Cultivate NJ

In the face of overwhelming need and not nearly enough, Jesus receives our meager offerings with gratitude and transforms them into abundant provision for all. So, let go of despair. Let go of apathy today. And instead, open your hands and offer whatever you have, however small for the sake of others.Bring what you have, even though we know it's not enough, because Jesus receives our offerings with gratitude. He doesn't roll his eyes and say, "is this all you've got?" He says, “Thank you. This is wonderful. This is beautiful.” We bring our meager offerings. Jesus receives them with gratitude and multiplies them to meet the need.  Beloved, we will all be satisfied in God's love with plenty of leftovers.

The good news is that opposition to the reign of God takes a toll and has lasting consequences, but it never has the last word. Jesus and his reign of love and mercy cannot be hindered. So beloved, have hope today and take your place among the resistance, telling truth to power and joining or seeking subversive acts of justice. This is who you are in Christ.

Jesus is revealed as King who confronts the forces of violence and death. Not a warrior king who overcomes his enemies with violence… But a crucified king who becomes the enemy and takes on our violence. What sort of king do we want today, friends? What vision of peace fills our imagination? A king who brings peace through violence and force? Or one who makes peace by laying down his life? Jesus confronts the forces of violence and death as the Gentile King who becomes an enemy and takes our violence as the Passover Lamb.

In this story, Jesus sees and negotiates power. He leverages his own power. And Jesus redefines power. The marginalizedwoman becomes the faith leader to the society's faith leader. Jesus has redefined power on her behalf. The power of God in Jesus crosses boundaries in order to bring life to those languishing in death. The holiness of Christ heals the suffering. The love of Christ honors the shameful. The power of Christ robs death of all its dominion. Little children, audaciously seek the saving power of Christ today.This text teaches us to make time and to give honor to those we are biased and prejudiced against: those at the bottom, the least, the marginalized, the last. To let them teach us, to let them scandalize us, even make us squirm, even if they may be breaking a law.In these days, we desperately need a gospel, a good news that can deal with real world stuff that's jacked up. Real suffering, real pain, real injury, real loss: Jesus CARES about it. Jesus is WITH the marginalized and the oppressedand the poor… and he's there REDEFINING how power works, LIFTING those people up, LEVERAGING his power on their behalf, and making THEM the faith leaders to the faith leaders.  He's still doing it. We too must be with them.

On Mark 5: 1-20: Jesus disarms our deepest fears and disrupts the deals that we've made to keep our fear at bay. Jesus protects and provides, so fear has no dominion here. There is deliverance and healing available to us; protection and provision in the lordship of Jesus. There's a cosmic battle happening in this story. But there's also a personal transformation. This is what Jesus does: He disarms our deepest fears and in doing so, he disrupts the deals we've made to keep those fears at bay. Jesus protects and provides so that fear has no dominion here.  There is deliverance and healing, protection and provision today in the lordship of Jesus Christ. The cosmic battle Jesus is in is not just an abstract spiritual battle; Jesus is fighting against the powers that demonize and marginalize vulnerable people to solidify wealth and power. And He is recruiting this man from being used by his own culture to solidify fear and rally everyone around a common scapegoat. Jesus is de-scapegoating the demoniac in Gerasene.Friends, fear drives our economy and our culture. But today we proclaim the good news that Jesus disarms our deepest fears. We no longer have to have scapegoats. We no longer have to be angry or scared of the demoniac. We no longer have to use him for our economy, but we can receive him back home and hear the story of the good news that God has done in his life. He can become part of our community.

First of all: If you feel like you're in the midst of a storm, if you're on mission with Jesus and everything is going wrong. As you think about this storm and you think of something in your life, and Jesus seems to be ASLEEP… We encourage you: Go ahead and wake him up. And if you have some choice words for him about how he doesn't care whether you live or die, go ahead and speak to him.And secondly, What if… Jesus is inviting us to go across to the other side? Because like the disciples who are being tossed around on that boat, the world and our country are undergoing tumultuous shifts… authoritarianism on the rise; putting already vulnerable at greater risk of things like poverty, incarceration, deportation. This sea that feels so tumultuous, in many ways, is standing in opposition to Jesus' kingdom of flourishing for everyone.To be in the boat with Jesus means you are going to grapple with questions like: How do we become agents of reconciliation, agents of God's mission for the least and the last and the marginalized? It means discerning HOW to move more concretely into advocacy for, solidarity with those on the receiving ends of hostility and injustice. It means committing ourselves as a church to real racial justice, the dismantling of systems of exploitation and inequality, continuing to lay down our privilege and repent of our complicity and inaction for the sake of marginalized communities.As we follow Jesus into boundary-crossing mission, we can count on opposition, just as the disciples did. There will be storms of chaos that threaten to overwhelm us, that threaten to sink us. But do not be afraid, little church. Despite our fear and faithlessness, Jesus stands in our midst as the Lord of all creation, taming the forces of chaos, and training us faithfully in the ways of the kingdom.**Note: Audio echoes during first half and then switches over and improves for second half of recording. Apologies!

