Sunwest Fc's Weekly Sermon Podcast

Willy and Gwen Reimer started SunWest Christian Fellowship in August 1994 out of a vision to grow a Christ-centred outreaching church in south Calgary. Willy served as lead pastor of SunWest for 19 years. He is passionate about developing Spirit-led Christ-followers who develop and grow other Spirit-led Christ-followers. Willy and Gwen have a deep love for the church and desire to use their gifts to help the church reflect the Kingdom of God to the world. Willy is currently on staff at Willingdon Church providing leadership for their Discipleship Ministries team and continues to be passionate about making disciples and seeing new faith communities be established across Canada and around the world.

Willy and Gwen Reimer started SunWest Christian Fellowship in August 1994 out of a vision to grow a Christ-centred outreaching church in south Calgary. Willy served as lead pastor of SunWest for 19 years. He is passionate about developing Spirit-led Christ-followers who develop and grow other Spirit-led Christ-followers. Willy and Gwen have a deep love for the church and desire to use their gifts to help the church reflect the Kingdom of God to the world. Willy is currently on staff at Willingdon Church providing leadership for their Discipleship Ministries team and continues to be passionate about making disciples and seeing new faith communities be established across Canada and around the world.

Apologizing is one thing... but confession? In a world where fear seems to be what keeps us from taking responsibility or being transparent, Jesus reminds us that God is not an angry God, but one who is filled with compassion, forgiveness and a willingness to embrace the totality of us, even the broken parts... He reminds us that confession is not only perhaps an awkward conversation to be had, but an essential one for living in authentic faith community; where we shoulder each other's burdens, and offer forgiveness, grace and hope to one another - through God the Holy Spirit. What does it look like to live in a community that confesses and forgives in order to allow the Holy Spirit to work?

"Then they began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them". In a world of differences in thoughts, opinions, appearances, beliefs, and actions, who is the greatest? Who is right? Who is wrong? Who is in? Who is out? In a world that constantly compares people, ranks them, and separates them, it’s hard to believe in a love that doesn’t do the same. What does it look like to live in that love and extend that love to create unity in the community around us?

This week we will be talking about commitment. We live in a culture where people reply to every request with a maybe. Even though we are afraid of commitment it's to our detriment if we don't learn to commit to one another. We look forward to exploring this with you.

Canadian culture is a culture of comfort. It’s being sold to us everywhere we look. We’re encouraged to do what we want, when we want, with whomever we want. If something is uncomfortable, we want to avoid it at all costs. The Christian faith, though, is just that: uncomfortable. This week we begin a four-part series called Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community. We were built for community, but our desire for comfort often leads us to distance ourselves from one another. Could it be that your dream of church is the very thing that is keeping you from experiencing the joy and blessings of church?

Following up from his Vision message earlier this year, listen in as Pastor Matt encourages us to “Encounter”.

On this day we celebrate with all of creation the joyful resurrection of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. And Jesus's work expanding this new world extends to you! Join us as we see what Jesus is doing today for all the world.

Today, on Good Friday, join us as we reflect on the love of Jesus, His sacrifice, and how we all are a bit more like Judas that we care to admit.

On this Palm Sunday we look at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. This event was loaded with fanfare and celebration. Yet one week later Jesus would die alone with no fanfare. What happened? Join us as we look at the political and religious expectations that the crowds had on Jesus. We’ll see that their world was not that different than ours. Is it possible that our expectations on God will cause us to abandon him as well?

Jesus taught that his followers were a part of a different world. Yet he told them that they were to be in the world, but not of the world. Everyone had to work out the tension of what that actually meant. Despite how unique the current situation in our world may seem, it’s actually no different, than what the first followers of Jesus had to navigate. To follow him had different implications politically, religiously, and relationally for different groups. The same is true today. Listen in for what is an encouraging, yet challenging message.

This week we deeper dive into Shalom with the World. As we peel back layers of systems that make our world work, we can also see some of the systemic injustices at play. One of those systems is religious identity. Only what appears to be a religious identity is really a racial identity that shapes religion, which is why we often see behaviours at odds with the teachings of Jesus. Join us as Jesus challenges all of us through his parable of the Good Samaritan found in the Gospel of Luke.

We have now looked at Shalom with God, self, and others. This week we will begin looking at Shalom with the world. From creation, to politics, to systemic issues of injustice, the word “world" in the bible means many things. Join us for this three-week series as we explore how God invites us to partner with him to both rebel against and redeem the world.

Our world is full of examples right now of how people or groups are using power to control, manipulate, and dominate. The pain we experience as humans is often linked to how power is used or abused. Jesus both demonstrates how to use power and how to respond when you feel powerless. The truth is, we are never powerless, and the Kingdom of God can be most powerful when it looks most powerless.

Justice has turned into a "buzz" word in recent years. We cry out for justice and we cry out about injustice, and rightfully so. The God of the Bible is a God of justice. But justice is not the ultimate end point. Join us this week as we discover how, when we stop at justice, we stop short of experiencing the fullness of God's life for us.

This week we move from talking about Shalom with Self to talking about Shalom with others. As we’ve noted throughout the Shalom Project, the word Shalom doesn’t simply mean peace or the absence of conflict; it is the experience of deep life and fulfillment when our relationships function in the way God intended. When we look at the world around us, we don’t have to look very far to see that there is significant conflict between humans. God’s vision for our lives and the world is one where we re-image God, his presence, his grace and his forgiveness to one another. Sometimes we can’t even imagine that. But if we experience Shalom with God and Self, then Shalom with others begins to be possible.

The world’s definition of freedom is vastly different than the Bible’s definition of freedom. Many people think freedom is about being able to do whatever you want. Yet the choices we make eventually make us. When we pursue this idea of freedom we ironically become increasingly enslaved. Listen in as we rediscover the upside down freeing invitation of Jesus.

Jesus, Paul, Peter and others all spoke of war going on inside our body. This is a war within ourself. Paul described it as a war between the flesh and the spirit. It is often the case that our deepest desires are not the same as our strongest desires. Every choice we make contributes to the person we are becoming. The choices we make will eventually make us. So, who are you becoming, and who do you want to become?

We have spent the last three weeks looking at the importance of our relationship with God. We now shift to looking out our relationship with ourselves. Our understanding of our identity anchors on the voices we give authority to. Our world is obsessed with the idea of identity and being our true selves. Yet it seems the more we try to determine who we are for ourselves, the more lost we become. Join us this week as we kick off a 3-week series on identity.

"Don’t do anything you don’t want to do” is a bit of a mantra in our culture. If it doesn’t feel "authentic" we don’t do it. Yet the very language of worship in the Bible is posture language. We are taught to do things regardless of how we might feel. In fact it is often through our actions that we begin to bring our heart into alignment. Join us this week as we unpack how worship is more than heart posture.