West City Fellowship podcast

Everyone of us has an about what we think true wisdom is. The question is where does this wisdom come from – God or somewhere else? When we listen to (or give) the wrong kind of wisdom, it can cause problems we often can’t imagine. On Sunday, we discuss some ways in which we can be certain that we are listening to true godly wisdom.

Sometimes statements like “giving our first fruits” are difficult to transition from the abstract to the literal. Often we can take this a certain way and be guilted into placing offerings before God or see our offerings as an equation to receive even more earthly resources. When we give financially, with our time, and any way else motives like guilt and earthly gain shouldn’t be a part of it at all.

Many of us are unaware that what we say has tremendous power to heal or wound. On Sunday, we learned more about how seriously we should take our responsibility as stewards of our tongues, because with our tongues we can either bless or to curse – much more than we probably think.

When Jesus calls us to follow Him, He takes us on an adventure – if we are really willing to follow. On Sunday, we’ll take a break from our ‘Faith and Action’ series in order to discuss some important things we believe God is calling us into as a church.

Does believing the right things make us right with God? Does what we do make us right with God? James tells us that it’s both. He’s not saying that we can earn our salvation by doing good things. Rather, he’s saying that the kind of faith that saves us will naturally impact what we do.

At West City Fellowship, we like to say ‘you matter to God and you matter to us.’ But why do we say that – really? And what might that belief really look like if we put it into practice? We talk about that with this message, “Everyone Matters,” as we continue in our Faith and Action series in the Letter from Jesus’ brother James.

We have an expression, ‘talk is cheap.’ That is, we can say we believe something – but if our actions don’t reflect that belief, then maybe we don’t really believe it as much as we thought. Yet, true blessing comes when our beliefs reflect our actions and our actions reflect our beliefs.

There are many things that can tempt us when we are going though trials. One of these temptations is to begin to doubt that God is good. Does He really have our best interests at heart? Can He really be trusted? Jesus’ brother James has some helpful counsel for us when we face these and other temptations during trials.

In this podcast, we begin a new series called, ‘Faith and Action,’ in the Letter of James. Many of us would like to know what it means to pray for things with bold faith – ‘without doubting.’ How does enduring the trials in our lives enable us to do that?

The Apostle Paul loved the Ephesian church, and he prayed that they would know Jesus in a profound way. One of the ways Paul prayed that they would know Jesus is through the power of His resurrection. Easter is a great time remember that God displayed His power mightily when He raised Jesus from the dead, and He wants us to know that same power. It is one of the ways we come to know God, rather than merely knowing about Him.

Following Jesus into hostile territory can get challenging at times and even lead to a crisis of faith. If you’ve ever had a crisis of faith or seen someone else have one, you know it can be a disorienting and devastating time in our lives. So what should we do when this happens? In this message, we look at a crisis of faith that John the Baptist experienced and how Jesus instructed him and those watching to handle it.

At different points in each of our lives God has called or will call us to something beyond ourselves. Situations where we feel like we are inadequate or unprepared to succeed. This can cause us to feel guilty, sad, or even angry at God and ourselves. On Sunday we will talk about why God does this and how success in these situations is more attainable then we realize.

Last week we began discussion how when Jesus call us into the harvest, He calls us into a battle between two Kingdoms. He doesn’t want us to be naïve, but He doesn’t want us to be anxious about it. Rather, He just wants us to be prepared. Sometimes following Him into this battle takes a toll on some of our most important relationships, so Jesus wants us to be prepared to think about those costs with the right perspective.

In calling us into the harvest, Jesus calls us into a battle between two Kingdoms. As part of our preparation, Jesus sets realistic expectations about the battlefield into which He will send us. Jesus does not want us to be naïve, but neither does He want us to worry – He just wants us to be prepared!

Jesus called the Twelve Apostle to Himself and gave them an assignment to go out into the community and proclaim the Kingdom of God. Does Jesus’ assignment apply to us in any way? If so, how?

Jesus said ‘the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.’ This statement almost seems hard to believe considering the incredible things Jesus was doing in proclaiming the Kingdom of God. Yet, there are several things that might keep us from joining Jesus on this adventure of the harvest.

If we do not realize how desperate we are for God, then we miss the joy of relationship with Him. One the other hand, if we are constantly haunted by a feeling that we can never be good enough for God, our joy is stolen. But when we realize that God has made a way for desperate, broken, imperfect people to experience the joy of relationship with Him, then we can really celebrate. But this seems so counterintuitive to us that it requires a revolution in our thinking. Sunday we continued our King and Kingdom series in Matthew’s Gospel.

Jesus calls us to follow Him and He knows what we need to let go of in order to receive the blessings of following Him. This can mean that we follow Him into unknown and stormy places. It can mean we follow Him into great spiritual battles. It can mean we are scorned by others because of our association with Him. Yet, who else would we want to follow? On Sunday, we follow Jesus into spiritual adventure.

