Renovatus Church Audio Podcast

It is hard waking up every day to headlines about the words powerful people say. How do they get away with it? When will God intervene? What are we to do when those words hurt real people in real ways? Today’s sermon acknowledges those questions as we...

We all know the joy and relief that comes when we find something that has been lost. When criticized for who he spent the most time with, Jesus reveals to us the joy God takes in finding lost things.

Jesus’ time in the wilderness invites us to explore how we respond in times of disorientation and how the Spirit might be calling us to see new ways of reorientation.

Jesus calls his followers to lives of radical love and peacemaking. This sermon explores Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain” and invites us to consider a broader perspective and to tap into deeper wells.

When Jesus turns his gaze to his followers, he speaks the truth plainly to them. In this sermon from Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain,” we explore how following Jesus challenges the things we put our trust in, and the way we think of ourselves and one another.

Nothing is more frustrating that finishing a hard day of work with little to show for it. This is the context in which Jesus first encounters his disciples in Luke. What happens when Jesus pushes us to go deeper? What happens in us when Jesus changes...

The good news that Jesus shared wasn’t always heard as good news to those who considered themselves central to God’s unfolding plans in the world. What is it like to discover that God is working, but among those on the edges of the world instead of...

In the forth gospel, John describes the scene of Jesus’ first sign, where he miraculously turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana. It is here where we learn just how important it is to God for people to celebrate people simply being people. This...

The story of eastern astronomers following the stars gives us hope that we don’t always need angels to bring us to God; God is in all the things around us if we are careful to pay attention.

Our lives are riddled with false starts, abrupt stops, and new beginnings. Those moments of change are filled with anxiety and disappointment. It is difficult to make sense of it all. What we look to in those times determines if we will experience new...

Work is a central part of all of our lives. What might it change if we imagine that we do not work alone, but that God is at work in the world with us? This sermon takes a look at how God is at work in good times and bad, and that his work transcends...

This sermon takes a look at the immigrant character of Ruth, and explores how the seemingly mundane gift of friendship has profound implications.

While Jesus’ disciples scurry to be the ones left in charge, Jesus challenges their ways of thinking about leadership and discipleship. Jesus offers us a vision of a community not shaped like a hierarchical pyramid, but one in the shape of the...

Many Christians might want to imagine that following Jesus is as easy as saying a prayer and then joining a church; but what if there is more to it than that? What if Jesus anticipates that it will require something more?

What if Jesus’ teachings on divorce and remarriage weren’t meant to be abstract legal principles, but a challenge to the way the men of his world used marriage to reinforce patriarchal power structures which harmed women and children the most? This...

Our words are catalytical and wild. James compares them to sparks and a raging fire. In our media driven world full of words and ideas, James invites the church to consider the weight of what we say, and to consider what it means to be who we say we are.

Favoritism and partiality in the church is condemned by God’s royal law: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” In this sermon we explore the different ways the church must be intentional in it posture towards the rich and the poor, the cool and the...

James challenges us to receive the word of truth that saves us living embodied doers and not dead passive headers.

n Paul’s closing words of his letter to the Ephesians he urges the church to stand strong and equipped in the face of evil. This is not a fight against one another, but for one another.