, we’ll learn to identify which walls should stay and which walls should go and we’ll explore why a little risk can bring big reward.

Everyone agrees that our world is more divided than ever. But if you ask them why you’ll find there’s little to no agreement. Though, the one thing we can all agree on is it’s somebody else’s fault! In week 3 we explore the core element of what divides us, what role we each play in that division and the steps we can take to end the division.

You don’t go through challenging times without picking up some baggage. The circumstances you fight through, the losses you suffer, the relationships that come to an end, the opportunities missed - all of these are bags we carry through from our last mess to the next one. In week 3 we work through how to appropriately unpack the baggage we’ve been hauling around what happens when we don’t.

When tensions are high relationships are fragile. In the last year, it has felt like so much is riding on every single moment. In moments like these, we can either inflict or receive the most pain from the people we’re closest to. Most of the time we can name the hurt, identify the culprit, analyze the circumstances and address the pain but none of that is cleaning up the mess the broken relationship has caused. On Sunday we worked through how to clean up after someone has done you wrong (or you have done someone wrong) and how forgiveness is the key.

Your story is uniquely yours! Just because it’s your story doesn’t mean it’s only meant for you. God wants to use your story to help others with similar stories understand how they fit in God’s big story. In the final week of our series Finding Your Place, we talk about what it looks like to tell your story in a way that introduces others to God!

Have you ever thought about how unique the things you care about are? Nobody has the same combination of passions that you do. What if God gave you those passions to direct your heart on mission? In week 3 of our series, we’ll talk about how your passions can point you towards the mission God has for you!

God has given you specific gifts and abilities through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit! In week 2 we’ll discuss how you’re gifted, how to identify your gift and how to begin using your gift to accomplish God’s mission in the world!

Our God’s on a mission. He is working to restore all that was lost at the fall. Paul tells us that if you are in Christ you’ve been made new but he also says that Jesus has give the ministry of reconciliation to us. We have been given the charge to join God on His mission! The mission of Jesus is more than just service projects and good deeds, it’s the opportunity to introduce our friends and neighbors to the one who is making all things new.

Jesus is “The Christ” which means “the anointed one.” As the Messiah Jesus was “annointed’ to fulfill God’s mission and purpose. Watch or listen as we discuss what it means for Jesus to be the Christ and how “beholding him” in this way should shape our life.

There’s a reason that the author of Hebrews tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus. It’s been said that “You become what you behold” and so how we focus on Jesus can bring significant transformation to our lives! In week 4 we’ll talk about how we can fix our eyes on Jesus and we’ll practice beholding him together.

On Christmas we focus our attention on the Baby Jesus but the one who's laying in the manger is the King who has come and is coming again! In our Christmas Eve service we talk about the impact of a King that rules with truth and grace and why it's good news that God's Kingdom is both already and not yet and we we talk about a few things we can do to truly celebrate what Christmas is all about.

Joshua was called to lead God’s people into the promised land. He was their first leader after the death of Moses which meant he had some pretty big shoes to fill. Joshua was always certain that God was with his people and would provide what he promised but in this new season of leadership, God reminds Joshua that he’ll need both strength and courage to see the mission through. As we introduce our 2020 theme we’ll talk about what the strength and courage God is calling Joshua to have is, why it’s so important and how we too can be strong and courageous.

There's an obvious spiritual impact that comes from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ but it goes far beyond the personal implications that we often focus on. There has been a spiritual battle raging throughout human history but Jesus’ resurrection results in the ultimate victory. In week 3 of our series we talk through this cosmic battle and what the victory of God means for us in our everyday lives.

In Philipians 3 Paul talks about a desire to know Jesus, but he talks about knowing him in a way we most often don’t think about. Paul doesn’t just want to know the resurrection power of Jesus but he wants to participate with Jesus in His suffering and death. Through the Lenten season we are reminded of the intense physical suffering that Jesus endured but what if there was a way that we could connect our suffering to the suffering Jesus experienced that could bring a closeness with Jesus that goes beyond our current circumstances.