For the next three weeks, we’ll be in a sermon series called Compassion Immersion.  But why compassion?  Finny Abraham and Lily Weirich, both of whom work in the area of Local Compassion for WestGate Church, stop by to talk about this.  They explain why works of compassion aren’t really optional for following Jesus, and how compassion demonstrates what Jesus is really like to a world that’s hurting.  They also share stories of transformation they’ve seen in this past season.  And speaking of changing lives, Finny also reveals how many diapers he goes through with a pair of baby twins at home.

Speakers: David Tieche + Finny Abraham + Lily Weirich
Speakers: David Tieche + Jay Kim + Stanley Markowski

THE AFTERWORD | Compassion Immersion 2023 - Week 1

In John 4, we see Jesus approach a woman who many in the orthodox Jewish community would have avoided.  There were all sorts of barriers that would have prevented an Orthodox Jewish people from conversing with her: barriers around gender, race, religion and morality.  Jesus’ interaction with this woman shows not only an incredible posture of grace and kindness, but also an invitation to capital T-Truth, where Jesus invites her to drink of “living water” found in…Him.  And as the story shows, this duality of both 1. the correct Christlike posture, coupled with 2. the bold proclamation that Jesus is Truth was utterly transformative for this woman.  And it’s a model of interaction that we modern Christians can emulate, too.

Compassion Immersion 2023 - Week 1

For Christians, the Bible isn’t nice to have, it’s vital. Central.  Christians believe that the Bible is not just a book, but the divinely inspired Word of God, spoken for us, to lead us in the way of truth and love, down the path toward God’s glory and our good. But it isn’t about intellectual ascent; it’s about transformation.  And we find, in the Bible, that the Word of God is referred to as a number of things: it’s bread (life-giving, necessary to our selves for life), a lamp (guides our path in a world that’s dark, a sword (protects us in a world where we’re under assault from lies that assail us) and a scalpel (it does surgery on us to heal us).

SPEAKERS:
Jay Kim (Saratoga), Corinna Girard (South Hills)

Eat This Book - How the Bible Changes Everything

For generations and millennia, Christians have believed that the Bible was the very Word of God.  But what does it look like, practically, for us to take the Bible seriously as God’s people?  How can we do that?  And how do we handle the elephant in the room for many people: that Jesus is great, but the Bible is antiquated, out-dated (and has been used as a prop for anti-science, racist and sexist movements).  Jay Kim stops by to chat about that and Seattle pastor and friend-of-David Stanley Markowski shares practical ways and some best practices for ways the Bible has transformed people in his part of the country.

Speakers: David Tieche + Jay Kim + Stanley Markowski

THE AFTERWORD | Eat This Book

This past weekend, we made the case that we need silence in our lives to overcome the loud, noisy distracting world in order to hear God.  But that raises a point: if the world is noisy, and God wants our attention, why doesn’t He just shout?  Break into our lives like the Kool-Aid man crashing through your house.  That would do it, wouldn’t it?  Why is silence necessary for us to connect with God? Why does the Psalmist talk to his “soul” as if it’s a different part of him?  When we’re silent, is it to find out more about ourselves, or God?  Or both?  What if you’re easily distracted (even in silence) and your brain starts humming 90s music?  Does that count?  Is that praying?  And what role does the Bible play in silence and connecting with God?

THE AFTERWORD | A New Resilience - Week 3

We live in a noisy world.  We are inundated with noise pollution in our everyday lives. Because of population, technology, and industrialization, our world is literally louder than it’s ever been. But beyond auditory sound, and maybe more dangerously, we live with an alarming noisiness in our mental, emotional, spiritual lives.  Amid the distraction of noise, what we most need is silence.  We often lack resilience because we can’t hear God, and as a result, lack clarity, courage, and confidence. But we often fail to hear God, not because he isn’t speaking. We fail to hear God because we (like Elijah in the famous story in 1 Kings) expect Him to speak like a roaring wind, a thundering earthquake, or a blazing fire. We fail to hear God because there’s too much noise and our ears are unattuned to the gentle whisper.  But if we do take the time to really listen - to quiet ourselves and our noisy world - we can find that God is still speaking.

