Renew Communities Teaching Podcast

The Christian's practice of eating the “Lord’s Supper” dates back to the night of the last supper. We were given this meal as a way to remember, or to focus our attention on, the body and blood of Jesus. In the first week of Lent, we will speak of its importance, how participating in it together can usher us into communion with Him and why beholding Jesus as He is should be so important for us as Christians.

What is celebrated gets repeated and what is glorified gets our allegiance. In our final week of Bridging the Gap, we take a look at what we're celebrating and glorifying, how it's impacting our lives, and what kind of revisions God is calling us to make so that we celebrate and glorify Him!

One of the most powerful statements that Jesus makes in the gospels is "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me." The strength of this statement is stunning for those of us living in a "post-truth" society.In week 3 of our Bridging the Gap series, we talk about how we got here, the toll a lack of truth takes on our lives, and the one revision we MUST make to live faithfully for Jesus.

When we live with the end in mind it makes us think through every decision we make along the way. Peter is inviting us to live our daily lives with a focus on eternity because he believes it will transform the way we live our lives and encourage us to invite others into God’s family. In week 2 of our Bridging the Gap series, we take a look at how this can bring personal revision and how an awareness of God’s presence in our lives is the key to our relationship with Him.

Far too often we miss the point and purpose of life. The good news is that your purpose in life is connected to God’s purpose in this world and when we can see where we fit it helps us see how we should live our lives. Peter tells us that Jesus is coming back but before He does God wants to save as many people as possible! In week one of our Bridge the Gap series, we’ll look at how God’s long-term plans should impact our everyday living and how those daily decisions can be used by God to accomplish his purpose in and through your life.

In the last part of Haggai we are reminded that our obedience and our faithfulness can go viral and we have a choice to make about what we spread throughout our world.

2020 has shaken us in many ways. Normal life, whatever that means, is gone. Many things look completely different than they did in 2019. Our relationships, our jobs, our world, even our faith. We are going to take a look at the Book of Haggai to explore what it looks like to rebuild our lives when our lives and the world are in disorder.

In the beginning of Haggai we see a people finally released from exile and returning back to their homeland. For decades they have longed for the chance to return to the Temple and experience communion with God again but when they get home they turn their attention to rebuilding their own homes instead. Haggai asks them what’s more important, their own personal homes or their allegiance to God.

Christmas Eve is the day we focus on the birth of Jesus. The idea that God would put on flesh and blood and move into the neighborhood should blow our minds. He wants to move in with us? This Christmas Eve we’ll tackle all the reasons our hearts say Jesus shouldn’t want to make His home with us and we’ll talk about how His presence deals with each of those issues directly.

Let’s face it. Most of us have felt trapped by 2020. It’s not only the pandemic - it’s everything! The question is how do you get unstuck so you can live the life you were made to live free of all the things that make us feel stuck.

If you’re like me when my house is messy my heart feels messy. Sometimes I’ve made the mess but most of the time it’s someone else and we all just wait to see who will make the first move to clean things up so our house can be a comforting place to live. In week 3 of our Home for Christmas series we’ll talk about how we clean up the mess of our lives so we can feel at home in our own skin or in our families and how Jesus is the only one who can really clean things up.

Most of us have mental snapshots of a moment in our lives where we felt like we were right where we belonged. The embrace of a parent, the smile of a sibling, the laughter around the table. It’s how we know we belong. Christmas reminds us that God has invited us to join his family and he embraces us as his children. In week 2 we talk about what it means to belong to the family of God even in the midst of this crazy world.

There’s something comforting about coming home. You’re supposed to feel safe, loved, cared for, rested and happy at home. When we face the tough times and the hard days we have a longing to get back home. That longing is about more than a physical location or a heart full of memories, that longing was built into us by God and we’re longing to be at home with Him. In week 1 of our home for Christmas series we’ll talk about the longing for home that’s built into all of us and how we actually make our home with Him.

The way the world tells us to love ourselves is vastly different from the way God teaches us to love ourselves. In the final week of our “What Christians Do” series, we look at what God tells us is the greatest commandment and what it means to love ourselves.

We live in complex times which creates a need to find answers to complex questions. There is no shortage of people who are willing to direct our steps but the question is what do Christians do when we have big questions in our life? In this weeks teaching we discuss how seeking and knowing Jesus can help us filter things through his heart and teaching.

Have you ever thought about what the core of your worry or anxiety is? We generally can identify the symptoms but often we don't dig deep enough to find the cause which is almost always that we lack the ability to control what is happening in our world. In this week's teaching we discuss what Christians do with worry and anxiety and we learn what it means to relax in Jesus.

Every four years we get the opportunity to choose who we want to lead our country. This blessing seems to have turned into a curse lately as there is more division and dissension in our nation than at any time in recent memory. In our final look at “What Christians Do” with politics we take a look at how Jesus responded when “forced to choose” politically and we’ll work to follow Him as we do the same.

These days our world is full of rumors and rumblings about all sorts of things. When we let our hearts be captured by these rumors and rumblings we can be lead into all sorts of interesting conclusions and allegiances. Our hearts are easily captured by these theories or ideas and we can find ourselves living from a place of fear, suspicion or even anger without even knowing for certain they’re true. The question is what do Christians do in a world full of rumors and rumblings and how does following Jesus offer us hope in a world full of confusion.

Jesus lived in politically polarized times just like we did. He has a very direct warning for his followers about how they should engage and what they should do. In this week’s sermon we talk about how to be on guard and what happens if we don’t.

Part of loving God is trusting God with what God has entrusted to us. This is easier said than done. We most often live with a mindset that we need all we have and most often we need more! Whenever Jesus talked about money he works to redirect our focus from provisions to provider but it takes more than thinking about money the right way. What Christians do with their money opens the door to a greater love for God.