Bridgetown Audio Podcast

Part 3 from the series "Community", as part of Practicing the Way. For most Westerners, honor is a foreign concept. Ours is a culture of sarcasm, irreverence, ungrateful entitlement, of “othering” – a culture of contempt. In this teaching we explore Paul’s command to “honor one another above yourselves,” and just how life-changing (and life-bringing) it could be for our community.

Part 2 from the series "Community", as part of Practicing the Way. Jesus likened his community to a family. At first this sounds nice and even sentimental, but this was actually one of Jesus’ most radical ideas, one that got him killed. It was radical in the first century, and it’s just as radical in the 21st century. In this teaching we discover why.

Part 1 from the series "Community", as part of Practicing the Way. We kick off our summer practice with a teaching on the fallout of individualism in the Western world – loneliness, and its dark twin: tribalism. Is there a practice from the way of Jesus that would set us up to live in a rich web of relationships where we grow and mature into Christlikeness? Yes, it’s community, Jesus’ school of love.

When Jesus returns to the familiarity of his home and his family he is met not with a celebratory welcome, but with skepticism and rejection. The divisive nature of Jesus’ person and teachings serves as both warning and encouragement for all who would follow in his footsteps: Rejection is inevitable.

Throngs of people crowded around Jesus on a lakeshore. The question on their minds was, “what is the coming Kingdom going to be like?” Jesus’ answer is surprising, frustrating, and seemingly foolish: God’s rule is like good people and bad people growing together.