Bridgetown Audio Podcast

We are over half way into our building campaign and continue to be so encouraged by your generosity. Since the campaign began, our church has given more than ever before. We are confident that God is at work in the hearts of our church family. Our goal is to raise $3 million by December, 2019 for the purchase of Holladay Park Church of God, in Northeast Portland. And with $1 million already in savings from previous years of giving, our hope was to pay for all the needed renovations within that saved budget. Unfortunately, we have learned the required renovations will cost more money and take more time than anticipated.

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In our annual vision series, we lay out a paradigm for what it means to apprentice under Jesus. To follow Jesus is to organize your entire life around three goals: to be with Jesus, to become like Jesus, and do what Jesus would do if he were you. This is our vision of practicing the way of Jesus, together.

What does the heart of a disciple look like? It is the heart to die to self and leave the resurrection up to God. Jesus not only lives this lifestyle but teaches us to have it by giving us the metaphor of pruning and producing fruit in John 15. It is God's desire that we bear fruit, as he is glorified by it and heaven comes through it.

Taught by Alex Rhettmann of Saints Hill Church

 

In this well known, but often missed-out-on story of Jesus walking on the water, we notice the writer Matthew’s key insights from Jesus life and teaching about to become a “non-anxious presence” in a world caught in a vicious cycle of anxiety. We have faith and release control.

Facing rejection and grief Jesus retreats from the busyness of his work to find a quiet place to be alone. When he gets there he's faced, not by silence, but by need.

What can we as modern disciples of Jesus learn from one strange story of how Jesus turns a little bit of food into a lot more?

In the middle of Matthew's biography of Jesus, we learn the awful fate of John the Baptist. If this is what happens to the one who prepares the way for the Messiah, what will happen to the Messiah himself? This haunting story acts as an enduring reminder that the way of Jesus will always be an affront to the powers that be.

Part 5 from the series "Community", as part of Practicing the Way. Dave Lomas teaches from the life of Mary, the wisdom of Proverbs, and the 9th Commandment: “Do not give false testimony.” In this we learn one of the foundational practices for emotionally healthy relationships - the need to stop mind reading and start clarifying expectations. 

Part 4 from the series "Community", as part of Practicing the Way. We are relational beings because we are created in the image of a relational God. As we look at how God Father, Son, and Spirit relate to one another we learn about how true community is marked by hospitality. 

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.