New Life Downtown

What will Jesus do about all that is wrong with the world? Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks how Jesus doesn't just deal with the trouble in the world but with the very power of evil itself. In order to deal with the evil, Jesus must deal with our sin. The Lamb of God, by absorbing the full force of evil and by taking the punishment for our sin, overcomes the world. Best yet, we can share in this victory through faith in Christ.

As we continue the One Last Thing series, we find ourselves in

John 15 of the upper room discourse between Jesus and his disciples. Pastor Evan Reedall sets up the relational context of John's Gospel, as well as the overarching theme of unity that Jesus exemplifies. With that foundation, we can understand Jesus' heart when he dynamically invites us to abide in him, as well as the humility and God glorifying fruit that is the result.

How can Jesus tell us how our heart should feel? Drawing on a Christian psychology of emotions, Pastor Glenn Packiam explains that emotions are like the eyes of our heart; what we set our hearts on shapes how our hearts sees. While we feel lost, like no one hears us, and all alone, Jesus calls us to perceive a deeper and truer reality: that He is the Way, that the Father hears us, and that the Spirit is with us.

Pastor Brady and Glenn Packiam begins our new series "One Last Thing" by sharing that what the world needs today are more people who serve like Jesus.

What makes Christian community different from all other relationships is not that we're nicer or 'better' people, but that a Christ-like forgiveness lies at the heart of our relationships. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see what forgiveness is not- neither a diminishing of the wrong nor a restoration of trust. The Gospel radically reshapes our understanding of forgiveness by moving us beyond 'balancing the scales' to leveling the ground at the foot of the cross.

Psychologists tell us that kindness involves turning toward one another, being generous about one another's intentions, and sharing one another's joys. But what if people don't appreciate our kindness? What if they don't reciprocate it? Or, worse yet, what if they really don't deserve it? Drawing from the story of David and Mephibosheth and from the English Reformer Thomas Cranmer's 'Comfortable Words', Pastor Glenn Packiam shows us how believing the kindness of God to us produces true kindness in us.

Meals can be a place of tension or a surprising display of unity. Preaching on the party at Levi's house, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how we tend to draw circles around ourselves that only include "people just like us". But the Gospel compels us to make room for others, even those we'd rather exclude. Just as Levi's house became Jesus' party, so our open homes can become places where God is at work.

Why do we center our weekly worship gathering's around the Lord's table? Pastor Evan, in this 1st week of the 3 week Worship. Connect. Serve. series takes us Genesis to Revelation to see how we center our worship around the Table because in scripture God centers His story around the same. We gather around the meal because Christ has undone the original meal of sin by becoming the redeemed meal of salvation.

The first Sunday of Christmas can feel like a letdown. We find ourselves wishing we lived in the days of angels and of Christ's presence on earth. But in this surprising conclusion to the series, Pastor Glenn Packiam shows us how Luke's story opens with angels but concludes with disciples. The Kingdom of God, inaugurated by the Son of God, continues through the people of God- us!- by the power of the Spirit of God. What it look like for us to pray and take simple risks to bring beauty from ashes in the broken places we find all around us?

Herod could have been remembered through the ages as the king who prepared the way for the true King of Jews. Instead, news of Jesus' arrival made Herod fall apart. By contrast, signs of Jesus' birth made pagan astrologers fall to their knees. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us to see that when life reminds us that we are not in control, we can perceive it as a threat or receive it as an invitation to surrender to the One who is.