Church, in a world obsessed with control, efficiency, and measurable outcomes, the Kingdom of God calls us to hope and patient participation. We need not know the effects of our work to be faithful today. And we don't need to be impressive to be good. Because friends, the Kingdom of God grows on its own. So, join the underground movement of King Jesus and wait as he subverts the ways of this world with his love. 

Jesus is building a new family amongst those learning to live out the will of God. His family is not based on rightness, goodness, or status… No, his family is made up of those who are desperate for an advocate. Friends, Jesus is our advocate. This means you are free to receive the advocacy he gives even as you learn how to advocate for others in his name.   Friends, we don't have to find the perfect conditions or the perfect soil. Your seed is good, and your seed is enough to join in kingdom work.

Jesus is building a new family amongst those learning to live out the will of God. His family is not based on rightness, goodness, or status… No, his family is made up of those who are desperate for an advocate. Friends, Jesus is our advocate. This means you are free to receive the advocacy he gives even as you learn how to advocate for others in his name.  

Jesus confronts the social forces that enslave, isolate, and stigmatize those of lowest standing. He is moved with anger towards the things that threaten us. And he moves with compassion to re-humanize those who've been stripped of their humanity. Anger and compassion are two ways that love works in our world. Jesus risks everything to bring liberation and forgiveness to those who need it most. Let us, church, as those who've been brought in by this King, take risks to do the same for others. 

Though it's often hard to see, Jesus has confronted and conquered the forces of death that seek to enslave and oppress. And now the fact is, God is simply present and at work, lavishing us and the whole world with holistic healing for mind, body, soul and society.God is not ignoring you. God has not forgotten you. God is with you, even now, in your pain, your confusion, your struggle, speaking life and giving strength. So stay engaged, beloved. Keep walking, receiving and giving away healing as you are able, however you can, trusting God's boundless energy to sustain you.  

Jesus does battle against the forces of evil that run our lives and our world. But he does not come to conquer evil with evil, he overcomes evil with Good. He lovingly separates us from lies and restores the image of God in us so that we can live again according to his authoritative love. As hard as it may be, friends, to look at the ways you've been demonized and conformed by the forces of evil, there is no condemnation for you in Christ Jesus. Receive him and be cleansed today.

The good news of Jesus is an immediate opportunity, a here and now real-world invitation into God's reign and rule, into God's political economy, where people and possessions and politics are now organized in the love and justice of God. Change your hearts and lives today. Cease evil behavior. Knock it off. Do not begrudge God's mercy and compassion. Let's trust in God's way of being human together. 

In the midst of political upheavals, twisted truths, and abuses of every kind, Jesus brings us the light of his salvation, illuminating the path before us: Creator becoming creation to show us the way of love and truth and justice. Let his baptismal waters wash over you today.

The Good News is that the scriptures ARE disturbing… They're wild and terrifying at times, confusing and confounding at other times… Jesus himself, the Word of God, confounded and disoriented almost everyone he met. Let us receive disturbing scriptures, letting them disturb us in our violence and abuse, delivering us from our evil.

In Christ, we are delivered from the devastating effects of Sin's work in and through us. Do you need rescue from the things you've wrought on yourself and others? God has not abandoned you, nor had he condemned you. But he has put Sin to death and given life to those who see no way out. Set your mind on the Spirit today and allow him to lead you to the security of forgiveness, life and peace that are yours because of your adoption as God's children.

We have been joined to God in Christ to bear the fruit of the Kingdom and to become who God has always envisioned us to be. Rules and regulations cannot do the work of the Spirit. So, look upon each other, your neighbor, your kids, your parents, yourself with New Creation eyes today and see the work that's already begun. Thanks be to God! We have been set free from the need to control so that we can become servants of the Spirit.

At our baptism, we step into New Creation. We're not just saved for a future reality, but we're empowered today to live from our New Story. We're no longer slaves to the destructive will of Sin but we're authorized agents of the Risen Jesus, bringing the justice and rectification of God's beautiful kingdom right into the old. We don't just get saved but we get to live out and declare a new story.