When Jesus began his ministry, He announced that the Kingdom of God is near and available to all who will humble themselves before God and believe that Jesus is God and Savior of the world. Then He immediately began healing people and casting out demons. What is the connection and what does that mean for us today? On Sunday, we resumed our ‘King and Kingdom’ series in The Gospel of Matthew.

When Jesus filled the Apostles’ nets with fish, the weight was so heavy that their nets were breaking and their boats were sinking! In desperation, they called to one another for help. They were transformed in an instant from confident fishermen to clumsy novices as they tried to salvage the situation themselves. Jesus performed in a similar miracle at the end of his ministry. This time, the Apostles were much quicker to recognize that Jesus was in it and things went much more smoothly as they reeled in the catch. So what might that mean for us as a church? Last week we spoke of casting out our nets. But what if God fills them? How can we be prepared for that?

When Jesus began His earthly ministry, He miraculously gave the Apostles a great catch of fish and afterward called them saying, ‘follow Me, I will make you fishers of men.’ At the end of His earthly ministry, He did a similar miracle where He directed the Apostles to another large catch of fish. With these miracles, Jesus reminds us of our mission as a church to reach out to as many people as we can with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. As we continue our ‘Into the Deep’ series about who we are and what we will do as a church, we’ll talk about how we will reach out to our community. Please make a special effort to listen to this series, so that we are united as we move into 2017.

We call ourselves West City Fellowship, but what does that mean? As a church, God calls us together in a common salvation and He gives us a common mission. As we continue our series, “Into the Deep,” we’ll talk about who we are, what we will attempt for the Kingdom of God, and how each of us has a unique but vital role to play. If you missed last week, please take a few minutes to listen to the message so that we are all aligned as we move into 2017.

The Bible tell us of a time when the Apostles had been fishing all night but had caught nothing. Jesus tells them to put out again into the deep water and let down their nets for a catch. Though they were weary, skeptical, and frustrated, they obeyed Jesus’ command. Their obedience led to worship they had never experienced before. As we launch out into 2017, God has a vision for our young church. We’ll share that vision over the next few weeks, so please join us Sunday as we begin a new vision series called “Into the Deep.”

Listen to a special message delivered by Joe O'Leska. Joe was recently confirmed as an Elder at West City.

We conclude our Advent series in the prophecy of Isaiah by celebrating the prophecy of Messiah Jesus’ birth.

The prophet Isaiah prophesied about Jesus' earthly ministry around 700 years before Jesus was born. His predictions about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection are truly astounding and can be a great reinforcement of our confidence in what the Bible tells us. Sunday we continued our Advent series "Maranatha" leading up to the celebration of Jesus' birth.

As we anticipate the celebration of the arrival of the Lord at the birth of Jesus, we are reminded that we live in the period between His first coming and His second coming. During this period, we can sometimes feel as if God is very far away. This can tempt us to trust in things that would lead us away from God. King Hezekiah experienced the temptation to abandon the promises of God that had come through the prophet Isaiah and take things into his own hands. Sunday, we saw how Hezekiah handled this temptation, and we talked about what we can learn about times when waiting on God tempts us to try to go around Him.

The Advent season is when we anticipate the celebration of the birth of Jesus, where God came to be with us on this earth. During its communion services, the early church would often declare ‘Maranatha,’ which can mean ‘The Lord has come’ or ‘may the Lord come.’ The Lord has come in the birth of Jesus, yet someday He will come again to usher in our eternity with Him. This advent season is a reminder that we should declare both things. On Sunday, we began a new series exploring this tension using the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah.

The holiday season has begun. We are approaching Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and then New Years. With so many plans, traditions, and experiences on our plates it can be very difficult to navigate. What do we do when? What can't we do? And so on. This Sunday we look at the coming month through the lens of a parable. And armed with the timeless wisdom of Christ, prepare ourselves for the holidays.

In God’s wisdom, there is great blessing and joy when we give. Of course, that means that there are also those who receive. The Apostle Paul explains that when we give and receive with the right perspective, joy abounds for all and God is glorified. We discussed this Sunday as we concluded our series JOY! series in Philippians.

Last week, we spoke about how climbing higher up the mountain (i.e. growing closer to Jesus and becoming more like Him) is a great source of joy. But as we climb, there are many things that try to knock us down off the mountain and steal our joy – things like conflict with others, worry, and worldly distractions. Therefore, it important to learn to persevere in the face of those things. When they knock us down our joy is stolen. But when we persevere, our joy remains.

Last week we discussed how we are not made righteous by what we do or do not do, but rather by what Christ has done for us. But does that mean we can do anything we want? In fact, the Apostle Paul tells us not to take grace for granted by becoming spiritually complacent. Rather, there is great joy when we actively seek to know Jesus more and become more like Him.

By many standards, the Apostle Paul was a very “good” person. Yet, he said that he would gladly give up his good record in order to be fully dependent upon Jesus’ good record. In fact, Paul said that this is the only way he could really ‘know’ Jesus. So, what did Paul mean by that? We talk about it this, as we get back into our JOY! series in the letter to the Philippians.

