Passion Creek Church

Our church gathers every Sunday at 8:30am & 10:15am at Queen Creek Junior High.

20435 South Old Ellsworth Road, Queen Creek, AZ

https://passioncreek.church/sundays/

00:00 Magic And Disenchantment

02:18 Weber And Modern Faith

04:11 Spiritual Warfare Recap

08:22 Psalm 82 Overview

09:19 Divine Council Courtroom

09:54 Elohim Explained

18:11 Nations And Spiritual Rulers

24:06 Charges In Psalm 82

25:21 Injustice And Idolatry

34:47 Gods Judgment And Mission

38:06 Resisting Subtle Participation

41:54 Prayer And Final Challenge

In Week 3 of our Spiritual Warfare series, we look at the Tower of Babel. Genesis 11 tells the story of humanity trying to make a name for themselves by building a tower, likely a ziggurat, in an attempt to invade heaven and recreate Eden on earth. But God comes down to disrupt their plans, confuse their language, and scatter the nations. What started as a third rebellion to create heaven on earth on human terms ends as a tragic story of humanity repeating the same sin from the garden: to see, desire, and take.

But the way of Jesus is to hear, trust, and obey. Where Babel climbs up to make a name for itself, Jesus comes down, humbles Himself, and is given the name above every name. A biblical theology of spiritual warfare helps us discern not only who we are up against, but what we are building, and whose name we are building it for.

In Week 2 of our Spiritual Warfare series, we look at the story of the Flood. This passage can seem strange, with its references to the sons of God, the Nephilim, and the wickedness that leads God to bring judgment on the earth. But beneath these strange details, Genesis reveals a dangerous truth about spiritual warfare: rebellion against God corrupts His good creation, and that corruption spreads. In Genesis 6, spiritual beings cross the boundaries God established, and human wickedness multiplies until the earth is filled with violence. What begins with rebellion against God in the Garden spreads into relationships, families, and communities, and out to the rest of the world.

But in the middle of a corrupt and violent world, Noah walks with God. Noah doesn’t escape into a different world, and he doesn’t allow himself to be pulled into the wickedness around him. Instead, he remains faithful to God in the world he inhabits. His example invites us to consider how we might resist the patterns of rebellion around us and learn to walk with God instead.

In the first week of our Spiritual Warfare series, we look at the first instance of spiritual warfare in the Bible — the Fall. In Genesis 3, we get a story of a talking snake, forbidden fruit, and humanity getting kicked out of a Garden. But this story actually reveals something deeper about what spiritual warfare is and how we can recognize it today. In Genesis, Eden is described as a place where Heaven and Earth meet. The serpent, a former member of God’s heavenly family, tempts Eve, not with violence or oppression, but with a voice.

The Fall shows us how easily we can begin to distrust God and His voice, how we can redefine good and evil for ourselves, and how easy it is for us to try and take authority that belongs to God. But it also shows us something beautiful about God: even in the middle of humanity’s rebellion, God still seeks after us. In Genesis 3 we learn to ask ourselves: whose voice are we listening to, and where do we run when we face temptation, struggle, and opposition?

In the last week of our Peacemaking Practice, we focus on our work. For most of us, our jobs and careers carry significant weight in our lives. Sometimes that weight is a blessing, where we feel like our work is fruitful and we get more joy than frustration from it. For others, work is a burden where we feel like we lack responsibility, control, or reward. In either case, God created us to work, which means that while our work is cursed by sin, it can be redeemed. In Ephesians 6, Paul gives us some helpful instructions we can use to begin making peace with and within our work. Our work can be redeemed if we commit to working respectfully, sincerely, willingly, and expectantly, remembering that ultimately we work for Christ.

For those with children, parenting can often become a battleground for peacemaking. We can ignore conflict, lash out in anger, or hold impossibly high expectations over our kids while they grow up. In Ephesians 6, Paul shows parents how to avoid these pitfalls. He tells them not to stir up anger in their children, but to “bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” To bring them up means to nurture them so they’re prepared for the world when they leave the home. Training them means instilling discipline in them towards holiness, and to instruct them means to give them counsel, to listen, and to speak encouragement over them. Peacemaking in parenting then is more than avoiding conflict. It’s bringing peace to the household, or what the Bible describes as wholeness, flourishing, and living in the fullness of what God intended. Every parent is forming their child. The question is whether we are doing it intentionally.

