Sunwest Fc's Weekly Sermon Podcast

It’s BBQ season, and no BBQ is complete without French’s Classic Yellow Mustard. At least this is what most people think about when they hear the word mustard, but what does Jesus mean when he said the Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed? Does it taste good on a hot dog? Discover the mysteries of the mustard seed this Sunday as we continue to explore the parables of Jesus.

Like most parables in the Bible, there is more to the story of The Great Banquet than meets the eye. Unlike most parables, this is one of the most autobiographical of Jesus’ stories. We walk through Jesus’ joy, disappointment, and passion in his role as Host. If we dig a little deeper, we’ll realize that like the guests in the parable, we are full of excuses… and that our excuses actually reveal to us our true beliefs in and of Jesus, his kingdom, and his character.

Have you ever wondered why “game-changing truths” don’t change your life very often? Let’s discover why that is--and how to steward God’s truth for maximum life-change.

Lloyd & Carol are disciple-makers with a passion to see lives transformed on mission with Jesus. Working out of the Central Canada office for Multiply in Winnipeg, they give leadership to an enthusiastic team across the prairie provinces. Multiply is the mission agency of our MB denomination.

My heart rate is on the rise, I’m sweating, nervous, worried, and anxious about everything. I avoid areas and people in my life that once brought me joy. I’ve lost hope for the future, I can’t sleep, and I’ve lost motivation to face the day. There must be more to life than this. God cares deeply for your mental health and wants you to experience life, and life to the fullest. This Sunday we will be discussing mental health, what God has to say about it, and how we can start a journey of healing together in community and with Christ.

Kelvin Block is a counsellor specializing in areas including marriage counselling, grief, and loss. Kelvin and his wife have been members of the SunWest community for many years. We are excited to learn from Kelvin's professional expertise in our new series "I'm Still Not Okay".

Work. A human condition? A curse? A good gift? Depends on who you ask. This week we will be looking at how Jesus went about His life and handled what one might call a very high demanding job (establishing the Kingdom of God on earth and all), to discover a few implications for ourselves and how we spend our time and energy.

Willy and Gwen Reimer started SunWest Christian Fellowship in August 1994 out of a vision to grow a Christ-centred outreaching church in south Calgary. Willy served as lead pastor of SunWest for 19 years. He is passionate about developing Spirit-led Christ-followers who develop and grow other Spirit-led Christ-followers. Willy and Gwen have a deep love for the church and desire to use their gifts to help the church reflect the Kingdom of God to the world. Willy is currently on staff at Willingdon Church providing leadership for their Discipleship Ministries team and continues to be passionate about making disciples and seeing new faith communities be established across Canada and around the world.

Willy and Gwen Reimer started SunWest Christian Fellowship in August 1994 out of a vision to grow a Christ-centred outreaching church in south Calgary. Willy served as lead pastor of SunWest for 19 years. He is passionate about developing Spirit-led Christ-followers who develop and grow other Spirit-led Christ-followers. Willy and Gwen have a deep love for the church and desire to use their gifts to help the church reflect the Kingdom of God to the world. Willy is currently on staff at Willingdon Church providing leadership for their Discipleship Ministries team and continues to be passionate about making disciples and seeing new faith communities be established across Canada and around the world.

Apologizing is one thing... but confession? In a world where fear seems to be what keeps us from taking responsibility or being transparent, Jesus reminds us that God is not an angry God, but one who is filled with compassion, forgiveness and a willingness to embrace the totality of us, even the broken parts... He reminds us that confession is not only perhaps an awkward conversation to be had, but an essential one for living in authentic faith community; where we shoulder each other's burdens, and offer forgiveness, grace and hope to one another - through God the Holy Spirit. What does it look like to live in a community that confesses and forgives in order to allow the Holy Spirit to work?

"Then they began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them". In a world of differences in thoughts, opinions, appearances, beliefs, and actions, who is the greatest? Who is right? Who is wrong? Who is in? Who is out? In a world that constantly compares people, ranks them, and separates them, it’s hard to believe in a love that doesn’t do the same. What does it look like to live in that love and extend that love to create unity in the community around us?

This week we will be talking about commitment. We live in a culture where people reply to every request with a maybe. Even though we are afraid of commitment it's to our detriment if we don't learn to commit to one another. We look forward to exploring this with you.

Canadian culture is a culture of comfort. It’s being sold to us everywhere we look. We’re encouraged to do what we want, when we want, with whomever we want. If something is uncomfortable, we want to avoid it at all costs. The Christian faith, though, is just that: uncomfortable. This week we begin a four-part series called Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community. We were built for community, but our desire for comfort often leads us to distance ourselves from one another. Could it be that your dream of church is the very thing that is keeping you from experiencing the joy and blessings of church?

Following up from his Vision message earlier this year, listen in as Pastor Matt encourages us to “Encounter”.

On this day we celebrate with all of creation the joyful resurrection of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. And Jesus's work expanding this new world extends to you! Join us as we see what Jesus is doing today for all the world.

Today, on Good Friday, join us as we reflect on the love of Jesus, His sacrifice, and how we all are a bit more like Judas that we care to admit.

On this Palm Sunday we look at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. This event was loaded with fanfare and celebration. Yet one week later Jesus would die alone with no fanfare. What happened? Join us as we look at the political and religious expectations that the crowds had on Jesus. We’ll see that their world was not that different than ours. Is it possible that our expectations on God will cause us to abandon him as well?

Jesus taught that his followers were a part of a different world. Yet he told them that they were to be in the world, but not of the world. Everyone had to work out the tension of what that actually meant. Despite how unique the current situation in our world may seem, it’s actually no different, than what the first followers of Jesus had to navigate. To follow him had different implications politically, religiously, and relationally for different groups. The same is true today. Listen in for what is an encouraging, yet challenging message.

This week we deeper dive into Shalom with the World. As we peel back layers of systems that make our world work, we can also see some of the systemic injustices at play. One of those systems is religious identity. Only what appears to be a religious identity is really a racial identity that shapes religion, which is why we often see behaviours at odds with the teachings of Jesus. Join us as Jesus challenges all of us through his parable of the Good Samaritan found in the Gospel of Luke.

We have now looked at Shalom with God, self, and others. This week we will begin looking at Shalom with the world. From creation, to politics, to systemic issues of injustice, the word “world" in the bible means many things. Join us for this three-week series as we explore how God invites us to partner with him to both rebel against and redeem the world.