A New Resilience - Week 3

This past weekend, we put forth a hypothesis that a lot of conflict in our lives is a direct result of a lack of humility.  This week, Steve Clifford and Andy Barron join David to talk about the social science behind conflict – and why humility is the path forward in every case.  We also examine the work of scholars Edwin Judge and John Dickson’s who studied ancient history to find out how humility - which was despised by the Romans and the Greeks - became a virtue in Western Civilization.  We also talk about ways to cultivate humility – which is perhaps something no one *wants* to do, but everyone *needs* to do.

THE AFTERWORD | A New Resilience - Week 2

Sermon Description:

You might have heard some folks say recently that the United States is “more divided than it’s ever been in its 247-year-long history.”  Objectively, this is not true (see War, Civil) but it can *feel* like it’s true.  But beyond the national landscape, conflict and division are part of our daily lives, too.  How do we move forward?  Enter here, the person of Jesus, who showed, through His life and more precisely His death, a new definition of what it means to be human (and what it means to be great).  A definition that centers on the virtue of humility.   We’ll examine how humility is the way forward through conflict and division.


SPEAKERS:
Steve Clifford (Saratoga), David Tieche (South Hills)

A New Resilience - Week 2

The word “resilence” is one that’s gotten a lot of traction lately.  What makes a person “resilient” in life?  Why do some people make it, and some collapse or give up?  And is there something specific or particular about Christian resilience?  As we walk into the new year, Jay and David talk about this.  Plus, we dissect cultural stories that center on incredible human resistance - movies like Cast Away, The Martian and I Am Legend.  What do they show us about what humans need to survive and how do Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4 add more depth and color to those very human needs.

THE AFTERWORD | A New Resilience - Week 1

A New Resilience - Week 1

The AfterWord - 2022 Year in Review

As this year comes to a close, David Tieche and Jay Kim sit down to review what their favorite moments were this past year - both in the Bay Area and in our church. We look back at all the things we taught on this past year and outline a few that really impacted us and left an indelible imprint on us.

THE AFTERWORD | Christmas Eve

One of the names given to Jesus is “Wonderful Counselor.”  Jesus the Messiah is not “a counselor, among many options” but “THE” capital “C” counselor.  Steve Clifford and Andy Gridley stop by to talk about what it means to have Jesus as your “Wonderful Counselor.”  Is there a diagnostic?  What are the signs that you are treating Jesus like just any ordinary counselor?  How do you know if you’re doing it right?  Andy Gridley shares the parallels he sees between following Jesus and getting his pilot’s license.  Also, Steve talks about his broken Nativity Scene on his front yard that might be more Biblically accurate than you’d think.
Speakers: David Tieche + Andy Gridley + Steve Clifford

THE AFTERWORD | Prepare Him Room - Week 4

One of the titles given to Jesus is the phrase “Wonderful Counselor.”  In the ancient world, a counselor was a pivotal position for Kings, Queens and rulers, helping them not only make wise decisions, but live and rule well.  And although the term “counselor” is used many times in the Bible, this is the only place it’s capitalized and the only place it refers to God Himself.  This title is a proclamation AND an invitation.  Jesus has come as a powerful God, performing signs and wonders, here to advise broken humanity, not just so that we can live more comfortable lives, but so that we can find God Himself, live well in His Kingdom and discover Life to the full and Life Everlasting.  Will we listen to Him?

SPEAKERS:
Steve Clifford (Saratoga)

Prepare Him Room - Week 4

It seems that lately, whenever I ask people how things are going, the answer is the exact same: I’m good…just busy.  And the holidays - and the list of things that have to get done - doesn’t help us to slow down.  And yet, hurry is a dangerous spiritual enemy to the very things the Advent Season is supposed to usher in: love, peace, joy.  So how do we stop?  David Kim, WestGate Church’s Discipleship and Formation pastor, stops by to share his story about how a horrific car accident was the key to learning how to stop hurrying.  We share what we’re learning about slowing down, because if our God is an “everlasting Father,” outside of time, then we should try to take steps to live unhurried lives….lest we miss God Himself.  

