WestGate Church Teaching

AFTERWORD DESCRIPTION 

No one likes being bossed around.  Even little kids will buck against it, saying things like, “You’re not the boss of me” or “You’re not my mom.”  But the second line of the Apostle’s Creed says that Jesus is not only God, but the Apostles call him “Lord.”  In a real way, they’re saying, “Jesus IS the boss of me.”  David Kim stops by to talk about the implication of the phrase “our Lord” means obedience to Master.  We discuss the idea that what you want the most is actually your identity, and how everyone has a Master (whether they want one or not).  We also talk about the toughest parts of following Jesus, and practical steps to trying to obey Jesus - what it looks like, and what it doesn’t look like.  Also, DK talks about eating a live octopus, which super grosses out David, who is from Ohio, and wasn’t around a lot of live octopuses growing up.

Speakers: David Tieche + David Kim

The largest section of the Apostle’s Creed is about Jesus. In fact, roughly 65 percent of the words are about Jesus. It’s clear this creed is not about doctrine, but a person. And the second line of the creed has the Apostles saying that Jesus is their “Lord.” This means not only deep personal attachment to Jesus, but allegiance to Him and only Him, above all others. But why? Why does Jesus demand to be Lord? We dive into what obedience is - what it isn’t - and why Jesus says that choosing Him as Master is - rather ironically - the *only* way to not be enslaved.

SPEAKERS:

David Kim (Saratoga), David Tieche (South Hills)

SPEAKERS:

Christina Papoulias (Saratoga), David Tieche (South Hills)

AFTERWORD DESCRIPTION

The second line of the Apostle’s Creed states (beautifully) that God is both powerful and a father. But what if your experience with both “father” has been anything but good? And what you’ve seen power abused, in tragic ways that have brought real suffering? Christina Papoulias stops by to talk about how toxic environments can warp our view of God Himself, and that can impact our ability to connect with God. We also talk about how the words of the second member of the Trinity - Jesus, the Son - as He describes what His father is actually like, can heal us.

Speakers: David Tieche + Christina Papoulias

In the second line of the Apostle’s Creed, it says “I believe in God the Father Almighty.”  In the Scriptures, it’s clear that God not only has a deep, loving, tender Father’s heart, but *wants* to be known to us as Father.  But for many people, bad examples from our earthly Fathers can distort our view of God Himself, forming an emotional blockade to the kind of relational connectedness we’re invited into.  But the Biblical story gives us example after example after example showing us that God is, indeed, a faithful and loving Father.  And remembering that, and focusing on God’s faithfulness, not just historically but personally, can heal us.  

SPEAKERS:

Christina Papoulias (Saratoga), David Tieche (South Hills)

The world - if anything - is pretty unstable. Not just geopolitically, or economically, but even personally. Our own lives are pretty unstable. And yet, in an unstable world, followers of Jesus stand on the sound and secure foundation of a story that has been unchanging since Christ’s resurrection and ascension. In a culture saturated by pundits, personalities, influencers, followers of Jesus can live with peace and freedom grounded in this story, the truest story ever told. The Apostles’ Creed - a statement of belief that’s centuries old and dates back to the early Church - has been said by followers of Jesus across time, across cultures, across continents, across the centuries. And its words offer us stability, security, strength, truth amid the forgetful and frenzied weariness and exhaustion of our manic world.

SPEAKERS:

Jay Kim (Saratoga), video (South Hills)

AFTERWORD DESCRIPTION

If someone were to ask you, “What do you believe?” you probably wouldn’t be able to answer. “What do I believe about what?” you might say. Or more often than that, we are busy with life, and don’t really even give that question much thought. But sometimes, life forces us to answer that important question. When the world falls apart, and the sky seems to come crashing down, we have to answer, as a matter of deep importance, for ourselves, “What do I actually believe?” What is foundational? What is square one? And for Christians, across the centuries, the answer to that has been, among other things, the Apostle’s Creed. Jay stops by to chat about the Apostle’s Creed, why creeds matter and how a few paragraphs from 2000 years ago can actually shape us. We also talk about the word “believe” which sounds a lot like “wishful thinking” but isn’t. We also complain about the heat wave.

Speakers: David Tieche + Jay Kim

There’s a lot of talk in our world about the “power of positive thinking” - and even secular scholars talk about the importance of spending time in gratitude each day. In Philippians 4, Paul talks about the power of what we think about - and how what we choose to focus on actually has an impact on how we experience life. Lisa Averill stops by to talk about Paul’s advice, how it can lead to the dissolution of worry and to the presence of peace. Also, Lisa shares about how she almost killed her grandmother-in-law.

Lisa Averill

In Philippians 3, Paul uses a phrase that at first blush seems quite inflammatory. He says that many people “live as enemies of the Cross of Christ” - a phrase which seems to create an “us” vs. “them” mentality. But this is reductionistic. The truth is, all of us have the choice to live like that. We do this when we lean on worldly wisdom over Godly wisdom, religious tradition over the way of Jesus, display hostility instead of kindness/generosity, work against peace, fail to live humbly, obediently, in surrender. So this can be something “religious” people or “non-religious” people do. But, as Paul points out, God’s primary motivation is to save us from destruction— yes, the eternal destruction apart from God, but also the daily destruction we ourselves bear in our lives. This journey begins for all of us by reckoning with the fact that all is not well—in our world and in our lives, and admitting that WE. NEED. HELP.

SPEAKERS:

Jay Kim (Saratoga), Jay Kim (video) (South Hills)

Bible Passage(s):

Philippians 3:15-21

It’s a pretty common rhetorical tactic these days - you can win an argument if you say that the other person is either 1. Just like Hitler or 2. Just like the anti-Christ. But in Philippians 3, Paul actually says that it’s possible to live as an enemy of the Cross of Christ. This is a serious charge. But what does it mean? Does it mean you don’t believe the right things? Or say the right things? Or is it deeper (and less simple) than that? Jay Kim stops by to chat about this vexing phrase - and in end we find out that the decision to live as an enemy of the Cross isn’t just something that’s a choice for some people, but ALL of us.