Sunwest Fc's Weekly Sermon Podcast

2024-06-23: Bruce and his wife Lisa live in Saskatoon, have been married 35 years, and have four adult daughters. Bruce pastored at Forest Grove Community Church for 21 years and has been the General Director of Multiply for the past two years. He loves to help connect the church locally and globally, and this week's message will focus on different aspects of what it means to be 'lost' and how Jesus continually invites us into a bigger kingdom story.

2024-06-16: As we look back on this series, we have talked about why the church exists and what the church is all about, but we haven’t yet talked about how the church should be. Jesus set an example for the church to emulate. He showed us how to use whatever influence and power we might have in this world. Unfortunately, sometimes this is not the posture people think of when they think of the church. Join us this week as we reflect on the life of Jesus and challenge ourselves to follow his example.

2024-06-09: Through history, more so than today, families often had a business. A business that would be passed on through the generations. Perhaps a farm, perhaps a service company, or a trade that was learned from the older generation. If one of the primary metaphors for the church is family, what would be the family business? What is the work that the family of God has been entrusted to continue?

2024-06-02: People in church often talk about "living a full and meaningful life". But do you ever feel for all that talk your life just doesn't seem to match up? It feels too fast. Too mundane. Too much work. Not enough joy and peace. But what if Jesus was serious about this fulness of life and peace stuff? What if there was a gift waiting for you that could be the remedy for all that angst? Jesus said there was. Maybe it's time to take a risk on opening the gift he gave you.

2024-05-26 We live in an undercurrent of aloneness, not enough-ness, and anxiousness both in our culture and the present paradigm of church. And yet the church was never supposed to be an event, building, or an institution. It was meant to be a family with a DNA of secure attachment. Interesting! When kids are seen, soothed, safe and secure they flourish but we can’t give that to them unless we ourselves are flourishing. So how do WE flourish in a cultural undercurrent of aloneness, not enough-ness and anxiousness? Join us this Sunday with our special guest speaker, sociologist James Penner, to find out.

2024-05-19 Dinner time is when we can come together as a family and get caught up. We feel welcomed, we share experiences, and enjoy a common meal. It's a place where we feel like we actually belong, we are valued, and we find identity. The Lord's Table is one such meal. It is a time and a place where all are welcomed to remember what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross, but we can also celebrate the redemption that we have in Jesus, in real time - the present. The Lord's Table also points us forward into a future hope that includes the banquet of all banquets at the end of time, where we will all be served, by the Lord Himself.

2024-05-12 When we look around we can see that the distrust of institutions is at an all-time high. Many people are deciding that church as they know it "is not for them". We also live in an epidemic of loneliness, isolation, and anxiety. What if what people are looking for is the very thing the church was intended to provide? The church was never supposed to be an event, building, or an institution. Join us for this series as we jump off Sky Jethani's book and ask the question: What if Jesus was serious about the church?

SunWest has, for many years, strategically partnered with Compassion Canada to help release children from poverty in Jesus’ name. We are joined this week by a Compassion alumni. Come and hear the story of life change that can happen when we do for the one what we wish we could do for the many. You may not be able to change the world, but you can help change someone’s world. Join us this Sunday as you will be inspired and challenged to make a difference.

We’ve spent a few weeks looking at Cancel Culture and how the death and resurrection of Jesus should impact our postures as followers of Jesus. Last week we talked about confronting other followers of Jesus in a redemptive way. This week we will address the topic of how the church should impact and respond to other people, groups, and authorities in a cancel culture. We invite you to come with an open heart as we explore the counter-cultural power of God’s Kingdom.

Last week we considered how condemning, shaming, and calling out is a reflection of cancel culture’s attempt to control others. This does not reflect the kingdom culture of Jesus. But the question remains, when someone is acting and living in ways contrary to God’s Kingdom how should we respond? This Sunday we begin a two-week response to that question.

You can see what’s wrong with them. You know what people should have done and what they shouldn’t have done. You’ve been hurt and offended. At that point, you're at a crossroads. You can choose to walk in Kingdom Culture (the way of Jesus) or Cancel Culture (the way of the world). This week we look at one of the most well-known but least implemented sayings of Jesus.

For the last five years, this word (or at least what it represents) has dominated the cultural, religious, political, and personal landscape. Individuals, businesses, and people groups can get canceled in a moment. The result is a culture of fear-mongering, threats, power games, and crowd-pleasing. The playground where this bullying plays out is social media. What does it look like to follow Jesus in a cancel culture? What if "they" are clearly in the wrong? What if I've been canceled? Even though this feels "new", it's not. Jesus was canceled. He has shown us the way to live in a volatile polarizing culture and he has invited us to follow him.

Celebrate with us as we see the culmination of God's plan for eternal life for us all through the resurrection of Jesus and listen how this too was a sign of things to come foretold through the events in Bethany. He is risen indeed!

God's plan for the redemption of all people has been in place far longer than we at times imagine. Listen as we see how God foretold centuries before the events of Good Friday, through the Passover meal, the enduring sacrifice of Jesus as we reflect, celebrate, and discover more of what Easter means for us today.

Have you ever made a wish? Did it come true, and was it everything you hoped it would be? A celebrity once said, "God punishes us by giving us everything we want." The children of Israel experienced this as they asked God for a king. God gave them their wish, but it didn't quite turn out the way they were thinking. Why was that? Are we any different, as we list off all the things that we think might make our lives better? Do we treat God as the real king of our hearts, or do we treat him as if he were a magical genie, granting our wishes? As we enter Holy Week, starting with Palm Sunday, let's be careful of what we wish for.

Where was God on Good Friday? Was he standing at a distance punishing Jesus? Was he turning his back on Jesus at his weakest moment? When Jesus spoke his last words, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?", what was happening? Perhaps the key to understanding this world-altering mystery is found 1000 years before Jesus spoke those last words.

The word gospel means good news. The good news that the Bible talks about was revealed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But Jesus revealed something profound after his resurrection…this good news was being revealed, foreshadowed, and talked about since the beginning of time. People just couldn’t see it until after the resurrection. This week we look at the concept of “glory” and God’s "presence”. God always desired to be fully present with his people, but his presence put them in danger. The cross became the resolution to this divide. It is the beautiful collision of heaven and earth, of human and divine.

The word gospel means good news. The good news that the Bible talks about was revealed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But Jesus revealed something profound after his resurrection…this good news was being revealed, foreshadowed, and talked about since the beginning of time. People just couldn’t see it until after the resurrection. This week we look at the “deal” that God cut a few millennia ago with Abraham. We will understand more deeply how the Cross became the profound fulfilment of God’s love and justice.

The word gospel means good news. This good news was revealed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But Jesus revealed something profound after his resurrection…this good news was being revealed, foreshadowed, and talked about since the beginning of time. People just couldn’t see it until after the resurrection. As we head towards Easter, join us as we take the road back through the early scriptures to see The Gospel BC.

Look at any movie, book, or painting and you are bound to encounter the human need for connection with other human beings. We are wired for relationships (friendships, romantic relationships, family relationships). This can lead to the assumption that our deepest longings are realized only when we complete the puzzle by finding that missing piece. But is that person, really the missing piece? Join us this week as we talk about parenting: how our relationships with our children can't complete us, and the damage it does when we assume they will.