Speakers: David Tieche + David Kim

THE AFTERWORD | Prepare Him Room - Week 3

Often the Christmas Season is filled with hurrying, as we rush to do more and more in less and less time.  But hurry is counterproductive, indeed it’s hostile soil for things like love and peace and joy.  And sometimes, we hurry so much that even Jesus gets crowded out.  The prophet Isaiah, writing about the Messiah, says that He will be “everlasting.”  God is outside of time and invites us into lives that aren’t marked by frantic achievement, but stillness and peace.  And one key way for to help “every heart prepare Him room” is to ruthlessly eliminate hurry.

Prepare Him Room - Week 3

Jesus is called the “Prince of Peace” by the prophet Isaiah, but if you actually look at the Christmas story in the Bible, it doesn’t seem all that peaceful.  Mary is disgraced with a scandalous pregnancy.  She’s told a “sword will pierce her soul.”  Rome is the conquering power over the Jewish people.  A genocidal tyrant kills a bunch of toddlers trying to kill baby Jesus.  Joseph and Mary have to flee their land to Egypt.  How is this “peace” exactly?  Jay Kim stops by to talk about the Biblical definition of the word “peace” and how it doesn’t mean what we often think it means - in fact, it’s far better and more difficult simultaneously.  ALSO: Dave introduces Jay to the “Little Drummer Boy” game and Jay shares his favorite Christmas songs.

THE AFTERWORD | Prepare Him Room - Week 2

One of the more famous titles for Jesus is from the famous words of Isaiah where He is called “the Prince of Peace.”  Peace is what we often need, but often in our own lives, we attempt to make peace by either avoiding the conflict or dominating.  We try to avoid to get peace or “win” to get peace.  Neither work and what results certainly isn’t peace.  Fortunately, later in the book, Isaiah outlines what the peace from the Messiah is actually going to look like, so we have a way forward, understanding that true peace takes work and humility to accomplish.

Prepare Him Room - Week 2

It’s Advent!  But what does that word mean?  We don’t use that word much.  Does it have something to do with Advil?  Advert(isements)?  Jay Kim stops by to chat about the purpose of Advent and its meaning.  We also discuss the first of four terms used by the prophet Isaiah to describe the Messiah - Mighty God.  We talk about why it’s so tough for most of us to *actually* believe that God could do something miraculous and break into our world - but that truth is actually the key to hope.

THE AFTERWORD | Prepare Him Room - Week 1

Seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah wrote stirring and familiar words that someday, a Messiah would come, and that people would call Him “Wonderful Counselor” and “Prince of Peace” and “Mighty God.”  All very nice, but it’s that last one - Mighty God - that trips a lot of people up.  We live in a culture where the idea of God breaking into human history to do something big and powerful seems…well, that seems like something God used to do, or did for a group of people a long time ago.  But not us.  Not here.  Not now.  The Christmas story is a reminder that God is mighty, and still working, although - as we learn from the story of Jesus’ birth - it’s often in ways we wouldn’t expect.  But if God can come as a baby in the corner of a dusty manger, then is there any place the power of God can’t break through into?

Prepare Him Room - Week 1

The ending of the Sermon on the Mount is wild.  Jesus’ most famous set of teachings is not a religious to-do list, but it does have strong implications about how we live.  Jesus outlines things that His followers must actually DO, with God’s help, to follow Him. Things like fighting anger and lust, keeping your promises, loving your enemies, quietly giving to those in need, and not judging.  And then Jesus ends the whole thing by warning about what happens if you don’t “put into practice” the words He’s just said.  Steve Clifford and Jay Kim stop by to talk about the “knowing-doing” gap that exists in all of our lives, and how we can move from a group of Christians that talk about Jesus to a group that lives and loves like Him.  Also, we talk about the best Thanksgiving foods, and Steve and Jay offer up some controversial takes on pumpkin pie and cranberries.

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