Sunshine Community Church's Podcast

2 Timothy 4: 1-8 Our cultural moment breeds many false teachers and corrupt churches; we must strive together to keep doctrinal integrity. 

Psalm 25 This message speaks about the fragmentation of our society - the way it leads people to live very duplicitous and disconnected lives. Too many people are shape shifting in the different parts of their lives, and they end up feeling like they have lots of acquaintances, but no real friendships. We call this "crowded loneliness." It is a state of being in which alienation and isolation are rapidly increasing, despite the illusion of hyper-connectedness. God's call to holistic integrity is the only solution.

Frist World Problems Series 1 Peter 4:12-19 This message is brought by our guest, Rev. Aaron Jager. Aaron is an old friend and coworker of Pastor Josh. Aaron now serves as chaplin at Broson Hospital in Kalamazoo. This experience has taught him a lot about distortions in the way we process suffering in our culture. Suffering surprises many, but Christianity and the Bible prepares and equips us to redeem it.

Jeremiah 7 We are often taught, explicitly or subtly, that people are disposable commodities. When they get in the way of our happiness, we are quick to resent, dismiss, ignore, and even harm them. In contrast, the Gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to sacrifice our idols (and ourselves) to build up people and seek their flourishing in every way we can.

1 Corinthians 6:12 & 10:23-24  This message is brought by Dr. Paul Patton. He is sharing with us some of the wisdom from a book he co-authored called, "Everyday Sabbath," in which he deals with the patterns of media and technology and how they are affecting us with some unique first-world problems. We often seek escape from life's problems through our use of media. Digital distraction and fantasy seem like the only escape to our woes, but they are actually the greatest of our woes! In excess, they can keep us from thinking and relating the way God intends!

Revelation 18 One of the biggest First World Problems modern US belivers face is blending into the culture around us. Unlike so many Christians in history and around the globe, we have been very sheltered from persecution and rejection. This has lulled us into thinking we can follow Jesus while also maintaining friendship with this world and its systems. We often slip into consuming the delicacies of the culture around us without discerning the difference between God's ways and this world's. Instead, we are called to join Him as creators of his Kingdom culture!

Mark 13 As we gear up for another year of faithfulness, service to God, prayer, and worship together, it is a good idea to ask God what kinds of things we should be prepared for. T/he truth is that Jesus gives us some pretty clear instructions for how we are to greet the uncertainty of the future, but the clarity is also wrapped up in mystery. The future is always uncertain; Jesus calls us to be prepared for bad times without losing our faith, hope, joy, or love!

Isaiah 59:14-60:6 Darkness holds sway over many hearts, but Jesus has come to bring the light of salvation and joy to us all! 

Isiah 43:1-13 This is a time of year where expectations, schedules, budgets, hearts, and minds all get stretched to the breaking point. Sometimes, in the midst of this chaos, life becomes so cluttered and threatened that people feel like they are drowning. They start to feel overwhelmed. This holiday hangover isn't healthy, and it can lead to people who feel completely fried, just at the time they are supposed to be spreading cheer, buying the world a Coke, and enjoying peace and bliss on earth. God calls us to reach out and soothe such hearts with love.

Isaiah 49:8-21 Like Eleanor Rigby, we may wonder where all the lonely, forgotten people even come from - they seem to be all around us! And yet, we live our lives in such a way that they are easy to forget. Forgotten people aren’t on anyone’s list, but God remembers. In this passage, he tells us that his people are ever before him and that he cannot forget them, EVER. This assurance is essential for our hearts; more than that, we are called to join God in finding and blessing all who feel forgotten.

Matthew 5:43-48 This is a time of year when "goodwill toward all" definitely gets tested. Seeing problematic people at times of celebration and fellowship can remind us that there is no easy fix for enmity. We don't always feel very christmasy when we are around others who have mocked, hurt, mistreated, or excluded us. If we look to God's example in the first Christmas, though, we find a pretty challenging example to live up to: When we were God's enemies, he spoke peace to us and sent his Son; Christmas is a time to offer reconciliation and healing, like he does!

Matthew 25: 14-30 This Advent, we'll look at some of the people in our lives who are hard to shop for, understand, and even love - including ourselves! We need to see how God handles these tough nuts and then pattern our attitudes and responses around his. This message is about a real challenge: the person who seems to already have everything! Sometimes, having everything is actually a handicap; it can lead to a trap where things own us! God knows that open hands and hearts grasp his gifts better.

1 Peter 4:7-9 Christian community involves hospitality! That ought to be an exciting thing to hear, but it isn't always, if we're honest. Fear, selfishness, past hurts, logistics, cost, and inconvenience often stop our hospitality before it ever gets off the ground. But opening up our homes and hearts to others has an amazing and God-ordained ability to change lives- it is worth it! Love that manifests itself as hospitality and generous life-on-life interaction is world-changing; it softens hearts, opens closed doors, and heals many hurts.

1 Peter 4:4-6 Community is built on the awareness that we will give an account to the One who gave us our lives and relationships. 

Message 1 in Community Builders Series 1 Peter 4:1-3 Philippians 3:12-20 When we become Christians, we say "hello" to many wonderful things. Whether we saw it coming or not, we also say "goodbye" to lots of habits, relationships, and friends who may not be compatible with our new faith and commitments. This is really hard, and God wants us to gain a new set of support structures to help us along. He provides the Church as a source of Christian community where we can process all this together. Once there, we find that part of what bonds us is what we've willingly left behind and what we have committed to pursue together.

Many people list church drama, hypocrisy, and brokenness as reasons to reject Jesus! It is certainly true that the Church's unity and harmony (or lack thereof) reflect on Jesus' reputation. When we bite and devour one another, it tends to call his power and majesty into question; on the other hand, he has chosen to build his Church out of broken people, so it isn't meant to be perfect just yet. We are called to grow together in love, and accept the mess that follows!  

Acts 26:1-29 One of the hardest questions a person can ask about Christianity is, " Why should I become a Christian?" It's one thing to think that this faith can be good for others or might be useful to us someday down the road, but determining whether or not we should turn to Jesus and surrender to him today is a deeper and more difficult question to settle. The best answer is to always share a testimony about how Jesus has changed us. The Christian life is a life of meaning, freedom, joy, and purpose; we commend it as worthy, good, and noble for all people.

Psalm 104:24-35; Romans 11:33-36 We all love to learn new things, and science is such an interesting and wonderful way to wrap our heads around the world God has made.Unfortunately, over the years, religion and science have been seemingly at odds with each other. But does it have to be this way? Are Christians know-nothings opposed to reason and logic? Are scientists all atheists? Science and the Bible needn't conflict; faith should give science its meaning, and science should give God the glory!

Whether you are a Christian or not, you have probably wondered about this hard question: Why does God allow suffering? If he is powerful and good, shouldn't he clean some things up around here? The Bible tells us that suffering entered the world when humanity fell; but we alsk know that God is actively working to heal the effects of sin on his creation. Sorting out the causes and effects of suffering is dicey; however, only the Christian God enters into it, overcomes it, and redeems it into beauty!

Acts 4 The beauty, culture, and history tied up in other world religions is considerable in this life, but only one faith offers salvation in the next.