Through Jesus' faithfulness, God brings the reign of His grace right into the most broken parts of our stories. He rescues us from the tyrants called Sin and Death that defile God's good world and cause us to turn on each other. In Jesus, God writes a new story over us: One of vindication and justice. Be assured, nothing in your story is wasted. Where Sin seeks to enslave you unto Death, God's power and presence are ready to liberate you unto life.

In Christ we are given a new operating system for navigating the inevitable conflicts and struggles we face. No longer are we left to endure division alone or navigate it with the same old methods. Because today we stand in the secure grace of knowing that God has poured the love we need into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit leads us to face and befriend conflict as the ground on which to encounter God's reconciling power to save. 

In Christ, we are secure in the lineage of God's generational faithfulness. Today, there is a cloud of witnesses who know and trust in the promises of God surrounding us with the message that we belong! So, rest in the confident hope of your identity as God's children as he teaches you how to trust him like those who've come before.

Our God is faithful. He keeps his promises. God's faithfulness to us is seen most clearly in Jesus' faithfulness to God. In Him, God fulfills his promise to redeem us, and He ransoms us from the sin that separates us from each other. This faithful God invites all to trust him, even when we can't comprehend how he chooses to show his faithfulness. Sermon by Jay Francoeur.

God's judgment leads us to the truth that his presence can be found in every image bearer. So resist the temptation of superiority that leads to destruction and instead receive the gift of learning, even from those you consider beneath you. Blessed are the teachable, for they will receive the praise of God. Sermon by Jay Francoeur. (We apologize for the lack of audio quality in this recording)

God is so committed to making peace that he will lovingly and directly confront our biases and prejudices. Because there is room for everyone in New Creation, there is no room for judgmentalism. We are invited to reckon with our assumptions around who's bad and who's good, who's in and who's out. All are subject to the kindness of God. Let that kindness lead you to repentance so that you can stand up for those who are judged unfairly for who they are. This is what God does for us in Jesus his son. Preached by Jay Francoeur.

God is present and at work even in the most broken of relationships. He gives both his Word & Himself as a gift to those who are hopeless & divided. Through Jesus, we too are invited to trust again in God's right-making, reconciliation-forging, justice-dealing peace. In what relationships do you need this power today? Will you believe the new word & trust in the new thing God is doing right now? He's eager to share his power with you today. Preached by Jay Francoeur

God is our redeemer, not just buying us back from the consequences of our sin but delivering us and freeing us from our brokenness, weakness, confusion, and misconceptions. He surprises us with revelations that expose the truth. Whatever confronts us He is our rock. When our reality is shaken, He alone is our anchor, our sure foundation.

God's presence and power have no boundaries. God's presence and power transgress old divisions in surprising and even terrifying ways for those who love God. God's Spirit moves us in love to discern this presence and power even in the most unlikely places. Let us be led by love into new creation today. Preached by Jay Francoeur

In a world where we're taught to hustle & scheme to get what we want, the good news is that God's powerful love meets us in our wants and delivers us from using others and using God. Receive the Spirit, with all the belonging, significance & security that comes with him, so that you can learn to trust God & others with your needs today. Preached by Jay Francoeur

The introduction is missing from this episode. The passage being discussed is Acts 6:1-7..... Life in the Kingdom of God reckons with power because God's love sees how power is used and misused in our world. In communities where Jesus is Lord, the ignored, the silenced, the voiceless… They aren't just included; they are empowered… given equity & agency. They aren't just problems to be managed, they are GIFTS who have eyes to see what others cannot. In the kingdom of God, power flows down & out to the margins so that ALL MIGHT FLOURISH.  Let us receive each other as a gift so that we all might become whole & the word of God might spread.

Jesus is the pioneer and the savior. He's Lord. His power at the right hand of the Father is used to GIVE repentance & forgiveness. And we participate in this life as we Gospel with the apostles: As we announce/witness that Jesus is the pioneer & savior of the whole world. This is a gift to us. Where can you wake up to this gift today? Where are you being invited to receive the gift of life from the leader and savior of the whole world?

God is present and at work in our world. He's given us the gift on prayer to open us up to his compassion and authority, to participate in the healing, justice, and deliverance of the world. Sermon by Jay Francoeur.

