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At Denver Community Church, we explore and participate in the life of Jesus, so that we can be a healing presence in our world. Download the latest teachings here.
Episodes
Sunday May 03, 2015
Sunday May 03, 2015
David is riding a wave of success as far as kings go. He has united the people. He has subdued the Philistines. He has established the new capital, Jerusalem. He has brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem – signifying that God reigns. As Eugene Peterson says, “David takes his place as king, not in the usual sense, but as a witness that God is King.”
David’s kingship is marked by his being a servant of God, and he uses his throne to proclaim the rule of God. In fact, God’s rule and reign is often found in the Psalms of David. His time on earth served to point others to the fact that God was in really the One in charge. Which brings new light to the promise that God made to David. He told him his throne would be “established forever.” It’s not just a benefit for David, but for the world. Because it’s the kind of king David was that makes this promise so amazing.
The promise to David is far more about God’s rule and reign than it is those tied to the Davidic line. We know that the son’s of David wandered far from the tradition of their father. However, there still was the promise the people waited for. A son of David – “a shoot from the stump of Jesse” would come.
Sunday Apr 26, 2015
Sunday Apr 26, 2015
Sunday Apr 19, 2015
Sunday Apr 19, 2015
Generations after God invited Abraham to bless the world, the descendants of Abraham are forced into slavery in Egypt. Day after day they are exploited and day after day they cry out. And God hears their cry and delivers them from the powers of Egypt and the grip of Pharaoh. He lead his people to a mountain and says, “Be for me a holy nation of priests …”
God restates his invitation to Abraham to the people of Israel. He chooses them, for better or worse, to be those who carried the destiny of the world on their shoulders. Their answer to this invitation? A resounding “Yes!” And thus begins the journey of Israel as a nation working with God in renewing this world.
Sunday Apr 19, 2015
Sunday Apr 19, 2015
Generations after God invited Abraham to bless the world, the descendants of Abraham are forced into slavery in Egypt. Day after day they are exploited and day after day they cry out. And God hears their cry and delivers them from the powers of Egypt and the grip of Pharaoh. He lead his people to a mountain and says, “Be fore me a holy nation of priests …”
God restates his invitation to Abraham to the people of Israel. He chooses them, for better or worse, to be those who carried the destiny of the world on their shoulders. Their answer to this invitation? A resounding “Yes!” And thus begins the journey of Israel as a nation working with God in renewing this world.
Sunday Apr 12, 2015
Sunday Apr 12, 2015
Tribes. In the Ancient Near East the center for living was your tribe. It was your family, bloodline, home, identity – it meant everything – and without it you were nothing. You worked for the well being of your tribe, accumulated possessions, fought battles, made alliances, to preserve the tribe. And it was this way for everyone in the known world at that time.
And with one word God blew all of that up. He spoke to Abram and said what the gods had said to others before Abram, “I will bless you.” But he did not stop there. He then told Abram, “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Wait, What?
This is new. Nothing like this had happened before. A tribe existing to bless other tribes? This call is not just for Abram, it is also the call for his descendants, namely the people of Israel. God chose them to be the people through whom he would redeem the world. And it is in this call, this blessing, this promise that the story of Jesus begins.
Sunday Apr 12, 2015
Sunday Apr 12, 2015
Tribes. In the Ancient Near East the center for living was your tribe. It was your family, bloodline, home, identity – it meant everything – and without it you were nothing. You worked for the well being of your tribe, accumulated possessions, fought battles, made alliances, to preserve the tribe. And it was this way for everyone in the known world at that time.
And with one word God blew all of that up. He spoke to Abram and said what the gods had said to others before Abram, “I will bless you.” But he did not stop there. He then told Abram, “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Wait, What?
This is new. Nothing like this had happened before. A tribe existing to bless other tribes? This call is not just for Abram, it is also the call for his descendants, namely the people of Israel. God chose them to be the people through whom he would redeem the world. And it is in this call, this blessing, this promise that the story of Jesus begins.
Sunday Apr 05, 2015
Sunday Apr 05, 2015
Resurrection is not resuscitation. When Jesus came out of the grave he did not just come back to life. He ushered in a brand new reality! This is what is meant by the words, “Behold I make all things new!” So what does this mean for us? What hope can this bring to us here and now today? How can this inform our brokenness?
The resurrection teaches us that God doesn’t just fix things up. He creates something totally and completely new. The resurrected Jesus is the mystery of this good news. He comes out of the grave – still bearing the marks of death and darkness, yet those very wounds are transformed into marks of life and light. And this is the good news – we can be made new.
Sunday Mar 29, 2015
Sunday Mar 29, 2015
Jesus told his “unbelieving generation” they would only ever be given one sign from him. Namely, the sign of Jonah. And what is that sign? Spending three days in the belly of a fish – which is a dark place. Jesus, of course, spoke about spending three days in the grave which is also a dark place. But the story doesn’t end in the fish or in the grave. It ends in a new thing happening. This is what we learn about darkness – it is pregnant with creative possibilities.
Seeds begin their growth in the ground where it is dark. Human life begins in the womb where it is dark. In the Jewish tradition a new day begins at sunset – in darkness – and then comes the light of the morning opening up to us something new. So what if we recognized that it is precisely in the darkness that new life begins … perhaps during Holy Week this is what we can dwell upon. For we now begin the walk with Jesus toward death and darkness. And that is where the new thing God is doing will begin.
Sunday Mar 29, 2015
Sunday Mar 29, 2015
Jesus told his “unbelieving generation” they would only ever be given one sign from him. Namely, the sign of Jonah. And what is that sign? Spending three days in the belly of a fish – which is a dark place. Jesus, of course, spoke about spending three days in the grave which is also a dark place. But the story doesn’t end in the fish or in the grave. It ends in a new thing happening. This is what we learn about darkness – it is pregnant with creative possibilities.
Seeds begin their growth in the ground where it is dark. Human life begins in the womb where it is dark. In the Jewish tradition a new day begins at sunset – in darkness – and then comes the light of the morning opening up to us something new. So what if we recognized that it is precisely in the darkness that new life begins … perhaps during Holy Week this is what we can dwell upon. For we now begin the walk with Jesus toward death and darkness. And that is where the new thing God is doing will begin.