Acts2 Network Podcast

http://podcast.berkmedia.org/2017.06.11_berk_CommissioningService_Mark1.16-20_PastorEd.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

When Jesus called Simon, Andrew, and the sons of Zebedee to follow him, they immediately left their nets and their families to follow him.  They left everything to follow this rabbi who promised that he will make them become fishers of men.  Following implies leaving, so as we consider what it means to follow Jesus in this message, we must also consider what we need to leave behind.

http://podcast.berkmedia.org/2017.06.04_berk_sws_college_Matthew25.14-23_P.Jonathan.mp3

A master entrusts a servant with five talents, another servant with two talents, and another servant with one talent.  At face value, this may seem unfair until we find that what the master is most interested in is their faithfulness to what they’ve been entrusted with.  We need to ask ourselves if we are being faithful with what God has entrusted us with, and we need to examine how we are being faithful to one of the greatest entrustments that we have: relationships of love.

http://podcast.berkmedia.org/2017.05.28_berk_CombinedSWS_Acts16.11-34_PastorJonathan.mp3

A successful Asian businesswoman, a demon-possessed slave girl, and a Roman jailer.  These are the people that are highlighted in Acts 16 as converts in the church at Philippi.  When Apostle Paul responded to the Macedonian call to help, he probably didn’t expect that these would be the converts he would lead to Christ, but these are the people that God brought and we can learn many lessons about what it means to be saved through each of their stories.

http://podcast.berkmedia.org/2017.05.21_berk_CombinedSWS_Matthew15.21-28_PastorManny.mp3

A Canaanite woman approaches Jesus crying out in need for her demon-possessed daughter, “Have mercy on me.”  Though Jesus rebuffs her initially, she acknowledges that she doesn’t deserve anything, saying that “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”  Jesus recognizes her attitude of humility and calls it faith.  In this passage, we look at the source of the Canaanite woman’s faith and compare her attitude to our attitude given what we think we are entitled to.

http://podcast.berkmedia.org/2017.01.01_berk_WatchNightService_John12_PastorEd.mp3

Jesus taught that those who hold on to lives will lose it, but those who release their lives and die to themselves will truly live.  Our lives are meant to be spent and not preserved.  In this message to usher in the new year, we look at John 12 as we are called to follow the pattern of Scripture to release our lives to bless others.

http://podcast.berkmedia.org/2016.12.18_SWS_Luke2_PastorEd.mp3

The Christmas story tells us that Jesus was born in a manger, which is a trough for animals.  A manger represents poverty, suffering, and abandonment, and essentially feeling like a loser for obeying God.  However, through the instances of “manger” that appear in Luke 2:1-20, we see God’s greater purpose and salvation that came through the manger, and we are invited to remain faithful to God in the midst of poverty, suffering, and abandonment.

http://podcast.berkmedia.org/2016.12.11_berk_sws_college_podcast_Psalm1_PastorEd.mp3

Psalm 1 defines a blessed person based on what he does not do, including the company that he does not hang out with.  And whereas the life of the blessed is like an anchored tree that yields its fruit in season, the life of the wicked is like chaff that the wind blows away.  With winter break approaching, we are challenged to consider the company we will hang out with, the boundaries that are going to define us, and how we are going to spend our time in light of what constitutes a blessed life.

http://podcast.berkmedia.org/2016.11.27_berk_sws_James2.14-26_PastorEd.mp3

What is the relationship between what we believe and what we do?  How can what we believe be verified or falsified by others?  According to James, faith is not something that is merely internal and subjective.  It is verifiable and objective.  As we look at the relationship between faith and works, we look at how we can build our faith through action, what stifles such action, and examples of faith in the Old Testament and how they apply to us.

http://podcast.berkmedia.org/2016.08.28_berk_DLsws_John4.1-42_JonathanLee.mp3

A Jewish rabbi encounters a Samaritan woman at a well.  It’s the sixth hour.  It’s an unlikely encounter, but an even more unlikely conversation about water.  Jesus asks for water, but he goes deeper in the conversation and speaks about living water that quenches the thirst of the soul.  Then Jesus brings up the woman’s most sensitive and painful issue by asking her to call her husband.  As Jesus confronts the woman’s deepest need through this conversation, we come to see what our deepest needs are and how we can come to have living water that quenches the thirst of our soul.

http://podcast.berkmedia.org/2016.08.21_berk_px_sws_Luke9.23-25_PastorEd.mp3

In Luke 9:23-25, Jesus presents a paradoxical truth that if we save our lives we will lose it, but if we lose our lives for Christ we will save it.  In this message, we look at the differences between a life of self-denial for Christ and a life of living for comfort.