New Life Downtown

Looking at Mark 5, Dr. Steven Todd preaches about Jesus being the hope to the hopeless. That hope is transmitted often through something physical and tangible - from the Sacraments to a hug. Through our tangible love for one another we can become the "hem of His garment" to the hopeless around us!

Storms in life are bound to come, and fear is sure to follow. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us recognize fear as a warning of a threat, a part of being human. Faith won't remove the storms or prevent them, or even keep us from feeling afraid. But faith can help us recognize that Jesus is with us, that He cares for us, and that one day He will bring a sure and certain end to the Storm.

Why did Jesus tell parables? Pastor Glenn Packiam explains how these stories are designed to to separate the attentive listener from the casual hearer. In the parable of the sower, we discover the graciousness of the sower, the power of the seed, and importance of a lifetime of listening.

Is Christianity a dangerous belief, as some claim? As turns out, there were some in Jesus' day who accused Him of being in league with the devil, claiming His mission to be evil. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us look closely at what really stands behind all that is wrong in the world, and to see Jesus as the Stronger One. In the end, we must decide who Jesus is: the embodiment of evil or our rescue from it.

In this week's dramatic sequence, we encounter a Jesus who challenges us, and perhaps even provokes a conflict in us. In the stories of Jesus eating with tax collectors, healing on the Sabbath, and calling His disciples up the mountain, Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks the scandal of Jesus' welcome and Jesus' call. We may want one without the other, but Jesus welcomes us where we are in order to call us to where He is.

As the drama unfolds, we see Jesus being revealed as a healer who is personal, accessible, and merciful. Yet he is something more: Jesus isn't simply a miracle-worker; He is God the Healer Himself. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how sin and sickness are part of the same torn fabric of the world, and how Jesus comes to put us all back together again.

Who is Jesus? This is the question this series will grapple with as we enter Mark's dramatic narrative. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us recognize the Jewish and Roman resonances that come with calling Jesus the Son of God. Furthermore, as the Son of God, Jesus has an identity, destiny, and authority from God. And this is good news for us because Jesus makes it possible for us to become children of God. All other ways of defining ourselves and finding purpose and power pale in comparison to the gift we've been given in Christ.

We know we are 'supposed' to pray. But, when it comes to actually praying, what are we supposed to be praying about? And what does prayer actually do? Pastor Evan talks through living in the tension of the double advent, and how prayer helps us realize today the affects of both Jesus' first arrival and his imminent return.

On this last family Sunday of the 2015, Pastor Glenn Packiam shares briefly on the 3 wise men.

Mary's song is about the mighty being brought low and the lowly being lifted up. But when, decades later, she saw her son hanging on the cross, did she think it would look like that? What do we do with delayed expectations, with hopes that have begun to come true but have not fully arrived? Pastor Glenn Packiam challenges us to live between the two 'Advents' - the incarnation and the return of Christ - with faith, hope, and love. Faith says that there are things we cannot see; hope says that this is not the end; and love invites us to live in the future now.