As we finish our series ‘The Pillar and the Dance,’ we will discuss the question, ‘Can God help me when I am in pain?’ We discuss this topic with Pastor Andrew Nguri from Nyahururu, Kenya. Pastor Andrew sees a lot of suffering as he ministers to some of the most forgotten and suffering people in his city. We ask him how he responds to this question when speaking with those who suffer.

Most of us would say that we care about the poor and the oppressed. But have you ever thought about why you feel that way? What motivates our caring for the poor and oppressed? How reliable are these motivations? How pure are these motivations? We explore the reasons why God cares about the poor and oppressed and how this should impact how we think about them.

Is it possible to worship anything other than God? People might be surprised at the answer and how significantly it impact their lives – even though they might not be aware of it! So, invite some friends to join us as we continue with our Pillar and the Dance series.

This Sunday we had our official launch service at Minnie Howard School and began our series, "The Pillar and the Dance," with the sermon "Is there anything unique about Christianity?"

Sometimes the idea of serving others is not very appealing – especially if that service involves something we don’t especially like to do. But the Bible teaches that serving others is actually a way we worship God. And any time we worship God, we experience joy. The key to joy in serving then is learning to serve as an act of worship.

When we think about humility, is it something we enthusiastically want to embrace or something we reluctantly concede we have to pursue? There are many reasons that we might feel a little cautious about humility. But, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians that humility, if properly understood, is not only critical for a healthy church but is also a source of great joy.

Most of us face difficult circumstances at some point in our lives – and sometimes what we are facing is REALLY difficult. These times can suck the joy right out of us. We can even wonder if we will ever experience joy again. This Sunday, we’ll see how the Apostle Paul was able to experience joy while in a prison cell facing a possible death sentence. There is much we can learn about finding joy in the midst of adversity. Please join us Sunday as we continue with our JOY! series in the letter to the Philippians.

This is an exciting Sunday for our church as we move to our new location – Minnie Howard School. We will start this new season of ministry with a new series called JOY!, from the letter to the Philippians. The first message will discuss how the more we learn to love in a godly manner, the more we experience the blessing of joy.

This week we hear from our Worship Leader, Nick Santostefano, on his background, what led him to WCF and what it means to be 'Throne Builders' in our worship.

What is Success? This somewhat abstract term can be defined in many ways. Living in the Washington, DC area we see quite a few. Wealth, position, influence...the list goes on. But is that how the Bible defines success? This week, we will seek to not only explore the Biblical definition of success, but also how we as christians should pursue it.

Jesus calls us into situations where we must depend upon Him. If we ignore His call, we miss great opportunities. Yet, if we follow with a cavalier attitude, we are likely to be quickly humbled. When we follow Jesus with courage and humility, however, we develop a deepened faith in who He is and what He can do. Out of that faith, we can follow Jesus on exciting adventures as we join Him in establishing His Kingdom. We’ll talk about that Sunday, as we conclude our ‘Catching Fire’ series.

To go where God calls us, we must pray. And we should pray for great things - even seemingly impossible things. Yet, when it comes to this kind of prayer, we are often hesitant, tentative, and doubtful. Jesus encouraged us in this by telling us that if we pray with even the faith like a tiny mustard seed, God will respond in astounding ways.

As God’s church, we have the privilege of being included in God’s work to establish His Kingdom. In that process, we get the opportunity to actually see places where God’s Kingdom ‘breaks in’ to this broken world in which we live. This Sunday, we will also consider how God blesses us with the opportunity to make eternal investments in His Kingdom.

Jesus taught us to pray for God to establish His Kingdom ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’ There are several places in Scripture where we see a description of this Kingdom as it is in heaven. But we also see that there are places on earth today where we can observe living examples of God’s Kingdom breaking in to our world. By God’s design, the church is one of those places we catch a glimpse of the Kingdom of God!

Jesus showed unconditional love for all, yet only some decided to follow Him. Why? Jesus gives us a clue when He tells us that those who are “healthy” have no need of a doctor. Only those who know they are “sick” need a doctor. So, what is Jesus teaching us here about ministering to our community as a church?

Jesus went out to people who were rejected by society – people like lepers who were isolated and cast out from the community. Not only did Jesus go to them and heal them, but He was willing to touch them. So what might this mean for us as God is preparing us for a new phase in the life of our church?

Last week we remembered that God created every human being in His image, but that this image has been blurred and twisted. This week we’ll remember how the Gospel is effective and necessary to heal that broken image of God in us and to restore our relationship with God.

Sometimes church can become routine and we can lose our enthusiasm for the great things that God is doing through His church. On Sunday, we start a new series called, ‘Catching Fire’ where we’ll remind ourselves of the incredible way God wants to work through us as a church to make a difference in the world. This should be an exciting time for us as a church as God begins this process of moving us to a new physical location and also calling us to a new stage in our ministry.