For those with children, parenting can often become a battleground for peacemaking. We can ignore conflict, lash out in anger, or hold impossibly high expectations over our kids while they grow up. In Ephesians 6, Paul shows parents how to avoid these pitfalls. He tells them not to stir up anger in their children, but to “bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” To bring them up means to nurture them so they’re prepared for the world when they leave the home. Training them means instilling discipline in them towards holiness, and to instruct them means to give them counsel, to listen, and to speak encouragement over them. Peacemaking in parenting then is more than avoiding conflict. It’s bringing peace to the household, or what the Bible describes as wholeness, flourishing, and living in the fullness of what God intended. Every parent is forming their child. The question is whether we are doing it intentionally.

Our church gathers every Sunday at 8:30am & 10:15am at Queen Creek Junior High.

20435 South Old Ellsworth Road, Queen Creek, AZ

https://passioncreek.church/sundays/

In week 7 of our Peacemaking practice, we turn our attention toward our relationship with our parents. Regardless of how old you are now, all of us have parents. And just like with our marriages, our relationships with our parents can be both a blessing and a burden. In Ephesians 6, Paul gives us instructions on how to navigate these relationships. He begins by telling children to obey their parents. But then he moves from obedience to honor, quoting the fifth commandment from Exodus 20. The distinction matters because obedience is seasonal, but honor is forever. As children, we honor our parents’ authority of command. As adults, that authority changes into an authority of counsel. The authority changes, but the honor doesn’t.

The word honor carries the idea of weight, value, and significance. To honor someone is to give them weight, to recognize their value rather than treating them as insignificant. Honoring our parents, then, doesn’t mean giving them control of our lives or pretending they’re perfect; it means learning to recognize their value, give them appropriate weight, and love them well as the relationship changes.

00:00 Why Thresholds Matter

01:32 Relationships Shift With Change

03:12 When Kids Become Adults

05:35 Peacemaking With Parents

07:47 Obedience Versus Honor

09:32 Exodus And The Ten Words

13:06 The Promise And Authority

18:18 Command Versus Counsel

21:08 Jesus Confronts Corban

23:42 Honor Means Action

27:47 What Honor Is Not

29:18 Seat At The Table

32:51 Honor Versus Contempt

35:15 Identity In The Father

37:16 Practices For This Week

In week 6 of our Peacemaking Practice we take all that we have learned about peacemaking and apply it to our marriages. Our marriages can be both a tremendous blessing and a painful burden. In Ephesians 5, Paul addresses this tension by giving commands to both husbands and wives. He starts by commanding both to submit to each other with humility in verse 21. Then he commands husbands to love their wives sacrificially and wives to submit to their husbands respectfully.

Both of these commands challenge our tendency to focus on what our spouse owes us rather than what Christ is calling us to give. Peacemaking begins when we stop trying to win and start allowing Jesus to form us into people who love, serve, forgive, and pursue one another.

Your Clock Stuck at 8:40? Making Peace with the Past Through the Cross and Resurrection (Ephesians 5)

Using Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations as a picture of being stuck in the past, the message asks how to make peace with what cannot be changed. Drawing from Ephesians 5, it explains that people get stuck either through guilt over what they’ve done or grief over what they’ve lost. Paul reminds believers that they “were once darkness” but are now “light in the Lord,” so identity precedes behavior, and sins must be exposed to Christ’s light, which brings healing rather than shame. The sermon contrasts chronos (time passing) with kairos (God-given moments to steward), urging wisdom to grieve without wasting what remains and warning against numbing pain. It concludes that the cross pardons guilt and the resurrection promises restoration, then assigns practices: “confess and bless” in groups and memorizing Ephesians 5:15–16.

00:00 Miss Havisham at 840

01:45 Clocks Stuck in Us

03:12 Guilt and Condemnation

04:54 Darkness to Light

10:53 Expose Sin to Light

12:04 Christ Shines Not Shames

15:35 Grief and Regret

17:08 Wisdom and Kairos

21:06 Unmet Dreams and Loss

29:39 Cross and Resurrection Hope

32:09 Practices Confess and Bless

34:42 Memorize and Sendoff