God's Spirit is generously given to us so that we might SEE the beautiful work he's ready to do all around us. Jesus is ready to give rest to the weary, inclusion to the outcast, dignity to those burdened by shame. Surprise Church, you already have all that you need to respond to the needy in your path. Open your eyes, look and be led by God's Spirit today. Preached by Jay Francoeur

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the event that reveals to us both the HORROR of what we've done to the world, to each other, and to ourselves, and at the same time, reveals the depths of God's love for us and the potency of God's power to save us. Beloved, we are more broken than we imagine and we are more loved than we can fathom. Let's behold our crucified and risen LORD and Messiah & leave our generation's corruption behind. Preached by Jay Francoeur

The Holy Spirit has come! In Jesus, God eternally entered into our experience, empathizing with all of our brokenness, sin and shame – Meeting us where we most need his presence and power. Now, through the Spirit, this same God shares the power of presence with us. Just as he came to be with us in Solidarity, Empathy, Harmony, Oneness, LOVE – He now sends us out to do the same for others in supernaturally ordinary ways. Today, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Preached by Jay Francoeur

Jesus is Lord right now over the whole cosmos. He rules by sharing his powerful presence with us, His body the church, authorizing us to bear witness to his lordship in every place where his lordship has not yet fully been manifested. Friends, this Jesus meets us in our misconceptions to teach us how to trust him with how he is really present and at work.

Mother's Day 2023 - Since the very beginning women have been leading the church, proclaiming good news, even pastoring and prophesying in the presence of powerful men.  The good news is that God's Spirit isn't sequestered into just 1 gender. God's authority is given to EVERYONE among us. Let us give thanks for women in our midst today. 

Jesus loves and and longs to be with us and is coming soon. As Alpha and Omega, he will gather everything up in God's love and make all things new. He longs for this dream to become reality even more than we do. So it's safe to be present to our longings because in them we discover God. Preached by Jay Francoeur

In the midst of a world where reality often shatters dreams, God invites us to dream alongside him of a better world that is now dawning because Jesus is risen. Message preached by Jay Francoeur

In a world where the ends always justify the means, God gives a new picture of how power works in his kingdom. Jesus, the lamb who was slain, is drawing people who are tired and broken from abusive power into his kingdom of love, submission, and humility. Come to the only shepherd who rules as a lamb as he wipes our tears and leads us to life-giving waters.

The Risen and Ascended Jesus is still speaking and working among all those who fear and doubt. His kingdom is one of liberating love that provides freedom, forgiveness, and flourishing for all. Sermon preached by Jay Francoeur.

Jesus comes to the houses of those who are compromised and complicit in systems of injustice. He comes not to condemn them but to save them and reconcile them back to their community and reveal steps of salvation that result in flourishing for all.

God delights to justify the humble, those who are able to own and repent of their sin, and those who freely ask for mercy. Sermon preached by David Meadows.

In a world under the spell of mammon, Jesus is revealing and making possible the life of the age to come: A life of mutuality and solidarity where the lowly are raised up, the outsiders embraced, and the poor held up as icons of God's image.

In Christ, the old world of status and competition is over. A new creation is here. God moves with compassion toward ALL who are alienated from him, reconciling us to him and each other, celebrating us in his love. Will you drop your judgments and join the party?

The Kingdom of God is not musical chairs. Your place is not up for grabs. You don't need to stay vigilant lest someone slide it away when you're not looking. In fact, you are FREE to OFFER your seat knowing that the Table of God is always expanding. We belong at the table and we belong to one another.

The forces of hell nor the forces of entrenched religious power are enough to stop the mustard seed of God's kingdom. Right in the middle of all of the internal & external forces that cripple & bind us… Jesus invites us to a place of safety where we can encounter his loving/healing presence.

God's mercy is at work even no,. digging under the surface, reckoning with our hearts and offering his very life to nourish us.

Jesus the incarnate word of God is present among us right here & right now proclaiming a fresh word from God. This word is reshaping the world in the goodness of God, but as it does, it disrupts our anxious clinging to preconceived notions about what God wants & how to be faithful. But there's space for us today, to sit at the feet of Jesus & receive this disruptive, renewing word as we allow it to reshape our lives in God's goodness too. This is the one thing needed. Will we choose the better part today?

Jesus loves us too much to allow us to become disconnected from the real needs of his creation. He is in the business of turning bystanders & spectators into mercy-dispensing, justice-dealing, participants in love.

Our God is always with us. He's never distracted or too busy. He is always caring, loving and ready to accept us into a closer relationship. Encountering Jesus is life changing and he walks with us every step of the new way he has made possible

Jesus is still at work among us. He's disarming our fears & disrupting the deals we've made to keep those fears at bay. Jesus is protecting & providing today so fear has no dominion here. There is deliverance & healing in the lordship of Jesus.