Epicentre West LA

What does it mean to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God? Contrary to popular belief: isn’t some nice safe thing - it is a dangerous and revolutionary thing, but it IS good.

The Kingdom of God is not like the kingdom of the world, it doesn’t force its will but wins people over. It doesn’t oppress but it uplifts. It doesn’t make false promises but is the real deal through and through that brings tangible restoration. It doesn’t hurt but rather it heals. Listen as Pastor Chris expands on the idea of proclamation and what it means to heal.

What does it mean to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God? Contrary to popular belief: isn’t some nice safe thing - it is a dangerous and revolutionary thing, but it IS good.
The Kingdom of God is not like the kingdom of the world, it doesn’t force its will but wins people over. It doesn’t oppress but it uplifts. It doesn’t make false promises but is the real deal through and through that brings tangible restoration. It doesn’t hurt but rather it heals. Listen as Associate Pastor David Kitani from our sister church, New Life, delves deep into Luke 9:1-6 and expands on the idea of "good news", on proclamation, and healing.

As we walk through this Scripture together, it is wrong to read this in the attitude of: “let me just understand the theology of this passage and get some more mental clarity.” Instead we should ask Jesus to give us mental clarity and courage to believe that the same Spirit of God that is working here, is alive in us, and working all around us, and we should let this word challenge us to break the box we have put God into. Listen as Pastor Chris shares on the life of Philip, and how his attitude and belief in the world challenged what was possible.

Following Jesus means joining him on his mission of redeeming the world, working for holistic salvation, justice, and peace. And at its core, being missional means being that our lives are oriented towards others, not ourselves. This orientation towards other people shows up in every sphere of the believer’s life. And today we will tackle a big one: our possessions. Our finances. How do we think about our money? How should we think about our money? Listen as elder and guest speaker, Quen Cheng, shares God's vision for our finances and the ways we escape the entrapments pushed on us by the world.

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ – Matthew 25:40

What does 'the least of these' mean? What and how do we love them? Listen as guest speaker, David Kitani from New Life Church, preaches and shares his heart and burden on how to love of the 'least of these', especially in a city as diverse, but un-unified as Los Angeles and how the church is called to share in his burden.

"Loving Jesus is a communal affair... It is our love for one another, our bearing of one another’s burdens, our laying our lives down for one another as Jesus did for us--that comprises our identity in Jesus. You’re not a son or daughter without being a part of a family. Loving Jesus is communal." Listen to Part 2 of our series, Vision and Values, featuring guest speaker Kathryn Cheng, and why love makes up a core part of Epicentre.

How do you balance hearing from God and following an ancient text in a way that is true to the Holy Spirit and still applicable in a modern-day setting? Listen as Pastor Chris Rattay gives insight into what it means to love the Word and how to be held accountable to it without compromising parts of ourselves.

How do we measure your intake of the Bible? Is it a regular practice with regular times set aside for reading or is it reserved for the hard moments in your life? What happens when day to day, week to week, we don't take in enough of God's word? Listen as Pastor Chris Rattay speaks on how the ingestion and digestion of the Bible is meant to be and how binging or starving ourselves until desperation can be just as dangerous as not reading it at all.

"When Jesus calls us to be a missional community, it is for for the healing and rescuing of people who are caught in the spiral of evil. But ultimately it is for us, it is for us to keep remembering that we too were rescued, that we, too, are forgiven every day, that we are beggars simply inviting other beggars to the food that we did not provide." Listen as Pastor Chris Rattay completes the vision for the series, "Vision and Values" and how in order to speak into the lives of others, we must remember that we, too, were rescued first.

If you put all the most excellent moments in every phase of our lives together, you still can’t match what we celebrate today. This is the day that we remember and celebrate the most glorious, victorious, stupendous, drop down on your knees, lift your hands, worship-worthy, praise-worthy, the reality of all realities: Jesus Christ has risen from the dead! Jesus Christ is completely alive!